BOOM!! I finished both trucks last night and couldn't be happier with them. I had been dying to build the white truck for some time and since I had to use some parts from the yellow truck, I decided to give it a few custom touches as well.
The white truck is actually a clone of my friends 81 Silverado which is all kinds of cool. I knew I wanted to clone it as soon as I could find an extra Hot Wheels 83 Silverado version. Here is his truck:
I used wheels from a Civic EF and the chrome chassis from the yellow truck as this one came from the road trippin' series and had a gold chassis. I also used the clear glass instead of the smoked version. Stripped the brown and sprayed some white. Other than some side mirrors, i'd say it's pretty darn close!
Rear view of my friends truck. Note the AAR sticker. That is his shop so I wanted to make sure that detail transferred to the clone!
Overall I couldn't be happier with how this turned out. He will see it today and should love it. Whether or not I let him keep it I don't know haha.
Since I already had the yellow truck apart I decided to keep the paint as-is but give it a more aggressive drag-oriented feel. Below is the before version (not my picture)
I took the gold colored chassis from the other truck and used some VHT Nightshades tail light paint to turn it black. I love sing this stuff as it goes on thin and works great in intricate areas like the grille. A couple coats later and the look was complete.
I had some fat rear tires handy and fit them to the truck by filing down the inside of the chassis and body. I also threw on some skinny front runners and painted both wheel sets black to add to the sinster..ness.
The smoked glass works well on this truck!
One final detail I wanted to add was...
ROLL CAGE BABY! I have always love seeing a built truck with tubes extending from the rear glass. One paperclip + some time with a set of pliers and some rear tubes were born!
I drilled two small holes in the glass and glues on each end. Very easy. I just added paint after.
Since the rear wheels were bigger than original and the fronts were smaller, it gave the truck the perfect subtle rake....perfect!
Well that is all, I hope you enjoyed! Any questions please let me know. Also, look for part 1 of a customizing HOW-TO tomorrow!
Original teaser HERE!