Jay Whittaker

Now that the insert is completed, test-fit to be sure there are no gaps and carefully secure it to the seat. You can lightly glue it, but be careful not to soak-through the material’s edge on the front side. I chose to cut strips of Evergreen, superglue then acrylic filler them as well as the insert itself. (These puppies aren’t going anywhere!) The final result compliments the body color beautifully!

Just for that little extra, I trimmed down the head on a straight pin to a rectangle, drilled a hole in the base and inserted it for a decorative button. You can apply this in whatever design you wish, or none at all. I just did one, mainly to emphasize the cushioned aspect of the insert without going overboard.

Trim a piece of the fabric with a bit extra on every side. Adjust the grain of the material and pattern so it’s straight and level, then fasten the top (or front) first. Cut a notch on each side to save the material bunching-up (saving troubles for the back side) then carefully attach one side at a time, diagonally cutting off the excess at the far end to make room for the next side.

I’ve been noticing the Testors orange tube glue getting a bad rap around the hobby lately, but it has served me well for 45 years. Although it’s not by any means my main go-to, it still has a solid place on my bench for application when building, and always will as far as I’m concerned. For this particular area it is THE perfect adhesive, both for securing the paper towel to the base, adhering it to itself after fastening to the base and folding it, as well as for adhering the chosen fabric to the base. Once you have got the paper towel secured, trim to fit the base.

Next up comes the construction of the inserts themselves. I start with a relatively thin piece of Evergreen (.010-.015) and cut it to just under the size of the opening. You don’t want to go too small as that’ll allow gaps between the seat and the insert. Go too big and you’re going to have problems on the back side. Once you have the base cut to size, cut out a piece of paper towel twice the height of the insert and fold in half.

Diving a little deeper into the construction of the seat inserts as I didn’t realize it hadn’t posted it!..... Start by rough-cutting out the molded-in inserts from the kit seats then carefully trim to its edges. You can do this either with a Dremel, X-acto, or both (that’s what I did). Be mindful to thin the surrounding edges from the back side as well so the fabric isn’t sunken down into the seat, taking away from the realism.

I appreciate the kind words folks!

Thanks guys!

hanks SO much for all the compliments folks! Sorry I haven't updated this thread lately, as I have been hammerin' hynee to get this to a "presentable" stage for the ACME Southern Nats this past weekend. I'm happy to report that it did make a VERY respectable showing, ending up in apparently what was a multi-vehicle tie for the theme class it was entered in. With the Nats now being in the history books, I wanted my first order of business to be bringing y'all up to date on this, so without further ado, here we go..... Well the inserts have been painted, car cleared, and set to bake for the evening. One more wet sand and one more clear and she’s done.

Thank You Sir!

WOW!!... Well, I do thank you for the compliment!... We need to get something absolutely clear though.... You NEED to be ready for the flat spot that's about to appear on your forehead! LOL Seriously though, thanks a bunch! Here in another day or so i should have the inserts shot and final-cleared the whole thing and we're set.

Aighty, this paint job was a sweet pain right in the petunias and gave me a whole new level of respect for Gene Winfield’s work!…. And of course, a bug had to land right square in the middle of the brightest part of the fade. He left the paint without his legs, and THEY will be sanded-out as well! But we got the fade done, cleared, and the next step will be masking off the inserts on the lower quarters wrapping around under the rear bumper, which I think at this point will be a straight light teal pearl, then the final clear, and we’re over the hurdle!!…. Now I can turn my attention to other things like the engine and interior. Enjoy!

This one is going to be OH-so-tasty!!.... What color you going with?

Thanks so much for the kind words folks!

THAT looks AWESOME!!

And we have success for the evening!! Got ‘er in the dehydrator for the evening, in a day or so will give it a light scuff, lay out the pearl white/white fade down the center as well as the insert fade then re-clear. Once that is done I’ll turn my attention to the interior, engine, and such.

FINALLY!!! We got some shades slung! Wanted to show the various stages I go through when it comes to fade schemes. I personally don’t like any “sharp” fade lines so I intermix the primary base colors with each other at various levels and intensities. I’m going for a Winfield Fade effect on this, which they’re usually concentrated on a specific area of the car, rather than whole-body fades, and I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that. I just had to adjust my mentality when it came time to spray. The inserts will have a mild top-to-bottom fade as well, to tie them into the overall paint theme. So here are some base color shots. Enjoy!

WOW, you have done an incredible save with this project!! I love the direction you're taking this and very much look forward to seeing its completion!

Thank you sir!.... Very lightly applying 2-part epoxy, it'll get attached after paint & polish.

Aighty, got the hood successfully hinged on the second try, and I fashioned it so it’s removable up to whatever point I want to make it permanent, which will be after all engine/bay detailing is done, along with finishing the underside of the hood itself. This is facilitated by merely epoxying the pin to the brass tube housing, pretty much when I’m done with absolutely everything else, like THE last thing before the finish photos. In all honesty, I only had to do this on one side, not both. Set the pics for clarity.

Thanks for all the warm welcome-backs folks, I appreciate it!

Thanks for pointing that out TJ, I've been referring to the trim as '57 DeSoto, but it's actually styled after the De's trim, as the top spear is indeed different. I wanted to do a textured insert (much like a '59 Sport Fury would have) but I do believe that would require the trim to be even wider, which wouldn't look good IMO.

Looking forward to THAT!

Well, life changes happen and they can come along sometimes with minimal warning….. That being said, I’m back to the bench after an unplanned hiatus and took to finalizing the body prep including re-installing the side drip rails along with fashioning the ‘57 DeSoto side trim. I started with some Evergreen half-round #242, cut to length and “speared” at the front edge. This piece will have an indent ground into it, the primed/painted/cleared to make way for the final BMF finish. The next step was to mark out with a pencil the basic lower edge of the De’s trim. Once I had it the way I wanted it I edged it with masking tape and scribed a guide groove for the lower stainless trim, bent to shape from 26 gauge craft wire. The groove serves a two-part purpose; as a place to set the trim as well as a guideline for masking the insert color, making life (hopefully) easier down the road. That was the easy part. Now I get to match it up on the other side. I’ve also ash-canned the grand delusional idea of the long-ram 413 as it was creating unnecessary modification hardships and killing the joy of the build. I’ll use the kit Hemi and dress it up a tiny little bit and all will be right with the World. So with that, I’ll be filling back in the inner fenders to the way they used to be (roughly), and the only other thing on my list body-wise is to reverse-hinge the hood. Once those items are taken care of, I’ll sling some paint and get this baby back on-track. Enjoy!