Third Completion of 2012

[Steve_L]

1997 Dodge Ram Sport Pickup

These are pictures of a long-stalled project built to my theme of "Vehicles I Used to Drive."

From 1997 to 2006, I drove a tricked out 1997 Dodge Ram Sport 1500. I custom ordered it with the 5.9L engine, a leather interior, an upgraded stereo system and a 3.92 Limited Slip Rear end. I added an aftermarket performance air intake, a Jet chip, headers, a high flow catalytic converter, a Flowmaster high performance exhaust and a ram air fiberglass hood. I had custom-made smoothie wheels shipped from California.

I started this project in 2003 with a Maisto 1/24 Die Cast and stripped all of the paint.

I fabricated a scoop for the hood and added smoothie wheels and tires from my parts box. I primered and painted the body and that's when the project stalled. The paint work was really substandard. After stripping that paint job, the project went on the shelf.

For 2012, I'm concentrating on finishing as many of my stalled projects as I can. I hired fellow ACME Club Bob Downie to help me rescue this one. He provided the finish body work for the hood and a jam up paint job. Many thanks, Bob!

I painted the interior Duplicolor Interior Desert Sand to match the 1:1 and detailed painted it, too. I installed dual exhaust pipes and covered the tips with Bare Metal Foil. I created the Sport, Ram 1500, Magnum V8 and Dodge decals on my computer.

I don't do a lot of Die Casts, but I made this one look as much like my 1:1 Dodge Ram 1500 as I could. It was a fun project at the end.

Enjoy!

[surfjunke]

You did a great job on the kit. Looks cool. I bet it was a sweet truck.