1976 Chevy Boogie Van

[KurseD]

Haven't built a model in several years, life always seems to get in the way, but I'm back into it again. Planning on building an art studio out of a big sun porch at my house, so I will definitely be building a dedicated model building bench before long. I've been struggling with PTSD since my 2005 tour to Iraq, and this seems to be a huge stress relief for me (also finally seeing a counselor over the past year and now have a service dog in training which helps tremendously as well).

 

Anyway, I'm getting ready to paint a 1:1 custom chopper for a friend, so I needed to refamiliarize myself with my paints, paint guns, and airbrushes. So I decided to built this kit I've had sitting on the shelf for a couple years. I'm not spending a lot of time removing mold lines and doing hyper detailing. The kit overall gets a big thumbs down on quality from me, but it has been a fun build regardless. The body is flimsy and warped, lots of details are totally incorrect for a 76 Chevy van (I'm building a 1:1 82 boogie van and have owned several others over the years). With that said, it's been a fun challenge to polish a turd I suppose.

 

I started on Monday Feb 28th by opening up my tackle box full of Testors and Model Master paints that I'd collected over the years, only to realize it got completely ruined in a basement flood at my old house a couple years back. So I'm building back my supplies slowly and trying acrylics where I can. First thing I did was to paint the body. I figured on a color scheme and went to town. I started with Transtar 2in1 primer in aerosol, then Nason gold metallic base sprayed through a $14 Harbor Freight detail gun. Next was some Custom Shop .004x.004 micro gold flake shot through an old Harbor Freight 2.3 nozzle gun mixed in some Axalta clear as a carrier. Then I airbrushed Createx Blood Red and Tequila Yellow fades sprayed with an Iwata HP-CS. Lastly I top coated with Axalta 7776S clear through the $14 HF detail gun. Pretty happy with the outcome of the paint. Still have a couple dirt nibs to sand out, one small chip above the rear doors to touch up.

 

Next I started my usual routine of hopping back and forth painting some parts with rattle can, others with acrylics, brush painting some enamels. A few on the parts trees, some on the alligator clip sticks, and just slowly getting the basics of the engine and chassis together. I started on the interior last night. I wanted to replicate 70s shag carpet, so off to Goodwill for some fabric. I found an old Elmo kids jacket which works perfect. I make tape templates on the body parts I want to cover, then stick the tape template to some really thin cardboard from a cereal box. I glue the fabric to the cardboard template using 3M upholstery adhesive, then glue those panels to the model body. I did shag on the inner sides of the body, floor, and a dash cap.

 

I have to head to the craft store in a little while to see if I can find a few supplies, then I'll get back on this thing tonight and see if I can knock a little more out. Hope you guys enjoy.

[espo]

Great looking paint and interior detailing. 

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

That van's gonna be rockin' soon! Great paint!!! -RRR

[cobraman]

I like what you have done so far.

[Leica007]

I really admire your painting skills, wish I could learn to use my airbrush to do fades. Any chance you could do a video? Welcome home, brother.

[KurseD]

On 3/6/2023 at 10:53 PM, Leica007 said:

I really admire your painting skills, wish I could learn to use my airbrush to do fades. Any chance you could do a video? Welcome home, brother.

Thank you. I can do a video on it soon hopefully, pretty crazy schedule at the moment, but I will try to get one done for you. Honestly it just take lots of practice and finesse. I lay all my colors on extremely lightly with the airbrush and the a lot of time while spraying. Slowly building up my colors until I'm happy with the amount I've laid down.

[slusher]

Great paint and your nailing the custom van look!

[Scott8950]

I can hear the Bee Gee's playing now ? very nice start .

[KurseD]

2 hours ago, Scott8950 said:

I can hear the Bee Gee's playing now ? very nice start .

Eh, I'm more of an ELO, Black Oak Arkansas, and April Wine kind of guy myself. ?