Gluhead

Nice! Gladiator-ize it!

I don't want to hijack your thread, Randy, but go take a look at my recent post in the resin section. It's threads like yours that helped push me to try stuff like this.

Thanks for the feedback so far. Casey, you're right on the big block. I should have been more clear, but I hadn't intended that to be one of the cast subjects. For all intents and purposes here, lets just consider from the bellhousing back. Stock, they came with small blocks, but it's not uncommon to swap in a BB. I wanted mine to have one, so there it sits. The only engine parts that needed any modification to fit within the Blazer frame were the exhaust manifolds. They could certainly be offered as an option. I'm far from an expert on this, but in digging around for what to use it looks like these trucks came with the Dana 44. The pumpkin I have here is a pretty close match to the reference images I was able to locate for the stock Blazer. However, they were often replaced as time went on with Dana 60's and GM 10 bolts, not to mention the plethora of non-stock offerings available in the market today. But, I've seen several Dana 60's out there in resin. Not so much for the 44. I would agree with you about supplying tubes for the rest of the axle, but there's enough going on with the knuckle mount (not sure what that's called, but it's a necessary component to using the HD steering knuckle), spring mounts, and the bracket for the steering stabilizer that I think it'd be best to cast it with the tubes and mounts already in place. In making my own, it can be a pretty frustrating endeavor to make all these pieces and get them to line up correctly. My main concern here is with the knuckle mount, and whether or not resin would be up to the task to hold the weight of the model. I made mine out of pewter, so there's no problem there, but resin? I'm not so sure. But that's why I'm asking for casters input, to help address things like this. You're also right on the leaf springs. For my own project, the Blazer already includes them. But for anyone wanting to do a conversion on a pickup kit or looking for a little lift via arched springs, they'd need them. That's easy enough to master, so no big deal there. So, that takes us to the chassis issue, as was mentioned. The '60 and '64 Chevy frames are a perfectly viable swap for the trucks. The Blazer already has a nice frame so nothing needed there. The truck kits inner wheelwells are incorrect. The '66 and earlier slab wells should be replaced with the round ones that the Blazer uses. This is where I start to wonder about the viability of offering this stuff. Sure, one could offer the transmission, transfer case, front end parts (knuckles, stabilizer)...but how far does one take it and how much do you leave up to the builder to do on his own?

I think I last went in '02 or '03. ModelCarList was making a good showing in those days (Mike, still have your MCL tshirts? ). I've been getting the itch for a good show lately, so I'm a little concerned to hear things may not be how I remember them. Things do change, though, don't they. John, I would imagine the NNL is still healthy. Is that the case? Could you give any idea of what to expect on the vendors side for Saturday?

Cool! That came out pretty sweet. Pretty under-rated kit, if you ask me. I need to give mine a rebuild. It's hiding in the background here.

Woah!

Hey guys, I'm putting this in the Resin section kind of to gauge if there's any interest in them as replacement/conversion parts. I didn't start out intending for them to be cast, but the '67-'72 GM trucks are pretty popular, the kits are still pretty easy to get, there seems to be a bunch of 4x4 builders, and mostly...the kit parts available really blow chunks! It was the AMT '72 Blazer that spurred me to make these, but from what I can tell they'd be right for any '67-'72 (correct me if I'm wrong), and there's no doubt that this stuff found it's way into tons of other trucks. With the Blazer kit, the frame and springs were fine, but the engine was far short of impressive and the transmission, transfer case, and axles were simply terrible. Better axles and a transfer case can be kitbashed from later trucks, but lets face it those aren't all that hot, either. Plus, I've never been a big fan of the lack of steering knuckle detail that we're stuck with from almost every 4x4 kits front drive axle. It'd be one thing if they were tucked way under the truck, but they're pretty visible. Anyway, here's what I've made. An SM465 transmission, NP205 transfer case, Dana 44 front drive axle, and GM Heavy Duty 4x4 steering knuckles. The Dana 44 uses a kit center section, and there are two heavily modified kit parts on the transfer case. The bellhousing is a kit piece, and the big block is just something I mashed together out of leftover parts. Everything else you see here is whittled out of raw plastic or metal. There's more work to do, but I figured I would find out if they are candidates for casting before I continued. So, is there any interest? Casters, is this something people ask for? If there is, I can go back to work on these parts with that in mind, with input on how to do them in a way that makes for better cast parts. If not, that's cool too...but I'm curious to know.

Wow. I had no idea so much was going on in this thread. I just sat here and read the whole thing. It's great to see the interaction between caster and master(er? lol). Tom, not to be repetitive here, but your work is excellent. That grill is very impressive! It'd be a real learning experience to be a fly on the wall while you worked. I wish I'd known of you when I lived in Columbus...I'd have asked for the opportunity.

Minor update - Spark plug and coil wire.

Sounds like your son-in-law just found himself your next birthday present!

Great! I've been opening my eyes to what's possible when you start throwing chunks of raw plastic at each other over the last year. It's amazing what you can make happen when you break things down to each individual aspect of a given part, then sort out in your head how to get it to come together.

Ron, I thought the '50 was pretty nice, but I gotta say that wrecker came out really cool.

I was out grabbing a headliner shell at a yard in Columbus, Ohio one day for work, and there near the back corner sat a '70 MkIII with one little dent in the rear quarter and a handful of things pulled from the dash (or something to that effect...it's been about 11 years now). Other than that, and the fact that the wheels had been pulled, it looked like it was about a year off the showroom floor. I couldn't believe it. Of course, it wasn't for sale.

That is a good idea. It's called windlace, by the way. Fuzzies are actually the fuzzy strips that go between the door and the window at the bottom of the opening.

Okay, I want that. My address is...

Sharp.

Yupyup. Gimme a day to get to a scanner and I'll pop it off to ya.

Yup. I wanna see this one, too.

I've never had any interest in this kit, until now. What an improvement over stock.

I can't tell you enough how cool I think this project is, and the execution is just great. Now, who's going to scratchbuild the steam shovel?

You'll figure it out, Mark. I can't wait to see the cab up on the chassis.

Heheh, very cool, Mark. I had a '76 Dodge van for several years (and it was my Dads before me, for ages), so I've got a soft spot for them. Sure wish they hadn't goobered up the tooling for this kit, though! I trashed two of the older tool bodies in an attempt to make mine early on in my return to modeling. It was a lwb with the extended rear, so I tried to stretch it to match. Can't find it now, so it must have been pretty bad. One of these days I'll take another stab at it. At least now I know how to do it with just one body.

Not sure how I missed this one, but I think this is the best use of that old ill-proportioned body I've ever seen. You've brought everything together to make it work for you rather than against you. Very cool! I'll definitely be watching this one. And that GeeBee, holy ###### now that I know it's mislabeled I have got to get one. Nothing better than a prop plane and a real hot rod sitting together.

I don't think I've had this kit where the uptop was included. I'd have never gotten rid of mine if it'd been in there. It looks great, and now I need to build one. Fine job on yours, and I hope you do end up going with fat whites (and maybe retrofitting some lowback front seats! ). It'd look awesome!

Very cool.