AMT Matchbox Toyota Hilux 4x4 - Back to stock(ish)

[Spottedlaurel]

I shouldn't really be starting this one, it's only just arrived and I have others that have been in the stash for 30+ years. But, you know how it goes.....

I was happy to find the older issue with the Matchbox branding:

On opening it up I was pleased to see it was nicely moulded with minimal flash and trial-fitting the major components showed them to go together well. I could do with an easy project to ease myself back into building since moving house last year, and it seemed like a good candidate.

This very nice build by @Adecosteis how I'm hoping to go, keeping it clean and simple and hopefully losing the winch and bar:

We got limited numbers of this generation Hilux in the UK but they're super rare now. Later versions are still very popular with anyone who needs a good working truck, and I found an interesting article about a businessman not far from me who has a wonderful collection: https://mag.toyota.co.uk/toyota-people-guy-nicholls/

I'm going to try and get as close as I can to recreating his 1980 example, painting it red and fitting it with stock steel wheels. Obviously mine will be LHD, but I think the overall look will be there.

What's in the box:

Not too much, but there is a boat......

The decals don't look useable after 40+ years, but I wouldn't be using many/any of them anyway so that's no problem.

I realised I had an appropriate set of plain steel wheels in an Italeri Toyota Land Cruiser kit, trouble is the tyres weren't right so I had to look through all my truck/off-roader kits to find something suitable. I narrowed it down to these:

 

Kit-supplied wheels and tyres bottom left, Italeri wheel fitted with Bridgestone tyre from a later Aoshima Hilux bottom centre, and with a Monogram/Revell Goodyear on the right. Middle row are some aftermarket alloys from a Fujimi Suzuki SJ Samurai, and accessory Aoshima AWC Steel Daytona with Bridgestone Desert Dueller along the top. I hoped the tyres off the latter two might work, but they were either too wide and/or didn;t look off-road enough. I think I'm going to go for the bottom centre option,mocked-up on the front here:

As per Adam's build, I'm going to lose the rear bumper. I need to find a rear end shot of a UK version to see what they did there, I might have a brochure somewhere.

Despite having a fair few trucks, vans and pickups in my stash I haven't managed to complete many of them yet, I'm hoping that I manage to get this one across the line as a quick, simple project.

Edited March 13, 2022 by Spottedlaurel

[afx]

Always liked the compact Toyota pickups, I'll be following.

[Spottedlaurel]

On 3/14/2022 at 1:12 AM, afx said:

Always liked the compact Toyota pickups, I'll be following.

Thanks JC.

I'm hoping to make some good progress on this over the long Easter weekend, this is where I've got to so far.......

Front bumper and winch before.

And during! I couldn't find an easy way of shaving the winch and bar from the bumper so it's ended up in pieces. The centre section of the bumper is a fairly simple shape so I'll try and scratchbuild that from some flat styrene glued together, shaped and filled.

The Hilux sold here had one-piece windows, so I've cut out and smoothed this little frame.

I've also choped off the rear bumper/step and removed the little tab that fits into the bed, as I've filled that slot and I'll glue it on.

I filled various holes in the bed floor along with the sink marks in the rear quarter panel.

 

As it is now, in red primer awaiting a solid red topcoat. Since the photo above I've filled and primed the slots above the rear window - they're to locate the rollbar, which I'm not using. I've also filled the holes in the front valance where the under-bumper lights would fit.

The bumper-less chassis was given a squirt of satin black, it fits nicely.

Looks like we're due some decent weather over the holiday weekend so I'm hoping to make good progress on this one.

[stavanzer]

You are doing great work.

Here in California, back then, many dealers would mount a Diamond Plate Step Bumper like the one in the kit, on every truck they sold. It was simply required by most customers, so they seldom sold a truck without it. I can remember more than a few Saturdays spent at the shop, installing bumpers, to put on the lot, for the 'Big Sale' over a Holiday Weekend.

(and I also recall, removing a bumper from a sold unit, for a customer who refused to pay for an Add-on bumper)

[Spottedlaurel]

On 4/20/2022 at 4:08 PM, stavanzer said:

You are doing great work.

Here in California, back then, many dealers would mount a Diamond Plate Step Bumper like the one in the kit, on every truck they sold. It was simply required by most customers, so they seldom sold a truck without it. I can remember more than a few Saturdays spent at the shop, installing bumpers, to put on the lot, for the 'Big Sale' over a Holiday Weekend.

(and I also recall, removing a bumper from a sold unit, for a customer who refused to pay for an Add-on bumper)

Thank you Alan. Interesting to hear about your days with the 1:1s - back then these would have been seen here as a work truck and the concept of dressing them up and/or using them for leisure purposes would have been quite unusual.

I got the paint on last weekend. It dried out smooth enough that it didn't seem to need a full polishing treatment, I just gave it some Autoglym resin polish:

 

I've used an automotive Halfords aerosol, Fiat Red Orange, with no clear. It was bought as a genric red which I've used on several projects now, as varied as a Ferrari, Massey Ferguson tractor and a Honda Moped.

[64Comet404]

Looks really nice, and captures the look of those old Toyota trucks. There were quite a few around when I was young, but many succumbed to rust.

The colour choice reminds me of the HiLux that the presenters tried to kill in the original Top Gear. At the end, it was battered but was still able to drive in to the studio under its' own power!

[stavanzer]

You really have the Colour nailed! It looks like so many 'Yotas' I remember seeing back then. There was a time (from the late 1980's, to about the early 2000's,) when these trucks were everywhere in Southern California. About 2006/7 I remember noticing one day, that I saw fewer of them on the roads. Now, sighting one is rare. So far, it looks hauntingly familiar. Great Job.

Re, the Diamond Plate Bumpers. Most of them I installed where silver or black painted, not Chrome, These were working trucks for the most part, and the painted bumpers were a cheap necessity, not a Dress Up item. You needed a place to put your foot, when you stepped up into the bed, or stepped down. Especially the 4x4 trucks. You did see chrome ones from tile to time, but mostly you saw battered, bent, twisted bumpers, one end pushed up in a jaunty grin or twisted down in a frown. Rare was the truck that did not have a bumper of some kind.  The  brush guards in the front were another matter. Unless it was a 4x4, you almost never saw the brush guards. Some Dealers would have a tricked out truck in the showroom, dripping with chrome goodies, Chromed Rollbar, Cibie Off-road Lights, and fancy chromed bumpers. That truck did not get sold too often, as most buyers simply would not pay the mark-up on all the accessories.  I suspect it was the same way, were you live.

If you watch the very end of the movie "Back to the Future" the scene at the End where Marty has the awesome, 4x4 Toyota truck, perfectly captures, the So-Cal asperation of the time, in regard to a new Truck.

Cheers, and keep up the great work.

[Spottedlaurel]

It's been far, far too long since I've done anything on any of my WIPs. This one was meant to be a quick, simple build but I seem to have failed miserably on the first part....

Finally got myself back into the zone over the last week or so:

Firstly I had to deal with a setback that almost caused me to put it back into the box and forget about it. I'd placed a facemask on top of the painted shell and the rubber strap reacted with the paint to cause this damage. Lucking I had just about enough paint left in the can to respray this corner after a quick sanding down. Then I could move forwards.....

Painted the suspension and axles plus most of the interior with semi-gloss black and quickly put it together - the joy of a snap-fit! Kit wheels used to check it sits nicely at all four corners.

BMF used for the rear lights as there no separate lenses. I'll paint them with Humbrol red/amber clear.

First trial-fit on my chosen wheel/tyre combo. Gundam Marker EX used for the headlights and sidelights, a bit of touching up still to do. BMF used for the door handles.

Spare front bumper from an Aoshima Nissan Terrano sectioned in the middle. With some minor filling it should do the job nicely, a touch deeper and squarer than the original but better than my efforts at reconstructing the original would have been.

State of play at the end of today. Window surrounds painted, panel lines and vents given a bit of wash, wheels given a brush coat of Revell enamel #9.

This will probably be the final update, hopefully I'll get it finished over the next week or so then having got my motivation back I can move on with other builds.

Actually had some company today, as my son had a Heller tractor kit that he was working on.

[stavanzer]

Looking Great!

Keep up the good Work.

[iamsuperdan]

Wheel/tire choice suits it perfectly!

 

[Mattilacken]

Nice little truck there m8!