Ferbz

Thanks everyone! I'll keep posting updates as I go.

Thanks! While I've been learning alot about the many chopped/sectioned 39/40 1:1 custom Fords built in the early post war period, not many widened the fenders. Doug Rice's 1:1 39 Ford had the widened fenders and was a huge inspiration for this project. Although I wonder about the practical need for why he did it, I really like the look of the wide fenders. It fixes the quirky narrowness of this body style to me.

Thanks! No primer yet....I'll post pics when I spray the first coat. I wanted to publish pics of the bodywork before it gets covered up. The first coat to me is the initial test of how the bodywork looks.

Since my last post on this project progress has been slow and steady. I've since glued the top/body/fenders together, filled the rear wheel openings(I'll later scribe a fender skirt line for the flush skirt illusion), filled the bumper bracket holes(I'll cut small, more accurate ones later), cut open a recessed license area in the trunk, added a filler strip along the bottom of the front fenders/doors, filled/smoothed the firewall, replaced the 40 grill area with a 39 from the Revell kit, filled the windshield opening at the top(even when chopped the opening is too tall for me)and added an inner lip for the "glass" to mount to. I took some step-by-step pics of how I did this and may create a separate post with them. I got the idea from Steve Boutte and I think it's going to work pretty well(thanks Steve!) It's almost ready for first primer coat. Paint color is undecided except it will be some single stage color appropriate for the era. As I think I mentioned, I'm attempting to build this car as an early post war style custom. Plans call for a hopped up flathead with a 4 carb setup. I may try to scratch build a weird one that has the carbs side by side rather than all of them inline, just to be unusual. After some researching it seems there were a few people experimenting with really odd but cool multi carb setups back then! Those manifolds are super rare today. Enough yapping, have a look at the pics One last note: notice that piece of tubing in the interior? I was gluing some sheet strips on the inside of the top to strengthen my cuts as is my usual practice, but because the top was not yet glued to the sectioned body, the B pillars buckled inwards towards each other! I tacked in that tubing to push them back out, then glued the top/body/fenders together. I hope that when I remove it things will stay where they are...

Nice work, James!

Oh man, this should be cool! I'll be following for sure....

Such a clean build! Just curious, what brand of automotive lacquer did you use?

Nicely done! You're right about chopping those 40's. I'm finessing the chop on my chopped/sectioned 40 at the moment. And thanks for the diagram! It's always valuable to see how it is actually done.

Wow....! Is your scratchbuilt front suspension painted with Alclad?

I Agree! Thanks for saying this. I butchered 3 AMT Mercs before I got my first decent chopped top. And let me add that good customizing(like anything else)comes with experience and determination. Keep on it, James!

I'm just getting back into the hobby after 10+yrs and noticed this kit is not currently available. Can anybody tell me when this happened and if AMT plans on bringing it back? Also, is it my imagination or do model companies sometimes take kits out of production then bring them back to rejuvenate interest?

I think its cool that you sketch things out! I often do it to help me figure out where I'm going. I've even drawn on a spare body to figure out paintjobs BTW, a Gene Winfield style fade job would look cool on your car....

It's a Toyota color: White Pearl BTY1626 (070) I bought it at O'Reilly's.

Thanks Bernard! Paint certainly looks different due to lighting/environment. I'm not a real photographer so my pics are usually shot outside in natural sunlight. I've been wanting to experiment with lighting indoors where I can control lighting better. I'll try some indoors shots at some point with this car and see what happens. This is the first project where I've used White Pearl as a paintjob and it looks fine, but I don't really like the way it photographs. To answer your question, it's Duplicolor automotive spray can lacquer with same brand clearcoat. I've seen some really iridescent white pearls in nail polish. Certainly not as convenient as spray cans, but it may be what you'll have to jump to in order to get the results you want. I like spray cans and use them whenever I can, but I've resorted to airbrushing nail polish when I couldn't find what I needed in cans. I contemplated airbrushing over the white pearl some clear with gold pearl powder mixed in to give it some gold shimmer, but decided against it not wanting to take any more chances with the paint. Keep up the search and do let me know if you find something that works. I'll post some indoor pics of this car soon!

I hope I'm ok posting these pics here even though it looks finished, this car still needs a couple more details to be considered done(license plate, spotlights, exhaust tips). I ended up going with white pearl figuring it would hide a some of the problems I anticipated having after stripping/re-prepping my initial paintjob which got botched up(see my previous post with in-progress shots). In fact, I went in a totally different direction with the entire paint scheme(including interior)I had originally planned and I'm happy where it ended up. Body mods include: top chop, rounded hood corners, hood peak, frenched headlights in extended front fenders, molded grill opening, widened AMT Merc custom grill bar, lowered front gravel pan, narrowed Revell Merc bumpers, scratchbuilt rear gravel pan for continental kit, rear fender bulges extended forward and scooped, molded in stock skirts. One sneaky mod: the top surface of the trunk including the lower lip of the rear window was slid forward a bit to keep the flow of the rear window/top. This was also done to lean the rear vertical surface of the trunk forward so that the continental kit mounts leaning forward. Lastly, with the addition the vertical peaks below the tail lights, this modification also makes the rear fenders appear extended. I found a pic of a car club plaque online that said: KUSTOMS Honolulu and printed out a scaled down pic of it(anybody know if it was really used back in the day?) I then glued it to a thin piece of styrene, painted it aluminum and added a light coat of matte clear. You can see it in the rear window mounted on the package tray using wire. I'll post final pics in 'Under Glass' once I add the reminder of the details. Thanks again to everyone for the words of encouragement on this one!

Yeah, any updates on this project? I really like the chop modification you made! It really improves that box stock chop IMO.

This is such a cool idea! Can't wait to see more. I've heard the term Steam Punk being thrown but only recently researched it in detail....I love it! I wonder how hotrodding might have evolved in the 30's/40's if Henry Ford perfected the steam engine and used it instead of the legendary Flathead V8.....

Oh yeah, that's lookin' good! What kit are those hubcaps from?

Custom scale work in metal? Very cool!

Nice work!

I love seeing wild stuff like that! It takes a lot of creativity and independent thinking to come up with unique cars like yours. Keep'em coming!

I really, really like this! And the Wendy spoon thing is a great idea....!

Well done, James! By the way, I often glue Evergreen sheet plastic from behind to strengthen a seam.

Ok, after lots of sanding and prepping(again)and coming up with a color scheme, the 53 body is now repainted! A simpler two tone paintjob of White Pearl and Lime metallic replaces that botched up tri-tone panel idea I initially tried. Some of the bodywork swelled a little after applying the white pearl, unfortunately. Maybe I should have sprayed a sealer over the final primer coat. Anybody use sealers for this reason? I've never had this happen before but it could be that I sprayed 'hotter' Duplicolor lacquer over Testors lacquer. Luckily, because the paint is a light color, much of the swelling cant be seen unless you look REALLY close While I wait for the clear coat to harden before I do the wet sand/polish thing, I've been busy with the interior which is almost finished. This will be a curbside so I wont have any engine/chassis detail. I have to say, I'm really happy with the new direction this project is going and I'm glad I'm turning it around. It's quite a sinking feeling when a lot of custom bodywork gets jacked when a paintjob goes awry. I do believe sometimes you have to experiment and take some chances or you'll rarely learn/do something new or different. These pics are just some quick shots of how it's been progressing. The lighting is not very good as the white pearl looks washed out but consider it a sneak peek before I post it in it's finished state. This will be the first model car I'll have built in over 10yrs so I'm pretty excited about it! Thanks everyone for the encouragement in my initial post!

Thanks man! After lots of sanding and prepping, the body is now repainted Lime Ice metallic on top, white pearl on bottom. I'm now working on the interior while I wait for the clearcoat to fully harden up before I do the wetsand/polish thing. I'll try to post pics of the interior and body this week.