Scratch Built RC Holden HX Overlander Panel Van

[yogi-bear 2315]

that Rod is looking pretty cool. If you need some chassis rails in aluminium, I'm happy to have a go. I've started to try have a go at machine bull bars etc on my cnc machine. Still have to fine tune the settings a little to get a better finish, but the machine didn't struggle at all cutting these.

 

and I also intend on making my own set of chassis rails for a Marui Big Bear away. I'm almost ready to do that, and have done test cuts in polystyrene.

 

 

And if you're interested, I'm also trying out making chassis floor plans, either as a vac form or pressed in metal. The picture below is my first go, its a little short and the centre tunnel needs to be higher. but hopefully you get the idea  Pressed metal will probably have to be in 3 sections though. This is for the Ford Escort Mk 1 I got from you, plus I'll use it on the Cortina and Mk 2. I've also got my vac former pretty much sorted and I can form 1 mm polycarbonate and 1.5 mm ABS without too much trouble now. So I was going to send you one of each the fords in your choice of ABS or polycarbonate. Although that would still be a few weeks away as I'm currently re-casting the molds in something harder, but stay tuned for a build thread on all three 

[Trini2DBone 633]

Holy crap yogi-bear! I'm totally blown away by what you ave accomplished! I will definitely be interested in a set of aluminum rails ! Will send you a pm later today (heading out to work shortly). The floor panels look so awesome as well! I'm amazed that you can get that much detail in the metal sheet ..... And you did this with the vacuum former? ****! That came out really nice!

 

[yogi-bear 2315]

7 hours ago, Trini2DBone said:

Holy crap yogi-bear! I'm totally blown away by what you ave accomplished! I will definitely be interested in a set of aluminum rails ! Will send you a pm later today (heading out to work shortly). The floor panels look so awesome as well! I'm amazed that you can get that much detail in the metal sheet ..... And you did this with the vacuum former? ****! That came out really nice!

 

cheers! just to clarify though the white version is vac formed plastic, the aluminium one I used the same jig and applied about 15 Ton of pressure. When I made the jig, I also made a reversed version. Its not too bad for a test but the centre tunnel stretches the aluminium too much and it cracks. To get more detail I'll probably have to switch to metal jigs.

[Trini2DBone 633]

Ahhh I think I see now...so the sheet is placed on the bigger jig, the smaller placed on top, then you squish it down with a press? 

[yogi-bear 2315]

15 minutes ago, Trini2DBone said:

Ahhh I think I see now...so the sheet is placed on the bigger jig, the smaller placed on top, then you squish it down with a press? 

bingo!  and MDF is a piece of cake to machine, so it opens up the possibility of shaping all kinds of panels. But MDF has a little bit of give, so some fine detail gets lost. I'm getting the hang of 2D and 2.5D cutting, just have to learn 3D modelling and then I can cut more complex jigs.

[Trini2DBone 633]

2 minutes ago, yogi-bear said:

bingo!  and MDF is a piece of cake to machine, so it opens up the possibility of shaping all kinds of panels. But MDF has a little bit of give, so some fine detail gets lost. I'm getting the hang of 2D and 2.5D cutting, just have to learn 3D modelling and then I can cut more complex jigs.

Pure genius man!  So 'negative' jig or the bottom piece , has the details slightly larger than the positive jig to accommodate the material being formed? 

 

[yogi-bear 2315]

Just now, Trini2DBone said:

Pure genius man!  So 'negative' jig or the bottom piece , has the details slightly larger than the positive jig to accommodate the material being formed? 

 

yep!

there is another way to shape metal as well, its called hydro forming and all round nut bag genius Colin Furze from the UK has an excellent demo. And all he uses is a water pressure washer. To get a more defined shape, you can also make a reverse jig for the metal to form into, and cap it with a plate. Very keen to try this one day 

 

 

[Trini2DBone 633]

I'm wondering if I can try a similar experiment...lol...make a mold of the Sandman nose panel , then make a negative mold. Then cast them with a dense / harder resin, and use a very thin sheet of aluminum or copper and  clamp them together with some g clamps...lol..don't have room for a press in the apartment...ha!

[yogi-bear 2315]

2 minutes ago, Trini2DBone said:

I'm wondering if I can try a similar experiment...lol...make a mold of the Sandman nose panel , then make a negative mold. Then cast them with a dense / harder resin, and use a very thin sheet of aluminum or copper and  clamp them together with some g clamps...lol..don't have room for a press in the apartment...ha!

yeah, would be very possible. Roofing aluminium is very easy to mold, but will dent easily. There was a guy in the US selling hilux bodies like this a couple of years ago, and while they looked awesome they didn't really stand up to a lot of use. Copper would probably be good, just have to make sure you mold is strong enough. Another thought (but a lot of work) is if you resin cast, make a copy and then re-cast in aluminium. I tried this once with a Volvo front end, but my casting sand was off, which meant I lost some detail, but you get the idea.

[Trini2DBone 633]

Will definitely give this a go ! Maybe in a few weeks...lol...I wanted to make a mold of the nose panel anyway to start on a wagon and a ute, but was afraid of damaging the one on the Sandman, so I'm in the middle of building anothe from styrene to make the mold...!

[Trini2DBone 633]

Been up to no good again...

Took a chance and Made a mold of the original nose panel...came out pretty good...but I cracked the stone shield on the original...easy fix though...

lol...think I see a HX station wagon and a HX Ute on the horizon.....one Tonner for sure...!

This is the first cast...came out nice! The discoloration is from the modeling clay use to stabilize the piece.the next ones will be bright white...
The grille and the bumper fits nicely!

[Trini2DBone 633]

Made another cast from the mold...this one is much cleaner...trimmed and sanded it up...it's being held together with zots...lol will probably try to paint it tomorrow...

Some pics ..watcha think.....

 

[yogi-bear 2315]

that is looking really good!

[topforcein 1764]

That looks fantastic well done great work.

But i think it might be a different shade/colour than the rest.

[Darat76 265]

11 minutes ago, topforcein said:

That looks fantastic well done great work.

But i think it might be a different shade/colour than the rest.

no no, it matches, just like all the 1:1 ones on the roads over here and on the other side of the ditch....

[Trini2DBone 633]

Lol...thanks guys! 

[Mannyp1980 49]

The Sandman looks awesome. Those molded pieces look really good.

[Trini2DBone 633]

55 minutes ago, Mannyp1980 said:

The Sandman looks awesome. Those molded pieces look really good.

Thanks man!

[Trini2DBone 633]

 

Been working on replicating the grille, so I can have a complete front clip ...lol...
Prepped the grille for the silicone mold then I chickened out...lol! I felt that the way it was built, it will definitely get damaged while extracting it from the cured silicone...so started to build another grille that will be easier to mold so that there isn't any damage....almost done with it...just need to do the center piece now. Man...I'm not looking forward to cutting up and gluing them tiny pieces...lol...

Some pics of where it's at...

[Trini2DBone 633]

Here's another small update..!

Made some progress on the center portion of the grille....but made it blank.....lol
This way, i will mold the blank and run off a few casts of it, then I can build a few versions of the different grilles, then mold those as well... I believe that the 1:1 cars HJ-HX all had the same outer frame with various grilles on the inner portion...lol...will see how it goes...

Also thinking of making another cast of the nose panel then re-do the light section like this...if it looks good enough I will mold it as well...lol

Yeah ...I just went over the deep end...lol...!

[Darat76 265]

i personally prefer the look of the premier front, problem is so many other people do too, so they tend to end up on just about every holden from hq to hz, have even seen some on wb's *lol*

[Trini2DBone 633]

On May 3, 2017 at 2:13 AM, Darat76 said:

i personally prefer the look of the premier front, problem is so many other people do too, so they tend to end up on just about every holden from hq to hz, have even seen some on wb's *lol*

The premier front being the double headlights one, be it HQ or HJ-HZ?? The only ones I have really seen stock were the single headlight cars...so not really sure....lol!

[Darat76 265]

almost correct, the prems started with twin headlights, hence the prem reference, the monaro's also got treated to the twin headlights on certain models, other holdens of note from the era that had the twin headlights were the broughams and statesmans

 

there are plenty of visual clues to identify the different models, prems had chrome strips for pin stripes, as well as around the wheel arches, monaro's had flutes in the front guards and less external chrome, broughams and statemans had different body lines for the rear half of the car as they were based on the station wagon chassis's and not the sedan ones.

single headlight fronts were found on all belmonts and kingswoods, there might have been a spec option for twin headlights, but I never looked into that.

 

at the end of the day, not one hardcore holden fan will bat an eyelid at you fitting a single or twin headlight to your overlander, nor would they with any others you might build in the future, coz every holden fan I've come across either likes or loves the prem twin headlight front as much as they like the single one, where you might rub some fans the wrong way is fitting a WB front to a HQ/J/X/Z, but that's coz the WB front is one that is either loved or hated with very little inbetween.

[Trini2DBone 633]

Messed around with some on-road tires to have a looksee....lol... So planning on starting an on-road chassis soon...!

[Trini2DBone 633]

Back at it again...lol...

Some shiny stuff.....

Made a mess of it.... 

Then made it shiny again...lol!