55 Cameo Pro Touring build UPDATE 2-23-16

[lghtngyello03]

Some of you guys may have saw this over on the car section workbench. I figured I'd make the thread over on the truck workbench section too, as some of you may not venture to the car building side.

 

Alright, this is my 3rd build since getting back into the hobby after years of not building . I wanted to try out some things I've saw on the boards. I've never been one to build anything other than box stock, but this is not going to be near box stock for sure.

 

The build started out with an old AMT 55 Cameo kit which had been hiding in my closet since it was released. I decided to do this truck with a pro touring look. So that said, I wanted it low down with a nice set of staggered wheels, disc brakes, and an LS engine. I sourced an LS2 from an SSR kit, used a resin oil pan from the Clearly Scale LS Engine kit, filed the front crossmember, and cut the trans mount and raised it so the engine would actually fit and have the correct angle..

I wanted this truck to have no chrome around the windows and doors, so I shaved all of the chrome on the cab, cut the vent window posts out, shaved the wipers and filled the cowl, as well as shaved the door handles. I also filled the emblem hole on the hood, filled the gas cap, filled in the rear bumper holes for the bumper guards ( for that nice smooth look,) smoothed the inner front fenders, and  filled in the molds on the inner bedsides. 

 

Next I started working on the stance, so I had to do some lowering.... another thing I've never done before. I picked up some awesome wheels from Steve Zimmerman, and had to do a little more cutting when they arrived. So the bed is being mini tubbed. Brakes were sourced from a Tamiya FD RX-7. This is my first go at this, so go easy on me please, haha. I still have to make the wheel tubs, so I picked up various sizes of styrene sheets for this over Christmas vacation.

 

Any tips on the mini tubs will be greatly appreciated.

Also, the color will be Tamiya TS92 Metallic Orange tipped with TS13 Clear.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my build...hopefully one day I'll get as good as all you guys on here.

 

Scott

Edited February 24, 2016 by lghtngyello03

[lghtngyello03]

 

This is the look I am going for, except for in Tamiya TS92 Metallic Orange. Going to have to dump my front a little lower.

 

[lghtngyello03]

Got some time this evening after work to make up some rear tubs. I used an old medicine bottle and cut some .040 styrene to take the gap from the bottom away. I still have to put the putty on and smooth em out. But here is a rough  mock up.

[lghtngyello03]

Think I'm going to go with this color combo instead of TS93 Metallic orange.  

 

This is Tamiya TS76 Mica Silver with Tamiya TS73 Clear Orange sprayed over top of it.  It looks killer in the sun light.

[lghtngyello03]

Window openings corrected.

[lghtngyello03]

Fixed the hood gap..I may work on the drivers front corner a tad more. Lemme say, first time using evergreen styrene strips, and I'm really impressed with how pliable  these things are. I'm hooked! Little bit of work involved but worth it.

[lghtngyello03]

Haven't had much time to get to the bench until today. Saturday was the Hope it Don't Snow show, and I had a blast. I picked up this kit and am going to source some parts put of it to make this build even better. 

Going to use the interior out of the SSR. Hated to cut up a perfect kit, but I'm not really a fan of these anyways. Here it is roughly fitted after some cutting, and also what had to be cut off. Needs a little bit of massaging but it will work.

[lghtngyello03]

Here is what had to be cut and a little bit of reshaping done to the dash

[lghtngyello03]

I managed to get a little done over the past couple of days. I added some .040 styrene strips on the edges of the door panels and interior tub to take away the gap between the body and the interior tub. Threw some putty on them and then sanded them down today. I'll have to say, I wasn't looking forward to that, but I am happy with the end result! Now all I have to do is glue the door panels to the tub and fill in the rear corner gaps on the tub.

[lghtngyello03]

I did manage to get some "floor pans" made for the interior tub. I know it's not as involved as the step downs that was recommended, but I'm used to seeing flat floors in a lowered custom truck. Made from .010 styrene sheets.

[lghtngyello03]

So I got the corners of the cab made and glued in today, just have to putty and sand them. I also started on the engine assembly and paint. First time using a black wash too so go easy on me.  Still have to paint the engine cover when I paint the body. 

 

Edited January 26, 2016 by lghtngyello03

[lghtngyello03]

[lghtngyello03]

Super excited to finally get this sucker in primer and see some color on the wheels. Got a quick pic of the new stance dry fitted. The bed didn't want to cooperate with the putty for some pics..but here we go.

Wheels are painted with Tamiya primer,  then Tamiya TS13 Gloss Black, and topped off with Alclad Chrome.  

Pretty sure I'm gonna have to put some more putty back on the gas door and cowl then resand and reprime. Any suggestions?  Never done that before.

[lghtngyello03]

Currently how it sits. I have to sand out the CA glue applied to the areas that have ghosting where I applied putty.

[lghtngyello03]

Made one side of the exhaust up with some 1/8" styrene tubing. I'm just trying to decide if this would be a good place to exit at? Sorry for the crappy pics, but it was kinda hard to get a good pic of it holding all that together with just bedside taped to the floor. 

Edited January 28, 2016 by lghtngyello03

[lghtngyello03]

Finally got some time to work on the truck today after work. I finished shaping the other exhaust pipe, got the body parts reprimed, sprayed the chassis in Tamiya Semi Gloss Black, dark washed the lugnuts on the rims (thanks Steven!) And got the bed painted and BMF'd.

 

Really pleased with the outcome of the body since I had ghosting prior to this. Thanks guys for the superglue tip over the putty. 

 

Edited February 1, 2016 by lghtngyello03

[lghtngyello03]

[lghtngyello03]

Got time tonight to finish the exhaust, with the exception of painting it. 1/8 " styrene tubing, mufflers from the parts box which I filed notches in them to slip over the styrene tubing, and the cats are from the ssr kit.

[lghtngyello03]

Not much of an update, didn't really have much time today to work on the truck. Did use my airbrush for the second time tonight. 

Got the front wheels nounted. Sprayed the exhaust and manifolds in Tamiya chrome silver then shot some bronze over them to make them look rusty from heat cycles.

[lghtngyello03]

 

Got all the body parts painted with the Mica Silver basecoat tonight, and the rolling chassis complete. Just have to install my rear shocks and paint my oil filter.

 

Tomorrow I'll lay down the clear orange color and get it ready for clear coat.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 5, 2016 by lghtngyello03

[lghtngyello03]

 

Edited February 5, 2016 by lghtngyello03

[afx]

Nice project. Wheels look sharp.

[Misha]

Very sweet ride! Been following your work with great interest as I'm a fan of the mid 50s Chev pickups. It'll be exciting to see the clear orange on it! Great work, thanks for sharing your build.

Cheers Misha

[lghtngyello03]

Very sweet ride! Been following your work with great interest as I'm a fan of the mid 50s Chev pickups. It'll be exciting to see the clear orange on it! Great work, thanks for sharing your build.

Cheers Misha

Thanks! I got the body sprayed orange over the weekend.

 

[lghtngyello03]

Well I finally got the body sprayed in the clear orange. It was a battle to the end though. Ran out of the ts 73 spray. So I had to try my hand at spraying the clear orange on with my new airbrush. After screwing up my hood, I figured out how to do it. All is done minus the hood now. It has to be stripped and redone with a base then top color coat.