Rebuilding Meng 1/24 Ford Superduty

[Stickframe]

Hello model builders,

 

I've been working on another 4x4 conversion, a 1941 Chevrolet Canopy Express.  It's a complicated and challenging build, but waiting for some supplies.  Within easy view of my worktop are several built projects, including a Meng 1/24 Ford Superduty pickup I built some time ago.  It was an easy build, that I didn't put much effort or detail into, and as such, I never liked it all that much when I was done.  It went together easily enough, maybe too easily, as the end result seemed a bit toy like.  The idea at the time was to make a tow vehicle (and trailer) with other nicer projects on the trailer.  Well, when all was said and done, it was just big:

 

 

I consider this a respectable build, with an unusually good (for me) paint finish - but oh so dull!!  So, rather than keep it as a dust collector, I decided to do the right thing, and change it up, and make it into a more capable off road truck - similar in character to the white Toyota Tacoma shown above - why not??  So, step one - tear it apart and cut the chassis down.  As you can see in the upper left, I took some length out right behind the cab.  Before this tho, I managed to break off all four wheels, snap parts of the rear axle, chassis and so on.  Also separated the cab and interior, so I can do some repainting. 

 

As I got into it, I gave it a lift kit:

 

 

This was more fiddly than difficult per se (in addition to having the axle ends break off, the leaf spring pack broke from the chassis, which ultimately made it easier to work with).  The rear axle needed to be rebuilt (widened because of the broken off wheels, and added gussets), new shocks, U-bolts, chassis mods, shortened driveline, exhaust and so on.  It's getting there - and sits level.  Spacers were added between the leaf springs and axle to increase ride height.  You'll see, just like a real truck of this type, I didn't go over the top with the lift.  You can pretty easily pick up a few inches of ride height with blocks (3 or 4") but if you want more you should either modify the leaf spring pack, or get into a four link or other complicated suspension system, which I'm doing on the '41 Chevy - one project like that at a time is fine with me - no need to over build this one!

 

The modifications to the front end were less dramatic, as I added new coil springs and a mild lift when I built it:

 

 

In the upper left, you can see my initial modifications to the suspension, including new coils, shocks and relocated trailing arms. You can also see rebuilt front knuckles, which will also help with wheel spacing.  These had to be rebuilt anyway, as when I broke off the front wheels, well, also came the knuckles.  Happily the posable steering remained in tact.  A guy modified those parts during the first build, by adding stiff wire and reinforcement (fake ball joints etc that are tougher than the kit parts) to the steering mechanism.  I'm pondering adding a more convincing drag link, as this area will be quite visible, because I'm hoping to add some bigger tires to it. 

 

This build started with what we're said to be 35" tall tires (about 35mm tall in scale), which, while big in 1/25, they looked very small on this BIG 1/24 rig.  As you can see, I made larger wheels - both wider and larger in diameter than the originals.  The wheels are 18" resin that I had on something else, long since tossed - so, perfect candidates for this.  I wrapped each rim with some very thin sheet styrene, cut to the appropriate width, then added .030" strip, inside for stiffeners (CA'd to the rim, glued to the underside of the sheet) which aught to work fine - now, am waiting for some new tires to arrive.

 

As I wait for tires (I'm guessing a long time, as I ordered them from Spotmodels, and I'm in the western US), I'll start work on the body, which will be a flatbed like the Toyota, and tackle various repainting steps - the cab, engine, and rear chassis.

 

Ok, that's where we are, thanks for having a look!  Stay well, and enjoy the holidays!

 

Cheers

Nick 

[richellis]

I’ve got this in the stash with a dually conversion from an American company 👍

[JeroenS]

Cool, another one of your conversion projects, I'm in 🙂 

[Stickframe]

7 hours ago, richellis said:

I’ve got this in the stash with a dually conversion from an American company 👍

Hi Rich - the Meng kit is pretty nice - and goes together well.  It's already big, and with that dually will be huge!  I hope you have a big display shelf!  

Cheers

Nick 

[Stickframe]

4 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Cool, another one of your conversion projects, I'm in 🙂 

Hello, glad to have you follow along!  Yes, the kit bed is not going to be used, and another is being built.  While I was at it, went ahead and tore off the steering and am trying to add a drag link and tie rod like on the '41 Chevy.  The Meng kit is pretty forgiving - that is, the pieces are generously shaped, and made of a soft enough material that it can be cut up, drilled out etc and reworked if you wish - or, you can leave it alone and have a nice build.

 

Cheers

Nick 

[Stickframe]

Hello model builders, and hope you're all enjoying the holiday season!

 

I've made some headway on the Superduty:

 

 

As you can see, this now has a new bed - lots of styrene and a fair amount of head scratching - It was a bit tedious getting the body lines and bed lines to well, line up 😄 (same horizontal plane, that is).  A subtle but important change to the cab is that the mirrors, window trim, and door latches are now painted their proper black.  Over Christmas, visited my parents who, in relative terms, live in the "country", where there is lots of farming, and these trucks are pretty common.  While driving around, I noticed the black details, so when I returned home, taped off the cab and painted them black - during "build 1" I just painted it all yellow, which added to it's previous toy like appearance .  I think this looks better.....

 

 

These flat beds are pretty common too - especially on farm trucks.  I added a rear pintle hook, side lockers with slam locks, and made up a high lift jack.  You can see the jack "mounted" on the wall between the bed and cab.  In the parts you'll "never see" category, I added a fuel tank, which you can actually see the sides of, under the back of the bed, some more gusseting, and so on.  The little part next to the jack is the steering gear - yes, I'll go ahead and make up a pitman arm, and linkages for posable steering,  but for now waiting for some parts, including larger diameter tires.  I also repainted the cab interior a light tan color, and cut out the driver and passenger side windows - I just like the look more with them "open".  

 

Ok, take care - 

 

Cheers

Nick 

Edited December 29, 2021 by Stickframe

[silver911]

Yet more superb scratch work and general improvements Nick...you really have taken this to another level

 

Ron

[Toftdale]

Top work as ever,  I will definitely be stealing your idea of how to widen the wheels, thanks for sharing - Andy 

[busnproplinerfan]

I thought this only came in 1/35, this is a neat project.

[JeroenS]

Some fine scratch building there, the bed complements the truck body very well!

[CrazyCrank]

Superb scratch work there; Nick 👍

Has it side footsteps ? 

[Stickframe]

21 hours ago, silver911 said:

Yet more superb scratch work and general improvements Nick...you really have taken this to another level

 

Ron

HI Ron, thanks, and glad to get your seal of approval!  You've set the bar awfully high!!

 

20 hours ago, Toftdale said:

Top work as ever,  I will definitely be stealing your idea of how to widen the wheels, thanks for sharing - Andy 

Hey Andy, thanks, and hope the wheel trick works for you!  The nice resin wheel sets are so expensive (when you compulsively build models! 😄) that I needed a way to get the look I wanted without breaking the bank!

 

20 hours ago, busnproplinerfan said:

I thought this only came in 1/35, this is a neat project.

Hello bus-n-prop, thanks, and yes, this is 1/24 - if you try it out, be prepared for a big kit!  It goes together pretty well, but as I noted, it can slip into becoming a bit toy-like if you're not careful, and as I demonstrated on the first version! 😄

 

14 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Some fine scratch building there, the bed complements the truck body very well!

Hi Jeroen, thanks - and glad you like it.  That type of bed is fairly commonly seen around here for construction and ag uses.  I always like them, so now was time to give it a try!

 

11 hours ago, CrazyCrank said:

Superb scratch work there; Nick 👍

Has it side footsteps ? 

Thanks very much!  Yes, about those steps.....ideally, I could figure out how to make some projections from the chassis, that double as rock/obstacle skids, but, to do that correctly, I'd need to cut out the lower portions of the cab body rocker panels - in order to keep things/objects from hanging dramatically lower than the chassis.  So, I'm not yet sure how I'll address that question just yet.....🤔  I'm not yet convinced that I want to cut up the cab - 

 

OK gents, happy new year, stay well, and keep on building good stuff!

 

Cheers

Nick 

[busnproplinerfan]

Looked these trucks up, they're a small fortune now.

[Stickframe]

Hi model builders, 

 

@busnproplinerfan, after I read your note above, I looked up the kit - wow! they sure are expensive!  As I recall, the kit was fairly pricey to being with, but way too much now!

 

I have a small update on the steering today:

 

 

Went ahead and built this up properly - I added the steering gear box, and hung a pitman arm and drag link.  Made up some small brackets to attach to each knuckle - thinking about what @Toftdale Andy did on the window frame for his current build, I attached the brackets to the knuckles with two rivets each side - they shouldn't break off now!  The bracket on the passenger side received two holes, for mounting the drag link and tie rod - driver's side just received one for the tie rod.

 

I also received some big tires from Spotmodel:

 

 

On the left, steering aimed straight, on the right turning left - the image on the left is ok, the wheels are only dryfit, so the tire looks to have a bad toe out problem.  As to the tires, they're pretty nice - but, they came with a pretty simple, almost toy-like chevron tread pattern, which I just didn't like, so out came the clippers, and I cut out various spaces to at least give them a pattern that looks a bit more believable.  I cut out every other middle bar center, added some space to the in-between series of bars, and cut off every other bar on the sidewall.  While easy enough, it took a long time for all four!!

 

I like the look of the front of this - - I wonder if I might make a tube bumper for up front....??? hmm - might look nice...

 

OK, next, this will get some paint - I'm going to hand paint the new front parts, while the rear will get the full prime/base paint via airbrush - and maybe that bumper 😄

 

On we go, thanks for having a look

 

Nick 

[busnproplinerfan]

Good thing you got your when you did. I bet they'll wonder why sales dropped off on these so much.

[Toftdale]

Those wheels look great,  they really change the whole character of the build. - Andy