# Hermit's Kustom Project



## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

Hello all, started with a 15 year old reject casting I made of a 49-50 Ford. Sorry for the crummy picture, but it is probably better than to see the real thing. On a good casting, you cut out the windows and remove flashing when the cast is soft and new, not hard as a rock. It came out Allis Chalmers orange to boot.


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

2nd pic is a bit better. I removed the window flash, shaved the door handles and the lower trim, started patching the jacked up rear quarter, and started cutting in door panel lines


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

Filling in the wheel openings and smoothing up the body and lines a bit better. Long ways to go, but she is showing possibilities. Having fun using techniques I have never tried.


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## 60chevyjim (Feb 21, 2008)

it looks cool so far , do you have any more of them ?
I am working on a real chopped top 1950 tudor .


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## Super Coupe (Feb 16, 2010)

Looking good. Pretty soon that baby will be cruzin' the boulevard and terrorizing the town.
>Tom<


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## marzzz23 (Feb 25, 2006)

Any more of these? My dad has a 50 ford business coupe that he has had since he was 17, he is now 75. Would love to do this car!


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

marzzz23 said:


> Any more of these? My dad has a 50 ford business coupe that he has had since he was 17, he is now 75. Would love to do this car!


My mom and dad had a 50 Ford convertible, black and black with red interior when I was just a young sprout. It had a flathead v-8, 3 speed with dual glasspacks. Sweet car. I don't have a good mold, but I do have a pretty good one left I can make a master of. I've been talking a little bit with Hilltop about getting back into the casting world again, kinda sitting on the fence. Let me get this thing done first. I can tell it would mean something to you guys to have one. Guess you guys made up my mind for me. Funny how stuff like that works.


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## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

Cool custom TH...!!! Robert Mitchum drove one of those in "Thunder Road"... Is that one T Jet size??? I did a larger version for a four gear...RM


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

Hilltop Raceway said:


> Cool custom TH...!!! Robert Mitchum drove one of those in "Thunder Road"... Is that one T Jet size??? I did a larger version for a four gear...RM


There ya go guys, Hilltop has some to sell maybe.
Yeah it's LWB T-jet. Yeah I forgot about Mitchum's Ford. cool movie. You ever use super glue and flour to do any body work? Is that Kosher? Seems to work pretty good so far anyway. Little harder to build up with than Bondo, but faster cure.


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## 60chevyjim (Feb 21, 2008)

I got the 4gear size 49 ford body from hilltop a while back .
and I use super glue and zip kick accelerator for most of my custom work .
I like it because I can get things done real fast with the zip kick. I make the parts like the fender skirts from sheet styrene or junk slot car bodys .
dollar tree has 2 kinds of super glue that come in little metal tubes , one is a gel and 
one is thin like water . you get two tubes for a dollar . I use both kinds .


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

Thanks for the reply Jim, I got a four tube setup of superglue from Walmart I think it was. Always used Bondo before. Well anyway today's progress, she is rougher than a cob, but moving forward. Slanted the B pillar forward, and fixed a big void above the ft. window. Cut the blower off and smoothed the hood, and made some skirts to cover the rear wheels. I hope to get the rear a bit lower, might have to shave the tires.


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## 60chevyjim (Feb 21, 2008)

that looks good !! file the inside of the rear rims to make them thinner so they will go in closer to the chassis . here is my chopped 50 tudor I put a 49 grill in it .
57 Cadillac hubcaps and the side moldings are off of my 55 chevy 4dr.


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

Cool stuff Jim. Did some more, worked over the front end a bit, it is smoother than it looks I used a black wash to show every little thing.







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Added some "flamethrowers" at the rear. My primers are old/crap, when I go to town I will get some different stuff. 







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## vaBcHRog (Feb 19, 2003)

Looking good.


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## 60chevyjim (Feb 21, 2008)

that looks cool now the front looks more like a 51 with the straight hood and grill. the blue one looks great too.
I got my green 51 4dr first , and then I got the 50 2dr for a parts car but I fixed the roof on it. 
so now my green 51 is going to be a black n white cop car yard art display.
I just bought the roof light for it last week .


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

Test to see if I can make the pics not so honking big.


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

1st time using an airbrush and water based paints. Went on Utube and looked at a few guys tutorials and away we went. I sprayed a lacquer based primer first and then the pearl grey base coat went next. Unlike regular paints, I sanded down the primer with 600 grit and I had a couple of places where I sanded thru the primer and a bit of the orange car showed thru. No problem with regular paints. Big problem with these types of paints. It wasn't the paint's fault. One of the many tutorials I watched warned of that when using peals and transparent paints they don't cover well. But I blasted away and yeah it sagged in a couple of places, airbrush in hand, car in other, and hairdryer somehow aimed at the little car trying to set the paint to keep the impending disaster from getting worse. I'll try all that standing on one leg for my next trick. Well here she is, warts and all. I have a transparent coat to go over the silver pearl base coat and then a clear coat to go over all of that yet to go. This aribrushing is all new but so far it has been a blast..here hold my beer I'm going back in.


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## Dushkwoneshe (Apr 27, 2012)

.
Looks great, TomH... Pearls and Candies were the hardest
for me... Never was any good with an airbrush...

John
.


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*Steve Martin: Gotta get small.*

Body work looks good Tom. Thats a really great transformation!

I'll toss out a few pointers based off your comments.

600?! Yikes, thats why you cut through your sealer. At H0, 600 is for blocking. Try the extra step of 1200 next time. 

Remember that you are spraying at 1/87 scale. Keep your working pressure low, and your product thin. Just because the airbrush has the capability to hammer down a heavy liquid film doesnt mean you should. If you cant count/see the atomized paint droplets at the edge of your fan, your settings are out of whack. 

I had to teach myself have to work at just above the minimum functional settings. The revelation was, that my settings were in the high side (for bigger projects) of the airbrushed range; rather than the lower end (for smaller projects. Cut the model in just as you would a 1:1 car. Apply the intermediate coats in a deliberate manner using overlapping methodical strokes. You have to pretend YOU are 1/87th scale too! Again, just because you can blast the whole side of the model in one pass doesnt mean you should. Stay low and slow until you get ready for the clear. Apply the first coats in the same manner. After they have set, then go ahead and apply those heavier liquid coats.

Your brush should hiss like a whispering snake ... sssssssss; not PSSSSSSSSSSSSHT like you popped and airline.

... and ditch that hair drier! Disturbing the area around your project into a crud filled tornado is a sure fired way to upset a perfectly adjusted low pressure fan, as well as Turbo-charging foreign matter directly into the liquid film.

BTW?: What type of airbrush are you using?

Good luck, and stay at it!


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

She is back in primer haha. Good advice Bill. I am using a Iwata Eclipse Model HP-CS and a diaphragm compressor. I have/had a regulator from hell worthless IMO, just tossed it but kept the water separator and filter.. so now I have an 

inline pinch valve instead that gives me from a variable full on to nothing with just a twist of the knob so I can get to where you are talking about no problem now. The heck with fiddling with the gauge, go by the hiss haha. 

Wicked/createx recommends heat setting between coats, so that explains the dryer. One good thing about water base,,it drys right now with heat. One bad thing, you can't sand it, body and paint work have to be perfect, no do overs. 

I don't know about coverage with opaques, but transparents have to have a uniform color underneath (my problem child). I think I could have pulled it off if I had crept up on it instead of a full on frontal assault. It would have been 

much easier (next time) to have gone one step farther and shot the whole thing with a light coat of rattle can white lacquer. ..oh well I found a few body areas that weren't "right" and I am loving on it some more before another 

attempt. The next one is going to get white lacquer for a base. Trying to keep from having to set up a paint booth by using acrylics, but water base it is an entirely different world for me, I have to forget much of what I already know if 

you know what I mean.


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

She's finally out of paint, not too bad for the first try with acrylic paint and 

an airbrush. The glass and trim guys haven't showed up yet. Practice piece 

on the right is an Old beater Jag that was a repainted yellow to a light green 

in addition to hogged out wheel wells and stepped on to boot . All I did for 

surface prep was wash it with a tooth brush and soap and shot it with some 

enamel I had, no top coat no nothing. Airbrush works good with enamel and I 

have a bunch of that paint also. Bottom photo I am guessing those pock 

mark looking specks are the pearl in the paint showing thru


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

Haven't quite figured out how to take pictures indoors that well. Here are better photos 

I think of a couple that are in my Ford collection. The Ford on the right is at least 12 or 

thirteen years old, still soft and could take a pretty good hit without any damage. The 

color was built into the casting and details Head and tail lights, glass and bumpers and 

blower were painted. The unfinished new guy on the left is all paint and custom..oh wait 

Kustom.


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## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

Kooooooool kustoms you got there, old and new...:thumbsup::thumbsup: RM


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

nice job, and the pearl tries to show through better in the sunlight.
try using a backdrop for the outside pics.
also, maybe a white reflective surface to direct some of the nice bright sun under and to the other side of the cars!
if you have one, use a tripod, the steadier the camera, the less chance of out of focus.
taking pics for me is always hit or miss.
getting good close ups can be a challenge.
see if your camera has "macro" setting

if you are using a phone to take pics, I cannot help.
heck, I am barely able to make calls with one!


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## marzzz23 (Feb 25, 2006)

Man those are great.wish there was a way to get one. I wou,d make a tribute car for my dad.he has a 50 ford business coupe. He is 74 yrs old and bought the car when he was 17 yrs old. It's all original except for the cobra 289 in it. Great cars


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

marzzz23 said:


> Man those are great.wish there was a way to get one. I wou,d make a tribute car for my dad.he has a 50 ford business coupe. He is 74 yrs old and bought the car when he was 17 yrs old. It's all original except for the cobra 289 in it. Great cars



Thanks. PM Randy at Hilltop Raceway, I think he can fix you up.


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## vaBcHRog (Feb 19, 2003)

Tom I first saw your ford on Sluggers site and it inspired me to make this one a few years back.










I ended up giving the master to Mile Vitale. It has always been one of my favorite cars. My dad had one as a second car when I was in the 6th grade and he bought one for parts when he was running a hobby stock at Summerville Speedway when i went into the navy.


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## XracerHO (Feb 6, 2008)

Tom H, Two very nice customs! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Nice one too, vaBcHRog. ..RL


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## SuperDave321 (Mar 10, 2015)

vaBcHRog said:


> Tom I first saw your ford on Sluggers site and it inspired me to make this one a few years back.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Just curious but that Summerville Speedway happen to be in South Carolina?


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

vaBcHRog said:


> Tom I first saw your ford on Sluggers site and it inspired me to make this one a few years back.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice one Rodger :thumbsup: Yeah, it was a few years back.


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## Bubba 123 (Sep 10, 2010)

TomH said:


> Nice one Rodger :thumbsup: Yeah, it was a few years back.


I LUV Vintage, stock MFG cars (like just Off the Dealer's Floor looking)
this has ME "Drool'n" !!!! :thumbsup:

Bubba 123 :wave:


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## vaBcHRog (Feb 19, 2003)

SuperDave321 said:


> Just curious but that Summerville Speedway happen to be in South Carolina?



Yep its SC. I mostly grew up in Charleston with a side trip to Ft Lauderdale just before my dad retired from the Navy.

I did my middle middle school years and high school on James Island except they didn't have a middle school elementary went to 8th grade


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## SuperDave321 (Mar 10, 2015)

vaBcHRog said:


> Yep its SC. I mostly grew up in Charleston with a side trip to Ft Lauderdale just before my dad retired from the Navy.
> 
> I did my middle middle school years and high school on James Island except they didn't have a middle school elementary went to 8th grade


 Small world... How many times we kids rode to Summerville Speedway in the bed of someones pickup truck on Friday nights during the late 60's. Back when it was a dirt track... Back when it was a track. Did my 8th grade at Stall High.


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## vaBcHRog (Feb 19, 2003)

Dad had a red for pickup Damn I can't remember the year late 60's and he pulled a 53 Ford that was painted primer color brown but I ca't recall the number but I remember my cousin Allen putting it on with duct tape. Tiny Lund, Cale and Leroy Yarborough, Little Bud Moore running the late model sportsman class. We use to go yo Columbia once and awhile and Myrtle Beach too.

Did you ever go to the drag races in Walterboro SC?


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

Trying to get a handle on these water based paints, practice, practice, practice.


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## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

Looks like you have the handle covered!!! RM


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