Andy Oldenburg

Hi Topher, thanks for your reply. I will follow up on the next stages and can send further images with the doors working. Right now I am on holiday in France and it will take another week or so until I can help you out with more science. Best wishes, Andy

Hi David, thanks for the response are your knowledge! Seems I am on the right track. Actually I used all the impressions that I have picked up in my life from constructions vehicles and such. Not that I have anything to do with that business wise, I am just a curious guy that gets impressed by BIG things. The tailgate, well, I just thought it would flap down and let the earth slide off. I don´t know if chains or such would be necessary to hold it.

After building some glossy stock models and show cars I was in the mood to create something "dirty" again. No, nothing X-rated; a pickup with a visible rust attack and heavy patina. This old AMT kit comes quite fine for that, because the molding isn´t very clean and I am not going into a shiny low rider paint job. I do want to spend some time on some special details though. Hinged doors and hood have become a standard for me. But my best idea was to get the bed engineered to rise and tip the gravel, earth, junk or whatever onto its determined area. I have refined a special technique to open spaces on a model body. I used to cut with blades, micro saw or a tiny electric circular saw. It did the job, but it always left a lot of extra work to clean the cuts. Cutting with a scalpel or cutter knife also meant risking my finger tips. By chance I have a small awl which I sanded VERY sharp and with this tool I scratch out my doors, trunk etc. It works quite fast and the result is great. The gaps all have the same width and running down the imprinted gaps on the bodies is easy. The tailgate should drop down like in real but also keep in place like a real one. The gate itself is connected to the bed with 1mm styrene rods in 2mm tubes. Making the latches turned out easy, but I did have to get the parts drilled and connected to the precise spot. The hood hinges had to be attached to the firewall in a early step. There is no way to get that done if you want the paint job to look good and let the hood really close exactly. Now it´s time to find the sweet spot for the bed hinging. Since I had no images to copy I had to think about how this could look like in real life. The bed has to lift up without scraping the cabin or knocking the bumper (which I could sacrifice, if necessary...). All the hinge parts are fabricated from sheet styrene and tubes in different thickness and diameter. I hope you can understand the steps I took to get the hinge working. At this step, all the pegs are still extra long and the engineering is still in the rough. Sanding will be done before I go on to painting. Just getting the bed to tip didn´t satisfy my ambitions, because I wanted a "real" look to the model. My pickup needed a lifting hydraulic system (well, a fake one). Now I had to build that system from scrap styrene and brass and find the right position to make it work. Here again I hope that the images explain how I did it. It would take too many words. The "lifting" setup is connected to the chassis frame, the "lifted" part with the brass rod is hinged to the bottom of the bed. That small part on the side will be the hydraulic pump, to be attached to the frame. This is my second build on which I have connected the door hinges with Tamiya epoxy putty. It will fill gaps due to curved bodies, you have plenty of time to fit to parts to the exact place and they will not slip anymore, and no epoxy glue will run and mess your build or jam the hinges. Just remember to rough sand the surfaces before gluing. Drying time is a whole day, but I have enough to do to bridge that time. After the putty is hard you can work it in any way. The doors will stay closed with the help of super magnets inside the panels and under the bench seat. Here you can see the flat magnet already glued under the panel, with the counter magnet to check on the other side. Double and triple check those magnet ends. I once had to rip a falsely glued one out of a seat and it fortunately went OK. The door sides are all closed and now the sanding and painting can start. But first I have to end my holiday trip. Can´t wait to get home and in my model "cave" again! Best wishes, Andy!

Hi Jason, you did a great job on this build. Never mind if the color isn´t thaaaat correct. You had fun building it !😉🤜🤛

Hi Claude, great idea and even better execution! That´s a rod I would like to see at a meeting in real life! Fine details and beautiful look🤙

Hi Ron, very nice "quicky" rod! cool stance and the chopped roof matches perfectly!

Hi Scott, great build and a very hot color! Looks great on the Starliner, otherwise unfortunately an underrated car and model. Many nice details! Did you fabricate the air filter yourself or is that second market?

Hi Michelle, well done build, I would really like to see more of the details you mention. I have great respect for all that 3D printing stuff and seriously thought about going down that road. Maybe some day..... How many parts does this build have?

Hi David, very clean execution, the color matches perfectly. Like how everything is tone in tone to highlight the De Luxe look. Nice idea too with the exhaust pipes.👍

Hey Alex, very neat job, a classic color choice!👍

Hi Jim, John, Andrew, Mike, J and Brian for checking out my post and your friendly replies!

Hello and thank you to all my responders! Thanks for your friendly support! Best model building wishes, Andy

Hi everybody, nice to be back on the FORUM! I guess just about all of us have built this model before. This AMT/Ertl kit isn´t a highlight of complexity, but a grateful victim for customizing and heavy body work. I refrained from chopping the roof and wanted to keep the silhouette original. But there was plenty of work to do to make it my show rod. I shaved off all of the trim, door handles, roof drip and wipers, because in real life, this would be a show car with no street ambitions. I was out for round surfaces like polished pebbles. Beside the doors I cut out the trunk to accommodate a bench for the "kids". On a dark silver metallic there are 2 layers of metallic green (Molotow rattle can). Before the first layer I taped the shadow stripes on the fenders, hood and roof, making them a lighter green. Top coat is AK clear varnish. The wheels, disc brakes, calipers and the headlight lenses are from Scale Production. I hade to slice the front wheels to make them fit. The trunk is hinged with 1mm brass rods in 2mm styrene tubes. On this build for the first time I attached all hinge parts (trunk, hood and doors) with Tamiya epoxy putty. I was able to bridge gaps easily and everything stayed in place right from the start, without having to tape or stabilize during the hardening process. Unlike epoxy glue, nothing runs, drips or messes up the build. Just take care to rough sand all the sticking surfaces. The cushions are carved from modelling foam and covered with 2mm foam rubber. The door panels are also made of foam rubber placed in a frame of half-round stryrene. The armrest and handles are made of styrene and 1mm aluminum wire. The back of the interior compartment is also covered with foam rubber, with everything spray painted in a light leather toned finish, same as the seats. The floor is flocked in a matching color. I chose the custom dash from the kit and gave it some TLC with printed images for the gauges and the radio. Bare metal foil, wire rings, some toggle switches and a key chain enhance the dash. I added a headliner made of rubber foam also, along with sun visors and the rear mirror. I treated the engine with as much cables and lines as possible. The pulley wheels are deconstructed from the kit part and connected to the block with brass rods, then I wrapped a thin rubber belt around the pulleys. instead of a engine fan, the radiator has a cooling fan system. The brake booster, coil and relay are home made and just about completely fill the engine bay. The exhaust manifolds are from the kit, turned upside down and heat bent into shape. I liked the idea of keeping the exhaust pipes asymmetrical and since I chopped the hood a bit, they look fine creeping out of the sides. The carbs are 3D printed Holleys from Scale Production. The air filters are crafted from grid aluminum and spare covers. Because the rod is dropped, I had to adapt the front and rear suspension by grinding and cutting to lower by about 1 cm. Fuel and brake lines were added, same as shock absorbers. The rear end and the transmission are narrowed and rebuilt to accommodate the fat wheels. Now some images with all the doors open. This build was real fun and I hope you like it. Thanks for watching and if you watch my video, that would make my happy too! https://youtu.be/U-r7jinDEvg

Hi Supernurd, I wish it was "real" and mine! But I get along well having the Moebius version😄

Hi David, thanks for your nice response!