Kustom made taillights

[PalleJ]

now and then, you see something on the internet, that you cant get out of your head!..a new idea to go for on your build!
some years ago, a thread on the HAMB catched my attension! it was done by one of those guys you just have to hate! they make everything look so damn easy and simple…you can only dream of having those skills!
it was Matt Townsend…he showed us how to do your own taillights, by using clear polyester, and transparent red color!

i thought this was the coolest idea, and I just waited for the right car to start working on!
so my 47 cadillac is the victim here!
I dont wanna destroy the bumberguards, before i found out, wether i manage this or not!
so i took a 48 guard i had in my stash of crap!
the first thing was to make some molds of the guard! pretty easy to do with some silicone rubber!

the company that sold me the silicone and the clear polyester..said: transparent red color!!? no problem!
but I had my doubts when i saw this….and I was right! the color was solid!
a bad idea, if your interested in using these as taillights!

heres the result!!

after this..i called half the country, I honestly bought like 5 different color dyes!
same result!
one was infact transparent, but contained some small black pieces i never figured out to get rid of!

i even had two different colors from Germany..same result!
so I was pretty desperate..and decided to email Matt! not that I had a problem with that, but i never thought it could be that difficult to find over here!
Matt was as always very helpfull, and found the right dye for me! Thanks Buddy!

so finally..the first try was perfect! but in the meantime i decided to do a larger light, and use the hole top of the guard!
a new mold was made

i wanted to make a pattern on the inside, to reflect the light better! and i found out, this is the hard part!
the first, i made in wax..the pattern is from a kitchen drawer…haha! but it looked cool!

well i decided to go another route..the wax female mold was very time consuming!

the glass is not really dry yet, but i couldnt resist! the next step is to cut the glass down to fit, and to cut the bumberguard! more about this later!

Matt…please show some of your amazing taillights…and thanks for getting me started! this is what Kustom car building is all about!
-Palle

[Keith Daleen]

That turned out very nice. I like the pattern inside the lens. Thanks for sharing.

[Rik Hoving]

That came at really great Palle.
It looks amazing to see the whole top of the guard done as taillight lens. And I agree with Keith. The pattern came out really nice. Especially when you hold the light behind it. I cant wait to see it cut down and on top of the guard.
I can imagine how those light look at night… giving the whole rear of the car a red glow.

Enjoy the beauty of Customizing

[PalleJ]

thanks…and Rik, you know how much thinking i put into this haha..only by practizing you get better!

[Steve Boutte]

Those look really nice! What did you end up using for the inner mold?

[CuznBrucie]

Palle……you are the real deal! This is what *real* customizing is all about……hand made and unique lenses…..love it!!

Brucie

[Bryan Rusk]

Beautiful work. It’s almost a shame to cut up those bumper guards, but not in this case!

[Matt Townsend]

Those look incredible Palle. I hope you finally got your resin!!!

[PalleJ]

thanks guys..this is good fun! and thanks again for the inspiration Matt! you should show a couple of your lenses!
especially the one with the Merc man in it! pure art!
-Palle

[Tomas]

looking really good

[Renaud Zed Legardez]

the result is amazing !!! shape and inside pattern are wonderfull…even more for a firstimer !!!

[Paul Kelly]

Palle, great looking light lens.
I am planning on having a play with resin casting some soon, as a change to my formed plastic ones I have been doing for over 30 years.
Never to old to try and learn something new.

[Bert Gustafsson]

Very nice, looking forward to see them on your Cadillac.

[PalleJ]

thanks for the kind words! heres a little update! this weekend, i decided that the pattern wasnt just like i wanted it to be!
also the color wasnt perfect! a bit to pale!
so had a new mold made..and heres the result!

i made 3 lenses..i think i might be happy about that some day!..next step is to cut the guard!
-Palle

[Kenneth Kristiansson]

Amazing Palle.Really nice job…..Kenneth

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