RC project for 2019: BIG BEAR body (+chassis)

[mongoose1983 2390]

I'm happy and excited as I did not expected this moment to come as soon as it did. For years I've been wanting to have the chance to work one of these, and out of the blue earlier on this year I received a friendly message from a fellow TCer telling me he'd give me the truck "if I was willing to make a good restoration". You guys can imagine the reaction and what my answer was like [I thank you so much Kym for making this possible, you know this project is something I really-really wanted to get into!]. Anyway, here I am slowly going ahead with the task. This is the truck as I received it, and I'll post more pictures of the process as I go working on the truck.

What I plan to focus on this year is the body. I am too short of money to get into the chassis and drivetrain these days.

Well, first thing's first, here's the truck as I got it 

The bottom of the chassis looks great

You all have a good Tuesday!

 

 

 

[mongoose1983 2390]

Well, this one seemed much easier than it really is. The bodyshell was painted many times in the past -I can see blue, red and white. So far the most difficult paint to remove is been the nasty-thick white enamel that just doesn't want to go! I thought something fast would take it all off easy, so I went the Caustic soda road with it. And it did not worked I will try next weekend with some brake fluid -the wet t-shirt method as my buddy @Crash Cramer calls it. I'm getting my fingers crossed that it will work. Some pictures below:

Excuse me, my workbench is such a disaster nowadays... but the Datsun BIG BEAR is gracing the mess as I write this

I haven't washed the bodyshell after the caustic soda bath & scrub, so it is now all covered with some white dust. Still I managed to bring out the detail of the Datsun model.

Tail and grill:

More pictures later

[yogi-bear 972]

always love a Big Bear rebuild. Will get to mine someday, but in the meantime, keep them pics and updates coming 

[KEV THE REV 618]

6 hours ago, mongoose1983 said:

Excuse me, my workbench is such a disaster nowadays... but the Datsun BIG BEAR is gracing the mess as I write this

Looks fine to me Erich . Good luck with the resto , I know you will do an excellent job as usual - you have the passion my friend

[Ray_ve 349]

Always good to see another Big Bear!

Whish I had the body I want to use stripped down as for as you have, but it is my slow-pace project.

The best of luck with this project!

[markbt73 2378]

Looking good! This is another one on my wish list. Had one when I was young, then years later had a real 1:1 Datsun 720 pick up. Still one of my favorite pickup truck styles.

Good luck with it!

[mtbkym01 1171]

Can’t believe I missed the start of this thread, can’t wait to see what you do with it mate

[wildwillydriver 32]

Nice BB will follow your resto!
Bye.

WWD

 

[mongoose1983 2390]

I've started the body preparation by sanding it. I'm not done with the work yet, but I already got a can of Testors primer on my bench and I also have some putty to get the Datsun body fixed and ready for some color to be applied to it. Unfortunately, I could not find arctic blue color in the store the other day, so I will have to find some paint sometime next month I believe.

It has not been easy to get it right as there were light scrapes on the hood, one side, and the cab's top. I can see the putty is going to be a real help with this one. I am excited as I go working it to my tastes. STILL, I seem to have made one super dumb mistake removing a bit as you'll see in the pictures. Not sure what I was thinking as I thought about it as it was a Toyota, not a Datsun! The straight line (chrome line) over the side windows was bugging me. I thought it wasn't correct, but it sure was  Also, I see it goes all the way down the pile, but I haven't found the part that goes down in the real vehicle. I don't know, but I am not satisfied. What a dumb mistake indeed.

A couple of pictures:

The body has these cracks on both sides. I've fixed a lot of issues on other bodies the last decade but these are making me feel a bit unsure as to what would be the best way to permanently fix this. So if you have some idea I know I could use a lil extra thinking

You all have a fantastic Friday!

 

[yogi-bear 972]

8 hours ago, mongoose1983 said:

 

The body has these cracks on both sides. I've fixed a lot of issues on other bodies the last decade but these are making me feel a bit unsure as to what would be the best way to permanently fix this. So if you have some idea I know I could use a lil extra thinking

I used friction welding to fix those cracks in the Big Bear I am (very slowly) restoring. I used this method as it just replaces plastic, so no glue or epoxy. 

 

 

[mongoose1983 2390]

7 hours ago, yogi-bear said:

I used friction welding to fix those cracks in the Big Bear I am (very slowly) restoring. I used this method as it just replaces plastic, so no glue or epoxy.

Alright, mate that looks fantastic and so spot on!

I've checked a couple of youtube videos but can't get it all down yet. Can I use a piece of ABS plastic on my dremel to get it done, or am I getting it all wrong?

Thanks for sharing the idea and pictures by the way

[yogi-bear 972]

no worries, yeah, basically it's just plastic rod in a dremel. I used styrene rod from the local hobby store as its a similar plastic.

I posted a tutorial here on tamiya club about it:

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=118815&id=35302

what I should add to that tutorial, but probably doesn't apply in your case, is that any paint left on the body seems to contaminate the join and weaken it.

good luck with it.

[KEV THE REV 618]

18 hours ago, mongoose1983 said:

removing a bit as you'll see in the pictures

Not a problem Erich , you can rebuild that strip with some plastic card , I've done this with a Blackfoot cab gutter

[mongoose1983 2390]

Super happy today

I've finally build up with nerve and grabbed the dremel to try the friction weld.

Thing worked alright and the weld feels strong as if it was a new part. YAY! Thank you @yogi-bear!!! 

Here's some pictures:

I now have to file down the plastic "drops" that came out and then a little sanding and some putty. I am excited.

Once I prepare the whole body I'll start thinking about what colors would I like the BIG BEAR to have.

You all have a fantastic Wednesday!

 

[KEV THE REV 618]

You're having a good week Erich , awesome , it looks great .

[mongoose1983 2390]

Tonight I felt like assembling the chassis as I've friction-welded one crack the bathtub chassis had. Worked better than good. And as you'll see in the picture (below) I used plastic from a FAV's sprue.

Another problem I had to address was the rollbar. One of the sides was broken. I drilled it and got a bit of a threaded bar inside of it. I dare you to point out which side that was! Also, the inner face of the other side of the rollbar had a flat deformation that was probably done by getting it to touch some hot iron. I really can not imagine what the previous owner did to it, but I had to file and sand that down to try and get a more "natural" shape out of it.

The plastic from which the rollbar is made has some nylon feeling to it. It was painted when I got it, but stripping it was pretty easy. Doesn't feel like something that would take enamel in a much definitive way, but the original color isn't exciting at all. I might try and get some flat black enamel for it sometime.

[mongoose1983 2390]

Also, I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of the interior. The dash was painted metallic blue. Now that's a nice color for just about everything EXCEPT the interior's dash.

The seats were brown. Right now the interior is waiting in the plastic box being stripped with the usual break-fluid wet t-shirt method. I believe in a few hours the enamels are going to go away easily.

Oh, and here's a picture of one of the repaired cracks after a lil sanding:

Oh, the BIG BEAR looks promising. I'm excited and LOVING IT

Thank you so much @mtbkym01!

More pictures tomorrow.

You all have a fantastic Thursday!

[mtbkym01 1171]

You are welcome mate, once I’d finished my rebuild, I couldn’t think of a more worthy recipient of the left overs, great to see your progress

[mongoose1983 2390]

As expected, stripping the interior was as Ace Frehley would say Easy as it seems

Lifting up the wet t-shirt pieces and then scrubbing the interior with those same pieces. Super Easy and I used LESS THAN ONE SOUP SPOON OF BRAKE FLUID to get these results.

Then I used an old toothbrush to get to this point. And then wash with one drop of dishwasher:

Results:

And finally, considering finding original parts for this RC truck is very hard here's an interesting tip for anybody of you working on BIG BEAR trucks: The Tamiya Wild Willy 2 steering wheel works great on this one. Thank you so much for the WW2  steering wheel Andi @Nobbi1977!!

I have tons to do now. But will comeback with more pictures hopefully soon.

[KEV THE REV 618]

I need to try the 'wet tee shirt' brake fluid idea , I've used brake fluid bath before  , but this looks easier and more economical and probably quicker . Thanks for the tip :)