Jurassic Park Jeep Wranger HB on X Trail

[stutheitguy]

Hi all,

I've done this in the past with an HPI Rubicon lexan shell and it came out ok but I always wanted to do it again if/when I could lay my hands on a suitable hardbody shell. As luck would have it I found a New Bright 1:10 Rubcon Wrangler (that had lost it's control) at ModelZone (of all places...)(edit for non-UK people - ModelZone is a pretty low brow LHS, not noted for quality RC model products) for £20.

Needless to say I snapped it up and began work.

Pulled off the ultimately crap NB chassis and tossed it over my shoulder into the depths of the garage. Seriously as someone who's "in to" RC models I don't know how those blokes at NB sleep at night. If I was a child who'd got this truck as a christmas present I'd have been pissed, what a load of bloody rubbish.

Before I go any further yes I know the wheelbase is too long and yeah it is sitting a little high but what the hell, I'm going to keep it (the shell) as a shelf queen and bring it out only for sunday best. I only have a couple of trucks and I need to keep my options open and not start chopping stuff up to fit until I can dedicate a rig to it.

This shell was a real bitch to paint as it needed 'keying in' with glasspaper and a Dremel quite a lot before I could get the paint to stick well enough to mask up the next layer. I had to have a couple of shots at this, the first run was a disaster and I had to scrape everything off and start again but you live and learn and next time was a lot better. It's a shame the windscreen on this model has 'New Bright' somehow laminated or painted onto it (rather than everything else that was just a sticker?) because there's no way I can see that coming off without ruining the plastic, I'll have to just use it as a template and cut a new one.

So here it is sitting on top of the X Trail, the sharp eyed will spot my amazing home made rock sliders made out of (wait for it...) BENT METAL!!


Here we are having picked off those amazing stickers, shame to remove them considering they added at least an extra 150hp of coolness...


Here's my rough and ready mount that I'll paint black soon and cut down the bolts.


Skipping past a picture of just a plain grey Wrangler here I am getting the first mask on, a tricky process to get the angles right.


Not bad I think! That layer could have gone very wrong and led back to starting again.


Further forward getting the graphics done, I made the decals with sticky back transparency that's compatible with an inkjet printer, I think they look ok.


Starting to look the business...


There we go! One or two extra bits on here, the JP license place, "tour pass" hanging from the top of the windscreen and inside on the rear bench seat I have a little JP 'tour map'.






There is still a little left to do, some touching up here and there, the windscreen to frabricate, light bar to make and some Jurassic Park action figures to source. When I get a third rig I'll look at shortening the wheelbase and generally tuck in the shell a bit more but this will have to do for now!

Hope you enjoyed the thread, I'll update it with some outdoor shots soon!

[66sprint6]

Body looks good but I cant wait till you get a dedicated chassis for it...the height is just too much. When its sittin down on its own frame itll look sharp!
Matt

[fred0000]

great job on the body, I cant wait to see it on a finalized chassis, good work!

[Rebelspawn]

Yeah badass!!