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Making sure to polish these tanks before shooting Alclad......

I am liking the reflection of the bed so far, will post a more complete picture when done, it's secret work....you know???

I have also started working on the body......

The flatbed is already chromed. I used Krylon Chrome paint instead of Alclad because I want to have a contrast between the kit chrome and the bed.

I am not too crazy about the toyish looking chrome on these gas tanks so I will be Alclading them. Once the paint and clear are dry, I will polish them to perfection and cover them with Alclad.....

Very cool!!!

I am also making the two control panels. I used some pins found at Michael's to simulate these and scratch built the box using the same diamond plate sheet. Once the pins are in place, I will bend and straighten them out evenly.

I have also added the side rails to the bed. These will be installed one I finish painting the diamond plate base.

This is the rear pick up which is 90% finished.....

I purchased some Evergreen and Plastruct stock to start the scratchbuilding process. I will be using the kit's floor for the base of the flat bed and will cover it with a diamond plate sheet.

I am sourcing the emergency light bar from this old Tamiya kit I had in my stash....

I have taken a few pictures of the real one and this is more or less what I want to come up with and as I said, with kind of a retro look for the cab.....

I will not be going too wild with details on the engine, the idea is just to build a cool looking flatbed. Here you can see I have already put the engine block together and painted it with Testors Ford Engine Blue.

As you guys well know, I am not a big truck guy and though I do like them, it's still not many of these you will see me putting together. The guys in Puerto Rico love the flatbeds and it just took a few pictures to convince me to do one though I will have to do a little scratch building in the process. I like the idea behind displaying my completed models on top of a flatbed so let's see what I come up with. The base of my build will be this AMT Ford truck which I've had laying around for quite a while. I want to have something classic and old as a truck, nothing too modern but more like a restored version of a modern flatbed with the skeleton of the old.

The Alclad from the can can't be compared to the airbrush type. Spaz Stixx obviously is superior to Alclad in this form. Thank you very much for taking the time to show us these comparisons. I am currently working on a flatbed right now and I am looking to purchase a can of the best chrome paint for the bed since I will not be using the Alclad to airbrush that huge of a surface. This video gives me a good idea which one to buy!

Very cool build and the paint is gorgeous!

My technique is similar to Steve's and one that certainly works. I was never too crazy about spraying it in large parts such as bumpers but as I said, as long as that surface is smooth and shiny before shooting the Alclad then you will be okay. Pictures don't lie as you can see!

More photos....

Paul hit it on the nail, shiny and smooth is the idea with just a few coats at very low PSI. This is a '62 'Vette I did a while back. Those bumpers were actually polished smooth before adding the Alclad. If you get your base right, it works wonders but it's also the kind of thing you have to practice a lot to master.

Are you trying to avoid the polishing cloths? If so, you will need to use both the Tamiya products but my advice to you is, if you don't mind using the polishing cloths, start with 3200 and go up to 4000. After finishing with the 4000, all you would need to use is the Finish. The polishing cloths eliminate the orange peel and though the polishing compounds do the same, they do not do it as effectively as the cloths. After finishing with the compounds, you can add the decals as long as you don't put a wax coat on it.

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Beautiful build and gorgeous kit!

Very cool!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9u09YNLFVk

Awesome, I always enjoy your builds my friend!!!