AMT 1957 Chevy pickup

[DJMar]

Kit rescue!

I picked up this kit more than 20 years ago, sitting in the Estate Sale section of the LHS. I took it home for the princely sum of $4, with the damaged box, and missing the wheels, tires and engine. For the past 2 decades, the the cab and bed pieces have served as my test paint and weathering mule.

One day, about 4 years ago, I pulled the kit off the shelf and dropped the whole patchy, painted mess into the stripping tub. The goal was to just get it together, curbside style, using the remaining kit parts and whatever wheels & tires I could scavenge from the parts box. I went forward with the build with no firm plan in mind, other than to create something simple.

I just mocked it up today with some blu-tac holding everything together.

At one point, I molded the hood spears in, to get rid of the chrome doodads. The grille was opened by sanding the back of the kit part. The seat is actually a leftover piece from the AMT '55 Chevy truck, with some minor detailing. I believe the wheels and hubcaps are from AMT's '56 Victoria. Tires are some ancient tall and skinny donuts from the parts bin.

Paint is Rustoleum Camouflage Army Green on the body, and good old Testors Flat White for the roof, bumpers, grille, tailgate lettering and headlight buckets (not shown here). I elected to keep the hood emblem. The cab side emblems came with the kit, so I'll paint those and add them to the final build. I still have some work to do on the interior, including detail painting the dash, adding the steering wheel, etc., etc.. I also have two side mirrors that I scratched up from brass rod and sheet styrene, that still need to be painted. Plus, all the usual final assembly stuff.

The "Farmers Market" decals are from the Special Edition Revell 1937 Ford pickup 2-n-1 kit. The whole thing still needs to be clear coated and weathered a bit. You can still see the shine on the decals, probably because I applied them in a puddle of Future to be sure they adhered to the flat paint. I wanted the model to have the look of a well-used, but not dilapidated, old truck. It looks ok now, but needs some dirt!

I might actually get this one done before summer turns to fall, given that it is almost complete. Maybe...

[DJMar]

Forgot these...

[Zippi]

I'm really liking this 57 Chevy pickup build DJ.  Some nice history behind the kit.  I'll be checking in on this build from time to time.

[TopherMcGinnis]

I've got the same kit in :someday" jail.

 

Yours is looking great.

[DJMar]

14 minutes ago, TopherMcGinnis said:

I've got the same kit in :someday" jail.

Gassers for the win! Love it. ??

[espo]

Like the color and finish the base model white grill and bumpers add to the look. 

[DJMar]

2 hours ago, espo said:

Like the color and finish the base model white grill and bumpers add to the look. 

Thanks!

I'm a sucker for white painted bumpers, grilles, mirrors, etc., on trucks.

[TransAmMike]

Very cool DJ....I have various '57 Chevy and a '57 Vette builds, guess I need a '57 Truck too?

[TNT]

That is cool. Looks really good.

[DJMar]

22 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

Very cool DJ....I have various '57 Chevy and a '57 Vette builds, guess I need a '57 Truck too?

Everyone needs a '57 Chevy truck!

Actually, I don't think the AMT '55/'57 Chevy trucks are that great, design wise, but it's not a bad build.

[maxwell48098]

Great job so far.

Always loved the '57 Chevy Pickups.  Too bad Round2 hasn't re-released them  instead of the '55 over and over again.

 

A.J.

[slusher]

Looking very nice DJ!