crazyrichard Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 whow going to be such a stunner !!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsxse240 Posted May 18, 2014 Author Share Posted May 18, 2014 I decided not to build a frame from scratch, that would have taken way too long. Next best thing, which works out quite well, an old Revelle Hot Rod Magazine 57 chevy chassis from the parts box. I cut all the floor boards and cross members out to be replaced with fabricated or otherwise re-purposed bits of scraps from around the house. Chassis with the body mounts for the cab glued Had to mount the bed on here somehow, so I whipped up some legs and glued them in the reciever holes on the bottom of the bed. I'll be adding more cross braces shortly. I realize its a small update, but I've got more coming. Thanks for looking =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 Great stuff! Keep it going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsxse240 Posted May 19, 2014 Author Share Posted May 19, 2014 I got a little more done today. I guess I'm going to use the fuel injected 454 out of the AMT Custom 67 Impala. Which I feel absolutely awful for doing because it's such a nice kit. I am not going to lose any sleep though, I'm a Ford/Nissan guy at heart. While building my chassis, I had to place the trans cross member. While doing that I decided to test fit the firewall...didn't fit at all, so I had to rebuild it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffs396 Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 KEWL!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyrichard Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 awsome !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsxse240 Posted May 23, 2014 Author Share Posted May 23, 2014 Ok, decision time. As the kit was designed, it is somewhat impossible to have the rear lower cab corners installed and smoothed without the interior already in. Plus, with my cab extension, I'm sure the body is weaker and I don't want to risk breaking it by stretching the cab over the interior bucket. So I have to decide if I go with open doors or go the removable/convertible/topless route in order to be able to get the interior installed. I'm considering the open door route because of the way I'm going to scribe new door lines anyway, also I have never done a successful door opening job. With all of the buildups of you guys and your tips and tricks to refer to, I'm pretty confident I can accomplish it. But a topless truck is so cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsxse240 Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 Well, I ripped out the carpet in my hobby room and put some gorgeous dark hand scraped bamboo flooring and finally got my room in a productive order so I figured I'd bring this back out. I don't have any pics yet, mainly because no substantial progress has been made. I decided to open the doors and am planning my hinges. I went to Walmart to get some paper clips and somehow left them in the cart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsxse240 Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 ok, I got some progress. Not much, but I worked on it. I made the door hinges integral with the door jamb because I didn't have any tubing to build the pivot. In this first photo, you can see the way the doors were cut out and a rocker panel was formed from the bottom of the door. The corners radiused because the square corners just didn't look right with all the curvy panels. Door sills were formed and are integrated with the floor. This floor/interior pan ended up being built with the back wall of the interior as well as the firewall and with the rear of the cab and rockerpanels being smoothed into the body, I have to put the interior together inside the cab, like a 1:1. It's going to be a challenge, but I think the effort will pay off. Here's how the floor pan fits into the body. The rocker panel is permanently attatched and the flat part of the floor is held in place by the rockers. I'll be adding some cab mounts and some more gussets and structure as the build progresses. I still have the door panels, dash, seats, headliner, console details and so much more to think about as I press on with this one. I've gathered up some steam, so as long as my guitar practice doesn't keep me from building I think this will keep getting my attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Looking great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthehobbyguy Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Keep up the good work. Coimng along nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James2 Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 Very good fab work... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyrichard Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 whoop whoop stunning job !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterNNL Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Looking very good here.Your choice of the airplane wings was pure inspiration!You have a ton of work in this long time project and it's really paying off nicely. As for cutting up kits...Everything is basically raw material if it can supply what you need at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsxse240 Posted May 3, 2015 Author Share Posted May 3, 2015 Thank you for the kind words. I am completely stuck for the moment. I need to get the rear suspension in place so I can get the bed properly located. I am trying to build a 4-link or some kind of custom suspension. I, just today, picked up the brass rod and tubing to fab something up. Need to get my soldering gear from work to start putting it all together Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsxse240 Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 I finally got some time at the bench again. I have to say, I am LOVING my hard wood floors in the hobby room. SO MUCH less dust, SO easy to keep clean, SO easy to find tiny little parts that get flung off the bench! lol The only thing I'd suggest if anyone were to be building a room specifically for building models is that you get sealed, polished concrete or other smooth, chemical resistant flooring. It scares me to open my bottle of plastic weld, paint or thinner. I can't just freely spray CA accelerator like I used to, and airbrushing is no longer an indoor activity until I get a booth built. Well, with that said, lets give the smallest update there ever was, but I'm kinda proud of my first ever scratch built 4-link! It took me about 3 hours to build this setup. I used simple flat strip to build the axle brackets, plastic welded to the axle. I should have used some thinner material, but I'm ok with this for my first time. Soldered brass rod to brass tubing which was drilled with proper size bit to accept the rod with little to no slop so I could have a very rigid fit. Now what you've all been waiting for! the one and only pic I took! I'm sorry it isn't more, but that's what I had time for. Hopefully, I can find some time this week after mowing and cleaning and working and fixing my car and doing the things the wife thinks are more important than my sanity. lol Thanks for looking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 I'm sorry it isn't more, but that's what I had time for. Hopefully, I can find some time this week after mowing and cleaning and working and fixing my car and doing the things the wife thinks are more important than my sanity. lol Nice work! Keep it coming! Sanity is highly over rated. I get into the same thing, my yard is calling so I would feel guilty modeling during daylight hours on the weekend. Maybe tell your wife that your work here is important for the advancement of the hobby? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsxse240 Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 I will try that one! Lol! I am considering building my own custom chassis for this as the belaire chassis is kind of difficult to build off of since no two areas are the same thicknesses. It makes locating crucial points difficult and squaring suspension components impossible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsxse240 Posted June 28, 2015 Author Share Posted June 28, 2015 Well, I dug this back out. I am getting so frustrated with this, I had to re build the 4-link arms because my measurements were not eyeballed properly. I put the suspension stuff down and decided to get the bed together so I can put the rear axle in the right place. So, I'm trying to cobble together some sort of tailgate/rear pan situation. With the weird bedsides, I had a difficult time coming up with a tail gate, so I just decided to go full custom and go full smooth....maybe, it is still somewhat being worked out. On with the pics: I had an old Shoebox Ford laying around from a botched custom job, so I decided to utilize the roof to get the curve on the tail panel as opposed to having a flat ugly panel. Here it's all cut up to begin the process. It wasn't curved lengthwise to suit my needs, so I made some relief cuts so I could bend it more and keep the arch of the panel. You can see I made the cuts all the way through on the ends and only about halfway through in the middle to keep the panels all lined up nicely. I traced the radius of the bedside onto some sheet styrene and trimmed them to a workable size. gluing the "roof" to the guides I made to support and maintain the desired curvature. and here it is roughed in....and I mean VERY roughed in. Once I'm happy with the way it fits, I'll be making bed rails, sanding, filling, sanding the rear panel and continuing the fabrication of the lower rear panel. Thanks for looking in. I really hope to continue progress on this, I feel good when I can step back and see some progress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 (edited) This is a level of modeling I have yet to venture in to. Wow!!! Nice work Ken! I can definitely identify with the "stepping back and seeing progress" and feeling good about it! Edited June 28, 2015 by mustang1989 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsxse240 Posted June 28, 2015 Author Share Posted June 28, 2015 pieced it together to see how it looks. I think it looks better together with the cab and all. Just the bedsides and tail piece looked a bit chunky, so I had to see it all together. I sanded the curved panel and got all the old paint off of it. I think it will look good. Just have to figure out what to do for the rear bumper or lack there of. and another pic for fun I am going to have to paint the bed floor before I assemble the bed because it will be impossible to finish the floor inside the built bed. YAY I guess, I get to shoot some paint! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsxse240 Posted April 29, 2017 Author Share Posted April 29, 2017 I pulled this back out to do a write-up on how to make a good clean fitment in tight quarters. You see the poor fitment and huge gaps between the fender and bedside that needs filled, but it's in a hard to reach area. I tape the fender to protect it from the filler. After cleaning the parts for good adhesion, I then mix my filler. For this application, I am using 3M/Bondo PROFESSIONAL glazing putty. Be certain to follow the directions at first as mixing ratio is very important. Too much hardener and it cures too quickly and shrinks and cracks. Too little hardener and it won't cure at all. Finding the right ratio for your own use is not difficult. I use about 10:1 ratio of filler to hardener. It gives a good 4 minutes of working time before it starts to kick. Mix it thoroughly but be quick about it, you don't have much time! Sling it on the area to be filled, in this case, along the edge of the bedside cut out for the fender. Soon as you can, press the masked up part into the wet putty and let cure until hard. I went and cut the exess off with my #11 blade while it was still quite soft in order to cut down the sanding time and mess. Once it is hardened, you can carefully remove the fender and sand the filler down quite easily, then simply place the fender back in the hole and check your fitment. This process can be used for grafting roofs onto bodies, tail/headlight housings, grills, bumpers, the list goes on. This can also be used to make custom body panels like skirts, flares, spoilers, etc. I hope someone finds this helpful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spex84 Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 This truck is nuts! Love it I know we'd all love to see more of it! Great idea with the tape and bondo...I may have use for that very soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelbuilder Mark Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 YES! Good to see you back on this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slotto Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 This is really cool. I am enjoying this build Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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