1971 Ford Ranger XLT

[Harry Joy]

This kit was lovely, and the detail very nice, but it fought me. The bed gave me fits; the tailgate did not want to sit right, and the whole bed ended up with a little twist. I could not get the cabin interior to sit right either, and the only way to correct it would have been to remove everything and start over. Long story short, neither the front or the bed sit right on the chassis. So like a true pro, I'm not sharing the pictures that show that.

 

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

Nice looking truck Harry!

 

Steve

[Hubert Rollins]

Good lookin old Ford!

[Ron Hamilton]

Very handsome!!!!

[GTJUNIOR]

Good colour choice. Looks great. 

[Harry Joy]

Thanks everyone!

[Dann Tier]

Still looks great!!

[cobraman]

I like what I can see. Too bad about the problems.

[kelson]

To bad about the fit issues,what colors did you use to paint the body?

[Harry Joy]

To bad about the fit issues,what colors did you use to paint the body?

I started out using Tamiya acrylics, but couldn't get to the colors I really wanted without a lot of mixing, forest green and sea-foam. I did enough mixing on my last build, the 53 Bel Air. I ended up going back to Duplicolor. Deep Jewel Green metallic and Wimbledon white.

[Kenny B]

I used to see them driving down the road like that. I would throw a set of plug wires on her and call it done.

Very nice build.

Edited March 6, 2016 by Kenny B

[mikemodeler]

That came out very nice. I am worried about the fit issues you mentioned, but I will have to dig mine out and see if I can make a go of it!

Nice color choices and very well detailed.

[Harry Joy]

That came out very nice. I am worried about the fit issues you mentioned, but I will have to dig mine out and see if I can make a go of it!

Nice color choices and very well detailed.

The fit issues were not inevitable, and not the result of poor molding. The design is a little fiddly though, and that was my issue. I should have taken more care in building the bed and in fitting the cockpit into the cab. The fit issues were my fault.

[Foxer]

That sure looks good, though!

[Harry Joy]

Thank you.

Took me a minute to figure out what happened to my thread. There are so many sub-forums, I collapsed several after my first few days on the forum. Completely forgot there was a truck forum.

[Sixties Sam]

Good looking truck, Harry! I like the colors. Some kits do put up a fight, but it looks like you won!

Sam

[DRIPTROIT 71]

Nice Build! I had problems with warped parts on mine too. The top of the cab dog dished downward, the cowl bowed down in the shape of a u, the hood was twisted, a the bed was twisted. I was able to correct everything but the bed with a little heat. I didn't catch that the bed was slightly twisted until final assembly, so I didn't attempt fixing it. But these are nice kits, just packed a little too tight in the box.  I like your choice of colors too. Nice Work!

[Harry Joy]

Thank you! I was originally going for sea-foam and forest green, but I'm glad I changed it in the end, even if it meant repainting a good bit. The cream color stands out.

[ChrisR]

Looks great!

[DumpyDan]

Very nice, well done

[St Louis Snacker]

I think the fit issues have to do with the fact that's it's a Ford.  That's they way they came from the factory.  Consider it authentic.

[gatorincebu]

 

   Looks to me like you did a good job on a problematic kit.

 

 

 

    Be Well

     Gator

[Harry P.]

Looks pretty good to me! Nice work.

[Harry Joy]

I think the fit issues have to do with the fact that's it's a Ford.  That's they way they came from the factory.  Consider it authentic.

Haha! Thanks guys.

I'm more of a Chevy guy than Ford, so I can dig that. I drive a lot in my current job, and as soon as I started building this, I started noting every old Ford Ranger I saw on the roads. More often than not, I saw beds awry, missing chrome, bent and abused metal, and all sorts of the things old trucks of every brand display. But I've never been much into weathering. I have a friend who excels at doing beaters, and I love seeing his work, but it's not what I want on the shelf.

However..... when I realized where this build was going, I decided to mask my build errors with some "window dressing". My wife however, who asked me to do this kit in the first place, forbade it. She wanted it to look clean. I think if I put a heavily weathered truck on a shelf, she would commence to dusting it every day until it is clean again.

I have a Chevy truck in the "to build soon" pile, and hope to get on it before too long. Oddly enough, the truck that inspires me to build the Chevy was a truck belonging to one of my grandfathers. He was a farmer and used the truck around his farm every day for twenty years. But while the paint on it faded, he never let it look like a beater.