Just one more project…my ’48 coupe

Haven't seen one of these on here yet so I might as well be the first...

I haven’t bought a new kit in ages so I splurged on one of the new Revell ’48 coupes after Paul came around and showed me his. Originally I intended to build this as a hardtop in order to overcome the whole nasty chop issue, but a recent feature on Marcia Campbell’s 42 coupe in Rodder’s Journal made me re-think my plans. And I guess part of me wants to play the “how best to fix Revell’s ugly chop” game too! I must confess that fixing a chop is a lot easier than chopping a car. This really isn’t a lot of work to correct.





I started by cutting out the back window, then removing about 3mm from the middle of the B pillar, then about the same amount from the bottom of the C pillar. Then I just pie cut the remaining back of roof sections to flow into the trunk. I also made a slight relief in the door section of the A-pillar to give a bit of flex when I bent the roof down. I still need to plug the holes and smooth it all over but most of the hard work is done.











Here it is with the holes filled in:










I have since spent some time scribing panel lines (they are virtually non-existent - pretty sad for a new tool) radiusing the upper door and trunk lid corners and filling those gargantuan taillight holes.





I also started working on the front. I am going with the ‘48 Olds grill, but felt it was too tall, so I cut off and stripped the top bar and have moulded it in to the front. Have also ditched the ridiculous looking kit moustache that is meant to cover the gaps left by the stock ’48 Ford shaped grill opening and filled them with scrap sheet styrene.







And here’s my new 'beaky' hood to go with the moulded grill bar.



That's it for now. Planning on adding some trim down the side and then it should be ready for paint if the weather gods cooperate...

that's one very cool coupe in the making

VERY COOL, that new roof profile looks AWSOME! Looking forward to seeing this done, gunna be a nice piece of work mate.

Cool - good to see the master back in action. A good story coming up for ModelArt mag I hope?

Nice Chop!.......dunno where Revell keep pulling there weird chops from, but at least it's fixable

...Your mods are looking sweet

Hell Yeah!!!! Nice conversion Dude, this one will be a looker!

Very nice job of unbuggering.I'm still not sure if I like the kit enough to build it.Yours may inspire me.We'll see bud.Nice execution thus far. Best to you.Bill

Nice...can't wait to see it progress.

Paul wrote:Nice Chop!.......dunno where Revell keep pulling there weird chops from...

The '49 Merc is rumoured to be based on the car in Cobra.
Whether that is true or not I suspect this and the Merc are based on real cars that happen to not be chopped in "the usual" way.
With models of stock bodies they are either wrong or right but when the model companies start customising for us there is always going to be those who don't like what they've done and would have done it differently - it just seems that in the case of these 2 Revell kits that it is the majority who are objecting (or maybe those who like what they've done tend to keep quiet while those who don't tell the world?).
There is no right way or wrong way but some ways look better than others.

Personally i've always liked my kustom Mercs with a stock height roof and have been pondering how easy it would be to de-chop the Revell body...
But anyway, back to Bryce's build.
Other than your issues with the chop what do you think of this kit?

Thanks for all the nice words guys - it's very encouraging.

zenrat wrote:
There is no right way or wrong way but some ways look better than others.

If it was a modern custom I'd agree but the fact is this model and all the parts in the box depict a late forties/early fifties custom so I'd argue that when you're replicating a period custom there is a very defined 'right' way to do it and all the magazines and books from the time document it. And I have never seen a custom from that period that has a B-pillar higher than the A-pillar.

zenrat wrote:
Other than your issues with the chop what do you think of this kit?

As stated above the panel lines are virtually non-existent but things seem to go together OK. I fear it suffers from the usual 'generic-ness' of modern kits, i.e. the Caddy grill doesn't look entirely correct. Still nice to have some new custom parts to work with. I'll probably have more to say once I get a bit further into the build...

The reason the books only have pics of the cars that were done right is because they were more appealing.

For each one of those cars there was probably four or five done like the model.

That aside, it's looking good and I'm looking forward to seeing how you finish it off.

So, does Luke have them in store? Or did you guys buy them on-line?

Carps wrote:The reason the books opnly have pics of the cars that were done right is because they were morte appealing.

And I'd argue that would be all the more reason to make the model the same way. I prefer my models to depict the more appealing version of any given genre. But maybe I'm just weird...

I got mine from Luke.

are you going to put a candy colour on it.

Nah I'm thinking a dark blue pearl...white interior...flipper caps on wide whites...something along those lines.

Carps wrote:The reason the books opnly have pics of the cars that were done right is because they were morte appealing.

For each one of those cars there was probably four or five done like the model.

That aside, it's looking good and I'm looking forward to seeing how you finisdh it off.

So, does Luke have them in store? Or did you guys buy them on-line?

Have plenty here, if anybody needs them,

Carps wrote:So, does Luke have them in store? Or did you guys buy them on-line?

Got mine from Luke also!!

thanks Guys,

Spent a bit of time this afternoon adding some styrene to the bottom of the window frames and re-shaping the rear side windows, Also added some shortened side trim ala the Jesse Lopez Ford and filling the filler door. Pretty happy with how this is looking and with a bit of luck should get some primer on tomorrow.

looking great

Very nice!

Looking good mate

Nice pink phone in the background too

Nice job on it so far.....

Bryce wrote: But maybe I'm just weird...

You weant us to reinforce that?

Bryce wrote:I got mine from Luke.

I got a couple from him too.

I don't think the chop is that bad, but then I don't mind the chop on the Revelogram '49 Merc either, both are quite realistic.

As always wiith your work, your rendition is looking great and I'm looking forward to seeing it finished and on the tables at the hot rod show in January.

Carps wrote:

As always wiith your work, your rendition is looking great and I'm looking forward to seeing it finished and on the tables at the hot rod show in January.

Thanks Carps - not sure I'll make it by then but will do my best...

The body work is pretty much finished and I’ve been working on stance this week. I had to cut out the rear crossmember, flatten it, relocate the rear spring , C-notch the chassis rails and use a set of smaller diameter radials to get the back where I want it. The front uses the kit’s dropped axle shimmed up a mm or so using scrap plastic so I can get that tail draggin' stance...









If this sun sticks around for a while I might try to get some paint on this week.

This is just looking better and better...lovin' it!!!!!