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Revell Chevy Silverado - Crew cab & 4WD conversion


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Thanks Brandon!

I've never liked 2WD on a truck, so every truck kit I get, I immediately start thinking about how I might convert it to 4WD. :)

Im a northern ohio resident so 4x4 is essentially a must have in the winter. 2x4 trucks dont sit high enough either i like em up a little, and with some mud on them.

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Im a northern ohio resident so 4x4 is essentially a must have in the winter. 2x4 trucks dont sit high enough either i like em up a little, and with some mud on them.

I built an MPC Jeep CJ5 last year. It was my first automotive model in a long while so I didn't weather it at all. I like how it came out, but it has always bothered me that it's squeaky clean. It just seems incomplete. That is one of the primary goals of this model. Well used with trail damage, dirt and mud. I just hope I can pull it off convincingly. If I can do it on this one, I may go back and muddy up that Jeep.

Edited by dmk
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  • 3 weeks later...

Love the level of detail you have put into this build! One thing I have to mention though, the part you painted to represent the washer fluid reservior is actually the coolant overflow bottle and should have orange fluid in it to represent the extended life "Dexcool" antifreeze. The washer fluid bottle is hidden behind the front bumper on these trucks, if you need any reference photos I would be happy to shoot some of my 1:1 truck for you.

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Doh! :o

Thanks for the heads up! I'm glad you caught that. I should have checked my references more carefully before making that assumption. Luckily It's not too late to fix it. (It's ironic because I actually use RainX orange washer fluid in my car, and almost went with that, but then thought blue looked more normal)

Thanks for the offer of reference photos. I actually found a lot of good photos of these trucks on the web, so I don't want to put you through the trouble. If I get stuck on something I'll shoot you a PM though.

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  • 1 month later...

Wow, I can't believe it's been more than a month since I last worked on this kit. Well, at least I think I've made some good progress in the last few days.

Did some detailing on the grill. Added a parts box winch and some tow hooks (made from wire).

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I mounted the engine and exhaust on the completed chassis, and decided it is finally time to start some weathering.

First, I mixed up some cheap craft paint. I used about five shades of browns and tans. To thin it, I poured some Liquitex Airbrush medium into a small cup about 60% full. I then took a craft stick and added a small amount of craft paint to the mix until I got it about the consistency of 2% milk. I fine tuned the mixture with Testors Acryl universal thinner until it was thin enough to airbrush.

I wouldn't want to use this as a primary paint, but for weathering I think it works very nicely. One of the common complaints about craft paint is that it isn't very durable on plastic. For weathering I think that is actually a benefit. Mud and dirt are not durable either. They are easily wiped or washed off, so the the weathering will get rubbed off on some of the high spots from handling, it actually makes it look more realistic. You can make it more durable by mixing in some Future and Tamiya X-21 flattening agent (to balance out the glossiness the Future will add) .

This mixture will keep pretty well too. I used some that I mixed a month ago.

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With the paint ready, I broke out some salt. I'm using both course and find salt mixed together in a small cup.

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I used a small pump spray bottle (I found you can also use your airbrush) to liberally spray water over the parts and generously sprinkled some salt around randomly. Set this aside to dry overnight (or at least a few hours if it is a dry day).

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Once the water dried, I airbrushed some dark brown randomly around (check some reference pictures of real vehicles). You only need to let the paint dry about 30min to an hour and then you can wet it and put on another layer of salt. The next day hit it with your next color. Each time I went to the next lighter shade, until after five times, I was at a light tan. About the third coat, I wiped off most of the salt because it was building up quite a bit. then I wet it again and added a fresh layer of salt on. Maybe this gave me a more random pattern and gave the lighter tans more coverage.

Finally, after the last coat of tan dried, I took a stiff toothbrush, and scrubbed off the salt. I rinsed the assemblies under warm water in the sink and scrubbed some more to get the stubborn salt off. You will wipe off some of the paint, but I think it adds to the effect.

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I think it did also. :)

It wasn't hard to do on this kit either. Just took a course sanding stick and sanded down the back of the grill. I held it up to a light and checked periodically to see how thin it was getting. Once I broke through, I trimmed the flash with an exacto knife.

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Edited by dmk
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