72 Chevy SWB Finally an Update! 4/20/15

[Armornv]

Ok here goes. I've been really inspired recently just looking through these forums. I'm normally an armor builder but I have done a few cars/trucks/civilian vehicles over the years. This will be the first one that I will actually put all my effort and skill (I'd like to think my skills have improved from all this time) into, but it's likely to still be not so perfect so please forgive me in advance!

My plan for this is to attempt to correct at least some of the flaws in this kit and generally try and make it bit more realistic. Whether that will actually happen or not.......I do plan on doing several of these trucks in different versions eventually. The 67-72 Chevys are hands down the best looking trucks ever made! In my opinion of course. It looks as though I may have to perfect my skills at molding/casting unless they decide to reissue one of these because I don't plajn on shelling out 40 or more dollars every time I want to build to one lol.

I'm not sure of everything I want to change just yet. I'll just have to decide when I get to it. The one thing I am sure about changing is the one piece chassis... BLECH!

Well, that's a big enough wall of text for now. On to the actual work.

The first are I going to work on is the frame/suspension. I have the frame measurements and while I'm not really looking to be EXACT, I do want it to be close. I've gone through several attemps so far with the frame rails. From C-channel, to rectangular strips. I couldn't find a C-channel close enough to the right dimensions and even if I did, I don't think bending it on two different axis would work very well. Skipping to where I am now, I made one frame rail from rectangular strip and matched it with my(close to) scale drawing I have. Made a mold, casted a couple more, and then bent them to shape. It was not easy to get the bends to match but I think I got them "close enough for government work" lol

Here is one after the bending( sideways bending, the up down bends were carved from the original strip)

At that point, I had to try and figure out a way to get the top and bottom of the rails as I really just want that extra bit of realism that a solid chunk of plastic just doesn't give. That, and most of the crossmembers actually are bolted/riveted sort of inside the C part of the channel. This is going to be basically just a ground up resto/slight custom so it would have retained the stock frame.

The best idea I could come up with was to just start laying short strips of .030 sheet down the length.

And this is the result. It's definitely not pretty at this point, but I think with a little patience, a lot of filler, and a lot of sanding it will turn out ok. It loos too wide I know but only because the pieces of .030 are hanging over both sides.

So that's all I've got for it at this point. Still need to get some measurements for a few things, get another one of the kits(hopefully) and try and find a few more parts. I have the 12 bolt out of the Revell 56 stepside 2 n 1 but I'm honestly not that thrilled with it. Detail is really really soft. I'm considering trying to make my own but with my scratchbuilding skills....the rear end and this whole build should be a huge hill to climb lol. I also need to find something that I can use to remake the inner fenders... The kits ones are simply laughable. Not EVEN close to the real ones...

Ok, so sorry for the wall of text. I hope you will enjoy my build and maybe even pop in once in a while to check on my progress, offer suggestions, as questions or just say hi! I am a very slow builder and it will take me quite some time to do this, but I want to make sure I do my best on it.

Thanks gang!

Clint

Edited April 21, 2015 by Armornv

[tooltas]

the amts 60's chevy frame mite work better.

[Armornv]

It never even occured to me to try that. I just pulled the frame out of the Revell 65 kit I got the rear end from and it is very close. If my attempt to scratchbuild it doesn't turn out very well, then I very well may use that. It's not an actual C-channel but I may have to give up on that part of the whole idea..... Thanks for the tip!

[Elliot949]

The revel 64 or 65 Chevy Pickup Chassis is a direct drop in for a correct 67-72 Chevy Pickup SWB with trailing arms...

[Armornv]

Yep, that's the route I'm going. It doesn't seem feasible to accurately represent an actual C channel in this scale, with my skills anyways, but using that frame will give me what I need. I've made a couple of adjustments, modified a cross member or two, made a new front crossmember, and will be adjusting/remaking some others. After that, I will start working on the front suspension which I should be able to scavenge most of from the same Revell 65 kit. No pics yet but I hope to have an update in the next day or two. Thanks for looking in!

[Fabrux]

A drop-in for the leaf spring version would be the MPC '78 C10 kit; the original issue, the only one to have a 2WD suspension. Unless, of course, you want to make a 4WD version in which case any of the squarebody frames will work.

[plasticfrog]

I used the Amt 1960 pickup chassis on my 67 chevy shortbed project and worked out great.

[bpletcher55]

LOOKS GREAT ,THAT FRAME ON THOSE 70,S KITS SUCKS ,

[Fabrux]

The main problem with using the AMT 1960 C10 chassis on anything later than 1964 or so is that it has a torsion bar front suspension. The trucks switched to coil springs later on.

[Nate]

The Revell 64/65 Chevy chassis works pretty good. Here's mine. I'll finish it one day... The biggest discrepancy is the floor pan.

Edited November 29, 2013 by Nate

[Armornv]

Thanks for all the feedback so far gang. It's greatly appreciated! Love the color and that 67 Jason and nice start on the stepside Nate!

Not much of an update. I am a VERY slow builder, and that's just when I actually have a chance to work on stuff.

So I thought I'd show the frame so far. I did end up going with frame from the 65 Revell kit and it seems to be working out well so far. I did do some adjusting/tweaking and still have some work to do on it but here it is so far. Using my phone for a few quick pics. If it's too hard to see anything let me know and I'll get my camera set up out and snap a few.

And here I have one of the bed sides shortened. About half an inch in front of the wheel opening and about a quarter inch behind it was all it needed. Luckily, the wheel opening itself seems to be pretty accurate on shape and size. I threw in the stock kit part for comparison.

Still have the bed floor and the other bed side to cut up and I may try and figure out something to do with inside of the bed sides also.

Well, that's it for now. Comments, suggestions, ideas, thoughts, puns, giggles and snarls all welcome

Thanks for looking!

[Nate]

Have you thought about the inner fender wells in the engine bay? The kit is way off from the actual vehicle.

[Armornv]

Sure have. So far my only idea is to use the inners from the model king blazer. Not sure if they are correct but the are DEFINITELY closer than what's in there lol. I'll have to do some more looking and comparing but they should work out ok.

[Fabrux]

Steve, please tell me you didn't go through all that effort and leave the screw bosses on the firewall...

[kilrathy10]

Looking very nice....Very nice....Great paintwork, already....

[Armornv]

Steve, those inners actually look really good in there. If I can't make the blazer inners work, I may go that route.

[Nate]

Steve, please tell me you didn't go through all that effort and leave the screw bosses on the firewall...

The screw bosses are actually on the radiator core support, not the firewall. :-)

(Of the 72 Chevy that is.)

Edited December 24, 2013 by Nate

[Fabrux]

Yeah...oops.

[Armornv]

So I finally got back to this... I have a tendency to put modeling aside for months at a time (or longer). That, coupled with being a painfully slow builder... Equals few and far between updates! Anyways, still working mostly on the bed. I do have a few pictures to show.

I'm not accustomed to scratch building/ converting things, so these may not be all that great to some of you. but ya gotta start somewhere right?

Ok so last time I showed a bedside that I had cut, shortened, and re-glued. Here are both bedsides after surgery. I have also added the more prominent detail of the inside of the bedsides as well as the rear of the bedsides where the tail light/reverse light goes.

These are the casts I made of my masters. I'm not too swift at casting either but these were the most usable of the ones I made. There are still a few areas that will need work. In retrospect, I could've/should've given more love to my masters, but I didn't. Lesson learned, moving on.

Here is the inside. The stake pockets are not quite "accurate", but still a better representation than box stock. You can't see from the pics, but I left the stake pockets filled as I figured it would be easier to mold that way. Plus, I would've filled them anyways.

The front bed panel was scratched from plastic sheet. This is another part that wasn't completely accurate and needed to be changed.It still needs a bit of cleanup as well.

Here is the pic of the rear wheel housing that I modified and cast. Neither have been cleaned up. These shouldn't require too much attention.

And here is a shot of the master.

That,s about it for the bed so far. Oh, I do have the floor made, not sure I'm completely happy with either of the two attempts, but I think it will work. No pic of it at the moment but I'll try and get one on the next update. Once I get the bedsides where I want them, and figure a couple of other things out, I'll get started on the tailgate. Still deciding whether I want to try and modify the kit part, or just start from scratch...

Here's a couple of other parts I've been working on from other areas of the truck. I created a core support in Inventor and had Shapeways print one up. I went with the strong and flexible just to see how rough it is. As you can see.... probably won't go that route again. It's a fairly basic rendering of it, but considering what the kit had as a core support.... pretty big improvement IMO.

I also separated the one piece grill/bumper (which required two kits) I haven't decided exactly how I want to handle the grill, but the bumper is almost ready for a mold. I thought the rivets in the bumper were a little to faint, so I drilled them out and put some Scale Hardware rivets in there.

The reason I'm molding all these parts, is a: so I don't have to remake all these pieces as I plan on doing several of these builds... eventually..... maybe....

Also, it's tough to say with out seeing them on the truck, but I'd like some opinions on wheel sizes. My choices:

18x8 and 20x10

Or, 20x8 and 20x10

Well, thanks for dropping by if you did! If you didn't, you wouldn't know I typed this!

Thoughts, ideas, questions, all welcome!

[Longbox55]

The main problem with using the AMT 1960 C10 chassis on anything later than 1964 or so is that it has a torsion bar front suspension. The trucks switched to coil springs later on.

'63 was when they went to coils in the front. There's actually considerable differences in the frames from the '60-'62 and the '63-'72, about the only thing that's really the same is the rear suspension and maybe the spare tire carrier. Even the rear axle is different, with the '62 and earlier using the Eaton HO33 axle and the '63 and later using the GM Truck 12 bolt (note, this for Chevrolet only).