1951 Chevy Belair Ute: Front suspension and cabin

The interior is moving ahead with a scratch built dash and console. Bits from the parts bin will supplement this.

The front section of the Cameo chassis was socketed into the firewall. In a real world, this would have been a type of channelling, but I didn't bother putting the chassis rails through the cockpit.

The resulting stance is decent if not as low as it could be. I like the slightly nose-up attitude.

Next: grille and bumpers; a decision on fender skirts; then the engine and interior detail.

1951 Chevy Belair Ute: rear suspension and cabin

In the absence of a frame or interior, I am moving forward one step at a time. The hacksaw has become my favourite tool...

First up was lowering the rear axle relative to its frame section, both taken from the Chevy Cameo truck which donated interior and glass to the '55 Suburban. This involved some cutting and fabrication of new spring mounts using 3/16" square tube.

The stance is OK, but will have to do as sitting it any lower will require major surgery of the cargo bed.

The interior started with the floor pan from an F150 and the firewall and door cards from the Belair. A dashboard will be a challenge.

As it is I needed to carve out the inner fenderwells, which don't line up with the outer fenders, in order to clear the tires. I'll fabricate a cover of some sort to hide the butchery. The Dremel came in handy here.

Next will be the engine and forward section of the chassis, probably also from the Cameo. Stay tuned!

1951 Chevy Belair Ute: Outline

I've carved up a couple of Chevy Belair kits in the past in order to build the Fleetline, Belair wagon and lead sled. 

As a result I now find myself with two spare bodies and a box full of loose bits & pieces. So out came the hacksaw; and I am now in a position to build a Ute as well as a stretch limo. 

The limo will require building rear doors, so the Ute will come first. 

Also from the boneyard is a pickup bed from the Falcon Ranchero kit. A nice fit, even if the inner fenders don't line up with the outer fenders. 

So the objective here is to build this entirely from the boneyard. Stay tuned!

Toyota Land Cruiser Ukrainian Fire Truck: Complete (#4 for 2022)

A bit of fabrication for the roof rack and the front bumper, as well as some decals for the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, were the main modifications required to adapt the Land Rover fire truck bits to the Land Cruiser kit in Ukrainian trim. Of course this is a purely what-if exercise; I can't imagine the Ukrainian government actually ordering Land Cruisers without a roof, but I was working with what was in the stash. 

 

 

Perhaps I'll make a small Ukrainian flag to fly from an antenna... 

Otherwise the Land Cruiser kit (which is nowhere labelled as a Toyota in the kit) is a decent curbside build. 

Wish I could do more... the first $10M in donations to the Canadian Red Cross will be matched by the Canadian government; and donations up to $250,000 to Unicef Canada will be matched by an anonymous donor. Donate today!

 

Toyota Land Cruiser Ukrainian fire truck: overview

With the 962 on hold while I order nuts & bolts for the door hinges, I decided to build a truck in support of our Ukrainian friends.

Base kit is Italeri's Land Cruiser with machine gun and Somali license plates. This has been in the stash for some time now. One choice was to build it in the military version, complete with machine gun, painted in the colours of the Ukrainian flag; but I am opposed to militaristic solutions wherever possible, so it will be a fire truck with the shield of the Ukrainian State Emergency Service on the doors. 

Various paraphernalia (water pump and tank, hoses, ladders, fire extinguishers) will come from the boneyard as well as the Landie Rod, which was originally a fire truck.

I'll have to scratch build a frame to support the roof rack as the roof of the Landie is too narrow. Stay tuned!

Porsche 962C: engine and chassis Part 2

Slow but steady progress has brought me to 4 hubs and a cockpit, so it's actually starting to look like a race car.

 

 

Rear hubs needed some adjustment in order to keep it all relatively square, and maintain a decent camber level. This is of course typical of white metal kits. 

 

 

Moving right along... Stay tuned!

Porsche 962C: engine and chassis Part 1

As usual these kits require lots of fiddling but provide lots of detail. 

The flat 6 detail includes plugs, fuel rails and the alternator drive belt.

These engines had water-cooled cylinder heads and air-to-water intercoolers, Porsche having concluded there was an upper limit on power output from an air-cooled engine. However, I suspect there remained some air cooling of cylinder barrels.

I've left the exhaust tips for when this is all in the chassis, to be sure it all lines up with the holes in the body sides. A couple of other bits will also wait to ensure it all lines up properly.

Rear upper suspension components including coil-overs are done and attached to the gearbox. The cockpit cell is next, with associated front suspension components.

Coil-overs, anti-roll bar and lower A-arms are complete. Hubs and upper A-arms are next. There are a lot of sheet metal parts that are made by bending photo-etched sheet, including the shock towers. 

Once the front suspension is complete, cockpit cell, engine and gearbox get glued together and inserted into the floorpan.

Stay tuned, progress is being made.