I’m going back to my roots, I’m working on a '32 Ford 5 window, it’ll be chopped, channelled, and ratted out.
Anybody interested in a WIP?
G
Hell yes
Oh me too, I’m sure there are a lot of others as well. come on people speak up!!
Sure, I need to unchop a '37 Chevy truck so seeing how you chop a car might help me on my project.
Ok soon as I get home tonight I’ll start the pics rolling.
I put the kit up for a week thinking I was leaving again, but I’ve been delayed another two weeks.
G
I’m starting with Revells '32 Ford 5 window coupe. It’s the venerable '32 Ford kit with a different body and interior.
Revell realized that in the real world the '32’s weren’t “cookie cutter” cars. The bodies of the roadster, 3 window coupe, and the 5 window coupe shared no common sheet metal. all were different.
That said I decided to start from scratch on this one, borrowing some techniques I tried on my last '32. I like to build them as if I were building a car I’d drive in the real world.
The body will be channelled the width of the frame rail. This is about 6 inches in scale, or 1/4 inch in my world. Lots of prep is required to achieve this.
#1 the stock gas tank has gotta go.
The frame rail indents need to be smoothed.
The rear end must be lengthened so the tires clear the body.
I’m using a lot of the kit parts because I just like them. This keeps the mods fairly simple and maintains the “look”.
The interior will be way too tall so…
I took a 1/4 inch from the bottom of the side panels and a 1/4 inch from the very top of the back wall. The red stuff is putty I used to fill the neat tuck and roll padding molded in. I would’t have a car without some form of interior padding so my model won’t either. The tuck n roll just didn’t fit with my style. Here’s the window cranks I shaved off to reattach later.
Now the fun part. 1/8 inch is roughly 3 inches in scale. That’s what I’m looking at for the top chop. Look at the unchopped body. See how the front and rear slope into the roof? It’s real subtle but it prevents us from chopping out a section and just dropping the roof back on. I’ll go SBS on this as I perform the surgery.
Other things required nmods too. New firewall, new fender panels etc etc.
That’s all for now, it’s back to the bench.
G
Ok let’s chop a top.
First, since I like to build a model that really represents a drivable car I do some pre planning. The rear window is critical to me. I do not care for “letter slot” windows so I do a little measuring.
Cutting around the rear window serves several purposes. I retain the molding, I have a normal window, and it serves as a key to locate the top when I put it back on.
I’m going to chop this 3 scale inches, so I use some blue tape. 
The rear window requires the same amount taken off the top.
The white plastic is a staple of Revell but I find it hard to work with, my old eyes can’t see a darn thing. One advantage though it allows primer to contrast nicely.
I left the pencil lines each side of the window. the top white area is what will be removed. I first cut fine lines each side of the window with the back of a new #11 blade.
Then I delicately cut the C pillars.
A rough fit but I’m just getting started.
Thats all for now!
G
looking good G, cant wait to see more.
All Hail G All Hail G All Hail G
Sorry, couldn’t resist. [H]
Gettin’ off to a great start. Been meaning to pick up this kit but haven’t yet. As soon as I heard Revell was gonna do a 5 window I lobbied long and hard trying to get them to add old school suspension but they wouldn’t go for it. Too much cost but I figured what the hell, if they can tool up a flat head, hemi and two new bodies they could do something with the suspension. Oh well. Looking forward to your build.
Tony
Thanks guys.
Wingman I hear ya.
The original '32 three window was, at one time IIRC, declared “kit of the milleneum”. I’d hate to think Revell let it go to their heads for the last ten + years. At least we got hairpins, steelies, dogdish caps and trim rings. Pontiac tail lights, nerf bars, and that weird hemi looking engine round out the package. I’m gonna use the block but add a different manifold and valve covers.
The frame is designed in such a way that the kit rear end really is the easiest to use, unfortunately. For the front I’m thinking the dropped flat axle from the '30 Sedan as well as the whitewall skinnies.
You guys have other ideas, comments, critique?
G
Ok remember I talked about the subtle curves of the roofline? Well once the 3 inch section is gone the pillars just miss matching up.
So we add a bit to make it work. I used a piece of .040 sheet.
I use Ambroid’s Pro Weld for the majority of my body work. It’s very aggressive and dries quickly. Now I know in certain circles CA with kicker is the standard, and these guys will poopoo my builds but I don’t care. It has never shrunk, never sunk, and never caused issues. Besides I feel CA set with a kicker becomes way too brittle.
A bit of carving and we’re almost there.
I’m going to retain the fabric roof insert. It would be easier to just sand it all away during the bodywork but again I like it. I will restore the fabric texture with paint later. I did reinforce the inside, this will be hidden by a headliner.
File and carve, sand, sand, prime and sand some more and here we are.
A spot o’ putty and were all good for know. I use automotive spot putty thinned with laquer thinner. It’ll be sanded off to nothing. Again I don’t care what the “experts” say I’ve never had a problem.
Taking a break for know.
G
G, if you copy and paste the IMG tag (the one at the bottom of the list), we would get previews instead of dead hyperlinks.
Okay, that was weird! The second I clicked submit on my post the whole thread refreshed with live images!
Just ignore me!
Looks excellent, BTW!
Duly Ignored! [:D]
Thanks for the vote of confidence!
The other weird thing is sometimes entire threads are expanded, sometimes not.
Oh well…
G
Ive been noticing the same thing, especially with signatures, sometimes they dont order properly, or images will take forever to load.
Looking pretty good G
also i had a thought, with the firewall, are you going to try and cut it and match it up? or shave it down?
As it sits right now the firewall is pretty good. It will be shaved down a tad for it’s final fit.
G
for some reason i though you were cutting the body down aswell, just ignore me.lol
It’s all good, I don’t know what I’m doing either!
I think: [:D]
I’m chopping the top and I’m “channeling” the body.
“Choppinng” is used when you lower the roofline.
“Channeling” is used when you lower the body on the frame.
“Sectioning” is the term used when you take a slice out of the body itself.
The real cars body sat on the frame, this one will sit lower around the frame.
The real cars body sat on the frame, this one will sit lower around the frame and have a lower roof line thus “chopped and channeled”.
G
Ok in between honeydo’s and life in general I accomplished a bit more.
The roof is on.
It’s level!
And I tucked that back window up where I want it to be.
Sides are looking good.
After a sanding and primer session I found a few nits. I used my old standby Mr Whiteout as a spot filler.
Now after all that I’m going back using stretched sprue to replicate the weld beads. This is after all a RatRod.
More to come.
G