dodge van , comple makeover

[crazyrichard]

thnx

decided to do headlights , behind the hole will be a fors headlight as reflector / lense and the glass fits exactly in the styrene so the lense is flush with the styrene

still rough

its not that big now its slammed next to the pick-up it looks small

on the shelf next to some other creations

[FIREMODELMAN]

Nice, I really like the choice of tires. Keep up the nice work.

[Olskoolrodder]

Man I'm really diggin your build style and ingenuity! Awesome job on the grille (and yeah,I likes it better with lights too after seeing it),stance is awesome!

So what exactly did you do there...cut away/open the wheel-wells and mount the suspention inside the body to BD it,or is there more to it (curious for the know how to do it myself )? Thanks in advance

[modelguy45]

it looks great love the body drop and grill is good lookin

[crazyrichard]

well tbh it was easy i just flipped the chassis upside down and it fits perfect like that and the ride hight is spot on , the suspension isnt detailed just iron rods trhough the chassis so i decided to flip it make a small tunnel inside and make the whole underside flat with plates later on ...

the grille died i put somke bmf foil on it but it broke in half , rather then stripping it and repairing i desided i'd try to make something even more stylish ....

[crazyrichard]

well since the grille from lego broke and after some thinking i found that too simple and like 70's and what has been done so often on vans ...i decided to go more extreme ..
going to mix some styles , got eliptical headlights wich i will place a bit turned so the look somewhat angry ..
mercury bullet grille .. just mixing some stuff

they seem big on this pic buts thats just the shot , also they are just very loose in there



normal distance you see they are the right size



everything still roughly loosely placed but the idea i'm after





so i wil add a aditional strip under the headlights and make the insert less flat .. maybe even make a knob grille above the bullet grille

something like this but smaller and more refined

[slowlylearning]

Brilliant!!! Old Skool is best Skool! Iv been going through my mountain of old parts looking for something with a bit or 60s grill heritage too

[Tom Geiger]

Richard - Here's a thought for you. As you look to make this van more distinctive, you may not know that it was available in three different lengths. The kit is the extended wheel base model. There was a shorter van....

as well as a longer one, same as the kit, but with extra length behind the rear wheels.

And a lot of aftermarket high tops to make anything from a custom van, a extended height work truck, an ambulance or handicap van.

So there's a lot of different things you can do to make it distinctive.

[crazyrichard]

thnx and yes i knew .. i thought about making it shorter but in fact i kind of like the lenght .. so i will be keeping that like this

[crazyrichard]

desided to use normal round lights (from a revell 32 ford) because i hated the lenses on the eliptical lights ..

they looked like magnifing glasses lol

the ford lenses are detailled with lines ..

worked the lamp houses into the styrene

added a small srip above them , dont know why just looked better

grille wise i'm thinking of scrachting a real detailled grille in the middle

[Olskoolrodder]

Thanks for the info Sorry to hear about the grille issues (sounds like MY luck ),but looks like you got it well cared for

[gray07]

Awesome work on the van, the tables came from the wanted van, they go on each side over the wheel wells, if you want some pictures of vans, check out the website in my signature, iam a member there, its a van site. Keep up the work and updates.

[crazyrichard]

thnx guys , well only been cleaning up some stuff have to go and get glue today so have not been doing anything this week ..
my glue was just all used up

also still thinking and trying out grille options and have not found anything i really loved ..

and gray going to look at your link could not find anything on google about real cool vans thnx

[crazyrichard]

well finally got new glue and after trying out several designs i got this ..
its like i dont want a ususal van design but i could not get a real extreme thing going i liked ..
so far this is what i liked best

rough >

[crazyrichard]

thnx
well i could be just making a new one from scratch but i do like this one .. its from an old 1/18 mercedes clk die-cast model , just cut it up a bit

spreyed some primer to see how flat it was and well pretty flat already , all the seems got bondo in them wich ow pays of







after a first sand job

[tooltas]

that dang cat is eyeing it bewere cats and car model are not to be in same room . bad things hapen...

[crazyrichard]

well that cat is my true soulmate .. love that cat to death ...

[tooltas]

i know what u mean i got a dog that likes to chew on mine........it hits the floor its gone,,,,,,,,,,,,, but i will not part with him and the other two furballs i got three dogs

[hjracing]

I like your take on this build, it's something really diferent!

[JasonFL]

Man, loving this build Rich. Glad to see someone slam this thing on the ground and that front end is ridiculous. I'm really wanting to build one now. Just curious but how are you doing the suspension? It looks like your just doing it simple and going axle over frame? Look forward to the rest of the build, keep it going.

[Tom Geiger]

Richard, I love your new grill treatment. I know design is important to you and you tried several things until something looked exactly right to you. That's design and craftsmanship!

[crazyrichard]

thnx guys , well have not done anything for a week , i have had so much stuff on my mind .. the whole winter i really build every day .. this weekend i got new internet , telephone and hd tv and i was phoning and fixing all weekend , the modem i got was broke and i wet from cable to fibreglass and all the wiring went to the other side of the living room .. and since i have a hide the cable fetish (hate to see exposed wires on my house even on lights standing on ....)

and jason well planned to keep the suspension like you said simple , you really cant see much of that if i would scracth something , i also was planning of doing a belly pan and close up the whole bottom and maybe add blocks like where it would sit on slammed ..

and tom thnx and yes the design was def. a issue ... i wanted something new . fresh but not overdone .. the whole van needs to stay somewhat clean imo

[crazyrichard]

well last night i thought i'd do something on the van again and i made a start with the interiour .. the whole interiour insert cant be used and i cut out the center console / engine cover ..
i glued the dash on the body and placed it a tad lower then usual , now after painting the front window fits supertight and slides is over the dash ..

now i need to make a floor pan inside , with the center console / engine cover on it and makes some weheel wells inside the cab .. anmd make sure when the chassis / interiour and body are put together the dash and centerconsole fit tight (on the last pic there is still a big gap between them)

[b_lever1]

looks sweet got to train your cat and dog better mine just sit in the shop and watch dad work wish I had pictures

[Wonderbread Kustomz]

This is looking great! Love the front end and the way you went about doing the body drop is awesome !