Lindberg 1/20 Jeep Grand Cherokee 2023 Club Christmas Build

[Joe Handley]

Looks like our club’s 2023 Christmas party build projects are to be “Cars You Have Owned” and I have a problem that Dad does not. Dad has owned a ‘70 Charger 440 Six Pack, 4-Speed, Super Track Pack as well as a long bed ‘76 Dodge Truck, which we have starting points for and and just need a few resin conversion parts and some kit bashing for him to build and if we wanted to drop the money on a JoHan ‘62 Plymouth Fury Hardtop kit, we could even do that too.
Myself, on the other hand, of the 5 vehicles I’ve owned if the last 27 years, only one has been kitted, the early ZJ Grand Cherokee, by both Lindberg in 1/20 and Tamiya in 1/24. I have both the glue and snap Lindberg kits  and someplace, not sure where, I have a Tamiya one too. I bought both Lindberg kits in the 90’s and I think I bought the Tamiya in the early 00’s and was able to find the partially started Lindberg kits with parts missing and/or damaged parts in both, but enough for 1 whole truck!  We’re supposed to start with new kits, but there aren’t many out there and I will need to do some paint stripping before getting started as well be kit bashing the glue kit’s far better interior into the snapper’s body and chassis.

To Start, I don’t know where the pictures I took of mine went to, but other than the bug shield and smaller tires on the same style wheels, this one looks more or less like mine.

 

Besides missing parts that the glue and snap kits shares, I also found these tire burns from when I was going to use the red one to make a 1/20 scale R/C ZJ similar to mine.

 

but to show just the difference in the interior tubs, these seats are completely different and the side panels are different as well as having the handles for the transmission, transfer case, and hand brake molded separately from the console.  The seats in those kits are for a Limited vs the Laredo like I had and are almost completely different, so this will be the most difficult part of the build, trying to make the kit seats that are made to look like the Limited’s leather seats vs the Laredo’s cloth seats. 

I will need to strip the primer off the body and the small pieces that I had painted two decades prior. Luckily the body will be the easy part once stripped since it’s just the same basic Chrysler black that Dad’s afore mentioned ‘76  Dodge truck as well and the ‘85 Lebaron GTS I also once had and the ‘12 Chrysler 200 I currently own have all been painted with textured matte grey plastic rockers that any matte grey paint should replicate nicely……I just need to get rid of that primer first.

The only real problems that can’t be easily fixed will be the rolling stock and graphics, since mine had different color stripes and lettering, beside being a Laredo vs Limted and mine 245/70R15 Wranglers on it when I bought it instead of the 215/75R15’s they had from the factory as well as the directional 5 spoke wheels from that first exterior pic I posted instead of the kit supplied mesh style wheels l, which were the same ones my XJ had, only these had the insets of the spokes painted gunmetal on the XJ vs hold like the ZJ versions were.

 

If anybody knows what might be available for this kit for fix the rolling stock and graphics, I’m all ears!

[dino246gt]

I do have that kit, missing a few things, but it might have what you need?

Shoot me an e-mail!

Dennis Ezmerlian

 

[Joe Handley]

1 hour ago, dino246gt said:

I do have that kit, missing a few things, but it might have what you need?

Shoot me an e-mail!

Dennis Ezmerlian

 

I appreciate it, but I at least have all the important parts and would just need to know if somebody makes the directional wheels, meatier tires, and the graphics that are for the Laredo models instead of the Limited.

[Joe Handley]

Got the chassis plate painted today

 

Going to hit the gym for a little while then may take care if the interior pieces that are correct straight out of the boxes after that and dinner.

[Joe Handley]

Ok, finished off the interior, all in Testors semigloss black enamel. I may take some Valero semigloss varnish to use on the areas that would be grey plastics to give them a little gloss, but that will be for another day.

 

I’m very grateful to have access to images on the internet for these since I have no idea where the pictures I took of mine went over the last 24 years……..

[iamsuperdan]

Try making your own decals. Amazon sells decal paper for inkjet printers.

 

Find the logos required, print, spray with some clearcoat, and apply as usual. Not quite as good as factory, as the decals are a little thicker, but it does work. Especially if you clearcoat the body after applying the decals. 

 

 

[Joe Handley]

48 minutes ago, iamsuperdan said:

Try making your own decals. Amazon sells decal paper for inkjet printers.

 

Find the logos required, print, spray with some clearcoat, and apply as usual. Not quite as good as factory, as the decals are a little thicker, but it does work. Especially if you clearcoat the body after applying the decals. 

 

 

That's what I was thinking would be needed, just never done it before, luckily the red and white or silver stripes would be easy to replicate on decal paper and I should be able to find pics of the license plate as I reused it on my Dodge Shadow after the truck was totaled, I'm just not sure about how I would change the color on the badging.

That said, I did find a nearly suitable tire though!  It's a more modern BFG A/T instead of the Wrangles mine had, but it's about the same diameter of the kit tires and kit rm pieces would be usable, but it'll be a bunch wider like the tires mine had were!

https://store.rc4wd.com/rc4wd-bfgoodrich-all-terrain-k02-07-scale-tires.html

[iamsuperdan]

Tires should be easy, because one could easily 3D print any tires they wanted, and scale them to suit a 1/20th build. 

Finding Jeep Laredo wheels could be a challenge. In theory, 3D printing these to fit would be easy, but finding them as a print file might be tough.

I had a quick look around, but haven't seen them yet.

 

[Joe Handley]

The problem I'm running into is that it's a 1/20 scale kit that it hasn't been on the shelves in at least 25 years, I could barely find any of these kits on eBay when I looked on the way home from the last club meeting, so I doubt they are very well remembered on top of it.  I don't have access to a 3D printer or know how to design for one, that's why I'm going to look into getting set up with my Cricut and see if I can figure out how to have it cut out the shapes I need for the wheel face then use the wheel backs from both kits to at least make a starting point to cast the assemble in Alumilite or something similar then using those.

[iamsuperdan]

Well if you happen to find 3D print files for the wheels you want, shoot them my way, I'd be happy to print a set off for you.

 

 

 

[Joe Handley]

8 minutes ago, iamsuperdan said:

Well if you happen to find 3D print files for the wheels you want, shoot them my way, I'd be happy to print a set off for you.

 

 

 

If I can figure out how to make a file, I would be willing to take you up on that offer!  I may need to find info on the real ones or find one of the ZJ's with those wheels still left here in Northern IL to take the measurements off of.  I know they're 15x7" with a 5x4.5" bolt spacing and would have to measure the spare center cap I still have from the XJ for the center bore and nearly flush face to the lip of the rim, I just don't know the dimensions of those triangular windows in the wheel face.

[stitchdup]

15 minutes ago, Joe Handley said:

If I can figure out how to make a file, I would be willing to take you up on that offer!  I may need to find info on the real ones or find one of the ZJ's with those wheels still left here in Northern IL to take the measurements off of.  I know they're 15x7" with a 5x4.5" bolt spacing and would have to measure the spare center cap I still have from the XJ for the center bore and nearly flush face to the lip of the rim, I just don't know the dimensions of those triangular windows in the wheel face.

have a look through some of the rc print files. i'm pretty sure i saw a set on one of the sites,

[Joe Handley]

13 minutes ago, stitchdup said:

have a look through some of the rc print files. i'm pretty sure i saw a set on one of the sites,

Will do, thanks!

 

[Mattilacken]

Sweet Project. I have the Tamiya kit starten in my stash. Will be following! 

[Joe Handley]

52 minutes ago, Mattilacken said:

Sweet Project. I have the Tamiya kit starten in my stash. Will be following! 

I happen to have one of those too!  Not sure where it's at right now exactly, but I did buy one about 20-22 years ago!

[Mattilacken]

Btw. The Tamiya have seats that would be easier to convert to cloth seats since they have a leather seat that are not as fluffy as the ones in the lindberg kit. To bad they are 1/24 in this case.

[Joe Handley]

4 hours ago, Mattilacken said:

Btw. The Tamiya have seats that would be easier to convert to cloth seats since they have a leather seat that are not as fluffy as the ones in the lindberg kit. To bad they are 1/24 in this case.

Very true, the other problem is that mine was the 4.0l I-6 and all of the kits are the 5.2l V-8, so not only do I not know where the Tamiya kit I have went, but then I would need their TJ Wrangler kit for the engine donor as I don't have one of those laying around.....surprisingly.  At least the Lindberg kit can be built as a curbside and other than the V-8 badge on the bottom right corner of the tailgate, there was no other tell tail signs of the engine unless you have one of the 1998 5.9 Limited ZJs, since the badging and stance on those completely give that away.

[Joe Handley]

Mixed my own semi gloss clear from Vallejo matte and gloss varnish to paint the grey  parts of the interior that would be made from different types of plastics. Also ran a little Bondic into the groove for the indicator for trans shifter.

 

Oh, I also ended up using 2 different brushes…..and held them like this a few times too…..

 

[Joe Handley]

Been slacking on this build all summer, ended up working on the body this week, it’s in color and clear as of right now, need to work on the seats though, will paint the flat back trim on the body too.

Turns out that Rustolium has a primer grey 2 in 1 paint/primer is close to the right color for the grey plastic rocker trim and bumpers!

It was just the same basic black that Chrysler has used the same paint code on for decades, really no different that the black clear coat paint on my 200 or on the ‘85 Lebaron GTS I had back then too.

[Joe Handley]

Here it is mocked up, going to redo the bumpers, need to tint the back glass too since the real one was tinted too, instead of modding the wheels to look right, I’m going to hit these with some mat or semi-gloss clear over the chrome.

[Joe Handley]

Well, caught Covid so I won’t be going to the club Christmas party this year, also have had a hard time finding motivation to finish this build too, considering my both short and complicated history with the 1:1 ZJ I had 25 years ago. It’s gone back into the box and won’t be completed at this time, going to put my efforts into other builds instead.