On Thu, 10 Nov 2005 16:24:30 -0500, LP wrote:

The hardest part was developing patterns for the parts,

It's generally agreed that with the kits you're paying half for the
timber and half for the pattern. Most people who find themselves needing
a woodwork kit don't have enough of the original surviving to use it as
a pattern. The best kits are measured up off a good survivor, not a
rotten reconstruction.

if you do have a car in need of such a restoration, it's vital to make
working drawings of the body and especially of the mortice and tenon
joints _before_ you dismantle the shell, or even before you lift it off
the chassis (which is usually all that's holding it together). If you
can get the "frame" dimensions then you can build a square-edged body
skeleton and then shape the curves to suit. If you take the wooden
parts apart then you might be able to copy the curves of individual
pieces, but you'll never be able to reconstruct the overall shape or the
joinery between the pieces.