'55 Chevy Step Side "WOW" (What Once Was) ** Finished! 02/20/09 **

I'm usually located over at the dark side in the armor forum, but being an old car modeller I was in need of a "therapy project" so I picked up a '55 Chevy Step Side from the stash with the idea of making it a "WOW" car. 
The idea that has been growing in my head a while is a rat/original/semi-show truck. A truck that once was a show car but now is totally degraded. Busted air ride at medium height, steelies with skinny white side tires due to the owners bad economy and so on, you get the idea.

Picked the wheels and tires from an AMT '49 Ford. Moved the kit supplied front axle a bit further up and just did some basic work on the chassis so far.

Figured I had to equip the car with som Mexican rugs for the bench seat and floor. So while a couple of painted items where drying i started with one of them.
Picked up some sewing thread in various colors from the wifes sewing cabinet, duct tape and white glue.
I need to dirty it up quite a bit but the result so far I find pleasing.

Modified the filler tube a bit. I plan to add rag instead of the fuel cap so I needed a little more detail than just the basic hole.







I also opened the glove compartment so I can add some junk in there. I just used some Evergreen to make the box.





Recon I'll use the Mexican something like this...

After prepping the body I primed it with Tamiya primer and loaded my AB with matte black for the engine compartment. Then I loaded it with Vallejo Tank Brown which has a nice rusty color. I dusted this color slightly from a long distance into the engine bay to get a slight rusty tint down there.
I didn't bother to cover the black overspray on the fenders and cowling completely with the Tank brown, this will just add more contrast to the top coat like I want it to do. I got some nice variations in the rusty color around the hood area, and I didn't bother much about full coverage on the rest of the car either, more variations in the top color coat will be the result, and that's my goal.
The top color will be  some kinda turqois '50's color and an all white roof.









I opened up the grille from behind with a Dremel. I think this looks much better on this type of grille than just a blackish wash.



I also prepped the body for further "treatment" with a couple of coats of hair spray and set it aside for a few days.
The darker spots you can see in the pics are Mr. Masking Sol.

Here's the color coat on.
I mixed Vallejo Panzer Aces Stencil White, Tamiya X-4 Blue and a drop of Vallejo Panzer Aces Splinter Blotches I(!) to get a slight green tint in the color.
The roof is painted in plain Stencil White.
I AB'ed three coats and let it dry for about 10 minutes and started scrubbing in various places with some cut down paint brushes and water. Excess water was dabbed of with a Kleenex tissue. I also used Fine og X-Fine Flexi-File in various places to get another kinda wear.

Here's some shots....and no, the hood is not positioned properly...










Great improvement opening up the grille I think...









The bed is covered with wood taken from a small orange crate. The metal profiles are "thingys" originally used in telephone centrals for arranging the internal cables in them...brilliant product
Scratched the wood with a #11 blade and gave it a couple of coats of MIG Neutral Wash and one coat of  Vallejo Sephia Shade Wash. Ended the wood treatment with some MIG Ashes White pigments that I just rubbed into the wood. I'll be doing some more work on the wood later to get it a bit darker and dirtier.

That's it so far folks...