'65 Chevy Stepside ... "Mr. White"

[JeroenS]

Hi all, I was in for a quick build, had a pickup truck on the wishlist and came across a nice one in the shop a couple of weeks ago. This is it: 

 

 

Now, from the start it was obvious to me that I wouldn't go for this colour and the flames would stay in the box as well. As it happened I had a bottle of Zero Paints Brilliant White and I wanted to try it out, so it became a vintage truck with a modern twist. The "2 'n 1" on the box means that you can do two versions, a regular version and a more "pimped" version, which includes the chrome rims you can see on the box and some enhancements on the engine. Well, I liked the regular engine but did like the rims, so it became a combination. The box should say "3 'n 1" 🙂 

 

About the kit. There are not too many parts. The cab and the load bed are both made out of 3 or 4 pieces. The hood is 3 pieces, although I could think of better ways to break down these parts. A while back I read a comment in a post (can't remember on what kit) that said "the plastic has a waxy feel to it". I now understand that comment, that's exactly what it is. Some (smaller) parts also look sort of translucent. The molding is not very crisp but not too bad either. Some of the parts seem to be made of softer plastic then other parts. The overall fit is good, except for some pieces on the cab and the hood. 

 

See what I mean? 

 

It took a bit of filling and sanding but it's manageable even for me. You can see that the fit of the hood  is terrible, it sticks out. I managed to correct it by strategically placing a piece of styrene in the car's body which tucked the hood in nicely. The hood has a protruding piece on each end that goes into a hole in the body and that's were I put the extra piece. Once I tackled these problems it was smooth sailing, it's a nice kit to build. I only took a couple of pictures along the way. I built it OOB, except for some wiring on the engine. I spent an evening on it and the wires are hardly visible now, but anyway... The one thing that stands out on the kit are the low profile tyres. They are of a hard rubber and fit extremely well. 

 

Some build shots: 

 

 

The aforementioned wires.

 

 

And a cosy black interior which I gave some chrome trim. 

 

 

Right, now for the main event. Of course, I'm just a novice when it comes to photography. Had I known how difficult it is to make pictures of something that is very white I might have chosen a different colour 🙂 ... I must practice that some more. I used different backgrounds, different settings and different camera's (my phone camera is oblivious to difficult settings and just shoots things basically as you see them which can be helpful sometimes). I took a huge amount of pictures and managed to scrounge a few decent ones in the end. So here goes. 

 

Full album here.

 

The white is Zero Paints brillant white. Zero Paints 1K clear. Polished with Novus and Tamiya Finishing Compound. Chrome by Molotow. All other colours are Vallejo Model Colour. Oh and Tamiya's clear orange.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This guy takes his white seriously, even the load bed is finished white 🙂 There is a large decal in the kit for the bottom which has wooden planks printed on it. I just knew I would mess it up so I didn't use it. 

 

 

 

Weird enough, there's no part for the front license place in the kit. You're supposed to cut out the decal (not put it in water) and glue the piece of paper to the front bumper... Obviously that's not happening, and I didn't feel like making a plate, although it would have been easy enough. It looks good like this I think. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are also decals for the break discs. I didn't use them, just some alu paint and a hint of a wash. 

 

To be honest, I love this thing to bits. It's such a classic vehicle and I really like the look of it. Well worth it, I can certainly recommend this kit. 

 

Thanks for watching!

 

 

 

 

 

[Alan R]

Hi Jeroen,

I have used the Zero Pure Brilliant White as well. It really is brilliant white!

I have a number of models in my current work-pile that need to be painted in white. I found the coverage to be quite good for white paint.

 

Cheers, Alan.

[JeroenS]

20 minutes ago, Alan R said:

Hi Jeroen,

I have used the Zero Pure Brilliant White as well. It really is brilliant white!

I have a number of models in my current work-pile that need to be painted in white. I found the coverage to be quite good for white paint.

 

Cheers, Alan.

The coverage is very good indeed.

[JeroenS]

The weather cleared nicely just now so I added a couple of outside shots. Much better. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[keefr22]

That is beautiful Jeroen, I really do like that! I want one now!!

 

Lovely job!

 

Keith

[Spiny]

Knowing the fit of some of the old American trucks, that hood/bonnet was probably pretty accurate This isn't really a kit which registered on my consciousness (mainly because of the customised pic on the box) but I do like the way yours has ended up. The colour scheme really suits it (I would say that being the same colour scheme as my Skyline!) and you've done an excellent job, particularly in such a short timescale.

 

As for the front numberplate, that seems to be a bit of a Revell thing. I had the same thing on both the Corvette and Cuda (not to mention a Challenger in the stash), and in both cases I made my own plate - like you I just didn't like the idea of a paper plate which will no doubt curl up in a couple of months.

[Coventrycat]

I have this very same kit, but only have the rolling chassis finished so far. I’m interested with the issues you had with the body. I thought the plastic was weird looking and feeling as well. Great looking build, I hope mine comes out half as nice.

[JeroenS]

Thanks. Let's see. I don't have the instructions anymore but I'm looking at an online version of them on Scalemates. There were a couple of issues, all fixable. 

 

Part 51, the back of the cab: the curved shapes didn't match up with the car's body all that well so the gaps needed to be filled.

Part 3, it's called a splash pan: the edges in the top corners stick out and leave gaps. I sanded them smooth first, then filled. 

 

Then some problems with the hood. The left and right panels which are separate parts were too short. I chose to fill the gaps where they meet the front of the hood. I stuck a small piece of card in the gaps, applied Tamiya extra thin and sanded flat.

 

The major issue which needed correcting is the fit of the hood, as seen on the bottom right photo in the collage. It protrudes from the car body by a couple of millimeters, really ugly. At least, in my view 🙂 

 

I corrected this by glueing a thick piece of styrene (I think it was a 2x2 mm bar) on the inside of the body. I took a picture but it's not visible. I've tried marking the position as best as I could. The piece is actually further inside the body but my arrow wouldn't go there 😉 ... The idea is to tuck in the hood by pushing the part that sits in the body inwards. In my case it worked very well!

 

 

 

Hope this helps! Have fun with your build, I liked it a lot. Oh and by the way, the front bumper is not centered correctly, the mounting points are off to one side so the bumper is mounted a bit too much to the right. You might be able to fix that before mounting it. 

 

 

[Coventrycat]

Thanks, Jeroen - that’s really helpful!