The big "M"

Another item that was missing from the XMTC
was the big "M" hood ornament shown above.

Fortunately I did have the original base for the "M"
and from that and the picture above I could determine the height of the "M".
That turned out to be about 3" tall. Ray Cosh sent me a weak picture
of the profile and also drew me the picture below.
Armed with this information I went to work. I ordered a couple strips of brass
in different thicknesses (you'll see why further on) from
ONLINE METALS
In the past I've ordered many different metals from them for various projects.
I can always find what I need there.
The piece I needed for the "M" was 1/8"X2"X12".
I cut the 4 pieces to make the 4 legs of the "M" to length.
then I trimmed the excess off the two center pieces down from the 2" width to 1/2"
Then trimmed the outside legs to the curved wider base which gives strength to the upright"M">
Then I filed the appropriate edges to fine points so they fit together
at the right angles to make the "M" the correct width at the base.
Then I used three small vice grips to hold the pieces together so I could solder
them together, then I soldered the "M" to the base
All that was left was a little detail sanding to get them very smooth for chrome plating
and away it went to AIH Chrome for plating.

One other small item that was missing was the "Y" for the script "MERCURY"
that is on the nose panel.
I needed a strip of brass 3/16"X5/8"X1 1/2" to make that
That "Y" is the same size and shape as on the "MERCURY" that appears in the cove on the quarter panels
which I have so I was able to one of them for a pattern to make the missing one.
These too got sent off to AIH.



Click on the pictures below to enlarge them











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