(Pics) 1966 Oldsmobile 442

Love the pictures Mike.

A very nice Oldsmobile model. HW61 had no apprehensions about replicating vinyl tops, which was a good thing. Not too many other 1/18 manufactures were willing to work with "vinyl."

Posted by: @chris

A very nice Oldsmobile model. HW61 had no apprehensions about replicating vinyl tops, which was a good thing. Not too many other 1/18 manufactures were willing to work with "vinyl."

Is it not simply a textured paint application?

@charles-rockett No, it is (that's why "vinyl" was in quotes ) but HW61 seem to do it better (and more often ) than most. A nice touch appreciated by most collectors, I'm sure, because vinyl tops were a popular option in the mid-'60's - early 1980's.

@chris I understood the quotation brackets, but some of these larger scale producers do use different materials and thus I wondered why some manufacturers would avoid what seems on the face of it, a simple procedure. Perhaps it's the level of texture in the paint that is at issue?

@charles-rockett Right. Good question...and I don't have an answer other than to assume it was all about cost/profit.  HW61 made excellent use of tooling, offering multiple years of the same car by simply changing trim/badging and vinyl top options. I suspect their ability to spread out vinyl top  costs was an advantage lesser manufacturers didn't enjoy.

@chris That makes sense. In my industry we maximise on every possible variation of initial sample possible. But that depends upon a market able to 'soak-up' such saturation - to use a simile.  

I once painted the roof of a silver 1969 Ford Capri in matte black to achieve a vinyl roof and even that was too thick for it to look in scale - goes to show.

Posted by: @charles-rockett

I once painted the roof of a silver 1969 Ford Capri in matte black to achieve a vinyl roof and even that was too thick

Wow!  Paint was too thick?  

I used to simulate very accurate looking, in-scale, vinyl tops (with seems & everything ) using thin but wide masking tape. The textured tape could then be painted any color, but of course, black  or white  were most often chosen. If I have pics, I'll post them.

@chris I would be interested, as all these techniques are useful to know about.  I should've pointed-out that my silver Capri was 1/43 not 18 as in this forum, and had it been sprayed it would' have looked ok. But I used a brush, and whilst it was flat and even - no brush strokes - it did kinda' look as if it was wearing a toupee!  (Maybe that's just because I knew it was).

Posted by: @chris

A very nice Oldsmobile model. HW61 had no apprehensions about replicating vinyl tops, which was a good thing. Not too many other 1/18 manufactures were willing to work with "vinyl."

But all the manufacturers had no problems working with my 'bank account' 🤑

I like both years but I prefer the '67 because of the separated headlights. I just think it's a better looking front design.

I like both years Oldsmobile 442 which is why I also have both years muscle cars ! They are a great looking car and diecast.

Great photos!  Great model!  One I'd have added back in the day.  One question, why the stupid rear window?  It's a hardtop, wind the windows down!

Thanks, all ! I think, like in certain cases, H61 kind of "split the difference" between windows all up and windows all down, and did it this way in their 1966, as opposed to their 1967 442, with a completely windows down look and then also available as a 1967 convertible.

I believe, like with some other diecast cars, a Dremel can quickly and completely remove the side window for a '66 all-down look, should one prefer that look.