63 Stepside Chev

Son-in-law gave me this kit that he had barely started then abandoned. My first act was to butcher the suspension. So, purists and rivit counters please look away for a bit. Y'know for years I would scratch build frames, Z them or build narrow tubs, But in my old age, I'm gettin lazy and just hack the suspension to get the  models down. The underside never shows as I only photograph the finished model in front of my garage backdrop. Several of my favorites go in a showcase and the rest go in boxes, They never go into shows to get judged, or seen elsewhere, so why bother with hidden stuff. It's kinda on the principle that kit manufactures sometimes have no tops on the differential.
OK, my first move was to raise the spindles of the kits already dropped axle and  'C' notch the rear to get that down.

You're off to a good start Clay.  Looking forward to how it turns out. I've always really liked that body style.

Sometimes, you just do what you gotta do to make it work. Nice start, Clay.

Looking to be a good start Clay and I agree with the sewer view 100%. Too many other models to build don't ya know.

The simple, whatever works for me, has made building models much more enjoyable.

At one point several years ago, I thought I had to open every trunk (boot for you on the other side of the pond ) on every kit I built. Not anymore , it's not worth the extra work, stress, yelling and swearing

The bed is not installed yet, but I have it where it lookin' pretty good. The stance is where I like it.
Now, to get the big Ford placed in the frame.

Nice Clay..! A friend of mine use to own a 64 Step side that was tubbed and narrowed had a 400 automatic with a clutch...fun ride and very fast.

I love it a FORD in a Chevy.

I do like ur work, generally, but a late model pick-em-up?! Our summer weekly Friday nite car shows have pickups on occasion. One I remember was a low rider (with those air bags) that sat so low, it had no floor to speak of in the box. Weirdness!

I don't build many later models than the 60's
I have the engine installed, The body  with inner wheel wells drops down on the chassis, so the blower and intake screens will be about the last things to install.
 The kits instructions call for a cap with a raised portion across the back. My S-I-L must have lost that, so I made a kinda  hump with some flat stock.

Great work Clay, looks brilliant. 

Nice fit on the motor.

Looking very sleek and growly! Love the body styling and the stance is pure predator

While this has been drastically lowered, it is also channeled some. So I'm having to work over the interior tub.

Looking very cool Clay!
I have never channeled a body before where is the best place to channel a shell like this, and would you channel the rear or just lower it on the chassis mounts?

Plastic Freak wrote:Looking very cool Clay!
I have never channeled a body before where is the best place to channel a shell like this, and would you channel the rear or just lower it on the chassis mounts?

Channeling merely involves letting the body drop lower than the frame however low you want it to go. Make provision on the frame (stops) for the body to set on. On the pickup I cut out a section of the bed and it sets on the frame. I made a tarp to cover the bed. I won't have to be concerned with the butchery showing. Otherwise there would be a lot of careful scratching and modifying if the bed is left open.  Bear in mind that the interior tub will have to be adjusted if you use one, like I am doing here. Most of the time, on car bodies, I just build a new floor out of flat stock and mount seats and stuff on that. Door panels, if any, I mount directly on the inside of the body. There will probably be other adjustments to be made as well. Each model is different and you have to figure out how to deal with what ever arises.  I love it !

Ha, man I am loosing my mind. I was thinking sectioning as I was reading channeling. The yellow short bus keeps getting shorter and shorter for me, it's down to about a four (4) seater now.

Thanks for taking the time to explain all that, it has helped with the process for models.

Curt, Sectioning is another story. not an authority on this, but I can show you how I tackled a couple.
On the 41 woody, I marked out chop and sectioning lines.

After the chop, I tackled the hood.

Match the front and fill in the rear edge

Taking out the body section was pretty straight forward.



On the street Challenger, I wanted to keep the integerity of the ends, so, I took out 1/4 inch above the wheel wells and just dropped it down and matched the front and rear bottom edges.



On this later model Challenger, I tool out a pie cut section to give it a rake. 1/4" in the rear to zero in the front.
I suppose one could reverse this to get a tail dragger.

The interior tub and the door panels have been trimmed down. It will fit !

Nice look to the body! Also, I really like the chainsaw body mod imagery though I can imagine you'd need to sharpen the chain quite a lot, lol.

This build is not dead, I got it repainted. I had it black the first time that messed up, so I added some light blue to the left over black and got this blue grey color. Taking a better look at the box, it's a 65 not a '63

Love the colour, a very nice tone of blue.

Cool color.

Just in case anyone is wondering about this project, it has been sanded down and waiting for yet another attempt at painting. Having too much fun on my current 40 Ford art deco project.