Duesenberg Town Car - FINISHED

[Nacho Z]

As with all of my build threads, I will put all WIP pics and final pics in this thread. This model will kick off my 2014-2015 building season. I say season because I tend to do all of my building during the November through April time frame. I always like to start my season with what I consider an easy project.

I have no idea if this kit is all that common or if it is worth big money. I picked it up very cheaply. It is NOT a metal / diecast model. It is a plastic model that is completely plated. I have decided that it will be an out-of-box build with no detailing whatsoever. I am not going to add washes, stains, etc. I'm sure it would look better with those, but again, this is my first build of the season and I am going to keep it simple.

First up will be the kits contents. I will add WIP pics as I go. Comments and questions are always welcomed!

[harron68]

Kind of crazy! I remember seeing a real 1920s PACKARD with silver painted body and light green trim. This reminds me of that one. Good luck deciding on what to leave chrome and what to do painted!

[heepey]

WOW! That's a whole lot of Shiney.

[robert1]

I like these Dusenberg kits. I am currently working on my 3rd and 4th builds. I think they are good kits to build, but I do advise test fitting more than you may usually do with a build.

[IceMan555]

All gold and chrome. Interested to see the result.

[Nacho Z]

Yeah guys, this will be an interesting build. This is not my usual subject. BTW, I put this is "Showroom Stock" because it was the closest cat. I don't think there are any 100% plated Duesenbergs out there, but you never know.....lol.

Harron68 - no painting on this one. Just leaving it as is, right out of the box. I have the regular version of this kit too and that will be the one I detail.

Robert - yep, I am test fitting everything. I have to look several steps ahead to see what parts need to be sanded or scraped before gluing. Getting the frame rails squared up and parallel has been the biggest challenge so far.

Heepey and Iceman - interestingly, it seems that there are several "shades" of chrome. Some is more satin than chrome. It is hard to tell due to the age of the kit. I think some of the chrome is tarnished.

I should be posting some pics in the next day or two!

[Nacho Z]

Just a reminder, there will be no extra detailing on this build. What you see is straight out of the box. Because eveything is plated I cannot really fill and/or sand seams and ejector pin marks. But like I said, this is my first build of the season and it is supposed to be easy and fun. I have finished the engine and the chassis. In the two following pictures, the chassis is not complete. I tend to be several steps ahead of my posted pictures.

[fireguy14]

Very cool! Progressing nicely, John.

[Nacho Z]

I am really having fun with this build. I'm not sweating the small stuff, (or the big stuff.... ) I'm making pretty good progress. Most of my time is spent test fitting parts and scraping / sanding the plated areas that need to be glued. This build is providing good lessons for when I build the regular version. This model will probably never leave my hobby room.

Enough talk, on to the pictures. The chassis is done and on all four, and they all touch at the same time! Interestingly, when I see the head-on picture I can see the seam down the middle of the tires. Can't see them with the naked eye. I began sanding one tire but did not really see a difference so I stopped. Again, not sweating the small stuff. You can see that the plating is not super shiny. I have been wearing latex and neoprene gloves during the build. This keeps finger oils off of the plating but a little bit of powder gets on it. I will wipe the model down later.







Here are a few assembled bits and pieces that I did while other sub-assemblies were drying.

[shaggy]

I always love seeing something different. This is different and definitely COOL! -Shag

[Eddie]

Wow, that is so cool. I've never seen one of these kits before.

[fireguy14]

Outstanding, John! Have always wanted to see one of these done, and yours is looking terrific!

[Nacho Z]

As I predicted, work has taken its toll on my free time. It has been about a month since I was able to work on this model. I was able to squeeze some bench time in over Christmas week. Getting the body unto the chassis was a little tricky. There were minor twists in both. Because this is supposed to be a fun, quick, non-contest build I glued and clampered her down the best I could without doing any modifications. I did have to do some very minor sanding in a few places to get the body to settle down. The exhaust pipes do not even come close to where they should go. I think it has to do a lot with the plating. It is so thick, and everything is plated, that it does not alow the parts to "settle" into their places.

There is probably more square inches, (feet?), of plated flash in this kit then there are plated pieces in some others. I can kind of touch up the silver but not the gold. I have nothing that even comes close to the gold.

Here are a couple of pictures of where she sits tonight. I don't have much left and what is left looks pretty straight forward.

[fireguy14]

John, that is still a very good looking build. I like it a lot! Cannot wait for the finished pictures of it.

[Nacho Z]

Here is a good picture of the plated flash I joked about in my last post. Actually, if you look at the very first photo in this thread, the photo of the box art, you will see that the builder left some flash on the front bumpber. It is below and to the left of the center emblem on the bumper....haha.





And here are a couple of update pictures. There are plenty of headlights on this thing!

[shaggy]

Lookin' good!! THIS kit would be an absolute nightmare for somebody who wanted to have every piece to fit and finished just-so, I would imagine.... The bill for re-plating would be astronomical I'm sure.... BTW, Tamiya clear yellow over silver won't mask the little stuff on the gold? -Shag

[Nacho Z]

Hey Shaggy, that is a good idea about the Tamiya clear yellow. Unfortunately I don't have any. It is funny, some of the parts fit great while others are just ridiculous. When I have trouble with parts fitting or even parts location, I will look at the box art car. I have noticed that the builder of that car had problems too! According to the instructions, it looks like this model was first released in 1969 and this release is 1974. She will definitely be a 3-footer!

[Nacho Z]

I wrapped this one up tonight. I keep a log of hours worked on each model, it is just something I do. This one has 26 hours in it. A relatively quick build for me. I should note that there are no pics of this car with the hood on. That is because it doesn't fit and I didn't want to spend the time to make it fit. It is complete and it looks good, it just has to sit beside the car . On to the pics!

[rambenna]

LOOKS great

[fireguy14]

Very nice job, John!

[Eddie]

Beautiful!! The Gold sets of the chrome nicely!!

[jerry]

Looks good to me. But that chrome finish hurts the eyes!!!! I must say that the gold looks interesting though.