8/6..... and the Birds Nest
Posted by Dr Diecast at 8/6/2008 6:34 AM and is filed under uncategorized 
Tuesday was one of those days filled with working on many little things...... well that was the morning part actually. The afternoon was spent creating a birds nest, rumble seat, for a 57 T Bird. This project..... one of the many for Pete...... involved created a flip open panel within the trunk skin with a same style seat pattern attached to it. Reworking the bottom of the seat to fit within the trunk area correctly and then making it all work just like the way they did back then.
Im not sure if this was an actual 1957 option or not. Seems to me that this might have been created a little later for the specific purpose of housing beauty queens for parades, LOL. However you want to look at it the end result is its a (real world) fiberglass panel that fits flush on the deck with the seat attached so it works like the old rumble seats.
First off I had to lay out where to make the cut on the decklid. While engineers use micrometers and such I use what god gave me.... my eyes. Plus between looking at the pictures and the diecast cars part I have to take into consideration the way the part is made and how the trunk hinges are attached since this isn't a real car.
While this might seem simple its a lot more involved then you think. Once I have the cut lines laid out and its cut then I have to layout and cut the sheet styrene to fit. Mind you this is a rough cut as seen in the picture here. Once I have the basic piece cut I will then square off (and round off too) all the edges and corners on both the decklid and the deck panel. I used a sheet plastic that is just about the thickness of the decklid. This way when its opened it will look like it was cut from the decklid to start with.
With this done I then have to size up the seats, the trunk floor and where the working hinges are going for the flip open panel. Since we are going to work with the same seat pattern and the seat itself is 5/8 of an inch wider than the opening so I of course had to lay out and cut the seat back. This involves, for me, eyeing up what should look right. See the middle of the seats have a pattern so just cutting a section out of that will not work as then the middle of the whole seat (flat area) will look much wider than it should compared to the rolled or ribbed area of the inserts.
So I made a couple cuts..... when I was done I tack glued the pieces together and test fit them. Only problem was the seat fit but gave me no room for the working hinges as needed to make the installation look correct so I had to go back and rework the seat some more. I personally want to redo this seat as I need to remove more from the (flat) middle and less from the rolled pattern area. So I have to review what I have here in projects yet to be done and see if I can snag a seat from one of them for cutting.
OK..... so the seat back is actually attached to the thin piece of metal plate (in real life) that is hinged (based on photos ) and has the seat bottom attached to it also. This is what kinda makes it all fold properly. Once I had the seat back cut up I laid out the thin piece and cut that.... attached the seat back to it and glued that too the panel. As you see with the seat up this folds into the trunk area and as the panel comes down to close there is a lip that runs around the inside of the decklid opening that it rests on. This of course will be added once I get to that stage.
So this is the early mock up...... about 4-5 hours already but hey... its what he wanted. I believe I can get away with just painting the decklid once finished but.... the sheet styrene while flexible alone is NOT flexible with the seat back attached to it. This means I will be laying some bondo on the panel to make sure the trunk contours flow the proper way so when closed it will look like a stock decklid with a seam running around the middle of it.
Ok..... im out ! Oh yeah , sorry for the dark pictures it was cloudy in AZ, LOL.
Im not sure if this was an actual 1957 option or not. Seems to me that this might have been created a little later for the specific purpose of housing beauty queens for parades, LOL. However you want to look at it the end result is its a (real world) fiberglass panel that fits flush on the deck with the seat attached so it works like the old rumble seats.
First off I had to lay out where to make the cut on the decklid. While engineers use micrometers and such I use what god gave me.... my eyes. Plus between looking at the pictures and the diecast cars part I have to take into consideration the way the part is made and how the trunk hinges are attached since this isn't a real car.
While this might seem simple its a lot more involved then you think. Once I have the cut lines laid out and its cut then I have to layout and cut the sheet styrene to fit. Mind you this is a rough cut as seen in the picture here. Once I have the basic piece cut I will then square off (and round off too) all the edges and corners on both the decklid and the deck panel. I used a sheet plastic that is just about the thickness of the decklid. This way when its opened it will look like it was cut from the decklid to start with.
With this done I then have to size up the seats, the trunk floor and where the working hinges are going for the flip open panel. Since we are going to work with the same seat pattern and the seat itself is 5/8 of an inch wider than the opening so I of course had to lay out and cut the seat back. This involves, for me, eyeing up what should look right. See the middle of the seats have a pattern so just cutting a section out of that will not work as then the middle of the whole seat (flat area) will look much wider than it should compared to the rolled or ribbed area of the inserts.
So I made a couple cuts..... when I was done I tack glued the pieces together and test fit them. Only problem was the seat fit but gave me no room for the working hinges as needed to make the installation look correct so I had to go back and rework the seat some more. I personally want to redo this seat as I need to remove more from the (flat) middle and less from the rolled pattern area. So I have to review what I have here in projects yet to be done and see if I can snag a seat from one of them for cutting.
OK..... so the seat back is actually attached to the thin piece of metal plate (in real life) that is hinged (based on photos ) and has the seat bottom attached to it also. This is what kinda makes it all fold properly. Once I had the seat back cut up I laid out the thin piece and cut that.... attached the seat back to it and glued that too the panel. As you see with the seat up this folds into the trunk area and as the panel comes down to close there is a lip that runs around the inside of the decklid opening that it rests on. This of course will be added once I get to that stage.
So this is the early mock up...... about 4-5 hours already but hey... its what he wanted. I believe I can get away with just painting the decklid once finished but.... the sheet styrene while flexible alone is NOT flexible with the seat back attached to it. This means I will be laying some bondo on the panel to make sure the trunk contours flow the proper way so when closed it will look like a stock decklid with a seam running around the middle of it.
Ok..... im out ! Oh yeah , sorry for the dark pictures it was cloudy in AZ, LOL.
Very cool and unique mod. Once again, the Dremel gets a work out.
Pretty interesting work on getting the seat patterns to look right.
Can't wait to see more progress!
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Firstly I’m honored to have the full page for my tiny car. Secondly I did not realize how much cutting and hacking that goes into some of these cars like the Mustang on your Monday blog. I guess that is why you get the big bucks, sorry just had to say that. Good work man!!
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John,
great job
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I would love to own one of this. Great work!
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I just found your body shop section. I'm impressed. I love it. My favorite part of the site. I can see what you've been up to. I want to set up a site so I can show some of my stuff. How cool.
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