At last! Carps builds a Mercury.

After the last epic build I figure something quick and easy will help keep me motivated. I picked up a bunch of the Revellogram Merc' Kits in the US during my '07 trip and have only touched them to rat the chrome wheels for a couple f other hot rod projects.

So I choosing one of these to build was easy. The modifications I've made are largelyt to un-modify the car, like filling in the tail-lamp and front side marker lamp holes. However I did add a lip to the front fenders using small diameter rod, and some filler all sanded to shape.



The rear lower quarter panels have been moulded to the body and blended at the rear to remove the vertical edge.



You may have wondered what the bit of plastic that can be seen stuck to the front pan in the first pic, is for. The front bumper will be mounted upside down and that bit of plastic is there to support it in the new configuration.



Chassis will be pretty much box stock, just with a little detail, but not too much as to make it a show car rather than just a nice street kustom.



I'm not planning on running lakes pipes or Appletons, just these nice clean tailpipes and some Caddy bullets for tail-lamps. The bullets fit in the holes drilled in the bullet part of the stock Merc' bumperettes (over-riders for the Aussies), which are not in this kit, but can be found in the AMT Merc' kits. Just re-drill the mounting holes in the rear pan and they fit straight up. In fact most of the AMT Merc' parts are a pretty good fit with little or no modification required.



Here's how the tail-lamps look when fitted.



I did consider adding Buick side trim but it doesn't work so well with the dip in the front door, which I want' to retain as it's an integral part of the car's character. I may also add a lip to the stock rear fender skirts, if they don't look right when the car together with wheels on it.

Yeah looking good so far, colour is going to look sweet and the detail so far is inspiring, good job man looking forward to seeing this on your shelf, cheers Wayne

looking good so far like the custom bits on it,what about lengthen the rear of the fender skirt and blending it to the rear body.

I just found this one,it has the side pipes and blended in fender skirts.even colour looks bit like what you are doing.

Carps you continue to astound me with your creative talent. It's already looking sweet and I'm looking forward to seeing the final paint go on too. Love what you've done to the rear bumper - a nice touch.

Nice work so far Carps - love the bumper guard tail lights.

very nice Carps ( like thats any surprise )

Thanx guys, the deal here is a simple street custom, nothing to showy or radical, but I may experiment with the paint. Depends how happy I am when the base blue goes on.

I really dunno how Revellogram could not include door handles and window cranks, so they will be added inside and hopefully the upholstery will come out looking OK.

Lookin awesome Carps

Awesome! Love the tail lights, keeps a nice uninterrupted bum, excellent!

so far Carps

Nice work so far Carps, she'll look real nice once you've added your touch.
I also thought it was odd not to include window/door cranks. I also found the line on the interior door panels didn't line up with the exterior door line. But I'm not sure if it was because I chopped mine or not, Just thought it may be something to look at.

Inner & outer panel gaps not lining up is par for the course IME. Not something kit manufacturers seem to think about too much.

Good work Carps. Exhaust tips & tail lights from Michele & Jason?

Great start Carps, looking forward to seeing some more progress shots as she develops.

zenrat wrote:Good work Carps. Exhaust tips & tail lights from Michele & Jason?

Yup, well spotted.

It's handy having a local vendor of their stuff near the office. OK so Puckle St Moonee Ponds isn't quite Port Melbourne but it a lot closer than Adelaide.

I could'nt agree with you more Carps.

Despite the cold I got this puppy moving along again today, The Caddy engine is nice as it comes in the kit, except for the strange rocker covers, so I used some from an old Revel Caddy engine which I think look much better.



The chassis went together without too much fuss at all.



Until I trial fitted the floor-pan that is! And at the same time discovered why the kit has those strange rocker covers. Seems my finned covers where fouling on the battery and since there was no way I was going to change them for the strange units, the battery now had to go. A little grinding some filler and a repaint and nobody will ever know there was a battery there.



And it all fits together like a bought one!





In the real world, this car would probably just be painted black underneath but I figured if it was a chassis off restoration, then it might get a little more detail than usual for a car like this.



Dunno that I've ever done a dash that used decals for dials before. But this one was a tad frustrating as the decals simply don't fit the holes. After messing around and ruining one set of dials I got out the faithful magnifier and my sharpest small scissors and cut the dials out before sticking them in water. The trick here I found is to cut the silver ring from the dial so they fit neatly in the recess. I little decal set will get them to sit down neatly. When they were done I blew a little warm air over them to be sure they were set and a couple of drops of Testors window cement made for instant lenses. Since I had the chrome foil out, I did the glove-box lid also.



Upholstery is semi-flat white with a light blue metallic for the pleated section. The dark line is made using a fine point Sharpie and the door and window hardware came from The Partsbox.



Paint is Testors now metallic dark blue straight out of the rattle can. Well shaken and heated with my heat gun before application, it looks good but I'm thinking it needs something to give it a little more life. So, I'm either going to stuff it up completely or do something good, watch this space............

OK i'm watching...flames maybe, or a graduated fogged white front, or a pale blue roof, or???

Nice save Carps! I like that tail shaft and your interior looks super clean! Those gauges look like a major PITA - good result though.

Coming along nicely Carps.
The gauge decals are not meant to fit in the hole. they are meant to drive you mad.

Just putting on my OH&S hat for a moment. Heat gun? Is this one of those paint stripping heat guns?
I see shrapnel and high velocity paint splatter in your future Carps.
Please be carefull.

Tezza, think Gene Winfield.

Bryce, they are a total PITA and you need really sharp scisors, the ones with a curved blade work better than straight, but most of all you'll need a really, really strong magnifying glass to see the silver edge on the dial face.

Zen, I don't heat the cans red hot, just a little 'touch-up' equivalent to dipping in warm water, used with care the heat gun is a very handy tool.

For painting in cold weather I have a neat little heat box I made up for the job. Works kinda like a low bake oven. Has a false wall on one side with vents for the warm air to get into the sealed cavity where the freshly painted car sits. The vents are covered with filtration paper (actually heavy duty paper shop towels) and the heat gun attaches to a hole in the middle at the back in such a way that the direct blast of hot air blast simply hits the false wall, fills the cavity and then expands into the main cavity where it force cures the freshly painted car. The heat inside the box is easily controlled and it works a treat for painting in cold weather.

Spray the paint in the regular open fronted 'booth' transfer into the heat box immediately the last drop of paint lands on the body, close the door and crank up the heater. Usually requires only low heat and fan speed, about half an hour sets off enamel paint and almost completely cures lacquers ensuring that 'decent sunny day gloss' with no cold weather side effects.

Thats comming along nicely at the moment, cant wait to see the end result.

Carps - surely not the Jade Idol???