Chopped 58 T Bird Sedan Delivery

[Maindrian Pace]

Way cool! Great lines and proportions, stance on point too.

[Mr. Metallic]

This is a cool concept. Please excuse my rough illustration, but I think if you scribe a couple panels line straight down from the bottom corner of the top that would simulate a reasonable rear hatch opening. The top molding of the taillight molding would flip up with the hatch.

[Ferbz]

1 hour ago, Mr. Metallic said:

This is a cool concept. Please excuse my rough illustration, but I think if you scribe a couple panels line straight down from the bottom corner of the top that would simulate a reasonable rear hatch opening. The top molding of the taillight molding would flip up with the hatch.

Ha! I was thinking exactly what you've shown here(as they say, great minds think alike!). And yes, I imagine the skin of the upper halves of the tail light housings would swing up along with the flat rear 'door' area as well as the window and frame. Dare I attempt to actually cut it out and hinge it? I intentionally glued the doors and hood shut on this model as I wanted to build it as a curbside. Besides, opening that rear door would be alot of work and I'm lazy  

[Ferbz]

12 hours ago, Maindrian Pace said:

Way cool! Great lines and proportions, stance on point too.

Thanks! It'll be a curbside so I'll be able get the stance this low or close to it fairly easily. I did have to raise the rear inner fender wells a bit though. 

[GerN]

If you were to use dual horizontal tail lights on each side, the hatch could have a larger, flat bottom - i.e., opening between the upper and lower tail lights.

Edited April 10, 2018 by GerN

[Ferbz]

23 hours ago, GerN said:

It looks quite a bit better in primer!  That rear hatch would be a beast, though.  Good decision not to try to open it!

Agreed on all counts! First primer is usually a bittersweet thing, no? On one hand, you can start to see how the body work looks in a unified shade/color, but on the other hand, it'll reveal all the sins hidden in the initial filler and plastic work. Next is the 'spot putty/sand/primer/repeat' stage which I like the least....

[GerN]

My problem is once it is looking decent in primer, I've become enthralled by a new custom design and so don't finish anything.  I know, self-discipline, but what fun is that?

[Dirty Dave]

2 hours ago, GerN said:

My problem is once it is looking decent in primer, I've become enthralled by a new custom design and so don't finish anything.  I know, self-discipline, but what fun is that?

Ahhh! The eternal struggle!

[Ferbz]

I finally have some progress pics to share!(apologies for the quick and dirty indoor shots, I'll post better outdoor lighting pics next....) The T bird sedan delivery now has paint on it. I went with Larry Watson's iconic panel pattern using Dick Jackson's black and cream color combo. I added some chrome tape lines on the hood and top to break up those big flat areas to give those areas some interest. Since these pics I've sprayed a Spakle Gold clearcoat over it all and am waiting for it to dry before wetsanding/polishing.

[Modlbldr]

That looks fantastic! Great concept and you picked the perfect paint job style for it. Love it!

Later-

[Ferbz]

3 hours ago, Modlbldr said:

That looks fantastic! Great concept and you picked the perfect paint job style for it. Love it!

Later-

Thanks! I usually try to do something different with my builds yet still still stay true to traditional custom trends. I've had this idea rolling around in my head for a long time and it feels good to finally have a go at building it. Stay tuned for more progress pics as well as the eventual finished product

[Ferbz]

I realized I hadn't posted pics of the scratchbuilt interior cargo area. The rear seat area was cut away and the cargo area was built from styrene. The rear inner wheel wells were also raised a bit to accomodate the lowering height I plan to have. Since this pic the interior has been painted and I've begun adding carpet using craft felt sheet. I'll post pics of this as well

[misterNNL]

The Watson style paint really works. It could make a very cool Watson shop truck with the proper graphics applied. Thanks for sharing.

[bisc63]

Big fan of customs, and Watson's paint style especially. This is spot on; very nice work. For myself, it would be hard not to coat the entire thing in a coat or two of candy red, to create a more subtle overall look; lowering the contrast between black and cream and becoming a beautiful red-on-deep red show piece.  Any way you go, however, this is cool. (correction: Koooool!)

[Koellefornia Kid]

Really like these Watson style paint jobs! Works great with the SD roof!

[bobthehobbyguy]

Love it. Very cool. Definitely different. Looking forward to seeing  the gold flake 7 think it will pop with it.

[ChrisBcritter]

Glad I got caught up with this one! In real life, I imagine the liftgate would be made of fiberglass with a light metal inner frame, and some counterbalanced hinges from a Courier sedan delivery. Nice work, Ferby!

[Rider]

I am digging this, love the paint.

[Ferbz]

So it's been quite a while since I've posted any progress here(mostly because the project has stalled due to clearcoat hangups). I'm getting super close to finishing up now though. I need to add a license plate(to hide the big holes in the rear bumper), scratchbuild some Bellflower tips and install them, and I'm gonna call it done!  Here's how it looks:

[Ferbz]

Also, I thought I'd share a build tip: I discovered I can use model railroad brass photoetch fencing material as grid mesh for the front grill insert as well as for the tail light housing inserts. I cut/shaped two thin sheet styrene pieces so that they fit into the tail light housings. I then spray glued the brass mesh material to the styrene pieces, trimmed the excess and glued them into the housings. Parts pack tail lights were then glued on top of them. Finally the lenses were detailed a bit using a chrome pen. The front grill insert was done the same way except I painted the styrene insert piece a dark gray before spray gluing the mesh to it. I bought the 4" x 6" brass photoetch sheet for $9 at my local hobby store that sells model railroad stuff. I may be able to do 3 more models with what I have left of the sheet. Not bad cost wise in my book  I hope this info is helpful! Once I add the final details to this model I'll post pics in the 'Under Glass' chat. Here's a couple detail shots in the meantime:  

[Koellefornia Kid]

Nice paint job! I tried a panel paint scheme like this on my "Mexican Blackbird"-build last year but it didn't turn out that clean.. Here it looks like Larry Watson did it himself ?

[Ferbz]

On 4/10/2018 at 11:23 AM, Mr. Metallic said:

This is a cool concept. Please excuse my rough illustration, but I think if you scribe a couple panels line straight down from the bottom corner of the top that would simulate a reasonable rear hatch opening. The top molding of the taillight molding would flip up with the hatch.

Hey Mr. Metallic, take a look at my recent post  I did just what you suggested and I think it works! I also considered scribing a line up the sides and around the top surrounding the rear window to further explain how the rear hatch would open, but I just didnt want to clutter up the smoothness of the top and risk busy-ing up the paint job pattern. It's just a model implying the idea of a custom delivery wagon and how it might look. I'm ok leaving the functionality to the viewer's imaginations

[Ferbz]

9 minutes ago, Koellefornia Kid said:

Nice paint job! I tried a panel paint scheme like this on my "Mexican Blackbird"-build last year but it didn't turn out that clean.. Here it looks like Larry Watson did it himself ?

Thanks! But trust me, this paint job looks way better in pics than in real life  I asked around how other people masked off their panel patterns. I discovered that many people cut masking tape into thin strips. This way, the tape can curve nicely when laying down patterns. I found that cutting 1mm strips worked best for me. I used the green 3M tape(the good stuff)but still found it to be too thick of a material which leaves a thick paint edge. I did spray the black using a spray can which loads more material on the surface than airbrushing, but i wanted more paint on the surface so i could blocksand it flat. It worked out ok, but I still want to find a thinner, more delicate tape. The worst part of this paint job was the clearcoat I ended up fighting the whole way! More on that in another post.... 

[Mr. Metallic]

56 minutes ago, Ferbz said:

Hey Mr. Metallic, take a look at my recent post  I did just what you suggested and I think it works! I also considered scribing a line up the sides and around the top surrounding the rear window to further explain how the rear hatch would open, but I just didnt want to clutter up the smoothness of the top and risk busy-ing up the paint job pattern. It's just a model implying the idea of a custom delivery wagon and how it might look. I'm ok leaving the functionality to the viewer's imaginations

YES!!! You nailed it. Well done.

And thanks for the tip on the railroad fencing too.

Looking forward to seeing it finished

[Ramfins59]

Great tip on the model railroad fencing.  I'll have to get some at my LHS.  The whole model is fabulous.  Great job.