AMT - 1969 Chevrolet pickup: The Green Barge

[89AKurt]

It's a toss-up between Corian, and newspaper printing plate, for my favorite scratch-building material.  Roughed out the shape with the bench sander earlier.  Tonight used files to rough shape the pleates, after scribing with the knife using the steel square.  Also scribed where the stretched sprue piping went.  Not doing the rips, or blanket cover (if I did that, would photo reduce a Navajo rug just for fun).

[89AKurt]

Made progress on the interior.  All I did was use a steel ruler, and use the knife to score plastic sheet.  Made armrests from the kit door panel.  Cut out the window cranks and door handles.  Added guitar string to the shaped heater box.

Made the pedals (except gas pedal, that will be a duplicate of what I made for the real truck).

Used steel coffee can for the pedal levers.

Next will be detailing the steering column, gas pedal, then later the seatbelts.  Some tiny details too, will see.

Edited January 25, 2020 by 89AKurt

[89AKurt]

Just about finished the interior.  The real truck had a carpet dash pad, the original vinyl pad was removed, (my '68 still has it but looks like ****) made from holiday packaging.  Made the gas pedal like the one I fabricated from scrap metal, the OME plastic paddle is a joke.  The shifter and turn signal are made from 2 sizes of guitar string (wire), with little knobs made from stretched sprue.  Started the shift indicator, will finish during final assembly.  Will also have the high/low beam switch on the floor.  The steering wheel rim should be half that diameter, but as it is, was broken, the real one had huge cracks all over, would really make the puppy delicate, ain't going there!  4 gauges were eliminated, liquid cement was used to texture that area.  Lowered the seat mounts after test fitting for the pictures, it's a tight fit under the steering wheel, but not this much! ?

Texture added to the seat, with stippled acrylic paint.  Added tile grout to do the rubber floor mat.

Painted the chassis and heater parts flat black, then the door handles gloss black.  Tamiya primer on body parts, then I was dying to see how the Splash paint looked, AWESOME!  Custom mixed Testors 'jade green' and a military green, for the arm rests, steering wheel, dash pad, and the seats.  I'm planning to make copies of the bench seat (and other parts), so not worried about the paint at this time.  The original owner had the interior re-painted, was originally the jade green, discovered when I worked on the steering column.   The bumper was not satisfactory to continue, so only painted the door cranks Alclad 'chrome'.

[Belugawrx]

I love this truck !!

[89AKurt]

5 hours ago, Belugawrx said:

I love this truck !!

I grew on me, and the family who had it, loved it so much, it's back in the fold. ❤️

Basically have the interior done.  I'm thinking of casting the seat, and the door cranks, maybe the panels too, so all that is attached with Tacky glue, which works for permanent too.  Took a break with dinner, and shooting pool, but was thinking about this project so much that I sucked. ?  Masked and sprayed the dash, and the steering column needed the green which requires the airbrush, no brushing it.

Used photo-etch screw heads for various knobs, Bare Metal foil on the radio and heater control box, aftermarket gauge faces which included the radio and heater control panel.  Last part made was the shifter indicator.

Been using photos of the real truck for reference, such as when I replaced the turn signal switch and wire harness.  Oh shoot, forgot the hazard switch. ?

 

[Cool Hand]

Excellent work on the seat.

Progressing along very well and capturing all the detail as you always do on all of your builds Kurt.

[89AKurt]

1 hour ago, Cool Hand said:

Excellent work on the seat.

Progressing along very well and capturing all the detail as you always do on all of your builds Kurt.

Thanks!  It's a really simple shape to do, unlike race bucket seats.

[Can-Con]

On 1/17/2020 at 11:29 PM, Russell C said:

Was wondering when you'd get to this one, having seen your current blue barge in person last year. I prefer the '69 grille styling. My older brother kicked around the idea of getting a 1:1 '69, but with the idea of specifically putting a '71 bumper on it and filling the bumper turnsignal holes with equal-sized fog lights, just to be weird. He's more of a model trains guy, so you can blame his bumper swap idea on that line of non car-guy reasoning.

I actually had the same idea about swapping the bumpers and putting driving lights in the openings.  

I'm definitely not into trains though. ?

[Can-Con]

Kurt, I'd suggest getting the tailgate from a Revell '64 or "65  fleetside and grafting the lower section into the '72 tailgate and making the trough above it and the tail lights from scratch. 

Not too difficult and looks pretty good.

[89AKurt]

8 hours ago, Can-Con said:

Kurt, I'd suggest getting the tailgate from a Revell '64 or "65  fleetside and grafting the lower section into the '72 tailgate and making the trough above it and the tail lights from scratch. 

Not too difficult and looks pretty good.

Hey, there you are!  One reason I'm building this, because of your fabulous build.  Thanks to you, I have the fender badges that work for the '68 I hope to do someday, but same guy didn't make a '69, but since my truck had those removed, no big deal.  Your solution would have been so much easier, but too late now.....

[89AKurt]

Started on the easy stuff today, painting the exhaust. ?  Mixed brown and steel, then sprinkled baking soda on the wet paint as I went along.  Look forward to putting on the perfect tip.  Not doing anything else under here, not wishing to spend forever, and buy another kit.

Tailgate, first thing was to shave off the fancy trim (will do same technique for side trim).

Drew the letters.  Next was scribing the edges with a fresh #11 blade.  Working on the bumper, always seem to never have the perfect fill on such tasks.

Really just wanted to try out the new Tamiya scribing tool, which is AWESOME.  I usually don't like using a magnifying glass, feel like I go cross-eyed, but really needed it this time.  This would be the perfect thing to do with photo-etch, just shave down the thickness of the metal, and also to have a stencil to paint, which lucky me doesn't need to.

Wanted to avoid that, so started on the taillights.  I'm keeping in mind how to be able to cast replicas of these parts, at least for my next project(s), or to sell.  The challenge now is making lenses, so that will be on my mind.  Ground off the kit taillight area, using the mold line for the edge.  Also noticed the kit does not continue down under the light, which is covered by the bumper, but for the ranch bumper it shows up.  Can see why AMT shortened the width of the tailgate, a bit too much body to the corner.

[89AKurt]

Refined the taillight fitment.  Added to the second and third stake pocket, they aren't wide enough, and drilled square holes (not so easy ?).  Drilled out the sidelights, will put in backing later.  The real truck has a wall inside the bed, but skipping that detail.  Cut off the door handle, started on the dip.  Removed the top trim.  (all this only on the driver side)

This is what the door handle looks like on my '68, the knob has the tendency to get stuck inside, remedy was baling wire. ?

[89AKurt]

Made the other taillight, and removed all the upper trim, and added to the stake pockets tonight.  Ground a worn-out blade to the shape of the door handle dip to scrape somewhat smooth, then steel wool to finish.  Next thing is to make the door handles.  Also scribed the door jamb lines with the Tamiya scriber.  Guess I should remove the molded on windshield wipers and use photo-etch ones.

[89AKurt]

Just a little update.  Removed molded on windshield wipers, made a shaped scraper from old #11 blade.  Had also pugged the tab holes on the firewall.

Glued the engine in.  The front "mounts" are totally inaccurate, oil pan in a cradle. ?  Relying on the driveshaft and exhaust pipes.  Lots of superglue and baking soda on the pipes.  I know it seems stupid to add the oil pan plug, considering how toy-like this view is. ? 

[89AKurt]

Door handles, DONE! ? Where is the cross-eyed smiley?

Started with taking a picture of my '68 after sundown, the best light, outside my office/shop.

Used the magnifying glass again.  Used some of the cut out door panel because it is so thick.  Modified another worn-out #11 blade, to help create the raised center detail.  Photo-etch saw for separating the push knob.

I'm able to create these tiny details, but am struggling with the front bumper.  Just can't get a clean smooth fill of the turn signals.  I set it on the dash of the truck to bake in the sun, which brought out the patch even more.  If I can just get it good enough, and make a mold, can use the resin copy and not worry about it.

[89AKurt]

RV mirror is done.  Only doing one, because since I'm going to cast other parts, I can duplicate this.

The real thing, not going to 'weather' like this though.  The driver side was regular steel that was painted, this one was stainless steel that was also painted, but the paint was chipping off!  I also had broken off the bolt at the V, found out the L was solid rod, man that was heavy, but was able to drill and tap for a bolt. ?  Drove to Phoenix against a headwind, these sounded like an F-15 taking off. ?

[89AKurt]

I'm going to pretend being Dann, and show several WIP at once. ?  To the point of considering chrome plating the front bumper, door handles and cranks.

[89AKurt]

Since I have this spring collection, thought about making realistic hood hinges.  I've seen photo-etch hinges, that don't work, but sure look better than setting the hood on the table.  Think I can make it so the hood can be in open position, then pull out of receiver-type holes, then set the hood down and have the tab go inside past the interior tub, there seems to be room.  At least that's what I thought when I woke up this morning.

Reference picture:

Edited January 29, 2020 by 89AKurt

[89AKurt]

One of those details, can I do it?  Got this far tonight, the true test will be to see if it works for holding the hood up, then closing.  A little trick, the Grandt Line bolts, after assembling, having everything clamped together and the bolt shoved all the way in, took the lighter and melted the nut end.   I also glued the parts together, seems strong enough.  This is making me want to learn to make photo-etch......

[Mattilacken]

Great build! Your scratch building skills are top notch

[89AKurt]

5 hours ago, Mattilacken said:

Great build! Your scratch building skills are top notch

Thank you!

I'm now considering doing Rhinoliner in the bed.  The original owner had a plastic liner, it was junk especially the tailgate piece.  Though not authentic, I've been dying to do that for a pickup. ?

Also checking out this  Chevy Step-side Pickup Restoration in progress topic.  I'm noticing some differences (beside the obvious bed), such as a spare tire molded on, exhaust not molded on, booster on the brake reservoir. 

[89AKurt]

Successful seat-of-the-pants engineering of the hinge! ?

What it looks like on display with the hood open (I better take care of the giant ejection pin marks):

Worm's eye view:

Made the body plate from coffee can steel:

When the hood is closed:

First test fit of the interior, will need to remove plastic at the corner:

[RancheroSteve]

15 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

One of those details, can I do it?  This is making me want to learn to make photo-etch......
 

If you can do this, you can do photo-etch!  Good thread here:

 

[89AKurt]

2 hours ago, RancheroSteve said:

If you can do this, you can do photo-etch!  Good thread here:

 

I still don't draw on the computer, learning curve a mile wide.  I didn't see many posts of successful results.

For now, old school continues.  Matching the second part, in reverse is always fun.  Will take some tweaking to get it easy enough to take in and out.

[Mattilacken]

Beautifull! Some really nice details you are building in to this one!