53 Ford custom

[59 Impala]

I just finished this one not to long ago. I had a lot of fun building this car. I used 57 Chevy custom headlights, 53 Chevy grill, 59 Chevy steering wheel, the custom rear pan (from the 57) converted into a rear bumper that had to be narrowed a bit to fit the Ford. I had to cut it in the middle and then put it back together and mold the rest to make the bumper. I also used 56 Packard tailights. I installed I think they are Lancer hubcaps from the parts box. These had to be stripped and then I used Alclad on them, the rear bumper and tailight chrome. I also converted it to a stick shift by using a transmition from a 50 Ford and installing a clutch pedal. For the interior I used embossing powder for the carpet and back shelf instead of using flocking. The embossing powder looks much better than flocking in this scale to me anyway. I also used a piece of brown paper towel for the headliner. It works much better than tissue paper. I mixed the color by using Testors Green and White for the color. I polished it with the Novus polishing compound. There is no clear coat on it, just polished paint. Bare metal foil and that's it. I guess that I've yaked enough, so here are the pics. I hope you like it. Any comments are welcome.

This is a pic of the headliner

There are in progress pics in my photobucket if you'd like to see them and thanks fer lookin. Dan

Edited October 1, 2010 by 59 Chevy Impala

[W-409]

This is very good looking! Those mods are not too radikal, but they give a great custom look to this build. Like that grille very much, is that Chevy grille so good looking on the Ford... Those modifications are made very nicely, no hurry and great colour on it. Paintjob looks very nice and smooth, and you have made lots of work for it. Great looking interior (what I can see from the picture), that green is very good choice as I said already. That headliner looks very good too. Have no critic to say but I would think about register plates to it, they could give still better look.

Edited October 1, 2010 by W-409

[Bernard Kron]

I remember seeing this over on the Modeler's Haven board. I really like it. Between the color and the cool period details it's got a genuine 50's custom vibe straight out of the "little books".

[sobpinstriping]

Thats perfect! The color and taillights are perfect.

cheers

mat

[Danno]

Neat!

[Chuck Most]

Aw, yeah!

[george 53]

This is so well done it actually looks stock! VERY nice job. You did a GREAT job of blending EVERYTHING to flow together! Outstanding job, right down to the color!

[59 Impala]

WOW, thanks for the very kind words fellas. I've always wanted to put those Packard lights on something and when I found out that someone made them I just had to have them. The Ford was and is a good choice for them, as well as a few other cars. I wanted to capture the look of a 50's to 60's look on a custom. I really had a lot of fun building this car. I want to do another car, like the 49 Merc or maybe a 55 Chevy. Time will tell. Thanks again. It really means a lot coming from you guys. Dan

[Eshaver]

Dan, yer making me feel very old here . I can remember actually doing the Lead work , with the tin/lead compound and the wax back in the early 60's on these rides . Great flashback sir ! Ed Shaver

[59 Impala]

Thanks Ed. I remember using the lead and wax doing bodywork too. I went to a Vocational high school and took auto collision. My teacher WOULD NOT let us use bondo. He hated that stuff. Plus, that's when bondo was fairly new and didn't work to good. Anyway, I learned a lot from Mr.Coleman. He was the best teacher I ever had. This is something that I've always wanted to do even on the 1:1 cars. Dan

[Helipilot16]

Very fine build! When I was a teenager in the '50s I attended many indoor shows at Denver Coliseum. That's where cars such as this were shown.

[59 Impala]

Thanks Marcus. That's the look that I was trying for. Dan

[von Zipper]

That's a Beautiful car.

[59 Impala]

Thanks Beav. I had one of those 56 Fords you got in your hand in the avatar. I still have the wheels somewhere. Take care my friend, Dan

[jeffs396]

Awesome job Dan!

Edited October 4, 2010 by jeffs396

[Greg Cullinan]

Super cool color,very nice build.

[59 Impala]

Thanks for the kind words guys. The color is a custom mix that I did. I mixed some Testors old PLA green and some white to come up with this color. I didn't have a formula for it cause I was only going to paint this one car this color. There is no clear coat on it, just paint and I polished it with the NOVUS system. Dan

[rustybill1960]

Nice!

Thank you for sharing

Later

Russ

Edited October 4, 2010 by rustybill1960

[pharr7226]

Beautiful work.

[David G.]

Nice fusion, very well done- good color choice too!

[59 Impala]

Thanks for the kind comments guys. This was a fun build. Dan