Here is what I do, make a few tools. Mark two poles in 1" increments, dark-light-dark-light, like a surveyors pole. Stand one vertical at the front fender and one at the quarter panel. If you have a laser level, shine that somewhere on the side lining up the inch marks. Put a piece of tape horizontal on the side of the car long enough to extend past the roof line and gl*** edge. Divide the tape line in 1" increments dark-light-dark-light. Photograph your car directly from the side, directly from the front and directly from the rear. Print out many copies of these photos 8 x 11-1/2. Get out your scissors and chop it up. By using scissors you will see very fast the metalwork involved with various cutlines. Referencing the dark-light 1" increments you will know pretty closely what cuts where will give the most pleasing results. These photos can also be used in photoshop, but the finished product (ala Rikster) hides all the work it takes to get to such a fantastic finished product. I also use a lot of tracing paper to draw various changes as I work through the process. It is also easy to photocopy other grilles, taillights, etc. to try them out. Tomorrow, start your build thread!
This is a good idea! I have played around with the side view of my car on photoshop and ended up with terrible results and I have a very small idea of how much work it is going to be and thats alot. I am definetly still in the planning phase which may take quite a bit of time. I want to do it once and the right way!! I'll get started on my build thread, gathering pictures and what not and maybe you guys can help along the way with mistakes I may be making, or another opinion. Thanks again to all!
I'm sure you can get some ideas from the R&C article, but cutting a '48 is a different beast (I've never done either, but an educated judgement IMHO) than a '49-52 fleetline... Here's the article: http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/techarticles/0903rc_1950_chevy_chopped_top/index.html A before picture: And after...a very cool pictorial (and read) regardless:
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