75 Chevy Street Van

[Leica007]

I got motivated by the other two recent van builds posted in this section, so I pulled out the 75 Chev Vantasy kit.  First attempt at posting a model on the forum, hope it works.  Body in the kit was good, sprues had some flash, frame and chassis were good (a little bend the straightened when put together.  Kit has two sheets of graphic decals (murals, panels, and characters) by Dirty Donnie which look good, I'll include pics later.  I'll be using craft acrylics thru my airbrush: Wine for exterior/interior trim and classic caramel on the interior.  I'm using tan flock for carpet and some burgundy velour for walls, seat, and bed. The kit came with few interior accessories. Here's photo of the kit.

 

First I wanted to lower the stance, and make the sliding side door operable. Also modified the grille from my parts boxes.

Then had to cut and hinge the hood.  Hinge had to mount to underside of the dash.  Also cut sunroof in back of roof (over the bed) instead of the cab area.

I created a tire carrier from evergreen tubing, instead of just gluing the spare cover to the body.

I'll post more in later, comments and suggestions are welcome. Thanks for looking.

 

 

[bisc63]

Nice work! Looking forward to your progress.

[Bills72sj]

A working sliding door? I would have never imagined...

[Leica007]

Thanks Rusty and Bill, appreciate your following. I requested this be moved to the WIP Model trucks section.

[cobraman]

I see some great work going on here.

[espo]

Great looking fab work on the sliding door and hood. 

[slusher]

Really nice work, looking forward too your build….

[Mattilacken]

Sweet! Nice work on the door!!

[Bainford]

Nice work. Good looking mods. 

[Leica007]

With what I've seen on the forum, videos, and experience with using craft paints I wanted to get color on the body early so it would have plenty of time to cure before clear coating.  Still not sure whether to use lacquer, Testor  or Rust-O 2x acrylic; test shot on spoon had no adverse reaction to the base color. Anyway here are couple more pics.

This after 3-4 lite coats of Anita's craft wine color with 5mm airbrush at 18lbs.

Here's after 2-3 heavier coats. I noticed that red colors especially show uneven application. You can see the darker areas that need additional work (that's where the airbrush really helps).  Since the frame is gloss black, I used Testor Ext Laq graphite dust on the bottom of the chassis. Engine bay is done in body color.

While waiting for the body to cure, started on the interior. Using Caramel craft acrylic (over Rusto white primer) for the vinyl and metal, tan flocking for the carpeting in the cab.

Made these door panels from styrofoam plate and the door pulls/door handles from 18ga craft wire; its soft so the handles could be flattened. The rings under the handles are plastic tubing cut thin. I use testor window glue on the styrofoam panels, doesn't melt the foam.

Here's the snack tray made with the 18ga wire and wood from the separating tray in cigar boxes that I get from my tobacco dealer (for free)

More to follow, thanks for viewing and commenting.

 

[espo]

Very nice drink tray. I had a van conversion years ago and the drink tray looked just like this. 

[Leica007]

Thank you all for the positive comments.  I will learn how to respond individually. It's been a rough week, and when I tried sanding the clear coat (1000/2000/6000 grits) some of the lacquer & paint came off; so I had to try to touch up and waiting for curing before reapplying the clear.  Hope it works.  Started in the engine and worked more on the interior.

[Leica007]

I'd mentioned the decals included in this kit; here's a photo

I started on the engine, tried to age it with blackwash (maybe a little too much?).  I know on most of our  street vans, we had a hard time trying to wash the engine.

I finished the interior except for the door cards, wall upholstery, and the ceiling.  Not sure whether to use wood panel on the ceiling or use a styrofoam panel painted to match the seats/door cards.  Suggestions welcome.  I'm covering the walls in the fabric used on the bed and seat inserts.

 

[4mula1fan]

I think that grimy engine is accurate. Mine never saw anything but rain water. I didn't want to take the chance of blowing all that grime on my seats and carpet. Nice project!

[Leica007]

10 minutes ago, 4mula1fan said:

I think that grimy engine is accurate. Mine never saw anything but rain water. I didn't want to take the chance of blowing all that grime on my seats and carpet. Nice project!

Thanks A.J., were you a vanner back in the 70's? My ex was from east KY and we were at Bowling Green in 76 for the 4th Natls.

[Leica007]

On 3/18/2022 at 11:51 AM, cobraman said:

I see some great work going on here.

Thank you Ray, I try to get better each build.

On 3/18/2022 at 11:51 AM, espo said:

Great looking fab work on the sliding door and hood. 

Thanks, Espo. I've seen some of your good work. The hood was easy, the door is practice for a 1/20 Ford van that I want to build of my first van.

On 3/18/2022 at 6:22 PM, slusher said:

Really nice work, looking forward too your build….

I appreciate that, I've seen several of your builds here and on SAM forum.

On 3/18/2022 at 6:44 PM, Mattilacken said:

Sweet! Nice work on the door!!

Thank you, nice to hear from far away.

On 3/18/2022 at 6:46 PM, Bainford said:

Nice work. Good looking mods. 

I appreciate your comment, I've viewed your work too.

Again thank you all!  Lei

[4mula1fan]

1 hour ago, Leica007 said:

Thanks A.J., were you a vanner back in the 70's? My ex was from east KY and we were at Bowling Green in 76 for the 4th Natls.

Absolutely!  Been to the Sports Nationals many times and camped in my van. I still miss it to this day. Had a 72 Chevy dark metallic blue short wheel base. Had a dang ball In it. Lol

[Leica007]

Here's photos of the van after using Testor's rattle-can lacquer, before polishing. This 3 coats so I can polish, then apply some graphics.

I got the engine finished, and wanted to test fit to see how the chassis fit into the body with motor in place. It looked good, so I installed and mounted the radiator and the hose. Also added the transmission/oil dipsticks. Had to make a distributor because the kit part wouldn't fit with the cleaner.

This shows how little can be seen through the front.

Anyway, after getting the engine, radiator  & hose, and the battery installed, I decided to follow the suggestions on the instruction sheet and completed the drive train assembly which worked well. So I thought now the wheels can be mounted and I can do another test fit. That's when I ran into problems.  The radiator wouldn't clear the front end, knocked it loose so had to cut the hose and take it out of the way. Then the battery was about 2mm too far off, so it had to come out (I'll put in in from the outside).  I also found out the the inside front of the wheel wells need to be trimmed to clear the custom front grille shell (it fit fine during the other 2 or 3 times I did a mock up). After this, decided to concentrate on the body for awhile again.

Polished the base coats of clear.  I'll upload and post them tomorrow after transfer from my phone. Got a good bit done on the interior also, but need to transfer those pics too. Thanks for looking.

 

[Steve H]

Hi Lei, lots of nice mods and details on this build. The sliding side door is brilliant! May I ask what you used for the front springs, they look perfect.  It’s frustrating when you do several mock ups and everything fits, then “suddenly” at final assembly things don’t fit… it’s happened to me. Looks like things are in good hands here, you’ll have everything fit in place.

Cheers, Steve

[espo]

I agree with Steve, your paint looks great. A shame so little of the engine will be visible when finished. Does the side door move or is it set in thew open position?  

[Leica007]

6 hours ago, Steve H said:

Hi Lei, lots of nice mods and details on this build. The sliding side door is brilliant! May I ask what you used for the front springs, they look perfect.  It’s frustrating when you do several mock ups and everything fits, then “suddenly” at final assembly things don’t fit… it’s happened to me. Looks like things are in good hands here, you’ll have everything fit in place.

Cheers, Steve

Thanks for your encouragement, Steve. The springs are cut down ballpoint pen springs, I've used them on several vehicles, both as the front coils and as coilovers on shocks. The do come in various sizes, so I save them when the pens run out.

[Leica007]

6 hours ago, espo said:

I agree with Steve, your paint looks great. A shame so little of the engine will be visible when finished. Does the side door move or is it set in thew open position?  

Hi David, thanks for following and your comments. The door will actually slide, just have to be careful, but I put a stop to keep it from fully closing.

[Leica007]

Sorry, the above photo entered in wrong spot.

Here's the latest updates. The first is layout of the interior wall covering pieces with a shot of the graphics on the van. Second is the headliner added, it's styrofoam plate painted with Apple Barrel satin acrylic. I spray both sides to deepen the color without hiding the vinyl texture. I cut two pieces since I wasn't sure if I wanted to put an overhead console up front. Third pic is with the walls, headliner, and door card mounted, used the flash to show the color better. Four is better look at the door panel. Fifth is showing the tinted windows and headliner lights I'm adding. I didn't like the kit door windows. These were cut from some food cover pan I saved.

Thanks for looking, advice and comments welcome.

Edited April 7, 2022 by Leica007
photo entered in wrong place, text should be first

[FLHCAHZ]

WOW.  Looks really nice!!

[TarheelRick]

Keep on Truckin'.  Really like the direction you have taken with this build.  Some excellent detail work.