Big Blue

[zbuckster]

When my son was in High School he spotted this rusty old truck sitting on the back row of a used car lot. It was love at first sight. He is now 38 years old and still has Big Blue. He says he will be buried in it. I say as long as I don't have to dig the hole , fine. This truck as been through so many engines and such in it's life it should be a piece of cake. Anything I do will be correct.

Right now I am thinking I will build it with a 383 inch small block. When he had that with a Turbo 350 he was the most successful with it on the drag strip. He raced the B&M Series. Made enough points to go to the Million Dollar Race in Memphis, Tenn. In 2003 I flew back to watch him race. He didn't win but we had a ball hanging out at the Drag Strip for 4 days.

Here is the truck. I think this picture was taken at Montgomery, Alabama.



Bad picture, but it's hard to take a picture of a picture and have it turn out.

I am using these two kits to do this.



The street truck kit for the two wheel drive frame and suspension. The 4x4 kit for the correct body and fenders.

So this is were we start. I stock 2 wheel drive frame.



The rest of the pictures are the mock up to see how things will fit.



Iam using the street truck bed because the wood looks better in it than the 4x4 bed.

This tailgate doesn't fit. It's to narrow. I will cut the Chevrolet out of it and put it into the plain tailgate later on.



That's all I got for now. All comments and questions are welcome. Thanks for looking.

[68chevy]

Look like you are off to a great start

[skibum]

This is a great project that you have going on. I can't wait to see more.

Rob

[shreddedtire82]

love the old square body chevys. ill be watching this one

[zbuckster]

Didn't do much yesterday, so this will be a small update. Most of the time was spent rounding up parts for the power train. I found a GM 12 bolt rear end in the junk yard. Got some Pro Star wheels from Competition Resins. Also got the Cowl induction Hood worked out. Again with parts from Competition Resins.

Got the tail gate cut out and the Chevrolet center section moved over. Got a little gap to fill but that's no big deal.



Looking in the engine bay I see 2 batteries, a jack and a windshield washer. Those will all have to go.



I used the trusty Derril to open the grille up.





The truck has a fiberglass hood with a huge cowl induction hood scoop on it. I thought the Competition Resins CRC-107 Cowl Induction Hood Scoop would do the trick. WRONG.



So I found this Scoop in the junk yard and thought with some pieces of styrene and some work It could be used.



Finally decided the best way to do it would be two of the CRC-107 scoops side by side.



Got the body and bed premiered.



Even though it is way early in the build I had to do a mock up just to see.



So that's where Iam at with it for now. The only thing I haven't been able to come up with is a Turbo 350 transmission for this thing. Looking through my junk yard I found half an engine with half a turbo 350 on it so there is hope. If any one knows of a kit with a Turbo 350 on the engine please let me know.

Thanks for looking in. All comments and questions are welcome.

[roadhawg]

This is great! My favorite type of modeling is building actual replicas! Looks like you have a good plan so far.
As far as a transmission, instead of trashing a kit just for a trans, Kris Morgan has those in resin for a very reasonable price. Might as well pick up some pre-wired distributors from him too! Lol.
www.madmodeling.com/store/ccp0-prodshow/turbo350.html
Keep posting progress pics. This should be interesting.

[zbuckster]

Thanks for the tip of the trans. I never did find a TH350 and went weith a powerglide, which is what the truck has in it now.

[zbuckster]

Thanks for looking in. The comments always make it more fun to share.

I wanted to get rid of the bench seat, so came the trusty Exacto with a #11 blade. Just like opening a door.



Using a junkyard floor and some .030 styrene I scratched up a tub. I wasn't to worried about having it perfect. I will use Black Flock to hide the uglies.



I didn't have a correct front end, and maybe still don't. The one kit was a 4x4 so that front suspension was out. The Street Rod Truck had a wimpy straight bar front axle. I know these trucks had a control arm front end in them so it was back to the junk yard. I finally came up with this setup. They look like GM control arms. The coil spring pockets are the right width to go on the frame,plus if I need to adjust the ride height it will be easy to do.



Here it is under the truck.



Now the rear end. With the mix and match of using two kits. The rear end is 5/16 " to far forward.



Here is a better picture to show how far out of whack the rear end is.



So it's back to the junk yard to see if I can find something that will work better. I needed so tires for the wheels. I got the wheels opened up and went looking. Tony runs a 10 inch slick on the back and a 27 inch Front Runner up front. In scale the 10" slick is .400 inches wide. The skinny Front Runners I just found so that looked right to the eye. Here is what they look like now.



So now it's back to the junk yard to work out the rear end. That will be the next update.

Thanks for looking in. All comments and questions are welcome.

[zbuckster]

Hi guys I am back.

Let's start with the interior. I got the tub finished and painted. Flocked the floor to hide the ugly and found a pair of bucket seats that look like Kirkey
seats. Later I will add a 5 point harness. Waiting for it to arrive from Model Express.



On the frame I got some new spring perches made that will let me move the leaf spring inward. Got that all done and the Frame painted Semi Gloss Black.



This mock up picture will give you a better idea of what the chassis will look like.



I got the wheels painted and good to go. I painted them with Dulpi-color Chrome. The Chrome paint is put over a Gloss Black base, just like using Alcad. I think it works just as well at a tenth of the price.



I found a Small block Chevy motor with a Powerglide trans and started getting it ready for the aluminum heads and intake.



Got the intake, heads and distributor ready. The chrome Holly Demon will be detailed and fuel lines added later.



Found a set of Lakewood slapper bars.



The stance is set, the body is in primer. time to wet sand this baby and get it in color. Maybe I will have that done by the next update.



Thanks for looking in. All comments and questions are welcome. If you are wanting to look at more pictures of the build go here.

public.fotki.com/zbuckster/model_car_build_up/big-blue/

See you later.

[goodguy56]

zb,
This is looking real nice so far. You have the stance perfect & the detail is great..Keep us updated.

[zbuckster]

Happy New Year everyone. I was just reading this OTB over and I can't believe how much it jumps around. Thinking about it I guess the reason is the way the build is going. I used the frame from one kit, body parts from both kits and everything else has came out of the junkyard. So Iam just going to update what has happened and go from there.

Needless to say no color on the body yet. Way to early for that.

I got the roll bar built and ready for the interior.



Got the dash done. scratch built the Tach and shift light. Roll bar is painted and installed.



Here is a better shot of the dash. Man I love those GelPens. Sure make it easy for an old guy to do detail work.



Got the Fuel cell and the battery box done.



I decided not to paint the bed wood. I got a piece of Ken's Model Wood, Birch, and stained it dark oak. I will make some chrome strips for runners using .060" I beam Evergreen styrene and some BMF.



Got the ProTech 5 point harness kits Saturday so this is my next step on the to do list.



I moved the engine back so it looked better in the engine bay. Here you can see how far forward it sat.



These were the headers that I wanted to use, because they look cool. But they wouldn't fit around the control arm suspension I put in the truck.



So I ended up using this set. The only bad part is they are small block ford headers. Maybe nobody will notice. LOL.



Well I guess that's it for now. I will be back to post when I have more done. Thanks for looking in. All comments and questions are welcome.

[zbuckster]

Thanks to everyone for the comments. Brent, I washed my mouth out with soap after typing that. LOL.

The interior is done. I used the ProTech 5 point harness kits. When I first saw them in the package I was a little disappointed in them. I wanted the set with blue ribbon for the belts. With this kit you paint paper the color you want your belts and then cut it to fit. After mixing my own color of blue to try to match the Simpson belt I got after it.



When the smoke had cleared and the dust had settled, I ended up with this.



I had to touch up the paint on the belts in a couple places. I used a blue Gel Pen to do that worked out sweet.








I did a mock up with the windshield in place to make sure everything fit.







Now on to the bed of the truck.

Here is the wood with the strips in place. Cut out is for the fuel cell. Battery will also be back here.





Now that I know it all fits. I will BMF the runners and then give everything a few coats of Dulpi-color clear top coat. I will post more when I have more done. Thanks for looking in, all comments and questions are welcome.

[roadhawg]

Looking GREAT so far! Good job on the seat conversion, I had to do just the opposite on the '72 I built (from buckets to bench), so I can identify with that!

[zbuckster]

Thanks for the comments guys they are always welcome.

Time to get the engine finished to the point it can be installed. I wanted to make a fuel line for the Holley carb that looked like a braided line with A&N fittings. So I used .018 7 strand craft wire for the line and seed beads for the fittings.

This is what I started with.



And this is what I ended up with.



I was mass happy about how that turned out.





The line coming off of the fuel line will later go to a pressure regulator mounted on the fender well.

Got the spark plug wires done, with Model Car Garage loom separators.



Here it is test fitted into the frame. I also got the front and rear end mounted to the frame.



That's it for now. I will update again later. I got a new camera man what a difference. 12 mega pixel pictures are detailed but man are they huge files. LOL Thanks for looking in. All comments and questions are welcome

[skibum]

Wow Buck. You are doing a fantastic job with this one. Love the detail work that is going into this.

Rob

[fireguy14]

Wow, what progress! Looking good, and that is a neat idea using the craft beads for fittings!

[zbuckster]

Thanks guys. I don't know much about the craft bead thing. I have been messing with them on builds for the last couple years. I can tell you this, when working in 1/24-25 scale the bead that you need is a #20. Makes no difference the color anything bigger is too big. Bead sizes start at #1 large and go to #20 small. For brass or aluminum fittings I use a bead crimp size #1. This stuff is cheap and easy to use. I always go to Shipwreck Beads when up in that part of the state. I used to just go for the craft wire and braided wire, then one day I saw these beads and bought some to experiment with. I bought like 4 different sizes and now have a ton of beads that are to big. ::)Craft wire is very cheap there also. Pre wired distributors are wired with 28 or 30 guage craft wire. You can get a 50 ft roll of it for less then 5 bucks. Same with 7,12 and 15 strain braided wire. They have sizes from .012 to .035' Cheap!!!!One roll will last you a lifetime, maybe longer. I am sure there are other bead stores in most cities. This is one of the largest on the Left coast. They advertise on TV they have over 1,000,000 beads in stock I way believe it. Here is a link if you are interested.

www.shipwreckbeads.com/

If you start using this stuff and have any question just ask. I have it down now to the most used guages of wire to use. They have sizes from .007 to about .040.

[Nacho Z]

Buck, not sure how I missed this but I just went through the entire thread. You have done a ton of work on this truck and you're doing a great job. Keep on posting the updates.

[zbuckster]

The new camera is working great. I turned it down from the 12 meg pics to 6.1 meg. Much easier and faster to manage.

Got quite a bit done to the truck. I followed Wisdonm's advice and bought a Ferrule assortment from Ferrule Direct.

www.ferrulesdirect.com/

There are so many choices that you have to start somewhere to get the right size for what you want. Anyway. There was one size that worked perfect for a header collector.



I plan on making the exhaust from 3/32 aluminum tubing so these worked perfect. Thanks Don.

I made a brake system from craft wire and beads. Here is the start for the part that goes over the rear end.





After that was done I put the color to the body. Here it is right out of the booth.







I used a Black Gel Pen to do the molding around the windshield and rear window. Used BMF on the side maker lights and painted them ,amber front and red rear, then cleared the whole thing.



Here is the in color mock up.



With all that done it's time to move on again. Next I will get the engine in the frame and the fuel system wired and plumbed. The battery cables will be added at the same time.

Thanks for looking, All comments and questions are welcome. Again thanks for the tip on those ferrules Don, They are awesome.

[bigmike312]

WOW!!! This is fantastic!!!

Big Mike

[zbuckster]

I got more done on this one. I am going to share some with ya, but want to hold back a little for the New Model Announcement. There has been so much scratch building and time spent looking through my junk yard I feel that over half the time has been spent there and not on the build it's self.

I made the drive shaft from 3/32 aluminum tubing. Trying to replicate a 3 inch aluminum drive shaft.



The whole fuel system is plumbed. I wanted to share with you how I made the fuel pump. It is an old coil that I filed flat on top and drilled. Then added the seed beads. The line is 7 strand .015 braided cable.



In this photo you can see the finished fuel pump and the back half of the drive line.



That's all for now. I have to get the Model of the Year prize wrapped and mailed. Thanks for looking in. Any comments or questions are welcome.

[skibum]

Wow Buck. Love the wiring detail.

[zbuckster]

These trucks were the same for a long time. I think they started the body style in 1973 and used it until the mid 80's. Not sure I am not into trucks all that much.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Just a couple more and then the NMA maybe tomorrow.

This shows the alternator 'Down Low" mount. I know things look a little rough but I haven't touched up on stuff yet.



The finished Bed.



I am going to scratch build the exhaust system out of 3/32" Aluminum tubing. Same as the drive line. I think it will all look close to 3 inch.



This shows the cab located and mounted to the frame and the engine bay. Not all the detailing is done. But you can see the homemade MSD box. The fuel pressure regulator is scratched from a piece of spruce.



So with all that done. I can finish the exhaust. And when I was done it looked like this.



Here are the home made license plates decided to put on it.



Well that's all for this one. All that's left is bumpers, rear shocks and some lettering. That will be revealed in the NMA. Tomorrow.

I will say that this was a lot harder than I thought it would be when I started. I figured that I would build the truck out of the 2 kits and move on. The only thing I used from the kits was the two wheel drive frame from the Street Truck kit and the body from the 4x4. Everything else came out of the junk yard ,was after market or scratch built. I think I did alright. It is not exactly like his truck, he'd never run a Goodyear Slick for one, but close enough that he enjoyed the build. I know he has been lurking here watching. Him and his buddy Matt. More on Matt and the truck later.

[The Mad Modeller]

Nice work Buck.

[zbuckster]

Thanks for following alomg and all the kind words. I am off to make a New Model Announcemant on this one.