58 T-Bird HT/CV

Here's a recent OOB buildup of Monogram's vintage 1958 Thunderbird from the latest 2-in-1 release. The kit was tooled in 1963, and has held up well. A good level of detail for the era, certainly nicer than the annual kits that were afflicted with wire axles and pretty poor underhood detail. This is one of those cars that took me years to really appreciate, and finding photos of a particular car in a particular color combo really lit up my enthusiasm.

Biggest issues were leveling the body around and rescribing the panel lines, mainly around trunk, taillight bezels, and fender skirts. I also had to add some styrene card to a few of the door edges for a better fit. Found some photos of a really cool color combo and went with it (a mixture of decanted Tamiya sprays, including pearl light blue, mica blue, etc); better yet right after I built this I saw one in the same colors on the top of a car carrier driving northbound up I-75 :cool:

http://images55.fotki.com/v509/photos/8/10258/9543327/IMG_1749-vi.jpg

http://images114.fotki.com/v145/photos/8/10258/9543327/IMG_1754-vi.jpg

http://images114.fotki.com/v145/photos/8/10258/9543327/IMG_1752-vi.jpg

http://images55.fotki.com/v507/photos/8/10258/9543327/IMG_1756-vi.jpg

http://images55.fotki.com/v507/photos/8/10258/9543327/IMG_1747-vi.jpg

That's totally bad-ass. Is that all original kit chrome?

Nice lady :sunglasse

That's totally bad-ass. Is that all original kit chrome?

Thanks, yes the chrome parts are all from the kit. I did use bare metal foil on the door vents and for all the trim on the hardtop.

A beautiful and great top notch build. Your work is flawless.

Absolutely stunning work - hard to believe that it's a 60s tooled kit. All your effort with the body has paid off though - the door gaps & alignment are so good that I was very surprised to scroll down & see that they are opening!!

Great look. I like the general finish model and the paint color.