customline

Ain't this fun? ?

I agree with Bill about the doors. It totally works. The B pillars may need to be wider, though. It could be difficult to scribe an accurate looking door line on that piece but if you double it, the line will be there - you won't need to scribe it (or was that what you were planning?)

There's nothing easy about building "shiny" where I live, Dave, especially when two colors are involved. I totally get your vision for this car. Fords of the '50s and '60s evoke lots of memories for me and I was just sort of reminiscing ?....not suggesting you do any of that stuff. I know I'm going to love how you do this one.

Those wheels are super, David. 100% legit. I would bring the back down even but the rake works well on this cool Ford. ?. With the rake, I see baby moons on chrome reversed rims, the tube grille and a pair of swept-back antennas on the rear quarters.....but that's just me ?.....oh and a couple of cherry bombs underneath ?...and gray primer all around. Sorry. ?

I can not understand why AMT didn't give this elderly mopup a full floor. Maybe they figured because the cowl vent wouldn't open they needed to have a way for fresh air to enter the cabin. I dunno ?, but it looks stupid so I figured I would at least try to close it up. By the way, it seems it was not the tyranny that was keeping the tub from bottoming out on the chassis. First it was the inner fender panels. Having trimmed those, I thought it was the tyranny so I flattened the top of it but to no avail. It turned out to be some raised circles on each corner; remnants of the injection process, apparently. The tub settled down after I shaved them off (first photo- circled). To close up the bi-lateraI abysses, I used .015 evergreen glued to the top of the chassis. It will be painted black to match. A builder could improve on this idea but, frankly, I'm done. I think y'all know how I feel about this kit by now. Thanks for your understanding ?

Oh...well all rightey then...?

Update: While trying to detail the interior tub, I was distracted by the fact that the floor does not extend to the full width of the body ? which I already knew and had decided to "fix" ?. So then I thought I would do a trial fit of the tub and, as I suspected earlier, had to do more "fixing". Using my trusty #11, I removed a very small amount of the rear edge of the inner fender panel at a time until I was satisfied that that was not the only thing keeping the tub from fitting all the way down on the chassis. So I grabbed my fully charged Dremel Micro and removed a small amount from the transmission ?. OK, nobody sees it. That did the trick! Well, that and I drilled the two front holes on the tub a bit bigger. I'm still playing with the floor extensions; more on that later. ?

You might try foil first then thinned flat black enamel wash, swab with thinner-moistened tip to clean up. I've done this on a couple of deuce grilles. My $00.02 ?

The narrative is "its an Earl Scheib paint job" ? Thanks to both of you for your kindness ?

This is how well the body work went. The paint, not so much... I rushed it and made a mess of it but I'm OK with it. I gotta finish up a few things and then call it done. I used 5 minute epoxy to hold the headlights from the inside as well as the glass. The rear plate mount, trunk handle and the tail lights are pinned. Thanks for stopping by. By the way, there's a third tail light. Who knew? ?

Thanks, Jim, I'm sure the price is much higher now if any are available. Too rich for my blood.

That "Chrom" looks darn good, Greg. I gotta get me some. Big advantage over Allclad II. How's the application of it? Just like regular rattle-can paint?

I love a chopped see-dan! Where'd you get those great wires, Jim?

I love a chopped see-dan! Those PE wires look fantastic. Where'd you get 'em, Kevin?

But.... Thanks, Carl. ?

Thanks, Greg. I love my little vise. I have other vises but they're kind of personal. ?. The PE saw is extremely useful, especially for removing chrome parts from the sprue in this particular kit where sprue cutters won't work very well. Thanks, David. I actually didn't injure myself in the process! That's impressive. ?

I've had luck "ribbon curling" thin styrene cold but heat sounds good. I didn't mean to blame you about the interior thing. It was my attempt at humor that sometimes fails to be funny. I've reached a point in my build where I've lost interest and want to move on but then I feel guilty about it. Starting them is easy but finishing them, sometimes, is more like work. Almost there though.

Greg did a really nice detailing job on his interior and I was at the point of just painting the damned thing and getting on with it. But I then felt shamed ?. Okay, so even though I had a coat of primer on it I thought I should make an attempt to at least make some cranks and handles. I started by drilling in the centers of the hardly visible escutcheon and then discovered I could center-drill a piece of .100 evergreen rod and slice off thin pieces with my PE saw blade. I could then insert an .020 brass wire through the door panel and slide the new escutcheon down the wire and hit it with a tiny drop of solvent to bond it. then I found I could center-drill a piece of evergreen 1/16 rod and bend a piece of .020 brass wire into a crank shape and CA glue the wire into the rod. I then sliced off the 1/16" rod leaving a knob on the new crank. I finished off the knob with a drop of CA. The handles are just more .020 wire bent to shape. Simple. Not great, but adequate. Better than nothing. You can probably cast some handles and cranks but for me it's just not worth all that. After the interior is painted, I will add the new hardware and paint appropriately with Molotow and some ivory enamel. Easy. ?

Looks like you're going for broke, Greg ?. I like it! I never noticed the cowl/fender line. I was gonna laze out on the interior but you shamed me into adding some detail. As far as the sproo-goo goes, it seemed like a good idea. I got lucky and it didn't sink much. I haven't used Milliput. Maybe I should get some and see what it can do. You're gonna be OK with the .020 fender welt and don't sweat the body color on the welt - it'll be fine. Just don't try to attach the .020 around the high crown curve with solvent because it may break. I started in the flat area with solvent to get a foot hold, letting it set up before pulling it around the curve where I used CA . I learned this the hard way. ?

I always get a kick out of instructions that were interpreted by a non-professional. ? I will attempt buying these purification cup only to prevent my clogging to paint with. ?

Vinyl top paint was available way back in the day. I used it on a '72 Fury I was going to flip. I wish I could remember more.....?....it had a bad transmission.....I remember that...?

Oooo, I didn't mean for you to test it...hope it's OK ?. I just wondered if it could be used over and over. I remember buying full size paper strainers from the body shop supply house that were throw-aways. Wouldn't that be nice if we had little ones? Hmmmm......

Yup. It's like us gun nuts say : "it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it" ?

Greg, are these filters "cleanable"? The plastic housing may be a no-no for solvents like lacquer thinner or other hot solvents. Aztek is water base as well as AK paints, right?

Nice job detailing the exhaust, etc. Not easy for some of us (me). Maybe a bit of rust on the resonators and tail pipes would be appropriate. Here's how I recall the '57 Ford back home in Southern New England: ?...sorry, had to.