The New Vicky Model
The new version of the Club Vicky will, hopefully, exhibit substantially improved skills and craftsmanship to distinguish it from the original 1978 model. In fact, I hope to push the boundaries of scale vehicle construction based on skill sets I've developed in the last 30 or so years. Specifically, there will be substantial hammered brass panels (doors/hood/trunk panels) and parts (frame, suspension components), a lot of photoetched parts created by Bob Wick and produced by Fred Hultberg, many machined parts produced by a master hobby machinist, and decals sourced, hopefully, from the artistic mysterium of Mark D. Jones.
This new Club Vicky project will be aided by a lot of comparisons between my real Vicky, and the AMT kit upon which this project will be based, in part as well as actual measurements taken of details of my car. My father, Dean L. Gustavson, FAIA, has been a great aid to me in taking measurements.
It's important to note here that my new scale model Vicky project won't be a replica of my 1:1 Club Victoria though it will be a replica of a factory-stock Vicky -- just in another paint scheme. Rather, my car will be used as a resource for mechanical and related detailing. The new Vicky project will represent what might have been the car I would have ordered in back in the day, painted in a preferable scheme and outfitted with mechanical equipment that I would have selected back then. First, the car will be painted Flame Red and Colonial White, with a red and white interior.
Second, I've not yet decided which of the several so-called "Y"-blocks to depict in the model. I had initially intended to build the supercharged 312 scale engine, but I'll probably opt for a four-barrel set up as more representative of the run-of-the-mill equipment the average purchaser was likely to specify.
I will also feature a few options, like the radio, the rear package tray speaker and heater. I will probably avoid the vulgar temptation to install the very rare, operational spotlights mounted to the front fenders with the handle protruding inside the car.
However, I will install backup lights and the rear deck antenna to mimic the first Vicky model.
Here are a few of the general details and features I plan to present in this model which, again, will be based upon the original 1962 kit:
- The plastic frame will be built from the AMT 1958 Edsel kit;
- Once the interior floor has been fitted to the body, remove the front clip, doors, and trunk from the vintage AMT body so that a properly-detailed firewall can be created;
- Hammer the doors in .020 brass, and create brass hinges mimicking the 1:1 versions;
- Hammer the trunk in .020 brass, create correct hinges, and build the torsion bar trunk hinge setup;
- Correct the basic floor pan from the 1958 AMT Edsel kit (again, modified as required) and install it into the body once the headliner is built and painted (and masked);
- Retain the services of Bob Wick (artist) and Fred Hultberg (photo cutter) to create a wide array of single and double-cut photoetch items;
- Retain the services of a master machinist to create a series of parts essential to a high-caliber model;
- Retain the services of Mark D. Jones to create the decals for this project;
- Create the rear quarter panel trim from strip brass, then chrome plate the same;
- Polish and chrome plate the brass-cast bumpers, and the front grille (already made);
- Create a "see-through" front grille based upon the cast "surround" that is already made, coupled with photoetched insert grille work soldered to the surround;
- Source some parts from Danbury Mint's 1957 Ford Skyliner: hood and trunk emblems, exterior door handles and a few other parts that would be prohibitively expensive to create.
Again, my goal with this project is to build a model that pushes boundaries by mixing scratchbuilding, outsourced parts, hammered brass, plating and the like all to create am authentic, convincing scale replica of a 1:1 Fairlane Club Victoria.
This project will be an interesting experience to return to my roots: essentially, by disciplining myself to replicate, in scale, a factory car. Building this model will be distinctively more difficult than the cheerful anarchy of building a custom.
Also, as I did three decades ago, I'm going to build a companion piece to the replica stock model – but unlike the candied show cruiser built in 1979, this time I'm going to build a faux factory concept "styling study" that will exploit the Ford Division's one-time fascination in the open comparison between the '58 Ford and the '58 Thunderbird (which design cross-over showed up so dramatically in the Skyliner retractable hardtop).
Hopefully, this model will mark a substantial improvement of a model built more than three decades ago.