Some Vintage Models I am Restoring: AMT '34 Ford Pick-Up *Finished* 2014/01/29

Here are some WIP pictures of the pink Ford Roadster. Check out the sweet corduroy upholstery job the unknown builder did!

scale scrapyard parts. fun to pick through!

This Oldsmobile:

Again dig this sweet upholstery job Definitely getting some inspiration to try this out someday.

Here is a Willys that came with the lot.  This was my first mock-up:

Again check out this far out upholstery job:

There are still a good number of these unknown builder builds from 60's I haven't gotten around to properly photographing yet. Eventually I will get around to that and add them to this post.

With the cat:

I will be coming back to the Willys, hopefully I can get it more solidly together and to sit better.

I believe this is the stock flat-head engine that was originally built for the truck.  I did get the instructions to this one. (This lot had a bunch boxes and instuctions not matching the models, weird!) I also got the optional hemi untouched. Bonus! I dressed it up a bit and wired it and plumbed it but didn't touch the colors. Here it is depicted in a rat-rod i built:

I have added working headlights to the yellow truck, here's a sneak peak at that:

Shouldn't be too long and I'll have the truck all dressed up and photographed and I'll post more. So stay tuned :)

Looks like a couple of fun projects Blake-keep us posted.

I can't get over the upholstery jobs!

Here are some shots of the yellow '53 Ford (more or less) together. I added a double bass (the instrument I play) to give it that

Band Wagon look. Also, I scratched up a wooden lock box in the truck box to hide the batteries and switch for the lights.

Still have a few details to get to...would like to do a detailed engine bay, but now I wish I had that Flat-head. If anyone has one willing to sell or trade, PM me plz :)

Was the double-bass homemade or were you able to find a scale-model one somewhere?

Hi Jim,

The bass is actually a Christmas Tree ornament my dad got me a couple years back. Whats cool about is that it's a scale double bass, not a violin (there is a difference not just size).  I wish I could scratch-build like that, maybe someday.  The bass way too big for scale, but I just couldn't resist!

Nice  Job !! Thanks for taking the time to post them.                           Bob

So now I have this one more set of photos to share before I sit down and do some real building. Lot has happened in the last year, the wife and I had our first child and moved house. So I'm really only getting the old hobby stuff out now :)

These pictures are just showing some of the others things I scored in 'awesome super lot that got me totally inspired to get back into modelling'.  

Boxes, nice :)











This old Ford pick up is nice and clean, have almost everything should be a cinch to get together I'll keep you posted:



here's a 'mock-up'. Wanna give kudos to the Unknown Builder once more for doing a great job of applying way cool colors!



Also got most of the parts i need for a nice T-bucket Ford. When I get to this I'll make a separate thread, methinks:



Not even a mock up:



I did get some virgin plastic.  Here is a Willys Body which I have a few dragster ideas for:



And finally one of my (too many) dormant works in a progress which came from the lot. It's a Customized '53 Ford which I've chopped all up and again will a new thread when I finally get back to it!



Hope you have enjoyed this little photo essay, feed back is always welcome, cheers and happy modelling!

Blake

Blake. I apologize for having missed your post first time around, but welcome to the Forum, glad to have you with us, and thanks for posting these wondeful pics.

Like a few of the others, that upholstery has me slack-jawed. Not a material I would have thought of for the purpose, but since my favorite pair of tan cords is getting a little shiny in the seat, it's likely I'll give that a try sometime soon.

All the projects you've shown are interesting, but I confess the emerald metal-flake coupe at the top is my favorite. Look forward to seeing work on the rest, especially the T-bucket Ford. keep the pics coming!

Hi Greg, thanks, no need to apologize glad you like the pics!  Little by little I'll be getting around to each of these and posting as I go.

Happy modelling,

Blake

Beautiful pieces Blake... I just heard my 32 Ford street rod calling me... Thanks for the inspiration!

Thanks Mike!

Now that a little more unpacking/workshop setting up has been done, I've gotten a round to snapping some shots of the last few subjects from this awesome vintage lot:




This Willys pick-up does have the front end, I promise:





So that's about it! There is still a big box of parts...bumpers and grills and all this stuff.  A lot of botched wheels, unfortunately for all the good qualities the Unknown Builder had, like painting and upholstering, wheels were NOT this persons forte.  Still I've managed to save a lot of tires. Seems like they the new kit tires aren't as nice as the old ones!

I plan to get to most of these one by one, I'll keep posting as I do. Mind you, it's been two years already, but modelling isn't meant to be rushed too much, in my opinion.  So yeah, won't happen over night but I'm decided to get these beauties on the shelf!

Feedback is always welcome, and if you would like to post any pictures you might have of inspiring old builds you've come across, feel free to post 'em I'd love to see 'em!

Cheers

Pretty sweet, Blake. Like you said, those are some quality paint jobs and they've held up perfectly over the years. Makes your restoration job that much easier and more motivating. And what is that material that they used for upholstery? I like it, looks very convincing.

I myself have been doing some restoration of some vintage Star Wars models. Only, they were mine to begin with and primarily need paint work. In my defense, I was just a teen when they were built and I was self-taught.

I have posted some pics in related forums but maybe I should post them in this thread. Actually, not a bad idea for a model forum in here. Vintage Model Restoration Forum, no matter the subject matter or vehicle type? Hmmmmm............

Hi Bill,

Glad you like it!

Corduroy is what Unknown Builder used for the upholstery...simple and effective!

Cheers,

Blake

Blake nice collection probably some of them are hard to find thanks for the pictures.

Hi Alex, glad you like the pics. I was lucky enough to get all this plastic in one big box! :)

-Blake

Great looking rebuilds Blake!  I have a huge box of old car stuff a friend gave me when he cleaned up his basement and some cars and trucks I built in high school way back in the 20th century.  Always thought about doing something with them and I think you pushed me over the edge! An airplane guy I am but you look like you are having way too much fun doing this!

Freem

Nice work Blake. 

I'm currently "restoring" a Min Craft DC 3 that "followed me home" -so I kept it.  

It was glued together (fuselage, wings, empennage ) but(hear the strings?) the silver brush paint job was hideous -er-  not up to the standard of former owners seam work.

Plus, one of the propellers was broken and the other one was lost. Thankfully all the landing gear and windshield are there.

So after a paint stripping party  Not that kind of party!   Geesh.

I have gotten it  airbrushed with Alclad II  and have made two "spinning" propellers and I am about to get 'er done. 

Like you I'm trying to keep the good work done by the previous owner/builder and improve on that work.

Hi all,

I'm glad that so many of you are enjoying the pics, and glad to hear about so many of you restoring models :) :) :P)

I got another one of these oldies out the box, this time that old orange truck on the middle of page one.  There I called it a Ford, but I'm pretty sure I was WRONG on that and this is indeed a Chevy. A 1933 Chevrolet. Anyhoo, it is now a work in progress :)





First things first, to get it rolling on four wheels.  As I've stated previously, Unknown Builder's forte was not wheels. These ones weren't so bad tho, I was able to pull them apart relatively easily and glue them down solid and get a rolling chassis going:




Unknown Builder didn't do any of that swell upholstery on this one, so I decided to add a sheep hide seat cover.  I made this using 1:1 scale sheep hide, scissors, and a Sharpie:



Next was the engine. I was required to go hunting for valve covers, exhaust manifolds and carburetors (I found them) Unknown Builder wired it, and did darn fine job on the belt and pulleys if I may say.  There is a big seam gap between the two halves of the engine, but if I want to keep this original 50 odd year old paint I'll have to live with it.



Speaking of hunting for parts, the biggest one was this dash. I hunted for DAYS, knew it was somewhere :) I'll add details before installing it. Like a steering wheel, can't drive without one of those:

.

So yeah, that's about where I'm at right now on this one. What else I've done so far is fix the grill using Bare Metal and flat black enamel, I cut a new windshield out of thin clear plastic, and have decided that she will be getting side-pipes of aluminum tubing.  I also found a different headlight set for it, with a horn that I've now hollowed out.

I guess the one complaint I have with this truck right now, as nice as the paint is, it's just really....ORANGE.  Needs some bling to break that up, maybe even some graphics. It is, after all a hot rod.  These old decal sheets may come into play, especially the Shell ones:



The other thing may be the wheels. Well, they're pretty nice, and they are the ORIGINALS, which is an important theme in this thread.  But at the same time I can easily imagine the old spokey's in the truckbox with some fat meats on the floor, I dunno, what do you think?



Cheers, more to come
-Blake

Wow.  Its like watching American Restorations in History Channel!  Love seeing restoration work!  Hmmm. Hard choice there on the wheels.  Id say use the originals.  But thats just me.

Blake, it's good to see someone else that likes to restore old kits.  To help clear things up for you, the orange truck is a '34 Ford, from AMT.  I have built too many of those in my day but enjoyed every one!  Keep re-building and posting, nice to see some of these old kits.  

Very nice work. Some of the older kits are worth saving and detailing. I'm an armor / aircraft guy but I have a couple of old 1/16  55 and 57 AMT Chevys I want to work on and since I had the real ones not too long ago I will be able to super detail them to the max. That upholstering job looks like flocking? Looks sweet! With the use of Alclad  metallic paints, the stainless and chrome finishes can be duplicated being an alternative to foiling.

wow, thanks again all, glad you like the pics!

freem: cool you got your buddies box of teenage builds! They're out there...in boxes in closets :) hope you build some!

Duster Steve: Glad you like 'em, hope to see pics of that min craft dc 3. And wow...best emoticons ever :)

Allan: Glad you like them, thanks! Still have not made up my mind about those wheels, but there's no deadline :).  I will say: if I do chose the hot-rod wheels (which I'm leaning towards) the original old spokeys remain displayed with the model as truckbox cargo.  Also, the tires and mags shown in the last mock-up did also belong to Unknown Builder.  I'm also trying to think of ways to make a pumpkin as well for cargo...but keep that under your hat for now :)

rommelkiste: Seriously: THANK YOU. That was buggin' the carp out of me not being sure what this was.

AMT 1934 FORD

:)

plasticjunkie: Thanks!  There is no upholstery on the Orange 34 Ford, except my sheep hide seat cover I made, which is made out of real sheep hide...so I guess involves flocking, in one sense of the word :)

Unknown Builder used  scrap corduroy to do the upholstery, who woulda thunk it but boy is it nice.  The best is yet to come from that department...

I have not tried Alclads...yet.

You had a 55 and 57 Chevy? No kidding...coolest cars ever.  Hope you build the 1/16 scale and post pics...at that scale, with that reference material, you can cram every last detail there!

Cheers,

-Blake

Used stock aluminum, sprue, small sewing pins, Pro-Tech hex nuts, a pin-vise and CA glue to build the wishbone, steering linkage and tie-rod.  Also started trying my trusty Humbrols to match the paint



Interior now detailed with Bare Metal foil, Pro-Tech photo-etched under dash guages and the sheep hide seat cover. Also made a new steering column bracket out of sheet styrene:




Engine is done!

Main thing was the carburetors.

I used stock aluminum tubing (my new favorite thing) cut 45 degrees in a mitre box for the pan-flute air scoops. Pro-tech throttle linkage, wire looms, line splitters, detailing wire and braided wire were used for that extra touch.  I also made a little return spring as well as a fuel pump.