1957 Ford Del Rio "Shooting Brake" Ranch Wagon

[David G.]

Impressive work so far Len! 

David G.

[LennyB]

15 hours ago, customline said:

Door swap?

No, I can't afford the whole door, just the handle.

4 hours ago, Zippi said:

That's coming along pretty nicely there Len.

Thanks Bob, appreciate you checking in.

[LennyB]

3 hours ago, David G. said:

Impressive work so far Len! 

David G.

I'm trying David. At least it's not a '41 Plymouth.?

[oldrevellfan]

Great job ! it's impressive !

[David G.]

On 10/15/2024 at 8:36 AM, LennyB said:

I'm trying David. At least it's not a '41 Plymouth.?

 I'll bet you're still having nightmares over that one! 

-D-

[customline]

I still haven't finished mine. Battery and radiator hoses. There it sits. ?

[LennyB]

13 minutes ago, customline said:

I still haven't finished mine. Battery and radiator hoses. There it sits. ?

I sent all the rest of my 41 parts back to the attic.  

[LennyB]

On 10/16/2024 at 2:18 PM, oldrevellfan said:

Great job ! it's impressive !

Thanks Gilles, I’m trying?

[LennyB]

Made some small progress this week. Getting the wheel opening swap to blend in took a lot of delicate sanding as there is a lot of sculpture to the wheel opening. Needed to extend the cove around the front of the wheel opening further down so I added a thin slice of sheet styrene. That was then trimmed and blended to match.

Needs a bit more refinement but we're getting close. I also carved out the new door opening, modified the "B" pillar and filled in the old opening. Still have to figure out how to add the T-Bird door handle so I haven't done the door edge in that area just yet.

Here is a shot of the original body on top with the modified one.

 

I think I'm just going to leave the molding as/is after all. Would be a lot of work for minimal reward. WDYT?

 

[BK9300]

That’s a lot of precision modification - great work!

[customline]

16 minutes ago, LennyB said:

Made some small progress this week. Getting the wheel opening swap to blend in took a lot of delicate sanding as there is a lot of sculpture to the wheel opening. Needed to extend the cove around the front of the wheel opening further down so I added a thin slice of sheet styrene. That was then trimmed and blended to match.

Needs a bit more refinement but we're getting close. I also carved out the new door opening, modified the "B" pillar and filled in the old opening. Still have to figure out how to add the T-Bird door handle so I haven't done the door edge in that area just yet.

Here is a shot of the original body on top with the modified one.

 

I think I'm just going to leave the molding as/is after all. Would be a lot of work for minimal reward. WDYT?

 

Yup. That's what I think, Dave, but not because I doubt your ability. Just a matter of time spent and some possible frustration getting it to look perfect. The subtle contours may take a lot of work before they look right and the bottom line is that it probably won't  make or break the overall esthetic. I tend to agree with the poster who commented about a mild chop, though.  The time spent for that would, in my mind, be well spent. It wouldn't take much. The necessary windshield mod would be the limiting factor. Just my thoughts. ?.  

[LennyB]

2 hours ago, customline said:

Yup. That's what I think, Dave, but not because I doubt your ability. Just a matter of time spent and some possible frustration getting it to look perfect. The subtle contours may take a lot of work before they look right and the bottom line is that it probably won't  make or break the overall esthetic. I tend to agree with the poster who commented about a mild chop, though.  The time spent for that would, in my mind, be well spent. It wouldn't take much. The necessary windshield mod would be the limiting factor. Just my thoughts. ?.  

I don’t know about the top chop, I’m rather tall and I might hit my head. Dave, what do you think?

[customline]

Dave, Lenny, ....whatever......?

[Bills72sj]

It is your project bu,t I think it would be more aesthetically pleasing if the "V" in the trim was centered in the space between the relocated door jam and the front edge of the rear wheel opening.  ie rearward about 5/16" to 3/8". (my guess is not to scale)

[LennyB]

6 hours ago, Bills72sj said:

It is your project bu,t I think it would be more aesthetically pleasing if the "V" in the trim was centered in the space between the relocated door jam and the front edge of the rear wheel opening.  ie rearward about 5/16" to 3/8". (my guess is not to scale)

Bill, that’s where we actually started with all this. I haven’t ruled it out yet.  Still taking this one step at a time.   

[LennyB]

I thought I was seeing things this afternoon. I was driving and I saw what looked like a 57 Ford coming my way. As it got closer it was clearly a 57 Del Rio. All in primer and it had a T-Bird style hood scoop.  It had side trim on it but they left off the upper molding on the front section. Primer was not a recent spray so I assume it has been like this for a while. It was not a location where I could have turned around and follower otherwise I would have.

[David G.]

It's strange how those subtle changes have such a big visual impact. Yet just by looking at it, it's difficult to put one's finger on exactly what has been changed.

Very cool.

David G.

[customline]

19 hours ago, LennyB said:

I thought I was seeing things this afternoon. I was driving and I saw what looked like a 57 Ford coming my way. As it got closer it was clearly a 57 Del Rio. All in primer and it had a T-Bird style hood scoop.  It had side trim on it but they left off the upper molding on the front section. Primer was not a recent spray so I assume it has been like this for a while. It was not a location where I could have turned around and follower otherwise I would have.

They call that "stalking", Len ?

[LennyB]

6 hours ago, David G. said:

It's strange how those subtle changes have such a big visual impact. Yet just by looking at it, it's difficult to put one's finger on exactly what has been changed.

Very cool.

David G.

That's the thing about this build. It has a lot of very subtle changes but it doesn't look too far removed from stock.

[LennyB]

3 hours ago, customline said:

They call that "stalking", Len ?

That wasn't me that was Dave.?

[Maindrian Pace]

1 hour ago, LennyB said:

That's the thing about this build. It has a lot of very subtle changes but it doesn't look too far removed from stock.

Exactly. It's subtle. These kinds of models don't usually bring home the gold at the model contests, because the subtle changes often go unnoticed by the judges. But those who know, know what's been done and admire it.

[Bullybeef]

Wow I’m impressed by the clean work on this, awesome! 

[LennyB]

1 hour ago, Bullybeef said:

Wow I’m impressed by the clean work on this, awesome! 

Thanks Bil, it looks like I might actually know what I'm doing?

[Bullybeef]

1 minute ago, LennyB said:

Thanks Bil, it looks like I might actually know what I'm doing?

One could think that im sure ?

[LennyB]

Started working on the door handle-fin combo. The fin on the kit dips down early before reaching the door handle. Whereas the PV fin is more level until it gets to the door handle and then dips down. I sanded the top of the find down flat so I had a relatively level surface front to rear. And a flat surface to glue to. Then I glued a piece of .060 Plastruct triangle on top of the fin. I took the front edge and wrapped it around an X-Acto handle to get the curve.

 

Then this was shaped a bit and the front by the door handle formed into a point.

I still need to carve out the depression behind where the door handle goes but I'm going to wait until I have a door handle to do that. It also needs some filler and cleanup but that will wait until I finish the mods. That's enough for now, time for a cookie break. ?