1933 Cadillac V16 Phaeton

This beastie has plagued me for 10 years or more. I really want to finish it! Although I think I am going to present it as a "barn find", that coat of dust on the wings is not a weathering effect!

This is the Italeri/Testors 1/24 scale "Al Jolson" car. It has some good points (they faithfully molded all 16 spark plugs) and bad points. There is lots of piping alongside the engine that is molded onto the block in a very unrealistic way (more resembling book shelves rather than pipes). I ground those off and put on aluminum pipes and p/e flanges.






The twin air filters on the firewall lacked intake vents which I added, along with the corrugated flexible pipes to the carbs. The wood floor boards were made by printing pictures of wood grain on regular paper. I added "wood" to the dash board as well (along with knobs and p/e ignition keys). I had a minor disaster when I lost the rather large floor piece (still haven't found it) so I made a new one. Flocked the carpets, made some pedals, and wore out the driver's seat, adding springs.






I got stalled when I realized the kit had no radiator hoses and suddenly I knew I was burnt out.  Also, I've discovered that the twin coils are stored in a cavity atop the radiator! I also want to scratch build the roof in a folded down position; the kit only supplies the top up.
And then I want to add a half dozen whiskey jugs and.....

I think that all looks great Ace. I'd leave it as is and call it good. 

Whatever you do, don't you dare mess with the dust. That's ten years of natural weathering there and it don't get better than that!!! LOL

Nice to see this one alive again, Ace. BTW, what happened to the sheet metal around the rear seat? Is it a separate piece?

Very nicely finished! I like the springs on the seats. The Jo-Han versions of the early '30s V-16 Cadillac was much better detailed in engine and other spots. Your improving of the engine is really good. Flanges too? You ARE skilled!

I particularly like the wood on the dashboard. Great detailing Ace.

Great to see your Caddy again Ace. Great Job!

Sweet !!! I like these old boats.
'Barn find' will put this in an even more interesting category !!

Rats! That rear sheet metal Mike mentioned missing doesn’t have the ten years of matching dust on it. Now I have to start all over letting it get dirty evenly!

It does remind me what a drag it was that I lost the floor piece and not just because I had to make a new one out of sheet styrene. The original floor had crucial locating points for the seats and the seats have crucial locating points for the body sides and rear sheet metal. I had to do a lot of constant mocking up when I glued in the seats on the scratch built floor to get them located perfectly.





The photo of the instructions shows the floor piece and also a photo of the real car’s dashboard in order to call out the colors of the wood trim. This is ironic because the kit dash (which is on the chrome plated tree) is strangely blank where any molding representing the wood trim should be. The central trim plate for the knobs and ignition was also obviously missing. It was like the original master was never finished. I wish I took a before photo because it was weird.

Anyways, I finished the dash with a bit of veneer I peeled off an old bureau and overlaid that with a bit of wood grain photo from a box of floor tiles. I didn't try to replicate the central trim plate but I made knobs from pins and p/e washers. I also used p/e washers for the ignition slot. Assembling the p/e ignition keys just about drove me more nuts.


I have a folded top from a Monogram 1939 Mercedes picked out for this and at first glance it looks like it fits perfectly but it covers the back of the rear seat quite a bit. I wonder. Also, the folded top has folded landau irons.......I wonder about that too!

Finally, a full body mock up before the dust. Notice how there is no tread on the styrene tires!! That’s what started the whole barn find thing with the worn out seats and dust.

The flanges on the engine are from some photo etched distributor kits. I had to keep buying more dizzies to get enough of them!!

Thanks all for the encouragement and kind comments!

I really like this genre of modeling. You are doing a bang up job on it also.

Awesome! The details are fantastic and you have crammed so much in (larger scale can be fun that way). I love the keys sticking out of the ignition

KatsZenJammer wrote:

Awesome!  The details are fantastic and you have crammed so much in

I agree, details are excellent all round.

Wow! It's coming along fantastic!

Your weather skills keep me admiring your work, great stuff.