29 ford rat hauler in progress

[hotrod347]

brutus is coming along. been working on him for the past 3 days, here are some pics of what i have accomplished so far and what is being done to make the hauler deck.







the braces for the deck. i'm using scrap booking wood planks for the deck. this is just the bottom of the deck for now, much later on the deck to come.



now these are the LED's i'll be using for the fixed rear turn signals and for the tail lights. i'm going to build a small set of boxes out of the planks to house these lights under the rear of the decking. the tail lights will be 2 abreast on top with the same in number for the turn signals on the bottom of each box.



more will be up soon once i get new batteries for my digital camera. dang things died tonite. lol

[fireguy14]

Lookin good.

[hotrod347]

thanks, it's comin along good. the bed itself is still too short, i have to add maybe another 5 inches on the back of the braces or lucille will fall off the back. i kept the stake sides from the box bed that came with the kit. i'm plannin on adding them to the front of the deck and placing a set of competition tires and a toold box in between them. it'll look good once i'm done. i hope.lol

[vwdave]

A wash/dunk in rubbing alcohol mixed with India Ink will help that fresh wood look a lot older:

(I made uneven cuts and added some random notches with my Dremel, and a few knot holes with my 005 Micron artists' pen)

I don't have any pics to show it, but soy sauce also makes a great weathering agent for wood. Leave it to dry overnight after a soak, and there's no odor to speak of.

[Gary Kulchock]

Now those look great. I use Micro-Mark age-it Easy for the same effect.

[Gary Kulchock]

Jul 3, 2009 23:34:57 GMT -5 hotrod347 said:

more will be up soon once i get new batteries for my digital camera. dang things died tonite. lol

Check your camera for a "Macro" button. The images will photograph a lot clearer. ;D

[vwdave]

Jul 12, 2009 16:59:52 GMT -5 Gary Kulchock said:

Check your camera for a "Macro" button. The images will photograph a lot clearer. ;D

I'd also recommend a mini tripod to help get clearer photos; while in macro mode and with the flash shut off, my camera is very sensitive to movement. Holding the camera further away from the subject and zooming in makes a big difference as well.

[hotrod347]

ok guys here's more pics of brutus. the deck is finally finished and i've added a set of tool boxes under the cab to hold the rear of the truck to the back of the cab, it also hides the cut marks from my trust dremel. don't have the cement stuff you guys use, so i improvised. brutus jr. is on the back in the first pic. the tow chains on the decking are held in place believe it or not by the same size paper clips i used for brutus jr.'s competition stick shift shaft. the chains are from a set of charm bracelets and necklaces my ma had layin around the house. it's always good to have a mother that's still cool with your model building.lol of course she knows down the line i'll be building a stock 68 mercury cougar for her, so that kinda helps. ok boys/ gals if there are any.lol here's brutus.