1951 Chevy Wanderer - Minor Progress - 8/3/2013

[Tom Geiger]

The thing is that is exactly what some of those vehicle specific campers were really like in 1:1!

Which is why I added two scale feet to the rear. Still my door is only 64" high, but folks can duck a little.

[Guest Johnny]

Which is why I added two scale feet to the rear. Still my door is only 64" high, but folks can duck a little.

But there were some that were just that short where instead of ducking you entered like a duck!

[Tom Geiger]

Some very minor progress. I avoided scratch building a propane cylinder on the Dodge van camper by making it all electric. This time I figured I'd need to have one hanging off the back. I started working with small gasser fuel tanks, and that was going nowhere fast. They just didn't look like a propane cylinder. Then someone mentioned that Escort's Resin did one. Sure enough, they had a pair of two sizes, the one you see here and a taller one. So I ordered. Don was very attentive. He emailed several times as to the progress of the order and I had my cylinders in about 2 weeks. Quality wise, they're like R&R rough. The top portion didn't have the handle holes in it so I drilled and carved them out. The bottom ring was a short shot so I sanded it off and added a small plastic ring from my parts box. Once that all was done, I gave it a spray of Duplicolor white and it looked like a propane tank. I then took the label off my 1:1 tank and taped it to my house. A few photos later, I reduced it to size in Word and printed out a few. I'm not 100% happy with my printer's performance, but it's what I got for now. Important to note, the label is just paper glued on with Elmers glue. No need to make a decal for something easy like this. I still need to plumb the top with a hose and a valve.

As I searched through my parts box for the bottom ring, I came across a beat up Ford pickup with a crushed cab. As many of my projects are born, I just started to fiddle with the parts. And here we have the start of a pickup based trailer like we've all seen on the road. I'm not sure if this will be towed by the traveler, or if it's a model all on it's own.

The good part is it's already painted, kid applied paint jobs are a good start for my weathering work. I'm not sure where it's going, whether it will get an interesting topper, a ladder rack and a load of 'stuff' or... the voices in my head are fighting over it right now.

[Dr. Cranky]

FANTASTIC. I love it. Great work.

[gasser59]

Hey Tom, where'd this one end up?

[misterNNL]

Are you planning to adapt the Chevy's rear quarter panel to the camper shape?IMHO that would greatly improve the side view.

[Tom Geiger]

Brad, sorry to say the Wanderer looks pretty much the way you see it in this thread. It got pushed off the bench for another project, and never got back into the rotation.

Tom, what you are seeing is the rough work. But the shapes will probably look like you see, as this is supposed to be something that someone hobbled together and will be dirty / rusty as are most of my models. The one thing you don't see in the photos, is that it is RHD, I had converted a dash for another long gone project so I thought, "what the heck!"