The, um, Bluefoot?

A couple of years ago a mate asked me to paint his Blackfoot body shell. He was aiming to create a Ranger replica so he wanted it painted blue. I did it for him, and loved the result. I'd never seen an undamaged Blackfoot body before! And seeing it in that colour - I wanted one!

I managed to get a body set and tyres for a reasonable price, and some time later the postman delivered a used Wild Dagger chassis, and a project was born :-)

I nearly went with the stock Wild Dagger chassis but the wheelbase was just a bit too long. I couldn't keep ignoring it and eventually I got fed up and made some shorter chassis plates, similar to my Monster Beetle project from a few years ago. It's probably still a bit too long but it's closer. I've moved the shock top mounts so the shocks are angled in towards the centre of the wheel arches, which I think helps. At least it doesn't annoy me now!

Alongside the home-made chassis plates (and shock towers) it has a few hop-ups - bearings, steel pinions, alloy gearbox brace, twin alloy wheelie rollers and a Yeah Racing alloy front bumper. I think the wheels are HPI.

The body is painted in Halfords Rover Pageant Blue. No roll bar and all the holes in the load bed were filled - again going for the 'Ranger look'. I know that a Ranger should have the side decals but I like it just as it is. Home made magnetic mounts hold body and chassis together.

I made a basic interior and of course you-know-who wanted to drive. I told him not to buy his crash helmet from the 'scratch & dent' sale but as usual he didn't listen!

So here it is. This has been a fairly long, slow-burn sort of project, a lot of fun but it's nice to finally get it finished.
Hope you like it too ;-)

cheers,
Rob