O Scale Motor Chronicle Vol. XIII May 10 2013

Wow, RG&E - now part of Iberdrolla USA. Haven't thought about them for quite a while.  Nice scene there. I am the same way: building and modifying vehicles, buildings, and locos is my favorite pastime - my wife insists the layout is just an excuse to have something to model.

This week’s vehicular arrivals to my layout are two very different Nash products – I’m still working on getting some DeSotos, and another Packard and Studebaker – all four were iconic brands when I was young but gone long before I ever had a chance to  visit a showroom as an adult.  Anyway, the maroon ’54 Nash Ambassador is a Brooklin model, one of the few I have paid list price for what I think is a terribly overpriced model: for $125 I got a very heavy over-painted lump of metal.  Yes, it has a close resemblance to the shape of the prototype but no fine trim and poor assembly quality (see Photo 2 - the rear window misses the car body and its window fram by a scale two to three inches).  Still, no other big Nash was available when I ordered and I wanted one  As I’ve done on the two other Brooklin lumps I have (’48 Buick, ‘50 Plymouth) I used an X-Acto blade to carefully scratch paint and primer off of the Ambassador’s  “chrome” trim to expose bright metal and improve the looks. 

More than the Ambassador, I had wanted a Nash Metropolitan for ages – I thought they were the coolest car in the world when I was a kid, and particularly wanted a turquoise and white one.  This Dinky/Matchbox Metro was about half the price of the Brooklin (okay . . . it’s only half the size).  Very impressive – just a jewel of a little model car!  Look at that upholstery, dashboard, and trim detail!

Richard, Very nice Job.

Lee, $125.00- Ouch!!! Although I have paid 50-60-70.

Brooklin has, what is almost, a "cult following". NEO/American Excellence has far better detail for $50. less.

Well, I really wanted a Nash.  Our neighbors had one when I was five years old.  I thought it incredibly cool that the wheels were mostly covered up.

And speak of the devil - without warning the Desoto I had backordered showed up within a minute of my posting my reply earlier to this thread.  It, too, is a Brooklin, but bought at a discount (still, about $80) but it's one of the better ones with a good deal of chrome trim applied, etc.  Still, the trim around the windows was not done, and I spent a good portion of the last hour carefully painting what you see around the windows in the photo below.

I love the "generic-ness" of this 1954 Desoto Firedome V8.  It is a little bit of everything and has no particular character of its own.  You could tell a Nash was a Nash or a Studebaker a Studebaker or a Buick a Buick from far away, but with this, it looks a bit like everything else - a generic '50s sedan. 

Nice models!

But I admit that it was the gas holder that really caught my eye. There were two enormous twin gas holders in Shrewsbury, MO (just outside St. Louis city limits) that were operational into the 21st century. They went empty soon after 9/11 (no surprise), and were dismantled a few years after that.

I do like this Desoto, Great chrome. I remember the car also, it had a nice plush interior with huge cushion seats. (ode to the good old days). Nice Model.

Richard - Great idea!  This week, I was kitbashing a couple of Korber tank kits and started thinking about modeling a gas holder.  Like nickaix above, I remember the Gasometers (gas holders) in Saint Louis and wondered how hard it would be to model.

You had a perfect solution.  You did a great job!

This thread has become one of my favorites.  Nice cars, guys!

Here is an additional note for novice modelers on gasholders. They were telescopic and raised and lowered in relation the volume of gas contained. The external framework supported the sections.
The Cornerstone kit can be built at one of three different heights.

they were also called Gasometers.

Some of my Packards.

Bob

Motel diorama and Coke cars.

BK - nice collection of Coca-Cola vehicles.  I hope you won't be aghast at my two repainted Coke cars, which I bought a steep discounts, disassembled, primed, and repainted and reassembled, without breaking or losing any of the tiny trim pieces!.  Out of the box these two were an exact match for the two of the same make and model that you have.  

Nice job Lee.

Wow!  What fun.  Beautiful work, guys!

I like to buy in quantity and usually get a good deal. I bought the Coke cars for parts or resale whicheve3r comes first. I have several Chrysler bodies that need everything and the Coke car is a good donor car.

Bob

Donor Coke Chrysler with partially completed green Chrysler that needs the trim added.

Bob

Nice re-paint job.  You have the trim on the red car. 

One way or the other -- it just happens, and frankly I've made a few mistakes and ruined a few cars -- I've accumulated a good number of donar cars with little more left than body shells.  I figure to paint them with flats, weather them, and make a really good wrecking yard with a few of them, in time.

Lee; I remember seeing wrecking yards (aka junk yards) aside or accross the road from Trailer Parks.

Speaking of repainting, I did this little puppy over the weekend.  This TR-4 was light blue with hideous big racing numbers on the sides and hood - which unlike most would not come off with alcohol and rubbing, goo off, etc.  So I sanded it all with #400 to get them off and repainted it a more proper British sports car color.  In an experiment, I did not disassemble the car but masked everything (windshield, grill, wheels & tires) I did not plan to repaint, and further, did not prime it.  The first short cut, not disassembling/masking, worked well, the second only marginally well - got some minor orange peel.  Still, the car looks decent here, at Nigel's British Motorcars, where two prospective buyers are admiring it.