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Revell Chevy Silverado - Crew cab & 4WD conversion


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While the forum was down last week, I started this project.
My plan is to take two Revell Silverado 2WD Extra Cab kits, then cut, saw, kitbash, glue, putty and and convert to a 4wd crew cab truck.
This build is inspired by two trucks I saw in 4x4 truck magazines. The main inspiration is a mean looking Dodge Crew Cab with a bobbed stepside bed and 39" Boggerers. Link Here.
The other truck that gave me some ideas is another Dodge with 42" tires, but only a 2" lift. Link Here.
Here are the kits I'm starting with.
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Here's what's in the box. Big pile of plastic. I've already de-chromed the plated parts in bleach.
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I needed a few parts that weren't in the boxes. The Beadlock Wheel Sleeves, Atlas Transfer case, and Dana 60 Axle chunks came from B-N-L Resins. I can't remember where I got the 44" Super Swampers. I believe I bought them on Ebay. The 8 lug wheels are out of the Revell '77 Pickup w/Snowplow, and the stepside bed is from the AMT 55 Cameo. (It doesn't have the fenders, so I'll fabricate some flat fenders)
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Thanks for looking and wish me luck!
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Started with making some clearance for the front tires. I traced the tire on a piece or cardboard, cut it out, and used that as a template to mark the area to remove on the body.

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To trim the plastic, I used my battery powered Dremel Minimite on low speed.

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Rough, but effective and didn't melt the plastic.

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I used an old pill bottle with sandpaper to smooth it out.

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Plenty of clearance now. emotion-11.gif

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With the fenders trimmed, I'll also need to modify the fender liner. For now I cut out the stock liner.

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The corners of the floorpan under the cab and areas behind the bumper were also trimmed.

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The two cabs were carefully measured, marked and cut. One just behind the front of the rear window and the other just before the rear of the rear window.

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The longer sections were glued together,

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And the seams were puttied with melted sprue putty.

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The floorboards of the cabs were also measured, cut and the longer pieces glued together. (the firewall, dash and side panels are just taped on for test fitting)

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The frame had to be notched to allow the longer cab to fit.

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Extended the door panels to fit the longer cab.

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After scribing the rear seam of the drivers side rear door, (the passenger side rear seams were already there emotion-1.gif ) and a lot of sanding, I primed the parts to look for flaws. Looks like I have some more filling and sanding to do. emotion-40.gif

I tried Alclad Gray Primer and Microfiller for the first time. Seems like nice stuff. A lot like Tamiya Primer, but instead of a spray can, the Alclad primer comes in a bottle ready to airbrush.

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While waiting on primer and putty, I worked on the wheels. The wheels from the '77 pickup are too small to fit in the tires, so I got the resin inserts from B-N-L resins. Unfortunately the wheels were too big to slip right in the inserts. icon_smile_sigh.gif

I used my Minimite and scribing tool to grind down the rims a little at a time. I cut the head off a small screw, drove it into the back of the wheel (holding it with a pliers) and used that to hold the wheel in the chuck.

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After some trial and error, I got them to fit into the inserts and super glued them in place.

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Edited by dmk
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Scratchbuilt some rear fenders from card plastic and tubing. I'm not entirely happy with them, so I may do something different, I don't know.

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I got the bed together and shortened by about 3/4". I also chopped a bit off the rear of the frame. Here's mockup to show where we're going with this. I think I've made a bit of a departure from the boxtop. What do you think?

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Jantrix, I use Weld-on #3. That's my primary solvent for gluing parts together (welding actually).

I just chop up some sprue, drop it in a small glass paint jar and drop some solvent in there to melt it (usually I leave it over night). You can add more solvent to make the mixture thinner if it is too thick.

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Edited by dmk
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This weekend, I casted a few parts with resin. I needed a spare tire for the bed and door handles for the rear doors on the cab.

The first step was to fill in the rear of the wheel with clay.

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To make the clay easier to remove later I used pottery clay which, when I am done, will wash out very easily with warm water.

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After spraying mold release agent (included with the kit) on the wheel, I put it in a small container that I will fill with mold making material. Notice you can see that the clay is not blocking the holes in the wheel, just filling in the area in the back.

Also, I made a mistake here and did not firmly attach the wheel to the bottom of the container. When I added the mold material, the wheel tried to float due to the air inside the tire and almost ruined the mold. I was able to salvage it, but it was not optimal. Next time I do this, I'll glue the wheel down so it stays put.

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I'm using the Resin Casting Starter kit from Bare Metal Foil. It has everything you need (except the pottery clay I use) to cast parts and both the mold material and resin use a simple 1:1 mix ratio. Just pour equal amounts of each into separate small cups and mix them together in a third cup.

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Here's the mold after it cured for about an hour. Notice I had to really dig into the mold to get the original part out. If I had fixed the part to the bottom of the cup, it would have been right there at the surface of the mold when I flipped it over.

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Edited by dmk
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The door handles were even easier to make a mold of. I used a product called Melt-Art Mold and Pour. Again, it's an equal 1:1 mix ratio. You take a small ball of each part and kneed them together. It's about the same consistency as chewed chewing gum, but very greasy, not sticky at all. No mold release was required. Once I got it thoroughly mixed, I pressed it against the door handle and set it aside for a half hour (it says 10min, but I wanted to be sure). I then peeled it off and it made a perfect reproduction of the handle in a soft flexible mold.

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With my molds ready, I mixed up the Pour-a-Kast resin from the bare Metal Foil kit (again same 1:1 ratio), and filled my molds carefully to avoid bubbles. You have to work very quickly. The resin starts as thin as water, but begins to thicken and set in just a few minutes (like 2 or 3). I actually had to make two batches of resin because it started to harden on me. (The mold at the bottom left is rear brake drums for another project)

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Here are the finished parts. :)

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Here's the door handle attached to the door.

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Edited by dmk
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I'm glad you guys are enjoying it! :)

Randy, the resin casting has been a great skill to learn for me, even though it doesn't always go as well as I'd like. The kit I have wasn't cheap, but I do use it all the time. Like using an airbrush, it can be frustrating at first, but I notice that I learn something every time and feel like I'm slowly improving.

Sorry I haven't had any updates on progress, Just hadn't had time to work on it this week. I'm looking forward to the weekend to get back on it.

Edited by dmk
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