Sno Joke - Showrod Jeep

[OldNYJim]

So, I started collecting parts for my next project for the showrod site that I'm a member of -  I was thinking of combining this...

With some 3d printed tyres like this...

To make something like this!

No build pics yet - I just got home and the kit was here waiting for me - but I'm excited about the idea!  Drop it as far as possible, put some wide tyres on there, add a snowplow (because you GOTTA have a theme, right?), keep the 4 wheel drive and the stock Willys engine (but add a big blower or something to up the power output some)...it'd be a fun thing to drift around on a snowy day!

Off to read the instructions and look over the parts!

Edited July 7, 2017 by CabDriver
typo

[cobraman]

Cool ! Funny, I ordered 2 sets of resin tires like that from Ma's resin. That was 16 months ago. I guess he just took my money. Shame on him.

 

[Lowlife ! !]

This should be fun to see built !  Its always good to me, to see people using a bit of imagination with their builds. No disrespect to the factory stock builders on here, but its good seeing something a bit weird for a change ! !  

[OldNYJim]

A few mock-up pics - just playing with the parts and working out what to do here.  I think I'm going to move the interior tub up in the body so I can Z the frame and keep most of the running gear almost intact - I'm excited to see it with the wheels that I ordered though - looks just as cool as I was hoping it would!

[DumpyDan]

Ya this is sno Joke, looking good

[OldNYJim]

Ya this is sno Joke, looking good

Haha!  Thanks Dan!
 

So, I started on the first and biggest job this weekend - getting the stance right.  This thing is gonna need a HUGE drop and every trick in the book to get it how I want it.  First up, slicing up the frame to zee it:

I sliced each rail into three pieces and carefully glued them back in place, with the centre supports, on a little jig that I made:

Tada!

Gained about a 4 inch scale drop this way, and hopefully I can use all the stock running gear (albeit souped up a little) without TOO MANY modifications (famous last words...)

Added some plates to the frame to help hold it together.  Not pretty, but if I was doing this for real I'd definitely do this...plus they'll be mostly hidden when the body is on anyway

I also added some half round bar to the bottom of the frame rails which I'll blend in with some putty just to make it look a little prettier

Now I need to mess with the floorpan to make it fit the zee'd chassis and get that part as low as I can too.  More soon!

[D. Battista]

Interesting project....   looks like your off to a good start....!

[DumpyDan]

Man great work, gonna keep watching

[Edward Gore]

Nice jig, I would have never thought of using that. Those wheels look like paint rollers right now.

 

 

[OldNYJim]

Thanks fellas!  There's going to be a lot of fabrication and modification on this one so bear with me...

Next job was to do some cutting and fab on the floorpan to channel it down over the frame. First I removed the rear deck with a razor saw

And then slotted the floor to allow the frame rails to drop through it:

That's better! You can see the white reenforcing plates on the frame poking through the floor here. Whilst I was doing it, I cut some small styrene pieces to plug a couple of holes left over from all the cutting:

That'll work!

Next I made a new raised rear deck from some styrene sheet and half round bar - this really shows how much of a drop the floor pan has had:

And the (semi) finished piece compared to an unmodified part

Next job is to channel the body and get that mounted and squared up - more soon!

[1930fordpickup]

This snow cool.  I like it. 

[OldNYJim]

OK, so next step (now that I've done some research) is to resin cast the tyres for this thing, which is in progress now, in my bathroom so I don't get shouted at for making a mess...



So, whilst the RTV rubber is setting I started some work on the engine. I drilled the head for plug wires, and got the block assembled and the split siles smooth. As you can see there's some moulded in detail on there, a distributor and a coil and there's a started moulded in too.





The kit alternator isn't quite round for some reason - it cones off at the end, so I removed that and replaced it. Whilst I was at it I added a photoetched bracket to the block for it to mount to. it doesnt need it to build the kit, but the real ones have them. I drilled a little hole in there too so I can wire it when the time comes.



I also added a little doodad from a watch to simulate the 'fan' part of the alternator, and I'll add a photoetched bolthead on the bracket once it's all in place for good



Next up, I sanded off the molded in detail on the passenger side of the block, added a little tab to mount the a machined aluminum coil and drilled a hole for an aftermarket distributor:





The little tab stands out a little too much for my liking at the minute but I didnt want to clamp the coil to the block, I wanted to keep it nice and smooth - and I figured out the tab will be hidden by the air filter most likely when I've figured that out anyway. I also want to work out a better way of securing the engine in the chassis when it comes to gluing it - the fit is a little vague right now.

Then, final update for the day (so far anyway), was to make a new exhuast. The stock one is kinda weedy (although I'm sure adequate for the relatively few horsepower this engine puts out), so I used the stock header with some styrene tube and a late model Corvette exhaust, hacked into 3 or 4 pieces to get the bends, into a new pipe.




None of this work (probably 20 hours on and off so far) is ammounting to anything very impressive to look at so far, so next job is to get the body worked out so it at least looks like something More soon!

[Davewilly]

Looks pretty cool so far!

[#1 model citizen]

Looking good snow far.

[Lowlife ! !]

Looking crazy, great work !  But wasn't you going to use a supercharger ? Thought a big V8 was on order ! 

Edited July 19, 2017 by Lowlife ! !

[disabled modeler]

I like it....!

[OldNYJim]

Thanks for the comments guys!

Looking crazy, great work !  But wasn't you going to use a supercharger ? Thought a big V8 was on order ! 

I'm gonna supercharge the stock engine!  At least, if I can find any reference pics online of one so I can figure out how to do it...

[PatW]

That's a question on the Jalopy Journal site 'How to Supercharge a 4 banger motor'

Edited July 19, 2017 by PatW

[OldNYJim]

That's a question on the Jalopy Journal site 'How to Supercharge a 4 banger motor'

Ohh, good tip!  Thanks Pat!  I should've thought of looking on the HAMB for some ideas.  Great advice!

[OldNYJim]

Made a little progress on this thing this week - a lot of research and messing with little bits and pieces.  I wanted to make a brake master cylinder as there's not one included in the kit.  It should look like this...

So I fabbed one up with some round bar of various different sizes and some hex bar for the mounting bolts.  The rubber bushing is a simpler design than the one in my reference pic, more like the ones that later models of this jeep seem to have and I made that from a little hexagonal bead from Hobby Lobby that I cut and sanded to roughly the shape I wanted.  The pushrod is another watch part.  Not quite finished, but getting there...gonna do a little more on it today and then figure out where I can mount it on the frame

And the piece assembled as it is so far

In the meantime I started casting some wheels for it - or making the mold anyway.  I've already made the mold for the tyres so I'm going to cast a set of parts all in one go once I've got these molds done.  These wheels are from the AMT Depth Charger - I've only got one pair of them and I want to build the kit so I'm going to make an extra set that I can mess with.

And finally for today, my paint came!  This is a nice deep pearl blue that I'm planning on using for the chassis, the engine and the interior tub.  Hopefully it looks good!  Anyone tried clearcoating over this stuff?

More progress as I make it!

[1930fordpickup]

Are you going to use an ammo can for the scoop? 

[OldNYJim]

Ohhhh, an ammo can!  That's a fun idea!  I've got one here as it happens - I use it for storing stuff.  Great idea!

[OldNYJim]

Meanwhile, my seats arrived!  These are bomber seats from Replicas and Miniatures:

Next, I channeled the body over the interior tub a little and got it taped in place just to make sure there won't be any fitment issues further down the line when it's painted

I always imagined a slight wedge shape to the body of this build, and the stance will achieve some of that but I chopped a slice out of the hood too with a razor saw:

Tada!

I'm still waiting for the resin parts that I cast yesterday to set (advertised 3 hour cure time, 12 hours later I'm still waiting) so time to get the chassis finished off ready for paint and do some research on plumbing and wiring the engine!  More soon!

[OldNYJim]

Just a small update, because I was excited...  So, I'm going with a pearl blue for most of the moving parts, the interior tub and the chassis.  I went with the Createx color I showed in a previous post, but I wanted it a little darker than the color it came as in the bottle:

So, first job was to flat-black the chassis and engine (the other bits aren't quite ready yet) with Tamiya acrylic:

Then, some of the Createx blue.

Pretty huh?

Can't wait to see it with some clear over the top!  More soon!

[OldNYJim]

Test (sorry, was having trouble posting)

 

Edited July 26, 2017 by CabDriver