Wider & Longer Body... "49 Merc

[CountryJoe]

I've already lowered the body - the top was already chopped... now I wanna make it "wider & longer". But I'm a little concerned about accurately followin' the flow of the body - has anyone done anything like this before?

Is eyeballin' it the best way to go?

 

Edited December 23, 2016 by CountryJoe

[Snake45]

Well, it's already a '49 Merc, so it's not like anything you could do to it is gonna make it any uglier....

[CountryJoe]

Well... thanks for that bit of inspiration. 

[astroracer]

What you need to be aware of is called "Perspective". Lowering and chopping changes the perspective in one direction. Widening and lengthening adds two more directions and this is where you have to pay attention to how everything "looks" when the changes are complete. Some can be good, some can be bad. Most are bad if done excessively, throwing off the perspective and interrupting the way the body flows.

If you take a few good, clear pictures of the sides, top, front and rear of the car you can cut them up and stretch and tweak to your hearts content to get the look you are after. Doing this will help to maintain the perspective and get you the look you want well before you do any cutting on the plastic. It will also guide you where to make the cuts and additions.

Hope this helps.

Mark

[BigTallDad]

If you take some pictures, load 'em into MS Paint. That will allow you to stretch (or narrow) vertically and horizontally.

[CountryJoe]

Now "these" suggestions are something I can work with... thank you very much.

[JollySipper]

If you were to section the body, that would make it "wider", proportion wise.............

[1930fordpickup]

Well, it's already a '49 Merc, so it's not like anything you could do to it is gonna make it any uglier....

Well Ricard he could make it look like a 65 GTO. 

I like the PS idea before you start to cut away. 

[Snake45]

Now "these" suggestions are something I can work with... thank you very much.

What I was trying to say was, it's only plastic, and it's not especially rare or valuable plastic, so don't be afraid to experiment.

[BigTallDad]

Have we lost our sense of humor?

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Just remember...it's a lot easier, and far more frequent, to ruin a car's lines and proportions while "improving" it than it is to actually improve them.

Photoshop pre-cutting customizing is great if you can do it, but if you don't have the program or the skills, you can still do your pre-planning and trying different things the old fashioned way.

Simply print out several views of the car you want to modify, and cut / paste the images to try various changes.

This can be a lot more effective that you might think, especially if you're careful to watch the scaling, perspective and proportions as you work.

The more you do of this stuff, the better you'll get.

[CountryJoe]

And my original plan was to hack the body in half at a few different points and add some strip stryene... don't suppose I woulda been very happy with myself at that point.

Looks like I gots me a powerful bit o' thinkin' to do.

 

Thanks again for the insight.

[Belugawrx]

here is wat I tried ....and am still starin at....

need some kinda rear lightts

Still staring at it....

Cheers

Edited December 26, 2016 by Belugawrx

[CountryJoe]

A scoop... hadn't thought about that - BUT I LIKE IT!!!!

[CountryJoe]

A scoop... hadn't thought about that - BUT I LIKE IT!!!!

if it weren't for other people... I wouldn't feel so self conscious about the amount of time I spend talking to myself. 

[Belugawrx]

[misterNNL]

I like what you have done so far.The changes are very attractive.Thanks for sharing.