WIP: Chopped 62 Belair custom

[Ferbz]

Hey gang, I've recently posted finished pics of this build in the finished channel but thought I'd post some progress pics I took along the way to show how some of the work was done. The body was shaved and smoothed, and I chopped the top by sliding the bottom half of the rear window opening forward so that the A and C pillars would mate up again after removing the chopped amount. I later ended up sliding the remainder of the rear deck forward as well, which allowed me to create the beginnings of the extended rear fenders. I added a custom rear roll pan, angled/peaked grill valance and hidden rear tail light bar made from a straight section of red sprue. Up front I grafted in and molded in the custom grill surround found in the AMT 56 Ford kit. The hood was pancaked with rounded hood corners. The front bumper/grill bar is from the same 56 ford kit, and the light bar is made from a straight length of clear sprue with chrome bullets capping each end. Inside, the seats were sanded of factory details and tuck and roll pleats were made using half round plastic rod and spark plug wire for piping. The carpet is made from really wide felt holiday ribbon cut to logical shapes and glued in place using spray adhesive. Paint is black lacquer on top, candy orange lacquer fades on bottom with some pearl gold powder. Wheels are Pegasus chrome reverse wheels with skinny whitewalls: 

Edited November 7, 2022 by Ferbz

[Oldcarfan27]

Wow, beautiful!!

Well done!

[Ferbz]

3 hours ago, Oldcarfan27 said:

Wow, beautiful!!

Well done!

Thanks!

[chris chabre]

i fell in love with this when i found it somewhere online...so awesome to see how you did it..esp since i have a few broken roof 62s haha

[NOBLNG]

Super fine work inside and out. It’s beautiful!?

[slusher]

Beautiful custom and great interior!

[Oldcarfan27]

9 hours ago, chris chabre said:

so awesome to see how you did it..esp since i have a few broken roof 62s haha

Me too, what's up with that?!

[goon]

That is gorgeous! Such clean mods, wheels/tires, and paint all seem to accent those sweeping lines.

Thanks for sharing.

[Ferbz]

On 11/10/2022 at 3:48 PM, chris chabre said:

i fell in love with this when i found it somewhere online...so awesome to see how you did it..esp since i have a few broken roof 62s haha

Yeah those C pillars in particular are very delicate. I actually had to strengthen them a bit at the bottom where they connect to the body by backing them with styrene strips. It's definitely not how a real 1:1 belair might get chopped but I knew it would yield the right look for what I was after! 

[Ferbz]

On 11/10/2022 at 4:05 PM, NOBLNG said:

Super fine work inside and out. It’s beautiful!?

Thanks!

[Ferbz]

On 11/10/2022 at 9:32 PM, slusher said:

Beautiful custom and great interior!

Thanks! I dont usually put alot of extra work into the interiors of my builds but because the window openings are so large on these cars I knew the interior would be seen quite a bit ?

[Ferbz]

On 11/11/2022 at 11:02 AM, goon said:

That is gorgeous! Such clean mods, wheels/tires, and paint all seem to accent those sweeping lines.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks! I did my best to think of this build as kind of a 'redesign' ? BTW I see your location is Waipahu, Hi......I grew up there in my early childhood! Howzit brah! ?

[chris chabre]

On 11/22/2022 at 12:08 PM, Ferbz said:

Yeah those C pillars in particular are very delicate. I actually had to strengthen them a bit at the bottom where they connect to the body by backing them with styrene strips. It's definitely not how a real 1:1 belair might get chopped but I knew it would yield the right look for what I was after! 

I may have to find a bubble and build myself a bubble top bubble top!