Service Truck Kitbash

[PHPaul]

34 minutes ago, Gary Chastain said:

I just realized you shortened the hood to a 5100 , if I got that correct. 

Can't take credit for that Gary, I was gifted that truck as a partially built glue bomb.  Pretty much all I did was clean it up, strip and re-paint it.

[PHPaul]

Here's the final decision on mounting the doors on the service body.  All plastic, hinge pins spaced off the body with LRPD's - Little Round Plastic Dots  - punched out with a Whitney punch.  Outside trim locates them in the frame and covers any irregularities in the cut out.

I thought I could live with the shorter door over the wheels, but I'm going to have to redo that.  Had to redo the second door from the front as well, got the trim on cockeyed the first time.

 

[BK9300]

Do overs seem to be part of any scratch build - you’re making good progress, Paul

[Gary Chastain]

Like where this is going

[PHPaul]

After many hours and several attempts to create acceptable operating doors on the service body, I came to the conclusion that it was beyond my skills and I'd rather have non-opening doors than crappy looking opening doors.

So, I bit the bullet and scrapped this final attempt and started over from scratch.

I am now at this stage.  The basic body is complete less rear bumper, ready for sanding and paint prep.  The top of the side boxes is diamond plate as will be the bumper.  They'll get silver paint, the rest of the truck will be red except possibly the front fenders (haven't decided yet).

It being Winter in Maine, currently 20° and 77% humidity, it'll likely be some time before any paint gets laid down

[BK9300]

It must be frustrating about the working doors, but good to see the truck body moving forward - looks very clean!

[PHPaul]

11 minutes ago, BK9300 said:

It must be frustrating about the working doors, but good to see the truck body moving forward - looks very clean!

Extremely.  Hence the 2 month lay-off.  But the bottom line is  - to coin a phrase - "A man's gotta know his limitations."  

[PHPaul]

Couldn't resist a quick and dirty mockup.

[gotnitro?]

Nice redo on the service body ! 

[ShakyCraftsman]

On 1/29/2025 at 3:29 PM, PHPaul said:

Couldn't resist a quick and dirty mockup.

This is a cool build. I need to make one of these for my construction company fleet. It is looking amazing and keep up the good work.

Ron G 

[Rockford]

Brave call on the doors. It looks just as good, and you could have been drawn down a wormhole of what goes in the lockers!

[Randy D]

Understand about the frustrations Paul,  but really like the end result you have working here!!!

 

Randy

[PHPaul]

 

After another long hiatus (Summer, my natural aversion to painting for fear of buggering it up) I'm back at the service truck.

Laid a couple coats of MCW Bolero Red lacquer on it without major issues.  When the applicable details are added, it'll get a couple of coats of clear.

Also hitting the diamond plate on the top of the toolboxes and the back bumper with the Fusionfirm Chrome detailed here.  I'm VERY pleased with the result.  The pictures highlight a couple of spots I missed which I'll touch up.  Letting the first side dry completely before handling it to mask the other side and the bumper.

Feels good to be back at it!

 

[Gary Chastain]

Glad to see you at the bench again, color looks good. 

[BK9300]

I agree with Gary - good to see your progress on this!  How are you finding the Fusion Chrome to work with?

[PHPaul]

3 minutes ago, BK9300 said:

I agree with Gary - good to see your progress on this!  How are you finding the Fusion Chrome to work with?

Thanks, it's good to get back to the bench.

I'm quite impressed with the Fusion chrome.  Looks really good to me, easy to apply, good coverage over the overspray, a little bit goes a long way.  If anything, it's too easy to apply too much.

I plan to give everything a coat of clear.  A little concerned about how the Fusion will react to the clear lacquer.  I'll do a test piece before committing.  Waiting on things to dry - both model and atmosphere...