215 replies to this topic

[Custom Mike]

OK, more work on the bed, this was a real exercise in eye-strain!

I started out with these, I picked 'em up at Hayes Hobby House...


I carefully sanded on these until they were smooth, now they look more like the carriage bolts...


A quick coat of Tamiya Gloss Aluminum...


The second set of 25, only 15 were sanded. I've got spares, since I knew I would lose a few!


And the bed, with 28 holes drilled and awaiting it's new bolts!


And putting the new bolts into the straps. I wish I could use a magnifier without feeling like I was gonna hurl, it would have made this so much easier! But it does look much better, so it was worth it!

The first set of eight in place, don't try this at home unless you have a microscope!


Another shot of the first eight...


And mocked-up with the rest of the bed...

[Casey]

Nice. Are you using bolts and washers on the underside of the bed, too?

[XXXfire700]

idk if this is a little to late to put this in but this in my straight six iv been working on for the last year or so.

[hacked]

Mike that pick-up bed looks spot on, i'm back at it, a few fill in bits a the roof will be done, took 3mm out of the guts and widened the back gaurds buy the same. now starting to think about the running gear, i'm probly going toyota or nissan i'll see what looks best.

Attached Files

•  DSCF3004.JPG   48.24K   17 downloads
•  DSCF3006.JPG   66.9K   16 downloads

[Custom Mike]

Nice. Are you using bolts and washers on the underside of the bed, too?

Nah, I'll live with the fact that it's not 100% accurate. Maybe someday when I want to pull what hair I have left out, I'll buy some of the tiny bolts and washers and go all out. Yeah, right!

Aaron, jump on in, looks like a good start!

Jeffrey, looks like you've got some serious bodywork ahead of you with that one, break out the Bondo and get to it!

Edited by Custom Mike, 04 September 2012 - 03:19 PM.

[Michigan Madman]

That bed is just freakin' insane!

[Custom Mike]

Wait until I get to the chains for the tailgate Chuck, then it'll be really insane! Now for the small amount of work I got in tonight. First up are the tail lights, which I'm not happy with. They'll probably be scrapped and replaced with some clear Red styrene, I just don't like the looks of 'em at all. I painted the pins that will be used for the Blue-Dots, at least they look good. Then I stripped the dash (Too many layers of paint meant it was losing it's remaining detail), re-primed it, and I'm considering making a dash pad out of the final piece of thinned leather I have laying around, what do you guys think? I also repainted the frame Semi-Gloss Black. That's all for tonight, enjoy, and let me know if the dash pad idea sounds good!

[Casey]

I got the battery and tray sorted out, but the lower brace still need some work. Making the flange around the tray's perimeter proved to be too difficult using thin styrene sheet, so I settled for thinned edges and some scribing to visually separate the battery from the tray:




You can see where I still need to add the sheetmetal flange where the inner fenders meet the framerails in the image above, so that may be my next step body-wise.

I also got the holes for the K-member bolt drilled, but used a bit which was slightly oversized, so I may need to do some fine tuning for a better fit and better K-member alignment. Make sure you measure the bolt shaft diameter before drilling your holes, to make sure they are the advertised diameter.




I also got the headrest support holes drilled in the '68 seat backs, so the headrests will be posable and I can paint and BMF them separately. I still need to bore the holes out slightly so the stems aren't so obviously angled:

[Dr. Cranky]

Some wonderful builds taking place in this thread.

[Custom Mike]

Now that's some cool work Casey, I never thought to do that with a build...awesome work man!

[Ace-Garageguy]

Yeah Casey, beautiful stuff.

[zenrat]

Hey guys.
Can't believe those teeny tiny bolts. I'd lose most of em.

I've almost finished the '59 (one of the benfits of not going mad on tiny details) - just the sun visors to add and then shoot some pics.

[zenrat]

OK, i'm done.
Monogram '59 ragtop with the 6 from the AMT '60 Chevy pickup transplanted.
It's lowered a scale 2 inches all round with wheels from the AMT '50 Chevy pickup (just don't count the lugs-nuts).
I stripped pretty much all the chrome and then put back a too thin coat of Alclad to look like tarnished chrome.
Body trim is matt aluminium BMF with a black & gloss clear acrylic wash over it. The chrome I missed stripping (fender spearheads, wipers, bonnet hinges) I dulled with Mr Metal Stainless Steel followed with the black wash.
Paint is Duplicolour Deep Aqua and Zero Paints Pure Black with satin clear and I then thinned some grey acrylic right down and airbrushed it lightly from low angles in an attempt to give the impression of road grime.
I had a slight model/floor interface issue half way through construction but decided to leave the chipped off paint as it looked like it belonged...
The idea was a used and abused cruiser that was driven at every opportunity and thus not cleaned much.
And yes, i did glue the side trim on backwards. Only realised when I looked at the box art.

[hacked]

very nice, that motor looks right at home

[Dr. Cranky]

Again, the eye candy factor is high here. Thanks for sharing your wonderful builds.

[Custom Mike]

Beautiful work Fred, she looks like she's a well-driven machine! One day I'll try dirtying one up, but I'm still on my shiny kick right now!

Remember how I said I wasn't happy with the tail lights? Well, I did something about it!











Here's how I did it, pull up a chair. I used a piece of Clear Red plastic I got from a really old motion detector I replaced about a week ago. I started by cutting the tail light openings into one big tail light...



A bit of sanding to smooth it out...



A piece of the Clear Red plastic ready for cutting...



I smoothed out one side and added the curve at the top, now to cut it to fit side-to-side...



Now that it fits in the opening, I'll cut the bottom edge off!

Edited by Custom Mike, 04 September 2012 - 03:47 PM.

[Custom Mike]

And now for the finishing touches. I didn't like the "smooth" taillight, so I filed a groove across the lens just to break it up a bit. Once the groove was in place, I polished the lens up, drilled it out for it's "Blue Dot", and added some foil to the backside of each lens!

The new lens in place, awaiting some thinning and it's new groove...


Here's how thick the new lens was at the start, gotta knock that down a bit...


And this is how I added the groove across the lens. I taped it off to match the other lens, and went after it with a file...


Not perfect, but it'll do. Now to polish it up and add the "Blue Dot"!


And the completed new taillights. I like 'em much better already!

[zenrat]

Thanks for the comments.
Mike - BMF stuck on the back of the red lens or on the backing? I've tried both and there's not really much difference although it's easier to trim round the edge of a lens that it is round the edge of a hole.

[Custom Mike]

Fred, it's on the back of the lens. I've already been told by someone else on the forum to try the foil from the inside of a pack of cigarettes, so i'm going to check that out. They're just way too plain right now, they need something to create some depth!

[zenrat]

Hmmm yes. I can see how textured foil could add something.