hedotwo Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 Following this build with interest! So far, so great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted May 8, 2021 Author Share Posted May 8, 2021 Thanks everyone for your comments , I appreciate the encouragement ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David G. Posted May 8, 2021 Share Posted May 8, 2021 Fabulous work on this so far! May your success exceed your ambitions. David G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Posted May 8, 2021 Share Posted May 8, 2021 Really nice work so far. I will enjoy watching this come together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted May 21, 2021 Author Share Posted May 21, 2021 Well I finally was able to squeeze in some bench time and wanted to continue fitting the interior , but first the windshield needed some work . The JoHan windshields are so thick they look awful , hopefully with some trimming this won't look quite so bad . First the vent windows need to be removed , they'll be replaced with acetate later . Here I'm just marking the rear edge of the A pillar . I've also trimmed along the top edge as much as I dare . The problem is because the plastic is so thick that the edge will be visible from the outside if I go to far . I used a Dremel with a cut-off wheel to remove the vents , then filed and sanded them to final shape . Later I'm going to radius that rear edge and foil it to represent the interior trim pieces on the Dodge . Reinstalling the interior the side panels needed to be notched to clear the windshield . There are some major clearance issues with the chassis that need to be fixed . I thought about this for a while and finally decided that by removing the front part of the floor and the footwells in the rear of the floor it might fit . Here I've made a front wall and filled the rear openings . After some filler and some sanding it's ready to go . Looks like everything fits now ! Now that the interior fits nicely I can start "De-Chevy-ing" it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bisc63 Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 Cool to see some progress on this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bainford Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 Just found this thread. Very nice work. Your mods are looking great. Cool project. Looking at the first photo in this thread, I’m wondering if that big Dodge fit through that little garage door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenGuthmiller Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 Ah, the joys of having to completely re-engineer half of the parts to get things to fit properly!! I think sometimes when people hear the term "parts swap" they occasionally don't understand the work that may be involved. When I did my '64 Pontiac Grand Prix, I saved the original vintage kit floor board, but removed the tunnel, and fit the floor over the tunnel of the AMT '62 Catalina kit. There are a ton of details that need to be taken into consideration when mating mismatched chassis, interior, engine bay and engine parts to another kit. It's hard to find an instance where everything just plops into place. Very nice "engineering" so far Bob!! Keep up the great work! I know she's gonna be a jaw dropper!! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted May 22, 2021 Author Share Posted May 22, 2021 5 hours ago, bisc63 said: Cool to see some progress on this! 2 hours ago, Bainford said: Just found this thread. Very nice work. Your mods are looking great. Cool project. Looking at the first photo in this thread, I’m wondering if that big Dodge fit through that little garage door. Thanks guys ! Yep , I remember it being parked inside . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted May 22, 2021 Author Share Posted May 22, 2021 28 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said: Ah, the joys of having to completely re-engineer half of the parts to get things to fit properly!! I think sometimes when people hear the term "parts swap" they occasionally don't understand the work that may be involved. When I did my '64 Pontiac Grand Prix, I saved the original vintage kit floor board, but removed the tunnel, and fit the floor over the tunnel of the AMT '62 Catalina kit. There are a ton of details that need to be taken into consideration when mating mismatched chassis, interior, engine bay and engine parts to another kit. It's hard to find an instance where everything just plops into place. Very nice "engineering" so far Bob!! Keep up the great work! I know she's gonna be a jaw dropper!! Steve Thanks Steve ! It's a lot of work and not much to look at , I usually don't show everything that needs to be done as it can be boring compared to other builds . The floorboard also needed to be narrowed , I added the square rod to locate the side panels , and they were too tall and needed to be trimmed along the bottom edge . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedotwo Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 Great progress! You've got the ball rolling now 😉 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David G. Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 Good call on the floor cut. Looks like you got a good fit. David G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOBLNG Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 Good work! Really nice job you did on that roof.👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beamerman Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 Great work...i´ve never seen this kit...love to see how this will grow up...very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenGuthmiller Posted May 22, 2021 Share Posted May 22, 2021 10 hours ago, TooOld said: Thanks Steve ! It's a lot of work and not much to look at , I usually don't show everything that needs to be done as it can be boring compared to other builds . The floorboard also needed to be narrowed , I added the square rod to locate the side panels , and they were too tall and needed to be trimmed along the bottom edge . You're right about the perception of some progress posts appearing boring, but I can speak from experience when I say that it's much less boring than answering the inevitable repeated "how did you do that" questions. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted May 24, 2021 Author Share Posted May 24, 2021 On 5/22/2021 at 7:10 AM, hedotwo said: Great progress! You've got the ball rolling now 😉 Thanks ! Rolling slow but it's getting there . On 5/22/2021 at 7:45 AM, David G. said: Good call on the floor cut. Looks like you got a good fit. David G. Still need to work on the firewall/side panel clearance but I'm happy ! On 5/22/2021 at 9:22 AM, NOBLNG said: Good work! Really nice job you did on that roof.👍 Thanks ! That was really much easier than expected , very little tweaking on the top was needed . On 5/22/2021 at 10:42 AM, Beamerman said: Great work...i´ve never seen this kit...love to see how this will grow up...very cool! Thanks much ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted May 24, 2021 Author Share Posted May 24, 2021 On 5/22/2021 at 11:13 AM, StevenGuthmiller said: You're right about the perception of some progress posts appearing boring, but I can speak from experience when I say that it's much less boring than answering the inevitable repeated "how did you do that" questions. Steve It's six of one and a half dozen of the other , no matter what you do . I'm guilty of not reading every post and asking repeat questions myself . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted May 24, 2021 Author Share Posted May 24, 2021 I've done a half dozen builds using chassis' and interiors from one kit mating them to a body from another kit . Each one is different but since the dash is what mates the interior to the inside of the body it's always a challenge . This time the width of the new interior is almost 1/8" wider than the sloppy fit of the JoHan interior , plus the thickness of the side panels makes fitting the dash even worse . To start I took the easy way out , instead of cutting the sides to mount the dash I transplanted the cutouts from the JoHan tub . . . probably not the preferred method but it was quick and assured the angles would be correct . To compensate for the width of the interior plastic blocks were glued to both ends of the dash . In this shot the difference is very evident . The blocks were narrowed and filed to shape so they would fit into the openings . Then some "wings" were added to each side , these will hold the dash in place . Also the top of the blocks were ground down to clear the windshield . And the dash installed . I might radius the inside of each end so the transition to the side panels is closer . With the interior installed in the body that transition doesn't look so bad . Look how thick that windshield is !!! To be continued . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 Great work so far! I like the in progress threads because once it’s all buttoned up and finished, it looks like it might have come out of a box that way.. at least that’s the goal! I ran into the same interior width issues with putting the 59 Chevy interior into a 59 Buick resin body. The Buick dashboard was sooo much more narrow than the Chevy interior! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bisc63 Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 This is going to look SO nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted May 26, 2021 Author Share Posted May 26, 2021 On 5/24/2021 at 4:57 PM, Tom Geiger said: Great work so far! I like the in progress threads because once it’s all buttoned up and finished, it looks like it might have come out of a box that way.. at least that’s the goal! I ran into the same interior width issues with putting the 59 Chevy interior into a 59 Buick resin body. The Buick dashboard was sooo much more narrow than the Chevy interior! Thanks much Tom ! I was planning on the same swap with a '59 Buick I have , guess I have some more work to look forward too . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 Impressive work Bob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted May 29, 2021 Author Share Posted May 29, 2021 On 5/26/2021 at 11:38 AM, afx said: Impressive work Bob. Thanks JC ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted May 29, 2021 Author Share Posted May 29, 2021 Started working on the interior by modifying the rear arm rests . The Dodge arm rests are angled reward so a little cutting and some filler gave me the proper shape . The Impala interior was originally too long so I also lengthened the slots in the floor so the front seat could be moved reward about 3/16 inch . Some more filler and now the rear seat is smooth and ready to become a Dodge ! For the side panels I began by removing all of the molded in detail , then the pocket for the top mechanism was angled to match the rear arm rests . Instead of trying to scribe the Dodge door panels into it I decided to make an upholstery panel out of .020" sheet . The plan is to draw the Dodge upholstery onto this and cut it apart into separate pieces , then glue those pieces onto the original side panel . Sounds good in my head . . . we'll see . To modify the front seat (#1) I first filled the gap in the seat backs with plastic (#2) . Next filler was used and all of the molded in detail was sanded off so the seat was smooth , then the left and right ends were reshaped (#3) . The last step was to cut the seat back into a 60/40 split and add to the top of the drivers seat back (#4) . Some more filler and sanding gives me the basic shape of the front seat . Now I have the beginning of the Dodge interior ready for some detailing . There's still a lot of finish work to do then I can start adding some piping and other details . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenGuthmiller Posted May 29, 2021 Share Posted May 29, 2021 Now the fun begins Bob! This has become my favorite part of revamping an interior is working out the upholstery patterns, etc! Love what you've done so far! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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