crawlerx smc 5.5 streched and doved fj truck

[tpurdin]

ok so ive built my smc 5.5 which im sure all of you guys are familiar with so im not going to bore you all with the build up of that, but the body i want to put on it is my road ripper fj cruiser. the body fit quite nicley on the factory trail trekker chassis but i really wanted to do the blade 5.5 which is longer than the body so what i am doing is streching the rear end out and turning it into a fj truck the front end has been doved the rear will not be. im planning on making a custom bed out of balsa and staining it and paint it some sorta bright color sorta like a comp scaler...... ill get the mclaw tires and either do the danally mod on the factory wheels or just use my rc4wd wheels i already have with spacers...... let the build begin!!!!!!!!!!

[tpurdin]

alrighty ive already made some progress with this little project ive got body streched and rear wheel wells are in they just need to be cleaned up. ive got to get the bed made,fill in the back part of the cab cut the windows out and put lexan in place of them, then get this sucker painted and mounted.


what kind of bumper should i do on the front guys? i was thinking a stinger style bumper?

[tpurdin]

[malofish]

Man if ya couldve made that into a fj brute that would be sweet! Fj truck cab with a small bed would be sweet

[tpurdin]

Ok I'm going to call this rig a modern retro fj pickup I'm going to use some design q's from the fj45 pick up truck on this thing when the bed is finished it will have the rolled lip around the bed like the fj45 and the front fenders will be similar to the fj40. Hopefully when I get home tonight I can work on it

[tpurdin]

ok here is an update on this guy I wanted to get a little more done on this thing. i got that back of the cab on, front fenders are on, rear fenders wells are in bumper is mocked up and ready to be installed, i still have a lot of detail work and body filler to do so this thing may be a week or two out by the time im ready for paint. I would sure like some input on paint yall i was really thinking maybe doing some kind of bright color but now im leaning towards a classic cruiser color???????? what do yall think ???????????? here are some update pictures

[TheScaleAddict]

Sweet work! Not a fan of that body, but you did a great job on it!

What material are you using for the extension, under-paneling? What are you using for bondo?

[tpurdin]

im using .085 styrene for all of the underpaneling and extension, the body was originally a road rippers fj cruiser that i previously had chopped up trying to think of what to do with it. I was quite suprised how easy it is to use styrene this is the first time ive ever done anything like this. the body is a little wierd though your right! i didnt really have a direction on it until i got those front fenders on it. its based off of the fj45 which wasnt very common here in the good ol USA!!!! also I think after I paint it itll look better lol ill tell you what this thing has been a blast throwing together.

[tpurdin]

sorry forgot the next part the bondo situation. I was going to use bondo straight up, but if there is something that is better use for the styrene and abs plastic please feel free to chime in cause i dont want to throw bondo on it and ruin it lol

[tpurdin]

here is a little sneak peak of some progress on this little guy hehehe!!!!! what yall think by the way ive got the color picked out











i know the paint dont look the best but it was a very hard area to paint didnt have much room to work with!

[BigChevyTruckin]

Any updates? Thing looks awesome! I like the pickup style. Check out my styrene build, Tuber Jeep. Its here in the micro scale section.

[KnutKase]

Looks like a good learning experience, some solid ideas. Now a little (hopefully) constructive criticism. Get one of the little jewelers/modelers saws meant for plastic, they have tiny teeth and are very precise. Always measure twice before cutting anything. Lay out cut-lines on the parts to be cut, allowing for blade thickness plus maybe 50% for a file fit. The better the dry fit of parts the less bondo you have to use. Personally I would have dovetailed both ends and not bothered with the retro conversion, but that's just me. The pickup bed is a good idea but I would have used the original rear window for part of the rear bulkhead of the cab. If I were to extend one of these I would have extended it in the rear wheel arch, because as you said you are going to use larger tires, which need more room anyway. Personally I would have just comp-cut the body at both ends and run the axles/wheelbase a bit longer than the original for the body, thus improving approach/departure angles. Sorry about the long post, enjoy every learning experience, and good luck.

[tpurdin]

thank you knutkase for the criticism yeah this is my first time doing this and now that it is almost done their are alot of things i would have done differently, but it was alot of fun to build up I definently feel like i shold have used the rear window for it now, i wanted to dove the rear after i got the rear all done lol but i guess it is a learning project hehe ive had so much fun with this that im thinking of picking up another and building an fj tuber on the next build. anyways its to far along to turn around and rip things apart

[tpurdin]

ok thought id post an update ive been really busy at work so the progress is slow. long story short I finished the body painted it blue and did not like it so I went with something alittle more rugged in color..... so here we go!!!!!!







this is the modern fj in blue i just didnt like it









I still need to get the detail work figured out and finish the painting on the outside i think I am going to add alittle rust action, some lights and jerry cans any ideas would be great!!!!!

oh and i need to figure out how to get the electronics layed out