GMC long bed 454ci build

[stupar]

8 hours ago, ad456m said:

Thanks @stupar, that’s the way I was kinda thinking to go down so have a body on the way home now. I think my mate has a razor saw so I’ll borrow that as pull saws really do make a night and day difference on this kinda job. 
That engine looks wicked wired up, did you have to reshape the firewall or does the distributor clear it?

You won't regret it, just take your time and you will be as good as gold.

The firewall is original in its form

 The distributor just clears it by a few millimetres 

[stupar]

3D parts finally arrived, sounds daft but with them installed it gives a better concept of how the long bed build will look.

 

Now though I have lots of body work to do, filling and sanding it is then 😅

 

 

[ad456m]

That looks class. How’s the progress coming?

Are they Shapeways bits? If so do you know of any real difference between the two available plastics other than price on the Mod19RC parts? 

[stupar]

48 minutes ago, ad456m said:

That looks class. How’s the progress coming?

Are they Shapeways bits? If so do you know of any real difference between the two available plastics other than price on the Mod19RC parts? 

 

Hey buddy,

This one is a proper slow burner as the body needs a lot of prep work.

I've more or less got the rear bed sanded down and, the extension piece might need a little filler and sanding to take away the print lines.

 

What else have I done .......

I've made a wooden floor for the bed and I'm now working on the hood too as that needs to be cut and and a cowl fitted to accommodate the air cleaner on the motor.

I've fitted a pair of Lesu polished driveshafts.

I've started on deleting the tailgate handle as this is in the wrong place for a K truck, I'm just going to delete it altogether and have a smooth tailgate finish.

 

 

 

 

 

The bits I have were bought from the MOD19RC page on myminifactory. If you go this way you are at the mercy of the printer resolution used to generate the parts.

Shapeways do have high Res printers but they still produce a little bit of layering which will need smoothed out.

 

Your other option is to buy the print files and have them resin printed which will give you a virtually sooth final render.

[Stormbringer]

Thats really coming on and looking great 

[ad456m]

That’s looking tidy @stupar! The bed inlay is a good addition. How is the RC4WD visor? It’s the first one I’ve seen in the wild. 
 

As luck would have it I had a guy I know come into work just before finish last night and he’s agreed to print me some stuff that I can’t due to my printer bed size and as an added bonus my Blazer body set turned up this morning. Many thanks for the pointers man👍

[stupar]

6 hours ago, ad456m said:

That’s looking tidy @stupar! The bed inlay is a good addition. How is the RC4WD visor? It’s the first one I’ve seen in the wild. 
 

As luck would have it I had a guy I know come into work just before finish last night and he’s agreed to print me some stuff that I can’t due to my printer bed size and as an added bonus my Blazer body set turned up this morning. Many thanks for the pointers man👍

Cheers buddy.

 

The visor is really nice, I will be honest though and say I found it a bit too long over the windshield so I modified it to take about 5mm off the leading edge.

I also flattened out the side curves so I could purposefully tilt it down the way. All the official media photos of it have it pointing skyward which isn't right.

 

Have fun with your new body modding, can't wait to see it 👌🏻

[stupar]

Couple of small updates on the long bed.

 

First up, I mounted some roof marker lights. These ones are from the Tamiya Grand Hauler but work just as well on this truck.

Second up, the big block 454 sits slightly higher than the hood line. Not a problem though, let's just cut a hole in the hood.

and to cover it up from the outside I fabricated a cowl hood scoop from 1mm styrene.

Once it's all painted up it should look good.

 

Also you may or may not notice different good hinges holding the hood up. These were hand made by a guy in the US and being spring loaded they are more effective at operating the hood 😎

[Stormbringer]

Wow looking good mate 

[stupar]

7 minutes ago, Stormbringer said:

Wow looking good mate 

Cheers buddy 👍🏻

I've missed my window now for getting the body fully primed and painted so will keep working on the little details in the meantime.

[ad456m]

That’s some nice hinges!
That cowl is much better than most of the 3d printed ones, a far better profile👍

[stupar]

30 minutes ago, ad456m said:

That’s some nice hinges!
That cowl is much better than most of the 3d printed ones, a far better profile👍

Cheers dude.

I agree re the cowl. I was originally looking at the Shrink RC one but find it's height to obtrusive.

Next best thing is to make your own. I quite like working with styrene so it was a good few hours spent finessing the final item and fit.

[Stormbringer]

Nice 1 mate that cowl just looks right 

[stupar]

A wee teeny tiny update.

This truck is going to be a throwback to the 80s American truck scene.

As such the paint job will be a bit bolder than normal but that has to wait until the milder weather next year.

 

Until then it's on with the small details. So what was a big thing back in the 80s, yep neon pink KC hilite spot covers. Here's my little homage to them shown mounted on the RC4WD double roll bar.

 

[Stormbringer]

coming together nicely mate 

[stupar]

11 hours ago, Stormbringer said:

coming together nicely mate 

Cheers buddy

[Gaz!]

Absolutely fantastic mate!!

 

nice to see some real attention to detail and craftsmanship too. 

[stupar]

5 hours ago, Gaz! said:

Absolutely fantastic mate!!

 

nice to see some real attention to detail and craftsmanship too. 

Cheers mate, I'm all about the details as well as pushing my own boundaries for being able to make stuff too

[stupar]

Can neve have too many pink KC's I guess 😂

 

[Stormbringer]

doesnt look to bad mate 

[stupar]

1 minute ago, Stormbringer said:

doesnt look to bad mate 

It will work for the 80s/90s build vibe I'm going for.......I hope 😂

[Stormbringer]

In that case i think you nailled it 

[ad456m]

Looking lively👍

The truck will pop some with the contrast of those. The style of the era is running strong! Awesome 

[stupar]

So it's been a while!

Made some progress on making the bed tilt using electronics to replicate what could be found from the 80s/90s custom scene.

I even managed to find a cylinder actuator that is a bit more scale focused.

 

Also working on the rear end I have a new custom GMC tailgate and roll pan which fit like a glove.

 

 

 

[ad456m]

Just plain awesome!