TooOld

Thanks David ! A couple of Polara's ? Boy I'd like to find just one !

Agreed ! Building the foundation is necessary but I'm looking forward to adding the piping and other trim .

Well I'll be danged . Over the years I've tried to stretch sprue unsuccessfully several times and finally gave up ! It sure does help to actually see it done , thanks Steve !

I absolutely love what you've accomplished , using what you have and converting it into a completely different animal is my kind of build ! Great work Alan !

Started working on the interior by modifying the rear arm rests . The Dodge arm rests are angled reward so a little cutting and some filler gave me the proper shape . The Impala interior was originally too long so I also lengthened the slots in the floor so the front seat could be moved reward about 3/16 inch . Some more filler and now the rear seat is smooth and ready to become a Dodge ! For the side panels I began by removing all of the molded in detail , then the pocket for the top mechanism was angled to match the rear arm rests . Instead of trying to scribe the Dodge door panels into it I decided to make an upholstery panel out of .020" sheet . The plan is to draw the Dodge upholstery onto this and cut it apart into separate pieces , then glue those pieces onto the original side panel . Sounds good in my head . . . we'll see . To modify the front seat (#1) I first filled the gap in the seat backs with plastic (#2) . Next filler was used and all of the molded in detail was sanded off so the seat was smooth , then the left and right ends were reshaped (#3) . The last step was to cut the seat back into a 60/40 split and add to the top of the drivers seat back (#4) . Some more filler and sanding gives me the basic shape of the front seat . Now I have the beginning of the Dodge interior ready for some detailing . There's still a lot of finish work to do then I can start adding some piping and other details .

Thanks JC !

Looks great in that gold color ! I have one of these and also a '73 Cutlass , maybe JoHan was updating the '73 to a '74 but didn't get it done in time so they slapped '75 plates on it .

NICE !

Dang Jim , you're doing some mighty fancy work lately ! Awesome job !

Really nicely done Albert ! Seems your airplane skills work just as good on cars !

Thanks Chris !

Thanks much Ed !

I'm in for a set , just emailed Ed !

Nice job Ray ! The gold in the wheels is subtle but really sets it off .

Wow that looks great ! I agree the Monogram '32 roadster is one of my favorites too and your conversion to a fenderless is something I may try one of these days .

Really like what you've done so far , you sure make it look easy ! The new engine compartment looks great and I like that you glued the top well to the body .

Thanks much Tom ! I was planning on the same swap with a '59 Buick I have , guess I have some more work to look forward too .

Just came across this thread and will follow along , always wanted to see these kits detailed-up into real show pieces and I know your the guy to do it ! I've been thinking of using some Drag 500 tires on a future project but couldn't remember what kit had them , where did yours come from ?

Great save ! Anybody that's ever driven a TC knows how much fun they are to drive !

I've done a half dozen builds using chassis' and interiors from one kit mating them to a body from another kit . Each one is different but since the dash is what mates the interior to the inside of the body it's always a challenge . This time the width of the new interior is almost 1/8" wider than the sloppy fit of the JoHan interior , plus the thickness of the side panels makes fitting the dash even worse . To start I took the easy way out , instead of cutting the sides to mount the dash I transplanted the cutouts from the JoHan tub . . . probably not the preferred method but it was quick and assured the angles would be correct . To compensate for the width of the interior plastic blocks were glued to both ends of the dash . In this shot the difference is very evident . The blocks were narrowed and filed to shape so they would fit into the openings . Then some "wings" were added to each side , these will hold the dash in place . Also the top of the blocks were ground down to clear the windshield . And the dash installed . I might radius the inside of each end so the transition to the side panels is closer . With the interior installed in the body that transition doesn't look so bad . Look how thick that windshield is !!! To be continued . . .

It's six of one and a half dozen of the other , no matter what you do . I'm guilty of not reading every post and asking repeat questions myself .

Thanks ! Rolling slow but it's getting there . Still need to work on the firewall/side panel clearance but I'm happy ! Thanks ! That was really much easier than expected , very little tweaking on the top was needed . Thanks much !

Thanks Steve ! It's a lot of work and not much to look at , I usually don't show everything that needs to be done as it can be boring compared to other builds . The floorboard also needed to be narrowed , I added the square rod to locate the side panels , and they were too tall and needed to be trimmed along the bottom edge .

Thanks guys ! Yep , I remember it being parked inside .

Well I finally was able to squeeze in some bench time and wanted to continue fitting the interior , but first the windshield needed some work . The JoHan windshields are so thick they look awful , hopefully with some trimming this won't look quite so bad . First the vent windows need to be removed , they'll be replaced with acetate later . Here I'm just marking the rear edge of the A pillar . I've also trimmed along the top edge as much as I dare . The problem is because the plastic is so thick that the edge will be visible from the outside if I go to far . I used a Dremel with a cut-off wheel to remove the vents , then filed and sanded them to final shape . Later I'm going to radius that rear edge and foil it to represent the interior trim pieces on the Dodge . Reinstalling the interior the side panels needed to be notched to clear the windshield . There are some major clearance issues with the chassis that need to be fixed . I thought about this for a while and finally decided that by removing the front part of the floor and the footwells in the rear of the floor it might fit . Here I've made a front wall and filled the rear openings . After some filler and some sanding it's ready to go . Looks like everything fits now ! Now that the interior fits nicely I can start "De-Chevy-ing" it .