1956 Ford Thunderbird

 

I always liked the old Monogram bodies over the AMT ones. I always thought that the Monogram b 

Body and hardtop all sanded down in preparation for primer. I also sanded off all of the scripts and some of the chrome details. These will be replaced with items from the Model Car Garage PE set. The PE set is the wrong scale and for the AMT 57 T-Bird, but comparing the sheet to the model, everything that I need is close enough. 

Unfortunately, this one has 5 (!) sink ejector pin marks on the underside of the hood, and of course they are all in the underhood insulation detail... 

So, I decided to try a technique that I had seen other people use in the armor modeling world. I masked off everything that wasn't underhood insulation. 

I used an old junk paintbrush with really stiff bristles to apply a thin coat of Gunze Mr. Dissolved Putty by stippling it onto the surface. After I let it set up a couple minutes, I cleaned off the bristles of the brush and then went back over the surface again to knock down the surface a little bit. 

Here is the end result. 

Test patch of flat black to see what the surface looks like. I don't have a picture of the underhood area fully painted yet, but you can't tell where the ejector pins marks were and the insulation detail looks pretty good. 

One of the downsides of the older kits were that in many cases the bodies are molded in color. If I was painting it red, it wouldn't be a big deal. I'm painting this one in green though, so I like to use Zero Paints Sealer as a barrier to keep the pigment from bleeding through the primer and color coats. 

Sealer applied. 

Sealer applied. It's a very high build paint and it goes down a little rough. I had to sand down the body before primer to make sure the final coat was smooth. 

Sealer applied. 

Sealer applied. 

Splash Paints 2K primer applied. 

For the color, I had Splash Paints custom mix a bottle of 1956 Ford Thunderbird Green. It's a little bit of a rare color with less than 10% of total Thunderbird production that year painted in that color. 

 

For the hardtop, I used Splash Paints Porsche Grand Prix White, which is slightly gray, which I though contrasted well with the green without being too stark of a pure white. 

Side by side color combo 

Transmission painted with AK Xtreme metal dark gold. 

Instead of 2K clear, I went with a single stage Zero Paints Pre-thinned clear coat. I didn't want the paint to have the super glossy 10 miles deep finish that the 2K gives. I wanted it to look more like the factory gloss.