Tcoat Posted January 19, 2023 Author Share Posted January 19, 2023 23 hours ago, Gramps46 said: I am only aware of 2 diecast Econolines. The 1/25 First Gear and the oversized Jada. Only the side doors open on the First Gear and the Jada is a terrible joke IMHO. OK so last night I pulled out the windshield (they must know me as they sent 4 of them) and noted that the wipers are vacuum formed right with the "glass". They are exactly the same position as the First Gear diecast. After much searching a managed to sort of get a look inside the first gear cab and it does indeed have the padded dash. Based on these I am going to change my opinion and say that the Flinstone is indeed a reworked First Gear diecast. They closed and cleaned up the side barn door gaps, replaced the working hinges with something more in scale and shaved all the handles off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted January 20, 2023 Author Share Posted January 20, 2023 Opened up and padded dash removed. Resin isn't so hard to work with and my trepidation at the task was misplaced. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted January 20, 2023 Author Share Posted January 20, 2023 Quick mockup to make sure everything fits. About a 1/4 inch taken off the bar stool height so nobody bumps their head! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted January 20, 2023 Author Share Posted January 20, 2023 (edited) Paneling, and decorations ready. Some will be paper and some decals. This will be my first venture into printing my own decals. The posters are all accurate to what I had except the Cooper one. I had a promo poster for his Vancouver 1975 concert but there do not seem to be any pictures of it and I had to go with close enough. The small ones will be 8-track tape labels. The only concession I made to accuracy is the inclusion of the two model magazine covers as neither existed back then and I wasn't building models at that point in my life. Besides, I don't think I could post the real magazines I had back then here anyway! Yes it truly was a child of the seventies. Just look at that paneling! Edited January 20, 2023 by Tcoat 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted January 20, 2023 Author Share Posted January 20, 2023 Front end dropped a tad more so stance is finally right. By today's standards it looks extreme but was pretty normal back then. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bainford Posted January 22, 2023 Share Posted January 22, 2023 Far out, man. Really digging this build. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted January 22, 2023 Author Share Posted January 22, 2023 55 minutes ago, Bainford said: Far out, man. Really digging this build. LOL Don't let the music posters fool you this ain't no hippie van. Still have some things to scratch build unless somebody can point me to a 1/25 scale M1 helmet, Canadian 64 pattern webbing and a 70s era duffle bag. Oh... and a case of stubby bottle Labatt's Blue beer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted January 23, 2023 Author Share Posted January 23, 2023 I have doors. The hinges are a tad ovescale but they are more to hang the doors on in the open position so it isn't too obvious. The closing part of the deal is just a bonus. Once all black you will hardly see then anyway. The doors were made by skinning over the cut out resin parts with very thin styrene and the hinges are the Lindbergh kit parts for the front doors of the Dodge. They fit better than the pictures make them look and will need some tweaking after paint anyway. The doors are not wrinkled like they look here that is a trick of the smudged marker ink and the resin showing through the styrene. This is how it will be displayed. The inside of these doors was really easy to model since the structure was covered with paneling and the latch mech is all hidden. The outer lips are all scale thickness. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 Great work so far - really impressive! Love the stance, and the effort you’re going to with those doors! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 7 hours ago, CabDriver said: Great work so far - really impressive! Love the stance, and the effort you’re going to with those doors! Thanks. The stance is 100% accurate to the real one I had. The rear interior will be as well. Of course the doghouse, door panels and 318 masquerading as a 351 are not "accurate" but some paint and a bit of squinting when viewing put them firmly in the Close Enough category for me. Well... Ummmm... About those doors... While sanding in prep for primer I managed to snap not one, but two of those little receiver rings off. I barely touched them and BING gone. The Lindberg plastic is apparently far more brittle than I realized. So Everything has come off (pictures eventually) and I am starting all over with folded over thin styrene sheet as the receiver and fine wire as the post. On the plus side this method results in a much more scale and accurate depiction of the hinges. The bad part remains to be confirmed but I suspect they will not stand up to repeated opening and closing very well so it may end up with permanently open doors. That wouldn't be horrible since it can still be seen closed on the drivers side and the interior is really the star of the show for the passenger side anyway. I also need to get some coats of buildable primer on it to make sure I can get the slight curves of the transitions in the body creases correct. By using such thin material I sort of restricted myself to how much shaping I can do. If the primer fails I will try a very thin skim of filler putty for shaping. If that fails then I will build the doors all over again but with styrene of the next thickness up. If that doesn't cut it that will be the final nail in the coffin for closing doors since when open you cant see the outer skin anyway. I will eventually win one way or the other. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 2, 2023 Author Share Posted February 2, 2023 Well after a brief intermission it is back to work on this. Nice pair of late 60s/early 70s, cheap, made in Japan (when made in Japan still meant cheap) resonated side pipes and the whole three scale feet of exhaust pipe that hooks directly to the headers. No mufflers were harmed in the manufacturing of the exhaust system on the real thing nor model. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldcarfan Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 On 1/18/2023 at 11:20 AM, Gramps46 said: I am only aware of 2 diecast Econolines. The 1/25 First Gear and the oversized Jada. Only the side doors open on the First Gear and the Jada is a terrible joke IMHO. I think the JADA one is the one I bought. It's got fancy wheels and is in M&Ms markings. I bought it on sale and haven't even taken it out of the box. Wish I could find the First Gear version, it looks great. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 31 minutes ago, oldcarfan said: I think the JADA one is the one I bought. It's got fancy wheels and is in M&Ms markings. I bought it on sale and haven't even taken it out of the box. Wish I could find the First Gear version, it looks great. From what I have seen of pictures the Jada one is pretty heavily modified and the First Gear one bone stock. I am now 100% sure that the Flintstone resin is a reworked First Gear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 Reworked door hinges. Work great and hinges are very close to scale size. The will need some tweaking for size and shape once I get all the layers of paint on but that will be relatively easy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 8 track player with 5 band equalizer and appropriate era home cabinet speakers ready to blow doors back off! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 4, 2023 Author Share Posted February 4, 2023 In primer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 4, 2023 Author Share Posted February 4, 2023 And first gloss coat. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leica007 Posted February 6, 2023 Share Posted February 6, 2023 Really like what you're doing with this van, thanks for the details. I'll have to borrow your idea for the door hinges, just purchased a Dodge van kt today from Ebay with the swing side doors. Working on a 77 Ford van with sliding side door now (will use similar technique to my Chevy street van) but the slide point in midway on the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 6, 2023 Author Share Posted February 6, 2023 5 hours ago, Leica007 said: Really like what you're doing with this van, thanks for the details. I'll have to borrow your idea for the door hinges, just purchased a Dodge van kt today from Ebay with the swing side doors. Working on a 77 Ford van with sliding side door now (will use similar technique to my Chevy street van) but the slide point in midway on the body. So far the doors have been on and off the thing about 30 times and the hinges are still holding up well. It is pretty much just a variation of the folded brass and pin hinges only in styrene for the folded part. I have the 77 Cruisin' van kit that I started years ago as a beat up old 76 I owned in the early 90s but haven't found just the right material to do the fake fur walls so it sits in a box. It had been a pretty nice conversion when it was new but was pretty worn out when I bought it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 11, 2023 Author Share Posted February 11, 2023 OK, so I spent hours and hour spraying two coats of super gloss black lacquer, then clear coating and polishing to Concours level shine, took the body back up to the bench took one long look at it and went back to the spray booth. It was a beautiful shiny black van but it was not MY black van. My van had a 6 year old enamel paint job, never saw wax at any point while I owned it and was washed with a brush at a U-Wash booth when it go washed at all. It needed to have a fully intact but bit scruffy and mottled shiny finish. I sprayed a coat of Tamiya semi gloss black over it but that was not shiny enough and far, far to smooth and even. Next step was to spray a light coat of Future over the whole thing. This brought the gloss way back up again so I used some Windex to remove much of it leaving it more uneven with some areas less glossy than others. Then I took an 800 grit sanding stick and added (GASP)swirl marks and light scrapes. It is now perfect and looks like the real thing not a garage queen show van! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 11, 2023 Author Share Posted February 11, 2023 Scoured the internet for just the right paneling pattern. Speakers mounted. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted February 11, 2023 Share Posted February 11, 2023 14 hours ago, Tcoat said: Scoured the internet for just the right paneling pattern. Speakers mounted. Very realistic looking paneling. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phildaupho Posted February 11, 2023 Share Posted February 11, 2023 (edited) I am really enjoying your van build. Almost makes me want to finally start work on a replica of my old VW van. I have often thought I would build it like I wanted it to be back then but I appreciate how you are striving to make your model van like it really was. Edited February 11, 2023 by Phildaupho 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 11, 2023 Author Share Posted February 11, 2023 (edited) 4 hours ago, espo said: Very realistic looking paneling. It is just a printed picture from the internet with a coat of Future to give it some gloss. 2 hours ago, Phildaupho said: I am really enjoying your van build. Almost makes want to finally start work on a replica of my old VW van. I have often thought I would build it like I wanted it to be back then but I appreciate how you are striving to make your model van like it really was. My plan is to do as many cars i owned that I can and the temptation to "improve" them is strong but I will resist the urge because in the long run it is far more nostalgic for me to do them as they really were. Now, my memories of them are 20 to 40 years old so some things may not be bang on but they do look right. Edited February 11, 2023 by Tcoat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 12, 2023 Author Share Posted February 12, 2023 (edited) Added some clutter and decorating to give some colour and interest. Posters are 100% accurate to what was there and the 8-track tapes on the doghouse as well. I did make some concessions to history with the magazines since I was not building models nor reading model magazines at age 19. Helmet and duffle bag made out of epoxy putty and textured foil from chip dip lids. Added some mud and dirt made from sawdust to the carpet because I usually tracked a bunch in and the maid only came by twice a week. Edited February 23, 2023 by Tcoat 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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