Tom Geiger Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 (edited) I had posted a teaser on my 2013 model thread, here's what's on the bench right now. This is a replica of a van a buddy-0-mine drove back in the summer of 1978 when we delivered pizzas in Holmdel, NJ for Luigi's Pizza. Most famous customer? Bruce! He lived on Holmdel Road at the time. Anyway, this project is older than dirt, from back when Jimmy first poured this body. I did the paint job and put all the parts in the box. There were a few things that stumped me at the time, back before PCs and home printers. Now those things are just a piece of cake! We are officially up on wheels for the first time. The chassis is complete, wheels and tires are glued in place. Note that the truck was brush painted so the jagged lines etc are intentional. One dirty white wall, a loner from the bottom of my tire box. It's randomly placed, I had all four tires face down on the bench and just put them on as they were sitting. One of the things that kept this one in the box back before we had computers and such was the graphic Don had painted himself. Of course this one is printed from an Internet image of the original, modified and reduced to fit. I didn't want to mess with masking off the entire truck, so I painted some clear decal stock silver, then printed the image on clear. So it's two decals, kinda Cady decal style. And in this picture you can see how my printer is screwing up right now. At least you can't see it by eye on the truck because it's a small decal. As I worked I remembered more about the truck, and that it was an old Bell Telephone van. So I stopped production to run out and get some Testors Olive Drab. I masked off the truck and shot the inside of the shell. Then I did the extra pieces like door panels. Then I worked on the interior a bit. This is just mocked up, but I did the seat weathering and added belts. Carpet is an adhesive sheet. I honestly don't remember what color carpet he had in it, but I had red and needed to get some colors into the truck. And I don't remember the exact decor, but I had these saved with the project (from an old BMG Record Club flyer) so I just had to use them! And yes, the real truck looked just like this. Letters will be done with Alclad. The project is at the point that I can't stop thinking about it, so I will be back at it tomorrow! Edited February 3, 2014 by Tom Geiger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Real nice jump start on 2014. Nice work so far... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disabled modeler Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 I like it Tom...me I have wanted to try doing one of those as a retro custom van and a telephone service van. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the goon Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Love it, keep it comin' Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelmartin Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Far out! Digging it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MsDano85gt Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 i'm doing something out of my norm it looks like something you might catch red green duck taping together in a segment of his "handymans corner" i'm mating a dodge l-700 cabover cab to the back van half of a ford econoline to make a sort of a100 van throwing around alot of ideas in my head.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MsDano85gt Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 whoops saturn was not supposed to be included that should be better still not very good with "photobucket" anyone got some surfboards for the racks up top?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 An update and she's done! Okay, you've seen this one before. I missed the New Year's deadline but kept on plugging away, and I finished all those final details last evening. This is an ancient build that I started back when Jimmy Flintstone first released this resin van body. It has sat for eons, and finally got finished as part of the Amnesty Program! It is a replica of a van a co-worker drove back in the summer of '77 when I delivered pizzas. It's one of those things that when you see a vehicle, a specific one you knew came to mind. Whenever I see an A100 van, I think of this one! The finish is exactly what it was, Don had riveted metal over the rust, and we all took turns between deliveries brush painting the unique color scheme. The match lines between colors were hand done, so they're not perfect here either. I made the tear drop windows on my Mattel Vac-u-form. Don had removed two letters in DODGE to rename the van DOG. I did some tribute plates on the NJ 1977 plate format standing for DON M and 77 is Summer of 1977. I'm working from memory so I have no idea what the actual tag was. I had saved all the Dead graphics from when I started the van. Those were in a flyer for BMG Record Club, back before we had the Internet or color printers to do our work. So I made sure I used all those ancient logos. The bumpers were my stumbling block. They are made from coffee stirrer wood, but I needed to get the stain to be lighter and get the new decals to stick to the wood. Here's probably rear bumper 12, which I decided was 'good enough'. The interior is olive green to show it's phone van heritage. Carpet is Ken's Fuzzy Carpet self adhesive sheet. Worked well. Originally I wasn't going to do any detail in the back, but the build got the best of me so I kept going. I don't remember what was in the back in the actual van, so I improvised. You can't photograph it, but a viewer can be pleasantly surprised if they take the time to look in the back windows. The chassis was a challenge since I insisted on putting the proper slant six in there, although the engine can only be seen from down under. It's the correct yellow for the Dodge truck version. I thought about just putting the kit V8 in, but I'm glad I did the detail. I see in the photo (part of why I take photos) that I have to glue the gas tank back in. Otherwise, I'm very pleased to see this old memory sitting in front of me in 3D. I'm happy to have completed another Amnesty Build. Some of the work was done near 20 years ago and I may have been able to do it better today, but it is all it needs to be. The owner was a guy named Don who was a school teacher who delivered pizza as a summer job. Irony was that I was 18 when I knew him, and later on he was one of my daughter's teachers. I'd love to find him to show him the model. Maybe someday! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonderbread Kustomz Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 That's awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Excellent build, Tom! More the better that it has real meaning to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 And now for something pretty cool. If you read above, the van is from my memory of the summer of 1977. Of course as a car guy you notice these things and they stay with you. But you don't think the general public does, nor would they remember something like this after all these years. On Facebook I belong to a group for people who grew up in my town. So I thought I'd post the pictures and see if anyone remembered... And it took less than a half hour for someone to correctly identify the van! This was on Friday evening, and it is still going. Later in the thread someone mentioned that Don had indeed retired and where he is now living. I'm hoping that someone connects him with the thread. It would be cool to hear his reaction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scalper Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Sweet Deadhead Van. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunajammer Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Are you sure you want they guy who drives (and apparently sleeps in) that van to be spotting your daughter in Phy Ed? There's nothing more rewarding than building from memory. You did a nice job and it's good to see it's cueing fond memories from your old friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 (edited) Neat epilog to the backstory, Tom. Edited February 3, 2014 by Danno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Very cool build Tom.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Havamodeler Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 So did he ever get to see it??Neat build n story Tom thanks fer sharing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted December 14, 2016 Author Share Posted December 14, 2016 So did he ever get to see it??No the story ended there for me. I don't know if he ever saw it, but I was never contacted. It's one of my favorite models on my shelf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Havamodeler Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 Ah that's a bummer... im sure he would've been delighted tho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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