Cherokee XJ Hardbody Class 1 Build

[Dustinf]

Well... time to start spraying again.

I got a bit heavy handed on the buffing wheel... and while the panels looked alarmingly shiney... the strips of white on all the edges just took you out of experience.

I knew better.. and it's why I didn't want to use the buffing wheels. I got through the whole body once without cutting.. but I couldn't leave well enough alone.

Anyway. That's the current progress.... backwards.

[IVIaarten]

Ouch, judging by the look of things, you had a LOT of hours invested already :(

[Dustinf]

Originally Posted by IVIaarten

Ouch, judging by the look of things, you had a LOT of hours invested already :(

Yeah... I did.. lots of elbow grease. Sanding and such.

It would have been perfectly passable as it was

But.. I couldn't live with an imperfect paint job. The money and time I've spent, and I'm only building this rig once.

It shouldn't be too bad catching up and I'm relieved to start with a fresh coat of paint.

[Teng]

Very impressive. I am Looking forward to the new updates

[Dustinf]

Body is painted and clearcoated.

I've been busy with Christmas stuff, but I will have some progress to post soon.

[Dustinf]

Back to it.

I've finished cutting out the new windows (windows that came with body were pretty bad).

I taped them off and painted the inside trim. I want a plastic on plastic glue joint for when I install them. So this will hide the white and also look pretty good.







I've also finished taping off and painting the window trim on the outside.

[Dustinf]

I did a quick mock-up of the interior parts I have finished so far. I still need to cover the roof liner and make connecting posts.



Then I decided that the hood latch should be transmitter activated after all.. just like the driver was in the cab and able to pop the hood.
A bit of file and bending work later.. and I made it so.



Then I started taking all my created pieces off of the chassis for paint.
Looking at them all laid out really just reminds me how much work has goes into building a rig like this. Just keeping track of it all is a challenge. I can't imagine trying to do it with some of the more complicated builds I've seen around here.

[Dustinf]

Painted all the aluminum pieces, floorpan and battery holder/gas tank.

They look so much better now. But they won't last long, this paint will come off and scratch pretty easily.





I'm going to be covering most of this with felt but I painted it anyway.

[ThatJeeper2017]

Originally Posted by Teng

I am speechless. All these are just amazing workmanship. Top of the top

And I thought my hardbody looked good... Nice job man!


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[Dustinf]

Originally Posted by ThatJeeper2017

And I thought my hardbody looked good... Nice job man!


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Thanks man, I'm sure yours does look great.

The paint on mine isn't 100% perfect. But you can only add so many layers until you have to stop. It passes for scale.. that's what matters.

[ThatJeeper2017]

Looks scale to me. Will surely make it into a real or rc thread! Love that radio operated hood latch!


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[Dustinf]

Amazingly... the remote activated hood latch was a success. I wasn't sure I could pull it off.

This gif doesn't look like much, but this is probably the coolest thing I've ever added to a scale rig.



I've also finished setting up all the other accessories. The final tally on what this thing will have is:
Working horn
Manual directionals with brake and reverse lights.
Hood latch
Dome light
Steering wheel that turns.
Working bluetooth stereo with scale speakers.

[Dustinf]

Here is what the actual servo looks like. It's not as hidden as if prefer, but it's fine.
You can also see the body mounts clearly. All painted.


And here is the front grill. I cut a piece of black styrene to size, then textured it with a razor blade. You can kind of see the mini speakers attached to this piece. There is one on either side. These are what sound the horn. One would have been enough, but two of them in parrelel make it loud enough to hear over the motor and all the other stuff. This piece is easy to mount using the back of the same brackets the radiator mounts to.

[littledoins]

On your automatic hood opening, it looks like you have it on a 3ch, I'm guessing it's a servo with a horn on it popping it open? That's a cool feature, I'll love to do that on my hard body

[Dustinf]

It's a bit more complicated. Its actually an aluminum latch that the hood clips into, just like a full size. Then the latch has a cable that runs to the servo. Servo is on channel 6 then mapped to a random button.

There's some more detailed pics a few pages back.

I'm amazed it actually worked, honestly.

[Dustinf]

Here is a better shot of the whole mech. I kept the picture large so one could zoom in if they were interested in making something similar.


And I finally figured out how to run wires to the roof liner. Originally I planned on making styrene pieces for in between the windows, bit it's not necessary as long as they are painted to match. This is styrene square stock cut in half and glued in place. It will hopefully look better once painted.. but it hides the wires anyway.



Running reliable and clean wires for all the lights and speakers is going to be a big challenge, but I have all the paths mapped out so it should go smooth.

[ThatJeeper2017]

That’s genius! I’m loving this build!


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[Dustinf]

So much tape just to spray a small section..


And here is a preview of the interior so far. I just need to finish the roof liner. Then lay down carpet for the floor pan.

[Dustinf]

Originally Posted by Teng

Certainly these skills are not for beginner like me. These are Ultimate skills


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Thanks Friend

We all start somewhere. Honestly, there is nothing that ive done here that you couldnt do with some time, patients and styrene.

As a side note, I've finally gotten into 3D printing. This build has missed out on custom printed parts (designed by me anyway.. it's full of shapeways and other 3d printed parts).. but I'm really excited to see what future builds will look like with this massive new tool at my disposal.

[Dustinf]

Another small step and update. Front dome light is finished.

I debated 3d printing this, but found styrene and lexan to be the better option.



And here it is turning on.


Now comes construction of the rear speaker bar and dome light.