41 replies to this topic

[FASTBACK340]

Great builds you got there! I wondered if they could be un-zingered, and here they are. Nice body work your sharing.

FWIW: You had openly mused about the windshield opening and I agree with you, the upper opening is way too high. Maybe a thin filler piece can be added.

BTW: Thinking of casting these puppies after all this work is finished?

[Edsel-Dan]

I like these too.
I just hope they don't re-issue the Fire truck Pickup version now that
you have converted a van into one!!

I am going to have to look for a few of these now to try this too!!
Would make a nice Fire Rescue van or Ambulance!
I would look at a set of Dog-dish rims form an AMT 36 or 48 FORD Coupe!
They can be modified to look like MoPar Dog-Dishes!!!

The 48 are 1 piece Chrome, the 36 are 2 piece, rim & chrome Dog-Dish.
I just wish AMT would re-issue them again!!
They are not that easy to find now!!

May have to look at resin casting them from the 1 '36 or 2 '48's I have

[bryan_m]

neat!! im liking it.

cheers
bryan

[bigphoto]

Great work!! I love 1/43 I have a 1/43 dbl blown Hemi if you wanna soup up the p/u version!

[Casey]

Great builds you got there! I wondered if they could be un-zingered, and here they are. Nice body work your sharing.

I was pleasantly surprised how close to stock (and close to 1/43 scale) the body is, so the roof and rear wheel arches were the only two areas needing some serious work.

FWIW: You had openly mused about the windshield opening and I agree with you, the upper opening is way too high. Maybe a thin filler piece can be added.

I agree, so tonight I lowered the windshield opening's top edge a bit, sanded the grille a bit more so it would fit flush with the body, and thinned the grille's backside mounting flange:




I added some basic framerails to the chassis pan, but the rear floor section will be replaced with another donor section (just like the front floor section, which was taken from the Little Red Zinger) so I have yet to add any crossmembers. I cut out the lower drivetrain details and fuel tank from an AMT Custom Barracuda and set them in place on the floorpan, but I'm not sure if I'm going to go forward with the engine/trans lower section or not:



Now, to find a donor steering wheel...

[Casey]

I picked up this 1/43 scale Testors '32 Ford die-cast kit...:



...hoping the wheels were as nice as they looked on the box art car, so I was very pleased to find two sets of tires and a nice set of Torq Thrust style mags inside:



The tires look a lot like the Goodyear Blue Streak Sports Car Special big 'n' littles in the Revell '1/25 '32 Ford kits, only scaled down, and are another nice rolling stock option to have. Here's a front wheel and tire posing with an older body:




The Testors '32 Ford kit also has a few nice engine parts-- 4-bbl intake manifold, open element air cleaner, block hugger style headers-- which have me thinking of adding a full engine option to this build, or maybe the pickup version. We shall see...

Edited by Casey, 12 May 2012 - 05:24 PM.

[Casey]

Today I decided to put on two light coats of Tamiya Fine Grey Primer and check my bodywork so far, and as expected there are some areas needing more work.

The body line which runs parallel to the front wheel arch needs some redefining, but I'm satisfied with how the rear wheel arch pathc blended in:




The right sides look good for the most part, but again, the bodyline toward the rear, and especially in the right rear corner needs some attention:






The left edge of the left windshield header piece needs some thinning and some filler where it meets the A-pillar:




The roof is almost there, but I have a little more filling to do around the perimeter of the patch:




I'm still debating adding the roof rib depressions, too, as the smooth roof just screams "Customized" to me, and the depressions are a highly visible area.

[cobraman]

Very nice work.

[FASTBACK340]

Nice to see an update as I'm enjoying this build. I can't wait to see these completed as they are looking good now!

[Casey]

I picked up another Little Red Zinger kit and used part of the chassis/floor on the A-100 van since the LRZ chassis has close-to-stock wheel houses up front. You can see the crosswise cut (just rearward of the round hole) where the new floor section was attached, and the framerail-to rocker panel braces nicely hid the splice joints, at least partially. I added another floor filler piece rearward of the of the new floor section, then tied it all together by re-gluing the framerails to the floor. I added a rear bumper brace, but I'm not sure if it'll remain, as I thin kit looks a bit too large. I also started fitting the chassis inside the body shell, but it's going to need a bit more work around the perimeter:




The floor's topside will be covered with a piece of (what I think is) grooved siding from Evergreen in an attempt to replicate a ribbed sheet metal cargo floor, while also serving to hide the joints and strengthen the entire floor. Here's the topside before the ribbed piece is added:

[Don Sikora II]

What a great project!

[AzTom]

This is so cool, love the 1/43. You are doing a great job on this.

I was looking at getting one of the Zingers for the 1/20 engine to use on another project, now I have decided that the Dodge van is the one. I have several 1/43 diecast, should be able to rob a chassis from something.

Thanks for Sharing.

[torinobradley]

Great job so far. I know there are those that don't realize how small these are. Many of us realize this and appreciate your work.

I know Hot Wheels had a couple of these vans that were lowered and customized. Might they have been a doner for parts?

[Casey]

Thanks for the kind words. 1:43 scale isn't that much more difficult than 1:25, but there are fewer readily available parts and kits to use as donors. Sometimes that's a good thing.

I know Hot Wheels had a couple of these vans that were lowered and customized. Might they have been a doner for parts?

There were a few versions of the 1:50 scale A-100 in the (now defunct?) G-Machines/Custom Classics line, but the tires are extremely lo-pro- probably even too low profile for a Pro Touring vehicle:



There are some nice Minilite style wheels on some of the other vehicles, like this '70 Sam Posey Challenger knock-off:



The '41 Willys gasser also has a decent set of five-spoke wheels and nice slicks which could pass for 1:43 scale, and some of the Monster Machines also have oversized rear tires which could work.

[Casey]

I removed the inaccurate framerails and picked up some ribbed styrene sheet which closely matches the 1:1 cargo floor, so after some measuring, cutting and test fitting, the new ribbed cargo floor was glued in place. Both the upper and lower layers are now permanently joined, which added some much needed strength:






The bottom side, now smooth and sans framerails. The glue squeezeout will be sanded off, the round hole plugged, and new rectangular framerails will be added:




I still have to reattach the front piece of the lower floor at the correct angle, so I will probably do that once the final floor-to-body fit is fine tuned, which means I need to add the roof and side wall ribs first. The vertical ribs above the rear wheel houses will help establish the body-to-chassis height at the rear, and the grille needs to be in place before the front chassis-to-body height can be established.

[Nick Notarangelo]

so far nice work, thats one way of saving a really nice van kit.

[Casey]

The angled, front section of the floor was reattached, the floor holes and gaps filled with superglue, kicker, and/or baking powder, then the entire floor was sanded flat and smooth. The chassis/floor was placed inside the body for a test fit, and while there are still some minor gap issues to be resolved, but it's getting very close to where it needs to be:




In preparation for the sidewall and roof ribs I plan to add, I block sanded the inside wall and roof surfaces, so the patch panels and ejector pin marks are now flush with the surrounding plastic:

[Casey]

Armed with new and better reference photos, I added some framerails and crossmembers, but still managed to screw up the front of the framerails.



The front ends of the framerails should turn downward and meet the backside of the valence panel, so once I deal with the grille flange, I can correct them.




The flange on the backside of the grille is way too thick (and it's already been thinned considerably), so I either need to remove the flange entirely and come up with a better way to hold the grill in place or look into making a photoetched grille. I think the vertical peak in the center of the grille would look and hold its shape much better if done as a p/e part.




Next up are the front and rear suspensions.

[crazyrichard]

looking great

[Casey]

The pickup has received very little attention because the B-pillars, rear roof area, and rear window all need to be modified/created, and I was hoping to find a "Fired Up!" Super Zinger (FUSZ) body to save myself some work. I passed on two glue bombs on eBay, as well as a third unbuilt version for $59.99.  , bit I got lucky at Model Empire's open house Sunday and picked up a built FUSZ from which I will use the upper body/roof area:

 

 

 

 

I will need to remove a vertical section to shorten the cab/roof, but the rear wall angle appears to be pretty close to stock, and the corners are already done.    Once I get the van body done and a copy cast, I can use the lower half of the van body casting on the pickup, then I will only need to fill in the bed area...or cheat and add a tonneau cover.