chris chabre Posted April 27 Posted April 27 the roof and front end mods MAKE this build. its perfect. You could always thin out or french the stock tailights. itd be custom AND still have that mild vibe 1 1
Mr. Metallic Posted May 1 Posted May 1 Jay this thing is killer. I don't get to come around here as often as I used to, but when I do it's nice to have some detailed hot rod and kustom action to check out. You nailed the stance and body mods on this. Looking forward to color. 2
Jay Whittaker Posted May 2 Author Posted May 2 Hey thanks again for all the kind works folks! Moving right along, I’ve been continually refining the body work to get it perfected for paint. Got it in what I hope to be the final primer coat and while it was drying I mixed up a small batch of turquoise using Testors light blue mixed with a few drops of Testors green, then laid it on the engine after a quick primer coat. I did a little experimenting with Kosute Gin San on one of the headers, and I think I’m going to go ahead and clear the headers to get a shinier finish with the Gin San and make them look more like polished aluminum…. Time will tell. At least we got a little progress! 6
Jay Whittaker Posted May 7 Author Posted May 7 3 hours ago, TopherMcGinnis said: How's this one coming along? Just got some bench time in this afternoon and evening getting the body imperfections sorted out, including cleaning up the vent window areas. Also turned some major focus to the engine bay firewall and inner fender clean-up. Mocked-up the engine and I'm glad I did because I need to make some reliefs for those dual 4-bbl carbs hanging WAY out on them long-rams! I do believe I'm on the last round of putty/primer, thus hoping to get it into paint this week if all the stars line up correctly. The devil is in the details, and I'm workin' him OUT!! Thanks for asking! 3
Dtimmerman89 Posted May 7 Posted May 7 This is a pretty exciting build to watch. I have recently got pretty darn good at scratch building and I am really wanting to get into making the 60's Kustoms. I really have no idea where to start...even though I picked up the AMT 61 Galaxie that came with all the customizing parts. 2
Jay Whittaker Posted May 8 Author Posted May 8 6 hours ago, Dtimmerman89 said: This is a pretty exciting build to watch. I have recently got pretty darn good at scratch building and I am really wanting to get into making the 60's Kustoms. I really have no idea where to start...even though I picked up the AMT 61 Galaxie that came with all the customizing parts. Thank you!... As far as where to start, I think you've got it right there in the box that you mentioned! If its the kit I'm thinking it is, there are all kinds of options. Pick the ones you find the most tasteful and set to blending them into your build. The beauty about customizing is this: you can do it any way you want, and there's no real "wrong" way to do it.... Sure, there are "traditional" standards, "radical" standards, and so-on, but at the end of the day it's just like Burger King: Have it YOUR Way. If you know 100% that you can scratch-add something in, by all means do it! Starting small and building on your skills (no pun intended) will take you far beyond anything you can imagine right now. .......Hopefully we'll see a WIP of that '61 Gal coming soon?........ 3
Dtimmerman89 Posted May 8 Posted May 8 13 hours ago, Jay Whittaker said: Thank you!... As far as where to start, I think you've got it right there in the box that you mentioned! If its the kit I'm thinking it is, there are all kinds of options. Pick the ones you find the most tasteful and set to blending them into your build. The beauty about customizing is this: you can do it any way you want, and there's no real "wrong" way to do it.... Sure, there are "traditional" standards, "radical" standards, and so-on, but at the end of the day it's just like Burger King: Have it YOUR Way. If you know 100% that you can scratch-add something in, by all means do it! Starting small and building on your skills (no pun intended) will take you far beyond anything you can imagine right now. .......Hopefully we'll see a WIP of that '61 Gal coming soon?........ I certainly appreciate the kind words. I'll definitely get digging into it after I get moved. I'll definitely be making a build post. 2
Spex84 Posted May 9 Posted May 9 I'm enjoying how this build has turned out so far. Looking forward to more! The "bladed" bumpers look great and when I finally get around to doing a '57 Chrysler custom I'll be looking to this thread for inspiration 2
customline Posted May 14 Posted May 14 On 5/8/2025 at 9:58 PM, Spex84 said: I'm enjoying how this build has turned out so far. Looking forward to more! The "bladed" bumpers look great and when I finally get around to doing a '57 Chrysler custom I'll be looking to this thread for inspiration I'll second that notion 🤚 2
Jay Whittaker Posted June 12 Author Posted June 12 Thanks for the positive replies folks!.... Sorry for the extended absence on this, got allot going on at the moment but this thing calls my name anytime i'm even in the vicinity of my bench, lol.... OK, so I FINALLY found that pothole in the road in the form of the long-ram not wanting to drop down into the engine compartment without some serious mods, but it REALLY wants to fight me on getting down into the compartment enough to close the hood proper…. Made some progress tonight by hogging out the cross member clear to the bottom and clipping out a section of the tie rod (to be mod’ed later) but I think the only thing left holding it up are the original motor mounts, which I will tend to in the next couple of days…. 6
Jay Whittaker Posted Tuesday at 11:49 PM Author Posted Tuesday at 11:49 PM Well, life changes happen and they can come along sometimes with minimal warning….. That being said, I’m back to the bench after an unplanned hiatus and took to finalizing the body prep including re-installing the side drip rails along with fashioning the ‘57 DeSoto side trim. I started with some Evergreen half-round #242, cut to length and “speared” at the front edge. This piece will have an indent ground into it, the primed/painted/cleared to make way for the final BMF finish. The next step was to mark out with a pencil the basic lower edge of the De’s trim. Once I had it the way I wanted it I edged it with masking tape and scribed a guide groove for the lower stainless trim, bent to shape from 26 gauge craft wire. The groove serves a two-part purpose; as a place to set the trim as well as a guideline for masking the insert color, making life (hopefully) easier down the road. That was the easy part. Now I get to match it up on the other side. I’ve also ash-canned the grand delusional idea of the long-ram 413 as it was creating unnecessary modification hardships and killing the joy of the build. I’ll use the kit Hemi and dress it up a tiny little bit and all will be right with the World. So with that, I’ll be filling back in the inner fenders to the way they used to be (roughly), and the only other thing on my list body-wise is to reverse-hinge the hood. Once those items are taken care of, I’ll sling some paint and get this baby back on-track. Enjoy! 4
FoMoCo66 Posted yesterday at 12:06 AM Posted yesterday at 12:06 AM Love to see your back on this one! I like the trim. 1
Dtimmerman89 Posted yesterday at 12:07 AM Posted yesterday at 12:07 AM Happy to see you back and working hard. I may have to attempt a similar roof swap on my 61 Galaxie If I decide not to chop in a starliner roof. 1
Jay Whittaker Posted yesterday at 12:49 AM Author Posted yesterday at 12:49 AM 41 minutes ago, Dtimmerman89 said: Happy to see you back and working hard. I may have to attempt a similar roof swap on my 61 Galaxie If I decide not to chop in a starliner roof. Looking forward to THAT! 1
Quiet Eric Posted yesterday at 01:10 AM Posted yesterday at 01:10 AM You're nailing it on this one. Always been one of my favorite customs. 1
JollySipper Posted yesterday at 04:05 PM Posted yesterday at 04:05 PM This is shaping up great! I like how the spear part of the side trim is larger than the swoosh below it........ That adds depth to the model! It's all in the subtle details, isn't it? 2
Dtimmerman89 Posted yesterday at 04:30 PM Posted yesterday at 04:30 PM 15 hours ago, Jay Whittaker said: Looking forward to THAT! I found a 61 galaxie salt flat car I want to replicate, so I may continue on that path anyway and just put the custom roof on the 60 starliner since it's getting removed. 1
Mr. Metallic Posted 22 hours ago Posted 22 hours ago Welcome back Jay. I've seen you back on the socials, good to see your attention turned back to this build. 1
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