BDSchindler Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 (edited) Something I’ve been working on for a bit and was inspired by an article in Street Rodder magazine. Steet Rodder Its been a work in progress with each modification being followed up with one or more. 1st order of the day was to remove the floor pans from the frame...which evolved into a change in the front and rear suspensions. Front was adapted from a nascar Ford while the rear came from the Foose pick up I planned on a set of Z wheels and soon realized it was going to be a tight fit. I had made all the changes I could in the suspension so the next step was to widen the the quarter panels just a bit. The end result looked pretty darned good to me as in this mock up i didn’t like the bench seat idea so looking at various kits/kit parts on the shelf, a 2014 Mustang appeared with a gleaming halo around it. I adopted the rear seats and front buckets then scratch built a center console... Basically, a stock dash... Then something hit me, I really disliked the inner door panels and since this will be an opening door model, I grafted in the centers of the mustang interior panels to the crown Vic’s The dash and console work well together... Still have a long way to go but it’s finally shaping up! Stay tuned! Edited December 28, 2019 by BDSchindler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam I Am Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 Looking sharp, and the modern upgrades are really flowing well. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterNNL Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 Looking great. Incorporating the Mustang components is inspired. Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 Very impressive frame and suspension upgrades. I remember this car from the magazine also. You mentioned widening the rear body panels. Can you share any additional information and or photos of what you did there ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDSchindler Posted December 28, 2019 Author Share Posted December 28, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, espo said: Very impressive frame and suspension upgrades. I remember this car from the magazine also. You mentioned widening the rear body panels. Can you share any additional information and or photos of what you did there ? Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of the process so I'll try to explain what I did... This was the original issue Crown Vic and as such, the body was fairly thick. Using a dremel under slow speed to not melt the plastic, I ground down the inside of the fender-wells to see if I could gain whatever room I needed. Right idea but still needed more room. Z wheels are basically 3 pieces, an outer rim, the resin wheel and an inner rim. So I tried sanding down the inner and outer rims and offsetting the tire a bit but STILL not enough. So, I had to reinvent the wheel (eh...so to speak) I took a piece of paper and traced the flared part of the front and rear fenders, cut it out and traced it to a 0.030 sheet plastic. Next, opened the wheel well on the body just enough to let the outside dimension of the wheel/tire to fir...almost there. Glued the section of sheet plastic to the body just a tick lower than the original fender flair (going a tick lower gives the impression of the suspension being lowered without really lowering it) Sanded the sharp edges down of the extended fenders, filled and sanded smooth and contoured the new fenders into the original so it looked stock. Finally, got out the dremel and again removed plastic from the inside of the new fender-well. Sanded and primed as needed. Here's a diagram...the red line was what I removed from the original fender to let the tire fit. Primed Edited December 28, 2019 by BDSchindler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 2 hours ago, BDSchindler said: Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of the process so I'll try to explain what I did... This was the original issue Crown Vic and as such, the body was fairly thick. Using a dremel under slow speed to not melt the plastic, I ground down the inside of the fender-wells to see if I could gain whatever room I needed. Right idea but still needed more room. Z wheels are basically 3 pieces, an outer rim, the resin wheel and an inner rim. So I tried sanding down the inner and outer rims and offsetting the tire a bit but STILL not enough. So, I had to reinvent the wheel (eh...so to speak) I took a piece of paper and traced the flared part of the front and rear fenders, cut it out and traced it to a 0.030 sheet plastic. Next, opened the wheel well on the body just enough to let the outside dimension of the wheel/tire to fir...almost there. Glued the section of sheet plastic to the body just a tick lower than the original fender flair (going a tick lower gives the impression of the suspension being lowered without really lowering it) Sanded the sharp edges down of the extended fenders, filled and sanded smooth and contoured the new fenders into the original so it looked stock. Finally, got out the dremel and again removed plastic from the inside of the new fender-well. Sanded and primed as needed. Here's a diagram...the red line was what I removed from the original fender to let the tire fit. Primed Thank you for your explanation. I can see now looking at your drawing and the side picture of the body in yellow and white. The area around the rear wheel well stands out just ever so much. Great way to solve the problem as I thought you might have widened the whole quarter panel, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dino246gt Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 I really like this project! I've been dreaming of doing a '56 Ford for years! Still haven't started one, so looking at yours is fun for me, thank you for posting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDSchindler Posted January 12, 2020 Author Share Posted January 12, 2020 (edited) Got some more done on this. I used the custom nose piece on this and puttied the resulting seam. Disliked the custom bumper/grill so I cut some mesh to fit, made a custom frame and epoxied the giant “V” in the grill. Added some trim to the inner door panels and flocked the lower portion... This was my first attempt at doing BMF. Pretty frustrating at first but it got easier as I got going with it. Still a lot of screw ups but it’ll work... still lots more to do. Stay tuned! Edited January 12, 2020 by BDSchindler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bills72sj Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 I am enjoying your build. You are doing very well. Keep it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt Tuttle Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 WOW! Lovin' that grille treatment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeatMan Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 Great work on that interior! That console is sweet! The grille work is awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 Great looking paint and body work. The foiling looks good in the pictures also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterNNL Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 I remember when these cars were new in the showrooms. I always liked those two years for their styling. We always associated those giant grille mounted V shaped chrome trim pieces with the Canadian built cars. As a point of discussion, IMO your model is actually a custom,not be hot rod. The accepted division between the two terms is the year of manufacture. Modified vehicles built 1948 and back should be classified as hot rods. 1949 and newer are customs. Love your work and look forward to seeing it finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDSchindler Posted January 17, 2020 Author Share Posted January 17, 2020 (edited) On 1/15/2020 at 10:52 AM, misterNNL said: I remember when these cars were new in the showrooms. I always liked those two years for their styling. We always associated those giant grille mounted V shaped chrome trim pieces with the Canadian built cars. As a point of discussion, IMO your model is actually a custom,not be hot rod. The accepted division between the two terms is the year of manufacture. Modified vehicles built 1948 and back should be classified as hot rods. 1949 and newer are customs. Love your work and look forward to seeing it finished. Duly noted I test fitted the radiator I had planned on using only to find out I had to make some changes... AGAIN! Took the radiator from the Foose Ford pick up and opened the radiator header under the hood. Scratch built a pair of brackets so it will fit as far forward in the engine bay as possible. Then altered the bottom of the radiator just enough so the hood would close. Still needs Final sanding, paint and appropriate plumbing but the pics are below (the engine is not permanently mounted yet) Edited January 17, 2020 by BDSchindler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sledsel Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 Looking great, I always loved the looks of a 56 Ford. Little advise, add the trim to the top of the rear quarters from the crown to make it "complete" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDSchindler Posted February 13, 2020 Author Share Posted February 13, 2020 An update...first real build in a long, long time! Currently about 95% done now; still have a bit more to do but here it is for the most part... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldrevellfan Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Nice !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDSchindler Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 (edited) Finally finished! The kits hood ornament wasn’t working for me with its 2 pc. configuration that ended up looking like some weird gynocological instrument. So I stuck a piece of round plastic stock in the dremel and turned it to a bullet shape kinda like a 57 Chevy has. Coated it with malatow and glued it in place. It worked! Took it to the MAMA’s Club February meeting and to my surprise, it got the president choice (or whatever it was called) for pick of the month! LOL! I didn’t think it was that good especially with all of the veteran talent (like Lyle Willits at the bottom of the next picture) displaying other models! Very humbling! Thanks for all the feedback! Edited February 22, 2020 by BDSchindler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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