Pierson Bros. '36 Ford Coupe

[RancheroSteve]

Bear with me as I try to turn this kit:

Into a replica of the Pierson Brothers 1936 Ford Coupe:

I'll be using the R&M chopped top:

Here's where I'm at so far, after about ten hours of body work. The top is on and the insert from the kit grafted in, body fitted to the fenders, new hood sides made (they'll get louvers later), trim removed from hood ( a new trim piece will be made).

Deck lid fitted:

And hinged:

And a bunch of other little things to numerous to mention. Wow, nothing fits very well at all on this kit without a lot of massaging, but I'm having fun so far.

 

 

Edited July 4, 2020 by RancheroSteve

[espo]

One thing that sort of stands out is the moldings where the body and the top join. The molding under the side window that matches the door skin ends at the back edge of the door. This could be blended into the body with a small addition of plastic in that area. I wonder if the Chopped Top is based on the option from the AMT '36 Ford Coupe/Roadster kit ? Overall the body looks good.     

[RancheroSteve]

Thanks for that, David. As you probably know, the tops on these things are notoriously hard to match up well. Still some tuning to do here as I get further into it, but I think some of what you might be seeing is where the primer has been sanded away as I tried to get the top to match the body. I'll see what it looks like once I've shot a little more primer on it. 

Edit: On third look, you're absolutely right, David. I went back and added a little plastic and putty on the right side and a little putty (only) on the left.

Edited July 5, 2020 by RancheroSteve

[Richard Bartrop]

A great subject, and I'm looking forward to seeing how you tackle it.

[RancheroSteve]

Turning my attention to the fender skirts. I had hoped to use the skirts that Rich Costello kindly sent me, but after a closer look, I realized I'd have to scratchbuild them after all. Since I had a good profile shot from Rodders Journal, I was able to print the skirts out to scale and use that as a template.  AMT skirts on top, my fabricated skirts on the bottom.

And installed:

 

[RancheroSteve]

I've been trying to duplicate a small but significant detail: the custom bullnose molding on the front of the hood. Here's what I've got so far - maybe a slightly over-size, but the right idea..

[Paul Payne]

This is a great build of a great car- I like the Monogram kit because the grill is more true- the AMT kit doesn’t have the proper tuck under. I think the chopped top was inspired by the AMT kit.

[Dennis Lacy]

Excellent work so far and a killer subject.

Getting the tops to match up to the bodies on these old two piece kits is a royal pain but it looks like you’re getting it done. The custom bullnose looks great!

[OldNYJim]

Nice work so far, I’ll be watching - great job on that moulding!

[RancheroSteve]

Some more progress. I've spent a lot of time trying to get a passable rendition of the louvered hood and hood sides. I won't go into the details, but the hood top took three tries; not perfect, but it will have to do. Louvers are from the Revell '49 Mercury custom hood.

Hood side louvers cam from the Revell '32 Roadster. The fit is actually better than it looks in these photos, since everything is just help in place with tape.

I also made some structure for the underside of the trunk lid.

On to the chassis and mechanical stuff next. Thanks for looking.

 

[mrm]

Looking good so far. I was just reading about the very car you are building in an old copy of Rodder's Journal the other day. Can't wait to see the finished result. 

[Quiet Eric]

Looks great, the louver work is excellent.

[doorsovdoon]

Very nice work so far. 

[RancheroSteve]

6 hours ago, mrm said:

 I was just reading about the very car you are building in an old copy of Rodder's Journal the other day.

Yes, I have that issue - great reference for building the model. I found a lot of photos online, including some stuff from the shop that restored it, but there are some details in that RJ article that don't show up anywhere else.

[thecrossguy]

Wow this is gonna look great 

[NOBLNG]

Nice job so far. Looks like you’ve got that roof blended in pretty good. I just finished an AMT ‘36....and that roof does take a bit of work to look   right

[Paul Payne]

Steve, this is a great build of a great car- fast and beautiful! I built a 36 inspired by this car.

[RancheroSteve]

After learning that the Pierson coupe used a lot of '40 Ford components (suspension, brakes, steering), I figured I'd add a little more detail and picked up one of these for parts:

In case you haven't seen one, it's a beautiful kit, extremely well done. One thing led to another and I soon realized the frame and interior pan is a near drop-in to the '36 body. Here's the frame assembled and painted. The only alteration is adding a battery box under the seat (the stock '36 location).

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by RancheroSteve

[alan barton]

Will be following closely on this one - lots of ideas here!

Cheers

Alan

[Bullybeef]

Wow I may have to steal the frame idea for my stalled 33 build 

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi Steve!

This is a notoriously finnicky body/top kit... Your top job looks super. Keep on!

CT

[Dave72]

Really nice work so far! Great info on all of the parts you used and mods you have done! 

[RancheroSteve]

These Appleton spots from R&M are just the ticket!

[landman]

On 11/1/2020 at 4:06 PM, Quiet Eric said:

Looks great, the louver work is excellent.

X2

[misterNNL]

On 7/7/2020 at 12:54 AM, RancheroSteve said:

Turning my attention to the fender skirts. I had hoped to use the skirts that Rich Costello kindly sent me, but after a closer look, I realized I'd have to scratchbuild them after all. Since I had a good profile shot from Rodders Journal, I was able to print the skirts out to scale and use that as a template.  AMT skirts on top, my fabricated skirts on the bottom.

And installed:

 

Don't want to hijack this post but a long time ago I traced the profile of that AMT skirt,enlarged it and built a tear drop trailer from it. If any of our members bought that slick resin teardrop trailer from the Modelhaus it was made from my master and it all started from that fender skirt.