customline

How hot does it get in your attic in July, Len? Is it temperature controlled up there? I've been in attics that were 140F on a summer afternoon. That can't be good for styrene (nor for humans)

That 427 badge is kinda weird, Len. Could that have been done by the glue bomber ? It's not even the same font. Nice re-engineering on the chassis, firewall and rad support.?

She watches me pretty closely. ?

Oh good. I love watching paint dry. That grille is really a grille! Very nice ? (Actually, I use a hair dryer)

Nice work on the firewall / tyranny tunnel / toe board joinery, Len. This situation rears it ugly head more often than I would like and is one of my least favorite tasks. ?

Exactly. Wormhole. "Help! I lost my tail light lens and I can't get up!" ?

....so....my mind is there already? That's a relief ?

I get it, David. There are some things we don't yet understand about why model car parts sometimes vanish. There is a theory that those parts have actually traveled into another dimension through some sort of vortex, or wormhole. Usually, they turn up days or even weeks later but mostly after it's replacement has been glued in place. Just a theory ?

Have you chopped a Fleetline? I have two that I want to do; a '51, and the the car I recall throwing up in, the '47 (hey, I was a car-sick toddler and my grandfather's driving was the reason ) They both are waiting until my skill level is adequate.

Hey, Bob, what's that red stuff? And what did you do to get it in the weeds?

Nice slice, Bob! This body begs for it. Lose the door handles!

Hey, Michael, I see you like Fleetlines.... here's mine

I'm not happy about the prospect of reshaping the windshield and, honestly, I kinda like the look. I do think a bit more crown on the roof might look a little better. The reason the windshield looks that way is because I didn't quite get the roof back together right which tells me another method needs to be learned or found. The Merc roof idea is probably worth exploring and if I had a Mercury to sacrifice, we might not be having this conversation. I suspect the Merc roof is a bit wider as well as longer and would not need to be widened at all. I'll let someone else find out about that. Andy, I'm cool with any and all comments, criticism, questions and advice and I appreciate your ideas. They are good ones. I'll get some primer on it and re-evaluate the windshield situation.

Yup. That's how it looks to me too. The idea was to make this coupe look like a tudor but I chopped it a bit too much. If I ever get my hands on another one of these, I'll use narrower tape. I think if I did a mild chop, I could maybe lean the pillars out and avoid the longitudinal cuts. Maybe. I thought about adding more material to the roof but there is a thing they did way back called "pancaking." I could say "well, it's pancaked!" But y'all are too smart for that ☺️ (although the idea has merit.) After I get some primer on it I'll see how bad it looks and maybe try some stuff. I dunno. It's an experiment and a sort of proof of concept, moving the backlight to the rear. I much prefer the look of the chopped tudor over the chopped coupe. I wanted more of a Merc look. I appreciate your observations, Andy, they are spot-on. Edit: I can't (or won't) fix the windshield but I am going to add a bit more to the flat spot. With Bondo, all things are possible.

Great idea! You just made my day!

Yeah, it's a street custom, either done at home in the barn or by a local shop, probably on the east coast, trying to emulate the west coast lake cars. I'd buy that story. The kit supplied custom grille shell was a poor fit, as is most everything in this kit. The hoods are both slightly warped or the whole body is. I had to add some styrene to the top of the grille shell to get the hood to align better (its still not right). The rear panel's plate recess was filled and the plate recess is now in the trunk lid. Since the tail lights will be stock units, I felt I should do something custom back there. The big thing I need to deal with is getting the car low. There isn't much room between the rear axle and the body. I stole the tires and outer wheels from the '65 Bonneville kit but that may not work out and the rims aren't very cool anyway. I may use the steelies from the kit, paint them red maybe, I dunno, but the backing plates must be eliminated and the inner wheels will need to be modified. If that doesn't work, the springs will need to be relocated and the axle housing narrowed. The plan was to use the skirts but that may not work out either. Here's a few pix from today's endeavors.

Dave, I may have chopped it a smidgen too much. I thought the .25 inch cut was, give or take, 4" in 1:1 land. Actually, it's close to 6". But hey, I want it to look like it was done by a punk hot-rodder back around 1960. If it ends up looking decent in black primer, I may leave it that way. I added the front facia and the rear panel tonight and cleaned up the window openings some. The optional kit hood had a twist and wouldn't sit right plus the front right corner featured the mold defect common to both shoebox Ford kits. I played with it but ended up using the stock hood, which I shaved and filled. The grille candidates are the big toothy '53 De Soto grille, the minimalist '55 Plymouth, and the kit's '54 or '55 De Soto grille. There are others but I think a stock Merc unit would be great if I can find one. I need to find wheels and tires that will allow radical lowering (the front inner fenders won't play well with the wide tires in the box.)

You already are! Welcome!

😂

Here's where I'm at so far. The roof was filled in with pieces from a '53 Ford roof, a discard from a previous roof swap, and some scraps. Bondo two part glazing putty followed several times, building up the low spots and getting ready for a quick dusting of primer to see what I need to do next. With Bondo, (and I know there are plenty of you who reject this) you can mix it, slap it on, give it 5 minutes to firm up, shape it with some 220 grit as it is hardening and mix another batch, rinse, repeat and be ready for primer in an hour. Individual results may vary. Then the package shelf had to be extended using some Evergreen sheet.

Bil, I totally mis-read the above and sent you a PM regarding what I thought you wanted to know. Just disregard all that.

The more, the merrier .

Welcome aboard, Paul, hope I won't disappoint.

You really think so? Thank you, Anton! ......(I see it more as hacking and glue-bombing ?)

Looking forward to it?? practice makes perfect. ?