Custom 1980 F-150 flareside

Sorry i've not been posting as much as i should have... to accompany the sea urchin i was also asked to produce a truck to haul it, with a trailer. (trailer i'm not looking forward too)

Fortunately time isn't an issue with these builds so i've been able to shop around for the right item(s) for the job.

Its been many years since i've built a kit car, and even longer since i've overhauled/customized and upgraded a body for one.

I'm at the point in the boat build where its awaiting the deck. however given that wood is not very compliant when it comes to cutting, gluing and sanding while the weather changes i'm forced to take on part two of the build while the stock wood settles to the newer cooler temps coming in. 

So for this part i've opted for a tamiya truck kit, and started some basic upgrades to the chassis, i've then had to source a true 1988 scale body shell made of abs plastic ( not those polycarb body shells you paint from the inside) to which i can detail to make a true 'scaler' truck.
please note This body is not deigned to work with this chassis!  

This truck chassis is designed for a jeep/unimog body so fitting this new body to the chassis will require a lot of custom work. 
The truck also needs to function correctly. 

A normal f-150 flareside truck looks like this ....


However given that the body i've got is deigned for a monster truck chassis i came to the conclusion after much research that the body would work on the chassis i purchased for this project if i converted it to a 'lift kit spec' which looks like this...



Making this truck into whats known as a F-150 high lift.

So here's a few images as to where i am so far... once the models finished it should be a near scale replica or the real thing with a few extra mods!

It’s been a fair while since I’ve done anything to this project. I taken the last couple of days to do a bit more to the project.

This includes extending the aftermarket rear suspension supports to get the rear wheels closer to central on the body, reducing the amount needed to trim off the corners. Sadly I couldn’t use the 2nd position of the cars mounts for this as it pulls the wheel base back a full inch where I needed 8mm the W tensions added have given me 6mm. That’s the beat I can do without replacing the UJ and custom building new supper rails between the ball eyes.

The shells rear flatbed sections almost finished, it not as deep as a true flat bed but it’s as low as possible given the chassis.

I’m still working on the tail gate. I’ve so far epoxied the parts in place to which the styrene and abs has trouble in places staying stuck or cracking apart. I tried originally with some revell poly cement but it hates the abs. So I’ve ordered some Pro weld, and can run that down the seams which should join the abs and styrene with no problem.

I’ve also added some temporary stand offs to the front which hold the front end up at the right height, which will later be modded to be tubes with some form of latch or magnetic catch to afix to the chassis. Similar for the rear. Still more work to do but defiantly more done. Just awaiting the glue so I can continue with stronger joints.

Lots of progress on the truck.

However the part to show tonight would be the hidden lock for the body..

I have to thank my old man for these creations made during the 60/70’s from his boat rc boat racing days they are key latches made from a turned down bolt.

They simply clip into a sprung loaded steel latch and they lock down and to u do u simply twist the screw/ key to open the latch and they pop up, pressure is obtained via the cork “washer/spacer”

A base board created and screwed to fit the chassis. The latch fitted to the board, using some of the cars body mounting system not intended for the model I brought ive used what I assume are rear pin mounts, on the body itself over created some mounting points which these pins slide into reinforced with some glass fiver paste.

Then over created a some what crude tool box for housing the key itself.

As you can see from the photos that the lock and the rear mounts combined hold the front of the shell down right to the post position I’ve set and down allow it to lift even picking up the truck by the roof under its own weight the shell remainder perfectly in place.

And the rest is all photos which should help my badly described txt.

  Looking really good Aron. I love the lock idea.