dimension question to the custom tube chassis builders

[AX10wannabe]

so i want to build a tube chassis that is the style of a pickup truck so i can make some 79' ford aluminum body panels... what i cant wrap my head around is how you guys get the dimensions and whatnot so it looks scale example length of bedsides, fenders, doors etc?? i've spent 4 hours on the internet looking at picture after picture trying to figure this out.

want it to use the stock honcho wheelbase. do i build the chassis first to fit the width/wheelbase then take the measurements for the panels??

any input would be awesome thanks.

[AX10wannabe]

just looked at metal masher's comp tuber thread and he casted molds out of plaster from a styrene body?? i dont have a hard body to cast a mold of so the only other way i can think of is hand carving fenders, doors, doors, bedsides, roof out of wood, (like a 2x4 or something) and covering it in bondo then sanding it down.

[Drail]

i start with a body i want to use and a ruff idea on a w/b and go from thare. Drail

[AX10wannabe]

sweet thanks.. yeah i was looking at metal masher's comp tuber kinda getting ideas from there.

[vw_thing]

This step has been killing me in my all-steel Scout build..

Good pictures at close to 90* angles can be very helpful. Print off the picture, and gather any measurements you know (tire size, wheels, wheelbase, licence plate, etc..). Put a ruler to the known measurement picture to establish a "scale measurement." Divide the actual measurement by the scale measurement to get an initial ratio (e.g. 105in/10.5in = 10). Any measurement taken from the picture and multiplied by that ratio will get you the measurement from the 1:1 (with a little fudge factor for perspective and curves). Divide that measurement by whatever your scale is (1/10, 1/12, etc..) to get the measurement for your panel. This method takes a bit of work, but is fairly accurate.

3D drawings in programs like Blender can help a lot, you can model the truck and print it out actual size. This takes a looong time, at least for me.

Otherwise, get a few things like wheels and wheelbase set, and estimate from there. Thin cardboard makes a decent mock-up tool. The dimesions and proportions tend to fall into place after you have stared at pictures and your metal supply long enough (if you don't go insane first).

[AX10wannabe]

Originally Posted by vw_thing

This step has been killing me in my all-steel Scout build..

Good pictures at close to 90* angles can be very helpful. Print off the picture, and gather any measurements you know (tire size, wheels, wheelbase, licence plate, etc..). Put a ruler to the known measurement picture to establish a "scale measurement." Divide the actual measurement by the scale measurement to get an initial ratio (e.g. 105in/10.5in = 10). Any measurement taken from the picture and multiplied by that ratio will get you the measurement from the 1:1 (with a little fudge factor for perspective and curves). Divide that measurement by whatever your scale is (1/10, 1/12, etc..) to get the measurement for your panel. This method takes a bit of work, but is fairly accurate.

3D drawings in programs like Blender can help a lot, you can model the truck and print it out actual size. This takes a looong time, at least for me.

Otherwise, get a few things like wheels and wheelbase set, and estimate from there. Thin cardboard makes a decent mock-up tool. The dimesions and proportions tend to fall into place after you have stared at pictures and your metal supply long enough (if you don't go insane first).

awesome thanks man!!!! jsut the info i was looking for! i was thinking of making cut outs of the panels out of beer/pop can box type of cardboard.

[AX10wannabe]

found a few pictures.. i think 3 out of 4 pics i printed off are of a 1979 the other picture is of a 78' which is pretty much the same body style. got a wheelbase and tire size on a 79' so im gonna go crunch some numbers and see what i can figure out.

[AX10wannabe]

so asked a guy over on pirate4x4 and he said the stock wheelbase for a shortbox 79' f150 is 118".

[moron88]

i dont know how many people, if any, do this but you could go to an auto scrap yard and measure the parts yourself. takes a lot of the guess work out of it and you could buy a decent condition hood, tailgate or fender and use it for the panels!

[moron88]

Originally Posted by AX10wannabe

so asked a guy over on pirate4x4 and he said the stock wheelbase for a shortbox 79' f150 is 118".

that makes sense, thats right around the wb of the bronco builds.

[AX10wannabe]

hmmm... so far im just winging it with sizes, but the chassis will be the same length or a smidge shorter than the honcho. the wheelbase will be a smidge shorter as well so i can get stuff lined up.

bottom part of chassis will stock scx10 frame width with a little bit wider in the middle for the tranny, then the top will be truck style.

im going to start another thread on the build once i get the chassis and stuff started and got something worth showing. unfortunately i havent seen any builds like this, even with the stock scx10 frame and tube work added and a 79' ford body, so im just going by pictures and stuff.

[AX10wannabe]

did a quick scale drawing of the bottom of the chassis last night. i made it 17" long end to end.... right now i have the bedsides at 7" so that leaves me with 5" doors and 5" fenders.. does this sound close to proportion?? or does it sound way off??

guess i could start a build thread soon.

im also going to run 2.2 TSL's on this build, its getting kind of hard when i dont have the tires to measure and stuff.. everything might have to wait until i get some tires. i was hoping to build the chassis and then right at the end swap everything over from the honcho chassis but i might not be able too.

[bonks]

so if the 1:1 weighs 5,000 lbs, would your trail truck need to way 500 lbs?

that is one that is confusing me right now. would the "dimensions divided by ten formula" still work for the weight?

[bonks]

and this is a year old thread so i suppose never mind

[AX10wannabe]

not sure about the weight part but this thread is only a week old.