Frenchies Bar

 

I took Al up on his suggestion of a heavy load in the bed of the truck to justify the "nose up" stance.  It now has a load of two large cotton bales.





The bales were made with  a basal wood base covered with cotton batting found at a local craft store.  Then the bales were bound together using #26 unplated bead wire.


I also have started the dirtying up of the truck.  Some of the weathering is in process at the cab.  As I said before, I want to the weathering to  be somewhat subtle as I don't want the truck to be a beater, but do want it to be dirty and used looking.  The additional detail parts -- door handles, taillights, etc.-- will be installed after the weathering is complete.  I don't want to be knocking them off during the weathering process.



There is a way to go yet, but I hope to have this one done by the end of the week.  Comments and criticism always welcome.

Cotton Bales Rock!!! Nice work John.

The bales look great John and justify the slight nose up stance.

Weathering is taking shape.

Hi John,

Love the bales (tip logged away thank you Sir)...

Andy...

Looking great !

Nothing like a dirty truck to make a rural scene !

  

When I built oldies and kept running boards/fenders on, I couldn't decide whether the rubber on the running boards should look shiny and new or matte and worn. Your truck coming along well and light weathering gives it a used, but cared for appearance. Thanx.

Looking great John. I like the cotton bales. Just the right addition. Keep it up!!

Have a suggestion, when you get to installing the exterior door handles give them the wear and tear sag. Looking good, looking forward to final product.
Cheers Eh!

Here is the finished truck in approximately the orientation it will be in on the diorama.





Whoops!!-------Finished except for the windshield wipers and the outside mirror.  

That is so cool! I couldn't do that good in years. Thanx for the fotos and progress!

Looks just perfect John. Just the right amount of weathering on the truck!

Hi John,

I agree with the others Sir, it is a job very well done and the truck looks great for it...

Andy...

Truck looks great, John. The two fellers make a fine mini-scene.

Many thanks for the compliments guys.  I'm hoping it will look even better when actually on the diorama.

I was going to get back to the diorama proper after I finished the truck, but decided I would rather do another vehicle first.  Sooooooooooooo..........here is the next one to be built.



I'm leaning toward building it basically as seen in the box art.  I kind of like the green with the yellow rims. 

Got started prepping the parts last night and right out of the box found this.



The part is sitting on 1/16 graph paper.  If you look closely you will see that there is an almost 1/8" twist in the part.  Time for a hot water bath.  Don't you love these old AMT kits?


I also found a slight problem with the fit of the cab to the fender piece.



It doesn't show well in the photo, but over the years there has been pressure on the cab from side to side.  The memory of the plastic now keeps the cab almost 1/16 of an inch too narrow for the fit to the fender unit.  Back to the bath!!

I plan on this car being very well kept and not heavily weathered except for a slight amount of dust from the local dirt roads.  Let me know what you think about the color choice.  I kind of like the green, but am open to suggestion.

I like your idea. They shouldn't all be beaters, or work worn.

John the guys around the truck look great..... maybe a bit of grease on the hand of the guy underneath??

The box art colour looks good to me although I would go with green over black fenders.

On the 'twist' I've always found steam from a boiling kettle MUCH more effctive than hot water. Just wear thick gloves to protect your hand.

Al:  Thanks for the heads up.   But, THERE IS GOOD NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I went digging around in my stash this morning and guess what; I have a 34 Ford Street Rod kit that has the exact same parts and they are not warped or twisted.  I am exchanging the parts so I can move on.  Sometime in the future I'll have to deal with the warps and twists, but not today.

You're right about the mechanic's hand; sticks out like a white flag.  I'll do something about that before he goes on the diorama.


I thought of using black fenders and a green body, but do you think it would be overkill seeing as that is how the pick up is done?  I'll try to catch you on Skype about 10:30 your time either today or tomorrow.

No it's not overkill IMO John... it was common back then.

look forward to it John. I tried you on Skype four times to-day, but it wouldn't even ring!!!   

A nice clean green with just a touch of dust would be a perfect car for Frenchie's mother-in-law. A kind of Sunday-Go-To-Meeting Car that Frenchie's wife bought her from her skimmings. That might explain the missing Mrs. Frenchie.

BTW Haven't seen her yet, John.

Being my usual decisive self, I have decided on a different color combination for the 34 Coupe.  It will be light brown over dark brown with dark brown wire wheels.  I finished the chassis today.







I still intend for the car to be well kept and it will only have a light amount of dust and dirt on it resulting from driving on dirt roads.  Comments, criticism and friendly ridicule always welcome.

Nice John, What color is that on the Flathead?

It will be light brown over dark brown with dark brown wire wheels. wrote:

LOL...... Mr decisive strikes again!!!

The colours you showed me by PM John, didn't look right, so I think you are right to change.

Is this what you have in mind for the 'lighter brown'?:



Buck, it looks like Tamiya Metalic Grey to me (XF-56)