Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

Recommended Posts

Posted (edited)

Now onto one of the other challenges of this build: the wheels. Excluding the Lightning kits, all other versions of the AMT F-150 come with the Forged Aluminum style wheels featured in the middle of this brochure picture. It's a beautiful design, but they were not options on the XL models. Oddly enough, they were options on the Custom model, which was marketed as a step below the XLs. For a long time, this project stalled due to the lack of appropriate wheels until the aftermarket came through for me.

image.png.240338827b1599808f629579e7bb5342.png

Zforce Modelworx features this design for sale on cults:

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/various/ford-f150-90s-15-oem-fans

90s-Fans-Set.jpg.d6288116afd8c385638ddf63ce05fff2.jpg

It's a very flexible design as they are appropriate for XL and XLT model trucks, depending on how they are painted. Best of all, the hubcaps are separate pieces from the wheels:

IMG_0207.thumb.JPG.079dd9deb466e95ab7a33699337e6688.JPG

IMG_02082.thumb.JPG.4918d63f8aea703527d81bdf1421f84b.JPG

The advertised Ford color for these wheels is argent. Unfortunately, I do not have any argent paints or anything that comes close to the right look, so I had to experiment a bit. Here's the final result:

image.thumb.jpeg.bab4677166331c0ca6e3465196a7d8cf.jpeg

The wheels were painted with Tamiya TS-30 Silver Leaf and then clear coated with TS-80 Flat Clear. TS-30 is a very argent-like color, but has too much shine. The center caps were painted with Revell Chrom(e) spray. I cannot recommend this product enough. I let it dry for 2 weeks and it was rock solid after. This spray does not need primer or a base. I still have to paint the center of the caps, but I will do that at a later stage. 

If anybody has recommendations for a good argent spray color, I'm all ears. 

Also, I'm going to end this post by saying how much I hate having to remove this:

IMG_0148.thumb.JPG.9cf76bd972fc67b41f710ecbbb601a5f.JPG

Edited by av405
  • Like 3
Posted
5 minutes ago, av405 said:

Also, I'm going to end this post by saying how much I hate having to remove this:

IMG_0148.thumb.JPG.9cf76bd972fc67b41f710ecbbb601a5f.JPG

I feel your pain. I use side cutters to get the bulk out then clean up the rest with an exacto. By the way, your truck is looking amazing.

Posted
6 minutes ago, av405 said:

The advertised Ford color for these wheels is argent. Unfortunately, I do not have any argent paints or anything that comes close to the right look, so I had to experiment a bit.

Argent is silver , just in another language (haha). Think of its element assignment Ag ; "argenté" in French, for an instance. 

Posted
11 minutes ago, FoMoCo66 said:

I feel your pain. I use side cutters to get the bulk out then clean up the rest with an exacto. By the way, your truck is looking amazing.

I did everything with an Xacto knife. This is the second AMT kit in a row that I work on where the wheels come this way. Both are early 90's kits, so this must have been standard back then. Each time I've taken a bit too much off at least one tire.

9 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

Argent is silver , just in another language (haha). Think of its element assignment Ag ; "argenté" in French, for an instance. 

Good point. I do have some silver paints, but they were all too bright. The real Ford wheels are more of a "subdued argent.' Somewhere between flat grey and silver. The bumpers are the same color so I'm going to paint them the same as well. 

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

Wow, great job on the headlights and grille! I have a few of these kits, and from references, the doors are the power window version so they wouldn't have the window crank. Like the Moebius kits, I have a few of those as well and I'm trying to do the different trim levels, some of those require mods to the dash and dials, radio delete, etc., talk about going down the rabbit hole! Good you know when to stop! Enjoying your journey

F150.jpg

Edited by hct728(Bob)
  • Like 1
Posted (edited)
5 hours ago, slusher said:

Awesome head light and grill detail!  Nice Ford factory ?!

Thank you!

3 hours ago, hct728(Bob) said:

Wow, great job on the headlights and grille! I have a few of these kits, and from references, the doors are the power window version so they wouldn't have the window crank. Like the Moebius kits, I have a few of those as well and I'm trying to do the different trim levels, some of those require mods to the dash and dials, radio delete, etc., talk about going down the rabbit hole! Good you know when to stop! Enjoying your journey

 

Yes, you're right about that. I should have specified in my earlier posts that the interior door panels are correct for power windows but not for cranks. I thought about re-doing the upholstery pattern on the seats with putty. But like you said, its good to know when to stop, especially when it comes to interior stuff that won't be too visible.

The windows had some fine scratches and blemishes from having bounced around unprotected inside the box for decades. A little Novus 2 and some polishing pads took care of most of it:

IMG_0368.thumb.jpg.f6414272fb7129d68bf988c5dc46b0ad.jpg

IMG_0370.thumb.jpg.5b60e8141d06ff9083cde0e6ccbda3fd.jpg

IMG_0369.thumb.jpg.112dc80d975f57f92f6e66125fd84ab4.jpg

I spent the last few days working on the stance of the truck. These AMT Ford kits sit a bit too low to the ground for my liking. I added some thin Evergreen pieces to give the truck a slight lift. I could have probably gone just a bit higher, but I didn't want to push my luck. Here's how the truck looks as of today, with the corrected stance and main components mocked up:

IMG_0374.thumb.jpg.d0fb6c30057ff7a9800e5ad764395bc4.jpg

IMG_0371.thumb.jpg.6f70ba1ec46e296e2d09058db1bd8abc.jpg

Edited by av405
  • Like 9
Posted

This looks fantastic! Nice, clean build, and the interior looks great. Following this for sure.

I also use the liquid glue method over removed details to help prevent ghosting through lacquer. It's worked well for years.

Posted
On 5/29/2024 at 9:18 PM, Mike Slapattack said:

Looking great!

Thanks!

5 hours ago, DJMar said:

This looks fantastic! Nice, clean build, and the interior looks great. Following this for sure.

I also use the liquid glue method over removed details to help prevent ghosting through lacquer. It's worked well for years.

Thanks! Glad its worked out for you as well. It's definitely one of the best tips I've learned on this forum. 

Now for some more progress. The chassis and engine bay are done. It was my first time detailing up a chassis and engine bay, and I'm happy with the outcome all things considered. I still prefer building curbside, but I'm always happy to try out new things and further my modeling skills:

image.thumb.jpeg.e825ab68a2d557cb320caea962c71842.jpeg

image.thumb.jpeg.16c200befe20be59a5bb4155c584ade4.jpeg

I painted the bumpers today. I followed the same paint method as the wheels - Tamiya Silver Leaf cleared with Tamiya Flat Clear:

image.thumb.jpeg.3cbbd72633a246904e164d22e258de72.jpeg

Some imperfections showed through at the bottom of the front bumper. Luckily, I have to paint that portion flat black so that should be an easy fix. 

  • Like 2
Posted

With the addition of some Mr. Surfacer 1500 black primer to the bottom, the front bumper is done. I just noticed that there is a tiny black debris speck in the middle of the bumper which must have attached itself when I first painted it with the Silver Leaf. I will leave it alone as it will eventually get covered up with a license plate. 

image.thumb.jpeg.47d391c3ca5e6c6f2a71b96b392f5805.jpeg

Now onto the front window. When painting the black surround on these windows, I like to use the contours/edges typically found on a lot of kit windows to mask off sections that won't be painted. The window on this kit doesn't have edges so this is what I did. First I taped the window to the cab. I then used white tamiya masking tape (the flexible kind intended for curves) and created paint edges along the inside of the window, going slow to make sure that everything was even:

IMG_0387.thumb.JPG.2e91354d99dfa0439f0533b518f0e3e6.JPG

IMG_0388.thumb.JPG.3ae36b353997575394d58ed846136981.JPG

IMG_03862.thumb.JPG.d93a5cd5e63e3fcb48381fa5eecb9bdb.JPG

Once I was satisfied, I used a sharp knife and removed any excess tape. I then brush painted the desired areas with Vallejo flat black. Since it is such a small area and I painted the inside of the window, I didn't have to worry about any paint brush streaks being visible from the outside:

IMG_0393.thumb.JPG.6dd0d189b69e4673f424746a03122cb3.JPG

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
Posted

That dash is awesome. Well the whole build is but that dash work is top notch. It all looks great. Thanks for the ghost tip.

Posted
23 hours ago, hct728(Bob) said:

Neat method for doing the window mask, gotta try that!

 

8 hours ago, slusher said:

Really nice black trim on your windshield!

 

5 hours ago, TNT said:

That dash is awesome. Well the whole build is but that dash work is top notch. It all looks great. Thanks for the ghost tip.

Thank you all for the kind words!

This weekend was all about the paint. I painted over the grey primer with Mr. Surfacer 1500 white primer. Remember folks, bright colors like yellow need a white undercoat. Mr. Surfacer 1500  lays on so smooth that no wet sanding is necessary after to get a smooth finish. Unfortunately, my Tamiya Camel Yellow can started to run low as I was getting to the cab. Typically, a can of Tamiya is plenty enough to paint an entire kit. However, I expended some paint running my spoon tests. I just ordered another can, so the cab will be finished as soon as that arrives. Until then, this project is officially on hold.

image.thumb.jpeg.a097693731da86517d16e20ff9ed00c4.jpeg

Posted (edited)

Wow, subjekt, stance, colour, detail, everything.

Edited by Ulf
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted (edited)
On 6/4/2024 at 2:38 AM, slusher said:

Great color for a work truck!

Thanks! Speaking of color, I finally got my new Tamiya paint cans. I decided to leave the roof white to give the truck a more distinct look. These type of two-tone paint schemes were fairly common on construction/municipal work trucks back then. It seems like the use of bright colored/multi-colored  work trucks started to go away in the early to mid 2000s as companies and municipalities sought to cut costs. Now, most work trucks are just plain white. Since the primer was white, I simply masked off the roof and painted the rest of the cab yellow. I used bare metal foil for the edges and tamiya tape for the rest. Using BMF always gives me the absolute best paint lines. I'll give the paint a week to dry, sand out a small imperfection that came up, re-shoot a bit of yellow, then clear the whole thing.

image.thumb.jpeg.eab56d95493418b6194429ea186ebd1a.jpeg

Edited by av405
  • Like 6
Posted
2 hours ago, DJMar said:

Looks great, I am digging the yellow/white!

Thanks!

1 hour ago, Chariots of Fire said:

It's a real treat to see the work you are putting into this.  Nice and neat, clean and smooth!  It's a tribute to good preparation!  

Thank you! I'm at the point in my modeling "career" where I've really focused on being patient and not rushing things. As the saying goes, slow is smooth, smooth is fast. 

35 minutes ago, oldcarfan said:

I love these trucks and am glad to see someone giving them love!

Thanks! They don't seem to get as much love as the equivalent Chevy trucks of the era do.

I forgot to add this earlier: 

image.thumb.jpeg.16fe24bc3e909658f9d3307e3813a0bc.jpeg

I painted the center caps with a sharpened toothpick and Vallejo red. It came out better than I thought.

  • Like 5
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
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. 

Regular 91% rubbing alcohol will remove this era AMT chrome very easily..............ask me how I know ?

  • Thanks 1

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...