kustom terraplane

[stitchdup]

I recently got this grille thanks to help from jollyslipper (thanks TJ) and this is just the earliest of ideas forming. The main body and chassis is a well abused monogram 39 chevy delivery thats been chopped built more often than many ancient monuments. this has previously been the delivery, then it got cut into a 4 door sedan then i cut it into this. Its also had fadeaway fenders at one point in its life. so the plan is to swap the roof from the 40 onto the 39, and be sorta in line with the mock up. the 40 body fits no bad behind the doors but i'll have to widen the front around 5 mm but i have a second 40 body to remove the centre of the front from. I can honestly say this will have a constantly evolving plan and at the moment i'm thinking curbside but we all know how those plans go, lol

[Paul Payne]

Looks promising!

[stitchdup]

getting uglier but once the longer chassis is under it the proportions should work better. i'm taking inspiration from a green pick up i saw on bitchin rides at a car show. The floor part is just being used to keep the body square and probably wont make the final cut. The look i'm going for is long, low and phat so ill be using a monogram packard chassis. I hope it starts to look better soon. the body height has been set by the grille.

[Kah puts]

Down but not out ?

[stitchdup]

i figured i should see if i could build a front end before i did much more. it would be a waste of time to do everything else only to find i couldn't do it. after looking at what i had in my parts box i pulled out a monogram cord built up. If i swap the front fenders from side to side it will give me most of the look i'm going for and conveniently the centre section had a paerfect curve for the bottom of the grille, and the surround from the 40 ford rear window supplied the upper part. Now I know the hard part is done i need to build up a chassis. its most likelly coming from the packard speedster as its got the length but its possibly going to be a little narrow. Its still going to be a curbside  but it also needs to be low so there might be some zeeing in the future along with a touch of widening. both of these tasks will be easiest done if the chassis is assembled. once the chassis is built the wheel position will be set so i can proceed with the fenders then. I'll be using more chopped up 40 parts to fill in the inside edge and build out the rear edge of the outside. The temptation to build a coupe is growing and i changed the rear of 40 just in case i go that way

 

[stitchdup]

starting to look like someting now. I'm going to be stretching and raising the rear fenders next. Then i really need to decide between coupe or truck.

[Leica007]

My vote is for the coupe, my father had one when he was a young guy in the Navy and I saw one at a gas station in El Paso back in the 70's. Most people have never even heard of the Terraplane.  Gotta follow you on the journey.

[Chris B]

This project reminds me of this Terraplane here in NZ

[stitchdup]

23 minutes ago, Chris B said:

This project reminds me of this Terraplane here in NZ

that car is my current screeen saver, its a different pic though and i've saved yours cos it shows the inside edge of the fenders better than most. My version is longer though

[Chris B]

Here's another one for you

[stitchdup]

well i've goofed. using the the packard chassis was where i went wrong but i'll just cut the top off and move it back. I might have to do some more cutting on the top to make it fit better and since i'm cutting it up i'll go back to a 5 window.

[stitchdup]

also, i'm using tamiya glue for the first time on this and its working great on the old monogram plastic. previously i've used revell or humbrol glue and they didn't seem to hold very quick on the mongram plastic but the tamiya just grabs hold. Its a bit slower in going off but i think thats a decent compromise