1958 Edsel.
I had thought this was going to be easy, until I started looking. As with the Sixties Chevy and the Mini Mopar Muscle articles, I found an abundance of riches. Maybe even a superfluity.
We’ll cover 1949 to 1959 FoMoCo products, and I’ll touch on Lincoln, Mercury, Thunderbird, and Edsel. Briefly, so I’ll only show you one other Edsel. What you don’t see here, you’ll learn about some other time. Patience, padawan.
We’ll begin our tour with the 1949-51 ‘Shoebox’ Fords. AMT did the 1949 coupe and 1950 Convertible, both with the usual (for older kits) variety of custom and drag parts. Of course, there’s no reason you can’t do a mix and match, so naturally, I have;
1950 Ford.
But that’s easy. Suppose you want another body style, say a sedan? These days you can buy resin bodies for all sorts of things, in quality levels ranging from amazing to abysmal, but back in the seventies you were on your own. So when I did this Crestliner…
1950 Crestliner.
…I had to rely on sheet plastic and putty. I could have inserted a roof section from a second kit, but that would have been expensive. And those kits were hard to find down here. The side trim is a bit wonky, true, but after all, it was painted freehand by a teenager.
But suppose you want, say, a ’51 Victoria? I cobbled up this from a 1950 convertible. I filed down the convertible top to remove the ribs, and approximate the curvature of the Victoria roof, then cut out the rear window opening, and used styrene from an old shirt box for the window glass. These days I’d use some styrene strip for the window moldings, but again, this was teenage work. And, as I didn’t have the right parts to hand, I used ’49 Mercury bumpers;
1951 Ford Victoria.
Speaking of Mercury, here’s a 1949 Mercury in standard form, from the old AMT kit. Not sure about the two-tone green, and I’ve been told my paint separation line isn’t right. But I’ve never seen a real one, so…
1949 Mercury.
And here it is as a custom. This is the more recent Revell kit which comes with the chopped roof, and a choice of several grilles, bumpers and taillights. Unlike the old AMT kit, it can’t be built stock. The old AMT kit has a lot to offer, many more choices, and in some ways is all the better for it;
1949 Mercury.
Moving on to 1953 we have this recent-ish Lindberg kit. There’s also a convertible version, but I prefer cars with roofs, as they’re such an integral part of the style. Like most of my countrymen, I’ve never owned a convertible, nor ridden in one. The colours might not be Ford-correct, but they’re period. Some people in the street behind us had a ’53 sedan, and this is how I remember it;
1953 Ford.
Our next stop is 1956. In 1965 AMT brought out this fantastic 1956 Ford which I regard as one of their best-ever kits. As usual for the era it offered stock, custom (several) or drag versions, and in this case with the option to build a Crown Victoria version, with or without the clear Skyliner roof. So much choice! Here are two; I have many others.
1956 Ford.
1956 Ford.
What about a Thunderbird, you ask? Sure! This Monogram kit has its origins in a metal-bodied kit from 1977. Later redone in plastic;
1956 Ford Thunderbird.
A quick detour to Lincoln, with this resin kit of the 1956 Premiere, from the now-defunct (and sadly missed) Modelhaus;
1956 Lincoln.
For 1957 we have the Fairlane 500 from AMT – which I converted to a base Fairlane. Because I could. This one’s another teenage build of an old AMT kit with all those great options;
1957 Fairlane.
Revell has recently done the Custom two-door sedan and the Country Sedan wagon;
1957 Ford.
Back to the Thunderbird. This time the excellent early-sixties Monogram kit;
Ford Thunderbird.
A quick stop-off for the Edsel. Funny how people are drawn to life’s failures. For years modelers wanted a kit of this car, and finally, AMT delivered. I heard of one guy who has built sixty. No, not me, I only have eight. So far;
1958 Edsel.
And on to 1959, with the ancient Revell kit of the Galaxie Skyliner, with an operating retractable top. Award yourself a gold medal if you can get it to work. It can be done, but in my experience, the roof flap hinges break after two or three cycles;
1959 Galaxie Skyliner.
So there you have it, a selection of Fifties Fords. One of these days I’ll have to post Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor – models which fit into the theme of a post but just didn’t fit! See you next fortnight for Independents Day.
Two door and four door Fords from the 50s were marketed as Tudors and Fordors.
Indeed. It seems a bit corny in retrospect – or is it so corny it’s cool again?
Do we know when Ford stopped using this nomenclature?
Peter,
always happy to see your work. No I don’t deserve a gold medal for the retractable, it doesn’t fully close because of the way I redid the hinges. That model made me want to give up. The ’59 Lincoln was an original built (but un-painted) kit I scored at a reasonable price on the auction site.
kuddos from a fellow styrene addict.
Lovely job! Nice colour combo. That retrac is a tricky kit to build. Today’s modellers aren’t used to assembling multi-piece bodies, and when you need clearance for an opening panel, often the tolerances don’t stack up in your favour. Either it’s tight to the point of immobility, or you’re left with huge panel gaps. Great find on that Lincoln.
Great work. I loved it when they gave you license plate decals to affix. Made the car seem more real.
They sure did. Much better than, say, ‘1962’ engraved in place.
I also built the ’59 Skyliner years ago. It is molded in yellow and I built it right out of the box. Now I wish I had done a two tone paint job like most of the real ones were done. The top works but the deck lid has never fitted properly. My modeling skills have progressed since I built it and I have redone many of my previous builds. However, I’m not sure I want to tackle this one again just for a color change.
You build some interesting models.
Yes, that deck lid needs about 1mm sanded off all around, from memory. And the hinges are too tight a fit in the body – add a coat of paint and you have no clearance for the parts to move.
The tricky thing is that the edges of the part are sort of undercut, angled at, say, 45 degrees rather then 90, and the closed deck lid is partly supported by its surrounds. Get that wrong and you’d have huge panel gaps. It’s all too easy to sand off too much…
Unfortunately this sort of thing is common on the old Revell kits that date back to the fifties. We just lived with it. It sure beat carving a car shape out of balsa!
l have a Revell ’57 Ranchero that I would like to redo as it is in the blue plastic that it was molded with. It was built in the ’60’s without any paint. I just don’t know if I can get the body apart and back together without damaging it. Those multi part bodies are a real pain.
I’ve heard that if you put it in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer, that breaks the glue bonds. Don’t know for how long. I think the result might depend on what kind of glue you used though.
yes freezing helps. There is also a spray available at auto parts stores which cools down parts to remove and that helps. If it’s a “glue bomb” however all bets are off.
Nice touch with the Cragar S/S wheels on the ’57 Fairlane. That wheel was all the rage when I was a teenager in the seventies.
Now, how do you get aftermarket rims for a model? 😉
Love the ’56 Ford models.
Yeah, the Cragar SS was THE classic style, somehow. Many of the older kits came with lots of optional parts, representing what we all wanted to put on our ‘real’ car, along with ones we wouldn’t – for example, custom parts were offered long after building customs out of new cars fell out of favour. I don’t recall whether the Cragars came with the Ford, or whether they were in my spares box. There are small companies that offer all sorts of cast-resin or 3D printed aftermarket parts for models (beware quality), plus the Japanese companies Aoshima and Fujimi do larger wheels for modern cars.
Amazing. Like them all but especially the ’56 Pink Thunderbird!
Thanks. That’s one of my favourites too.
What beautiful models sir! And done during your teens, I could only imagine how your more recent models turn out with all the experience you’ve accumulated over the decades! I would love to see some pics if you have some. Great great work!
Thank you, Jose.
Those teenage builds were done before I discovered spray paints – yes, about half of these were done with little cans of Humbrol enamel and brushes. Then I discovered using foil to replicate the chrome trim. I’m continually picking up little tips and tricks from other modellers on the internet.
My biggest problem is still impatience, over fifty years on!
Here’s my most recent build, a Ferrari California. I polished the body using a multi-step process taught me by an American FB friend.
Nice work! And all that I needed to take a trip down Memory Lane. I built that AMT ‘49 Mercury … when I was six years old. It didn’t look as good as yours 😀. That was just over 60 years ago. That summer, I built a lot of models, mostly AMT: the Mercury, a ‘32 Ford and a ‘34 Ford, a Chevy II wagon and a ‘57 TBird. Around the time school started, our neighbor bought a new B18 Volvo 544, red, and she took us all for a ride. I nagged her into stopping at the dime store, where I bought AMT’s ‘63 Galaxie fastback, which I took to school after finishing it, where it got destroyed by the class bully. My older sister beat him up. Looking forward to seeing your Sixties Ford collection.
Thanks! For that story, you win a ’63 Ford. 🙂
The only time I took models to school was when I had to give a talk in high school. I chose ‘Car design from 1930 to 1960’ as my topic, and illustrated the changes with models. It’s fun when you seem to be an expert on something the teacher knows absolutely nothing about! 😉 At that age even the class bullies were interested, and one girl got very friendly.
Plenty of sixties Fords to come. Plenty of other stuff too.
Thanks! Looks much nicer than I imagine my own short-lived ‘63 was. In college I took a History of Design class to fulfill a humanities requirement for my Engineering degree. It covered non-architectural mostly 3D design: furniture, cutlery, some fabrics and clothing, pottery and silverware etc. But NO CARS. I wrote a paper on some cars of the late 1920’s, comparing the simplicity of a Bugatti Type 35 to the excesses of an Avions Voisin. My professor admitted he’d never thought about cars, even after I pointed out that they’re one of the most visible designed products of the modern era (this was pre-personal electronics other than portable radios). I wonder if he added them to the class later …
Another eye-opening session with your superb models. I am in awe. It’s just something totally out of my skill set, having mangled a few in my early years.
Thanks Paul. I’m just thankful for the opportunity to share them with you guys.
Very nice as usual.
I worked in a hobby shop 1997-2005 and acquired quite a collection of kits at that point, most of which still haven’t been finished.
I did complete one of the Edsels and started a 2nd. On that one I removed the extra side trim to make it the cheaper Ranger model. I think the plan was to also make it a 2 or 4 door sedan rather than the hardtop.
I did manage to successfully assemble the multi piece body on a Skyliner but then got bogged down trying to re-engineer the folding top making hinges from wire and brass tube. Unfortunately, I was able to take a bunch of photos of a couple of real ones, and started realizing just how many compromises the kit makers had to make and the project stalled out while I was trying to figure out how much more to correct. What is that saying about perfect being the enemy of good? 🙂
Thanks Dan. Yeah, I think for each modeller there is a ‘comfort zone’, and if we try to push too far beyond it we get bogged down in our quest for scale perfection, to the point where the kit becomes a chore rather then a joy, and never gets finished. I have quite a few such stalled builds, and it’s usually major bodywork mods that bring my project to a halt. Like when I ‘corrected’ the wheelbase on a Mustang II, thought “That was easy!”, so then added one Mustang style cliche after another, and…..
You’d know the old Revell ’55 Chevy hardtop kit, the one with all the opening panels? I decided to do one of them with a 21st century skill set; adjustable brass hinges like on your Skyliner to make the panels fit flush, added extra plastic to close up the panel gaps, the works. I eventually got it finished, but every day it was on my bench it was like “Oh no, not that again”. Eventually I got it finished, shoved it in a box, and I haven’t seen it since!
That Crestliner above was my first (and so far most successful!) attempt at a major bodywork change. Bill does major custom bodywork – the sort that leaves you wondering what he started with – and can knock out model after model that are absolute jaw-droppers. He must have rooms full of trophies.
And some Japanese builders I’ve seen will add one or two mm of plastic here and there to correct a fault in a body line I can’t even notice compared to the original, in their quest for scale accuracy.
Then there’s Steve. His forte is underhood detail. He will try to replicate every wire and cable on the original. He finished a ’64 Bonneville last month, and it is just stunning. I don’t have the patience or dexterity for that kind of work, but I’m just amazed and inspired to see what is possible.
“Only eight Edsels”. Not a line likely to be read again anywhere else, and all the more delightful for it.
I’ve said it before, but will again – and will likely do so till the far-distant end of this series – what art. And what skill.
Unlike the Skyliner model, I dips me lid.
Thanks Justy. Have another Edsel!
I do have a ninth Edsel kit, as yet unbuilt. Something about the sheer exuberance and design excess of that era really appeals to me. Very much ‘the sky’s the limit’, with fins and rockets with chrome contrails, limitless power… Being a 1957 model myself probably helps.