Assembly hints requested

[charlie8575]

I'm building one of these for the pickup build and have a question I'd like to ask before going too much farther.

The rear of the cab is molded separately from the rest of the cab, as is the firewall and core support. Generally, I know that the firewall is left out before painting, which I have no problem with, but I'm wondering if, contrary to the instructions, I should put the back of the cab in before painting. The box is also molded in several parts, and I'm wondering about that as well.

Has anyone built one of these and have you found that doing pre-assembly like this causes problems down the road? My thought is to assemble the hood (which is in two pieces,) the back of the cab into the cab, and the rear panels of the bed-sides into the bed. The hood has the two "eyebrows" that are separate plated pieces; I'm wondering if I can assemble the hood prior to their installation or not.

Thoughts on these matters appreciated

Charlie Larkin

[highway]

Charlie, I honestly don't see why there would be any problem preassemling it prior to paint. I got this one from a friend of mine who got it from a mutal friend of ours.

I read throught the instructions and didn't see anywhere like you reffered to where it said not to assemble the parts prior to painting, but I might be missing something or maybe you have an earlier issue kit. Here's all my instructions show.

Anyway, back to question at hand, here are a couple pics of the cab that you had questions on, and these all appear to have been assembled before painting.

The bed is not assembled, since the original (failed) idea was to have the AMT camper on the back, until the friend of ours totally messed up the shortbed frame trying to extend it, but I did do a quick test fit for you. I don't see any problem with you also assembling the bed pieces first, especially since it appears as the tailgate is also glued in place. I tried the test fit with the side held in place and the tailgate will slide right in place from the bottom just in case you are modifying it to open. I hope the helps out!

[charlie8575]

That's exactly what I needed to know, Matthew. I just primed everything, and I'll do some of the assembly prior to shooting the color coat. My instructions are the same, but I always get a little concerned when I see parts being assembled like that, after the paint should probably be applied.

Right now, I'm leaning towards doing a solid gray with a red and white interior. From what I've been able to gather from a few Chevy truck restoration suppliers, red with white bolsters was a available, and I think it'd look nice like that, brighten up the whole truck a little.

Charlie Larkin

[highway]

That's exactly what I needed to know, Matthew. I just primed everything, and I'll do some of the assembly prior to shooting the color coat. My instructions are the same, but I always get a little concerned when I see parts being assembled like that, after the paint should probably be applied.

I'm glad I could help, and I figured part of it might have been the instructions! Why AMT put the exterior color chart in the instructions before you even start the assembly of the frame or anything else is beyond me!