Hi fellow model builders.

I decided to get moving on a project I've been thinking about for a while - 1/25 scale trophy trucks!



While I don't plan to match this truck precisely, it gives a pretty good view of a modern, off road race truck - and general guidance for what I want to do. I'm planning to build a Chevy and a Ford - why not? we'll see how it goes. Each are regular, out of the box Revell kits that I'm kit bashing.

OK, here we go with the Chevy:

First up, cut the body - it's too long as is:



Next, open up the fenders a bit:



Next, start on the frame/cage etc. I decided in advance, that I am OK getting this close, and that it doesn't need to be a direct replica - I just don't have that much time to build! But, I do want it to look the part. So, I kept a part of the floor pan, and dashboard, and went to work from there.

A key part of these trucks is the design of the suspension, which up front is not a pair of "A" arms - instead, essentially inverted "Y"'s which are also generally mirrored, not stacked. Next, the engine is setback, so the front of the engine more or less matches the centerline of the front axle. All of this is wrapped in a cage, with headers poking out too - plenty of work even if not a complete replica:







Next - I don't have my tires and wheels yet, so I built a template - just to confirm clearance:



Finally, this is where it sat last night - still a long way to go:





This one has required plenty of trial and error - after I saw the last pics I realized the "V" brace in the front window was asymmetrical...so, it's not anymore! out the offending piece of tubing came and now its reinstalled in about the right place!

Thanks for having a look

Nick

Oh Boy... He's dabbling in other scales!!

Super work so far, I will be following this one for sure!

Cheers, D

Hi Matt - yes! you found me! I've got to say, 1/25 looks huge when compared to 1/35 - it's taken me a while to get a comfortable sense of scale - which is pretty important when doing scratch work! So, yes, I'll carry on. The chassis/frame will take some time, so I'll keep posting as updates occur. Also a few (lot of!) mods to go on the body -

Hi Damian, Thanks for dropping in - lets hope I can follow through and pull this off! it has been a real challenge just getting the geometry to "look" right - and to allow room for the headers, tires, wheels, body - and so on -

Hopefully I can post some updates in a few days -

cheers

Nick

Hello -

I'm making steady progress on this build. So far so good! A bit/lot! tedious, but shaping up - - getting all of this to be either square, or perpendicular or parallel...has been easier said than done!

You'll also see the body is coming along, but has a really long way to go. More styrene, and more putty to go!

Please take a look:











And there you have it - the body isn't attached yet - just a dry fit. I'll keep going on the roll cage/chassis, but will need to stop in a short while as eventually I'm going to need my tires and wheels in order to fab up the front suspension and to build up the rear axle - it's a corporate or Dana 60.

Ok, thanks for having a look!

Nick

If anything is out of square, just blame the terrain!

Looking good, love the roll bar work, and what build would be worth the time if there isn't half a bucket of putty in there somewhere?

Cheers, D

Haha! Wasn't it your "powerhouse" countrymen AC/DC who sang "Whole lotta putty!!!" ?? Haha - yes! I'll be adding plenty I think! Thanks for dropping by - I'm working on the front fenders tonight - good times

Cheers
Nick

Nick,

I know what you mean. I have some 1/24-1/25 scale stuff as well, mostly Fire trucks sitting in my Stash. (that's where a good chunk of my Shapeways stuff is, as there's not a huge aftermarket) I even have a few die cast I've been playing with in terms of conversions.

Stuff is much easier to make in the bigger scale, which calls for MORE DETAIL!!!! the never ending paradox!!!

HI Matt indeed - the 1/25 seems huge, and yes, it does invite more detail! The question of course is how far do you go? and what looks convincing etc? -

As we ponder....I have also been working on the truck, primarily the body. As is often the case, I think I have a few competitive entries for the "ugliest work in progress" contest....take a look:







OK, maybe not "the" ugliest....and with some primer:



You can see the good and bad - since I took this pic, I tried to patch up some of the more obvious problems. I've realized though, that it would become a frustrating, short term career to try and make it "perfect", so I won't! As a whole though, I think it looks pretty good.

Below you'll see the body dry fit on the chassis, which keeps getting modified:



I took a pass at fixing the weird gap along the top side of the fender - it's better now, but still not great.









And there you have it for now. I might start the rear end -tires and wheels or not. The suspension is similar to a four link with long swing arms on either side, plus equally long panhard bars - staring on the frame side, above the swing arms, but attaching on either side of the rear differential. Or, I'll start something else and keep waiting for the tires and wheels!

Thanks for having a look

Nick

With that much body work, I'd probably have used Bondo, and gone outside and use the power tools and/or full size tools to shape it!!

Hello fellow model builders, you'll see below I'm making progress.

Hi Matt - it's probably less bad than it looks. In total each side of the truck getting the putty etc is only about 1" x 3" or so.....So far I've had less trouble with the big fixes, and lots of trouble with the little tiny cracks, divots etc, and of course the errant out-of-nowhere bulge in or out. All of that said, a small/micro orbital sander would be pretty helpful!!! I think I do more harm than good when I try to sand the putty smooth.

Ok, on to today's update. Now that I've had enough body work to last me a while, I went back to scratch building and kit bashing. Today's Episode: "Rear Suspension Tension!"

As you'll see below I'm scratch building this - but am mixing in some parts from a variety of sources. While the concept of this rear suspension is cool, it's not easy to build - which is fine, but this has taken some head scratching and patience!! The rear suspension is only dry fit and taped in, but its pretty close. I'm letting the axles run long for now, as I don't have my tires and wheels yet - so, no idea what diameters or wheel off-sets are.

Please have a look:













And there you have it. As you can see, there's plenty more to do, but, its coming right along -

thanks for having a look!

Nick

Hey Nick, That looks awesome! ... Keep scratchin' that itch buddy!

—mike

Really radical scratch building. You're leaving no details out!

HI fellow model builders -

Mike and KoSprueOne - the responses to your posts are clearly connected! more details equals more head scratching! Thanks for the comments.

And I have been doing a fair amount of that since the last post - me and, the Dude! working on the front suspension on the Chevy truck. I thought the rear end was not easy...neither is the front end! While it does not go up and down, the wheels do turn left and right, and was still challenging. Have a look:







You can see that there really aren't all that many components that make up the front suspension; the few there are though, are closely placed, and some, relatively complex. At this point my model building skills became a bigger problem than understanding how all these parts go together. The "real" parts include milled pieces which allow vertical and horizontal rotation (various ball joints and ends) and are relatively small, and milled components and brackets. I realized it was ludicrous for me to try and model these - just out of my "element".

So, I did what I could:







...and it came together. No, I still don't have my tires and wheels.....so, I can't get going on brakes, hubs, axles etc....all I can say now is if I really blew any of the dimensions, it's into the trash for this! it's too late to go back now.

I did though keep working on the rear end. I you'll see a variety of new parts since the last time - shocks on each side, splash panels in the bed, fuel cell, brackets for the radiator and batteries etc.

The various metal bracket and pins are from a company called "Dirt Modeler" - they build their parts for other types of dirt track racecars. However, the parts allow for plenty of "creative" reuse and can be adapted to do all sorts of things, and I'll use them again!

Below, you'll see the last few bits for this post:





And there you have it! hopefully the tires and wheels are done soon - in the meantime, well, I'll find something to do! for now, back to the real job!

cheers
Nick

Lookin good!!

Dude, that brass bracing really ties the front end together !

Nick;
It's coming along great. Your doing an EXCELLENT JOB on the scratch. Keep up the great work, It'll be worth it in the end.

Hi model builders

First, Matt, Damian, and Todd - glad you guys like the work so far! Damian...that brace really does tie the front end together! Haha!

Second, this here story I'm about to unfold is....just annoying! About a month ago I got in touch with a guy about some resin tires and wheels....at first I just asked if he had a part in stock, and ultimately he volunteered to make up some tires and wheels to meet the spec! Woo hoo! The 37" BFG Baja tire, custom wheels with bead locks !! Wow! Lucky me!

Those tires and wheels would really tie the truck together...would they not?!?!

Now, after a lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what have yous, it's a month later and he hasn't started....so, as he has failed to achieve, the single task he volunteered to do, I'm going elsewhere.

And where did I go? The Parts Box!! I might need to do some modifications to get the look I'm after, but I can tell you this - only moments after I made my order, they emailed me back a paypal refund for some error I made!! And while I obviously don't have the parts yet, that response was prompt and I am optimistic that they will achieve!

Later dudes - abide

Cheers
Nick

As was the case a few days ago....I still don't have tires or wheels, but, as I mentioned, under my new circumstance with a different supplier, that's more or less OK.

Without tires and wheels, there was still plenty to do - take a look:

First up, out of the body shop:









and voila - that's the paint work. So, while not my original plan, I did decide to follow the prototype in the first photo of the thread for a basic guide. While not knock out beautiful, it's not bad either - I used acrylic paint but, but did not add a gloss medium...not too bright of me (bad pun eh?) - I just forgot, so, instead, the paint has a matte finish, which in real life looks pretty nice.

That said, I would have liked a pearl white finish - maybe next time!

Next, on to the rest of the truck. For this, I painted all of it grey with an airbrush, then everything else with a paint brush. You'll see the chassis has a distinctive neon/lime green color. This wasn't easy to achieve - I did it using a blend of Vallejo Model Air US interior yellow, and Vallejo (something else...not Model Air...??) neon green. This rapidly did not go well - the non model air paint was quite thick, so I thinned it, which of course retarded the other color...perfect...anyway, when all was said an done, this is what I found myself with:













And there you have it. Lots of trips to the junk box for this build, and plenty of experimenting with colors to get the right look, and still more scratch building of stuff like the hi lift jack.

The upside of not having the tires and wheels is:

a) I have plenty of time to add details and fix things I don't like; or,

b) plenty of time to fool around with it and rub off paint, and break off details....haha!

cheers - thanks for having a look!

Nick

Bad*ss build

Haskell:
1 BAD **S Build. I love the paint scheme. As you said take the waiting time and do some fine touches to what you have built. There's always little things that make it much more unique of a build. CHEERS AWESOME SUBJECT!!!!!

Amazing job.

Aright!!That's the kind of response that's excellent to see! Thanks, guys!!

So, yes, I did add some more bits to the Chevy, and as predicted, I had the opportunity to both break, and reattach and paint a few parts - perfect - so, as I wait for the tires and wheels, I decided to get going on this:





As promised, a Ford racer! Same as the Chevy, starting with a Revell kit and going from there:





So this one was a bit harder to get going on that the Chevy - first, inside the hood wheel wells etc were molded in, and the door is on a curve - and, length needed to be added to cab. I got straight to cutting:





And then, to filling. The cab extension is a series of evergreen sheets (matching the cab's contour), staring with .030" and subsequent layers of .010" laminated together and filed to match the body.

Then, similar to the Chevy - reworking front and rear fender wells. So far, this truck is eating up the styrene!

Ok, I've got to get going - thanks for checking it out -

Nick

Hello fellow model builders - I finished the Chevy truck and we had some sun out - so, I took some photos! OK, here we go:





















A few more:









And there you have it, I'm calling the Chevy done. It turns out, after all that, the tires and wheels are now from BNL Resins - they are easily available, and came to me in about three days...there you go.

Next up - getting back onto the Ford, i"ll fool around with it in the next few weeks, but not likely really back into it until after the first of the year - I'm going to have to think more about the front suspension - while this is close, there's something about it that isn't quite right...next time!

Thanks for having a look!

Nick

Haskell;
Awesome!!!!! That Chevy is the BEE"S NEE"S. The tires set it off along with the paint scheme. You did a FANTASTIK JOB!!

The Ford looks progressing well. Which Kit did you start with?