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'60s Built '34 Pickup with Original Paint: Polished & Rebuilt


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Late this summer I picked up this old '34 Ford pickup off ebay 'cause I thought the old paint looked cool and I was the only bidder at $9.99! It's an original issue of the kit, molded in red plastic. The paint appeared to be Testor's Burgundy Purple Metallic applied ages ago. When I got the model, even though the paint was a bit rougher than I expected, I still decided to disassemble the model, clean it up (smelled like an ash tray full of Lucky Strike butts!), polish the old paint and rebuilt it using some new-old parts from the stash.

Before the rebuild. Note the spare tire cover is a continental kit piece from an unknown kit. Revell U.S. Royal Master tires on custom Barris "flying saucer" wheelcovers from the kit. '32 Ford bumpers front and rear...
Purple34Pup1-vi.jpg

After, rebuild with polished-out original paint...
34PupRebuild1-vi.jpg

Custom taillights from an original issue kit, BMF on all the bed cover snaps. Wheels and tires from an old-tool Ala Kart. Covered the face of the old spare cover with some sheet styrene, smoothed it out and added some stretched sprue around the outside to represent piping before spraying with Tamiya Racing White and Dullcoat to make it look like a vinyl cover...
34PupRebuild3-vi.jpg

'49 Ford steering wheel. Dash and wheel centers painted with NOS Testors Burgundy Purple Metallic...
34PupRebuild4-vi.jpg

Chassis before. Brush-painted flat red. Underside of fenders brush-painted white...
Purple34Pup7-vi.jpg

After. New chassis, original fenders. Wheelbase adjusted, moving front axle forward, rear axle back. Scratch exhaust system from aluminum ground wire. Tamiya gloss aluminum frame, Alclad suspension.
34PupRebuild6-vi.jpg

Engine, before with oxidized plating revealing red plastic. Original worn headlight rims in painted buckets...
Purple34Pup4-vi.jpg

After. Engine painted Tamiya Lavendar with new valve covers. Headlight assembly replaced, with bracket, buckets and horn in Alclad, plus new radiator cap and emblem...
34PupRebuild7-vi.jpg
34PupRebuild8-vi.jpg

Edited by John Goschke
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I think this is a pretty cool post. I like what you did

with this truck, especially showing the before and

after pics! Very Cool!

The finished version turned out super nice! Great Job!

Question : How did you disassemble it, specifically how did

you get the previously glued parts apart?

Steve

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Very nicely done...inspirational to say the least ! I really enjoy the look of the models built in the/style of 1960's, after all that's what got me hooked in the first place over FIFTY YEARS AGO ...

Thanks for the memories !

Edited by Pete L.
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Question : How did you disassemble it, specifically how did

you get the previously glued parts apart?

Steve

Thanks for the comments, guys! This was a fun project!

To answer Steve's question... The model actually came apart fairly easily since the original builder, for the most part, hadn't observed the rule about scraping plating and paint from the parts before cementing. In a couple areas I did have to score the joints a bit before carefully prying them apart.

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Wow John your work is really inspiring, I also love how you rebuilt this thing much like a 1:1 hot rod restoration. Everything you did improved the model without losing the original builders work. The color is amazing!

One trick to try when dis assembling these kits is to find a large zip lock freezer bag, run water over the entire model and place it in the zip lock bag (sealed) in your freezer. The water gets in all the little cracks and once frozen pop's the pieces apart. Not always going to work for every rebuild, but it worked great for me.

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