1955 Nomad Surf Wagon

[Bill L.]

No - it was his first car and totaled it out by a woman not paying attention to the traffic lights (before there were cell phones and texting).

Bill L.

[Bob S]

Thank you there, Bill - does your bro still have the coupe?

[Bill L.]

Really liking this on Bob. My middle older brother has a '55 Bel Air coupe all raked out. Brings back some memories.

Bill L.

[Bob S]

Yeah Ron - for a campfire!..........found an Italeri tool kit that has a shovel, a pick ax and some other tools - I thought I might appropriate these for the wagon, but maybe I'll wait and include them in the Ford del Rio build-up that I'm working on now. I'm presently trying to engineer a roof rack for that wagon...

[Ronv]

Hey so why logs in the back? Beach campfire?

RonV

[Bob S]

Makes me want to grab my board and go catch a few waves!! Its been a long time since I have been in the green room!!

Nice Nomad!

RonV

Yeah Ron!  Let's GO --- you drive...

[Ronv]

Makes me want to grab my board and go catch a few waves!! Its been a long time since I have been in the green room!!

Nice Nomad!

RonV

[Bob S]

thank you there, Ryan - this was a fun one!

[Ryan K]

Another good looking build

[Bob S]

This is an old 1/25 AMT kit of the very popular Chevrolet Nomad wagon. The kit included parts to build a factory stock version only, and I envisioned a lower, custom version to carry stuff to the beach in style. The body shell is painted with Testors One Coat Fiery Orange Lacquer, and the roof is Tamiya Light Gunmetal, all polished up with Meguiar's Scratch-X, and 3200 grit abrasive. Instead of the dull kit wheels, I used AMT Deluxe Champion Wide whitewall tires, and American Racing slotted mags. Then I lowered the stance about 4mm all around. The kit engine was tweaked with dual Holley carbs and parts-box velocity stacks, then every thing was wired and plumbed.

The interior got a lot of work--Detail Master Gray flock was used for carpeting, the dashboard got Bare Metal Foil at the guage level, and the seats were dressed in a snazzy 4-color scheme. Starting with Tamiya Racing White as a base coat, seat tops and fronts were striped with alternating silver and semi-gloss black acrylic, the silver being outlined with a black .01mm Microperm pen for better contrast. The seat middles were painted silver, with a top coat of Tamiya Clear Orange. The seatbelts are gunmetal with Bare Metal Foil for the buckles.

Surfboard's are made from DAS air-dry clay. The clay was warmed by hand, laid out in pieces, and rolled with a heavy steel pipe, then cut to approximate shape a bit larger than needed to allow for shrinkage when dry. The skags were made the same. Once dry the boards were sanded with 200 grit thru 800 grit, primed with Krylon white primer, painted with Tamiya Racing White and decaled to resemble surf boards from 60's. Decals used were from an old Revell '40 Ford Woody kit, and a newer AMT Woody kit.

Firewood for camping was made with yard twigs bundled up with hemp rope, beach blankets are paper towels rolled and folded, then painted with Tamiya bottle acrylics, and the Boogie Board is made from the same clay as the boards, painted Tamiya Light Blue, ankle strap added, touched with clear acrylic at random with baby powder added to look dirty from a day at the beach!