fender flares 57 chevy nomad

[One_Track_Mind]

Hello All,

Would someone be as so kind to point me in the proper direction to adding some custom wheel well flares to a model. This is going to be a slot car drag body, Got some of the modifications already done, thought this would be kinda neat.

I've looked thru the tech tips area and was unable to source any info.

Thank You!

Have a Nice Day!

[Raul_Perez]

Brian,

Because of their teardrop shape, you rarely see anyone flairing the wheel openings on a '57 Chevy.

One thing I've done in the past on a similar wheel opening design in 1:1, (to get wider tires under the car), was to raise the opening about 3" and push the opening out about 2". In plastic, raising the opening is a simple cut and reposition exercise. To push the opening out, you would need to reshape the opening slightly before you glue it back in place and fill in the resulting gap with a bit of styrene.

Now, flairing a typical round opening is a whole different story...

Good luck,

Edited October 8, 2009 by Raul_Perez

[One_Track_Mind]

Hi Raul,

Thanks for the reply,and YES what you have described as the teardrop shape is what had me puzzled?

Now, flairing a typical round opening is a whole different story...

OK, maybe this is what I needed to ask then... How would you make them from scratch?

[One_Track_Mind]

bump....

sheesh!...somebody has made fender flares in the past..no?

Just give me a thread that shows how someone has made them, I'll adapt!

PLEASE...

[Jon Cole]

Brian, I'll try. But first, I want to suggest that on a '57 Chevy, it would be prototypical to 'tub' the rear, rather than do flares.

Maybe you can see something in these pics I took of a Mustang TransAm that needs to be finished. This design wheel flare will need filler to complete the effect. I used aluminum printing plate, and solder glued to the edge to form the lip. I did these on cardboard, or "boxboard" before cutting metal.

[george 53]

Unless you ACTUALLY BULGE the fenders, I DON't think they'll flair properly. Tubs ARE the way to go on that particular body style. Did you ever see Popular Hot Roddings"Project 57"? It had, before they butchered it up in the last"Restyle" some OPENED UP wheel wells. They used the original contour of the wheelwell,but just made it LARGER to accomidate the size tire they were useing. It LOOKED like the stock whellwell, only ALOT larger,an just put a rolled bead on the lip, to give it a "stock" look. I DON'T think there's an EASY way to bulge the fenders.Hope this helps somehow.

[One_Track_Mind]

Hello All,

Thanks so much for the tips, This is what I needed to drudge onward in this project.

Here's what I've completed thus far.

Poor shape donor car.

All body trim lines removed along with reattached lower roof.

Body ready for some good bonding filler paint made for plastic.

Two light coats applied,covered real well...

The elusive,never to be done on this body style fender flares...

This is only a sneek peak of what is yet to become something really unique and different!

[george 53]

Well, Bri, the ROOF chop came out REAL good! I've ALWAYS thought that Monogram's Nomad roof was TOO high! Are the flairs gonna be EVEN with the body, or are they gonna be molded as they are shown? If so, why is the front of the rear flair sticking out further than the front of it? This will be VERY interesting, caz other the Project 57, I've NEVER seen a flaired 57 Chevy.Go for it Daddy-O you'll be the ONLY kid on the block with one!!!

[One_Track_Mind]

the first ruff draft of the fender flared 57' Chevy, Wadda u think?

[One_Track_Mind]

Got a little more accomplished, starting to look like some paint will be going on shortly.

[One_Track_Mind]

you fellows area tuff crowd to please... does anyone care IF I continue with the posts?

[Peter Lombardo]

I'll reply, you have a rather interesting fender flare there. It actually looks good on that car. My concern is not with the fender flairs, it is that the paint is rather thick. The car has lost all of the body detail.....now if that was your goal, you sure achieved it, but I don't know. Is this a one piece body with no hood and doors? Like a current day Funny Car? Keep going with it, I am curious to see where you take it.

Edited October 13, 2009 by Peter Lombardo

[LDO]

you fellows area tuff crowd to please... does anyone care IF I continue with the posts?

I don't believe the issue is people not caring. I believe it is, as one poster put it, you don't flare the fenders on a '57 Chevy.

I opened this thread to say exactly that. It looks really unorthodox. But hey, if that's what floats your boat, more power to you.

Having said all that, I was also going to tell you what I learned from Mark Gustavson's old "Custom Clinic" series; glue a thin strip of plastic to the wheel cutout and fair it in with putty, although this is really more for new fender lips rather than flares.

[One_Track_Mind]

Hi Peter,

The detail for body lines and doors and stuff is not there because I DID indeed sand them off the body.(see above pictures) The paint is actually very thin as I used the Parma faskolor for the yellow in an airbrush.

The over-all look will still feature a purple strip and some other details.

Yes,I would have to agree it does appear to have that new one-piece funny car body look going on

Thanks for the reply...

[george 53]

Brian, the purpose of a flare is cover a wheel so it does not protrude beyond the edge of the fender, so they usually are hollow. Flares ought to cover said wheel. Your look SOLID like they were just added for no particular reason but to be there.

IF they wre ACTUAL flares, they would STILL allow the wheel to sit INSIDE them. Your look like they only move the OUTSIDE of the fender farther out. If you had used the rear or even the front fenders from a VW bug,you would have gotten close to the same look ,but they would have been functional. If you hollow what you have OUT then you'd have fully functional flares. Right now they just look like bulges on the side of your car. I'm NOT trying to be mean, but you DID ask so, I HOPE you take MY OPINION as constructive, and NOT a knock on your build. Like I said, you DID A VERY nice job on the top chop, so it looks like you do know what your doin. You just might be confused on the purpose of them. Like I said, they look like they're made of Bondo, so they shouldn't be too hard to hollow out, and make them look AND be functional.

I REALLY hope you DON'T take my advice as critisism.

[One_Track_Mind]

Like I said, you DID A VERY nice job on the top chop, so it looks like you do know what your doin. You just might be confused on the purpose of them.

Hi George,

AHHA! Now, I do get it!

I do confuse very easy sometimes when I dabble in something I have no clue about

This is a very first time trying something like this, so I really don't know what I'm doing, just from the seat of my pants, and doing something I thought was different and unique.

I do take your advice with great heed and appreciate you being honest. Thank You Very Much.

I sent an e-mail off to Jairus to get his honest opinion, NOW I'm skeered to think of what he has to say!

[george 53]

Bri, DON'T NEVER be scareded ta ask a question Bro, how else ya gonna learn? Look at the Capt'n (CB) he jus goes in an kicks some butt, an comes out smellin all sweet! Now THAT rascal DO'S come up with some WILD off the wall stuff, AND it ALWAYS looks good. BUT, he started JUST LIKE YOU AND ME! Now look at 'im! Dun ate so many 'shrooms he can build somethin off the top of his head AND make it look like he MEANT it that way! You'll get there too. Like I said, you look like ya KNOW what ya want, it's just the execution of said IDEA! Keep at it Bro, you'll get there with FLYIN colors!!!

[Jairus]

Brian fender flairs are, as others have said, constructed for the purpose of covering the tire to keep it legal. Some states require tires to be covered if wider tires are installed on a vehicle. Others, like Oregon for some strange reason, don’t seem to care. We have open wheel roadsters and huge 4x4’s with tires exposed throwing rooster-tails whenever it rains. Go figure.

At any rate that is the reason fender flairs were even bothered with. Fender skirts on the other hand… are purely a matter of form rather than function. A stylistic thing from 1920’s coachbuilders who thought it looked more “streamlinedâ€.

Drag racers in the 60’s and 70’s didn’t much care and would simply radius the opening right through the side trim. Which is why many of the Revell model kits came with an indent inside the rear fender well for easier cutting-out to make room if the “DRAG VERSION†of a 3-1 was chosen. Today the plan is to narrow the rear axle and tub the inner fenders thus keeping the exterior totally stock.

What you have there Brian is a stylistic exercise in my humble opinion. The members of the forum are not quiet as much as they are shocked. Nobody removes all the details as you did unless it is to create a custom and you are well on your way to a neat custom if it is finished correctly. Or Drag racer as you stated in the beginning.

Actually most Funny cars today are molded fiberglass shells that have the details painted on with an airbrush. So what you have there is a mix of two different trends, or: “A custom bodied funny!â€

Maybe you could help us see it better if you would post a pic with it mounted on the chassis showing where the rear wheels fit into openings?!?!

[fordsixty]

hey brian,

let me start out by saying, flaring fenders is difficult at best, regardless of body style. tons of differnt styles and a lot of different ways to make them. jon's example on his '71 mustang is excellent.

as far as your nomad, you did an ok job: considering it is your first attempt. as jairus said, it would help greatly if we could see the car on the chassis with the wheels in place. now that this one is out of the way, you can critique it and decide what you liked and what you will do different on the next one. with each successive build you will only get better and develope your own style. it is really a very cool journey.

now my take on fender flares. first and foremost, they must be functional. they should provide the room and coverage of the wheel and tires that you will be using. once you have that figured out, you can decide on the style that you want to use and the style that you want to incorporate in your build. i would suggest searching google or bing for photos of the style of fender flare you want to use.

once you have your reference, it is on to what materials you will use. i use only evergreen plastic and evercoat bondo. you can also use brass, aluminum, solder and even fender or fender flares from another kit. open up the fenders with a little excess clearance for you tires. i basically just cut and carefully fit small pieces of plastic to the fender to form the arch. then cap the edge with round rod. file and sand to basic shape and finish off with evercoat. again, it takes practice just like anything else.

hope this helps brian and don't stop being creative. models were made for that purpose. each kit is a clean canvas.

not to hijack the thread, but here is my current project. it is going to be a japanese prepared d1 drift car. umm you can see it is a 1957 chevy.

i have got to find this rule book that says you don't put fender flares on a '57 chevy.

[george 53]

Bri, THIS guy KNOWS of which he speakith! If you've EVER seen his stuff it IS TRUELY awesome!!! This is the best advice you could get! some of his builds are SO UNIQUE that you'll NEVER EVER see another one like it! That's why I LOVE this place SOOOO much! Just ask an thou shalt recieve!!! Hope this kinda helped you out, caz EVERYBODY does their stuff different! Good Luck on your next attempt!

[One_Track_Mind]

Hope this kinda helped you out, cuz EVERYBODY does their stuff different!

Just to be different,this was my attempt all along. I believe it worked out pretty darn good for the first one.

Here's hoping it can only get better from here on out?!

First attempt at bare metal foil,stripes,fades,flares,etc...etc...

What do you think now?

Good,bad,ugly?

I can take the feedback and use it on the next project.

Thank You for stopping by and having a look!

Regards to All,

Brian