Aoshima Datsun 720 Pickup

[Kombi]

Kit: Aoshima Datsun 720 Pickup (AOS27790)

Wheels: Aoshima Work Emotion CR Kai (AOS36914)

I finally finished my little Datsun pickup. It was inspired by a fairly impressively built King-cab version in Japan that I've seen a few pictures of. I liked it largely because apart from the ridiculous ride height the pickup was largely stock in appearance.

I started with the Aoshima kit even though it wasn't a king-cab, but learned right away that those huge fender flares were molded to the body. So instead of trying to shave them off and trying to recreate the stock wheel openings I instead drilled holes in an attempt to make them bolt-ons. I've got a soft spot for bolt-on fenders anyway so it worked.

The other modifications included drilling out the "mesh" grill and replacing that with bars that gave a more stock appearance. Drilling out the other front end openings; adding some Pegasus brakes; and swapping out the wire wheels for some Work Emotion CR Kai wheels. The interior was tarted up a bit with Lamborghini seats, Cobra steering wheel and shift knob, roll cage, and a photo-etched hot rod cluster.

This was also my first attempt at replacing the glass with some thin, clear styrene. It was not entirely successful, but does look better than the awful kit glass.

One of the challenges I faced was the extreme negative offset on the wheels. This caused them to be set too far inboard and it just looked silly. I made a .085mm spacer using some styrene tubing and the kit poly caps. The poly cap stuck out of my spacer just enough that it still engaged the wheel so that when I glued the spacer to the wheel, everything lined up perfectly.

Apologies for the shoddy camera work. I'm between cameras for a while so the camera on my G1 is the fall back.

Thanks for looking.

Edited May 21, 2010 by MkIII

[MyBradKeselowski]

Very interesting, neat looking build

[RodneyBad]

DANG!!!

That looks Very Cool..

[cazxr2]

That's a really good pick up. Very smart where did u get the kit? And is it stock wheels?

[Kombi]

Thanks for the compliments.

I myself have never really been a fan of the Mini Truck look, but one modified similar to this would definitely be something I wouldn't mind owning. A quick B-series would work just as well.

For whatever reason I never get tired of highly modified cars and trucks that maintain a fairly stock appearance. With two exceptions, wheels and ride height.

I've added some cliff notes to my post.

[Gray Smith]

very cool build man...I know the very truck you are trying to replicate and I say job well done