Military Jeep for personal back country use.

[dino246gt]

I got this Takom 1/16th military Jeep kit and I must say I am impressed with Takom, first time I've seen one!

[dino246gt]

First thing I did was to glue the 2 tires halves together and paint them with Tamiya XF-85 acrylic "rubber black"

Don't do that!

Now the rims won't fit, they must go between the tire halves!

No matter for me though as I plan to replace them with different rims and tires.

Edited December 6, 2022 by dino246gt

[dino246gt]

R/C shops sell tires in a 1 inch size, which in 1/16th scale is 16 inches, perfect!

There's a great selection of tires available, but no suitable rims for what I envisioned.

I have a bunch of junk AMT 1/16th scale Chevies so I started to make Jeep wheels from them.

 

 

[stavanzer]

Supposed to be a great kit.

I find the tire halves disappointing, though.

Have you seen "Low Buck Garage" on You tube?

He does some nice Flat Fender Jeep Vids.

 

 

 

[dino246gt]

The fronts and rears are different on those Chevies, but I need mostly the outer rings, so I started to make 8 of them, 1 for backs, and 1 for fronts to make deeper dish scale 8" width wheels.

AND..... I need 1 for the middle, so 12 Chevy wheels made into 4 Jeep wheels!

 

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by dino246gt

[dino246gt]

I drilled out the centers, and smoothed my outer rings by sliding them up and down some rolled up sandpaper!

Once I glued the outer rings onto the face of the wheel, I removed the lip from the wheel I'm using as the middle.

The one in the background is already done.

 

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by dino246gt

[dino246gt]

Now I have 8' wide wheels, for a Chevy! Luckily that pink thing in the Dremel bag was just the right size to sand the Chevy bolts off!

I enlarged the center hole and drilled for Jeep bolt pattern and for valve stems.

With my R/C tires they're starting to look like what I wanted! (this picture was before I made the Jeep bolt pattern)

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by dino246gt

[dino246gt]

I primed all parts, still on sprues with Tamiya white fine surface primer.

I assembled the frame and airbrushed Tamiya XF-18 semi-gloss black mixed 50/50 with Tamiya acrylic thinner, 20 psi.

With the taller tires I'm using I'll have to mount the axles below the leaf springs, not over them, so the driveshafts need modification.

They need to be slightly lengthened and the angles need to be changed, so I carefully cut the ends off.

 

[dino246gt]

With the axles now glued under the springs I am able to make the driveshafts fit.

The front axle must remain level, so the angles there are more severe, at the rear, I've tilted the diff up but still needed more length and a slight angle adjustment.

Now the shocks will need now mounts, and I decided to file off the kit cotter pin detail and use 3D printed bolt heads instead.

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by dino246gt

[dino246gt]

Of course now I'll need to make U-bolts and mounting plates to hold the axles to the springs!

20 gauge beading wire from Michael's bent around the axle, then cut to length for the U-bolts, and .015 styrene for the plates, with Grandt Line (from the railroad section) nuts worked.

Edited December 6, 2022 by dino246gt

[dino246gt]

37 minutes ago, stavanzer said:

I find the tire halves disappointing, though.

Have you seen "Low Buck Garage" on You tube?

He does some nice Flat Fender Jeep Vids.

 

The 2 part tires do look remarkably good, no seam shows.

Yeah I've seen those videos and more, plus I used to have a Flat Fender Jeep!

I don't build military models so I wasn't quite sure if this kit could be built as a cool flat fender, but I'm trying!

The military body is quite different than a CJ2A, so I'm leaving all the extra bits off, making it a stripped down, but totally restored Jeep.

 

[dino246gt]

The rims fit the tires so well that I had to glue the backs on after I stuffed the tires with foam scraps, so I had to mask and re-spray the backs!

Then I needed to cut off part of the gas tank under the floor for tire clearance.

It's all going to work out though, check out some of this kits parts, wow, such great detail.

Multi piece body, each front fender was 2 parts! I glued the hood hinge to the cowl. Even the gas tank is multi piece with great realism right out of the box!

 

 

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by dino246gt

[NOBLNG]

Fantastic work you’re doing on this one Dennis!?

[dino246gt]

That little engine is a masterpiece of styrene from a commercial kit, wow!

So may pieces, all molded so crisply and the fit is perfect!

I added fuel lines and plug wires, but I put the wires over that thing on the head, found out later, they should've gone through the hole, lower down.

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by dino246gt

[dino246gt]

I glued the engine, transmission and transfer case into the frame and it's starting to look like something.

There's so much kit detail provided, look at the pedal mechanism, and one on the other side of the frame rail too!

I test fitted the body, the sides, rear, firewall and cowl are not glued, just pressed together, that's how well they're molded!

Pedal arms come through the floor, so you can't glue the pedals on before the floor is on.

You can't glue the firewall in after the body sides are on, and you can't fit the body to the chassis IF the firewall in on, so be patient and follow the instructions! At least this part! LOL

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by dino246gt

[dino246gt]

I started to detail the firewall and dashboard as I was getting excited to put it all together!

That's an oil can on the firewall, 2 part, painted with Tamiya XF-6 "Copper" and the decal on the air filter is from my 1/25th spares.

Seats are multi piece and I airbrushed the frames in semi-gloss black, the cushions in Tamiya XF-63 "German Grey". As always, mixed 50/50 at 20 psi

Shifters are rubber black, semi-gloss black, and gloss black from bottom to top.

There's even a separate floor starter button!

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by dino246gt

[dino246gt]

I drilled out the tabs on the voltage regulator and added more Grandt Line bolts to wire it, most go to the generator. Ignore the white glue on the gauges, it dried clear.

I started making battery cable ends from styrene.

I flattened some 1/24th braided line to get the old style ground cable and made clamps for both from a beer can and more Grandt Line fake nuts and bolts.

I used a 1/24th Subaru driveshaft for the caps, perfect size and it's a scrap parts kit, so why not?

Here is the battery ready for installation.

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by dino246gt

[dino246gt]

Because I added plug wires, and I didn't put them through the bracket on the head, my air filter couldn't connect to the carb without interfering with the hood.

So I cut off the kit part and made a new one to go around the wires, solder wrapped with wire then painted rubber black.

Here's the battery and that air filter "hose" installed.

Note the ground wire bolted to the frame!

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by dino246gt

[dino246gt]

Because I had the Warn hubs 3D printed to 1/4" diameter, I punched some .010 styrene sheet into circles with a 1/4" hole punch, these will simulate the ribbed look of the hubs on the axle ends.

Because I brush painted the turning piece of the hubs with Alclad II Lacquer, ALC 118 "Gold Titanium" it took several coats, it's NOT made for brush painting!

BUT......... it turned out okay!

 

[dino246gt]

Headlights are straight from the box, foiled inside and semi-gloss black out.

Parking lights are modified for street use, but they had a notch in them for the kit faces, so that had to be filled, very little tiny wee bits of styrene! LOL

Too small to foil so I brushed some  Tamiya LP-48 "Sparkling Silver" into the buckets, then cowl light lenses from a 1/25th Revell '32 Ford kit, painted clear orange were applied.

Had to comply with local ordinances to make it street legal!

I made up some wiring by twisting thin speaker wire strands and brush painting them in various acrylics, then flat black. Paint beads on wire so constant back and forth evens it out, be patient.

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by dino246gt

[dino246gt]

I masked the "glass", both sides, then airbrushed it, both sides.

Carefully, I removed the tape, that "glass" is very thin and possibly breakable!

So here it is! Ya think it's finished but no, there's still TEN more parts to the windshield and I'm not even using the 2 part rifle case!

 

[dino246gt]

2wipers, 2 wiper motors, 2 wiper motor backs, 2 folding mechanisms, and 2 clamps at the dashboard, plus the 2 part mirror!

And there's a few little pieces added to the dashboard, that's a lot of little pieces, I love that Takom made it so detailed! 

I added these cool 1/24th tail lights I got from Spot Model, to comply with local requirements for street use!

 

[dino246gt]

I did a lot more, but here it is basically finished, I'm keeping it simple!

I'll post more pictures eventually, cheers!

[Mattilacken]

Epic 1/16 build! I have the revell truck that i want to build have been gathering parts for years. That kit seems nice and with your mods even better! Glad there are 3d printers today because there is not much parts for 1/16 available. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Nice nice nice nice nice.