# A 1/25 present for my Pop!



## Prince of Styrene II (Feb 28, 2000)

Thanks to Raytheon, I was able to put the master touch on a Christmas present for my Pop! Rayth, thanks again for the URL to the license plate!

Granted, I'm a bit rusty at building cars, or in this case trucks. Probably been about... oh, the better part of 15 years since I built one. But when I found this kit of Pop's old Chevy C-10, I couldn't resist! Plus, I have an excuse to build & give a gift that brings back some great memories!

I was working on it & wraping it up till about 1am Christmas morning! All the detail shots were taken outside on my Mom's front steps right before sunset Christmas Eve. Nothing like the last second, eh? Here's a quick beauty shot. The base is one of those acrylic display boxes, sans the box in this shot.
http://planetmyhill.com/Modelmaster/PICS/Pops_Truck/Beauty1.jpg

The kit had the truck pimped out- thin tires, different grill, etc. The tires are aftermarket. Also, the interior lacked any real detail. The dash was okay, but I added the "three-in-the-tree" shifter, PRNDL gauge on the colum, turn signal lever & parking break. The gauges were given several coats of Future for the "glass look".
http://planetmyhill.com/Modelmaster/PICS/Pops_Truck/dash2.jpg

The seats in the kit were bucket, so I had to make a bench seat. I also made the seatbelts out of masking tape & small squares of styrene. The window crank & door lever were also scratched. I also pastel chalked the seats for wear.
http://planetmyhill.com/Modelmaster/PICS/Pops_Truck/Seat1a.jpg

When he had the truck, we had a gravel driveway & an old phone pole to bump up against so you didn't roll down the hill. Here's the pole, made from a stick I found in the woods behind my house, painted up to look a bit more in scale. The grass is aftermarket as well as the in-scale gravel, held on with Elmer's.
http://planetmyhill.com/Modelmaster/PICS/Pops_Truck/LogGrass.jpg

The front bumper was the biggest PIA. The kit had a mesh grill, my Pop's had the "bar". Off came the mesh & I built a bar, cutting holes for the orange hazard lights. My first ever attempt at using Future mixed with food coloring! Not too shabby, but it took about three days worth of layering & drying to get enough Future to fill the holes. Another feature I put on was the white "steel tubes". Easy enough with tube styrene. And of course the big help from Raytheon was for the license plate! The link gave me the plate for the last year I knew he had the truck (1983). There's almost no way to know what his plate was, so the "71" is for the home county in Indiana, the "P" is for Pops, & of course the 2006 for this year. My friend used his Uber printer at work to get me some nice sharp prints.
http://planetmyhill.com/Modelmaster/PICS/Pops_Truck/FrontBumper.jpg

Merry Christmas, Pop!
http://planetmyhill.com/Modelmaster/PICS/Pops_Truck/Open1.jpg


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## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

What a great, sentimental gift. Near brings a tear to the eye. Nice job on the model Prince ! Especially cool (and meaningful ) base. The pic with "Pop's" face tells it all.
Dabbler

Afternote: that darned tele-pole looks REAL !!!


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## Guest (Jan 2, 2007)

Excellent stuff Prince, really nicely done and pressies like that do make something special. I know what you mean about last minute stuff 
I agree with the Dabbler, your dad's face does tell it all.
Glad it all worked out ok.

Go easy


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## spencer1984 (Nov 3, 2005)

Very cool, nice work! We used to have an old black Chevy of the same vintage...ours was a lot rougher, though. Still, it's a treat to see one built with the respect it deserves.


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## Da Queen (Mar 11, 2005)

That's my boy!! :thumbsup: 

Hugs!
Mum aka Da Queen


P.S. Ummm, Andy...I see you have time to post all this but no time to drop your Mum a note to let me know you got home safely??????????


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## Prince of Styrene II (Feb 28, 2000)

Da Queen said:


> That's my boy!! :thumbsup:
> 
> Hugs!
> Mum aka Da Queen
> ...


oops. :drunk: Though note that posted at midnight. We had a delay in getting home till the 1st. I'll call you tonight.


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

That was a great gift! Nothing says "I love you", better that to give a hand built gift.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Prince of Styrene II said:


> The dash was okay, but I added the "three-in-the-tree" shifter, PRNDL gauge on the colum, turn signal lever & parking break. The gauges were given several coats of Future for the "glass look".
> http://planetmyhill.com/Modelmaster/PICS/Pops_Truck/dash2.jpg


I hate to be the voice of reason, but there seems to be a contradiction in this paragraph. A "three-on-the-tree" shifter is a _manual_ shift lever--any vehicle with a _manual_ transmission would not have a "PRNDL" gauge on the steering column, as that would only apply to vehicles with an _automatic_ transmission.

Other than that, nice work!


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## Prince of Styrene II (Feb 28, 2000)

Zombie_61 said:


> I hate to be the voice of reason, but there seems to be a contradiction in this paragraph. A "three-on-the-tree" shifter is a _manual_ shift lever--any vehicle with a _manual_ transmission would not have a "PRNDL" gauge on the steering column, as that would only apply to vehicles with an _automatic_ transmission.
> 
> Other than that, nice work!


Okay, okay, bad choice of words. The truck did have a "three-on-the-tree" shifter, but it was too long ago to remember what the letters/numbers said where the little needle pointed to when you shifted. For lack of a better description (& severe need of sleep after traveling back home) I put down PRNDL. :drunk: 

And thanks for the compliment, Zombie!


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