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Mooneyes 1960 Ford Pickup, Trailer and dragster project New pics 6/22/12


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So I have wanted to build the tri-vehicle combination of the Mooneyes Dragster, the 1960 Ford Pickup and the trailer for many years. But just try and obtain that which could be described as Unobtanium...that is...the 1960 Ford Pickup Truck kit. Oh yes you can find them..but at prices beyond what I'm willing to pay. A couple of years ago, a modeling friend sent me an old builtup 1960 pickup and I've had it in storage. It is in really tough shape so I've held it in abeyance for years hoping to snag an unbuilt kit. Alas..to no avail. So I've decided to take the plunge and see if I can resurrect the train wreck of a 60 Ford into a reasonably decent facsimile of a fresh built pickup. As you can see by the attached photos I have my work cut out for me. The previous builder cut a hole in the hood, part of the hood is missing on the passenger side hood vent opening or whatever that is, the front grille piece is in deplorable shape, and there are a number of other problems that are going to be tough to deal with. In particular, it appears that there may have been a couple of vertical exhaust stacks sloppily glued in the opening between the rear of the cab and the front of the bed. Nasty looking wounds to the plastic there... The engine is so bad I'm either going to replace it altogether or make this part of the triumvirate into a curbside! I feel pretty confident that I can repair the damged areas of the body and get this pickup to a fairly respectable condition. I also have an original Mooneyes Double Car Kit to build the dragster from. I have a car trailer in my stash but I'm not sure if it will be correct enough for the time period. If not, maybe I can modify it enough to make it look like it came from the 60's.

So here are a few pictures...Think it's possible?????

This is what I'm attempting to build...don't remember who built it or at what show I took this photo, but the builder did a terrific job!

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Starting with this....

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The right side... see thedamaged area between the cab and bed? That damage is deep! And on the hood in that black area, the bottom half of that opening is gone....

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The left side. Same type damage from whatever was glued between the cab and bed...This thing had fender skirts messily glued to the wheelwells too. I've already removed them.

IMG00201201102282233-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

And this is going to be a major problem...the window glass. I'm pretty sure I could sand it down and get it nicely polished back into shape. However, when I put it in place, it's too narrow by at least 1/8th of an inch! So a new windshield is in order. Besides, the kit glass is either so yellowed with age or it was colored glass on purpose...but it's a brownish color.

IMG00196201102282231-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

Edited by Terry Sumner
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Cool project. I like always to see glue bomb restoration too. What is this Pickup kit? I don't know, what is in the "Starting with this..." picture, it doesn't work on my computer. It's interesting to see how this one turns out. :(

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You sure have your hands full with this project, that truck is rather rough.....but it is not impossible or beyond your reach. I have wanted to build the dragster "part" of this combo for some time now, so I see why you want to do it. I am sure you will find a way to finish this up. Go get it.

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You are defiantly approaching this from the left side, Terry, but it's going to much more interesting from here! The glass being so undersized surprises me but if the brownish color is all the way through the glass would need to be acetate anyway.

Watching this will be what you call entertainment! :(

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Got some preliminary bodywork done. Up to now I've stripped all the old paint and chrome and filled and sanded some areas that needed it. Now I've given the model a thin coat of Testor's aluminum lacquer. This is a technique brought from my aircraft modeling when trying to do a natural metal finish. This technique allows you to clearly see where every single flaw is in your bodywork no matter how small. By the time I get done with more bodywork it will all be sanded off anyway.

Here are side views...

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Here you can see all the flaws that need to be filled. No filler has been used as of yet... Easy to see with the aluminum paint huh?

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Same thing on the opposite side. You can clearly see where the plastic is damaged in between the cab and bed.

102_1177-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

Repaired the hole in the hood but still needs a bit of filler and more sanding...

102_1170-vi.jpgHosted on Fotki

Stripped the front and rear bumpers and grill then removed the "1960" lettering in the license plate frame areas. I'm giving serious thought to removing all the plastic in the grill area between all the individual grille lines. This thing is pretty thick so I think it can take it. I guess we'll see....

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Well that's it for now. Stay tuned.... :(

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Interesting project you have going there. To help, you could always look to Modelhaus for the hood, grille and, "glass". I will be wathing this build.

Thanks for that tip! I checked and Modelhaus does indeed have a vac-formed set of glass for this. I'm going to order it...hopefully it will fit!

Thanks again.

Terry

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Great project, Terry! Looking forward to watching it unfold.

Friend of mine built a similar trio: Mooneyes dragster and open trailer, but with a '56 Ford station wagon tow car. Turned out quite nicely and is a major attention-getter whenever he displays it.

No doubt yours is going to be a killa!

:(

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nice project you have going. needs some tlc, but looking at your progress im sure you'll do a great job on doing so.

i bought my first glue bomb built kit and man, that thing is :) needs work, lets leave it at that.. :)

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Glue bombs are great! Usually real cheap or even free, they make a great learning canvas to try new ideas and techniques. I have a few I'm currently working on and even an old guy like me learns something new with each step forward.

So far, the truck is starting to take shape and I'll watch impatiently for each new progress thread. And it's so nice to see it coming alive instead of finishing up in someone's trash.

Keep up the good work........

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Been on this project almost non-stop. I don't know why, but my enthusiasm is high for this project! Maybe it's the challenge...I dunno...but it feels good as I haven't really been this enthused in a long time! :)

So I'd say the bodywork is mostly complete. I still have a couple of minor glitches here and there to sand out but I have the first coat of DupliColor high build primer on the truck. For body filler I'm using 3M Bondo brand Professional Finishing Glaze. This stuff is not like the old Nitro-Stan....this stuff is a 2 part extremely fine grained filler. With a hardener you mix in like autobody filler, the stuff hardens in minutes so you can work it right away. I guess you can judge for yourself how it's coming. Man I can't believe it's actually this decent at this stage considering what we started with! :):D:D

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