checkmate

Hey guys been away for awhile sorry. The basic chassis was the Bantam Blast kit, the body I used was a Jimmy Flintstone resin one, a mate donated a windscreen out of the snap tight kit which slotted straight in. Thanks heaps for the positive replies. Cheers Rob

And a couple more pics.....

Here's the end result of something I started ages ago and than finished after a mad three day rush. I started by painting the chassis gunmetal and building up the motor, diff etc. Getting the body to fit was fairly easy only needing a few slight adjustments, after a bit more trailing and erroring? I worked out that the body would need sections removed to clear the exhausts. Painted the body GMH Cyan blue, chipped it, painted the sides silver and the bottoms of the sides GMH Topaz gold. Than painted clear red over the top, making the top a deep burgandy/maroon fadeing into a nice candy red down the sides. Added a pearl coat over the top and fitted some decals and cleared. Was hopeing the clear red over blue would give me a purple, but ended up with maroon. The only purple is where the over spray is on the grill! Was going to paint the grill but liked the way it came out! Had to slightly adjust the steering and chassis, made some windows and made some aluminium exhaust tips and called it finished! I left the wing off the top and didnt fit a parachute as it sort of "cluttered" it up. Still might chuck a number plate on the back though. Cheers Rob

Here's a few pics of a van I finished a couple of months ago now. (Sorry about pic quality, taken with my phone) It was built standard out of box for next years NNL Cup catagory at the NSW NNL Titles. Painted with Holts Duplicolour paints. It went together reasonably well for an old mould, but needs to be lowered and some bigger rims and tyres added. (I'll butcher it after the show in April. )

MPC cetainly had some cool as can be kits back in the day. I love collecting their old van kits and other subjects too! I'd love to see them reissue the 1/20 MPC vans!!!! Even just one with a selection of options from the other toolings would be great.

Looking good mate, keen to see some more updates.

I've got the Sports Van version here. Sliding side door is a pretty cool feature.

This is way cool, the only thing I'd change is fill in the large side windows to make it more of a van, the only downside would be it'd cover up a lot of your hard work on the inside.

Beautiful builds, all three are exceptionally when done.

Make a cool van conversion!

Just pick one from the stash and keep on truckin'.

Yep exactly, in the past I've walked away for up to 6 months but always come back to it, been doing it since I was 8 so it's pretty much a part of life for me. Although in the last decade I think a month has been my longest spell, I go out to the shed and play 1:1 cars till I run out of dollars than it's back to the cheaper version.....models. Never work to a schedule, just do what I want at the time which explains the dozen or so half started kits on my bench.

Here's a mug shot of me and my son Scott taken 2 years ago at the NSW NNL Titles. And a pic of me with an Australian Vanning Legend and my purple van.

Yeah they look good standard bodied, nice and clean, like Mad Max's van. The Trans Am fronts were a real big thing here in the 80's and quite a few of the best known vans had them, I've got the moulds to make the T/A front and flares on mine. Here's some of the other better known vans that had Trans Am fronts. Street Legal. The Wizard. And another one of our van, Checkmate. (there's differences between the fronts, the other two were based on Trans Am fronts, ours was moulded of an actual Trans Am front modified to fit.

Yeah both the purple and gold vans share the same body style/shape as the van in Mad Max, it was a Holden too. The purple one is fairly stock bodied while the gold one is fairly modified, the front is actually fibreglass moulded of a modified Trans Am front that's why it looks like a Trans Am. Trans Am fronts were a popular mod on Aussie vans in the 80's. Here's some side on shots of the gold van for you. And here's a pic of my purple one with the Mad Max van.

Dont confuse car size with fuel efficiency, our Holden VY SS 5.7 Litre V8 used 8 to 10 Litres per 100km's and our 2 LitreToyota Rav 4 used around 12 Litres. Most of our V8's we've owned have got better economy than our 6's. I was a mechanic for over a decade and am constantly amazed by the misconception that V8's get poor fuel economy. What works in the UK, doesn't necessarily work in other countries like Australia or the US, if my house was getting broken into or my life depended on it I wouldn't want the authorities driving an underpowered gutless 1.6 or 2 Litre FWD heap of snot I'd rather them driving a 6 Litre V8 and being able to get there in time to make a difference.

I think the new Holden's have a nice shape and style to them, certainly nicer than some boring old FWD family hack. If you guys had've got the ute here's what it might've looked like. This was built out of a VE ute, the guy that built it converts others too. VE ute meets Camaro, this thing looks tuff as.

Here's some of my favourite's from down here in Australia. MR PSI ute. http://www.youtube.c...LSkzgPs80?rel=0 National Automotive ute. 1939hp at the rear wheels. http://www.youtube.c...Czt-Se-Wg?rel=0 And here's what happens when you stand on the throttle with that sort of grunt. http://www.youtube.c...5PvjX4nPM?rel=0

Thanks Ian, good to hear from you mate.

Similar to your G8(rebadged Holden Commodore) but it's got a longer wheel base of the Holden Statesman, the GTO was just a rebadged Monaro. You guys got the ute to didn't you? Apparently according to an article in a motoring mag I read Australia is the only country in the world that's population still want high powered rear wheel drive sedans for family cars. Cheers Rob

Made here, based on the Statesman but without all the mod cons by Holden.

My username is the name of our panelvan, my avatar is a pic of it! It's easy to remember so I use it on most of the forums I'm on except the Majestic Vanners forum where my username is The Zodiac.

Excellent job on the weathering!

Yeah they're our vans, here's a pic of me and my son Scotty in the shed with "his" van. And a pic of me, Scotty and my youngest son Josh with "his" van. The boys have both claimed a van and tell everyone that they own them and dad doesn't have a van.

Thanks for all the positive comments guys, it was a learning experience building it. I've got to learn how to use an airbrush than hopefully my weathering will improve, I currently dry brush and ink wash them.