A little background first....
Gowland & Gowland (England) was one of the early plastic scale modeling companies. Gowland & Gowland designed 30 kits which Revell issued as the Highway Pioneers series from 1951 thru 1953.
Highway Pioneers Series Two, 1/32 scale, featured these five cars molded in ( ):
1908 Buick "10" Rumble (red)
1914 Stutz Bearcat (yellow)
1915 Model "T" Ford Sedan (black)
1910 Studebaker Electric Coupe (green)
1910 Cadillac Limousine (light blue)- 2 copies
These models had been built in the late 50s and put away in the hot attic in 1961. They remained there until 2007. All those years(46!) in the attic had totally warped and disfigured the models. The Studebaker's smaller parts had literally crumbled into powder, and its mangled body shed countless slivers of decayed plastic. The Studebaker's so-called "body" might be a subject of a future diorama as it is absolute junk, with no possibility of ever restoring.
Okay, now there was another 1910 Cadillac Limousine in extremely rough and terrible shape, the worst of the lot besides the Studebaker. This is the model I chose to start on first of the group to "restore" and is shown below. The Cadillac did have its wheels fortunately, but like the rest of the models, was extremely warped, so much so, that the possibility of getting it to a point wherein the two body halves would actually align and join up somewhat seemed almost impossible as all joining edges were crooked, incompatible and uneven, Heating the larger misaligned plastic body parts wasn't viable as the thinner and/or projecting parts on it would get distorted. So all the models above were subjected to over two month's worth of jigs, braces, weights and clamps. Many types of clamps- bar clamps, 'C' clamps, hand clamps, alligator clips, clothes pins, etc. Mechanical methods and techniques were used to straighten and to get the parts back to a semblance of their original shape.
The Cadillac was missing a headlight lantern, a tail light lantern, license plate, rear valance, left front spring assembly, both axles incomplete, and a huge depression in the roof which required extensive filling and sanding to "repair". Upon its completion, I'm having a hard time believing it came out as it did, as I had initially thought it couldn't be done. My adhesive of choice and the saviour of the model was Gorilla Clear.
Now its on to the other 1910 Cadillac, the Buick, the Stutz or the Model "T", whichever is the most difficult to redo. LOL
Thanks for looking....
