1959 Chevrolet Impala

[66belair]

This turning out really nice,definitely going to follow this build.

[Tony T]

Nice work! Are you planning on moulding in the rear wheel well skirts to remove the seam? Looks like you had done that in your photoshop picture.

Edited December 17, 2011 by Tony T

[Modlbldr]

Beautiful work so far. I love the color choices, especially the Aston Martin green. Nice job cleaning up the engine bay too. I think the spark plug wires are a nice custom touch. I'll be watching your progress on this.

Later-

[RodneyBad]

Body and paint is looking Great.

nice work on the interior and Custom Engine Compartment..

[The Creative Explorer]

Thanks guys,

@Tony: No I decided against that, it would've made the rear end too much of a slab of metal.

Well, I finally managed to get the paint on the car, and it was a huge pain in the ass!

A couple of weeks back, I worked on the interior, adding some BMF to all the handles and trim, this shows the handles done.

Put the speaker in the rear-seat

Put the engine together, needs a lot more detailling, but that will come later.

And then I had to work more on the body, it was a ongoing thing, I couldn't get it right. I hated it. I worked for many weeks to get the body paint prepped.

And finally had something decent.

[The Creative Explorer]

Today I was finally able to put some color on the body, here is the Bentley Speed 8 British Racing Green, or BS8BRG if you want

From a different angle

I am working here on masking for the second color and added some special effects, with appreciation to my wife's underwear drawer haha

[The Creative Explorer]

Yeah! the 'Aston Martin California Sage that isn't' color shot on the body. After this, it is like christmas, time to unwrap

And the final product, except for clear, I think I am happy with it, I know I could've done better, but considering the situation, I am happy with it.

[LAone]

dang, that looks really good.

[crazyjim]

Very cool.

[stulee11]

that net curtain idea is wicked and the result's are mental dude ... hope you dont mind me trying it on my current build ?

them colours go together so well to .

well done

[moparfarmer]

Thats going to be KILLER, the interior is just plain AWSOME. Looks like some clean building techniques. Very nice progress.

[The Creative Explorer]

Thanks guys!

@Stuart: no problem; please try, but make sure the lace is very snug against the bodywork.

Well, yesterday was a slow day and the temperature wasn't bad. So I thought to clear the car. It is I think the biggest obstacle for me during the buildprocess and it needs to be taken at some point.

Today was appearantly the day haha, the whole process takes up almost 2 hours, prepping, cleaning, mixing, shooting etcc..... but the result is nice I think.

The hood, don't you love how metallic colors come to life after the clearcoat?

And the body, it is hard to see, but I ghosted the sidegraphics a little bit, this makes it a bit more mild and doesn't give those hard lines to it.

[The Creative Explorer]

Another angle

Because everything that had to be clearcoated, now is. I can start working on putting everything together. In this picture I added the upper-suspension parts and the dual-exhausts from which I cut off the back-end, which was a stock-pipe, I will replace that with a custom tailpipe.

And the uppersuspensionparts in the enginebay, I left them silk-matt, so it will match the engine and gives a little bit of contrast.

[crazyjim]

I'm really liking this build after the clearcoat. It's so SHINY :)

[sjordan2]

Great detail work, as usual. Did you scribe around the door handles? They have greater definition than most molded-in ones.

[tooltas]

love new school customs foose style u need some big inch wheels on it too

[The Creative Explorer]

Thanks guys!

@Jim; I likey Shiney too! And a good custom has too shine (IMHO)

@Skip; I had to think twice before I understood, I thought which handles? The car is shaved! But then I realized you meant the ones on the panel haha. But no, I have not done anything to it, but putting BMF on. The molds of this kit are very crisp and makes it possible to make very sharp edges with BMF.

@Todd; I still have no clue what wheels to use yet, I think/hope I know the answer before I am done haha. But Foose-style? naah, it is my own style, not based on any car or any customizer.

[The Creative Explorer]

And a new update, lots of pictures though

After polishing a few dustspics, I could start with the next big thing: Foiling:

It took me almost all afternoon and lots and lots of BMF, but it does give that final touch to the car, and so far, nothing can beat BMF.

It's hiney is also finished.

All the chromeplated parts were bleached, it had awful moldlines on the bumpers and would be just such an eyesore. Reason for me to get all the chrome off and get them ready for Alclad2, the only problem is that I've never done it on so many parts on one car.

One of the things I wanted to improve are the springs, I made a set on my own and this is the compare between the kit-part and my-part. It does look a lot better. (IMHO)

[The Creative Explorer]

Here they are, fitted on the chassis, I like it a lot better.

Same trick for the front suspension.

And fitted

[The Creative Explorer]

A dry-fit for the de-chromed parts, the hood needs a little bit of tweaking I think

And I worked some more on the engine, the horrible V-belt was omitted and replaced with some metal pully's. Together with a scratch-built v-belt, it does look sharper.

It is a little bit thinner than realistic, but seen from the top, it is not noticable.

And a testfit on the chassis.

[crazyjim]

Nice springs.

[The Creative Explorer]

Same dryfit for the back, As you might've noticed, this Impala will get a Continental-kit, I just love those!

Sorry about the blurry pictures, but this is a fuel-line with 3 separate fuelfilters, purpose is a better fuel-flow with over-capacity.

Shortened to fit

And fitted to the engine, replacing the molded in fuel-lines from the kit.

The wheels are still a mystery, I tend to go with the stock-wheels, but I don't like the hubcaps, I guess I need to look through my parts-box. The idea of fitting modern alloy's has passed, I believe this is a nicer look with the whitewalls.

[The Creative Explorer]

I flocked the interior...

And the (parcel?)-shelf

The finished doorpanels, I really like the look it has.

After the interior got flocked, I could start assembling the interior. I still need to paint the steering column, but that is a little thing to do. After that, the dashboard can go in. And I can finish detailling the interior

Test-fit in the car, don't you love how shiney it is?

[The Creative Explorer]

Test-fit in the car, don't you love how shiney it is?

Another thing that bothered me, was the crankshaft driven fan. I got the fan and fixed it in the radiatorshroud, by fixing it in between two metal rods, now it represents a electric-powered fan.

Which is now fitted in the engine-bay

That's all folks!

Oh, and I forgot. I also had a little mishap with the windshield, while trying to put it in place, I got some glue on my finger and on the windshield, right in front of the driver.

It took me some cursing and sanding/polishing and future, but it is now hardly noticable. Only in the wrong angle of light.

Edited January 5, 2012 by The Creative Explorer

[crazyjim]

Very nice, Erik. Keep going. SHINY :) RULES!