John Goschke Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 (edited) A few months ago I finally lucked on to an affordable built-up AMT '60 Ford pickup on eBay. The day it arrived I stripped the decals and junk off, gave it a scrubbing, and started chopping it down from the kit's 118" wheelbase, 8' bed configuration to my preferred 110' wheelbase, 6.5' bed. Took a couple evenings of work, but I managed to get to this mockup stage before jumping back on other projects. Check it out... Two shots from the auction listing: pretty typical build, but fortunately not painted, and not too much of a glue bomb! No engine, compact 13" wheels up front for a "rubber rake." Here she is shortened up. Eight scale inches out of the chassis and out of the front of the bed after cutting it away from the cab. 10 scale inches out of the rear of the bed, just in front of the stake pockets (easier cutting there.) A piece of 1/32" ABS cut to match the rear inside bed wall reinforces the join at the rear of the bed. The bed floor was also cut eight scale inches in front and 10 in back. Edited September 21, 2018 by John Goschke
Jairus Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 NICE work so far! Big improvement with those '57 Ford rims too.
JTalmage Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 Love it! I'd love to have a nice hot rodded old truck like that to build
Tom Geiger Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 Nice work John! I cannot wait to see what you do with it!
DrKerry Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 Lookin good so far!!!! Kind of looks kool with the marks the decals left from the yellowing of the plastic, but I know it won't stay like that!!!! LOL
wayne swayze Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 WOW!! I love those old trucks from AMT!! Yours looks way better being shortened up. I hope you keep that stance also. It appears that you removed the chrome from the hood sides, and filled the opening with styrene. I've done the same idea on my '61 Ford pickup. I'll be watching your progress!
RyanK Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 Very Nice! I've wanted one of these for a while. I wish that Round 2 would reissue these early 60's Ford trucks. Love your work!
peekay Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 Always enjoy seeing your skillful and tasty work John. (And the photography is as good as it gets.)
cobraman Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 Love what your doing here. Sure would like to see that kit available again.
oldcarfan Posted July 29, 2015 Posted July 29, 2015 Posted these before, but here's mine converted to a step-side. The other is a ModelHaus copy.
goldfinger Posted July 30, 2015 Posted July 30, 2015 Awesome. I bought one of these at a flea market for $2.50 once. Now I watch as they as escalate beyond my reach on EBay . I wish I had thought of Shortening the bed.
StevenGuthmiller Posted July 30, 2015 Posted July 30, 2015 Cool Project John!This is one of those kits that I'd like to find someday.As a matter of fact, I bid on one today that was in very nice condition, but it got too rich for me!Keep us posted on your progress. Steve
1930fordpickup Posted July 30, 2015 Posted July 30, 2015 John this is a very nice work in progress. Great old truck and as you have said hard to find a good rebuilder reasonable.
ChrisBcritter Posted July 30, 2015 Posted July 30, 2015 Oh, man... I'm still kicking myself for giving one of these to a friend when I left CA (decent shape - missing wheels and engine, grille modded with the "V+" from the '57 Meteor grille, but unpainted and not a gluebomb), but I wasn't in my right mind... plus it had a pedigree; it was one of the lot of models I got from H.B. Halicki's estate. Maybe my friend would sell it back to me? Hmmm... NICE work so far! Big improvement with those '57 Ford rims too. Actually those are the chrome reverse rims that came with the kit; I believe the '60 Vette kit had them as well.
hjracing Posted July 30, 2015 Posted July 30, 2015 Coooool! I really love those trucks! Keep it coming!
John Goschke Posted July 30, 2015 Author Posted July 30, 2015 Oh, man... I'm still kicking myself for giving one of these to a friend when I left CA (decent shape - missing wheels and engine, grille modded with the "V+" from the '57 Meteor grille, but unpainted and not a gluebomb), but I wasn't in my right mind... plus it had a pedigree; it was one of the lot of models I got from H.B. Halicki's estate. Maybe my friend would sell it back to me? Hmmm... NICE work so far! Big improvement with those '57 Ford rims too. Actually those are the chrome reverse rims that came with the kit; I believe the '60 Vette kit had them as well. Correct, Chris. The Chevy and Ford truck kits used these rims, as well as the '60 Vette and T-birds. These are from a T-bird.
John Goschke Posted August 24, 2017 Author Posted August 24, 2017 Having just acquired a pristine bed floor from one of the eBay parts purveyors for this old truck I took a break from the '58 Fairlane to fit it to the model and resolve some other issues. The new floor was shortened to match the original one. When I originally shortened the bed I wound up with an extremely fragile joint at the front corners of the pickup box where it attached to the cab. So I worked up a new joint method by first cutting the front wall of the bed away where it was molded to cab then cemented it to the box. After which I cemented a new sheet styrene rear cab wall and cut a large notch out of it. Then I cemented the piece cut from the notch to outside front bed wall so that it would fit into the notch when the cab and bed were put together. A sheet styrene tab was cemented on top of the piece from the notch on the bed which would overlap the inside rear of the cab wall when the cab was slipped over it, locking the two together. Hopefully the photos illustrate this better than I can explain it. I also tweaked the wheelbase a bit to get the rear wheels centered under the high point of the rear wheel opening and lowered the rear to get rid of the jacked-up stinkbug stance and get it a more subtle rake. The bed was also dropped down a tad from its original position to get the upper body crease lined up through the cab and bed, after which it was necessary to shave a little of the lower edge of the bed forward of the rear wheel opening and too reshape the rocker panels.
Mercuryman54 Posted August 24, 2017 Posted August 24, 2017 Love these trucks!! Had one painted metallic blue and built stock when I was a kid. It had nothing glued to the body except the stock emblems. It got sold in a rummage sale in about 1967
StevenGuthmiller Posted August 25, 2017 Posted August 25, 2017 Nice John!I found a nice one of these a few months ago.Funny how everyone that I've seen has the points broken off of the "arrow" emblems on the hood.I'd like to find a new set along with some stock hub caps. Steve
gtx6970 Posted August 25, 2017 Posted August 25, 2017 (edited) Love the shortbed conversion. I've been trying to get a clean 60 or 61 F150 for a while now. Always seem to get beat out Edited August 25, 2017 by gtx6970
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