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This photo is dated 2005. Someone in my club was selling a bunch of stuff for $5 a kit. So I grabbed a few pickups, most had been started or otherwise messed with. I liked the yellow paint on this one. It was sitting up on a finished chassis, although not detailed with engine wiring and such, but it got me thinking that I should just finish it as a shelf model. That's when I noticed it had no cab. No worries, I had a bunch of parts kits for the '50 Ford. Problem one surfaces... just what is that yellow paint? I ask the guy I got it from. He didn't know, thought it was something he got at Walmart. So I go searching in all the local stores and nope I cannot find this color.

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That got me going on a two tone. This one really didn't work, so...

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I went for a red hood along with it. An unorthodox one at that, but it kinda / sorta works. Also notice that I accidentally shot the hood another red! That's Duplicolor on the red parts.

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Or should it have red wheels? 
Then I believe I screwed something up. I remember painting the underside of the rear fenders with flat black and it bled through onto the body. The kit got put back in the box and it placed on the shelf of shame.

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Move ahead to 2012. I pulled it down off the unfinished kit shelf and got another idea. I had recently been to St Thomas and saw all the pickup based jitney buses running around the island. They were all late date pickups, but I wanted to do something more vintage... So I came up with this mockup. The sides are from the Tom Daniel Paddy wagon. I made the roof from basswood. I worked on it a bit, and you guessed... back in the box!

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The project wound up back on the bench as I was working on my Ardun engined 50 Ford pickup ratrod. So I started to fiddle one again... This time around I think I may just finish it. I have shingled the roof. I figured out the seating and even have a tropical pattern seat fabric I've printed.

And most importantly, I looked over the original yellow parts and see the original builder did no prep work on the fender unit. All the mold lines are present. That led me to pull another unit out of my parts hoard, prime and paint it in another yellow paint. That's sitting drying right now. I have another built chassis I assembled for a different mock up exercise. So now I'm using that one.

You know the story about great grandfather's axe? Been in our family for 200 years. Replaced the handle 12 times. Replaced the head 8 times... well, at this point there isn't an original part on this pickup!  And it's an illustration why I get very little done as these models take me down the merry path fraught with many perils! 

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Things were going so well until yesterday!   I work out of my house and sometimes do a few things over the lunch hour.  Yesterday I ran up to the model room and decided to wire the engine.  I had a poorly done prewired distributor I figured I'd use on this project.  The holes for the wires had already been drilled.  The distributor had a long metal tube on the bottom.  So with little thought I poked it through a hole at the back of the engine, glued it in place and positioned the wires.   I felt good that I got something done.

Last night I went back to the model room.  I thought I could finish the engine and grabbed my instruction sheet..... do you know what I discovered? Groan!   Stupid, stupid, stupid!   And I do know better!   Turn out the lights,  walk away for the evening!

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OO boy. Yup the distributer is on the front of the engine on the Flat Head. I would first see how hard it would be to remove the Distributer. If that doesn't work just cut it off level with the block and then cut the plug wires off. You could make your own front mount Distributer with a short piece off hollow tubing mounted to the Distributer Drive that is cast on this engine. Redirect your plug wires to the new Distributer and then glue them all in place. A little paint touch up and no one will ever know.  

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And I know better!  I had just finished the Ardun flathead 1950 pickup!   Just working too fast and not thinking.  The hole at the back of the engine that was so inviting was for the fuel pump!  Duh!

David, I did look at photos and schemed how to do exactly what you suggested.   I do have several of that kit in a plastic parts bin so I simply started a fresh engine.  

I will keep this one just for giggles!  

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On 5/31/2019 at 6:36 AM, Tom Geiger said:

You know the story about great grandfather's axe? Been in our family for 200 years. Replaced the handle 12 times. Replaced the head 8 times... well, at this point there isn't an original part on this pickup!  And it's an illustration why I get very little done as these models take me down the merry path fraught with many perils! 

Too funny.  You know tho...They say that once you changed that handle the first time, it was no longer your grandpappys.. LOL There is a lot of debate around what really constitutes restoration of something. It always kills me that is the 1:1 car world, you can change darn near everything, but as long as the VINs match, but 99% original, but changed motor because someone blew a block years ago...

I dig the journey of the truck!

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Love what you are doing with this one.  Reminds me of the "Baht buses" when I was in Thailand, except they were all imports - Datsun, Toyota, etc.  We were told not to ride them for safety and/or security reasons, but what GI ever listened to such nonsense.  For $.05, equivalent to a Baht, you could ride hanging on the side of a pickup through some of the most horrendous traffic imaginable. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

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I had been updating this one in the "Bring Out Your Dead"  thread, but actually forgot I started a build thread. Above is a photo of the completed passenger compartment.  I finished making the rear steps and railings for entry.

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That left me to work on the cushions.  I started out with thick basswood. I made the cushions and rounded off all the edges like foam would be.  Then I found this tropical fabric pattern at Joann's .com, stole the image and reduced it to the size I needed.  Originally I was thinking I'd need to print to fabric or decal paper.  Then I did a test print on regular 20lb paper and it worked out just fine.  So I wrapped the "cushions" with the images and secured in place with Elmer's Glue.  I was pleased that the ink didn't distort or run at all.  

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This is just a mock up to see how the cushions will look. I'm pleased that they dominate the interior and will add a new dimension of color to the truck!  

 

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On 6/20/2019 at 4:18 PM, Tom Geiger said:

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I had been updating this one in the "Bring Out Your Dead"  thread, but actually forgot I started a build thread. Above is a photo of the completed passenger compartment.  I finished making the rear steps and railings for entry.

image.png.abe2e85cc90e11324c00268d8665e43f.png

That left me to work on the cushions.  I started out with thick basswood. I made the cushions and rounded off all the edges like foam would be.  Then I found this tropical fabric pattern at Joann's .com, stole the image and reduced it to the size I needed.  Originally I was thinking I'd need to print to fabric or decal paper.  Then I did a test print on regular 20lb paper and it worked out just fine.  So I wrapped the "cushions" with the images and secured in place with Elmer's Glue.  I was pleased that the ink didn't distort or run at all.  

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This is just a mock up to see how the cushions will look. I'm pleased that they dominate the interior and will add a new dimension of color to the truck!  

 

Looking good!  I have not yet tried it myself, but I have heard that there is now printable cloth sold at Hobby Lobby and Michaels etc. You might want to keep that in mind for future projects. :-)

 

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Still on it but moving slower since I've been busy!

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Passenger area is painted and ready to go...

 

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Wheels and hubs painted, foiled and ready to go.  I'm not sure whether I'll go with the kit white walls or not.  I think I"ll wait to have it all assembled and see what looks right.  I also have a new engine all wired and ready to pop into the chassis.

Hoping to get some more done this weekend.

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This mornings bit-0-work...  made the side decals.  Created the graphic in Powerpoint.  Copied it into Word, where I fiddled with the sizing.  The one sitting on the body is just paper used for the sizing.  Once I had that figured, I printed six copies on white decal stock, as shown here.  I have since waited for that to dry, and now have just used Testors Decal Fixative on them.  I may put on the model this evening.

 

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1 hour ago, Foxer said:

The  pickup is looking more and more how I was envisioning the color since way back.  ))

Thanks Mike!  I was going for "island festive" look.   We went to St Thomas a dozen years ago and this type of vehicle was all over the place. They were all late model trucks, but I envisioned how they might have looked back in the 1950s and started this truck... probably right after that trip.  

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Here's a pretty typical one that was running around the island as tourist transportation

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This older Ford was sitting near the airport as if it was a retired antique.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Getting there.  She's fighting me every step of the way, but we will soon cross that finish line!

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Still have a million little details. I do these mock ups and photos so I can see any issues that I don't see on the bench.  The hood needs another coat or two of red, then the clear.  But we are officially up on wheels.  The chassis is complete, the engine is in place.  Amen!

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I've redone so many items.  I cleaned up and painted a second fender unit after I noticed the first one was warped. Not messing around, I have multiple kits and I'd rather bring in a new piece than mess with the warp in final assembly and maybe have it return later.  Decals! That's the third set.  Once I finally got a set to sit nice, I realized they were too low and into the fenders. This is the final and it works. I do not like the fit between the rear of the running board and the rear fenders. Note that I did widen the rear fender but didn't take that into account on the running board.  Do I fix that gap and repaint the entire thing again or do I just sigh and live with it?  I also see that the yellow wheels are against the yellow fenders. Should I paint another set of wheels red with yellow caps?  I do have the materials. I could always use the yellow wheels on a future street rod. 

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I have been frustrated with the piles of parts on the bench. Getting the chassis finished tonight was a major step and once I did this mock up I sat back and just looked.  I do like it.  It's coming out how the voices in my head have dictated.  

Anyway, my goal is to have this finished for my club meeting on August 10th.   

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  • 2 weeks later...

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Progress Report!   Here's how she sits on the work bench this evening.  I've gotten a lot done, and have been slowed down by silly little details gone wrong.  This week work reared it's ugly head and I was a bit busy.  That and unexpectedly having my driveway paved.  So it's not done.  There are some details I don't like right now, so I'm slowing down and will try to get them done better.  Again, the fit you see here is just a mockup, nothing is glued.

And it won't get done this week, I'm going to Seattle again!  

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