The Delaware Valley Scale Modelers' 2008 Favorite Five Contest
Tommy Kortman's "Gold Rush" 1950 Mercury Coupe Custom
This build started with Revell's new 49 Mercury Coupe. Since the 49 and 50 Mercs were almost identical, except for some trim changes, this kit was a perfect base to build a car I had wanted to build for a while. It all started back in 2005, when I picked up the March issue of Rod and Custom Magazine. In it I saw what I consider to be the most beautiful Merc Custom I had ever seen: GOLD RUSH!! This car was the pride and joy of Dave Baker of Meadow Vista, California, and was built by Roseville Rod & Custom.
I cut out and filed the article away until I could find a suitable kit, and when I thought my skils were good enough to do the real car justice. The delay was really due to the lack of a base kit. AMT had a 49 Merc out there, but it did not have the roof chopped. This was where I really thought that I didn't have the necessary skills. Chopping the roof of a car with compound curves like on the Merc, and having it come out right is extremely tough. Bill Stillwagon & Steve Boutte are about the only ones I have seen make it look right.
Anyway, along comes the Revell kit and BAM! All the tough work is done. (Sort of...more on that later).
So, I searched through my reference files and located the old magazine article. Using the article, I started to collect the necessary parts I would need to complete the build. I bought Pegasus' Chrome "T's" in 2 sizes (17" and 22"), and some Model Car Garage exhaust tips. I also picked up some leopard skin decals from Scale Motorsport. The grille on the real car is a custom made spider web design. Short of having something custom made, which was out of the question, I used some brass screen in a nice diamond pattern that I "chromed" with Alclad. The toughest item to procure was the bullets for the grille. These had to be machined. These were the last items on the list, and as it turned out, the car was almost complete by the time I got them. I thought I had a source for these, but when that fell through, I was lucky enough to meet up with machinist Extraordinaire, Bob Dudeck. Bob turned me some fantastic pieces.
With most of the parts collected, I started to make the necessary modifications to the kit. First, I filled in the front marker and rear tail lamps. I replaced the front marker lamps with some scratch built, sculptured "metal" accent pieces like the ones on the real car. For the tail lamps, I recessed the stock lamps into the quarter panels and added a skirt around them. I also added blue dots to the lenses. The rear bumper was narrowed and recessed into the body, and an over-rider was added from the stock AMT kit. The front bumper was also narrowed and inverted, so it could be tucked under the grille valence. Both bumpers were given the Alclad treatment. The headlights were also adjusted so they did not sit so deep in the fenders. The interior was mostly "stock" with the exception of a scratchbuilt tuck and roll package tray, a Model Car Garage skull shifter, and an El' Tanque original Evil Flying Eyeball, complete with bat wings. This was my homage to the great Von Dutch.
The interior was "upholstered" in Tamiya semi-gloss black and Scale Motorsport leopard skin. I also added a digital dash. It came out pretty good, and it's a shame you really can't see it.
The frame-work was minimal. All I did was narrow the rear axle and suspension so that the larger rolling stock would fit. I also dropped the front suspension a touch so I could get the correct ride attitude I was looking for.
The wheel backs still had to be turned down before they would fit under the sheetmetal. These were then epoxied over Model Car Garage disc brakes using a jig, so the wheels are square with the chassis.
Once all of the body work was done, it was shot with Tamiya white primer and then airbrushed with House of Kolor Goldmine Pearl. I did have some issues, so it had to be stripped and repainted. (More on that issue later).
It came out much better the second time. This was then covered with 3 coats of urethane clear, and then polished.
Two major details remained. The graphics were the first to be tackled. My first attempt was to mask and spray the black scallops on the fenders and trunk lid. The black went on great, but the white pinstripe around them was a differet story entirely. They just didn't look right. Trying to fix them only made it worse. This is what necessitated the complete repaint of the body. Incidentally, Chameleon Paint Stripper will strip urethane, but it takes a lot longer for it to work.
For the second attempt, I was bailed out by our very own Graphics Maestro, John Goschke. I gave John the reference photos I had on the original car, and John was able to make a computer file for me that I then printed onto white decal paper. Then, all I had to do was do a very carefully trim out of the decal, leaving a very thin white "pinstripe" around the black scallops and simply apply them to the car.
The decals were then cleared with 2 coats of urethane and lightly wet sanded with 3m 2000 grit sandpaper, to hide the decal edge. Then, it was re-cleared with 3 more coats of urethane. This was then given another wet sanding with 2000 grit sandpaper and polished, using Maguire's Scratch-X and waxed with Maguire's Liguid Gold Wax. This gives the impression of painted on graphics.
About this time I received the bullets from the aforementioned Mr. Dudek. I attached them to the grille and installed the grille into the car using super glue and 5-minuter epoxy.
The last 2 items were to attach the side mirrors and install the wiper mini bullets. The mini bullets are cut down sewing pins. The mirrors were supplied from Nick Sandone's parts box. They were originally from a Shelby Cobra.
All in all, I am pretty happy with the way the car turned out. I hope it does justice to an amazing piece of rolling automotive art, and I hope I haven't bored you with this tome.
