Well, it's finished! Finally DONE!
The final steps involved getting the window glass in, fitting the
body, getting the stance, and applying remaining details. I glued the
glass in with 5-minute epoxy, but the glass was SO thick that I had a
bit of a struggle to get the body to sit correctly--all I can say is
"Thank god for Dremel!" I ground quite a bit away from the glass edges
and the bottom of the tub and even the chassis pan to get the model to
sit how I wanted it--that hanging-low, sacked-out-springs-in-the-back
look.
I scratched a rear view mirror out of sprue and strip, BMF'ed and
painted it up. I also added some folded-up maps to the sun visors. These
are military items from Verlinden. I used a circle template to paint
the whitewalls.
The decals were a sincere PITA! As I stated before, the wood paneling
on the side of the car comes as one big flat panel--you have to cut out
the decal yourself!
The span of the decal square is only long enough to extend to the
front wheel well; fortunately, there is enough there to allow you to
make up the missing length over and in front of the front wheel if you
carefully measure and mate the two pieces. I spent a good hour or more
cutting up and correcting templates to engineers and complete the entire
span.
After all was said and done, I think I've captured the look that I want.
I dedicate this build to the memory of my late Uncle Ted. He was a
decorated veteran, an independent spirit, and left this world
with nary an ill word said nor bitter memory about him. He was a cat
lover and a "picker" and throughout this build I kept finding myself
asking myself "What would Uncle Ted's car have looked like if he was
driving this?"
I'll let this "typical" hypothetical conversation set the mood for this build and the finished pictures;
"Uncle Ted, that's a pretty neat vehicle you're driving; what is that?"
TED: "That is a 1965 Lincoln Continental Station Wagon. I
was driving around up there in the Gap (Delaware Water Gap) a few weeks
ago and saw it on the side of the road with a 'For Sale" sign on it, and
thought it was pretty neat looking, ya know? So I stopped to ask the
guy what he'd take for it."
"Yeah? What'd ya pay for it?"
TED: Well, he wanted a five hundred bucks for it, but it didn't have a gas tank in it"
"It didn't have a gas tank?!?"
TED " No, it didn't have a gas tank. So I traded him a few TV's and an old sewing machine for it."
WOW, that sounds like a pretty good deal? So.....you got a gas tank for it then?
TED "Well, no; what I did was I strung together a few milk
jugs and connected 'em with a length of hose that I found in the back of
the shop, and I duct taped the end of the hose to the gas filler hole
there, ya know?
"Hmmm. That sounds kinda dangerous, isn't it?"
TED: "Well, it might be just a little, but I keep an eye on
it; I mean, it's only a three-gallon tank. I just have to stop for gas
every half-hour, and I can check it for leaks, so it's not that bad, ya
know? I just have to watch it, because that gas will eat away the
plastic milk jugs, and so I might have to replace them every few stops,
ya know?
"I see.....hmmmm. So is that why you were late today?
TED: "Umm, no; I had to stop and get cat food, and went to
open the rear window to put it in the back there, the handle fell off
and I couldn't get the window open. So I had to go under the car and use
the wire that I have holding the muffler on to jimmy the lock on the
window to put the cat food in there."
"Gotcha! " Hmmm.....hey that's a pretty cool trunk you have on the top there; where'd you get that?"
TED: "Yeah, I got that from a guy who I met up at the
Turning Stone (Turning Stone Casino, NY). It's an old war chest from the
1800's or something; he said there was some civil war pictures in it
when he opened it, but he sold them, and needed some moolah, so I gave
him fifty bucks and a box of resistors for it."
"Wow, neat. What'cha got in it now?"
TED: "More milk jugs."
That was my Uncle Ted....
Last pics:
To get the well-used, Northeast-Pennsylvania / New York winters
salted-roads-look, I used some armor weathering techniques on the sides.
I sprayed a light coat of Tamiya Buff+Neutral Gray on the sides, and
quickly used some water to smudge away some of it before it hardened. I
then applied some light streaks of Black and Raw Umber to simulate water
streaks. There are also small patches of rust and scratches painted in
the finish. Some MIG weathering pigments were used on the tires.
Note the sun visors and mirror here....the trunks as tied on with some ship-building twine that has a nice composition to it. I separated the weave, wet it and stretched it out overnight to get it to thin it and get it to straighten out.
Well,
that puts the wraps on another project! I hope you all like it, and get
some inspiration from it! Thanks for looking in and for taking the time
to leave your comments! They are much appreciated!
Karl the doog.