rsxse240

I must warn you of miliput...it takes for ever to stop shrinking. Though you only used minimal amounts, so you may be safe. The van looks great! I wish I could find one to accompany the mobeus 67-72 f100

You never cease to amaze, Cesar! Thank you for all the beautifully crafted works of art and inspiration.

Looks awesome! The wheels go great with the car.

Thanks for those books, I'll see if I can get them on kindle

I have seen all of these being positive bucks in the vacuum forming process. If one were to make a negative buck, with the right kind of plastic, would you not be able to get finer details? Or possibly couple vacuum forming with Bill's fiberglass process to yield highly detailed very thin, rigid forms? When making fiberglass and carbon fiber auto, aircraft, or other type of panels, they use a vacuum bag or similar (depending on the part) processes to squeeze the air from the multiple layers and to press the resin into the details of the molds. Could this process be beneficial to yielding finer details with the fiberglass method? you could get some really nice details on a body, such as trim and body lines built on to your wooden buck, so as to cut down on detailing time on the working panel. Plus you could change the details on the buck and make several molds with varying details such as louvers, different grills, door panel shapes, etc. Ok, I'm getting lost in my imagination here. I know this topic has me thinking and new (to me) ideas are popping up. I hope you guys are getting as much out of this as I am.

OK,so I can see all kinds of uses for vacuum forming. I'm going to build one. My wife's been wanting a new vacuum for a while and that 12 year old dyson will be perfect for my project. Plus there's lots of parts for other projects.

I was thinking of items like windshields, inner fenders, radiator core supports, inner door panels and other blobby looking shapes that are either pressed or formed in a mold in 1:1. I realise the lack of detail that is inherent in vacuum forming, but if you remove all the wires, hoses, bottles, clips and the sorts from a real car, you're left with blobby looking shapes therefore vacuum forming would be great. However the fiberglass thing is way friendlier to the average do-it-yourselfer.

If you were to ask me to speculate, I'd say because we wanted something that WASN'T a '40 ford or a 57 Chevy. Plus the roof line would go well on so many customs

So I was looking at someone's build where the underhood looked really out of scale in the inner fenders and chassis details. So it got me thinking that the real cars don't have 3 inch thick fenders, why should our models? I don't yet have the ability or means to build a vacuum forming machine, but building some bucks (molds) isn't out of my ability. Maybe later this idea could come into a realized dream. How much more detail could actually be built in with accurately scaled sheet "metal"? I wanted to possibly plant a seed in some of your minds to possibly see what you all may come up with. Please Discuss...

To expand on ace's comment. Look at how a real car is put together and try to duplicate it either by process or by simulated details. Being a huge 240sx/Silvia enthusiast and owner, I want to see this and all other s-chassis model projects come to fruition and the builder to be happy enough to build more.

I was thinking the very same. I love the idea! Can't wait to see more. I may take the idea and do the same with some bugs I have laying around.

I love it! I was a diehard VW fan...wet dubs, that is...and am now an avid Nissan enthusiast, so I am really loving this one. One thing I want to bring to your attention. The rear axle. I love the new lower control/swing arm set up. I may borrow that for a future build. The "axle", however, is for an independent rear suspension. Meaning the differential is mounted solid and the wheels are mounted like a front wheel drive car and swing up and down independently of one another. The way you have it the swing arms are mounted to a rotating axle similar to a driveshaft.

Is the air filter made out of one of those silica canisters from a pill bottle? Pretty cool build so far!

Bahh, search is for people who have nothing better to do. hahaha Besides, moderators wouldn't have anything to do if they didn't spend all day and night combining similar threads. lol

Go to your local window tint shop and get scrap tint of any color you like. They throw so much of it away, I'm sure the'll just give you their scraps since they can't use them for anything. You could also try airbrushing transparent yellow paint on the inside of the glass after you do the black details of course. You can get transparent yellow (or any color for that matter) in acrylics, enamels, lacquers, inks, you name it. I'm sure the fabric dye works, but I have a difficult time believing it will last any amount of time or that it won't rub off while handling it during assembly. Inks are also questionable in this manner too.

Thank you, Clayton, for your insight and for building and posting such beautiful work! It is, in no small part, due to your builds that I am inspired to take on this project. I have thought about the mobius wheels and all, but I'm just going to go with what I can fab up or use out of my existing parts. Takes a lot longer, but it's always worth having something no one else has, for originality's sake. I may take your lead and build a single drive out of the pete and use the extra chassis for the KW. I'll have to dig them out and see how compatible the frames are.

So, I think I'm going to try this stretch thing. I love the look of the long wheel base trucks. I will be using the Monogram "snap" 1/25 Pete and/or the snap Kenworth. I haven't really done any kind of planning or really even given much thought to this/these builds as I am a kind of "Build what FEELS right" kind of seat of the pants custom builder. I was curious if there's a proper length to stretch or if it's just something that's up to the builder's taste. Ultimately, I'm going to do what I feel is right, but if it helps to make a more satisfactory build, I'd like to get it at least close. My thoughts were to stretch the frame just behind the sleeper about 1.5 inches, build some custom fenders front and rear, maybe stretch the sleeper or just build some extension panels to elude to a longer sleeper. I'd like some custom wheels and tires, but I'm probably going to be stuck with the stock ones for now, as I have very little in the manner of spare parts for building big rigs. Although I do have some pretty cool looking wheels from a JADA "1/24" scale Nissan 240SX that I had considered using. I hope you guys don't mind me using this as an idea board of sorts. I've just never done custom trucks. I've always been a car/pickup guy due to the cost of the trucks. Thanks, Ken

Glad to see this. I too am a fan of the ford ranger. No one ever builds them. Great job too. I hope your build inspires more mini truck builds. I may break out my old King cab project.

When is enough enough? simply put, when you are satisfied. Elaborated, I don't feel satisfied until my vision is fulfilled. In that case, being the perfectionist that I am, none of my models are ever enough.

Looks like something you would see in Alaska or along some abandoned stretch of Pennsylvania railway. I love it!

Not bad. I'm sure there's loads to criticize, but what's the point, you only took one day to build it. I envy you for that! lol From what I can see, it's a pretty nice shelf piece.

I would suggest some kind of commercial signage to break up the billboard sides. Great build! I see a lot of these at work (lifted long bed Fords) and yours looks right on.

It really makes one think, what's the use of the model A? I guess you need something to glue stuff to.

I was about to suggest the same thing. Loads of rusty automotive scrap, a few refrigerators, a swing set, some empty freon bottles. Maybe some bashed up bedsides made from nailed together doors.

I had one of these j2000 and its sister kit pro-street Baretta. They were great kits. I don't recall how accurately detailed they were, but fun builds that went together well.