1957 Mercury by Ertl

Nice ol' stuff!  Did you get the whole set then?

An inexpensive diecast like this just begged me to get an extra and do this with it.

@karl yes I did

Compare to the MiniMarque version. I once thought about getting that Ertl set, but I already had this one. Later on I got the Spark '67 Camaro. I believe TfC had Western do the '70 Olds, perhaps I will find one someday.

Posted by: @galen55

Do you have photos of the other 2 in the set?  I am finally writing up the 1/43 Ertl American Muscle cars for MAR Online.  Could I use your photos?

@karl yes I do... but I never saved the package for this.

@galen55 That's fine - the package is not so important!

As I looked at these examples (see pictures above from Galen, John, and Harv) of the exuberently styled Mercury of the late 1950's, I realized that I had a couple of them myself. (Enlarge pictures by clicking on them.)

The ERTL is fairly recent Chinese work, good considering the price, but somehow I thought that the Brooklin looked better in my memory; so I decided to touch it up, just a little.

I was hesitant to attempt free-hand "chrome," but Bare Metal foil and I have trouble with small areas.  My old silver pen quickly ran dry, so I went shopping. No luck in replacing the Testors, but I found 2 different sized nibs at two crafts stores.

 The high spots: black wash to highlight that good grill work, chrome letter above grill, blackwash "M" on front bumper, chrome lettering on continental tire cover, touch license plates with a little sanding to make letters and numbers stand out, and apply more and more "chrome" all over the place, just like Mercury did it for 1957. Add accent paint to interior.  Whew!

Here are my results.  First, (above) in front of Seely's Castle, in the late 1950's home to Asheville-Biltmore College where I was a student. And more:

And here are some of the little people, checking it out and impressed by all that color.  

Do you think they're suggesting my next project?

Enjoy yourselves, good people.  I do.  

                        David H  

Yes David H.

Lol, I think that they might be suggesting that you bring them into the big, bright, wonderful world of color so they don't 'ghost into the pic'....lol.