1932 Ford Sedan High Boy

The build will be from this kit.



First I decided to chop the roof approximately 3 scale inches.  



As you can see, when compared to a standard body there is a significant height difference.

I also am removing the structures that are shown colored.  This I think will make for a much more sleek body.



More to come in a day or so.

I have this kit also John and it looks like you are going the same route I want to.

I always have the urge to buy two kits so you can do both of the '2 in 1' ways.

Nice subject John !

That's cool kit !

I would leave the belt line on it. That's a big part of it being a Deuce. But then again that's just me. Rock on John.

Zbuckster wrote:I would leave the belt line on it. That's a big part of it being a Deuce. But then again that's just me. Rock on John.

Already gone Buck.  If it turns out I don't like the end result I have another body standing by.  If I was building it as a street rod with fenders there is no way I'd remove the belt line.  

Go go go Mr J!!

If it's not too late, you might want to channel the body over the frame as well. With the chopped top the proportions would be sleeker.

Not too late Dave.  My problem is I've never done it before and am kind of suffering a failure of nerve.  I think I will give it a try though; after all I do have a spare body if needed.  Watch this space to see how bad I screw this up.

Not that hard (famous last words) as you are only lowering the body so that it covers the frame rails.  Use the interior to set the height by trimming the appropriate amount off the bottom of the door panels.  You will need to put in a transmission tunnel which will be the hardest part of the entire job.  Piece of cake for your skill set. I find that the grooved sheets from Evergreen work well for that as you can bend it using the grooves as weak points.

I chopped mine and built it as a highboy and later channeled it, as I didn't care for the look.

Clay: I've got the body channeled, but haven't had time to get a photo yet. It's my first time channeling a body so I will be interested in what you think when I get one posted. Should be tomorrow.

Here is my first attempt at channeling a body.  The body has been channeled 5 scale inches and the top chopped 3 scale inches.  I think overall it turned out pretty good, but would like to hear what you guys think.







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The chop looks good. I'd have to see it on the frame to tell you about the channel job.

Looks good John, but based on the height of the cowl between the before and after pics, it looks to me like you sectioned the body. Sectioning is removing a portion of the body so that it is vertically shorter. Channeling is lowering the body over the frame so that the body is closer to the ground. You certainly chose the hard job but you pulled it off fabulously.

Well said Dave.

You're right Dave, I actually sectioned the body. I've always been confused about the difference between sectioning and channeling. Thanks for the information; now maybe I can keep them straight in my mind. Also, thanks for the compliment. I felt pretty good about how it went back together, but there is still a bit of smoothing to be done if I want to make a "shiny" out of this rather than a rat rod.

Coming along.  Maybe the "highboy" look works best on ragtops and  coupes.  The bigness look of a long roof and full sedan body can make it look top heavy.  I'll have to check either my early '60s mags or google images for highboy variants.  Thanx for a really interesting take on an all star hot rod classic!

Now do the channeling as well, already looks way cool. With the channel this will look bitchin!!!

BrentH wrote:Now do the channeling as well, already looks way cool. With the channel this will look bitchin!!!

Brent:  I think I'm  going to let the channeling go on this one.  In the past  the majority of my body work has been very simple.  I want to research channeling and get familiar with it before I make the attempt.  

In the meantime here is the first mock up of the sedan.  I kind of like the stance.  







As always, comments and suggestions welcome.

Looks great John ! So what color are you going with ?

John Bro! that looks good but it would surely look even better channeled.

Don't put it off, do it now. You know it makes sense!!!

I hear ya John.

Basically all you need to do to channel it is make the bottom edge of the body flush with the bottom of the frame. It drops the body on the frame so you would need to raise the floor of the car.

But now that I see some mock up pictures I think a full channel wont work or look right. If the top of the tire passes where the top of the fender would be it would look goofy IMO.

Example of too much channel IMO.
http://www.kustomrama.com/images/0/0b/Andy-kassa-1932-ford-coupe-2.jpg

Just right. Tire does not go above the top fender line.
http://www.history-of-cars.com/images/ford-usa/1932-3-window-coupe-hot-rod-34.jpg

It is all personal taste.

Skid wrote:John Bro! that looks good but it would surely look even better channeled.

Don't put it off, do it now. You know it makes sense!!!

Al: Might make sense, but not going to happen with this one. I have done all the cutting I want to do on this body. I have a 32 three window that I will practice on after GSL though.