WIP: Model King AMT 1978 Ford Bronco

[youpey]

I am working on the AMT Model King 1978 Ford Bronco. it is from the Nostalgic Drag set, originally it was boxee as the AMT Wild Hoss.

 

I am nearly finished with the chassis. it is very slow going because the way the chassis goes together. essentially there are no pins/holes for the bits to be glued onto the chassis. there are notches and tiny bumps to line it up correctly. However, since they aren't pins, essentially i need to glue on one or two pieces and then wait for the glue to fully dry. Typically I can glue and move on, maybe tape in place if needed until it dries. I cant do it with this one because of the lack of pins. 

I have the engine mounted and the front and rear suspension. i just need to put on the rear drive and rear shocks. should be today. Once i do that, i will take a picture. 

The body is fully prepped but i haven't decided on paint yet. It will either be a metalic blue with a white rear top or all black. I will only do the black if i can get the Free Wheeling decals right. I have the traxxas bronco rc with the sunburst free Wheeling decals, and ind im going to try to take a picture of them and then edit out the truck to only have the decal.  Then i will try to shrink it and resize it. It probably wont work. I really want to finish this one, so i will most likely move on with the blue. 

 

So even with the weird way of mounting the bits, this has been a really nice kit so far. I needed to enlarge most of the holes and there was some random flash on pieces. I would definitely build it again

The top has some warping so i will definitely need to glue it in place. I tried to tape it in to straighten out but it didn't help. the plastic is flexible enough that it's not worth risking damage, so gluing in place is fine. 

I am being as careful as I can because the kit is so expensive that I dont want to risk messing it up. The likelyhood of finding replacement pieces is very unlikely 

Edited June 1, 2021 by youpey

[youpey]

Here is the chassis 

[youpey]

i sprayed the interior with AK interactive bone color. it looks good as far as the color, but i had odd interaction with the paint. there was random spots that didnt take on the paint. once it dries i will give it another coat. i have never seen this before with any paints. 

 

i hope it dont have to strip it and spray it with a different paint. i really like the color

[youpey]

I was able to touch up the spots. Looks ok now. Tomorrow I will detail the interior. 

 

Almost done

[youpey]

meh, interior paint still smells like paint. i have never used this brand of paint before. i dont think i will use it again. the tamiya paint is much nicer. i think going forward, i will stick with that. i had to touch up a couple more spots this morning. 

its like the paint didnt grab onto the primer right. i used tamiya primer, which in the past has worked with all kinds of paint. 

Edited June 2, 2021 by youpey

[mchook]

keep it going, it looks good so far. Lets see some more pics.

[NOBLNG]

On 6/1/2021 at 8:14 AM, youpey said:

 However, since they aren't pins, essentially i need to glue on one or two pieces and then wait for the glue to fully dry. Typically I can glue and move on, maybe tape in place if needed until it dries. I cant do it with this one because of the lack of pins.

That’s where the CA glue comes in handy. You do loose the adjustability with the thin stuff though. I admit I prefer good old solvent for most stuff.

[Tom Geiger]

That’s why I drill and pin nearly everything!  See the pins in the dark edges, where I’ve pieced the frame together.  Then I used a thick slow drying CA.

[youpey]

Here is the interior. I am not super pleased with the interior but its always my weakest part of the model for me.

 

[youpey]

Not directly related to the bronco, but the plan is to put a 4 wheeler buggy on the diorama with the bronco. 

 

I am not sure i like the color. Its tamiya orange. i wanted a more yellowish orange. i might spray tamiya camel yellow over top of it. However this paint has no mistakes in it. the only issue is that color. Its not polished or anything.  Just painted and a single coat of clear

Edited June 5, 2021 by youpey

[slusher]

Everything looks really good. Some paint issues can be a mystery.  Your doing a great Job…

[youpey]

I gave up on the decals and went with the blue. I need to do minor touchup on the bottom but looks ok otherwise 

Its very reflective but the pictures dont show it

[espo]

Paint job looks good and shiny. The color shows the body lines well.  

[youpey]

Im calling this one done. I have to say i really enjoyed this build except the top. Mine was warped so the glass didn't fit, it wont stay in place well. I glue it down but its not perfect. i basically glue bombed the one corner and its not staying put. I think i will need to get gorilla glue or something that dries fast but holds strong. 

 

Anyway, the chrome on the sides is molotow pen. I had to glue the hood down as well since it was warped too. The 78/79 bronco is my favorite truck so im glad i was able to build this. I am temped to strip it and paint again without the chrome strip

[Bills72sj]

Looks very nice. Thanks for sharing.

[FLHCAHZ]

Really nice looking Bronco!  I really like the blue.

[David G.]

Great looking Bronco!

David G.

[slusher]

very sharp Bronco!

[ewetwo]

really nice.

[youpey]

thanks guys. i am going to try to repaint the body. i have a second kit. there is no way im going to bulid it again, so i think i will try to get the body perfect. im not going to paint the thick stripe chrome, just the little strip inside the thick strip. seems that chrome was an option?  i hate the way it looks. i had to glue bomb a couple of pieces to get them to stay. im going to try to do better on the second body. 

the top needed a glue bomb too, and unfortunately, i had a little glue go over and looks bad.   to me, thats too many little issues. worst case, if i cant get it right, i leave this one alone. if i can get it better, i will carefully remove this body and put the new body on the frame.  this body is only glued on in the very back area and should be pretty easy to pop off.  i am going to try to do the top before putting it on the chassis, it was too hard to glue the way i did it. especially with it being so warped.

 

I am going to keep the same colors, blue with white

[Maindrian Pace]

To fix warps, try dipping the part of the body that needs to be moved into a pan of simmering (small bubbles) water for a few seconds. Bend it to just past the proper shape, then while you are holding it, put it under cold running water or dip it into a pan of ice water. You might have to repeat the process a few times to make it perfect, but it pretty easy to do, and then everything lines up and glues down well.

[youpey]

I have the new body painted. There is 3 spots on the hood of spec of dust. It should polish out. There is also a small wave in the paint in one spot. Its not a run but you can only see it on specific angles. 

Im doing the top different this time. I painted it white and then i taped off the edges for the black molding. Last time used a molotow pen, but i didn't like how it looked. i used spray paint this time. I have glued down the top to the body and im going to put the glass in after. These tops are not square and i think that was part of my problem last time. Once the glue fully dries, i will put the glass in. 

Its looking much better. also, the color is a bit different this time. Its darker and more metallic. its supposed to be the same paint, both tamiya light metallic blue, but the last one didn't seem to look metallic. i like them both but they are very different. 

The Hood is more square on this one, so i dont think i will need to glue it down. i will see though once its on the chassis. 

Im happier with this one at this point vs the last one at the same point. i just hope the glue holds the top without trouble. 

Ignore the tape holding it in place. the top is warped the glue says 24 hours to fully cure. I tried removing the tape and it was lifting up again because the glue wasn't dry.

[youpey]

Done....again. 

I loke it much more without the chrome stripe. Im not sure if im going to paint the bronco logo. On the last attempt it didn't look good.

Might try to find some decals. 

There are definitely a lot less mistakes vs last time. 

[SickBoy]

Looking good, I like it without the chrome side trim. Painting the small emblems always makes me nervous, I have pretty good luck dipping a fine tipped swab in the chrome paint, wipe any excess lightly on a paper towel (this is a balancing act as both the swab and towel want to keep the paint for themselves) and then i float the swab over the raised emblem, repeat until desired effect is acheived. If you used a lacquer paint and/or clear coat and are using an acrylic for the emblem any slips can usually be wiped off pretty quickly and easily. 

[youpey]

I cant find ant matching bronco decals. I have one from the 80 revell or the revell bronco sandman 2 kit, but neither match it. 

 

I also changee the back a bit. I noticed there was movement in the back that will raise the rear bumper. I glued it in place. Looks better. I also sanded the tires so they aren't shiny

 

 

Going to try to find better tires. These are terrible. i might remove the back spare and use a real tire

Edited June 21, 2021 by youpey