47 Merc Coupe
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Alright, bit of an update.
Worked on the car today, once again probably went backwards.
As for the shape of the quarter window, I did end up re doing it. Originally I was trying to get the look that the Ayala car has, I wanted that almost fast back look but with a less blunt look on the corners but it just can’t be done. You have to pick one or the other. So once again I did as Rik advised and made a smaller radius on the rear corner, as well as lengthening the window and also making it taller.
Once I got the window changed (might still need changing) I started on the roof flow. I cut out the rear window and moved it back to where it’s close to the original spot.
To get the window to stay up I wacked in this bar and tacked it on where it looked alright, then lifted the roof up and clecoed it in place. I think it’s safe to say at this point I have no idea what I’m doing.
Tomorrow I’ll get the car out again and stand back for a look, then I might have a go at some sail panels.
Gee, all you have to do is fill the voids and it will be perfect!
Sounds so easy I know, but you seem methodical and have the eye and skills to pull it off. I guess another Merc roof would be handy about now.
It looks fantastic in the photos you shared. I like the new rear quarter window, and it looks like the rear window is in the perfect spot and flows with the rear quarter window really nice. But as you say, its hard to tell with all the empty spaces.
Enjoy the beauty of Customizing
First off, I’ve never chopped a car but i think if i was in your situation I’d do the following. Even before giving a go at the sail panels out of steel. I would try and fill all the voids with cardboard and tape. I see that you already did that once before with duct tape. May be that’s a good idea again. It could possibly help you see things that you want to change before committing to making the steel panels.
I’d also recommend reaching out to Kenneth Kristiansson on this forum. He does a lot of chop tops and does a really good job. Hopefully he sees this and chimes in. Good Luck.
-Chris
"The devils in the details"
Judging by the rear 3/4 view and the profile shot it looks to me like you’ve pretty much got it! As Rik says (and no one has a better eye), it’s tough to be sure with the gaps, but, dang it’s looking good! ..And I do like the quarter window shape now too.
Dave
Jus' creepin' along..
Yes, that teardrop quarter window is much better.
Rather than card board, I use industrial vinyl floor lino. Go to most carpet places and you’ll find some in the skip. It’s just thinner and cleaner to transfer the shapes to metal. . . And you can keep the templates. . . For the next one you do. . . . Haha.
I always try and make left and right bits at the same time as well so that it is fresh in your mind what you did, right down to copying the push a pull count thru the English wheel. It’s better to stuff up both pieces or get them both spot_on together than to go one right and not remember how you made the first one just right. Does that make sense?
Thanks for all the input. Some good ideas, Q i’ll have to check out the lino you’re talking about. We used to use a single ply cardboard that works quite well, it’s only like 1mm thick but it’s quite expensive for what it is.
Tony, you’re right – a new roof would be perfect right now! Haha.
I decided to go ahead and try the sail panel, just for the hell of it. It’s been killing me seeing that wheeling machine sitting there and I just wanted to use it.
I reckon it would have taken me half the time to get where I am if I split it up into two panels but I really want to practice my metal shaping so I went the hard way.
Also, I haven’t had a great deal of experience on the wheeling machine before, mostly just the power hammer so I kind of have to change the way I think about making the panel.
Still got a long way to go on it but it’s been fun.
Oh yeah… taking shape.
Just an idea…. perhaps you can place a large piece of one color card board on the wall next to the car, or a large sheet or something like that. So stones on the wall are not playing tricks with your eyes and interfere with the new roof shapes. It is what I mostly do when I do Digital designs. I take out the background completely to focus on the roof shape.
Enjoy the beauty of Customizing
Looking good. I always say that it is harder to fix some one else’s mistakes then it is my own. 🙂
I agree with Rik on the back drop. I have a large 10′ x 20′ solid color tarp that I at times used as a back drop for my build.
It really helped to take away any visual distractions.
Torchie
Yes I agree Bob, but like it says in the post, even though it would have been a lot easier to do it in two pieces I wanted to try it in one to improve my metal shaping skills.
Out of curiosity what thickness metal are you using?. I really like using zincaneal and go 1.15mm. I find it holds its shape better than .9mm. plus when you weld and grind you have a little more meat to play with. I’m self taught so just go with what suits me best. But always interested to see how others go about it. Plus the zinc coating give much better corrosion resistance, particularly on sills and lower door patches etc.
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