Well, things have finally settled down enough that I’ve had time to chop up my pics in Photoshop & get them posted. Here’s a present that I built for my Dad for Christmas, the pickup truck from Sanford & Son, one of his favorite shows.
I used the opening from the show for most of my references as it showed both sides of the truck, as well as some pics I found around the net. The most significant thing I had to do was modify the grill from the kit’s '50 to a ‘51, cutting it taller & wider, also using a GK part from Kitchen Table Productions. The bed of the truck had molded wood, so I covered that with stained coffee stir sticks & used pastel chalks to dirty it up a bit. All of the grime is from chalks & the rust is a two-part process I found at Michael’s that uses paint with iron filings in it, so it’s real rust!
I covered the seat with foil to give it a more natural look & then taking inspiration from a truck at work, I made a rip in the seat, painting the "inside’ yellow to look like foam. The seatbelts are scratched with plastic & gaff tape, which is kinda like duct tape.
The driver’s window was cut so I could shove it in the door to look “rolled down”. The spare tire post beside the passenger door is scratched to match the show truck. The lettering on the door is hand painted. The tire assembly forced you to make them with hard plastic whitewalls, which does not match the show. So I simply painted the whitewall area black & turned the tires around, facing that area inside.
Beautiful work! I’m really impressed with the scratchbuilt details, like the seats, seatbelts, and the wooden bed. Nice weathering too, especially the undercarriage. I can hear the theme song playing while I look at it [:)]
I think you need to fill that truck up with some of Fred’s stock - seems like it needs some bedsprings, a lamp or two, etc. Or is this one of those times when Lamont has cleaned it out for a night on the town?
The origonal plan was to make a diorama witht he front of the junk shop, the truck in the driveway with Lamont near the truck’s door & Fred in his rocking chair, junk & all. The junk shop would have only been a facade, providing room for my Dad to put his DVDs of the show behind the wall. So essentially a real cool DVD holder! Time got the better of me, so I’m going to finish the dio for his birthday.
This came out quite well, nice attention to detail, you even got the painted out section on the door, looking pretty good, which oddly enough is hard to make look like the sloppy job it would be on a 1-1.
How much trouble was the 50 to 51 conversion? I’ve seen the conversion, but don’t have anything that needs to be a 51. I could certainly find a reason to build a 51 if its not a major bang your head against the wall proposition.
That was always one of my dad’s favorite TV shows when it aired. If he were still alive, he would love that model, although he would probably be asking, “Where’s the junk?”
As I said earlier, the origonal plan was to make a diorama witht he front of the junk shop, the truck in the driveway with Lamont near the truck’s door & Fred in his rocking chair, junk & all. The junk shop would have only been a facade, providing room for my Dad to put his DVDs of the show behind the wall. So essentially a real cool DVD holder! Time got the better of me, so I’m going to finish the dio for his birthday in May.
It really wasn’t that hard. The two models are nearly identical except for the grill, which had to be widened all around. Here’s an in-progress pic before the scratched “shelf” the new grill sits on, which is some laminated sheet.
Very, VERY cool! I love old beaters–I just barely remember this show from growing up. The weathering is nicely done, and your attention to detail on the seats and elsewhere is commendable!
ALl in all, a very good looking model!
I also agree that some junk in the back–or at least some good pastel “dust” coating in the back–would really put this build “over the edge”!
It might be hard to see in the pics, but there is a coating of pastels in the bed. I used a light coating of brown to give it a bit more uniform look, as well as some black splotches.
I am one of the biggest Sanford and Son fans alive. Watched it when I was a kid with my dad. I have seen every episode dozens of times. Have the entire DVD collection which I have converted to store on my iPod and iPhone and PC. Your work is incredible!!! I would love a replica like this. Would you be open to the idea of building me one? I would of course compensate you.
Then you & I both have something in common, Trevin. I also wathced the show with my Dad when I was younger. I still have those wonderful fond memories & still cherish the show. As for your replica, no problem. PM me & we’ll talk.
My fiance would love this. How could I get you to make me one of these?? He grew up watching this show and has all the dvd’s and wears the tshirts. Help me please… This would make the best gift EVER!!!
Hi, cobrjones! Of course I would be happy to help you out. I know the joy all this brought to my Dad & it would be great to bring that happiness to someone else. PM me & we’ll talk.
And here’s an update!! I finished the building for Christmas. We joked that it’s going to be an ongoing present, every year I’ll make him something new for it. [:D] The building ended up being more “in the spirit of” the actual building, mostly for space restrictions. The whole diorama with the actual scale building would have been over two feet long, too big for his end table. Next Christmas will be Fred, Lamont & of course some junk.
I left some weathering off the building & the ground is bare except for the base coat, just in case I needed to do some weathering around the areas where the junk will be & then to also to makw sure the whole diorama has an even look to it. I’ll be doing some serious finishing to it next Christmas! The brickwork is all pastel chalks dusted over the edge of painters’ tape. The sign was replicated in the computer & printed out.
