Ferbz

Great build! Details and especially bodywork/paint are super nice ? I noticed you're in Hawaii! You ever have humidity wreak havoc with your paintjobs? I'm in Texas and I have to watch the humidity like a hawk when I do my paint work...

Super build! I especially like the the fuel line work, and the patina paint is really well done ?

Thanks! Some years ago I saw someone else use half round plastic rod for tuck and roll pleats and thought it was a great idea ? You'll find that if you sand/shape the ends of each rod before gluing them in place, it will look like the piping anchors down the ends of the pleats, much like the real thing! It's extra work, but it yields a more realistic look ?

Thanks! I found out from researching custom trucks from the 50s that many of those exterior side bed exhausts were functional! One guy told me they were sometimes called 'belly burners' due to their placement lol

Thanks Dennis! I'm just a 'frustrated' designer at heart I think lol I thought to myself: How can I 'redesign' (another word for customize in my book) this odd duck, factory pickup in the traditional 50s style? I took cues from what some people did back then and combined them with my sensibilities. Not all my ideas work out but I like how this one did ?

Thanks! Yeah, I'm a big fan of Valley Custom! I agree with you about the initial factory design having 'good bones'.....that's a smart way to describe it ? For this build, I basically removed/modified the factory stuff until it looked good to me as an adequate period custom. Ha! I suppose I do that will all my custom builds lol In essence, 'customizing' is just 'redesigning' to suit the owner's/builder's taste I think ?

Thanks! I would imagine these trucks might have that stigma that they're so odd looking that they're cool, which I also kinda actually like! ?

Thanks man! I built it as a curbside with no engine or chassis detail, but I imagine an early 50s OHV V8 like a Caddy, Buick nailhead, or even an early hemi with chrome detail and multi carb set up would be appropriate?

Thanks! Yeah, I tried using the 48 Ford passenger car skirts but they weren't long enough. I ended up making them from scratch using the passenger car skirts as the basic shape ?

Thanks! Yup, I did quite a bit of research looking at as many 1:1 kustom pickups as I could that were built back then ??

Thanks! I tried my best to nail the custom style of the era all the while keeping proportion and good design in mind ?

Here's another build I managed to finish in my absence from this board. These Ford pickups are not the most beautiful vehicles in my eyes, but with a 'shave and a haircut' I think they make really cool customs. Some Ford 1:1 pickup customs were built up nicely back in the day and I took inspiration from many of them. I basically made modifications I know I would do if I owned a pickup like this! The cab was chopped and channeled, a 46-48 Ford passenger car hood was widened at the nose and adjusted to fit, the front fenders were narrowed at the front, the bed was shortened and rear fenders repositioned. Fender skirts, front/rear gravel pans, bed cover, and exhaust pipes were made from scratch. Fender lines were filled and smoothed, a sunken license window was cut into the filled tailgate and parts box tail lights mounted. Ribbed bumpers are from the Revell 48 Ford kit and spotlights, 56 chevy steering wheel, are added details. The interior seat and bed cover were detailed with tuck and roll and piping using half round rod and spark plug wire. Paint is Testors Gold metallic under satin clear lacquer.

Thanks!

Hey gang, I've recently posted finished pics of this build in the finished channel but thought I'd post some progress pics I took along the way to show how some of the work was done. The body was shaved and smoothed, and I chopped the top by sliding the bottom half of the rear window opening forward so that the A and C pillars would mate up again after removing the chopped amount. I later ended up sliding the remainder of the rear deck forward as well, which allowed me to create the beginnings of the extended rear fenders. I added a custom rear roll pan, angled/peaked grill valance and hidden rear tail light bar made from a straight section of red sprue. Up front I grafted in and molded in the custom grill surround found in the AMT 56 Ford kit. The hood was pancaked with rounded hood corners. The front bumper/grill bar is from the same 56 ford kit, and the light bar is made from a straight length of clear sprue with chrome bullets capping each end. Inside, the seats were sanded of factory details and tuck and roll pleats were made using half round plastic rod and spark plug wire for piping. The carpet is made from really wide felt holiday ribbon cut to logical shapes and glued in place using spray adhesive. Paint is black lacquer on top, candy orange lacquer fades on bottom with some pearl gold powder. Wheels are Pegasus chrome reverse wheels with skinny whitewalls:

Thanks man! I tried my best to nail the style of that era

Thanks! Yeah, I was definitely inspired by Gene and other great customizers from that era!

Thanks! Imperfections are in there, trust me lol I just hope the overall impression distracts the viewer enough so they dont notice them

Thanks! I'm glad I could temporarily 'turn you to the dark side'

Thanks! I took some progress pics along the way while I was building it. I'll get around to posting them in the WIP channel to share how a lot of the work was done

Thanks man! Fade and blend paintjobs take practice (like most things I suppose) but with a decent airbrush and candy paint you could certainly learn to do it too!

Yes! Anyone out there other than me willing to cut up a perfectly good 409 Belair bubbletop? lol

Thanks! I wish the pearl effect was more obvious, but I'm just happy the paint came out without giving me to much trouble lol

Thanks! I think most 1:1 collectors would cringe if they saw a customized 409 Belair, but I would have no problem cutting one up like this!

Thanks for keeping track! lol It's been a long time since I've been online here I'm a super slow builder but I actually finished one more build since I've been away. Stay tuned for another post!

Yikes! It's been quite some time since I've shared/posted anything here! In my absence, I did manage to finish this build. I realized that although custom cars in general are my favorite build topic, I had never tackled an early 60's era style custom before so I thought a 62 Belair might be a good one to try. The top has been chopped with the rear window and trunk moved forward, the body has been shaved/smoothed, hood pancaked with rounded corners, and custom front and rear end treatments added with brass railroad mesh detail. For the interior, factory details on the seats were sanded smooth and tuck and roll inserts with piping was added using half round styrene and spark plug wire. The 'swoopier' 64 Impala dash was used, as well as a parts box custom steering wheel, and a scratch built floor shifter was added. Paint is black lacquer on top and Candy Orange lacquer fades on the bottom with a bit of gold pearl powder. Pegasus chrome reversed wheels and skinny whitewalls complete the early 60s look: