going for the mercury first like real car from me all i build where hot rods fenderless stuff ... so this will be something different for me haha

started simple by cleaning the side moldings



after some filing > smooth



removed the pillar in the side window and also the 2 pillars in the back window







i wanted to keep the roof original but its itching to chop it .. i wan to look at some mercs tomorrow and then decide

started on the stance , made metal pins in the steering rod , what amt made up wasnt really working

lowering was easy since amt provided a stock and lowered version



loose on the table with the fender skirts



then started some cleaning , the rain gutter had to go



gone , redid the doors panellines , still rough work need to be finetuned later



headlights , there where to options like a stock one and a custom one where the glass was sitting deeper in the housing ..
i was playuing around and sanded a bit on the originals and glued them in from behind instead of through the front and man that was the look i wanted deep and the lines where just perfect





when i put it on the wheels i saw the tyres where to much on the outside like to close to the well , so i am changing the wheel backs and make the rack more narrow



the stance was pretty spot on like they look in real life hanging back a bit , (rake) but i never likes that .. so i used smaller diameter tyres to get the front lower and get the wheels turning all the way in and out

found the absolute perfect wheel tyre combi !!!

i looked at a lot of pictures of merc's and in general i really loved the wheels on the black one below

also the fender skirt in the gap .. going to to that instead of on top



i also love when the wheels are in more , like a more narrow track



now back to the wheels on the black one ... now i just should find these hub caps in my partsbox (yeeejjj) almost identical , i will make the center flat and add some bullet type centers in these , together with the white walls i just love these

well people are saying chop the roof chop the roof but so far i still dig the stock roof hight ....maybe .. not sure yet


made the kit mount backs for the wheels a lot more narrow and made it so they fit in the tyre with the rim / hub cap
so now its low and the wheels are more in the well
this is how it sits on the front wheels , all mounted




and this is why i did the more narrow track now it looks realistic when it steers in or out clearance wise



it will look more exiting with the bullets in the center sticking out a bit



and that hood needed to be cleaned so i sanded the merc name and logo of and the center molding , while keeping a look out for the wedge line in the middle so all the lines where preserved





the front window opening was ... hmmz after removing the center pilalr so i sanded that so the shape was nice and smooth al aroumd



and this seems small but i removed the ugly molded windshield wipers man i had to remove a ton of material to get that whole strip smooth , in the end i even filed and sanded a new shape in it and using a round file made a transition from the falt part to the pillars ..

cut the fenderskirts so they fall in the wheel well //



this is just after glue-ing them in on the bottom i need to sand them in shape so they flow into the bodyline



sitting on al 4 wheels , this is the ride hight , i really tryed to go nice and low but still keep it realistic , everything runs free ..also glued in some styrene on the corner of the hood the seem was to wide there



better shot of the ride hight

well first i put in the rear splash pan , needed a lot of reshaping to fit

then the trunk was next and mannnn....
amt figured you need to put the hinge on and on final assembly put the hinge inbetween te body and interiour tub ,, i could already see that would never work .. the sact where the hinges go was horrible

to i cut the part that closes in the hinge of the interiourtub and sanded it and put the trunk on with tape and glued in the part thats holds the hinge

now the thing is when the trunk is on and follows the round lines of the rear side wings there way a massive hight difefrence between the trunk and the part inbetween the trunk and rear window .....

the easyest solution for me was to make sure the trunk sat right on the round shapes and deal with the hight difefrence later , the material was uber thick so removing stuff was an option



after the glue dryed the hinge was in placxe and luckely the trunk stayed in place , cant move around and opens perfect



closed up you see the edge i drawn along it with a fineliner



after a whole whole lot of filing , sanding i got it flush
now also removed the edge along the rear window , the molding .. to match the rest of the smoothness ...
from the rear windows to the trunk a also reshaped the line , there was a molding and i smoothened that out ..
most work went into all the round shapes around the trunk and rear pillars..

also the transition from the trunk onto the rear window was a lot of work since i needed to make sure it flowed in a angle and i kept all the roundness






a bit of bondo where i nicked the trunk with my file and i cleaned teh gas cap .. after i clean this up i can start custom taillights , frecnhed in the body

dryfit sitting on the wheels



i could make a louvred hood .. not sure yet because thats what the other kits have and i want this to be kind of difefrent from the main style



glued on the front lower pan , it should sit on the chassis but i want everything nice and tight so i changed that ... almost looks like primer already got the body pretty smooth



this is why the left side shape is off so that needs reshaping



bummer i love the chrome bumper at the front but on the rear i didnt really like it .. maybe i change some stuff on the rear so the bumper sits different

i still need to fill the corners of the hood also big gaps there


first removed the splash pan and fitted the one that already has mountings for the rear bumper this also sets it back more ..
the idea of the closed splash pan was to let the bumper hug the car more but in the end that looks bad











now the corners of the hood need work you can see the gaps

did the corners of the hood and made them longer , need to finsand the shape but the gaps are gone



other side , this was easyer here i could heat the styrene and pull it out a tad and sand it again



started on the taillights



drilled holes



i only had the kit tails , those dual caddilac style things that are one piece without a clear lense , nonono
so i found 2 small great shaped lenses and made it so they fit tight in the holes , almost one with the body only sticking out a tiny bit
on the back i glued round buckets that act as spacer and after paint i can use that to glue the lenses



look at the pics below , my vision is like the proportions of the body and roof are great .. like if i would chop the roof the sides would be long .. i know i can dut the sides but naahh..









so my feeling was i actually like the stock roof hight