2001 Ford Expedition Lightning

[JTalmage]

Finished another one this afternoon. A curbside build of a 2001 Expedition Lightning. I 3d printed the wheels and brakes, used the Lightning chassis and severely (and ugly) lowered it, had to move the rear axle back. Although I think it went too far back, but, meh. Used the Lightning kit tires over the 3d printed later Lightning wheels. Glued the side skirts from the Lightning onto the Expedition and puttied them together. Had STS decals make me the necessary decals to get the job done. Painted with Testors Revving Red and covered in their clear. It's a bit sloppy and not as cleanly done as I'd like but overall I'm happy with it. Enjoy

[cobraman]

Great idea, looks good. 

[Pierre_tec]

Just wow! Never thought it will look so good

[ncbuckeye67]

That's a badass SUV! Love the execution of a great idea. Makes me wish someone would release a Durango (SRT?) kit.

[ChrisR]

NICE!

[Chuck Most]

Nice result, despite the shortcomings. 

Question. Why not just use the Expedition chassis rather than stretch the Lightning chassis?

[JTalmage]

1 minute ago, Chuck Most said:

Nice result, despite the shortcomings. 

Question. Why not just use the Expedition chassis rather than stretch the Lightning chassis?

Thank you. I built this out of parts I got 2nd hand. A gluebomb Lightning painted pink and blue metalflake, and an Expedition painted silver with black stripes with paint a mile thick. The majority of the Expedition kits out there are the 4x4 versions which have a moderate amount of lift, and the chassis would require a ton of whacking and hacking to make work, and Im not sure these wheels and brakes would have fit. Also, I used it's original chassis to cut the 4x4 stuff off and add onto another Expedition chassis to do a cheap and easy "lift" kit. I also didn't have to stretch the Lightning chassis, I just massaged the rear end and springs in a different fashion. The chassis could used stretched in actuality, but that was too much work to be fun lol. 

[Chuck Most]

Makes sense. Since the only Expedition kits I have in my stash are the SSV version (2wd chassis plate) I tend to forget about the 4x4 chassis. ?

And hey, since you just repositioned the axle it shouldn't be too much of a chore to adjust if the rear wheel placement starts bothering you too much. ?

[JTalmage]

1 hour ago, Chuck Most said:

Makes sense. Since the only Expedition kits I have in my stash are the SSV version (2wd chassis plate) I tend to forget about the 4x4 chassis. ?

And hey, since you just repositioned the axle it shouldn't be too much of a chore to adjust if the rear wheel placement starts bothering you too much. ?

Ohhhh not with the amount of super glue I have under there! Haha

[espo]

Great look and lowered stance. The dash looks well detailed. Like the body mods and the paint color.  

[kelson]

Great idea and execution!the wheels /tires could maybe be a little bigger to fill up those wheel wells.?

[JTalmage]

26 minutes ago, kelson said:

Great idea and execution!the wheels /tires could maybe be a little bigger to fill up those wheel wells.?

Yeah. I thought the same thing, but I wouldn't have been able to lower it as much as I did without tucking the wheels under it which I didn't want to do. But yes I agree it needs some bigger wheels. I printed them in correct scale. I have plans and ideas for another, much more radical version.

[crazyjim]

Looking good.

[Jordan White]

21 hours ago, kelson said:

Great idea and execution!the wheels /tires could maybe be a little bigger to fill up those wheel wells.?

That's one of the shortcomings of the Lightning kit, the tires are too small compared to the real truck, I'm sure due to Revell reusing tires from another kit.

[JTalmage]

58 minutes ago, Jordan White said:

That's one of the shortcomings of the Lightning kit, the tires are too small compared to the real truck, I'm sure due to Revell reusing tires from another kit.

I think they reused them from the Mustang Cobra and Saleen kits.

[Funkychiken]

It's a great mash up, ford should have done this in real life...

[1930fordpickup]

On 7/9/2023 at 5:44 AM, Funkychiken said:

It's a great mash up, ford should have done this in real life...

It was reported they did make 1. The reason it got the axe was because they only had 2 years to sell the SUV before a new design was coming along. I agree they should have made them.  

[slusher]

Very sharp and well done!

[jdhog]

Very cool build.  A+

[Mr. Metallic]

Cool idea. Nice work on the kitbashing.

[oldcarfan]

Looking good! This is sort of the idea I have for my Cannonball truck.