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I got the Monster Jam itch - Silverado monster truck


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Went to the Monster Truck show a couple months ago and have been itching to build some of my own rigs.

First project is starting from the Jurassic Attack kit by AMT. Does anyone have some experience with these kits. the instructions are the most confusing I've ever seen. I'm mocking up the chassis to get the wheel base for it's new body and I think the instructions call out the front shock towers backwards.

I'll get some pics up later.

Edited by Toast
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Here is what I'm looking at for the Shocks.

When I mount them per the instrictions it seems like they're angled too far forward.

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If I flip them they're positioned like this.

IMG_0059.jpg

The plan is to modify this Silverado body that came from a Radio Controlled toy.

20130403_211725.jpg

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i've built a couple of these monster trucks and have also found the instructions a tad confusing(instructions are only suggestions anyway, right?)...i mounted my shocks straight up and down and it worked good for me. good luck and i'm keeping an eye on this build :D

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It is. I pulled it off of a radio controlled toy. I found them at Wal-Mart. there was also a Ford Raptor that I'll have some fun with too.

almost done fitting a rolll cage to the Silverado cab that will replace the cage that's fitted to the original dinosaur body.

I haven't decided if I want to take the time to add an extended cab or just elongate the bed to fit the existing frame.

I should have some good progress pics tomorrow.

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Cut off all the mounting posts from the under side of the Silverado body.

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Then glued styrene tubes along the bottom of the bed. I tried to get them as parallel to the body as possible.

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Then cut the bed across the wheel wells. I have some brass rods that fit nice and snug in the styrene tubes that will allow me to adjust the length of the bed while keeping it aligned.

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The last couple days I've been building a new chassis for the cab area. Pretty much just winged it with syrene rods, a pair of A pillars from a NASCAR chassis, tape, and super glue.

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After removing the tape and pulling the body away from it, out dropped a decent looking frame!

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To make room I cut the rear part of the kit chassis away, surprisingly it is still pretty rigid.

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The new piece fits in quite nicely.

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After adjusting the bed to the length needed to fit the chassis I glued on a few more temporary reinforcements and then started to fill in the missing material. Started with the top of the bed.

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Edited by Toast
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Lot's of bodywork going on at the bench.

Adding the extra material for the bed sides.

IMG_0145.jpg

After drawing a rough idea of how the body will be cut a I added more styrene to the wheel openings.

IMG_0147.jpg

This is the first time I've used two part body filler on a model. I always thought it'd be a pain to mix and apply in small amounts. I picked up a small kit of glazing putty to try out and so far I really like it. The amount of work time you have with it is about the same as the Squadron putties I've been using. After that it set up much faster though so sanding and getting to your second layer can happen quicker.

Trying to get the new bedside contour to match the the original. It's pretty close so hopefully a primer coat will be going on soon.

20130427_114148.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

This Silverado body is turning into quite a project. I decided to scrap the long bed idea and go with a crew cab which was my original plan. The bed was starting to look good but no matter how careful I was the small surface area that I had to glue the bed extension kept cracking. So I found another Silverado kit. the best place I found was at Walgreen's for $10. this time I cut some pieces and tried different glues to see if any would work better than CA glue (the CA worked but the small butt joints were too fragile). NOTHING would glue this stuff, I don't know what kind of plastic it is. After reading some posts I decided to try to weld it. My welds made a bit of a mess of one side of the truck and the roof but the sculpting is coming along very well. And the body is as strong as if it was molded in this configuration.

Here's ho it looked with the long bed. I'm kind of glad it wasn't strong enough like this as a crew cab was how I originally imagined it.

IMG_0223.jpg

One thing that I gained from it though, in trying to reinforce the bedside from behind I used a spent dryer sheet soaked in epoxy. It did make the panel much stronger and I think it replicates the fiberglass texture of the inside of the body fairly closely.

IMG_0226.jpg

But the joints would still crack and be seen through the primer so I had to figure out a different way to attach the two pieces along the edge of each other.

I cut off the long bed at a point where it looked to be where the crew cab would start.

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And then cut away the front of the second body.

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After mocking it up and being okay with the location they match up I dove into welding.

I cut some strips of plastic from the tabs that mount the body to the radio controlled chassis, which I had cut away from the body anyway, and used them and my soldering iron to weld the two pieces together.

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I trimmed away the second roof and replaced it with a shape cut from the hood of the second truck. More welding.

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Added some styrene strips to match up the window frames. CA works great in this situation as there is more plastic surface for it to bond to. Nice n solid.

IMG_0244.jpg

Edited by Toast
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Now some body work.

The hood really didn't have a nice shape for the roof so lots of body filler to get that to look right. And I did get a little excited welding one side and it warped a little.

IMG_0247.jpg

But after a few layers and sanding I shot a guide coat and here is how it's sitting right now.

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Hoping to get the body finished soon so I can get back to focusing on the rest of the beast!

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