Dennis Lacy

Most definitely! I’m thinking a rail job to run against @Rocking Rodney Rat

Much better! ?? Carry on…

Parts of it are! Should have one this weekend!

Stance and Lil Coffin rolling stock look good! Any chance you can center the rear wheels in the wheel wells?

Nice work! All of the colors you chose should look really good together.

Turned out absolutely killer!!!

I think you absolutely nailed the essence of the full scale car. Killer work on the weathering! You should send pictures to the cars caretaker, Eli English. I bet he’d love it!

This is absolutely BEAUTIFUL, Dan! It’s everything a late 1940’s mild custom should be. Killer color choice. I have one of these kits in complete, mint condition that I intend to build. It’s the “how I’m gonna build it” that I’m stuck on.

UPDATE! Sadly, it looks like it’s been since March of last year since I’ve updated this project. I was on a good roll with it but it’s one of several that had to be put on the back burners when MCM asked me to contribute a model for issue 216. Then, as it often happens when I have a long hiatus from a project, I started second guessing the direction getting in my head that it wasn’t going well. ? One issue I discovered last Spring that got me frustrated was that the engine sat too high not allowing the hood to close. After all of the mock ups I had done somehow this got by so I started going down the path of changing the engine to the 5.0 / T5 from the kit with modifications. I’d gone so far as to pull all of those parts and put them in the box a few months back. Fast forward today and I decided to open the box and take another look at the engine height problem. This time I was able to visualize a (pretty) simple solution to the problem and make the DOHC SVT Cobra engine fit properly. It’s funny how time away can bring fresh perspective. So, I’m happy to say the the project can move forward without two steps back! I was given a heads up when I bought the body that the back end of the floor pan would need to be trimmed because the rear bumper cover was tightened up by 1/16” on the master body to make the width of the ledge more accurate. With that I figured I’d start with trimming 1/16” as I could always do more. As it turns out, that was the perfect amount. After trimming the floor pan assembly is a perfect fit in the body but I found it much more difficult to get it manipulated into place and I think that is largely because the rear wheel openings on the resin body are smaller (corrected) which makes it hard to get the wheel wells past them. It’s also an extremely tight fit getting the front end up behind the bumper and into place as there’s details on the core support that protrude. It’s one thing to force things into place in bare plastic and resin but I don’t want a fight on my hands in the future during final assembly so my solution is that I’m going to cut the front bumper cover off the body so it can be installed separately after. It’s my understanding that the latest versions of this body are made with it separate. One of the details still needing to be figured out is a coolant overflow tank. I’m using the kit radiator with the electric frame from Revell’s 1948 Ford convertible. After some thought I realized I could carefully cut the factory tank away from the fan shroud and it’s a perfect fit up against the fan. That’s pretty much it for today. I did take the opportunity while the floor pan was fit into the body to mock up the engine, exhaust, front k-member, rear axle assembly and subframe connectors to make sure everything is still fitting correctly. Thankfully I didn’t find any issues. More to come!

Nope, I was only asking what was next for this project. Sounds good!

Just read through this whole thread (this place is much better for WIP’s than IG) and I have to commend you on what you’re doing with this awful kit. I have one that someone gave me a few years ago and even for free I’m not convinced it was a good deal! ? But, seriously, this is turning out really nice. I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished result. One small critique: You might think about mounting the front ends of the rear radius rods to the frame because it wouldn’t work out too good with them attached to a live driveshaft! ?

Firstly, I absolutely love the nose you created. Brilliant use of those custom ‘38 style hood pieces from the ‘37 Pickup kit. Secondly, I love the upholstered engine bay. That screams 1960’s Show & Go. Thirdly, I love that after studying the engineering and layout this model would be totally plausible as a full scale functional vehicle. Someone really needs to build it!

I like it! Stance is right-on and the Boyds wheels were a great choice. The full scale ‘50 that I mentioned my dad having in your build thread was a very similar shade of blue.

Wait, what are we talking about again? ?

How about trying an AMT ‘36 Roadster windshield frame?

@Speedpro Wow, the exhaust turned out bitchin! What’s next?

I have always turned my nose up at this kit, labeling it as total garbage. This project just goes to show that it does have serious potential in the right hands. This is awesome, Dave! And, I don’t know if you’ve considered it but I think this would look killer painted white with the gold drivetrain, chrome and whitewalls. Just a thought…

I would say you made your point! ?

UPDATE! Had a great afternoon at the bench today catching up on podcasts and getting some more solid work done on the companion RPU. One more small task on the cab was filling in the hood ledge at the top/center of the firewall like I did on the Closed Cab. Up front I grabbed a pair of the small headlights from Revell’s ‘29 Roadster / ‘30 Coupe, mounted them directly to the fenders and filled the mounting holes for the old headlight bar just like the Closed Cab. Next I turned my attention to the bed and back end. Here is where things deviate considerably from the Closed Cab as I decided to make a solid, smooth tailgate and bed cover from .040” Evergreen sheet. On the inner edges of the bed mounting rails made from strips of .040” square rod were installed to support the cover. A 3/16” wide strip was added to the bottom front edge of the cover to fill the gap at the front of the bed when installed. Continuing with the smooth theme I made a rear filler panel to span between the bed support rails and flush mounted a pair of taillight lenses found in most of Revell’s ‘32 Ford series. Underneath, a rectangular filler panel was fit. Both were made from .040” Evergreen sheet. Here’s the truck mocked up again with today’s additions. I couldn’t be happier with the look which is extremely appropriate for a late 80’s / early 90’s billet / smooth street rod. Like I said last week about the interior, I wish I could go back and do the Closed Cab like this! Until next Sunday…

Nice mock up. Needs more motor to go with that aggressive stance and chop!

You just have a way of kit bashing and weathering trucks that make them immediately recognizable as yours. These are subjects I’d ordinarily pass right by but when I see your name under the subject I always take a look.

I think you have more fun with scale pickups than anyone else on this forum! I’d never heard of a Nissan Sunny but with your description giving this model context I think it’s really cool.

Killer looking Willys, Phil. Wheels, tires and stance make or brake any car and I say you nailed it!

UPDATE! Had a productive afternoon at my bench today. Happy to report that I have the interior completely fabricated and am very happy with the results. I wish now that I had a set of these interior parts on-hand when I was building the Closed Cab as they look properly modern. For a refresher, here’s a group shot of the Revell ‘41 Willys Pro Street interior pieces and a piece of the floor from a Revell ‘32 Dan Fink Woody. After some careful trimming and door panel lines added the side pieces fit awesome. The seats were glued together then the headrests cut off and tops of the seats smoothed and sculpted. To fit the small Model A truck cab better the seat backs were tweaked more upright. This was done by simply pressing them forward and and inserting some wedge shaped pieces at the bottoms. Thankfully the portion of floor I found was just big enough to trim to fit using the kit floor board as a pattern. Like I did with the closed cab (same floor section used) I added a false firewall sticking up from the top edge. This way when viewing the interior it looks nice and smooth. I also added a set of pedals. The steering column is made up of the tilt style head from a ZZ Top Eliminator Coupe with the mast made from Evergreen rod. A new, deeper column drop was made and mounted to the dashboard. The end result! And finally a look at the whole truck with the interior in place. Again, I couldn’t be happier with how the interior came together! More to come!

I have one of these kits and have studied the pieces. I’d say to successfully and cleanly build this model in itself is worthy of a pat on the back. Then you factor in that you fully wired and plumbed all 4 Nailheads. Not to mention scratch building 36 matching header pipes. This one deserves a standing ovation! Well done!! ?