BADLY damaged body, need advice...

[DocDann]

I have a 1966 Ford Fairlane 427 kit that, unfortunately, got sat on by my 18 pound cat while in the box, unbuilt... and the roof is smashed in... Driver side A & B pillars GONE.... passenger B pillar disconnected, passenger side window frame chipped...

(At least, I think I am using the right terms..
A pillar = between windshield and "windwing window",
B pillar = between windwing and front window

There are no other roof support pillars.

I am not confident in my scratchbuilding skills enough to build new ones, so...

what can I do?

Should I just chop off the roof and pillars altogether and make it a "convertable" or????

(of course, doing so means no windows, as well, since they are gled to the frames for support)

I could PROBABLY fix the passenger side problems without a lot of trouble after stripping a horrible paint job.....

Of course, if anyone has a spare body for this kit (AMT) in their parts box and wants to give it away.......

You'll notice that mostly, I am doing AMT kits, since they have more of the cars I am interested in, but I have done a couple of tamiyas and a few revells... my Tamiya curbside "mazd efini" came out OK (just used the molded paint job, though), and the Enzo royally sucked due to my trying to do it in 2 days..... will get a Revell Enzo and try again....

[carl63_99]

DocDann,

I would strongly recommend obtaining a new body. With what little holds the roof in place, repairing a major structural component has to be A) perfect, and B) VERY strong to be worth anything. Over time most repairs of this type fail, and that really sucks after spending all that time putting the model together.

The idea of making a chop top custom is good, if that is what you want.

[tigeraid]

I haven't seen this kit in a while, but it MIGHT be salvageable if.... the front and rear windows are strong enough. Take a look at the glass provided in the kit--does the windshield extend into the ventwindows?

I had a similar problem with a Tamiya kit, and make no mistake, this worked best because the Tamiya kit had one glass piece going all the way around the whole greenhouse, but this method MIGHT work for you. Put the glass in place, bending the plastic as best you can to conform to it, then clamp it in place with the smallest clamps you have (if you don't have clamps, I strongly suggest you buy a box of them anyway, they're a GREAT modelling tool--many tool suppliers have plastic ones with soft jaws)...

With the clamps in place, probably one on each vent window frame and maybe on the cowl, it might conform roughly to its original shape.

Now, take a hair dryer to it on its hottest setting. It might require a few hours (prop it up on something, that's what I did) but if the window glass is strong enough to hold the body in that position, it might conform back to its normal shape after several hours.

Just a thought

[Scale-Master]

That's a pretty labor intensive repair with a huge chance of it having problems down the road even if you get it looking good.
The pillars have been stretched and warped as well as broken. There is very little integrity in those types of repairs.
I would try to procure a new body, or go for a speedster or Bonneville racer style custom... - Mark

[tigeraid]

Oops, I hadn't noticed the pillars were broke as well... that certainly does make my repair more difficult

[Raceman]

do you have a pic of the car?