57 Nash Kustom

[Kanada Kustoms]

While taking a break from my 53 Hudson, I started this.  It's a 3D printed model I got off eBay.  It has a few inaccuracies but it's such a rare subject, and close enough, that I wanted to have a go at one.  I'll try to fix the inaccuracies as I go. 

This is my second Nash build.  You can check out my first Nash build, a 55 Nash that I made out of a 52-54 Nash promo and a modified 53 Chevy roof and a ton of scratch building, that is currently in Sweden being fade painted by Master Painter Roger Nordhagen.  There are no write ups with the photos but you can see some of the progress and in primer shots here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1416994901886545&type=3

Anyway...

I took before pictures this time:

In profile, you'll notice the rockers are thicker at the rear then at the front.  Wedge shaped.  The lower door panel line is on an angle too:

It's not bad, but not perfect, the headlights and front end were done pretty well, but the parking lights are too big on top of the fenders:

The character line that runs along the fender then down the front has the wrong curve.  It is much too sharp and will need to be re sculpted:

Ok. I started a bit of work before taking before pics.  You can see the parking light has been removed on the driver's side.  I almost never get pics before I dig in.  The vents bellow the grill are the wrong shape, but I'm not too concerned about them.  After all it's a kustom!

The trunk area isn't bad, nor is the taillight area.  The lower pan will probably stay just like it is:

Next post I'll start doing some work... Thanks for looking!

 

Edited November 1 by Kanada Kustoms

[Kanada Kustoms]

So I started with the rockers.

First I put a piece of tape 7mm wide along the character line:

I scribed a line along the bottom of the tape:

Turns out the line was too high and would not have looked right, so I repeated the process with an 8mm piece of tape:

Here's the two lines scribed.  Didn't use the top one.  Cutting this stuff with a knife is really weird.  It flakes and crumbles.  So I just took the bulk off with a knife then took the rest in with a file to its critical dimensions:

I took about 1.5 mm off the front of the rockers and 2.5 mm off the rear.  So I did a slight rocker job as well.  Then I contoured the rockers with a course file.  I think it looks much better.  The car is thick, but I like it and will be going with it. 

And that side trim had to go.  It was a pain to remove at the lower rear.  I'm not sure what they were thinking with that side trim, but I think it hid the natural body lines that look good and will lend themselves to a great two tone paint job:

Here's a close up of the fender character line reshaped.  Now it looks like stock:

And I cut new door lines just above the lower character line.  I'll be filling in the panel lines on the rockers for a much cleaner look:

Now to make the other side match...

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Edited November 1 by Kanada Kustoms

[johnyrotten]

Cool subject to cut up, I think this is going to get interesting. Judging by your previous work. Looking forward to this👍👍

[Quiet Eric]

Another good one. I like your process of adding bulk styrene then sculpting it to shape.

For all of the file/sanding marks...do you sand them out entirely or fill with primer? A little of both?

[Kanada Kustoms]

1 hour ago, Quiet Eric said:

For all of the file/sanding marks...do you sand them out entirely or fill with primer? A little of both?

I usually sand the whole model with 400 grit before primer, including the file marks.  Then I go back and sand out what I missed once its in primer and I can see what needs work.  Sometimes after primer, I file then re sand with 400 grit if the marks are deep.  Then re prime until I don't see anymore marks. 

Edited November 2 by Kanada Kustoms

[customline]

Okay, this is cool....you have my attention, Jon. 

[Kanada Kustoms]

Not the most exciting progress, but it gets me to where I can start the kustomizing.

I got the other side to match the driver's side. Glad that's done!

I spent a considerable amount of time going around the headlight bezels with an xacto knife, removing plastic, to create a separation between them and the fender. How it was printed, the separation line would have gotten lost in primer and paint for sure:

Now you can see a clear distinction between the fender and the bezel. I still need to contour the fender area adjacent to the bezel to smooth things out:

The focus is supposed to be on the windshield.  For some reason they designed this so the glass would fit from the outside. Which I don't think would have worked very well or looked that good.  There was a ridge of resin running around the inside of the frame (that can be seen in the previous posts) for the glass to bond to. I filed it off and thinned out the pillars and trim along the top of the windshield:

You can see the bottom of the frame is quite thick. I'll file the backside of the frame on an angle to receive glass, then later I'll modify the rest till it looks right:

I wanted to start working on a roll pan and lower sheet metal for the front fenders. This is what I started with:

I cut away the chassis mounting taps, you can see one broke a chunk off making a hole through to the vent on the front.  Can't say I really like this 3D resin.  It's very unpredictable. 

I filed the area on about a 45 degree angle to give me a flat surface to bond plastic to, to build it up so I could make a square surface to work off of:

I then crazy glued a sheet of .040 plastic to it:

You can see I left plenty extra because it's a weird shaped spot. I'll cut the excess away and repeat:

Here I've shaped the .040 sheet plastic. Now to repeat until I have a nice corner:

And here is what I have after applying 3 sheets of .040 and shaping it to a nice corner:

Another shot with slightly different lighting so you can better see the area I'm dealing with.  The kit has these nice flat spots behind the headlight buckets. I'll be using that area to glue on sheet stock to create more of a foundation for the lower fenders and roll pan:

Hopefully the next post is more exciting... Thanks for stopping by!

Edited November 4 by Kanada Kustoms

[Kanada Kustoms]

OK. The next few posts are going to be a lot like a game of Tetris as I build up plastic stock to sculpt a new front end out of. This is really for those who are interested in how I do it. I like this approach as it creates a solid base to carve and sculpt a new lower front end out of. I have an idea of what I'll be doing for the front and will be building and adding plastic in anticipation of those mods.

Here I've cut and filed corners to the back of the headlight bezel area. I filled small voids around the edges:

The previous work made a flat and square surface for a couple of pieces of .060 sheet. It's the start of building up and filling in the lower front area:

Next I added some .060 sheet to the sides of the inner fenders:

The last two steps created corners to build on:

I determined that the bottom would be capped with two .060 sheets of plastic. So I cut that amount off the bottom of my work:

I added a piece of .118 plastic to each side to build it out to where I wanted it:

Turns out that the pieces added in the previous picture wouldn't be enough for what I had planned. Just by a small amount:

I added pieces of .060 sheet to make up the small amount it was short:

Here you can see the passenger side has been rough shaped along the side. I decided to build up the curved center to later be trued flat with a file to give me a flat surface to glue a sheet to to build off of:

And here both side pieces have been rough shaped:

After truing the filler pieces in the curved section (You'll see this in later photos), I added a sheet of .060 as a base:

And here that piece has been cut down to the neighboring work, creating an opening for a filler piece:

Next I added .080 pieces to the inside of each side to ensure there would be enough plastic when I shape the sides later:

Next I filled the gap in the front with .060 to create a long, smooth and flat surface to build upon:

I added a .080 sheet to the back of the assembly to match the small pieces on the sides:

Next post I'll wrap this up...  Thanks for looking!

[Kanada Kustoms]

Continuing on to get a nice block of plastic to sculpt later.  You'll notice I've started cutting away resin around the front, trying to figure out how I'll  be shaping the front end.  Also, I nicked the passenger's side headlight and had to fill a small portion with red putty that you can see in the pictures. 

I cut all the previous work down to the same height, then added two strips of .080. That gets the front out enough to allow me what I need to shape the new front end:

Here's another shot of those two .080 strips. The center, below the grill surround will be cut back further so what I have glued up will be enough (if not, I'll add a small piece there later!):

And lastly, I cut the previous work down to the same height as everything else, then added those two sheets of .060 sheet I mentioned earlier to cap off the bottom:

You can see the cap pieces on the bottom take me right down to the bottom of the rockers. I did that as I most likely will be using that in my new front end treatment:

And all the pieces shaped into a tidy block to be shaped into a new lower front end:

Another angle showing the block of plastic before shaping:

The side character line will be carried down to a matching character line the same height as the one along the body. This will be carved out of what is now there:

A rear inside shot of all the plastic added and how the cap pieces close in all my work:

It looks like a lot of plastic sheet and blocks and it is, but it will be turned into something organic and sculpted on the outside:

And a shot of the inside of all the built up plastic. It is a bit blocky, but it doesn't interfere with anything that will be going in there on the model and will most likely be painted black when done.

Thanks for looking... I know this isn't how everyone would do this, but this is how I like to do it.  It takes a bit of time to cut and glue all those pieces together, but the base is rock solid, and I can simply carve the new front end out of it. 

Up next, a sculpted lower front end...  Stay tuned!

 

Edited November 7 by Kanada Kustoms

[NOBLNG]

Great work you are doing here Jon!👍 I think you are a man after my own heart…some stuff just needs fixin!😜

[meechum68]

Wow great looking work, and I spy your Hudson in the back.  

[BK9300]

Quite the process, Jon!  Do you ever need to pin the initial layer of styrene to resin, so the glue joint will take the stresses of shaping later on?

[Kanada Kustoms]

11 minutes ago, BK9300 said:

Quite the process, Jon!  Do you ever need to pin the initial layer of styrene to resin, so the glue joint will take the stresses of shaping later on?

I’ve never pinned my initial layer of styrene to resin doing this method. I just make sure there’s lots of surface area in contact with each other. I definitely do overkill on how much styrene I use and the amount of contact surface to ensure a strong bond. Never had any issue with the glue joint taking the stress of shaping. 

Edited November 8 by Kanada Kustoms

[customline]

This is a rare learning opportunity, guys. Pay attention!  The method being used is not what most builders use except in very isolated situations.  To do this like Jon is doing in broad strokes requires a fairly well stocked Evergreen cabinet and a rotary tool.  Thats alI.  I really, really, really like this method. So now, it's not a matter of how but what.  All you need is the tools. I'm stoked.

EDIT:

Sorry, Jon, I got soft for a minute. Wicked nice tutorial!

EDIT:

Oops. I forgot what I was going to say...

Edited November 8 by customline

[rattle can man]

nice work so far! If it is not factory correct, customize! 

[FoMoCo66]

That's some mighty fine work right there. I think thats a very genious way to build up material, and that things definitely not coming off of there based on how much material you got there.

[Speedpro]

You really got this custom stuff down. Great tutorial on building up materials.

[Kanada Kustoms]

Thanks for all the encouraging words guys... It's always great!

So I started sculpting the driver's side. No rotary tool, just knives and jeweler's files.

To start, I went with what I knew first.

First, I scribed a line along the center of the headlights, down the front of the thick block of plastic, on both sides, to give me common lines to work to.

Second, I wanted the front angle of the lower area to match the angle of the headlight bezels and character line that sweeps down the fender. So I scribed a line that was parallel to the character line and inline with the angle of the headlight bezels. I then removed everything up to my initial scribed center line and rounded the bottom edge, starting to shape it.

Third, I carried over the lower character line along the side of the car to the top of the plastic I'm shaping:

I wanted to retain that little outward curve at the bottom of the character line on the fender. So I cut that in, and created a shape for the lower area that would return at the bottom with the roll pan:

And here it is all shaped. It's all done by eye, carefully removing material until it looks right.  I had to play around with my light to get photos that showed all the features of my work, hence the odd angles:

I'm pleased with the results.  You can see where I nicked the wheel well and had to repair it:

And here is the other side shaped to match. I measured where I could find common points and used the parting lines of the sheet stock to compare measurements at those points to carry over dimensions from the driver's side to the the passenger's side as I worked.  This helped me keep both sides as close to the same as possible:

And the passenger's side oriented as it will sit. It's hard to get lighting that will highlight the features in this position, hence the odd angles in the previous photos:

Now to tackle that big expanse of plastic in between my work!

As always, thanks for stopping by and taking a look!

Edited Thursday at 06:02 AM by Kanada Kustoms

[johnyrotten]

Jon, quick question. Do you use some kind of template or contour Guage for symmetry? Or is this eyeball engineering and experience showing. Either way it's fantastic work as well as an epic tutorial. This level of customization is something I've never done, only one chop job 30-odd years ago on a Mercury. 

[Kanada Kustoms]

6 hours ago, johnyrotten said:

Jon, quick question. Do you use some kind of template or contour Guage for symmetry? Or is this eyeball engineering and experience showing. Either way it's fantastic work as well as an epic tutorial. This level of customization is something I've never done, only one chop job 30-odd years ago on a Mercury. 

I did make a template out of an index card for the large front curve that rolls under the car, next to my common line, down the center of the headlights. 

Otherwise it's just measuring from side to side, eyeball engineering and experience at work.  I find this method fairly easy, and it allows one to be quite accurate.  I check from all angles under good light to match side to side, only removing a bit as I go till the sides match (I try not to remove too much at a time because I hate adding plastic back on, but it happens sometimes).  The time consuming part is building up the plastic stock. 

Thanks for the good words too, bud!

 

P.S.  I did the same technique before on my 55 Nash build if you'd like to check out the same process on a different front end... You can check it out here if you'd like: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1416994901886545&type=3

I also did it to a lesser extent on my 61 Plymouth.  You can see how I did it here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1402910929961609&type=3

Edited Thursday at 05:31 PM by Kanada Kustoms

[johnyrotten]

27 minutes ago, Kanada Kustoms said:

I did the same technique before on my 55 Nash

I've been paying attention to a few of your builds here,amazing work and thanks for the reply. I recently picked up another Merc, figured I'd revisit that childhood project with a bit more skill. I'll be sure to check those out. 👍👍

[customline]

The progress of the sculpting is fun to watch, Jon.  I can't wait to try this method in the same manner.  I'm psyched. 😀

[bill-e-boy]

An excellent tutorial Jon. I have a mate who builds sports car bodies from scratch using this build up method and he builds some stunning stuff that way. It is old skool through and through but it works