How to Build a 1930 Model A Front Fender

[Tinbasher]

Pick up Ron Fourniers |Metal Fabricators Hand book. One of the best out there for info on Fabricating. John Poole

[Flop]

Look up wray schelin and the flexible shape pattern . You arnt going to make the fender in big pieces without some way to put some big shrinks in .

[Deuce Coupe]

Originally Posted by Tinbasher

Pick up Ron Fourniers |Metal Fabricators Hand book. One of the best out there for info on Fabricating. John Poole

Thanks John. I found a PDF version and downloaded it.

I actually attended an auto-body school back in the late 60's. And I've been using hammer and dolly techniques for many years. So I have some idea of how to shape metal. But I never used an English wheel before and I see Ron has some chapters in there on how to use the English wheel. So thanks.

Originally Posted by Flop

Look up wray schelin and the flexible shape pattern.

Wow! That's a pretty cool method. I see also you can actually make flexible shape patterns out of duct tape. I would have never thought of that although I should have because in the past I have duct-taped things up and recognized that when you remove the duck tape if often keeps the form of the object that was taped up. But I would have never thought to actually use that feature to make flexible shape patterns. That's really going to come in useful.

Also as I was researching FSP I came across a artistic Metal Artist Forum that I might join. The thread I found showed how to make flexible shape patterns of your own body so you could create a metal sculpture of yourself in metal. Pretty cool idea. I've always wanted to have a knight armor suit in my house, so there's an idea as a learning project.

But I don't want to get too far side-tracked from building the model A truck. Still it won't hurt to get some sheet metal practice in.

Originally Posted by Flop

You arnt going to make the fender in big pieces without some way to put some big shrinks in .

Yes I know. A deep throat shrinker is in my wish list. I already have a nice small shrinker and stretcher set I just bought. I'm toying with the idea of using these jaws and just making a deep-throat frame for them. In the meantime my current plan is to just work with smaller pieces and then weld those pieces together to complete a larger fender, etc.

[Deuce Coupe]

I built a 1/32 scale model of it.

So at least I'm making some headway.

.

[Barry B./ Ma.]

Why not pick up some old beatup fenders and bring them back to life? That would be a tough enough challenge for me, if you lived closer I would give you a couple.

[Deuce Coupe]

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Originally Posted by Barry B./ Ma.

Why not pick up some old beatup fenders and bring them back to life? That would be a tough enough challenge for me, if you lived closer I would give you a couple.

I didn't think old fenders would be that easy to find. I was actually thinking of buying a couple fiberglass reproduction fenders to use as patterns, but I didn't want to spend the money. Besides, I'll most likely need to modify mine dramatically to fit the Ranger chassis anyway.

I would love to have a couple old fenders to restore, and potentially use as patterns. I might even build an authentic frame some day. But then there's the problem of getting all the chassis parts to fit it, not to mention the engine and drive train.

I actually found an ad in my local paper for a 1930 Ford Sedan project car for $900. I almost hurt my finger pushing the buttons on my phone to call the guy, but unfortunately when he answered he said he was in the process of changing the title over to the man who beat me to it! What a bummer! I would have restored that sedan to original condition and used that as my main car.

I'm determined to build something. At first I was thinking of building a deuce coupe. Either original stock or as a modified hot rod. But after thinking about it for a while I figured I'd actually rather have a pick-up truck. It's just more useful for my lifestyle. In fact, I'd like to end up with something I can actually use. That's why I'm not worried about making it into a show car where I need to worry about every scratch or dent.

I'd rather just have a usable truck that I can actually use and not have to worry if it gets banged up a bit.

If you gave me a pair of fenders I'd probably just toss them on as-is.

I'm not looking to built a show car. I just want a cool-looking usable truck.

I'd just drive the thing daily like a regular truck.

[Flop]

Deep throat shrinker isn't going to get it done . Look up tucking forks or stump shrinking .

[Deuce Coupe]

I just looked up tucking forks and stump shrinking. Both of those methods are for shrinking edges. I already have a way of shrinking edges. The deep throat shrinker allows you to shrink further into the panel.

See the following video:

Small shrinker and stretcher versus a deep shrinker and stretcher

[Rex_A_Lott]

Originally Posted by Deuce Coupe

I just looked up tucking forks and stump shrinking. Both of those methods are for shrinking edges. I already have a way of shrinking edges. The deep throat shrinker allows you to shrink further into the panel.

See the following video:

Small shrinker and stretcher versus a deep shrinker and stretcher

You can stump shrink anywhere in the panel. Pay attention to Flop, he's trying to help you. Try a search of some of his work. Good Luck

[Deuce Coupe]

Originally Posted by Rex_A_Lott

You can stump shrink anywhere in the panel. Pay attention to Flop, he's trying to help you. Try a search of some of his work. Good Luck

Well Flop also said that a deep-throat shrinker wouldn't do the job. That is clearly wrong as Lazze demonstrated in the video I linked to.

Also, tucking forks clearly can only work on an edge because of their design. So there's no way a tucking fork can be used in the middle of a panel.

If stump "shrinking" can be used in the middle of a panel I would be very happy to see a demonstration of that. Thus far every example I've found was done on the edge.

I can actually shrink the middle of a panel to some degree using hammer and dolly. The idea is to move both the hammer and dolly toward the direction you want to shrink in with every blow. I learned that technique in auto body school many years ago. It actually works pretty good once you've mastered the technique. In a sense you are kind of "pulling" the metal sideways by pinching it between the hammer and dolly as they are moving sideways. It could also be thought of as a "make shift hand-held deep-throat shrinker" where your arms are the "throat". No stump required.

[tjw]

A friend of mine is building his own rear fenders.
He has had very little experience in making panels, but after a lot of trial and error he is well on the way to making his fenders.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by tjw

A friend of mine is building his own rear fenders.
He has had very little experience in making panels, but after a lot of trial and error he is well on the way to making his fenders.

Beautiful work.

[Deuce Coupe]

Those fenders look really nice. Due to life calling me for other projects of necessity I haven't been able to do any major panels yet myself. I have purchased an English wheel though, and I have made some small replacement parts on that for other repair projects. I'm hoping to tackle something as big as a fender eventually, but right now I'm building a garage to work in. I also just had a ton of thick plywood sheets given to me by a fellow who just wanted the stuff out of his barn. So now I have a ton of plywood for making bucks.