1949 Mercury Lead Sled

[slammd454SS]

Now ive had the fascination of own or creating a lead sled for a long time now, but havent had the guts to chop a top on one until i came across this modified piece that was at the Spring Cleaning meeting, the top has been chopped all of 3/16", back windows are filled in, hood had been modified on the corners giviung it a more round look, the trunk has been pancaked & a resin continental kit has been put in place, or thats how it was when i got it...Since i put my grimey hands on it, its went flat black with a set of 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 hubcaps w/handpainted whitewall tires, the engine has came out of the 1937 Ford Convertible kit & fits perfectly. Ive also scratchbuilt the inside of the trunk area since i did a lil modifying to get the rear end down a lil lower. Ive hinged the trunk with copper tubing & brass wire as well as the hood. This is my first attempt to making the hood go opposite of the normal direction & came out just right. I will be adding a set of lake pipes on both sides out of solder, im also tunneling the headlights i added a set of tail lights from the '57 ford fairlane. For right now im not usre if it'll stay black like this or Tamiya Mica Blue... heres some pics

PICS:


http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a348/slammed454ss/lead4.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a348/slammed454ss/lead3.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a348/slammed454ss/lead2.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a348/slammed454ss/lead1.jpg

if the original owner of the model would please tell me whom he/she is, id could appreciate the work thats been put into it more.

[Matt Wadlinger]

Cool custom Merc'. Good start, or continuation.

[Zoom Zoom]

I'll bet that came from Steve Linngren. Think he's roasting on a beach somewhere this week :)

[slammd454SS]

ahhhh, ok...that was last week for me.

[Dennis]

Thats looking sweet!! Keep us posted on the progress!

[slammd454SS]

yanno, for some reason i knew dennis would like this in flat black.....i do have a color picked out for it...Tamiya Racing blue, hopefully thats deep enuf for the smoothness of this car.

[GTmike400]

I love '49s. I look forward to seeing more.

[Steve_L]

The Mercury is looking great!

Believe it or not, I started working on it around 1983 or 1984. (Back then I was doing body work with Plastic Wood.) I took it just so far and put it on the shelf. I was always going to get back to it, but never did.

I am pleased that you are able to accomplish what I was not able to. Good work!

Steve

[Boxstock]

Make sure you brng it to the next meeting I would like to see it up closer...looks great..:D :D :D

[willimo]

Looks really cool. I wish there was some way to get pinstriping on model cars... I know there are some decals but they never seem to come out right. A car like this would be amazing in flat black (or some other primer) with scale pinstriping. I think the blue will look stellar, too, don't get me wrong.

Also, please excuse my ignorance, but I hear a lot about hoods or trunks or whatnot being "pancaked" but have yet to hear a reasonable explanation of what that is. The only pancakes I know are the ones I eat with cane syrup, or the ones that win you 4-square battles when you're a kid at summercamp.

[slammd454SS]

ok, "pancaking" as they call it in rodding is cutting the trunk in half,... this trunk originally went all the way down to the bumper location as to where Steve, looked to have glued in place & cut it where the curve of the hood was supposed to be for the downward angle, giving the trunk the pancake or flattened look instead of having the curve hanging.

Steve: yeah i sanded it back down to white plastic, i wanted to see what & where the cuts were made, You definitely gave me a good starting point and i have a second one thats gonna be a convertible to this one...a sister car.

The interior trunk area i already sprayed out with Cobra Colors Grigio Silverstone Metallic, as well as the continental kit & parts of the interior to cut up the blue.

The Rides 1949 merc kit is the donor to the pieces i dont have, which all i can see will be front & rear bumpers & a few other chrome accessories.

[BRE350Z]

This looks cool, adds true meaning to the term "old school".

Wayne

[slammd454SS]

since the last post ive bought another 49'er kit, the Rides collection just to fiddle fart & do something different with a merc, such as cut the whole entire roof off & mold in the fender skirts. Ive also laid down the Tamiya TS-51 Racing blue over the flat black primer giving it a very dark & very deep paint job with amazing flake & topped it off with Model Master High gloss clear....this is by far my best paint job to date even w/o buffing it out.

Ive added a chrome rear bumper to the extended coninental kit to give it some relative flair which will go with the chrome from the grill when i get around to putting it in.

For a car thats nearly 25 years old, its definitely looking cool for its age! Ive caught myself just sitting and staring at it for lengths of time.....

And dont get me wrong, but do i need to jump the seating arrangements?