DavidJ

I will soon begin going through the electronics and mechanics of my P407, but for now it looks pretty while sitting still.

MCI Decals. I was sanding and polishing the bed last night. How my HG-P407 currently looks. I painted the orange interior shell a medium sand/tan color.

I purchased one of these trucks about two months ago. It was the RTR version in white. I've been slowly going through the truck checking build quality, electronics and painting. My current status with the body.

My wipers were not glued to the body. Wipers came in a plastic baggy to mount later. My model did not have lights or sounds. I also had the version that did not have protection for the chromed camper cap, mine had the finish worn off. I noticed there is a "new" improved version being offered for $300.00+ USD or there about.

I purchased a white one, but now that I'm in the process of painting the body, I think a black one would have been better for a color change.

I purchased one of these RCs with a coupon. I figured "why not?" I have yet to run mine, but I did notice as I am prepping the body for paint, that a rear window kit does not fit the clone cab (at least with mine). I am in the process of adding material and putty to make a window fit to leave the camper cap off the bed. Just an FYI. Also, oven cleaner removes the chrome finish super-fast. As I de-chrome a few parts. My last observation with regards to the body, various body hardware looks cheap and strange, to me. Nothing the metric hardware isle of a hardware store can't fix.

The original window sets have a darker tint than the re-release windows.

I will call this project/build complete! (For now.)

I am finishing up the small(er) detail painting. Side front marker lights were painted Testors signal yellow over a silver base. Same yellow was used for the front grill/bumper unit lenses. I mixed a custom medium grey metallic color for the front light buckets using Testors silver and gloss black. The grill background was painted with Testors black. The small body color trim panel was sprayed the same blue hue as the body; after being primed with grey Tamiya primer. I'm not completely happy with the taped edge, but it is livable.

I had three rear arms crack around the shock mounting area while building this model. So, I purchase a pair of stainless supports by AmPro Engineering. Fit like a glove with minor file work to the plastic mounting nubs on the arms.

Very cool! I still have a problem where mine is pulling to the left. I was able to adjust it with the radio trim... but would like to have it straight from the get go.

I decided to do a steering upgrade to a Blackfoot servo saver and matching threaded shafts.

Cool! Photos of the contest build online?

I forgot to paint the lower portion of the rear window body color, so I had to backtrack a bit. Roll bar was painted Tamiya Pure White to match the bed cover and I used the Pure White to paint the FORD text on the rear tailgate. Tail lamps were painted using satin black Dupli-color lacquer and Testers enamel for the lenses.

I updated how I mounted the front Tamiya CVA shocks. I was experiencing minor tire rub on the lower bolt heads, so I shortened the lower spacers as much as I could without arm interference and picked up a bag of Kyosho 5MM pivot ball mounts for the shocks.

Thank you. Here is a photo of the parts.

I'm not sure if this is how all Frogs/Brats are (were), but I felt the front suspension and steering was wobbly and loose. So, I drilled out the knuckle arms holes to 6mm and placed four step bearing (3x6x2.5 mm) in each hole. Then used stainless machine screws to hold steering knuckles to the bearings.

The driver is now complete!

I continued reviewing tutorials on how to paint these Tamiya drivers. I used water-based acrylic craft paint for the face and helmet trim. Mixing water and brown into the flesh color to create tones. Some have said my driver looks scared.

I will agree. It took about 2.5 cans of Testors paint and 2.5 cans of Testors clear. I Googled the paint before I purchased, I read one modeling forum that had the comment of "'One Coat' means a separate clear in not necessary." I decided to try this paint since I had a gaggle of 50% off coupons. I sprayed the paint over a combination of Tamiya and Dupli-Color primer. I sprayed my body outside, what I found was I had to be up on the body with the can and move my arm slow to have the paint lay smooth. When I did the 10 inches back method, I had a sandpaper texture finish. Photos of it sitting in the sunlight.

Wheels mounted with four coats of Testors "Wet Look" Clear lacquer over paint and decals. A few specs of dust and fiber landed in the clear, but looks acceptable.

I like the look of white letter tires, so I decided to try the white ink pen trick on mine. I used a gelly roll pen from a local craft store.

I then worked on my reproduction decals from Canada. I switched up decal location from SRB box art and included a few new logos are well.

I painted the truck using Testors One Coat Lacquer. I chose this paint since it was convenient for me to purchase and discounted 50%. I sprayed the hue over Tamiya gray primer. Not a perfect paint job and the filler in the sunroof seam did shrink.

For my driver, I read a few tutorials on how best to paint these figures. I decided to use a variety water-based craft paints, since there were a tub of colors already at the house. This was my first attempt at creating shadows and washes. The Tamiya Frog sourced helmet head was painted with leftover Rust-Oleum enamel (lime green).