Okay, time to get this thread caught up. I spent the past couple weeks working on the body...
... I hope you like pictures :ror:
Since I cut the fenders, and I gave the truck the 1981 grill, I decided it needed some "aging" and extra patina.
First step was to add some dents & scratches to the body.
I used my heatgun, with a metal funnel taped to the tip of the gun. This focused all the heat on a very tiny spot and after a few seconds the plastic is soft enough to form.
Followed up with my dremel & a sanding drum attachment. On slow speed, it did a great job aging the metal.
After I was finished with that, I masked off the hood & passenger doors, then gave it a coat of brown primer.
I mixed some of the brown primer with a little black to give it a darker shade. Then used a scuff pad to dab it and create a rusty base coat.
The next step is to brush some water over the body in area's you want rust to show, then sprinkle salt over the area to create a mask.
Once the salt & water has dried, its time to apply the top coat. I wanted to use the popular toyota cream color they used primarily in the early 80's.
I let the paint sit overnight, and the next day I ran the body under warm water and used a old tooth brush to scrub the salt away.
The rust effect turned out great. The patterns are exactly what I was after. But there was some follow up details that were necessary. So I went to my local hobby shop and picked up some rust pigment & rust colored paint.
After a few brush strokes, the entire body completely transforms!
Time to do the wheels!
I picked a metallic looking paint that has a "steel" color to it. After sanding the primer smooth, I applied two coats of metallic paint. The paint completely filled in all the edges from the 3D printer, and the wheels came out looking real smooth!
After that I used a tooth pick and dabbed some black paint into all of the holes on the rock rings, and the lug nuts.
Then the final step was to paint the hood black to replicate a OEM replacement part, and then mount the wheels. And DAMN does it look good!
I will just leave you with these shots 8)
I still have to paint the passenger side door. I have a couple idea's... but not sure which color to choose.
To be continued...
