This 1959 Cadillac hearse was built using parts combined from three models; AMT's Ghostbuster's Ecto-1A, Jo-Han's Cadillac "Heavenly Hearse", and Monogram's 1959 Cadillac Eldorado convertible. Although the Ecto provided the basis for the model, very few pieces of the kit were used in the finished project.

All of the Ecto's equipment attachment points had to be sanded off and puttied away, then the rear ambulance windows plated over to form a landau roof. The rear door was cut out, to open up the interior. Of course, a hearse needs a flawless paint job. Dozens of hours were spent wet sanding and polishing the finish on this model, the shine topped off with many coats of black car polish.

The interior of the Ecto was useless for this project. I pitched it, building a new cab by cutting down the floor and door panels from the Eldorado, then mating them to the rear floor of the Jo-Han hearse. The Eldorado kit was richly detailed and provided many nice parts for this project, from mirrors and sun visors to a better grill and gangster whitewalls. The Jo-Han contributed hearse specific details, such as landau bars, curtains, sign boards, and the rear door frame, allowing the door to hinge open.

Reconfiguring the rear ambulance bumper of the Ecto into a hearse bumper was challenging. A new bumper was built for the coach by splicing the center of the Jo-Han hearse's bumper onto the Ecto's bumper ends, then covering the seams with Bare Metal Foil™. I finished this model off with a casket, made from a Halloween candy dispenser, and procession flags, made on our Mac.

When I finished building my 1959 Cadillac hearse model, I knew I wanted to build some other matching funeral cars to add to the procession. Unfortunately, AMT's Ecto-1A models were already getting scarce. The release of Polar Lights version of the model, retooled as Ecto-1, solved my problem nicely.

Ecto-1 provided the basis for this model, with Monogram's 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Hardtop contributing mirrors, door handles, sun visors, gangster whitewalls, and a detailed grill. Polar Lights revised the rear bumper in their version of the AMT kit, eliminating the rear ambulance step and the need to modify the bumper for a hearse or flower car.

As with the hearse model, all of the Ecto's equipment attachment points had to be sanded off and puttied away, then the roof and rear pillars reconfigured. I decided to keep the "washtub" interior, using the window rails as a channel in which to mount the flower tray. The flower tray was pieced together using sheet styrene, brass rod, and brass single-ball handrail stanchions ordered from Ships 'N Things.

The floral tributes were built by cementing bits of a plastic aquarium plant and model railroad layout "grass" to strips of clear plastic. Once dry, I pruned the plastic ferns for an ideal fit, then added tiny silk blossoms clipped from silk flowers purchased at a local craft store.

I rarely build models "straight from the box". This stock version of the Jo-Han "Heavenly Hearse" was one of the exceptions. I added a few details...sun visors, knobs on the partition, angelic ornaments over the wheel wells in the casket compartment, and procession flags, again made on our computer. This car was also painstakingly wet sanded, polished, and waxed with black color matching automotive wax to give it a funeral car finish. The vinyl roof was dulled back from the body with liberal coats of Dead Flat.

I saw the removal truck bank in the L.A. County Coroner's catalog and thought it would be fun to build a model along those same lines. AMT's 1937 Ford panel truck was pressed into service as my "Black Mariah". I built it almost straight from the box, adding only a spotlight and a cot left over from a Jo-Han ambulance. The cot wheels were replaced with metal snaps from the fabric store, to better replicate the round spoked wheels of older cots. I glued a body to the mattress, covered it with duct tape and painted it blue to complete the removal. Letraset press type and Chimneyville LAPD decals provided the county markings.