76 Suburban Build

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

After seeing very few RC4WD suburban builds on the forums, I have decided I want to try my hand at a 4 door behemoth of an SUV. Figured this build will kill a few birds as I love doing body work and have had the desire to do a completely custom build.

DISCLAIMER: This is definitely going to be a long slow process with many trial and errors as I have no guides to go off of (except some body measurements)I just decided to take some of my favorite parts I’ve been wanting and hope n pray I can fab them up to work in harmony. So bare with me, we’ll learn together!

I will post an update this weekend when my parts get here and will continue updating when real progress is made.


_________________
Veterans deserve a whole month too…

[twade984]

I’m in


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[AK KRAWLER]

Can't wait to see what you come up with man.

Me being a Ford guy, I'd eventually like to build a 4 Door Bronco Centurion.

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

The 2 blazers came in on Thursday and most the chassis parts came in Saturday(although those won’t be messed with for a while)

Friday after work I started on the bodies. Thanks to Joe122’s Class 0 Suburban on SBG I had some measurements and quite a few pictures to go off of(thanks man!) so I wasn’t completely on my own. I didn’t exactly copy him, but a couple things I did the same way he did.

First step was marking the cut lines and cutting the two bodies in half:



Rough idea of where they’ll land:



After sleeping on it, I made some slight changes to the body, most notably on the rear door. I knew I wanted to chop the remnants of the pillar off, but didn’t know how I wanted to. I also made the back of the cab even thickness all the way around so the styrene can lay flat. Sanded with 180 grit for a nicer finish



Then cut some .080 styrene for cab and roof supports:




And that’s where I’m at now


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[AK KRAWLER]

Look'n pretty good man

Okay, well for a CheBBy anyway

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Thanks AK


Got the big gap filled in on the roof with some styrene and bent some pieces for the window line.



Enlarged the windows, which I’ll touch on again later:


Then filled in the big gaps on the sides with styrene from the cut:



Back to the windows. After cutting them something just seemed off and I couldn’t figure out what. Well, after comparing my suburban to a 1:1 side by side I realized I made the windows too big. I could leave them and most won’t notice, but I want to make it accurate so I’m going to try and fix it. Not sure if I’ll be able to, but worse case scenario I’ll have to get another Blazer body or two and redo it.

I think I can just put a piece of styrene behind the body and cut to size like this. Don’t pay attention to the pen marking, that’s probably not the final spot.




And that’s all for tonight. I’ll update once I figure out a game plan on the window.


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[Goro Majima]

Ooo this should be very nice. Love it so far.

[DRED805]

Nice work so far!

[AK KRAWLER]

Looking awesome, great progress man.

I think fixing the window size is the right call.

[ferp420]

ill bet you could use the left over parts on something aswell maybe a custom doorless topless tube buggie
something kinda like this

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Originally Posted by DRED805

Nice work so far!

Thanks man

Originally Posted by AK KRAWLER

Looking awesome, great progress man.

I think fixing the window size is the right call.

Thank you. I agree, I’d rather put in the extra work for it to look correct then say ‘good ‘nuf’

Originally Posted by Goro Majima

Ooo this should be very nice. Love it so far.

Thanks Goro! Glad you guys are enjoying it as much as I am

Originally Posted by ferp420

ill bet you could use the left over parts on something aswell maybe a custom doorless topless tube buggie
something kinda like this

Definitely plan on not letting the scraps go to waste. Most the small scraps get mixed into the slurry along with scrap styrene, but I will have a bed left over. Thinking a trailer out of it.


Got the window size/shape sorted out. I couldn’t get the corners even for the life of me a few days ago when I did the pillar, so they are separate pieces that I did tonight. I think it looks more proportional now.

For some reason, the pillars’ edge doesn’t look straight, but it definitely is. I made sure I used a factory edge on there. Checks out with the square as well.







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[Goro Majima]

What's the wheelbase turn out to be?

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Originally Posted by Goro Majima

What's the wheelbase turn out to be?

just shy of 15 1/2”. Can definitely see it being my biggest/longest/heaviest truck already lol.


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[Goro Majima]

Originally Posted by ScaleLifeNewbie

just shy of 15 1/2”. Can definitely see it being my biggest/longest/heaviest truck already lol.


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Omg bad ass lol. Scale crawling it will be fun.

[Itali83]

Awesome work. I love this body and have done a blazer myself. I’ve got to ask though, you are planning on moving the rear wheel well forward right to have the correct placement for a suburban? Being a square body owner of all the different models, that just looks like a crew cab with a short bed grafted on. The space between the rear wheel front edge and the rear door edge needs to be much shorter. I’m not nit picking, just making sure you noticed that when looking at the real ones. It’s a ton more work but you seem to want it right.

Ben

[Itali83]

My suburban for reference.

Ben


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[twade984]

Originally Posted by Itali83

Awesome work. I love this body and have done a blazer myself. I’ve got to ask though, you are planning on moving the rear wheel well forward right to have the correct placement for a suburban? Being a square body owner of all the different models, that just looks like a crew cab with a short bed grafted on. The space between the rear wheel front edge and the rear door edge needs to be much shorter. I’m not nit picking, just making sure you noticed that when looking at the real ones. It’s a ton more work but you seem to want it right.

Ben

That’s a good point, it seems a few mm forward or back on the wheel well makes the difference between suburban, and 4 door blazer.

I’m lazy so I’d probably leave it, and call it a 4 door blazer

Regardless, it’s turning out great SLN!


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[Goro Majima]

Def nice catch on the rear arches. I would fix it, you gotta! It will pay off in the end.

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Originally Posted by Itali83

Awesome work. I love this body and have done a blazer myself. I’ve got to ask though, you are planning on moving the rear wheel well forward right to have the correct placement for a suburban? Being a square body owner of all the different models, that just looks like a crew cab with a short bed grafted on. The space between the rear wheel front edge and the rear door edge needs to be much shorter. I’m not nit picking, just making sure you noticed that when looking at the real ones. It’s a ton more work but you seem to want it right.



Ben

Originally Posted by twade984

That’s a good point, it seems a few mm forward or back on the wheel well makes the difference between suburban, and 4 door blazer.

I’m lazy so I’d probably leave it, and call it a 4 door blazer

Regardless, it’s turning out great SLN!


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Originally Posted by Goro Majima

Def nice catch on the rear arches. I would fix it, you gotta! It will pay off in the end.

Yes, definitely plan on moving the rear wheel well forward. It would be wrong not too lol. It is a lot of work, but I as I previously said I do like doing bodywork so I’m not complaining. Doesn’t look right where they are at right now anyway.

Thanks for the picture Ben. will come in handy along with the others I have when I do the cuts.


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[smc-93]

I started a very similar Blazer > Suburban conversion myself. It's stalled at the moment as I don't have the same patience for bodywork.

I'm working on completely reconstructing the windows and door shape to make them look more proportional (to my eye). But there's so much filling, leveling and sanding to get the shapes I want (and still more to finish afterwards) I've gotten tired of working on it for the time being.

(Sorry for the doodoo quality photo, I'll take a more forum friendly one after work)

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