"Danger Ranger" AMT 77 Econoline Van

[KurseD]

Just finished this one up for a tribute build and auction at Herk's Modelworks on Facebook. Herk passed away in December and a bunch of us in the group are doing builds to auction off on March 16th, sending the proceeds to his family. I'm quickly learning that AMT's kits are a hot mess anymore, at least a lot worse than I remember them being when I was younger, but I still had fun with it. Hopefully he would be proud of it.

Paint is from Tropical Glitz using their hot pink basecoat called "Miami Nightlife" and airbrush fade of violet candy around the lower 1/4. I designed and printed the TV, the bar cabinet, and the side pipes. LEDs from Evan Designs (two pink lights in the rear cabin and a warm white for TV backlight). Shag carpet courtesy of a hot pink kids coat from Goodwill, foam bed is covered in some hot pink zebra striped kid's coat material from Goodwill, and diamond stitched interior panels are made of craft foam. Gull wing side door, and some Slixx decals. Also made the pic of Herk with his ice cream truck build for the TV. Threw some magazines on the dash and cabinet, made a "fancy smoking pipe" from a bead set I found at Hobby Lobby, and added a Farrah Fawcett poster to the wall.

I think that's about all, but probably forgetting something. Hope you dig it. ??

 

 

[Chinacar]

I love it! A lot of things I would like to incorporate in my next build, like a nive interior and LEDs. Well done.

[Intmd8r]

Lots of details in this one!

paint looks great 

[happy grumpy]

great looking van.

[espo]

Beautiful looking paint work and looks like when the Van Craze was in full swing. The "Shagan Wagon" interior is all well done. Ah Farrah Fawcett, who didn't have that picture tucked away somewhere.  

[ncbuckeye67]

That's amazing! It definitely looks like a 70's "Shaggin Wagon".

[KurseD]

Thank you guys for all the compliments! It was a pretty fun build, aside from the typical AMT stuff I seem to find on every one of their models I build like an over abundance of flashing and mold marks, weird things like numbered parts in the instructions but no numbers on the actual sprues/trees, and things that don't quite make much sense like why is the steering wheel sitting ON the driver seat. All that stuff aside, I still enjoyed building it and screwing around with a bunch of new stuff.

[satterwhite78]

I'm hearing in my head " Chevy Van" by the Sammy Johns even though your is a Ford......same thought different make in a memory far far away. 

It's  gotta be the shag carpet!

Very, very Well Done !

[PappyD340]

Real nice van!

[Street Rod]

Very cool van! You hit the ‘70’s custom van style perfectly!

[ChrisR]

COOL!!

[KurseD]

On 2/28/2024 at 7:44 PM, satterwhite78 said:

I'm hearing in my head " Chevy Van" by the Sammy Johns even though your is a Ford.

One of my favorite songs as my 1:1 is a Chevy ?

 

[KurseD]

Thanks for all the compliments guys, really appreciate that.

[ybsluos]

L. S.  That paint still looks wet!  Fantastic finish and I like the Larry Flint “literature” and 420 goodies.  P. C. gets tiresome!  Really fun build.  -Mark

[KurseD]

7 hours ago, ybsluos said:

L. S.  That paint still looks wet!  Fantastic finish and I like the Larry Flint “literature” and 420 goodies.  P. C. gets tiresome!  Really fun build.  -Mark

Thank you sir!

[Leica007]

Don't know how I missed your post earlier, awesome execution and detailing of a favorite subject of mine. Both the exterior and interior are great. How did you accomplish the lighting and did you black wash the side pipe shields (they look very realistic)?  Really like all the extra details inside, the effect rings true of the good old days. Thanks for sharing, hope the auction was a success for your friend.

[KurseD]

On 2/4/2025 at 12:55 AM, Leica007 said:

Don't know how I missed your post earlier, awesome execution and detailing of a favorite subject of mine. Both the exterior and interior are great. How did you accomplish the lighting and did you black wash the side pipe shields (they look very realistic)?  Really like all the extra details inside, the effect rings true of the good old days. Thanks for sharing, hope the auction was a success for your friend.

Hey, thank you for the positive feedback man, appreciate it. I just sprayed the side pipes with some SpazStixx chrome. The lighting was from Evan Designs.

 

I got one of their kits with two pink LEDs and one warm white LED, it comes pre-wired with a button cell battery and a switch. I glued the battery and switch to the underside of the floor pan and ran the wiring up the inside of the body to the roof for the pink overhead lights, and ran the wiring for the TV behind the bar cabinet.

Evan Designs Link

 

the bar cabinet, TV, and side pipes were designed by me and 3D printer on my Uniformation GKTwo printer. I also sell the files at cults3d or on my website under the "Digital Products" tab. I hope to start selling physical 3D prints at some point in the near future, but not sure when I'll get that up and running. 

Link to my Profile on Cults3D

Link to my site "the Boogie Machine"

[slusher]

Very nice custom van!

[KurseD]

6 hours ago, slusher said:

Very nice custom van!

Thank you! 😎🤙