Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

Recommended Posts

My original plan for the step side was to rebild the frame and use the leftover 4x4 parts from the "Firefighter" MPC kit I bought for the correct 79-80 cab, hood, and grille to build a replica of my dads 79 D-140 2wd long box.

then I saw this looking online for inspiration!

131_1009_03_oseptember_2010_readers_rides1978_dodge_power_wagon.jpg

it took off from there!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No way I am cutting out the doors! I love the real blue truck, but if it were mine the doors would go back on!

Thanks for the compliments Chris! I didn't make the t-case. It is from the SoReal Chevy diecast. But I did shave it down it some places and added material in others to make it look better. I needed to shave it on the top side so it would sit as close as possible to the underside. I will have to get some pics of the t-case as well!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well it looks like I found a BIG area that needs correction!

Looking at pics of real trucks and then looking at my model, the truck bed needs to be raised ! grrrr!

if you look at the real blue truck you can see the bed side step is level with the bottom of the cab. then look at my latest pic of the model and you can clearly see the bed side step sits lower than the cab. Time to raise the bed!

I finally saw this last night as i was starting to fab up my rockrails. hope I don't have to redo the back half of the frame totally.

This might be a blessing in disguise though! at first I was going to do a real wood bed floor then decided a real trail rig would need more stability. So now I am thinking that i can cut away my "filled" in frame and have a "open" fully exposed frame and just add the bed mount cross rails and get a lil more detail in the frame! I am also not completely happy with the fuel tank I made tp replicate the one on the kits frame. I want a bigger one and one a lil more realistic as well, on real trucks a very popular mod is to swap in a Ramcharger fuel tank. Bigger and relocates it to the back of the frame bewteen the rails. So it looks like I will be fabbing up a new fuel cell as well. And a skid plate for it. which reminds me I need to pick up some diamond plate sheet styrene.

Edited by wraith
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here you can see just how bad this frame was I started with

I had to reglue the front fenderwell back on and needed to add material to them and the frame to start with. Then it was on to remaking the rear half of the frame. All of this is done in these pics. Wish I had a pic of the frame in its multipe piece stage. It was almost complete junk! But I guess not since I was somehow able to save it!

D-PIC200031.jpg

D-PIC200041.jpg

D-PIC200051.jpg

D-PIC200061.jpg

D-PIC200071.jpg

here you can see the relief cuts I made to push the floor board up for clearance for the t-case. I also had to move the trans crossmember down.

D-PIC200131.jpg

D-PIC200111.jpg

In the pics you will see that I removed the "box" that was cast into the passenger inner fender for clearance for the heater box which is mold ed to the firewall. I di this to all these inner fenders on all of my builds. personally It helps make the model look a lil better and if you are lowering on, like 2 I have in the works, it really helps for tire clearance as well.

Edited by wraith
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here you can see the material i added to the front valance to help with strength and mounting area for the grille.

D-PIC200121.jpg

and the work done so far on the old monster truck hood..

D-PIC200161.jpg

I still have some work to do to it. you can see the nick in it in the front center. I also want to add a small rib down the center on my sharpie line.

I am debating on cutting out the buckets in the interior tub and putting these seats from a dead diecast in.

D-PIC200321.jpg

Color will/should be a Metallic Root Beer Brown with a tan interior. aat least that is my plan for now. Although the colors blue, like the real truck photo, and a dark copper and maybe even white have been going through my mind.I would paint it Hemi Orange like the new Challengers but I have that color already picked for another LRE Pro Touring truck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The good thing about me having to tweak the rear part of the fram to get the box at the right height is that for a week or so I was wondering why it seemed like the box fenders were closer to the wheel than the front fenders. AS much as I don't/didn't want to massage the box fenders to add clearance I was about to do so! Glad I looked at more reference pics today! Now that is solved by the lifting of the box!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Axles are the box stock axles that came in the old Dodge pickup 4x4 kits.

And the hood, thanks!

I wasn't sure what to do. ask if anyone had LRE hood for it or just see what I could do with what I had! I chose the later! lol!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

a pic can be found here!

http://www.modelcars...showtopic=53470

a big thanks to plowboy / ROGER HAYES for directing me to it!

Many thanks again Roger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The ones I have found at Dollar General come in a playset in a blue box and costs $8.00.

I have found and bought 4 of these sets so far and will probably buy more when I find them. Not sure what I am going to do with al these sets of wheels but i know one thing, once you find a good source for parts you should use it as much as you can before it runs out!

I got the back half of the frame redone last night! And exactly like I thought, it was a blessing in disguise! box sits were it should now and the frame looks so much better!!!!

pics later today!

Edited by wraith
Link to comment
Share on other sites

a pic of a mock up I did a couple months ago. Looked good but didn't have the feel for it that I wanted. to over the top.

D-PIC200101.jpg

Got home last nigh after work with the house all to myself and jumped right in an fixing the rear of the frame.

opened up my styrene stash and found I was out of my styrene rod needed to fix it!

Bam! ran right out to Hobby Town! Bought the .100 x .125 strips needed to get it done! out came the knife , sanding sticks and superglue!

how it was

D-PIC200271.jpg

after!

D-PIC200261.jpg

D-PIC200281A.jpg

D-PIC200301B.jpg

D-PIC200311.jpg

Now the bed sits were it should and I can get back to making the rockrails!

I think it made a dramatic change to the overall build. Seems a better quality build to me now. I am happier! I guess that is all that really matters!

Here's a pic of the fuel tank I scratchbuilt to look like the one that was molded on the frame. Looks to small to me. If this was areal truck I was building I would have the biggest fuel tank I could put on it. Leaning towards making another tank and locating it at the back of the frame

.D-PIC200321-1.jpg

Edited by wraith
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got a lil bit more done last night. not much but I scratchbuilt my 1st Optima dry cell battery. I could have done a lil better but I am happy with it. For now! lol!

I still have to add the terminals and wiring and scratchbuild a battery hold down for it. I have been kinda lazy on this since I redid the frame. I almost didn't work on it last night but once I started playing the plastic addict in me came out! lol!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is a very bad pic of my Optima battery!

D-PIC200341.jpg

I am going to have to take some better pics of this!

This is the kit along with a derelict Lil Red Express that have donated most of the parts for this build

1-0418-1978stepside1.jpg

I bought it mainly for the cab, hood and grille so I can make a model of my father's 1:1 79 D-150 2wd long box truck.

the cab I am using in this build is from an older MPC moster truck kit.

a few shots of the motor/trans and the t-case

D-PIC200351.jpg

D-PIC200361.jpg

I added the trans mount and also added some ribbed sheet styrene to the trans pan to create a ribbed pan for the trans. This beast would need all the help keeping fluids cool in the real world!

I am also going to add a trans cooler in front of the rad as well. still debating weither or not to try to add the tranny lines!

THe oil pan is from a AMT 67 Chevelle. It's all I really had that somewhat fit the motor and looked close a truck oil pan. It has been section in numerous places to fit. I still have some work to do to it. but it works for now for mock up.

and a pic of what the front bumper might be.

D-PIC200331.jpg

It's the front bumper from a Maisto Hummer diecast. I cut the ends off and added some styrene to it to widen it to fit the Dodge. The bull bar is from a Maisto Ram diecast. It will be getting to round off road lights yet. And Ithe winch came from a Jeep CJ-7 kit from modelermike! thanks again Mike!

Edited by wraith
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep that does look better. Nice work on the updates.

I have to admit that I'm not normally much of a 4x4 guy. I normally gravitate towards customs and hot rods, but for whatever reason I have the bug lately.

I did hit a DG here and found the army set you spoke of. Like you, the rc tires are too over the top for my tastes. These being smaller they are just the ticket, so thanks for pointing me in that direction.

I have 4 off road projects going now (one main, an easy jeep cj, and two on deck in parts collection stages). Lacking much parts fodder for these and not being satisfied with much of what I do have, I'm making a lot from scratch. So far I have finished a SM465 tranny and NP205 tc combo, and am almost done with a proper Dana 44 steer axle with proper knucks.

It's proving to be a good exercise. Once I am closer to a complete drivetrain/chassis, I'll post up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cool! I am glad I could help you out! They are not the best wheel/tire combo, but from a cheap Dollar General toy they are pretty good!

I have never been a big offroad fan myself but I have been gravitating towards them lately. In the scale world and in the real world!

I would really like to see your builds! Especially your NP205 t-case!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, the tire to wheel interface at the front is a little wonky, but I figure I can help hide that by trimming the lip back a touch and adding some rock guards and turning the wheels into beadlockers. I may think of another way around the issue but so far that makes the most sense, considering.

There are a few pics in my fotki (link in sig), but my camera sucks and to make matters worse the parts are still bare styrene...so it's not easy to capture them properly. I think I stuck them in the "stuff" folder. About all that's left to do on the tranny and tc are the pto covers and add more bolt detail. I need to get to a real hobby shop and pick up some various hex rod.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After a couple failed atempts at making a rear bumper that I liked I found a bumper in my stash that works perfectly!

It's the rear bumper from the AMT 77 Ford Courier pickup. all it tool was some sanding the rear mount on the fram a lil bit and added just a lil more styrene and BAM! perfect fit and look I was going for!

pics later

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...