Replica of my '69 (conversion of AMT '72)

[89AKurt]

My first post and thread here, previous 1969 nicknamed The Green Barge.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...62#post8665362

First day I drove it:


Day I sold it:

[89AKurt]

I got the kit via Facebook Marketplace, for a deal, because it was built half decent, but needed paint stripped.


Kept the paint on the chassis and a few engine parts.


Filled ejection pin marks and sink holes on the bed.


Reassembled the engine.


Not going to go overboard on correcting and detailing the curbside, or promo style chassis. But did remove one of the exhaust pipes since the truck had one tailpipe. Solder crossover pipe.



Engine painted, and final assembly. Detail parts used in the picture.


Added a dip stick, and drain plug.


Added fuel line with filter made from scavenged electronic part. Modified the air filter to the aftermarket style, scribed vertical lines and added photo-etch mesh.


Turned a Mallory distributor.



Starting on the plug wires. Took liberty here, the real truck had black wires, I just wanted to use the red wire I had.


Manifold painted brown, and baking soda added over wet paint.


Pet peeve is floating accessories, made mounts from aluminum plate, photo-etch bolts added. Also made a thermostat housing, kit hose is not correct.


Made loom holders from aluminum plate (lower left, still on sheet), based on the '68 I currently own.


Truck had a 1 ton brake booster, turned on the drill press from Corian.


Wiring complete. I know wire shouldn't touch the manifold, but wanted a snug look.



If I wanted to never finish this model, would correct the engine bay, which needs it. But I think the detailed engine will be enough.

[89AKurt]

Started on the interior. I found this amusing, modern kits usually have no headliner detail, much less sun visors. Ruined by the 'glass' bridge.


Evaluating the dash, which needs to be raised. Will remove the lower gauges, and have aftermarket gauge faces to use.


Used a hot-wire to destroy the interior tub, to remove the seats and door panels.


Chassis has a slight warp the should be fixed.


Destroyed the custom grill, to use the lights, hoped to use the grill part but....


Cut 'glass' with hot-wire. Made the floor, not worried about undulating like the real thing because doors won't be opened. Going to cut out window and door cranks. Bumper lights filled. Brake booster painted, should be good to touch days (weeks?) from now. Going to dent and weather the bed floor. Figured out the grill pieces won't work, plan B needs to be worked out.


Drew what needs to be scratch-built, based on measurements of my real '68. Discovered the tailgate is not correct in width and height, not a huge deal but will adapt for the lettering. Pet peeve of mine are the taillights.


Cut the seat from Corian.


Used the bench sander to rough shape, scribed pleats with knife, filed to shape and sanded. Stretched sprue for the piping.



Some sanding, set on simple mounts, again not detailed because the doors won't be opened.


I have a more detailed narrative on the Model Car Magazine forum.
http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/t...omment-2186721

[89AKurt]

Door panels are simple, scribed design. Cut out the cranks. Heater made from Corian, with guitar string ducts.


Temporary test assembly.


Made pedals, high/low switch, arm rests.



Made shifter, turn signal arm, gear indicator, and gas pedal like the one I made for the real truck. Dash pad carpet is holiday food package.



Seat and rubber floor mat texture is acrylic paint stabbed on with a short bristle brush. I add tile grout for the floor to add more texture.


First paint for the interior! I got the exact color from Splash Paints (Portland OR). Seat is custom mixed 'jade green' and a military green.



Masked for the dash panel, and steering column. Can only airbrush the Splash paint.


Interior looks done. Used Best Model Parts gauge faces (also has the 4 little gauges, but this truck did not have those so filled the holes).



Used photo-etch screw heads, and Bare Metal Foil.

[89AKurt]

Not going overboard on the promo style toy chassis. Painted the exhaust pipes with a mix of brown and steel, sprinkled on baking soda.


Tailgate needed the lettering done. I've seen other guys get the '66 kit and adapt that tailgate. Still needs work, but moving on.....





Pet peeve for me is the taillights.





Stake pockets need improvement, added to the inside for width, and drilled square holes.


Removed windshield wipers, another pet peeve.


Glued the engine in. Did not glue at the oil pan to cradle. Lots of superglue and baking soda at the pipes.


Another pet peeve, molded on door handles. Been struggling with getting a smooth fill on the bumper.




Made one RV mirror. I'm going to be casting resin duplicates of everything I'm making, so the other mirror will be a part.



Going to send out parts for chrome plating.

[89AKurt]

Still another pet peeve, total lack of hood hinges. This kit is typical, there are tabs, so you could prop up the hood with a toothpick for display, or just set it down on the table. I've seen plenty of nice factory builds, where they set the hood aside even though it should be connected.

I have a collection of springs salvaged from everything.


Drew a basic design with 3 parts, not exact but enough to fake you out. Grant Line railroad bolts are used, melt the nut end with the lighter. Used aluminum roof flashing this time.



First fitting was satisfactory.



Used coffee can steel for the body mount.


For the closed position, the tab can fit inside.


I have just enough room, before removing plastic from the interior tub.


I think it's convincing enough. When I first set on the table at a contest, will be closed for awhile, then will sneak over and open it. The tabs slip in for the open position. It's impossible to make this workable, there is a tiny link that makes the hood pivot away from the firewall that would break the instant it's moved.



Thanks for looking!

[v30crewcab]

thats pretty cool.

[89AKurt]

Originally Posted by v30crewcab

thats pretty cool.

Thank you, and for the comment.

I have modified the bumper by filling the turn signal, and decided to remove the rivets because of all the sanding. Made new rivets.


I'm making resin copies of some parts, such as door cranks, door handles, bumper, before sending out to get the original parts chrome plated. Plating resin parts has to be separate from plastic parts.


Experiment with a cheap vacuum chamber. Professionals have something like a reverse of a pressure cooker.


Two part molds, ready for casting resin parts.


That's one day of production, very tedious, and waste a lot of resin.


Had license plates reduced to size using PhotoShop, and printed on glossy thin paper. Airbrushed with Deft varnish.


Used the drill press, and Dremel to turn a pattern out of Corian...


To vacuum-form....


On my homemade box with Oreck vacuum....


The fan shroud.



Stuffing it into place.


That hides the promo-style lugs that were ground off, and the incorrect size radiator.

[89AKurt]

Pet peeve is the totally wrong taillights. Here are the original patterns.


This ended up being the first try.



The tailgate looks finished....


New pins made from salvaged electronic device, I have a stash of pins, VCR, tape players have cool parts.


But after looking at this, still didn't look right. The kit tailgate is not wide enough and too tall.


Took out the original taillight pieces, good thing I made copies! Added to the tailgate.




That looks so much better!



Tailgate drops all the way down too now.


Smoothing the bottom of the carved letters.


Ready to cast. The seat is for the '48 Canopy Express that I started long ago, will have a separate topic about that project.


Only after I got to this stage, did I realize the tailgate still needs modification to be correct. My OCD kicking in.


First special part to the original truck, the back bumper. It worked on a ranch, the previous owner said this is a ranch style bumper, which allows the tailgate to go all the way down. End pieces are made from the door panels.



Next will be the toolbox, steps, and mirrors. I have to find or modify tires to replicate the slot mags, that's a hurdle to look forward to.

Thanks for looking!

[Ol Blue K20]

Cool build!! You're putting a lot of work into it. Looks great so far...

[Thealien]

You sir are an amazing craftsman! Thanks for sharing!

[FleetsidePaul]

Originally Posted by Thealien

You sir are an amazing craftsman! Thanks for sharing!

No kidding. Wow...Just Wow.

[89AKurt]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Cool build!! You're putting a lot of work into it. Looks great so far...

Thank you, yea I'm a nut.

[89AKurt]

Originally Posted by Thealien

You sir are an amazing craftsman! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you sir! Sometimes Crapsman, but I manage.

[89AKurt]

Originally Posted by FleetsidePaul

No kidding. Wow...Just Wow.

Much appreciated.

I'm about to resume on this project....

[89AKurt]

Toolbox was the next little project. Got the diamond plate styrene from an eBay seller. Drew it to scale using reference photos with the tape measure in the picture.






Made the steps, using paper clip for the tubing. Also refining the tailgate, the steel plate is for the magnet in the bed.


Painted the steps with Alclad 'stainless steel'.


Added the trailer electrical plug.

Painted with Alclad 'white aluminum'.


Magnet in the bed.


Toolbox painted with Alclad 'polished aluminum'.


I can make resin copies!



My resin production line, excruciating process.


The tailgate has paper clip hinge pins, the magnet "latch". The kit bed ribs did not extend all the way back, fixed. Made the support things (what are those really called?), but they don't operate.



The slotted mags are Fireball Modelworks resin copies of a 3D printed master, very nice and correct looking, just 1/24 scale not 1/25, so slightly incorrect size. The tires came from the Italeri kit of a Ferrari, yes a sports car, but they fit perfect. (was checking out the choices from my parts stash)


Got the resin bumper, and door handles back from the chrome plater.


Modified the kit wheel backs.


Painted Alclad 'polished aluminum' and their clear overcoat.


Added valve stems.





Added seatbelts.


Now to the signature part that makes it a '69 (or '70), the resin grill. Fixing a pet peeve of mine, the headlights.


Also improved the firewall, using wine bottle foil.


Had to refine the hood profile to match the grill.


Added hood latch detail.


Made the headlight reflectors from wine bottle foil.


Painted with Alclad 'polished aluminum'.


Scratch-built the steering shaft/box. I could have added the power steering pump and hoses, but the chassis is so basic didn't think it was worth that much trouble.



Grill is done!


First paint, primer, then rust.


Dryer is the cab. I had done a wet salt technique, then painted jade green in the bed.


For me, tiny details make a huge difference. Added the panel line when I was checking where the color separation is.


Painted the white.


The RV mirrors support "tubing", flattening the steel wire.

Used an unbuilt kit for a mockup to glue the mirrors together.



Splash paint is the perfect match.


Weathered black painted.


Pen for detailing the cowl grill.


Bare Metal foil used for the side and window trim. Pen used again for the black. I had sanded off the fancy raised trim in the center.


Driving lights were made from the custom grill part.


Lousy AMT quality final assembly. It's first load!


Detail Master photo-etch wipers. They are a royal PITA to assemble, need specialized tools. My door handles are glued on, I can make resin copies of those too.

Added heater hoses. I could have done a/c stuff too.


Sidelights made from parts box sprue, clear red and orange.

Taillights are too. Backup lens from a Porsche 911 turn signal.



Used Farmers Insurance sticker for reflectors.




Made a pallet to hold real flagstone.


Forgot to put the dipstick in, no way now.


Over 140 hours to build. Thanks for looking.

[Ol Blue K20]

Only 140 hours for all that detail? Simply amazing! Nice job and it looks great.

[3757chevy]

Amazing work. Speechless.

[Hook'em]

That's incredible. I bet I haven't spend 140 hours on my actual 1/1 truck.

[89AKurt]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Only 140 hours for all that detail? Simply amazing! Nice job and it looks great.

Thank you very much.

[89AKurt]

Originally Posted by 3757chevy

Amazing work. Speechless.

Aw shucks, thanks man!

[89AKurt]

Originally Posted by Hook'em

That's incredible. I bet I haven't spend 140 hours on my actual 1/1 truck.

Appreciate your comment! I know right? Same here, bare minimum, costs less.

Realized I never followed up with glamor pictures.




This shot shows the low quality of the AMT kit, but some of our trucks have cattywompus beds like this.







I entered in a virtual model contest, this is one of the photos I sent.


For my effort, they gave me First Place! There was a Pickup class, but this was truly a replica.



Another model did not win any award, because Muscle cars are always the favorite. I had considered having the pickup's tool box open, but after doing this, I quickly ditched the thought.

[Ol Blue K20]

The tools look cool.

[89AKurt]

Entered the Phoenix IPMS (International Plastic Modelers Society) model contest yesterday. Took 8 models, got two awards.
The competition:



After the master awards are given out, they placed the other awards on the tables. To be frank, was surprised my pickup got First place!


So of course I'm stoked!

[3757chevy]

Well yeah .I would be stoked too. Very nice . Congratulations.