1992 Ford F-150 XL Work Truck

[av405]

My father has been a Highway Electrician for 36 years. I grew up going to job sites with him and was always impressed by the different trucks and pieces of machinery that he and his crews used. As a tribute of sorts, I want to build a low-trim pickup truck typical of what a foreman or other company supervisor would use. Given his long career, I have many different eras/options I can go with, but I figured this would be a good chance to finally build one of the many AMT 9th-gen F-150 truck kits that I have. This is what I'm aiming for, but in a construction yellow color:

As I need a long bed, I went with the original 1992 issue kit which includes just that. I bought this particular kit off of ebay many years ago. It is complete and I thought the seller had opened it up and somehow cut the box top down the middle. But then I went down a rabbit hole with the price tag and discovered that it was most likely purchased like this at a Bud's Discount City store. For those that don't know, Bud's was a Walmart subsidiary that sold products handed down from regular Walmart stores that had been returned, damaged, phased out, etc. The last of these stores closed in 1998. 

The biggest challenge will be to de-trim the truck from an XLT to an XL model. Most of this work consists of removing the side trim. The brunt of this work was done with a fresh scalpel blade and some tape for protection, followed up with various sanding sticks and pads:

After I was done, I sanded the affected areas with 400 grit to smooth the plastic down. I then brushed Plastruct liquid cement onto the areas that formerly had the side trim. The idea is that the liquid glue will get rid of the ghosting left behind by removing the side trim. This is a method I learned from Bill Guery and it has served me well in the past.

I let things dry and then re-sanded with 400 and 600 grits. I applied primer to the sanded down areas so I could see my progress. This is where I'm at now:

 

[Jonathan]

Thanks for sharing the trick about preventing ghosting.   Looks like you're off to a good start.

[av405]

6 hours ago, Jonathan said:

Thanks for sharing the trick about preventing ghosting.   Looks like you're off to a good start.

Of course. I love learning (and sharing) knowledge on this forum.

[av405]

I sanded the main body parts with 600 grit to give the primer something to bite and removed the flash and (most) seam marks from the smaller bodies. I'll be washing the parts in warm water and Dawn and giving them a scuff with a toothbrush shortly:

Here are all the chrome parts in Super Clean for de-chroming:

Within 5 minutes, most of the chrome was gone! I've never seen it work this fast. I'll give it a little longer to be sure that all chrome remnants are removed:

Edited May 5 by av405

[espo]

You know, regular cheap laundry bleach will remove chrome plating from plastic really fast and clean. Be sure to use rubber gloves when you're fishing out the part for final cleanup. 

[av405]

On 5/3/2024 at 1:33 PM, espo said:

You know, regular cheap laundry bleach will remove chrome plating from plastic really fast and clean. Be sure to use rubber gloves when you're fishing out the part for final cleanup. 

Thanks for the tip! I always have Super Clean on hand for paint stripping, so I find it easy to use to remove chrome as well. I'll stick with it as my go-to as it's worked for me for years. And yes, I always use gloves when handling it. 

Edited May 5 by av405

[slusher]

your off to a good start and thanks for the tips on removing molding and ghosting…

[av405]

On 5/4/2024 at 10:16 AM, slusher said:

your off to a good start and thanks for the tips on removing molding and ghosting…

Thanks, Carl. Anytime! 

Between working a lot of OT, I've been spending time mostly getting all of the parts washed and dried. I set aside some parts that will need a little more sanding to look just right. Most of them are the parts that I de-chromed. As you may be able to tell, I have started to remove the rubber trim on the front bumper to make it look like a base XL bumper.

I also drilled out the exhaust tips:

I primed most of the big parts in Mr. Surfacer 1500 black and grey since I'm done with the body work. I cannot say enough good things about this line of primers. 

 

[James2]

Great prep work, should be a great build...

[av405]

On 5/6/2024 at 3:47 PM, James2 said:

Great prep work, should be a great build...

Thanks, James.

I painted the interior with Tamiya AS-10 Ocean Grey:

It's a pretty close match to the Charcoal Grey interior option used up until 1993. For 1994, Ford transitioned to the lighter Opal Grey interior.

I also painted the spare tire that will be mounted to the chassis. The tire came in two pieces, so I glued it together and was able to sand away much of the seam line. I primed the whole thing with Mr. Surfacer 1500 black. I then taped off the wheel portion and painted the tire  portion with Tamiya TS-82 Rubber Black. I honestly didn't see a  huge difference with the black primer, especially for a piece that will not be visible. But it was still nice to see how TS-82 looks since I hadn't used it before.

[av405]

I've always liked working on dashes. I taped off the appropriate areas and spray-painted the black portions with Tamiya TS-29 Semi Gloss Black:

I then hand painted various other details with Vallejo acrylics:

The dash has excellent detail, but the interior tub is lacking. I took some 3D printed window cranks from Iceman Collections and glued them on to provide more detail. Window cranks would have still been standard on XL trim trucks during this era.

Here they are after painting and installation:

Unfortunately, the interior door details are not accurately molded on the kit, so the location of the crank looks funny despite being in the right spot. 

Here's the completed interior tub:

The only remnant of the kit's XLT trim origins are the upscale seat pattern. I did not feel like going through the effort of modifying it, so the bench seat will stay as-is. The bench seat comes with integrated cup holders, which are supposed to color match the seats/interior. Since this is an XL trim truck and it's not supposed to have integrated cup holders, I simply painted them black to resemble aftermarket cup holders that my dad and many of his co-workers used before they became standard on later generations of trucks. 

Edited May 13 by av405

[FoMoCo66]

Amazing work on that interior. 👍

[ksnow]

What a great build. As a work truck driver, I love what you are doing with this build.

[Ulf]

This is my absolute favorite kit, I'm considering ordering a box of 12 from the original batch.
It's really nice to see your well prepped parts.

[av405]

On 5/14/2024 at 4:55 PM, FoMoCo66 said:

Amazing work on that interior. 👍

 

On 5/15/2024 at 5:15 AM, ksnow said:

What a great build. As a work truck driver, I love what you are doing with this build.

Thank you both!

22 hours ago, Ulf said:

This is my absolute favorite kit, I'm considering ordering a box of 12 from the original batch.
It's really nice to see your well prepped parts.

I have about 7 of these kits, in all the different variants/releases. I bought so many because I used to drive a 1994 and it's my favorite truck body style. This is my first build of this kit and I am very happy with how well it's gone together so far. I don't have any complaints to share at this stage. I can't wait to see if AMT includes any new parts/options in the upcoming re-release of the 1992 Flareside. 

Edited May 16 by av405

[av405]

Got the toolbox done. It's a 3D-printed design that I found on cults3D. The design page describes it as intended for a Revell pickup, but the sample photos show it on an AMT F-150 and it fits like an absolute dream. The print required very minimal cleanup. I primed it with Mr. Surfacer 1500 and then painted it with Tamiya TS-17 Gloss Aluminum. Here's the link:

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/various/saddle-box-for-revell-pickups-1-24-scale

[av405]

I finished sanding the rubber molding from the front bumper. I started by stripping the chrome off and then working at it with various files and sanding boards, mostly consisting of 400 grit and then 600 to smooth things out. Here it is with primer.

I spent most of today painting various small parts:

 

[iamsuperdan]

Looks great so far! I've always liked the look of the base trucks. Even on new trucks.

 

 

[slusher]

You did a great job on the interior. You’re really doing great on the detail of a work truck. I’m looking forward to your next update!

[av405]

On 5/22/2024 at 5:52 PM, iamsuperdan said:

Looks great so far! I've always liked the look of the base trucks. Even on new trucks.

 

 

Thanks! I have a soft spot for them as well. I really hate the bling on a lot of today's "luxury" trucks.

On 5/24/2024 at 8:34 AM, slusher said:

You did a great job on the interior. You’re really doing great on the detail of a work truck. I’m looking forward to your next update!

Thanks Carl!

I got the front grill done. The kit comes with separate clear headlight lenses. I brush painted the amber portions with Tamiya X-26 clear orange. Vallejo black paint was used to simulate the rubber(?) separation between the bottom turn signal lens and the top headlight lens. I then used a black sharpie to outline the entire piece. 

Thankfully, Ford used the same grill/front fascia for both their base XL models and higher trim models. The main difference was that the XL version was a dark grey as opposed to chrome. As such, I stripped the chrome from the kit's grill. The piece was then primed and painted with Tamiya TS-4 German Grey. I used Bare Metal Foil to simulate the backing for the headlights. 

I initially painted the grill inserts with Vallejo black to simulate the vents. For various reasons, I didn't like the look so I decided to open up the middle vents. I did this by filing away the back of the grill and sanding the edges to get as clean of a look as possible. I decided to not open the outer vents as I was more satisfied with the black paint on those and the shape would have made sanding/filing more difficult. Maybe I'll try to open up all the vents on the next project. I then re-sprayed the German Grey paint and here's the final outcome:

The blue Ford oval decal is from a Lindberg Crown Victoria police car kit. The decal sheets on those contain numerous Ford oval decals and they have served me well on other Ford kits that don't contain blue oval decals. Once I get the body painted in the main color, I will paint the area behind the grill black to achieve the final look. 

Now onto the paint. This is more or less the color I'm going for:

I did spoon tests of various Tamiya colors to see what I liked more. I'm going to proceed with the TS-34 Camel Yellow. It contains that mix of yellow and orange that I desire, as oppose to pure orange or yellow. 

I started off by painting the engine bay with the Camel Yellow. I then detail painted various parts of it with Vallejo Black. I'm not a huge fan of the result, but some of these details should be obscured when the engine bay is done. It's my first time assembling an engine on a kit, so this has been a learning experience for me. 

 

[1972coronet]

Great work and mods on this bad boy ! Reminds me of the 1994 F-150 CUSTOM that I drove ages ago ; it was my work truck. So easy to keep its interior clean : vinyl bench seat, rubber flooring (grey and black respectively) . 
Had the 300 six / AOD combo ; dual tanks, A/C , AM/FM radio , and power steering. And that is all. 

Only thing that bothered me about it (and not exclusive to my sample) ? Replacing the " [BLAH-BLAH-BLAH] " headlamp bulbs ! Every 3-5 months like clockwork ! And, yes, I drove with the lights on regardless of weather. 

Keep up the great work ! Make me want to get one of those (excellent) AMT '150s , and follow your work insofar as "de-XLT-ing" it.  

[Mike Slapattack]

Excellent work on the front end! The headlight outlining especially really adds a ton of realism. Did you mask it or freehand it? It's a very clean job.

[ncbuckeye67]

That is looking amazing so far! The tip about the liquid cement is going to be useful down the road, for sure! Removing the extra moldings looks tedious, especially the "XLT part on the fender emblems.

[ksnow]

That grill looks great. Awesome progress so far.

[av405]

23 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

Great work and mods on this bad boy ! Reminds me of the 1994 F-150 CUSTOM that I drove ages ago ; it was my work truck. So easy to keep its interior clean : vinyl bench seat, rubber flooring (grey and black respectively) . 
Had the 300 six / AOD combo ; dual tanks, A/C , AM/FM radio , and power steering. And that is all. 

Only thing that bothered me about it (and not exclusive to my sample) ? Replacing the " [BLAH-BLAH-BLAH] " headlamp bulbs ! Every 3-5 months like clockwork ! And, yes, I drove with the lights on regardless of weather. 

Keep up the great work ! Make me want to get one of those (excellent) AMT '150s , and follow your work insofar as "de-XLT-ing" it.  

You have a point on the cleanliness aspect, especially when the base trucks have vinyl seats. They're not great if its hot, but boy are they easy to clean. Thanks for the kind words!

19 hours ago, Mike Slapattack said:

Excellent work on the front end! The headlight outlining especially really adds a ton of realism. Did you mask it or freehand it? It's a very clean job.

I did that freehand. It's very easy to do with a Sharpie. The trick is to run the side of the marker tip along the edges, not the tip itself.

11 hours ago, ncbuckeye67 said:

That is looking amazing so far! The tip about the liquid cement is going to be useful down the road, for sure! Removing the extra moldings looks tedious, especially the "XLT part on the fender emblems.

Glad to help! This was my first time removing the moldings off of an entire kit and I managed to do it all in one night. I actually found it to be much easier than I thought it would be and now I'm not so "scared" to do it again. As for the fender emblems, those will be covered up by "XL" decals. 

10 hours ago, ksnow said:

That grill looks great. Awesome progress so far.

Thanks!