49 Merc - "Illuminator"

G'day guys!
I'm a member of one other model forum, I'm building this Mercury in one of their group builds. The rules are anything that has working lights, hense the name "Illuminator" , you have to pronounce it in a deep Transformers voice and emphasize the "U" and "R".
So far I've opened up the boot, made a hinge and an inner lip for the lid to rest on.



The boot lid is removable.



I'm going to use the blubs and batteries from these led light sensors.
Plan; Make along box that fits in the boot, put the blubs in one end and fibre optics going in the other end.
Then run the fibre optic along the inside of the body up to the headlights etc.
The light SHOULD travel through the fibre optic and shine out at the tip.(Hopefuly)



I value the opinion of you guys, any and all suggestion/idea's would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
...Joe...

are u going with full custom,are u going to remove the door pillar to turn it in to a pillarless coupe.

Thanks Allan, Pillarless sounds like a good idea.
Any other tips on customizing?? I only ask because I don't know.

Nice project Clutch, this is going to be fantastic!!!!
Adam

Another piece of model ingenuity on the way. Although it's early days I can see a winner coming up here, but leave the pillars in. I can't picture a Merc being a Merc without them.

Thanks guys, hope it turns out the way I want but,,, who knows.
Last night I thought about removing the pillars but I would have to remove the top of the door as well, I don't think it would look right.
I did find this one with no pillars.


Also found this one with the pillars leaning forward. Looks hot I reckon.

Clutch - that second car is actually a Ford - '51 model I think.

Clutch wrote: Any other tips on customizing?? I only ask because I don't know.

I’m not really sure what you mean here Clutch. Do you mean that you don’t know anything about custom Mercs or you don’t know anything about customizing? I don’t mean to be a smart arse, but if you don’t know what you want to do, then maybe you should just leave it alone.

That said, one thing you should consider doing is fixing that awful roofline Revell came up with. The front side windows should not end higher than they start – here’s a pic for reference on what a chopped Merc roofline should look like:



I built one of these from an AMT several years ago and did the chop myself – I’ll bump it up in the show room so you can have a look.

tezza43 wrote: …leave the pillars in. I can't picture a Merc being a Merc without them.

What about the Hirohata Merc Terry?



That’s gotta be considered a classic Merc by anyone’s definition…?

Either way, I like ‘em both ways...

Here’s a few custom Mercs from my select photo reserve.





















These pics show a range of classic custom tricks, most of which I think your kit already has (I haven’t actually bought or built a Revell Merc yet – mainly out of spite…). However something else you could consider is addition of the classic ’53 Buick side trim and some frenched '59 Cadillac bullet tailights. HTH

Bryce wrote:

Clutch wrote: Any other tips on customizing?? I only ask because I don't know.

I’m not really sure what you mean here Clutch. Do you mean that you don’t know anything about custom Mercs or you don’t know anything about customizing?

Your right on both counts!!

I only ask all these questions because you guys seem to know what's what.
Thanks for lending a hand.
I'm aiming for a look simillar to the 3rd pic you posted (purple lookin' thing with ghost flames).
I'll definately look at fixing the roof line and frenching some arials, Some 59 Caddy tailights wound be cool but I just don't have any so the single bullet lights from the kit will have to do.
Thanks again, I'll try not to ask too many more questions.

Clutch wrote:

Bryce wrote:

Clutch wrote: Any other tips on customizing?? I only ask because I don't know.

I’m not really sure what you mean here Clutch. Do you mean that you don’t know anything about custom Mercs or you don’t know anything about customizing?

Your right on both counts!!

I only ask all these questions because you guys seem to know what's what.
Thanks for lending a hand.
I'm aiming for a look simillar to the 3rd pic you posted (purple lookin' thing with ghost flames).
I'll definately look at fixing the roof line and frenching some arials, Some 59 Caddy tailights wound be cool but I just don't have any so the single bullet lights from the kit will have to do.
Thanks again, I'll try not to ask too many more questions.

Sorry - didn't mean that to sound like I was having a go at you. No problem asking questions mate - that's what this place is all about. I'm quite flattered that you think we know what's what!

I was just curious as to your motivation. Normally if I want to build something it's because I am already interested in the subject matter, so it seems a bit weird to me that you want to do some customizing if you are not really into that genre already. Incidentally, what made you buy this kit?

I guess I always assume we are all into the same things on here, so maybe that's my mistake. But I am curious to know how you came to be into cars and model building without having encountered a Merc custom before?

I can't really remember not loving these big slab sided, lead sled cars. I think I saw my first custom Merc in the movie American Grafitti. Then it was my big brother's copies of CarToons mag and a Hot Rod pictorial mag full of beautiful Barris customs that kept me interested. From there I bought my own copies of Rod & Custom mag and so on it went. I actually remember seeing my first stock roof heght Merc in my teens - it looked really weird to me!

Anyhow, I look forward to seeing what you come up with and feel free to ask as many questions as you want. Glad to be able to help.

No worries Bryce, I didn't take any offence to your comment, I actually appreciate your honesty.

Now it's my turn to answer some of your questions.
I only have 8 built models on my shelf and a 49 Merc should be apart of every modelers collection. I also bought this kit for the optional parts that I might be able to use on other projects.
I too love these big old girls just don't know much about them. I've always been into cars and modeling just not as much as some of you. The last 2 years I have been taking my hobby seriously, I want to get into custom work, lets just say this lead sled is my stepping stone.
Maybe in a few years I'll know what I'm talking about......doubt it!
Thanks again mate.

I too brought this kit with no particular way of building it in mind (one of the few I buy like that) with hopes of picking up ideas and techniques along the way. Byv the way ,I've seen the builds and wips you have posted on here Clutch and you've nothing to worry about. Take your time ,ask when in doubt (theres some killer talent on this board )and you'll be adding another killer build to your belt.

Thanks Brett, couldn't agree with you more.

The other night Allan sent me an article from scale auto, "How to pie section a merc". Great little tutorial and IMO an excellent result.
So I got into it straight away.
Removed the B pillars (sorry Terry!) took 4mm from the C pillars and cut out a wedge from the side of the body, 0mm starting at the A pillar and continuing to 4mm wedge at the rear.



Before:


And after:



I also added a thin strip of styrene inside the body, along the join for strength.
Now I need to re-shape the rear window frame and the tailights area.
Can't wait to get some undercoat on.

Thanks also Kirk for offering some side trim molds but I'm now going for a smooth look.

Nothing like jumping in the deep end with custom mods!

It looks awesome! Well done.

You are going to have so much fun getting the interior and chassis to fit after that section job though - you'd be amazed how many problems can result from what, in theory, seems like such a simple modification!

Best of luck though - I hope you can finish it.

Thanks!!
All I can say is I'll give it a go!

looking wild already,

Wow thats goin to be killer

Hey Clutch - now that I can see where you're heading with this (and thanks to Bryce's great photos of 1:1 Mercs), all I can say is "stick with it". Maybe the 'B' pillar shouldn't have been there after all?

Well done mate!

Clutch all I can say Stick with it !! its looking like one Top build will be watching this with great interest.

Thanks for your support guys.

This is what I'm up to.
Re-shaped the C pillars, glued in the tail light bucket and lots of sanding.


First undercoat and guide coat.


Removed any high's and low's.


Second undercoat, new boot lid lip and hinge, cleaned up door lines, reshaped the side window frame and smoothed out the body. The top door trim will be bmf'ed.



The boot lid still needs more work and I've started to make the light box. So far I can see the back seat being the hardest thing to fit but I'm gettin' there.

Geez that's shaping up to be lean and mean - looking good so far Clutch.

Man this is looking awesome already!

that's looking wicked,are u going to put a candy paint on it,would look wild in candy black cherry.

Looking good clutch, great work.

Great work so far Clutch!

You don't need to put a rear seat in it.
Some customs just ran an upholstered area in the back. Especially when the chopped top forced the driving seat to go further back into the cabin to allow front leg room - driver was in a semi-laid back position

Chris