Hi folks,

I was tempted to change the headline of this thread to "I got wood", but that old routed track makers´ joke might have been somehow misleading... ;-)

Anyay: I got wood! :-) My first resin ´68 Mercury station wagon is ready for some Sunday late night cruisin´!

Here are the latest pics I shot of this afternoon / early evening:

http://www.aus-dem-rahmen-gefallen.de/slotcars/ch_mercury_station_32.jpg

http://www.aus-dem-rahmen-gefallen.de/slotcars/ch_mercury_station_27.jpg

http://www.aus-dem-rahmen-gefallen.de/slotcars/ch_mercury_station_23.jpg

O.K. - before anybody´s claiming the lack of some more chrome trim: I know there could be more details added, but I wanted to keep it simple. Isn´t she looking just a little bit like a vintage Aurora car?

So far for today. Special thanks again to Rick (parkRNDL) for sending me the diecast - you´ll receive a pair of them next week! :-)

Oh! Just because some of you asked: Yes, I´m ready for taking small quantity orders for that body kit! 18 $ plus shippping (8 $ by airmail for up to 4 body kits). If interested please drop me a mail off this list! Thanks.

Greetings from Germany,

Claus

www.c-jet500.de.vu

Hi Claus :wave:
The wagon is too cool! It's either a '67 or '68 Mercury wagon, is'nt it? I have a 1:1 68 Ford wagon, so I gotta get a couple of those! Our 1:1 wagon goes to the paint shop soon, so I know what ya mean! Please put me on the list for 2! :thumbsup:

Best Regards from Daytona Beach.......
Larry

That's going to make a great looking Tjet. I can see a Ranchero sitting there too! Wish I still collected Tjets. Nice one. Can you say AFX? :devil: rr

WOOHOO! Been waiting for this one... I'm even trying to find little woodgrain decals. Thanx Claus!

hey Larry, before I shipped this off to Claus, I looked for pictures and stuff to confirm the year... everything I could find pointed to '68. The '67 has a horizontal bar across the middle of the grille and a couple other little differences. Here's a nice 1:1 '68:

http://www.lovefords.org/galleries/member/peterson_loren/68_mercury.htm

--rick

That one is truely GREAT!
I remember riding in the 3rd seat of my dads. ("keep your sticky little fingers off of that back glass! I just washed it!"
Funny,....he always had "just washed it"...heh!

Wagons are cool :thumbsup:

Cheers...

my son has gotten into the habit of fishtailing on the inside and sending me flying. I'm gonna have to get me one of these and send him for a flight or two. LOL. That's going to be a great body!

The Family Truckster! That wil be cool. Weird that it does not have front door handles...

Can you jump it? :tongue:

The Family Truckster! That wil be cool. Weird that it does not have front door handles...

Can you jump it? :tongue:

Believe it or not, there's a reason for the lack of door handles...

the diecast (it's a Playart) comes as either a fire chief or police vehicle, with a sticker the exact size and shape of the front door and a Fire or Police logo on it. The sticker won't lay flat if there's a door handle there. I have the Police one at home; the car is white and the sticker is black with white "POLICE" letters. guess it was cheaper than a tampo...

--rick

*aaaargh*!!! The door handles! I knew something was wrong (wondering about a reason for it myself)!!! :-|

Boys, couldn´t you have mentioned that BEFORE I painted the mold master ...? :-)))

O.K. - looks like I´ll have to somehow take the shape of the handles with a little bit of silicone from the rear doors. Delivery of the first resin bodies therfore may be delayed a day or two... ;-)

Thanks for all the kind words as well as the hint on the front door handles!!!

CU,

Claus

www.c-jet500.de.vu

Claus,
You could have removed the rear ones to keep it in sync. I'm sure most of the people buying one could paint a set on the doors to get that right look. :devil: rr

shaved & smooth...yeah.....that's the way I like'm........customs too!:devil:

AACK! no, guys, ya don't want him to take the rears off! I mean, sure, you could paint them on, but it's easy to shave them off the resin once you get it... it's way tougher to paint or otherwise put them on to get a stock, original Aurora look. Raised door handles will detail easy with a silver paint marker. I'm thinking one of these will look incredibly cool painted an Aurora color like turquoise or pale yellow or maybe lemon yellow, with the bumpers foiled to look like Aurora did them, and then just minimal chrome detailing with a paint pen and red taillights to look like Aurora's detailing... and then maybe we can get this guy (http://justwaterheaters.com.hosting.domaindirect.com/labels/htmls/Auroraweb.html) to print up a box label that says "Mercury COMMUTER" with some fictional Aurora stock number. It'd be a perfect phantom Tjet.

Of course, it'd also look good hyper-detailed in some late 60's color like metallic gold or metallic avocado green with wood paneling on the sides and a roof rack...

hey Claus, can you tell I've been planning? :D :rolleyes:

--rick

edit: by the way, Claus, I'm totally blown away by the fact that you can even get door handles on this thing... that kind of detail is waaay too small for me to get right...

....and sell it to the guy hawking the BTTF testshot for like a gajillion dollars!
Now THAT would be cool!

I definatley need one of those "Brady Bunch mobiles"........way cool, did those wheel wells line up like that or did that take modifications?

Hi folks,

thanks for all the encouraging words (really a great place here!)!

Without your comments I wouldn´t ever have noticed the lack of the front dorr handles (but would have saved 1/2 a Saturday afternoon... ;-))!

O.K. - here´s the current state of my project "68 Mercury wagon":

I took th e shape of the rear door handles with a piece of modeling clay. Then casted a pair of door handles in these "micro throw-away molds" in resin.

Removing the flash was kind of funny (ever were using an X-acto blade on a piece you can´t tell if it´s up- or downside?) - then applied the replica handles with a toothpick and Microscale Crysatl Clear (what a cool stuff!).

And here we are right now:

http://www.aus-dem-rahmen-gefallen.de/slotcars/ch_mercury_station_08.jpg

BTW: The lil´ white spot on the front door is the thing I was talking about...! ;-)

I wish you all a great rest of a great weekend!

Greetings from Germany,

Claus

www.c-jet500.de.vu

P.S.: Yes, the diecast is a tightfit for a LWB T-Jet - no modifications on the chassis needed! :-)

Your going to wear out the mold for that one. You had better set up two master molds. Do you take Pay Pal? I want a green one to put woodgrain on, and a cop paddy wagon.

Are you taking orders yet?

Hi folks,

thanks for all your kind words that were forcing me to get this project finished as fast as I could. I just edited my first ´69 Mercury posting (and changed the pictures there)!

Anyway. Here are another 2:

http://www.aus-dem-rahmen-gefallen.de/slotcars/ch_mercury_station_10.jpg

http://www.aus-dem-rahmen-gefallen.de/slotcars/ch_mercury_station_12.jpg

Greetings to all,

Claus

www.c-jet500.de.vu

Claus, you’re a hard act to follow! That looks brilliant! Great detail. I really like your application of the “ wood grain”.
You will have to post more pics of it—I mean I like a rear end just as much as the next man, but I have to see the front details too.
I like the colour too. You mold directly in colour---what do you use as a resin dye?
How the heck can one get started doing this, when guys like you keep putting out fine replicas as this? When can I find the time to start, when tempting projects like this come along?

What this means Claus, is yes, I would like to be put on the list of receivers for one, myself.
With all the replies to get one of these from the board members, are you going to do a mass casting and bulk mailing?

A great job all around, Claus! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Cheers!

Claus, that's just ASTOUNDING... I am eagerly awaiting getting these! Thanks!!!

hey, the wood on the sides... looks like you painted a dark brown first, then dry-brushed the light brown? I think I'll try that instead of fooling with decals.

Definitely a worthy successor to this Aurora wagon:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2618&item=5961973942&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW (http://www.qksrv.net/click-1606754-5463217?loc=http%3A//cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll%3FViewItem%26item%3D5961973942)

in fact, I think yours is better looking!

OUTSTANDING!! and if you like the "original Aurora" look, I might have an accessory for you that will go well with this wagon... Do you have any of the clear plastic boxes with the colored (usually yellow I think) end caps that Aurora Tjets came packaged in?

Who says Aurora never made this?

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/colpkpic.jpg

Or this?

http://home.comcast.net/%7Erwurtz/images/eldopic.jpg

These labels are just drafts... I hope to find some heavy yellow paper at work in the next couple of days, and print the box labels on it at a higher resolution. If you haven't already done stuff like this, I'd be happy to send you a couple to use for display...

--rick

Thanks for the flowers, dude! It feels great to get them from the BOSS himself! :-)))

Errr, instead of a new picture thread I edited the very first posting and changed the preview pix of the raw diecast against some of the finished blue babe (and yes, they show her front!).

Color casting isn´t a big deal: I got several marmelade glasses full of colored resin compound "A" at home that I can choose from when casting ("hmmm, what color do I cast today..?"). There are special resin dye products available (but they´re epensive!), a much easier (and cheaper) way is to use simple enamel paint (Humbrol, Revell, Testors or whatever is available at your place). You just have to strictly avoid any water based (acrylic) paint as your resin will turn to foam then (PU is hygroscopic!).

Hah! So I really got you thinking about DIY resin casting!? Go ahead and make your first steps (it may hurt but it´s worth it)! :-)

"Mass casting and bulk mailing": Nah, I´m stilll doing this for fun as it´s my hobby! I like to share my joy about those little cars with people suffering from the same disease (but I´m not really frustrated when I got a payback for my investments in mold making silicone, resin and at least a little of my spare time in the end...)! ;-)

I usually only make one mold per body. When the mold is worn out (i.e. after about 30 bodies cast) that body isn´t available any more. Too much more diecasts and projects waiting for a new life as a slot car instead of sitting in a junk box or on a shelf...!

BTW: My memory is really not THAT good as well! :-P I remembered having read your name way back on SCI but I did NOT remember what we were talking about then! So your memory probably is serving better than mine... :-)

Best regs and greetings from Germany,

Claus

www.c-jet500.de.vu

P.S.: Here´s a front shot of my Mercury again (just in case you don´t go back to page 1 of this thread):

http://www.aus-dem-rahmen-gefallen.de/slotcars/ch_mercury_station_32.jpg

Claus, It seems no matter what car you are driving those girls just are not getting in!


Nice work on the car... looks great!

wow. the talent of the people here blows me away. Claus, that thing is amazing!

Hi Rick,

I´m glad you like how that project turned out! :)

Hmm, no, I don´t have any of those old Aurora yellow capped boxes (only a couple of those "snap-top" ones). I usually don´t care for original boxes (I keep all of those Faller, Bauer and Aurora boxes in a huuuge box in the farest edge of my attic), but for that one I´d make an exception from the rule and display my Mercury (or one of them...) not somewhere around my track but on a shelf (Eeeeee! A shelf queen then! I always avoided that!!!)! :-)

For the wood panels: Yes, they´re dry-brushed bright brown over solid dark brown (matt enamel paint). I was doing some trial and error on a junk resin body (too much of them in a shoe box under my workbench anyway...), it´s really easy to do with the right brush! Thought about making decals too, but I think paint is a lot easier.

Now that I keep looking at my own car here I think about adding some surrounding chrome again. Maybe thin stripes of BareMetal would work. Let´s try that later...

Dude, look out for the postman around the end of next week...!

Greetings from Germany,

Claus

www.c-jet500.de.vu

Claus, It seems no matter what car you are driving those girls just are not getting in!

I´m married to a quite jealous wife, so the girls better stay where they are...! :freak:

Best regards,

Claus

wwwc-jet500.de.vu