Suzuki Samurai body

[zukmike]

zuk body is here

after some major procrastination, lots of time, money, and frustration we finally did it. the mold is very basic, but it captures the zuk feel. still have to work out issues with the material thickness and webbing. they're definitely not perfect. approx 8th scale.

starting from the super suzy magazine cutout, to the mold, to the first pull, to three pretty good pulls.

 

[flmudder]

man them things look sweet "thumbsup"

 

[rcjeepbuilder]

Can we see one with some paint on it?
Looks really cool!!!!

 

[Bermbuster]

I saw one of the bodies today and it looks sweet....."thumbsup"

 

[zukmike]

Here's one with some paint. Kind of ugly! Mocked up on my sw2 chassis shortened to 10.5" wheelbase.

 

[TwistedCreations]

http://translate.google.com/transla...rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:unofficial&hs=dNe&pwst=1

"thumbsup"

 

[noob2crawlin]

that looks awsome great job"thumbsup"

 

[frizzen]

It might be mostly just the scale, but your Sammi body looks MUCH better than the production one!

 

[youngblood]

Add some flares, and make the windshield smaller, and you will have nailed it! "thumbsup" Nicely done

 

[zukmike]

Thanks for the compliments guys! I'm reworking the mold to fix some issues that we saw with the first few pulls. We'll see if can add some flares in there. Will probably start up again later this week.

 

[duramax]

awsome work!!!!!!!! its great to see some new bodys getting made! we all had some ideas before but never had the balls to try :shock: keep the great work"thumbsup"

 

[OlYelr]

I definitely agree with the fender flares. If you paint the soft top area black, along with a couple other factory black details, I think it would make it look a lot more like a Suzuki too. "thumbsup"
Great work!

 

[zukmike]

Great feedback! This mold was intended to be a hardtop, but maybe in the future we can change it up to be a softtop like the one shown above. Still working on the mold, but in the mean time I threw some paint on body #2 and hacked away at it to fit my 2.2. As you can see, we have webbing issues on the rear quarter panels. Also looking for a better option for grille stickers - more research... also have to do some work to remove the suzuki name.

 

[bigflex]

sweet those are looking good! pmed!"thumbsup"

I would LOVE to have one of these. I have always wanted a Tin Top and this might be the only way to get one.

 

[pro beater]

try adding a rear bumper , thatt might help with the web issue

 

[Joat]

Saw a 1:1 yesterday at homeuseless ,the flares makes it, think it had 33's on it look to be more of a queen then anything else

 

[bigflex]

I could care less if it has flares or not. Either way is fine with me! Heck only one of mine still has the flares on it. "thumbsup"

 

[Phatmac]

Any Updates

Mike,

How are the mold additions coming along? Any updates???

 

[zukmike]

Still working on it... lost some time due to a death in the family, but i'm back on it now.

overlayed most of the mold with bondo. getting it back in line now. harder to shape but stronger. trying to figure out what material to use for the fender flares and the bumpers - any suggestions? dont want to go with foam since it winds up being too fragile. the ultimate plan is to negative cast the mold in plaster, but we were too excited to get some bodies made, so we want to make this mold a little more durable.

got some wood working tools to use on the body lines/doors/vents, etc. we'll see if that will actually show up when we pull a body. want to get some shape in to the grill/light area as well.

fun, fun, fun!

 

[Phatmac]

My condolences on your loss.

If you're adding to the mold, for flares, bumpers, etc. I would start with wood, that you can cut to size and shape--and then epoxy to the buck, start a little undersized, and skim coat with bondo and final shape.

By adding pieces to the buck, you can get the left/right symmetry correct off the mold, making the process faster.

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:idea: Saw this interesting tip when researching mold making: mold vent holes in by putting greased skewers or wires in the plaster, then pulling them out when it's mostly set.
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Check out Stu's (microgoat's) posts about readying his scratch-built scout for vacuum-forming, I think he was using epoxy and microballoons to get that final, glass-smooth finish.