Chopped '50 Olds fastback: Jus' a lil' closer...Oct.1

[Ace-Garageguy]

Not a lot to see yet. I've been poring over just exactly how to do this ever since the day the Olds kit hit the shelves. I've watched how some of you guys have approached it, and I'm starting to cut.

First trick will be opening the doors and decklid on both bodies. I think it will allow me to avoid some of the delicate seam work and re-scribing of door cut-lines, and allow a chop more in keeping with 1:1. I'm going after a roofline that flows better than the original, which appears a little hump-backed to me, so this may take awhile.



First panel fits back in the hole pretty well. 5 to go.

Edited October 2, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[wrecker388]

Ooh, i like where this is going.

[cobraman]

What he said.

[bbowser]

So you're whacking the roof from the '51 Chevy Fleetline? This is going to be cool (and difficult). Hope to see more!

[H.A.K]

Lookin good.

[Foxer]

Glad to see YOU are chopping this one, Bill. I've had a '51 sitting awhile waiting for my torch ... and my thinking about it. I'll be sitting patiently watching how you approach it.

[Ace-Garageguy]

First off, FORGET what I said about opening the doors and decks first. Noooooooo. It became apparent pretty quick that I'd have a floppy, unmanageable mess by doing that.

HOWEVER, cutting down the rear door cut-lines looked like the right way to go, as it still eliminated having to re-scribe them. During careful measuring, it began to look like that would be a good place to go across the roof panel too. I've never actually worked on one of these in 1:1, but I knew the rear outer fenders on these cars bolt on, so I started looking for photos of where the seams are, and how they're hidden. That suggested the most appropriate place to cut the rear bodies and minimize detail-loss and bodywork.

The photos show pretty clearly where I made the cuts, and the remarkable thing is that cutting as shown, the sections practically jump back together. The drip rails, side moldings and roof-line still flow with no wonkiness (if you position everything carefully) and the Chevy roof is only a small bit wider at this point than the Olds. There is sufficient thickness of material in the plastic Chevy roof section to smooth the transition.

The cuts and fill-work necessary on the rear fenders are far enough from the scribed trunk lines to avoid getting into them, and the fill on the sides of the quarters is confined to the body-line crease. I'm very happy with how this worked out, and the Olds roof section fits back into the Chevy nicely too.

Edited November 27, 2012 by Ace-Garageguy

[customsrus]

now that looks pretty good, now dont forget to post pictures of chevy with the olds roof.

[cobraman]

That does look like a heck of a good fit.

[Guest]

That's some very nice surgery Bill! I'm thinking about doing this conversion myself at some point. Would it be possible to just swap the entire roof from the Chevy onto the Olds? I'm thinking about making the cuts like you have on the rear section. But,extending the cut at the body crease on up to the front fenders and swapping the cowl out also.

[thatz4u]

I like this, so I'll keep watching..

[MachinistMark]

Love it.

[blunc]

the hands of a surgeon....a plastic surgeon.

[Danno]

Nice.

[Olskoolrodder]

This is gunna be cool,looks great so far! Can't wait to see more

[Ace-Garageguy]

now that looks pretty good, now dont forget to post pictures of chevy with the olds roof.

As you wish, sir. A Chevy business coupe. Looks like a good basis for a gasser to me.

[Ace-Garageguy]

................................Would it be possible to just swap the entire roof from the Chevy onto the Olds? I'm thinking about making the cuts like you have on the rear section. But,extending the cut at the body crease on up to the front fenders and swapping the cowl out also.

It would be possible and I considered that at one point, but being basically lazy and wanting to avoid as much un-necessary work as possible, I opted for this solution. I'm not all that fond of the windshield shape of the Chevy, which is part of the reason I decided against swapping the assembly as you suggest. It doesn't look quite like the one-piece-windshield opening on the Olds kit (as opposed to the divided glass in the Chevy), which does have the right shape for the car. Doing the swap as you suggest would require more fill work on the doors as well, but the big thing I have against it is how well the hoods fit on both the Chevy and the Olds kits. Swapping the cowl sections along with the roofs would open two cans of worms getting the rear of the hoods of both cars to fit properly again.

Edited November 27, 2012 by Ace-Garageguy

[Gluhead]

Looks great, Bill. I'd been eye-balling mine and had come to the same cuts in my head, although I'd also considered carrying the thought through to detaching the whole rear quarter in the process, thinking it would be easier to finish up the bodywork on the upper quarter. I was probably just overthinking it, though.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing how you finish them out. Should be killer.

[jeffs396]

Very cool Bill!

Great work so far

So is your plan to bond it all back together, and then chop the roof?

Edited November 27, 2012 by jeffs396

[James2]

It's like Kung Fu razor saw cutting! Nicely done.

[crazyjim]

Pretty neat.

[lotno249]

Looking great so far. I can't wait to see the rest of the build.

DJ

[Ace-Garageguy]

Very cool Bill!

This is how I cut my Olds body also to accept the Revell '54 sedan delivery rear section.

So is your plan to bond it all back together, and then chop the roof?

Yup...maybe. Is there a link to your sedan-delivery swap? I'd love to see that one!!

[wrecker388]

First off, FORGET what I said about opening the doors and decks first. Noooooooo. It became apparent pretty quick that I'd have a floppy, unmanageable mess by doing that.

I figured that out when I tried to open the panels on a 53 Bel-Air.Let's just say that that body is beyond scrap.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Hey Bill ...sorry we kinda hijacked your thread Man..so sorry

No problem. I wanna see it too.