Shortening an F350 Body then a Gulf Oil Custom Paint

[Addicted]

Hi,

This is my first ever post to the forum so please be gentle!

I have been into Tamiya since the mid 80’s and have now accumulated a wide a varied collection. 

My main interest is building Hopped Up chassis and also building and painting custom body sets. 
I have lots of builds that I have photographed so thought I would take the plunge and post some here. 
 

First up is an eBay bought used F350 bodyset that I had the crazy idea to cut down to fit a touring car chassis - originally thought I would drop it on an F103GT 🤪

did a quick check to see how much needed to be removed 

[Addicted]

Next up was to decide where to remove the length without effecting the detail on the rear bed. 
Then the scary part comes where I introduced a hacksaw blade. 
 

I have seen this done with cotton thread but decided I would get a straighter cut with a blade. 

[Addicted]

The ‘Cut’ is complete, now it’s time for the ‘Shut’. 
 

taped it together for a test fit to make sure it was the right length axel to axel before glueing it back together again. 

[ChrisRx718]

This is the sort of bonkers build I can get behind.

Is that the 3Racing SSD conversion for F103GT? I had the full option back in the day and wish I had never sold it!

[Addicted]

7 minutes ago, ChrisRx718 said:

This is the sort of bonkers build I can get behind.

Is that the 3Racing SSD conversion for F103GT? I had the full option back in the day and wish I had never sold it!

Thanks and yes it is. I have the standard black carbon version too - quite rare now. 

[Addicted]

Now I need to start filling the joint and sanding

[Addicted]

Filled, sanded and primed 

[alvinlwh]

Ever since I swapped out the Opel body on my TA-02(Ra) for a pickup body, I fell in love with them. Shame there are not many pickup bodied kits. Plus side is I can pick up a chassis that is better and cheaper than what Tamiya offer, and use the change to buy a pickup body separately.

[Addicted]

7 minutes ago, alvinlwh said:

Ever since I swapped out the Opel body on my TA-02(Ra) for a pickup body, I fell in love with them. Shame there are not many pickup bodied kits. Plus side is I can pick up a chassis that is better and cheaper than what Tamiya offer, and use the change to buy a pickup body separately.

Yeah, they don’t do many polycarbonate pick ups but the hard body ones are sublime 😍

i picked this one up quite cheaply so I wasn’t too worried about cutting it up 

[Addicted]

Starting to lay down the colour now with wet sanding in between coats and plan to finish off with a nice wet coat of clear 

also test fitting the chrome parts and deciding how to finish those off too

[bRIBEGuy]

2 hours ago, ChrisRx718 said:

This is the sort of bonkers build I can get behind.

This is almost verbatim of what my mind was thinking as I started the first post!

I love when people look at things in a defectively broken sort of way and then just hunker down and create unique art.  Well done @Addicted, this will be fun to watch.  And welcome to the forum!

[Addicted]

43 minutes ago, bRIBEGuy said:

This is almost verbatim of what my mind was thinking as I started the first post!

I love when people look at things in a defectively broken sort of way and then just hunker down and create unique art.  Well done @Addicted, this will be fun to watch.  And welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the welcome and the sharing of a viewpoint - if you have a vision you can always deliver some kind of version of it and I think this one turned out quite well. 

[Addicted]

More paint laying down and lots of masking 

[Addicted]

Got drawn into finishing off the rear panel which give a good idea of the overall finish. 

[bRIBEGuy]

Looks awesome.

 

[Addicted]

41 minutes ago, bRIBEGuy said:

Looks awesome.

 

Thanks, appreciate it 

[Addicted]

More paint one and started to add trim lines to the main body now 

[Addicted]

Next up - Let There Be Light 💥

plus ‘dressing’ the front grille

[Addicted]

Time to start putting it all together now. 
 

I missed out taking pictures of laying down the clear and wet sanding with 2000 grit but I’m pretty pleased with the result. 
 

added extra details to the body and finished the rear lights with Sharpie pens and trim tape which I also used for the shut lines and panel gaps. 

[Addicted]

The end result 

I think it looks good with the shorter bed but also weighs about the same as the chassis but hey, sometimes I have an idea that I need to see through 🤪

[Addicted]

Some more shots

[Aerobert]

Awesome work! Looks great. 👍

[Busdriver]

Stunning. Great paint job. Wish I had your patience and skill 

[Addicted]

15 minutes ago, Aerobert said:

Awesome work! Looks great. 👍

Thanks 🙌🏻

[Addicted]

13 minutes ago, Busdriver said:

Stunning. Great paint job. Wish I had your patience and skill 

Thanks, much appreciated. 
 

patience is key when working with the hard bodies, they are way less forgiving but the result can be amazing.