Oldriginal86

Sanding blocks are your friend. Looking good.

Epoxy is the universal adhesive. Pretty much glues anything to anything.

Check Texas3Dcustoms. They make winches and bumpers for Jeeps and trucks. I haven’t purchased any of these but have a few engines and the detail is amazing.

Not sure how mobile you want this to be or not but why not look into a Tough Shed. When the pandemic hit and folks had to work from home these were purchased for an office so the family wouldn’t interfere with business. Doesn’t have to be that manufacture, could be any “She Shed”.

Question: Is the intention of your build to install radio gear an engine and run it on a pond? The fairing process is important to get the fiberglass cloth to laying nicely on the hull. Wood putty, epoxy and microballoons or any filler will work to smooth things. Use the old carpenters saying, “ do your best and caulk the rest”. Keep up the good work.

My dad bought a K5 Blazer in 1973 and my family and I have never been without at least one in our possession. I have an 86 short bed as my daily now. Been with us for 10 years and counting. Great pics of an awesome event. Thanks.

There is a 4.0 inline out there and you did this kit justice. Well done. How readily available is this kit? I’d buy it just for the engine and make a bunch of resin copies for all the curbside Jeep kits in the stash.

Key to assembly with any wood kit that is glued together with epoxy is patience. Put on a couple planks and walk away. The squarer or fair the hull is, the less bodywork will be needed later. Mine had a bad twist in the hull and I have a ton of bodywork trying to straighten it. Looks like you are well in to it. Keep up the good work.

Well done. It’s a labor of love for a project like this. Now you can enjoy the drive no matter the destination.

Brings back memories. Wish I had taken pictures of the build process on mine. Keep at it.

I agree, the three of them are what most fleets are purchasing now a days. The Chevy van isn’t going to be redesigned until 2027 and will probably be electric or hybrid. The expedition type off road vehicles would make an interesting subject for a build.

I have the United Van Lines hydroplane by Dumas. Engine and running gear all installed as well as two different sets of radio gear. Never been wet. Don’t know what the hold-up is but I’ve never attempted to run it. The all wood kits do take a different mindset then plastic kits. Need to be a carpenter a mechanic as well as a fine wood finisher. Stick to it is the best advice I have. I did build and finish a Dumas 1940 Barrel Back runabout kit. It turned out very good. I do run it I my pool during the summer. Good luck and keep us updated with your progress as well as any questions.

I like it. Simple but a good base for a more detailed build.

I’ve been on a red interior kick lately, yours looks nice with the color contrast.

I think your being to kind to the manufactures. I would imagine the assembly manual would be written in the states. I may be wrong. Wonder how many of our models that are produced in China are actually sold and built there.

Finally found the models at my local store. Plenty of Coke Generals, Freuhauf trailers and 72 Chevy pickups. No Nova wagons. That’s what I was hoping to find.

The beauty of Future is it can be applied with a brush, airbrush or dipping.

Read through your entire build today. This is scratch building at its finest. Keep at it, we’ll wait for the next update.

The part leaning on the bottles almost appears to be anodized aluminum. Well done.

I haven’t used any 3D printed body parts but have built several engines. Depending on the vendor, there may be print lines in the part. Several coats of primer and sanding sessions should take care of all but the most severe lines. Choose the vendor carefully. The better the print, less work. No difference in painting and assembling printed parts versus plastic kit parts other than the glue. CA adhesive and accelerator works well. The paint was just Testors bottle paint either airbrushed or brushed on. No issue with paint drying other then silver.

I never thought to save the test paint spoons. I store most of my finished kits back in their original box so I could save the spoons there too.

I can’t think of any situation that wouldn’t require a small touch up if the part is painted on the tree or a must “remove” unless it in an area that will be covered by another part. The manufactures of kits are doing a better job of parts being molded with the locating pins at the sprue.

The chrome plating process on 1:1 vehicles is an electroplating. To successfully remove it, the process needs to be reversed. If the grill is some type of plastic, I’m not sure. I have sand blasted a set of chrome plated headers and painted them with varying degree of paint adhesion.

That’s the issue with most of the heavy truck kits. That International 4070 hasn’t been on the road since the early 1980’s. I can’t believe they spent money on new tooling just for that kit. The Detroit Diesel engine that comes in a lot of the kit’s hasn’t been made since the 70’s. It’s great if your building a truck graveyard diorama. Thinking about what I just wrote as I work on a 60 Chevy pickup kit. I digress.

I don’t have a large area to display my finished kits so most of the time I’ll put the model back in its respective box.