Fallacious Ford

Not quite a new build, this AMT 1/25 '32 Ford had been sitting unloved for years in my stash, until a Group Build on the Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum rekindled an interest. The concept was to build an aviation-themed car kit, and there were some really creative solutions. This particular kit was awful – soft mouldings, loads of flash, indifferent fit of parts – but I derived a perverse sense of enjoyment in building something other than a plane and totally spurious. I went with a 'yellow-wings' theme and scratch built a cockpit using sheet styrene and spares from an old Airfix 1/24 Bf109. The biggest challenge was the gloss paintwork – I simply don't know how you car guys get those rich, deep, mirror-like finishes. I used Tamiya spray-paints and they behaved superbly, which I then polished using Tamiya compounds. Unfortunately the application of U.S. markings necessitated a few coats of Future/Pledge, and that somehow seemed to take the edge off the factory finish I was going for. Still, I learnt a lot and am tempted to build another car (probably not an AMT kit, though).