Hammond's Top Gear Bolivian Cruiser

[Retrocosm]

I'm going to have a go at the Cruiser Richard Hammond drove in the Top Gear Special where they travelled from Bolivia to Chile. I'm going to go for the pimped version as featured in the later half of the episode as I've already done a more traditonal Cruiser.

In fact I'll be using the chassis from the aforementioned Cruiser for this build. I did originally do a custom conversion to leaf springs but whilst it looked very scale it never really performed the way it should. I have therefore used the RC4WD conversion kit for the Gelande II.

Having fitted it I was immediately unhappy with the front springs, far too short and too far away from the front of the chassis rails. Fortunately I had some longer leafs in the parts box and managed to incorporate those instead.







For wheels and tyres I'm probably going to use these 8 hole Axial beadlocks along with some of these Gearhead beadlock rings. I know, ghastly plarstic but I can't find anything in metal that matches the original wheels.



Frustratingly I already have these 1.7 wheels from RC4WD which would be perfect except they're exactly the wrong way around, I need silver whees with black beadlocks. Using my existing body here as an example I think the ride height is about right.





Bits I've ordered that are on the way are the CCHand rear bumper and a tough armour roll bar to match those seen here:-



I already have a new in box Cruiser body kit that I bought some months ago. Tyres were going to be 1.9 Dick Cepek Extreme Country at 106mm. They're the closest I could find in terms of size and tread pattern but I'm wondering now if they're a little small.





On the right, the Extreme Country tyres, on the left 1.7 Goodyear Wranglers.




Both doors are out, just need to clean up the cuts, went ok, phew. I also added in a fuel filler cap which was actually one I bought from DJ Designs for a Defender but it fits well.





There are suprisingly few dents on Hammond's Cruiser considering the abuse he put it though but I tried to add the obvious ones that I could see.





There's a pretty subtle one on the front wing that just causes it to drop a little from the horizontal.





I noticed the rear tailgate is featureless on the original and wider than the one on the RC4WD body so I'm planning to cut out the latter and replace it with a piece of styrene.



Also added another small dent near the bottom.



Then I chopped up the interior, I wanted to get rid of the ugly bits exposed by removing the doors.





I cut out some styrene to fit.



I now need to make a decision on lowering the bed which is far too high. I'd like to lower it so it matches up with the bottom of the rear doors which I have now removed.



I also noticed there's another dent on the original and added it on the rear corner.

[Retrocosm]

A couple of bits have arrived, the number plates and beadlock rings.





I've trimmed down the lower portion of the light/grill surround as I noticed they're thinner at the bottom on 1:1s.



Cut out and fitted the flat rear tailgate.



Dropped and modified the rear bed.





It's slowly coming together, still waiting on a few bits and pieces to arrive.

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Started work on some detailing and made this license plate holder with beaten up plate. Looking forward to attaching it at a suitably jaunty angle.

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Well the more I look at Hammond's Cruiser the more I notice how different it is to the standard RC4WD kit and it's dawning on me that this is going to take a lot longer than I originally anticipated.

However, onwards. I've added some styrene to the windscreen frame.







I've also noticed the dash is quite different so have started trying to mod it.







Hopefully it will make more sense when it's finished ::pray

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A lovely new rear bumper from CCHand arrived and I duly smashed one of the light lenses. I attached one of the bumperettes and then after a quick rummage through the kids' toys found a round peg which, after a coat of Tamiya flat aluminium works rather well as the additional bump stop (don't know correct term) as seen on Hammond's Cruiser.

A bit of scenic rust and then some Tamiya weathering and I feel I've got this pretty close to the original.

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Despite trawling through the Top Gear footage it's very difficult to get a clear side view of the passenger seat and below. This is one of the best I can get.



So I'm fairly sure that on Hammond's Cruiser the passenger seat sits above a fuel tank like this but in black:-





So I made this which hopefully is similar:-



I also chopped out the under section of the dash and tried to rebuild it to look like the front heater unit.

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Today's task, transmission tunnel cover.

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I have been doing some work on the seat mounts. It's difficult to get a clear view of Hammond's set up so I'm basing it on this sort of thing.



I can see from this picture that the support bracket for the driver's seat is the same.



Using some square tube styrene stuffed with some piano wire I bent up some supports and cut out some mounting plates and a bracket from some sheets.





Taking the place of Hammond is Snake Plissken. He stands at 8" tall, Hammond is in reality not much taller at about 5' 5". I've calculated that the Cruiser body from RC4WD is 1/8 scale meaning I need a figure just over 8" which is very difficult to find. Plastic surgery and a wardrobe change for Snake may therefore be required.

[Retrocosm]

I got the outer shell sprayed with the Rover Sand Glow. I used red primer as I noticed this was used on the original

I'm pretty pleased with how it came out, I think overall it's a bit yellower (if that's a word) than Hammond's but I attacked it with some Scotch Brite pads to give a fadded paint look and this brought it a bit closer.

I've also done a little weathering and detailing. I scratched it up a little bit with some needle files, used some Agrax Earthshade to both bring out the details and to dirty it up a bit.

I've also applied some of the badges and the number plate and holder I made a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the Toyota badge on the back looks a little big and the number plate looks a little small, the latter being 1/10 while the body is 1/8. I may have to look at getting a plate custom made and printed.

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I've done some more detailing on the body, I've added the front badge and the side indicators suitably off center.







I've also added the windscreen. I didn't use the kit one as I didn't want the ugly lugs showing.



I've also done some more work on the rear.

[Retrocosm]

I continue to do little bits here and there. I've added in the welding marks on the rear bed where stays for a makeshift canopy were attached on the original. I had to work quite hard to chip the paint off, ironic given that on builds where I want good paint adhesion it seems to fall off if I brush it with fairy eyelashes.



Wonky sidelights have also been added.



I also took the springs out of the Old Man Emu shocks to soften things up and drop the ride height a little.



I've also painted the bed in matt black to match the original and added the front inner fenders.

[Retrocosm]

Now for operation Hammond. Try to turn Snake Plissken into something resembling Richard Hammond, ish.

Mullet trimmed and some stubble removed. Eye patch mirrored with filler to create sunglasses and trousers and boots covered with some Top Gear jeans. Jacket painted black and lots of dust and grime added.













I've also rusted up the front a little, added the front plate and started sorting out the winch.

[Retrocosm]

I have been gradually adding in some more details, including the flood maps, pointy radio thing and windy wipers, all of course suitably aged, manky and bent out of shape.

I had to 'reverse' the wipers as the ones supplied with the kit mount underneath the windscreen and are exactly the wrong way around. The aerial is made from a windy wiper from a random parts tree that I found with some o-rings for the base. I can't even remember what the mud flaps are as I bought them so long ago. I had to mount them a little higher than I would have like as I had to stick them to the bottom of the inner fenders so that the body can be removed.

I've filled the shocks with some 70 weight oil which they seem to be holding, painted the underneath matt black and have started thinking about the electricky bits. I think the battery will be contained within a box in the rear bed, the rest will fit under the bonnet as there is plenty of room.

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I noticed on Hammond's Cruiser that there's only one sun visor and it's on the passenger side so I made one out of styrene and was able to use some of the mounting bits from the kit wing mirrors to attach it.

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Pleased to confirm my compulsory ‘SOAT’ Bolivian insurance is up to date so I’m now road legal.

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So very nearly finished now, today I made and added a rear view mirror and a steering cowl.







The main job left is to finish the spare wheel bracket for the rear which I have been putting off until last as I fear it will be the most challenging part. However I must stop procrastinating and do it!

[Retrocosm]

Whilst researching for this build I discovered some information on the company tasked with providing the metal work for the Top Gear vehicles. It was a company called Metaltech based in the city of Newberg, just outside of Portland Oregon.

I found the company on-line and their logo as I’d spotted a couple of stickers on the bumper and protection frame but couldn’t quite make them out. Now I have them :-)









I managed to get the spare wheel mount mounted last night. I’m pretty pleased with how the back is turning out although the undersized number plate is really bugging me now.





A few more details on the dash including a new little door next to the main glovebox and these slightly weird motorcycle stickers.





When I was prepping the body, I failed to notice that there were no rear side lights on Hammond’s Cruiser and left the mounting holes unfilled. I was reluctant to try to fill and paint them after spraying the body but decided it had to be done. So they have been filled and blended, something else that went better than I was expecting. ) Just need to add back in some of the burn marks from the welding.

[Retrocosm]

Last night I knocked up this exhaust pipe with some styrene tube. As the frame rails on the 1:1 are much wider apart at the rear than the Gelande chassis I’ve had to modify it a little in order for it to sit in the correct place, additionally it has to sit on top of the rails or it is too low from the body. I painted it with some Tamiya Gun Metal and added some rust. I might thin out the end a little with a drill, or maybe even go the next size up on the styrene.

[durok]

Utterly fantastic!

Incredible build, congratulations on achieving such an intricate level of scale detail.

[Robs07junk]

What A Great Rig You Built . Amazing