Dodge Van Camper - Done!

[Tom Geiger]

I think people know my theme this year is to finish up some long lost projects.  I've been doing a decent job at this, several of them are now on my display shelf. And a few more in progress. I had on my bucket list to build a camper someday. This is it!  And it's inspired by the work of my friend Ken Hamilton who cheered me on as I worked on it.  I finished this one on Friday the 13th, but due to a busy life I only took the photos this morning.

In the beginning... way back when I created the purple pickup. I used both ends of a Dodge van body to create the cab. That left me with this odd piece. I didn't toss it, but used it as a paint stand for many years.  One day I looked at it twice... and started cutting plastic.   Here are the end results:

This project involved a lot of scratch building.  The top mounted dog house and the chest were made from Evergreen sheet. The air conditioner is a piece of a radiator and the side vents from a 1930s Ford.  The power cord is just wire wrapped and glued with a tiny piece of plastic for the plug. Travel decals came from the '49 Mercury wagon kit and a few of them are just the top of license plate decals. The roof rack started life as Tamiya sprue. Just happened to be the right size too! The Dog House decals were made by me and TJ was my dog Ted, who was alive back when I  created the house.  

The mini bike came out of the recent Dodge pickup reissue. I did drill out the handlebars, and inserted a pin so the steering works. That is Don Mills scale diamond plate and the railing is part of a  Plastruct ladder.

All the windows were scratch built. Tail lights are from the Dodge van kit that also donated the body. I don't recall where I got the license plate holder and light. I did print the NJ trailer plate.

The roof shingles are just sandpaper cut to size and put on as you would real ones, except with glue instead of nails.

The gas cans came from some kit. They both started out as the same piece, but I modified them to look like different cans. They are painted different tones of red too

Two things kept this model from getting finished.   First was that I wanted to find a way to be able to have it come apart so people could see the interior. I finally gave in on that and glued it all together.  Second thing was that I wanted the leveler up front to work.  I finally solved that when I took apart a toy that had a long screw post.  Part of that screw post is here, and the screw was mated with a kit jack base.  It's extended here.

. 

And the leveler is in up position for the money shot!  I pulled an old friend off the shelf for exhibition purposes since it had a trailer hitch. 

Here is the leveler in retracted position.  The crank is just bent wire with a handle made from Tamiya putty and sanded to shape.

Interior view through the glass. Everything in here was scratch built. The coffee maker was a replica of the real one we had at the time, all fashioned with Evergreen plastic. Easy to do since it's all straight lines, just measure and cut!

The dog house comes off for viewing the interior. 

And a photo of the interior before it was mated to the body.  Old photo from before I put a top on the closet. And there now is a cooler in the front corner too.

I am pretty pleased with this project.  And glad it's finally over!  As they say, "Time to find another house to flip!"

I did have a build thread on this board, but cannot find it today.  So here's all the progress shots of this project:

https://public.fotki.com/ModelCitizen/model_cars/my_model_cars/my-finished-models/dodge-van-trailer/

[Jim N]

Great work Tom.  You did a great job making it look old and worn.

[shoopdog]

Very well done, you should be quite pleased!

[Danno]

Excellent. Very eclectically cool!

[Foxer]

A great project for detail freaks, cool ... ))   I like how it looks

[carrucha]

Nice camper.  Good job detailing the camper interior.

[BIGTRUCK]

Nicely done, that interior looks perfect.

[espo]

This is a great use of an otherwise useless body part. Very realistic especially when hooked up to the pick up. I have seen 1:1 rigs like this in camp grounds before. 

[larman]

That's less a model and more a work of art! So many neat little details make it extraordinary!

[bill lanfear]

Excellent work Tom!  Love the working components, the subtle weathering, and all the detail!  Well done!

[cobraman]

Very cool but you need to do the dishes. ?

[BIGTRUCK]

2 minutes ago, cobraman said:

Very cool but you need to do the dishes. ?

??

[vincen47]

Very cool project, one of those “you can’t see everything the first time” builds. You need to go back a look a few more times to catch all the details.

[Dentz]

This is fantastic, great details on both vehicles. LOL, my wife said it looks awesome but ...gross, like a crime seen waiting to happen (pic through the window). Well done!

[bobthehobbyguy]

Nicely done. A real beauty. Lots of nice scratchbuilding. Brilliant idea for the leveler screw.

[ChrisR]

Very cool!!!

[GeeBee]

Superb work Tom, not sure I'd like to spend a night in it though.....

[David G.]

I remember seeing photos from back when you were first working on this one. As I followed your build progress, I was, and still am very impressed with your scratch building skills.

It was so close to completion that I'd always assumed that you had finished it.

In any case, I'm glad to know that you finished this one. It was well worth the wait.

David G.

[crazyjim]

Really nice details.

[Goose1957]

Great use of spare body parts. Beautiful interior and all of the scratchbuilt parts. Looks like something we would build and use here in PA, lol. I can just see this along the Susquehanna river as a summer getaway or in the mountains as a hunting camp. Great job.

Jeff 

[Sixties Sam]

That is so cool, Tom! I've built a couple camper trailer models, but nothing as well detailed as yours! Nice work!

BTW, I made a retractable tongue jack/leveler on a 1/12 scale teardrop several years ago using a piece of a collapsible antenna from an RC plane transmitter.

Sam

[disconovaman]

Wow! the level of detail is amazing Great use of an old dead van... The project is exactly what I'd expect to see hauling a family to Yellowstone. I see all kinds of homemade contraptions on the road like this! Just seen this Heavy hauler yesterday and thought wow... what an imagination! Model time!

[Bucky]

I like this camper, a lot!!!

[vintagercr]

Nicely done!

[tbill]

That is pretty neat, love all the extra bits you added, well done.