Ertl seems to typically do a very good job with the big cars and the Catalina is no exception. One thing I found in my research is that the trim on the upper rear quarter panel does NOT go all the way to the door opening. I had to remove the tampo of trim to make it look right. Much of the trim was already chrome so I added the redone upper quarter trim and the two horizontal pieces on the tail panel. The upper quarter trim comes to a fairly sharp point at the end near the door. I made it much more thin than Ertl had it to make it look more accurate to scale.
Here you can see the chrome I added a little better. Chrome foil sure looks better than even the best silver paint. Good thing the silver paint they use comes off easily enough without damaging the underlying body finish.
The engine was nicely done. I had originally painted the carbs gold and later found out that they are Carter AFBs. The "A" in AFB stands for aluminum so I had to once again paint them back to their original silver. I did paint the fuel lines a steel color and the junction blocks a gold brass color. The engine perks up nicely with a little added color.
I didn't add anything in the interior.
Once again the chassis comes to life with some added details. I wish GM had used a better color on their shocks, grey just doesn't add much contrast! You can just barely make out the gold of the fuel pump which adds a little color to the drab undercarriage.
