Packard Darrin Convertible and Coupé Parisienne by Western Models

[Tom]

Perfect colour for the Cabriolet! PE looks great, waiting for it all to come together...

[LUW]

What Tom said

[Jean B.]

Perfect colour for the Cabriolet! PE looks great, waiting for it all to come together...

Thanks for your approval, so the Convertible will get a fresh and cool yellow! Today I've tried to sort out most of the parts and get the whole project "cleaned up". So I really hope to show some real progress from day to day from now on...

What Tom said

Right said Fred... ahem, Tom ! I'm looking forward now to the clear lacquer for the Convertible and how the yellow will then look like. It's always hard to make the choice for a certain colour, but meanwhile I become more courageous regarding the colours. So put on your sunglasses for the following photos showing the interior for the convertible :

Second (and last) layer of matte yellow

A strong green for the interior

The persenning

Another layer of glossy black

A light silver gray for the interior of the Coupé

Profile rings for the tires and pedalries painted semi-matte black

The louvers for the Coupé are a kind of fantasy, as on the (only) blurry photo of the car it is hardly to recognize how these parts did look like. They seem to have had a special design, at least I found no other Packard of that time with louvers which show resemblance to the ones on the photo...

[Tom]

Yellow and green... hmmm, distinctive and bold.

[Jean B.]

Yellow and green... hmmm, distinctive and bold.

...and referring to the vintage ad, showing the car in this livery . Well, I had the fantasy of a Hollywood star, cruising along a seaside boulevard in early summertime, the scent of oranges in the air *sigh*...

Going ahead! After a third (and last) coating with matte yellow (light colours always cover the primer very badly...), the first thin layer of clear lacquer was applied. Now the body can be handled without too much danger regarding stains and fingerprints:



The Coupé is now polished, chrome parts around the headlights are scratched through, first retouches were made:





And another tiny gimmick, the licence plates:

[Tom]

Nice, you're making good progress here! I'm sure the black one will look great, so I'm looking forward to seeing the yellow one near completion.

[Jean B.]

Nice, you're making good progress here! I'm sure the black one will look great, so I'm looking forward to seeing the yellow one near completion.

Two steps forward, one step back ! Completion of the yellow one will take some further time... After having applied the first coating with clear lacqer, I examined the body carefully under the magnifying glass, and I was very unhappy . I made several mistakes, beginning with a grey primer, although a white primer is necessary for light colours. The yellow paint based on white matte paint from Humbrol, but this type has too much filling pigments in it which make the colour very rough when dried. This leads to stains and dirt only when watching the car . Once more I made a cut and stripped it again. As I'm busy with some other things at the moment, I could today only apply the first new - white! - primer:

[Tom]

Yes, yellow paint is really transparent.

[gilma]

Great progress Jean, always a pleasure to see the new colors, and that green is bold - very interesting to see it in the car
There are so many parts, and I think it pays off and adds a lot to the final result.

[Jean B.]

Yes, yellow paint is really transparent.

... and I knew that before ! Interesting thing to make something of which you know that it wouldn't work. What would Dr. Freud say?

Great progress Jean, always a pleasure to see the new colors, and that green is bold - very interesting to see it in the car There are so many parts, and I think it pays off and adds a lot to the final result.

Hope to get to the final result before X-mas! And meanwhile I'm quite sure to change the green as well, to get closer to the vintage ad (shown at the beginning of this topic), but that's no big matter

At least the body has its good shape again, and it is now bright white and ready for new painting:



Now I'm going to airbrush with gloss enamel paint, and as there is a different colour range compared to the matte paints, I'll have to mix a new shade of yellow. This time it should get a little bit lighter:



Tomorrow we will see the first layer of paint on the car

[Jean B.]

And now I've got the perfect yellow for the car (this time with gloss finish), here with its first coating:



The persenning with flat mat overspray by AlClad2:



...of course with small rivets:



Wheels are ready now:



The green interior also got a new shade, a littel bit "lighter & softer":

[Tom]

Much better on the yellow/green combo. Excellent in every single detail.

[LUW]

Yep, that color combo will look great on it.

[Jager]

Love the wheels Jean...looking forward to seeing these with the black Coupe Parisenne.

[Jean B.]

Much better on the yellow/green combo. Excellent in every single detail.

Thank you . Sometimes it needs a second start, I guess. And although I always thought I'd had an artist's talent, I meanwhile experienced how difficult it is to mix a colour! This time it was quite difficult to get a light and cool yellow, this was achieved by mixing some drops of a light green into the yellow.

Yep, that color combo will look great on it.

The lighter green for the interior looks quite good! Interesting that any colour applied on the car looks much darker and more intensive than a simple test on a cardboard

Love the wheels Jean...looking forward to seeing these with the black Coupe Parisenne.

Me, too! I'm looking forward that this combination will look "straight & elegant"...

Much to do, and unfortunately only few time to work on the Packards... Here's a picture under daylight with the first dry coating of the new yellow:



...and here's the second coating. Let's hope that the paint is already thick enough to get to sanding and polishing (when it's completely hardened):



And here's a first example for the side mirror and the p/e hood ornament:

[Tom]

Those last two are incredible works of miniature art!
Model manufacturers never use the actual shade of paint used on the 1:1, because it always turns out darker on the model. The yellow now looks like it belongs on the car, excellent mix.

[LUW]

How in heavens did you make that swan?!?

[Jager]

How in heavens did you make that swan?!?

Fantastic work

[reeft1]

How in heavens did you make that swan?!?

Fantastic work

[Jean B.]

Those last two are incredible works of miniature art! Model manufacturers never use the actual shade of paint used on the 1:1, because it always turns out darker on the model. The yellow now looks like it belongs on the car, excellent mix.

I'll have that in mind for the future, thanks for the hint!

How in heavens did you make that swan?!?

Fantastic work

Thank you so much, but really: to make such a swan or generally that kind of mascot is rather easy, compared to other challenges... May I show you, how to do it? First choose a photo, showing the profile and details:



Then designing the rough shape. Choosing a transparent fond, this is with InkScape (or another graphic programme) quite easy:



Now modelling the contures, adding some details (if necessary), examining if all parts have measurements that can be photo-etched (lines and gaps should have 0.25mm width at least):





Making a front and a reverse side, etching it two times (mirrored), and then glueing the parts together, afterwards spreading the wings carefully, and that's all

Main work for today was sanding and polishing the yellow Packard. Not so easy as I've thought, as the light colour gets very dirty while polishing, and when cleaning the car, the shine is slightly fading. But I think I'll leave it this way, looks quite nice:

[Tom]

Thanks for the tutorial, still very impressive.
The yellow looks ace. Might turn out to be hard to pick a favourite this time!

[LUW]

"Quite" easy for you
I would have ended up with a Yucky.

[Jager]

You make the mascot sound easy Jean, but I wonder how much time you spent doing it. I could see you spending several hours just to get this little detail right.

[Jean B.]

Thanks for the tutorial, still very impressive.The yellow looks ace. Might turn out to be hard to pick a favourite this time!

Meanwhile I try to make different tiny parts in "3D". If you combine and bend two or three p/e parts, you can indeed make parts which look like casted or moulded ones. And it's fun to make two cars of the same type, although this is - of course - not everytime the case...

"Quite" easy for you I would have ended up with a Yucky.

Patience, my friend, patience! Es ist noch kein Meister vom Himmel gefallen (no master has fallen from the sky yet), as we say in Germany!

You make the mascot sound easy Jean, but I wonder how much time you spent doing it. I could see you spending several hours just to get this little detail right.

Honestly, such a mascot is designed within 45 minutes, and when the parts are etched, glueing together is made in 5 minutes. Perhaps I shouldn't tell not to destroy my nimbus , but I really like to encourage everyone to grab tweezers, knives and glue and to start creating, it's really not that difficult

Today the louvers and bonnet handles were applied, as well door hinges and chrome strips on the door top edges: