Dodge Caravan Taxi & CV - Made Some Decals 12/02/2015

[Wheels]

Very cool Tom!!

[Tom Geiger]

Wow! I just pulled up this thread and I see that all the pictures are gone! That's the Fotki transition, hopefully they'll all be back soon.

Anyhoo, I see I haven't updated this board in a great while...

Since all the photos are missing, here's the pair-o-Caravans.

Interiors done! Hmmm, this photo was before I added all the arm rests and glued the seats into place! I still need to add seat belts.

And here's the Caravan CV (Commercial Van) as it sits tonight. Wheels are from the Revell Impala Police Car Snapper. They are fairly close to the steel wheels, I matched it up to the spare tire wheel on my own Caravan. The number of holes is different, but who is counting?

The reason I take pictures as I build is that I see things in them I don't see in person. Notice that the "Facility Management" portion of the decal is too high. It's been peeled off and a new one added at the proper level. And that's the reason I make something like 6 sets of decals.

It needs a clear coat, all the doo dads added and she's off the bench. The Caravan Taxi is sitting as I create the masks for the black areas of the glass. I've been avoiding that one!

I don't think I'll be getting a lot done anytime soon. Alan Barton from Perth, Australia (and a board member here) should be here tomorrow! We will no doubt do a post or two.

Edited October 25, 2013 by Tom Geiger

[charlie8575]

Very cool, Tom.

Charlie Larkin

[Danno]

Nice. Twice.

[mnwildpunk]

In case you didn't see these, I've been working on a pair of Caravans. Top is both vehicles and the bottom photo is the CV commercial van version right after I added my home made decals.

(post edited to replace photos that Fotki is currently hiding!)

idk what I like better the fact this is missing the rear bumper like I have seen many times b4 on the real thing or the. Coors sign behind it blak!!

[mnwildpunk]

Or maybe its a coke sign?

[Tom Geiger]

idk what I like better the fact this is missing the rear bumper like I have seen many times b4 on the real thing or the. Coors sign behind it blak!!

Or maybe its a coke sign?

The back bumper will be on the finished model. The finish on this one got screwed up by the clear coat so it went into the drink and is ready to start over again.

That is a Coors ash tray in the back ground. I think I got it for free when I visited the brewery in Colorado maybe 20 years ago. It's got a birthday candle mounted in the center, and it's what I use to melt body damage on models. So it's a tool!

[mnwildpunk]

That stinks you have to start over

[Faust]

How's the rebuild going?

I hope that it's going well; I am looking forward to seeing this one!

I can't believe how many of these are still on the road!

[Tom Geiger]

How's the rebuild going?

I hope that it's going well; I am looking forward to seeing this one!

I can't believe how many of these are still on the road!

Funny thing Adam, I was printing out new decals this afternoon! I also printed the roof topper decals for the Taxi, as well as license plates and decals for a few other current builds.

The CV has been repainted and it's now silver. So I printed the decals in both blue and red. I'll see which look better. So these will be moving forward. I also masked off and repainted the passenger side front door on the taxi. The darn Revell decals shrunk up with the clear coat, now it looks good.

I did get frustrated with these, so I took a breather. Now I'm calmed down, have forgiven them and am ready to roll them off the bench!

[heepey]

Those vans are so cool. Way too bad you had to start over

[RoushStageTwo]

That is cool , where can I get this kit ?

[Bgrgbldr]

In case you have not found a better solution for tinting you windows here is something that I have used with great success. Mix a little black or red or green whatever color you like with future floor wax. Dust it on form the inside with your airbrush. You can build up as many coats as you need. Practice on spare windshield. If you don't like the result drop it in Windex rinse it off and start over. Once you master this you will be a very happy camper. Believe it or not you can also get great results with food coloring in Future.

Gary

Before anyone asks. No, I do not work for Johnson and Johnson

[Tom Geiger]

That is cool , where can I get this kit ?

The kit was from Lindberg. It was available a long time ago first as a red passenger van, and a second issue as a police van. The second issue was molded in white so I'd buy that one if I had a choice since I had problems with the red plastic bleeding color through my paint. It probably hasn't been issued in maybe 10 years. You can find copies of this kit on eBay or at shows. It's not expensive.

[Tom Geiger]

Wow! Didn't realize that I had put these aside for so long. I got involved with the NNL East preparations and that took most of my hobby time until now. I've decided that I do need to get a few things off the bench. And when I was at the Mid-Atlantic NNL this past weekend someone asked about these projects. So here's what I did this week...

We had a fair amount of conversation on how to do the windows on this kit. Some folks have just flat blacked the rear glass, blocking off any view of the interior. Others have suggested a variety of ways to tint the glass, which I will try on a future build. I've seen models on display that they did nothing at all, which left the sides clear, where the real truck has metal between the side glass panes. That just doesn't look right. About 80% of Caravans had the factory tint package, but there were a lot of cheapies that just had the clear glass. Those had the black mask visible. The same mask is on the ones with tinted glass, only you don't see it readily in photos. It is visible in person depending on how the daylight is hitting it. I have a 1:1 '96 Grand Caravan in my driveway for reference.

So I decided to take the difficult road with this build, figuring that a taxi would have the cheap glass. Or if ordered new, a fleet operator would want the clear glass for security reasons. So I drew up a set of glass masks. I made a template for the rear glass and one for the side glass. Then I traced them onto Avery name tag labels. I found these worked well because they will peel off easily. I have other white labels (I have a roll of UPS ones) that will never ever come off. Be careful what you use. The above photo shows the masks in place ready for paint. Note that I had already colored the front glass with a Sharpie so I just masked it all off. Next time I'd do that with a mask and paint also.

Another view of the masks in place. Important to know that I cut out the side masks at the same time. The name tags come two to a sheet, with a perforation line between them. I merely folded this over, drew my cut lines on one side, and cut a pair at the same time so they'd be exactly the same.

The templates. I did these in card stock so I could use them over and over. Notice that the rear glass template was folded in two. That was cut like a paper doll, so that both sides would be symmetrical. Templates worked for me since I went through half a dozen sets of stickers as I tried to get them to the right size and position. I probably had two hours invested at this point.

Here's the rear glass for the CV Caravan. Note that the side glass was done in body color to make a panel van. So I had cut the clear window piece apart.

Here

Here we are with the glass shot painted and masks removed! I used Testors Flat Black for paint. It worked very well and I'm super pleased with the results. Note that the paint is on the inside of the glass. I had masked of the entire exterior glass.

Side view, glass just held in place. It looks exactly as I hoped it would. A quick aside - the phone number on the taxi is my old home phone from when I lived in New Jersey. Just for fun!

Rear glass in place looks good too. I will add the rear third light and a wiper.

This was the hurdle that kept me from finishing the pair of Caravans. I still have to repaint an area of the CV in silver so that's what I'll do next. Then it's onward to final assembly for the pair!

Edited May 14, 2014 by Tom Geiger

[crazyrichard]

nice tom

[GLMFAA1]

I just slammed this one together when they first came out, Used the Revell Caprice stickers for the cab decals.

What to do with extra kits that you bought for parts, 'call me a cab'

JoHan plymouth

Lindberg Ford CV

Your cab is neat I did not just have time for the details

greg

[Tom Geiger]

Thanks Richard and Greg. Your Caravan taxi looks great. There are so many in 1:1 that it just needed to be done in scale. I have those Caprice stickers put aside to be scanned and reprinted on decal stock someday. I see more cabs in my future. I have a '62 Valiant already painted and I have my eye on a PT Cruiser kit that's not doing nuthin'!

[SlotDaddy1963]

Love the taxi, Tom

What are you gonna do with the CV? Florist delivery perhaps? or maybe a wedding caterer? with a gigantic cake in the hatch?

[Tom Geiger]

What are you gonna do with the CV? Florist delivery perhaps? or maybe a wedding caterer? with a gigantic cake in the hatch?

The CV was done in my own company logos. Something went wrong with the final clear coat, it discolored parts of the body and floated the black paint in the body lines to the surface, making a royal mess. So back in the pond it went. I think the issue was the red plastic under everything. I don't know just how the Model Masters Wet Look laquer clear etched through several coats of Duplicolor blue and gray primer but something went wrong! So as part of the repaint, I added a silver coat to block the red plastic... then I decided I liked the silver and went for it as the body color this time around. I have some touch up to do on the body, then I need to add the decals again to move forward.

[Tom Geiger]

Back on the bench and almost done!    The big holdup on these was the headlights.  The kit lights have a rectangular mounting point that shows through the glass, giving the appearance of those WWII blackout headlights!  I spent time trying to modify them, vacuforming new copies (that didn't work out!) and finally came up with two sets that worked.  Once past that, I've zoomed through the final steps, although they're fighting me every step of the way.   Still not finished but up on wheels....

Three quick bench shots with the cell phone... Front view.  The silver one has new clear lights like the ones I just put on my own '96 Grand Caravan. The taxi has ones that have fogged over like most of them have (like the ones I replaced off my Grand Caravan). Note that the bumpers are different between the Caravan passenger van and CV commercial van.  I modified the one on the silver van.

Nearly done, just need to do the final details like antennas, mirrors and license plates.  The taxi sign and ladder are just placed for the photos. They'll need permanent mounting.

Rear view, I added a rear wiper to the taxi, and the third brake light to both.  

I have worked on them a bit over the two weeks.  I spent some time today, hoping to finish them, but ran into issues.  Somehow the glass / interior / chassis wouldn't sit right on the silver one so I spent some time sanding the chassis down a bit to get it right.  It's a friggin snap kit, don't ask!  

I have a busy two weeks at work starting tomorrow so I don't know when I'll get back to them.  But in the meantime they're sitting on the bench just like this.

[426-Hemi]

Tom, I too have had a '98 Caravan, NOT a high top tho and to that I found 2 of the PD versions from Lindberg that one will be modeled after the real one I had!!!! Sadly tho, I would LOVE to flip open the hood and make a whole engine compartment for the kit but that might be pushing it, as it has absolutely NOTHING (skill level 1) so...

ANYWAY, nice work on the 2 you got going here!!!!! I have to ask where'd you get the decals on the Associates van?  -I'm gonna need custom printed decals myself!!!! PM me on it if ya would!

[Tom Geiger]

ANYWAY, nice work on the 2 you got going here!!!!! I have to ask where'd you get the decals on the Associates van?  -I'm gonna need custom printed decals myself!!!! PM me on it if ya would!

Thanks John!  I made the decals myself.  Nothing hard at all,  just text done in Microsoft Word.  I printed it on my inkjet onto BMF brand clear decal paper.  I used the Testors decal fixative.  I made all the "Tom Geiger Associates" decals, the word TAXI in many sizes and the phone number on the taxi was my old one when I lived in New Jersey!

[Danno]

Nice work, Tom!  They look great.

[Tom Geiger]

  

Made some decals today...  ignore my wife's festive holiday place mat!  The Lindberg kit came with stickers instead of decals for the Caravan logos.  Back when I made the bulk of the decals for the vans, I hadn't noticed how sucky they were.  Misregistered and the wrong color.  The Ram emblem on the hood isn't red like on the sticker sheet, so I decided to make some.   I simply went to the Internet and searched Google Images for "Ram Logo" and came upon these.  Then I needed the lettering  for Dodge and Caravan CV for the back of the panel van.  That I just made the lettering in Word, and shrunk it all to the right size.  Now all these decals are on the trucks.

There are always a ton of questions about making decals so that's what this picture is all about.  People worry about wasting an entire sheet of decal paper to make a few decals. Note how I do it here. This is less than a third of a sheet of BMF brand decal paper.  I simply created the decals I needed in Word and set them in a tight block. I then ran a test sheet on regular paper.  Then you tape your partial decal sheet to cover the images you just printed, and run the same sheet back through your printer.   I then wait a few hours for the ink to dry, and finally use Testors decal fixative over them prior to use.  Notice that I made MANY of each image since they come out in varying quality from the printer.  The decal fixative can also react with some of them.  I used the smallest of the Ram logos and the smaller bottom line of text.  I wasted a few of the Ram logos goofing up since they are very small to handle. No worries, I had plenty!