AMT 49 Ford Coupe

[Vincent Power]

Here is my next build.

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The 49 Ford was a big success for Ford and is still popular today with car customizers and hot rod people. It's an attractive looking car and was a big departure from the cars of the day that featured full fenders and narrow cabin space. The AMT kit is quite old, dating from the 60's I believe and the moulding and detail is not up to today's armour kit standards. Come to think of it, none of the kits I've seen are up to that standard. The AMT kit needs some fiddling to get the parts clear of flash and fitting. I use the term fitting loosely by the way. This is no Tamiya shake and bake. Naturally mine will be a little worse for wear and I'll be adding a few touches that I haven't done before. Anyway, this is where I'm up to now.

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I've started on some adjustments and modifications to the body. You can see the damaged hood, or bonnet depending on where you live, and I've had to widen it slightly to get it to fit properly. The chassis is quite a simple affair which suits me because you won't see it. For the same reason I won't be building the engine either.
I'm also going to distress the interior somewhat only this time I am going to have some springs exposed. This pic shows what I have used to make them.

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I made a small jig to wrap the wire around to give a similar shape to the real ones. It's fiddly and the jig could be better but not much will be seen through the windows anyway. The foil is for the seat material and the sponge will represent the padding. Hopefully it will turn out ok, besides, it's fun to make. I'll post pics of the completed seat when i finish it. If it turns out rubbish I won't speak of it again
Back to the bench for me. Thanks for looking.

Vincent

[Philipp Gross]

Thanks for sharing this

You're up to an excellent start and I'm sure it could inspire some of us to use these techniques on a staff car

Philipp

[Vincent Power]

Thanks Philipp, i'm happy to share.
I must start searching for an appropriate big American car suitable for the GB in 1/25 scale.

Vincent

[Philipp Gross]

Not American, but ICM has a nice Mercedes-Benz G4 in both 1/35 and 1/24

Philipp

[Vincent Power]

Yes, ICM has a number of suitable cars in their 1/24 range. I see they have a Packard as well but not really a staff car I think.

Vincent

[Vincent Power]

I've progressed with the front seat and for those that want to try their hand at a worn out seat I'll detail how I do it. Obviously, I should point out that my way is not the only way and you may well find a better method of getting the job done.
First, here are the main components for our worn out seat.

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What is pretty obvious is the huge hole in the seat. This is to give the springs somewhere to pop out of. It's important to thin out the plastic around the hole to a very thin edge, after all the seat covering is not very thick so we should try to replicate that. The hole can be any shape that takes your fancy. The seat springs are attached to a small plastic frame to make it easy to place them under our seat. Finally, emboss the foil with the fabric pattern on the seat by pushing the foil onto the seat with your finger. The foil will end up being your seat cover so its important to make it look like it belongs. For convenience make several copies. Oh, and make sure you emboss the pattern onto the foil BEFORE you cut the hole out otherwise the pattern won't be over the whole seat.

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Normally I would just glue the foil to the seat with super glue and make the tears afterwards however it seems logical to see what different cuts would look like with this type of effect. After a few tries I came up with this. Its only foil so try as many variations as you like. Adding a small piece of sponge to represent the seat padding is the final step. Mine looks like this though I haven't glued it on yet.

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Don't worry about the rear edge sitting proud. The glue will snuggle it down nicely. That's the front seat base done, now for the seat uprights and then the back seat.
By the way, it's not so important to get it perfect if you are doing a car with a roof because it's not easy to see everything inside. However, if you are doing a convertible, like my 55 Bel Air, it's probably a good idea to take care with the finished product.
Good luck with your worn out seats guys and thanks for looking.

Vincent

[Philipp Gross]

Absolutely amazing work on these seats!

Philipp

[Vincent Power]

Thanks Philipp.

In the constant search for variety I thought I would do the back seats slightly differently. Same principle, different result. Again, I used foil as the covering and my trusty Dremel to make a couple of holes. This time the sponge will be more prominent.
First up, the preliminary work.

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Then the foil is embossed onto the seat pattern as per normal and glued to the seat. Once the foil is firmly attached I go over the pattern with a toothpick, the tip of which is sanded to a rounded blunt end, to accentuate the pattern. The pointy end of the toothpick as supplied will tear your foil so beware.

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Carefully cutting open the "tears" and adding the sponge material as the "stuffing" gives the seat some character.

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Finally, a look at what will be seen through the rear window.

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Now for the seat bases and door linings.

Vincent

[Steve Hutchinson]

That is SOOOO cool Vincent

Excellent SBS for dmaging seating, always useful with the softSkin GB

Another wreak on the way to destruction

Very nice

Steve H

[Vincent Power]

Thanks Steve, glad you like it.

Vincent