Steve H

Man I love those 41 Chev grills. Looks great so far Sam, hope you can stay with it til completion. Not many trucks are “beautiful”, but the 41 Chev is definitely a beautiful truck in my opinion.

Watching the weather report, seems to indicate some inclement weather is heading my way, in the form of snow.

Thanks Scott. As mentioned, I still have a fair bit of finessing to do, but once complete I hope that the flares are subtle enough, that they are indeed barely noticeable. It’s weird saying that, because there is a ton of work in them, but the goal is to be subtle, and respect the graceful lines of the car. Thanks for taking the time to comment! Cheers, Steve

Hi Rob! Great to have you on board. It’s just getting interesting now. Francis my friend, the party is just getting started, no apologies please. I certainly agree about about the value increasing once assembled. Of course beauty (value) is in the eye of the beholder… I appreciate your kind words, and this car is indeed a beautiful canvas. I hope I can do it justice. I have been checking in on your incredible Demon build fairly regularly. Your talent is on an entirely different level sir. So thankful that builders like yourself share your amazing talents. This forum has improved my builds and continues to inspire me to keep trying new things. Thanks for checking, and welcome aboard! Cheers, Steve

Great looking truck Manny, but I agree with Spike. More pictures please! Those wheels look fantastic. Cheers, Steve

This is coming along VERY nicely Adam. Beautiful looking build, with fantastic details. I have a fairly large order from Scale Production arriving in about 10 days, good to hear and see, that they are in fact a nice product. On a side note, will you be at the Vancouver show tomorrow? If so, let’s try and say hello in person. Cheers, Steve

I really like that colour combo Bob. Well played. Nice job on the masking, those types of mask jobs take me a while to do…. I think that‘s why I don’t do many two tone paint jobs ? Everything is coming along nicely. Cheers, Steve

Thanks Spike!! Still LOTS to do… Funny, I was thinking last night as I was sanding away, “It’s going to take more time and more work, to have it look like I haven’t done any work!” ? Hopefully it will be worth it in the end. Still need to scratch a subtle rear spoiler, and front splitter. Haven’t made up my mind on the front grill yet, some more trim to shave off… Thanks for your encouragement Anton!

No “in progress” shots of the front end work. Partly because it was a little trickier than I thought it was going to be, and partly because it looked like a real mess?. There was some anxious moments and few swear words?. So front and rear quarters are now widened. Still A LOT of blending to do so that the fenders “flow” better, but I’m happy with the overall look. The peaks of the front fenders still need quite a bit of work, but I wanted to see it primer. I have a fair bit of bodywork still to do on this thing. More soon!

Thanks Anton, appreciate that. Would you settle for partial primer?…. Coming right up.

Very nice Greg! That engine definitely fills up the under hood area, I’d put the battery “in the trunk”. Looks like another well engineered build from you. Cheers, Steve

Hi Bill, really like where this one is going. Love the pro touring/ wide body look. I’ll be following along. Cheers, Steve

Kurt, if you add more details you’re going to need a trailer to put them in!! Love this build sir. Between your creative mind and OCD you always have great ideas, and fantastic craftsmanship. I need to go back and look thru the thread again, but the trunk latch, and the “leather” seat are fantastic. Thanks for sharing, and for all the detailed photos. Cheers, Steve

Awesome details as always Steven. Your builds are both inspirational and educational. Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Steve

Hi Carl, I’ve been missing his contributions here as well. Roger is one of my favourite builders. I have sent a PM with no reply yet either. Hope he is well, and back here soon.

Not sure how this paint is for blocking bleed thru, but it is a good primer for “hotter” automotive lacquer paints. I believe it was Kit Karson that posted that, or maybe RRR?…

Time to get into the meat and potatoes of this thing…. bodywork! With this being a somewhat rare kit, and one that I have been thinking about building for years, I really want to make it unique. I must say, I’m glad it took me several years to get around to building it, as my skills have improved considerably since joining this forum. I’ve learned a ton from all you talented builders, so thanks! Time to “wide body” this beast!! Okay, don’t panic ?. There won’t be any flares, I still plan on maintaining the beautiful lines of the body. This is something I have never done before, why not practice on a rare collectable kit!! So here we go… I sat and looked at this thing a lot before deciding where to make the cuts, and to envision what it will hopefully look like once done. My goal is, that after it’s done, you’ll have to REALLY look close to notice what has been altered. First I put tape where cut will be. (I later put a strip of aluminum as well for a better guide for the cut) The outermost pen marks are the extent of the cuts. Before cutting I added a brace on the inside of the body just above where my cut will be. This is mostly to make sure the body maintains its shape, but also for strength while I work on it. Cuts were made with back of #11 blade. After cuts were complete, I sat the bottom half of the body in hot water to soften it up a bit. I only submerged it to my cut line. Then, VERY carefully, I slowly worked some shims in to get the desired width. Yes…this was very stressful!! Here you can see why I braced the body inside as wanted to be sure the fenders above the cut retain their shape and don’t dip inwards with the pressure from the shims. The total additional width is 2.75 mm. You will notice the shims are different from one side to the other, that was to compensate for the difference in the thickness of the body. The plastic on the driver side is almost twice as thick, and that was after I thinned it some!! I made some plastic filler pieces for above the cut and very roughly shaped them before attaching them. I wanted to use plastic for strength, and to minimize the amount of putty. The most important thing is to maintain the fender “peak” exactly as it is. It’s such a beautiful part of the car. After a round of filing and sanding, I have a coat of putty on it. Not pretty, but a decent starting point… Here is a before, and after. I won’t know for sure what it looks like til after a few rounds of “fill sand prime”, but so far happy with it. Also got some more baby steps on the interior. The speaker box, now has holes for the speakers. I found an amp from a die cast, and decided to add some cooling fins. The cooling fins are tops from some old valve covers. Looks a little rough now, but paint will make it look like something. I also started building a simple roll bar but that is not shown. I will be tackling widening the front fenders next in a similar matter as the rears, but likely only about 2mm wider for the front, instead of the 2.75mm. That’s it for now, as always, thanks for having a look.

Hello Claude! My progress is always slow, but things are taking shape. Your keen eye is once again correct, those are indeed the door panels from the pro street Lincoln, albeit slightly altered to fit… Thanks for checking in sir, always good to hear from you. Thanks Russell, I appreciate you checking back in. As I mentioned above, I’m still leaning towards #1, but #5 is still a contender. I was wondering which way you would lean. When your last reply mentioned “still looks Caddy” the light bulb in my brain lit up (dimly) and I thought about the Foose Caddy wheels. I agree that #1 looks more aggressive and that is why I am leaning that way. Thank you all for taking the time to comment, it is always appreciated! Cheers, Steve

We agree Bob. One step further is to preserve them as a built model on display to enjoy. Thanks Jeremy, I’m still leaning that way too. Final decision will be made once the body work is complete.

Took a minute to get back to my hobby desk… Anton’s comment on wheel choice gave me one more idea I hadn’t thought of. One of the many reasons I love being on this forum. So right now, the front runner is definitely wheel number 1. I’ll call the new option number 5. With both of theses options the rims will be black, the centre’s will be gold. #1 #5 The rims will be modified and the centre won’t be as deep offset as in the photos. Wheel 1 is from the Foose 65 Impala, wheel 5 is from the Foose Caddy. Hoping for another update soon. Thanks for having a look!

Hi Bob, I couldn’t agree more. That said, I understand why some people collect and preserve the rare kits. Me, I want to build them.

Hello Martin. Foose would be drooling on this build! Another spectacular, extremely realistic build. You have a real knack for achieving realistic scale finishes and colours. That stance is perfection! Cheers, Steve

Excellent! Another Victoria builder. Welcome aboard Douglas, there are lots of very talented builders here to learn from. LOTS of changes in the hobby since ‘79…. Cheers, Steve

Looking good Bob!

Ohhhh yaaaaa…