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‘53 Studebaker


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Now that all the X-mas and New Year‘s Eve hurley burley is done it‘s time to start a new project. I had this old amt Studebaker kit in my stash for years...

01kit.jpg.5e7e637cd5fed8aec6e99b66a2ea965b.jpg

...and chose it as my first 2024 project. Once again a rendering by the great artist Steve Stanford inspired me:

02Stanfordrendering.jpg.9d697e7881cdd7a8ca75095118c39d78.jpg

I don‘t know how near I can get to it but I guess there‘s only one way to find out...

First of all, all emblems and handles will have to go

03emblems.jpg.ef92a9b7550d18a2e4a5adf2b7080b81.jpg

04handles.jpg.a3303dbe823524c83631b8cb6190190f.jpg

05trunk.jpg.24e046c7bd06882615a8bc92f70dbdff.jpg

 

and I already chose a set of wheels for my project StooShort, a combo of Pegasus Hollis and Helas:

06wheels.jpg.0cd0ee0af4c12cec32213d584f172045.jpg

Let‘s have some fun with styrene (and putty I guess)!

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Like your new years project. Should you be trying to replicate the chopped roof in the drawing a chopped top may be in this kit or one of the later versions. The chopped top that AMT put in the kits was to represent something you might see at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The drawing is something that would be a better source for a street car. I think if you didn't remove as much from the roof pillars and used the optional chopped top you could replicate what is in the drawing.  

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Those old Studebakers had very advanced styling back then. Dare I say more European looking considering it was built in the chrome and fins era.

This Custom build looks interesting.        Even built stock it would also look good.

Edited by Bugatti Fan
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Thanks for all that premature praise, I hope I can do it justice!

On 1/7/2024 at 5:42 PM, espo said:

a chopped top may be in this kit or one of the later versions.

No optional chopped top in this version of this kit but that‘s OK for me. I always like the fun of performing a chop myself...

 

Not much happened so far but the first thing I realised was that I have to modify the inner front fenders to get the body low enough.

07innerfenders.jpg.923eb7f264e2e13f9a4d13f7c07a45e6.jpg

So I cut them away to make room for the Pegasus wheels:

08innerfenders2.jpg.42d07acde531e26f12b474850b836206.jpg

I may want to scratch build some custom wheel arcs but for now it works to get a feel for the estimated stance:

09stance.jpg.43d2177c9b7a2155e2751928fd644bef.jpg

 

Looks cool already but of course it is still waaaay too long so I marked the area where I want to make the first cuts:

10wheretocut.jpg.2770417b8f292a010056777c6d849d78.jpg

Let‘s get out the Dremel.

Thanks for watching!

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Love the 53 Stude. I built this kit many years ago in the mid to late 1960s. I recall it offered a Bonneville version with a dual blown Hemi.

This is gonna be one killer build, I can see it !!!

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5 hours ago, Koellefornia Kid said:

Thanks for all that premature praise, I hope I can do it justice!

No optional chopped top in this version of this kit but that‘s OK for me. I always like the fun of performing a chop myself...

 

Not much happened so far but the first thing I realised was that I have to modify the inner front fenders to get the body low enough.

07innerfenders.jpg.923eb7f264e2e13f9a4d13f7c07a45e6.jpg

So I cut them away to make room for the Pegasus wheels:

08innerfenders2.jpg.42d07acde531e26f12b474850b836206.jpg

I may want to scratch build some custom wheel arcs but for now it works to get a feel for the estimated stance:

09stance.jpg.43d2177c9b7a2155e2751928fd644bef.jpg

 

Looks cool already but of course it is still waaaay too long so I marked the area where I want to make the first cuts:

10wheretocut.jpg.2770417b8f292a010056777c6d849d78.jpg

Let‘s get out the Dremel.

Thanks for watching!

If chopping the top is even a consideration, now would be the time since it looks like you're shortening the body and removing material from the roof. Since chopping the top usually requires adding material to lengthen the roof now would be the time to see how little would need to be removed from the roof. Again, that is only if that is even part of your plan. I do like the idea of shortening the wheelbase and overall length of the body. 

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KK you’ve got my attention with the body sectioning to shorten your ride. Always admired this Stude as it captured my attention at age four which has led to life of gearhead!

Cheers Misha 

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