Rickleo's Chevy Crew Cab Dually: BRUTICUS

[Rickleo]

Hello y'all. Always wanted to do a scale build. I had three Tamiya F350 bodies laying around so I decided to make a crew cab and started cutting. Here's the progress:

It was going to be a mud truck running 2.2s and scx10 axles until I came across this while on the internet.

Now being a Chevy man I've always loved the square body crew cab so my mind started racing with ideas. With my lovely girlfriends permission she allowed me to open the wallet and purchase one full kit and two bodies. I also ordered alxes, tires, wheels, leaf springs, square brass tube for the frame, round tube for roof rack, shock hoops, and various other parts. When the UPS man came it felt like Christmas:

Let the fun begin!

God is love

[Rickleo]

Here is my inspiration:


Now that the bodies are here i can start cutting to create my crew cab. Now I'm not going to bore you with the play by play on making the body cause it's been done before. So enjoy the pics. The tools:

The process:







As you can see I miscalculated my cuts, forgot to measure twice cut once lol, and I'm left with a gap mainly in the roof. Any suggestions on how to fill? By the way I'm a noob so I'm going to need advice, encouragement, and criticism along the way and all is welcomed. I've never soldiered before and I'm planning on making the frame, bumpers, and bed/roof rack. Not gonna lie, I'm scared about how is gonna turn out but if you don't try you've failed already. So I'ma see this thru.

God is love

[Rickleo]

Sorry but I had to do a little tease mock pic:



I'm happy with the overall look and dimensions of the crew cab. By the way this thing is HUGE!!! The cab alone is 15 inches. So what do y'all think? Thanks for looking.

God is love

[tdevilman2009]

looks like ur off to a great start ive loved them trucks to n love the look of the inspiration truck

[Rickleo]

Thanks. Wish I had a 1:1 old chevy crew cab dually beast.

God is love

[Rickleo]

Well I found something I'm gonna try to fill the gap with

Loctite metal epoxy. Had three tubes laying around so let's see of it works. Mixed a patch and put it on a scrap peace of styrene to see if it would bond.

Let it set for about 5hrs and surprisingly it bonded pretty well. So on the truck it goes

After letting it cure for a day it was time to sand it down. Let me tell you, that was a challenge, the epoxy cures hard as a rock. I actually had to use my large course file a sculpt it down. After a day and a half I finally got it fairly smooth.

Don't think I'll be using that again lol. Lesson learned.

God is love

[Rickleo]

Bought some Bondo glaze and a sanding block from my job today to start block sanding the roof

After 5 minutes of sanding I realized this is not something you can sand in the house. Dust, dust, and more dust. Again lesson learned lol.

Also stated on the long bed today. Simple. Just cut the front section from one bed n prepared it to be attached to the other.

Glued styrene pieces to the main bed for reinforcement and backing so I can fill in the gap.

Now all that was left was to apply glue to the exposed styrene pieces and attach the bed section.

Done.

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[JoeThePro]

Looking killer man, going to be really cool.

[Rickleo]

Here's the body and bed together. Proud of my progress because even though I'm not far into the build this is the furthest I've gotten in a protect. The other two just didn't have me as excited as this one. Guess third times the charm.

Naw is because it's a Chevy.


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[Rickleo]

Originally Posted by JoeThePro

Looking killer man, going to be really cool.

Thanks. Been watching your suburban build. Can't wait to see it finished. Making a body totally from scratch. You sir for skills.

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[JoeThePro]

Originally Posted by Rickleo

Thanks. Been watching your suburban build. Can't wait to see it finished. Making a body totally from scratch. You sir for skills.

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Let's not get ahead of ourselves...! I've only done the easy stuff so far, I may still totally botch the rest!

Is that loctite epoxy similar to JB Weld? Im surprised it bonded to the plastic, but I know certain types work better than others with different epoxies.

Also, which axles and chassis are you planning on using?

[rngrchad]

Looks like a really neat build. Glad the epoxy deal worked out ok and didnt turn into a disaster. What did you use to glue the styrene reinforcement to the body

[Rickleo]

Originally Posted by JoeThePro

Let's not get ahead of ourselves...! I've only done the easy stuff so far, I may still totally botch the rest!

Is that loctite epoxy similar to JB Weld? Im surprised it bonded to the plastic, but I know certain types work better than others with different epoxies.

Also, which axles and chassis are you planning on using?

I've never used JB Weld before so I dine know if it's similar or not. I have a1/2 inch square brass tube I'm planning on bending to closely mimic a real chassis. Hopefully lol. As for axles I'm running a set of Yota 2s.
Those are 10 lug hubs that are on the front axles they go to these

There Lesu rear semi wheels wrapped in RC4WD Rock Stompers.

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[Rickleo]

Originally Posted by rngrchad

Looks like a really neat build. Glad the epoxy deal worked out ok and didnt turn into a disaster. What did you use to glue the styrene reinforcement to the body

IPS Weld-On Plastic Cement. This is my first time using this stuff n let me tell you it is strong. I fitted two test styrene pieces together and I couldn't get them apart. It actually welded them to one piece.

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[Rickleo]

Opened up a special package that I received from Shapeways. Guess what was inside:

A set of dually fenders. They're for a Clodbuster so I knew when I ordered them they were going to need some modifications to get them to fit the bed since the Blazer body is bigger. So I mocked then to the bed to see how much.



Thought all I would have to do was stretch them but then I realized that the wheel arch was totally different. (Should have seen that coming lol)

Now the solution I came up with was risky. Surgical transplant. The fenders cost $105 to print and ship, so if I botch this and ruin them I will have to go back through every post in this thread and take out the word "dually" lol.

Here we go:
I used tape to mark off the wheel arch section, from the donor bed, I need and cut them out with my dremel



Made a guideline where I needed to cut on the fenders


This is where I got nervous. It was time to cut the 3d print fenders. So I grabbed the dremel a started cutting and I realized that the plastic used in 3d printing is tough as nails. My dremel got a real workout trying to cut though the fenders. At one point I had to cut it off a take a break cause it got extremely hot. But finally I ended up with this

I cut the lower part of the fenders off too so they can be extended down with pieces of styrene. After gluing then back together this is the result

They're far from done but i need to take a break now. It was a scary process but will be well worth it in the end. Thanks for looking.

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[JoeThePro]

Holy moly, that could have ended up badly. Good job though, looks like you wont have TOO much filling to do.

The fenders cost $105 to print and ship, so if I botch this and ruin them I will have to go back through every post in this thread and take out the word "dually" lol.

[Rickleo]

Yeah it could have ended real bad. The whole time I was cutting, in my head, I was coming up with an excuse to use to convince my girlfriend to let me order another pair if I mess up lol.

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[Rickleo]

Did a little work on the fenders this morning when I got home from the job. Night shift. Got to love it. After a lot of filing and some filling they look better but there's still a long way to go.


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[Rickleo]

Made some progress on the truck today. Well to the bed mainly. After days of working on the dually fenders, and still not done, finally glued them to the bed. Think they fit well.

Rear view

Also glued on a piece of styrene to start the front bed wall

Planning on adding another piece to add thickness and strength.
So here's where I'm at so far on the body.

What do y'all think? Thanks for looking.

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[HoosierClod]

Looks great!