1/24 Norscot Chevrolet Silverado

[dean]

Hi guys,

I thought I would put up a build thread here so you can see what I'm doing and either copy me or learn from my mistakes.

Stripping it down and painting was straight forward. Degrease all the parts and clean before painting though otherwise it will end up patchy. Leave the Stryker Green paint for at least a couple of days as it goes on quite thick and stays tacky for awhile.

enamel satin black looks about right for the tray liner:

The bonnet is wrong but I've had an idea on how to convert it to look like ours. Watch this space. It looks ok now but once the sign writing goes on it won't.

[dean]

I moved on to the interior. I have been thinking about how to convert the dash to right hand drive without completely destroying it and was sitting at the bench staring at it for ages trying to come up with a solution when Jess walked in, took one look at it and said "why don't you just put it in backwards?" I had to think about what she meant for a second but then flipped it upside down and it looks almost perfect. No cutting pieces out, filling and sanding, it's still the same width and is going to save me hours of work.

Before:

During:

The steering column will go where the instruments currently are and decals will replace them:

Test fitted to see how it looks:

It's sitting too far in to the cabin at the moment but once it's trimmed down it will fit in closer to the firewall.

[dean]

I got most of the bonnet done tonight. Just put a coat of filler on so I'll leave it for the rest of the night. It'll need another one before it will be ready to sand down and paint again.

Plastic card cut out:

Slots cut in for the new humps and rod added to raise it off the metal:

filling started:

[dean]

I got some more done between my night shifts. First coat of primer on the bonnet showed up a few places where it needs more work:

Rear end complete and screwed back together:

Start of the canopy:

[dean]

I got as little more done today. I was going to cut out the windows in the back of the canopy but noticed I had made it the wrong shape so I had to pull it apart and start again. It's back together now and I'm just waiting for the filler to dry before I can sand it to shape.

Bonnet painted:

I accidentally cracked the windscreen but I've got a spare to replace it with before it all goes back together

[dean]

The canopy is starting to take shape now and looking less like a white square box:

I need to leave the filler for a few more hours but hopefully it'll be ready to sand and a primer coat tonight.

[dean]

I got the canopy mostly done, Paint showed up a few issues I need to fix before it gets permanently fitted but it will be going out to the sign writers in the next couple of days on the back of one of the other models so I can continue with the interior, running boards and bull bar on this one.

Canopy lined:

Top coat on:

[dean]

nudgebar is mostly complete. It's still looking fairly rough but once it's cleaned up, painted and detailed it'll look a lot better:

[dean]

Moved on to the interior, Centre console cut down and modified:

Once the filler has dried I'll shape the floor and add the radios and computer.

Since the centre console doesn't go all the way to the firewall on the real one and I'd cut it down I'm going to mount the dash board directly to the frame itself:

It still needs a lot of work but you get the idea.

While the filler was drying I moved onto the running boards under the doors. I just dry fitted one onto another model since the one I'm working on has been pulled apart to work on the interior:

[dean]

I got some more done on the interior.

reshaped the top of the dash board:

I can't do much more now until it all dries so I moved on to starting the canopy for one of my other 2:

[dean]

I'm almost on the home stretch, it's all been screwed back together and I've started permanently mounting most of the details. There's still a long list of things to do but it's starting to look like our "Rescue 6".

Mud flaps, running boards, nudgebar and tow bar ready for painting. I didn't have chrome so I used Alclad polished aluminum and Tamiya flat black:

for the tow bar I just used a ball of blutac to get the shape then covered it in super glue to harden it up.

Most of the parts fitted:

[dean]

Before and after:

[Bigasshammm]

This is impressive.

[dean]

Thanks,

It's gone to the signwriters so progress has slowed down a bit. I made a start on the mirrors though:

Original part:

Our real one:

The start of my first one:

[dean]

Well I still haven't heard back from the signwriters so I've made quite a lot of progress on my second one. Just the nudgebar and tow bar to build, a bit more detail painting and it will almost be done. I'm going to leave the canopy until after I get the decals back from the signwriters just incase the windows are in the wrong place.

Here's where it's at so far:

[dean]

Finished:

Here is the real one we have at work:

And here is my version of it:

[Bigasshammm]

Looks just like the real thing.

[hooknladderno1]

Splendid job! Great build and excellent "step by step" photos!

David