Billy Carter's Truck

[Brizio]

I had this kit for a while and last week I start to build this truck. 

Here a few picture of the box art, and all the parts.

[Brizio]

First thing first, I modify the front axle, so the wheels will be able to trun.

 

Here the chassis with suspension and brake line.

[Brizio]

I don't like the tires in the kit, I think they are too much wider, and also the rubber is very ard, they feel like soft plastic. The tires in the kit are Goodyear Wrangler R/T, and I will replace them with some Goodyear Tracker A/T. The Tracker are the two on the right in the picture.

 

[espo]

Interesting looking kit and the Presidents brother was lets just say was a very colorful person. I didn't realize that there was an I beam front suspension on this build. The 1:1 truck had an independent suspension set up. So is this going to be Billy's Beer Hauler or something else ?  

[Brizio]

1 hour ago, espo said:

Interesting looking kit and the Presidents brother was lets just say was a very colorful person. I didn't realize that there was an I beam front suspension on this build. The 1:1 truck had an independent suspension set up. So is this going to be Billy's Beer Hauler or something else ?  

I noticed the front axle, for a little bit I thoug to add a differential and make a 4x4, but after I decided to leave it 4x2. I think to build it out of the box. With some minor mods. 

[Brizio]

Painted the letters on the "new" tires.

 

 

[Force]

I built this kit back in the early 80's, I still have it but it needs some attention as it has been in an accident some years ago.
Revell did several Vans and Pickup kits back then and all were designed with similar construction and had the same style wheels, and I built a couple of them.

[Brizio]

2 hours ago, Force said:

I built this kit back in the early 80's, I still have it but it needs some attention as it has been in an accident some years ago.
Revell did several Vans and Pickup kits back then and all were designed with similar construction and had the same style wheels, and I built a couple of them.

I hope one day you can fix your. I have the Revell Chevy Street Pickup, in the Hot Rod series that is pretti much the same truck.

[Brizio]

Rolling chasis...

[LouO]

Looking good!

[Brizio]

18 hours ago, LouO said:

Looking good!

Thank you!

[Brizio]

Primer time! Painted cab, hood and bed.

[iamsuperdan]

According to the bopx, it comes with soft drink cans? No Billy Beer? Booo...

 

Build is looking great so far. Love the extra details.

[PappyD340]

Nice start!!

[espo]

Paint the "cans" with a semi gloss yellow and some gold paint. I have done this to look like "Rocky Mountain Cool Aid", Coors for those who have never enjoyed.  

[Belugawrx]

Good to see a Breeze build going on..

and Yes to a cold Coors Banquet !

[Chuckyg1]

I remember buying this when first released. IIRC, I got it half way assembled and put it away. After I left home, Mom figured I didn't need toys anymore and dumped this and abunch of other kits. Wish I he'd me back.

[Brizio]

On 7/18/2019 at 8:15 PM, iamsuperdan said:

According to the bopx, it comes with soft drink cans? No Billy Beer? Booo...

 

Build is looking great so far. Love the extra details.

Thanks iamsuperdan! I think I'm going to leave the bed empty, and put some Billy cans inside the cab!

[Brizio]

On 7/20/2019 at 2:14 AM, PappyD340 said:

Nice start!!

Thank you PappyD340

On 7/20/2019 at 7:59 AM, espo said:

Paint the "cans" with a semi gloss yellow and some gold paint. I have done this to look like "Rocky Mountain Cool Aid", Coors for those who have never enjoyed.  

I think to make some Billy cans. But in the cab, no bed like the kit offer.

On 7/20/2019 at 11:46 AM, Belugawrx said:

Good to see a Breeze build going on..

and Yes to a cold Coors Banquet !

Or some Pabst...

2 hours ago, Chuckyg1 said:

I remember buying this when first released. IIRC, I got it half way assembled and put it away. After I left home, Mom figured I didn't need toys anymore and dumped this and abunch of other kits. Wish I he'd me back.

Sorry to heard that... But my mom did the same, she tossed few cars I was working on...

[Brizio]

Working on the Ranchero, mademe want to go back on this truck.

The front grille has chrome headlights

Drill the headlights out

I found some spare lenses, resized for fit the hole. On the back I put some alluminum foil. Some small detail that make the model more realistic

 

[espo]

Nice to see that you're back on this one. I like how you did the grill it looks great and the headlights look more realistic done this way. 

[Oldcarfan27]

On 7/14/2019 at 8:52 PM, Brizio said:

Painted the letters on the "new" tires.

 

 

Wow, those wheels and tires look great that way!!

I've got a bunch of sets of each of these. Never wanted to do anything with them....

Until now!

[peteski]

I somehow missed this thread until now.  I also have that kit and I'm going a bit overboard with it.  That is why it will take me forever to finish it.  The Revell rear fenders (wrong shape) bugged me, so I will use the fenders (and likely the entire bed) from the MPC Stepside kit.  I like the way the Wrangler R/T tires look, but I agree that the ones with this kit are c r a p. I found better tires in the MPC Rescue Blazer kit.  They are 2-piece styrene tires, but they have good details of that unique sidewall tread pattern I like. 

The decals that came with the kit were water damaged (and inaccurate), so I took upon myself to design and print a better set of decals.  I will also include the beer can labels (if they will even be readable in this scale).  Here are some screen shots of the artwork I'm working on.  It is traced from the original truck photos.  This is my "sketch pad" once I get all the images done, I then create another file with print-ready decal artwork.

 

 

I'm also going to print decals for the tire lettering.  This artwork still shows it for the Revell tires, but I'll modify it to fit the MPC Blazer tires (which have taller sidewall).

 

Of course, I've been working on this for couple of years already (in between many other projects I'm working on).  No glue has been used yet.   I even bought a 1:1 scale Billy Beer can on eBay. I will display this model on a mini diorama with the beer can behind it.

I'll be watching your progress. Looks great so far!

 

Edited October 15, 2020 by peteski

[Can-Con]

I've never seen this version of the Revell pickups built before but I am old enough to remember Billy and his brother Jimmy.

BTW, the dealie with the rear fenders is they are not GM design. 

The box is an aftermarket design Revell used on a bunch of pickups with just a different smaller bed part for the mini-trucks but using the same fenders. 

IIRC, the company was "California Stepside" .  

[Brizio]

On 10/14/2020 at 8:07 AM, espo said:

Nice to see that you're back on this one. I like how you did the grill it looks great and the headlights look more realistic done this way. 

Thank you David!

 

On 10/14/2020 at 9:36 AM, Oldcarfan27 said:

Wow, those wheels and tires look great that way!!

I've got a bunch of sets of each of these. Never wanted to do anything with them....

Until now!

Cool, a the end they are good tires, at least better thatn the one that came with the kit.
Thanks!

20 hours ago, peteski said:

I somehow missed this thread until now.  I also have that kit and I'm going a bit overboard with it.  That is why it will take me forever to finish it.  The Revell rear fenders (wrong shape) bugged me, so I will use the fenders (and likely the entire bed) from the MPC Stepside kit.  I like the way the Wrangler R/T tires look, but I agree that the ones with this kit are c r a p. I found better tires in the MPC Rescue Blazer kit.  They are 2-piece styrene tires, but they have good details of that unique sidewall tread pattern I like. 

The decals that came with the kit were water damaged (and inaccurate), so I took upon myself to design and print a better set of decals.  I will also include the beer can labels (if they will even be readable in this scale).  Here are some screen shots of the artwork I'm working on.  It is traced from the original truck photos.  This is my "sketch pad" once I get all the images done, I then create another file with print-ready decal artwork.

 

 

I'm also going to print decals for the tire lettering.  This artwork still shows it for the Revell tires, but I'll modify it to fit the MPC Blazer tires (which have taller sidewall).

 

Of course, I've been working on this for couple of years already (in between many other projects I'm working on).  No glue has been used yet.   I even bought a 1:1 scale Billy Beer can on eBay. I will display this model on a mini diorama with the beer can behind it.

I'll be watching your progress. Looks great so far!

 

You are doing a great prject! I noticed the rear fenders. that's another bummer! I did not decided yet on what to do. About the decals, I noticed that there are some issues, the fonts don't match, some size... But it does not bother me too much. I also noticed that the tail light are completrly wrong. But Is going to be a fun build for sure!

I have the Billy beer cans too! Thanks! 

4 hours ago, Can-Con said:

I've never seen this version of the Revell pickups built before but I am old enough to remember Billy and his brother Jimmy.

BTW, the dealie with the rear fenders is they are not GM design. 

The box is an aftermarket design Revell used on a bunch of pickups with just a different smaller bed part for the mini-trucks but using the same fenders. 

IIRC, the company was "California Stepside" .  

Good info! Maybe it was easy to use a aftermaket bed to measure than the original. Who knows. Or maybe they measure the aftermarket bed, thinking that was a stock truck...