Hello everyone does anyone know how many cars are in this series and if so what are they?
thanks
Mercedes Coupe 540K Duesenberg Town Car
Rolls Royce Henley 1931 Rolls Royce Phaeton
1932 Cadillac V-16 Duesenberg SJ Roadster
Cord 812 '41 Lincoln Continental
Packard Boattail Speedster Bugatti 35B
Packard Speedster Phaeton
Duesenberg SJ Phaeton
Those are the ones I have. I don’t know if there are other ones.
I’ve built fewer than half of the series. Sure would like to see them re-issue the ones I haven’t built or don’t have on my shelves. Particularly would like to see the Packard Phaeton, the RR Phaeton, and the Caddie V-16 re-issued (don’t have them).
The Benz is awesome! 
I wholeheartedly agree! These should be re-released! These cars are from an era where there was real class and workmanship!!! It’s one of my favorite subjects to build and they’re getting hard to find and are very expensive!
some of those kits are Hubley molds converted to plastic parts.
as a kid i built the indy car, one of the duesies and the model a roadster
which i still have.
Have A Nice Day!
Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but these were some of my favorite kits when they were first released. I had the Packard Boattal, Deusenberg Town Car and Mercedes 540K. Would love to see them all on the shelf again!
These are fantastic! Why in the world doesn’t Monogram have them out there anymore? The model car companies seem to be mssing the modeling wave. They should be introducing highly detailed kits of cars from the 60s and 70s. There must be thousands of retiring baby boomers out there itching to bring back memories. I don’t understand why these car kit companies don’t have offerings in the $40-50 range. Maybe their leadership is focused on retiring as well.
For a list of the kits, I recommend checking in Thomas Graham’s book, “Monogram Models”. My copy is at home, but I can check and post back with whatever I find.
I don’t remember the museum piece serIes,but they look very cool… Monogram are y ou listening?
These kits are easily as good as most of the current issue kits. The cars, that is the real things, are very high end (EXPENSIVE) vehicles for the day. The 31 Cadillac was one of three built. A real one can be seen at the Crawford Auto and Aviation Museum in Cleveland Ohio. The Deusenbergs can be seen in Indiana at the Chord, Deusenberg, Auborn, Museum in Auborn Indiana. I would like to see a 1936 or 1937 Lincoln Zepher. The Packards were built in small numbers and the boat tails are especially rare, Auborn also built a boat tail. A towncar was a car the whole family could get in and go to “TOWN”. Lincoln still uses that badge. Fleetwood, as in the Cadillac, was a coach maker and made bodies for Cadilac as did Fisher, as in “Body by Fisher”. Also note that the Cord 812 was a supercharged V-8 and was FRONT WHEEL DRIVE, AND had flip up head light covers. The drive axels were a weak spot and were frequently in need of repair. This was the days before the Rzepka joints (CV joints). I still have a bunch of the Hubley metal body with plastic detail kits of some of these old classics. The chassis on some of those old cars was made from ash (wood). IIR the Auborns has Allison engines in them. Allison still makes aircraft engines. Again IIR correctly most of the Deusenbergs built still exist today. I’m a muscle car guy, but these old classics are works of art. Hopefully the above will stimulate some conversation about the kits and the cars. Also note that there is a great car collection in Dearborn Michigan in the Ford Museum. Jay Leno has a significant car collection that includes several Deusenbergs.
I’m glad this thread was brought back to life. I have a few of these that I built back in the late '70’s and are crying out for a restoration. You guys all know the story… Mom dusting the model shelf and as a result, headlights, wheels etc. were broken off.
Luckily all the pieces are there… I just need to separate Packard headlights from Rolls Royce headlights… The Mercedes door handles from the Deusenberg handles…which wheels belong to which car.
My detailing skills have come a long way since then so I should be able to do them up correctly this time.I don’t think Rolls Royce engine blocks were Chevy orange, were they? This will give me an excuse to buy some Alclad II.
Matt
I do not know if this is true but, I have heard many times that a Rolls Royce hood can only be opened by a certified Rolls Royce mechanic. I saw pictures of a Rolls Royce in Saudi Arabia that was plated with silver, not painted, but silver plated. That had to cost a large fortune. An Alclad paint job on a Rolls? Why not?
While these are old kits, in their day they were breakthrough kits. Club I am in had a “classic car” challenge a year or so ago, and most folks built one of the Monogram kits. With modern tools and supplies, the results were stunning.
I think the trick to doing these right is getting the finish perfect. Look at a Pebble Beach car and you’ll see what I mean. Now that I’m older, I have an even greater appreciation for these cars.
Since this thread was revived, I’m searching eBay for missing models for my stash now. I have my eye on a 1934 Duesenberg Town Car that is depicted in black and dripping in chrome. It would be gorgeous if the paint and chrome were done right. That would be a true test of my so-called painting abilities.
Matt
I did a survey of a number of my modeling friends, and indeed found that the reason many of them do not build civil subjects is because of the difficulty of doing gloss paint jobs.
There is definitely a trick to it… not much different from an actual auto paint job. Lots of wet-sanding between multiple coats… and then the gloss coat. And then throw in a black paint job on top of it… the surface better be spot on.
The problem with gloss on a model is the toy-like appearance. You have to find that perfect balance between gloss, flat and semigloss. What makes these cars pop is the chrome and polished aluminum… that needs to look realistic, and these kits are LOADED with plated parts.
Matt
I find polished aluminum hard to do. I dullcoat chromed parts to give the look of aluminum castings, but have never been able to dull down chrome coatings just a slight amount to give a polished aluminum look. Revell in their new casting process has a method of putting a slight micro-roughness on parts that is a good approximation. But for older kits I am still trying to find a process to replicate polished aluminum. The chrome is just TOO polished/reflective.
Not a Monogram, but a similar subject I thought some would enjoy. This is a JoHan kit from the early 70’s or late 60’s. It’s a Mercedes. The kit was found in Grandpa’s stash years after he passed on, still sealed in the factory cellophane!
It may have been sacrilege to open such a rare, sealed mint item, but I just had to build it in memory of Grandpa.
The girl figure was not included, but is a metal pre-finished casting purchased at a Hobby Town years ago. I was just waiting for the perfect place to pose her, and this was it!
I think that for any restoration that I do or any new builds that come my way, I’ll try the tip I learned here… the Easy Off stripping method. From there I’ll be able to play with colors and finishes.
Silver paint has come a long way since I was a kid building these Monogram models. When Floquil announced they were going away, I snatched up a ton of their colors, including their various silver colors.
Now-a-days there are metalizers that I’m anxious to try…including Alclad II. I came across a build of a Bentley Blower where the modeler was an absolute master with Alclad. That has me motivated to at least try my hand with that color line. His WIP and finish photos truly look like he was working with metal, not plastic.
Matt