# In the not too distant future...



## tolenmar (Dec 5, 2011)

The price of gas sky-rockets. In response, desperate people who need to get to work but can't afford to fuel their cars form roving gangs that prey on more timid drivers. They begin to arm their cars, put armor plating on them, and begin shooting up any vehicle that won't give over their hard-earned fuel. It is a cruel and vicious future, where the biggest guns have the right of way.

So I know what I'm going to do for my next project after I finish my Nomad. I'm going to make a 'Mad Max' style car. I don't specifically mean that I'm going to build one of Max's Interceptors, I just mean I'm going to take a car, a few extra parts and make it into a post-apocalypse styled vehicle. The trick is, which car should I do this to?

Suggestions? (my son already says "semi-truck!")


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## CorvairJim (Dec 16, 2011)

Look on the Model Cars magazine website (www.modelcarsmag.com) in the Community Builds forum. There's a current CBP doing that sort of model, "The 2012 Post Apocalypse/Zombie Hunter Community Build". You'll find no end of inspiration there from just mildly deadly to blatant overkill! The guy who's heading up the build, Virgil "Dr. Cranky" Suarez, is a master of the style, as well as just about any other kind of car model he stes his mind to. His weathering technique is fantastic!


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## miniature sun (May 1, 2005)

Here in the UK the price of fuel _has_ skyrocketed meaning that it now costs £100 (about $160) to fill the tank of an average family car....to add to that the tanker drivers who supply the entire country's fuel are about to go on strike!
I don't think your ideas are actually too far fetched


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## tolenmar (Dec 5, 2011)

Thanks for the link. Sooo many ideas there!


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## CorvairJim (Dec 16, 2011)

Aways happy to help a guy out! If you want to, maybe you could get in on the fun over there too?


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## tolenmar (Dec 5, 2011)

I dunno. It depends on if I come up with a good idea or not. I'm considering a scratchbuild. The housekeepers at work have switched brands of toilet paper, and the new rolls don't fit the old dispensers. They have to take these blue plastic rings out of the rolls to make them sort of work. I glued several of them together in pairs, and now I have six things that look a lot like big old fat mud gripper tires...without the tread.

Might make them into wheels.


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## tolenmar (Dec 5, 2011)

miniature sun said:


> Here in the UK the price of fuel _has_ skyrocketed meaning that it now costs £100 (about $160) to fill the tank of an average family car....to add to that the tanker drivers who supply the entire country's fuel are about to go on strike!
> I don't think your ideas are actually too far fetched


Thanks. I just took the basic "Car Wars" or "Mad Max" back story and tweaked it. I know the price is worse overseas than it is here, but it still sucks no matter how you say it. If both fuel pumps in my truck worked, it would cost well over $100 for me to fill it. I always stop at $20, but then I don't drive very far these days, just to and from work.

At any rate, I just want to build a good old fashioned post apocalyptic vehicle, and was fishing for ideas.


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## Sevaa (Feb 8, 2012)

How about a propane flame thrower mounted somewhere easily accessible , maybe something like a 70s styled delivery truck with the back stripped down to the chasis , build up a armored type caging. Maybe some sort of spike shielding for the front of the truck. Few bits of spikes coming out of the wheels , so you could just tear out the sides/tires of other possible vehicles trying to jack your supplies etc.

Got the idea from the first season of "The Colony" , they took a delivery truck and was able to make the engine run off of wood gases , forget the exact terminology , but they basically had 2 cylinders , one with fire that heated up another cylinder that sat inside the fire cylinder , the cylinder that was inside the fire "pit" contained wood scraps , when heated gases arise from the wood scraps. Run a hose from that to the carb and you got a running engine.


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## tolenmar (Dec 5, 2011)

Those are good ideas, and I'm still tossing around the idea of a scrath-build. But what I meant was basically this:

If you could turn any car into a Mad Max style car, which would you choose? An old Mustang? Some beat up Chevy truck? An old Messerschmidt micro-car?


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## Sevaa (Feb 8, 2012)

tolenmar said:


> Those are good ideas, and I'm still tossing around the idea of a scrath-build. But what I meant was basically this:
> 
> If you could turn any car into a Mad Max style car, which would you choose? An old Mustang? Some beat up Chevy truck? An old Messerschmidt micro-car?


I think one of the 5.0 mustangs would look pretty sweet "mad max" styled , or you can go with the falcon interceptor that I believe was in the movie.


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## CorvairJim (Dec 16, 2011)

How about a current-generation Camaro? Plenty of horsepower and slightly sinister looks right out of the showroom! Great lines to work with when adding your armor.


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## tolenmar (Dec 5, 2011)

Well, I think my son solved the problem for me. He cleaned his room (and there was much rejoicing!), and among the things he decided to throw out was this:








It's an inexpensive RC car with a missing remote. Not only that, but he drove ti through a mud puddle some years ago and never bothered to clean it. The batteries corroded into the compartment, and it no longer works. What better use for it than to do some modifying? Especially since he decided to throw out the armor plating as well:









It's a start anyway.


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## CorvairJim (Dec 16, 2011)

OOOH! This is gonna be GOOD!


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## tolenmar (Dec 5, 2011)

Well, I stripped out anything I didn't need, and cut up a few other toys for parts, and so I have an initial mock-up. Trust me, it's under all that tape somewhere. I'm hoping the JB Weld is enough, but doubt it will be. I'll know tomorrow when I start peeling tape.


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## CorvairJim (Dec 16, 2011)

Don't forget you'll need protection across the windshield opening (no glass - it can be dangerous when it lets go in the event of an explosion... ) and the grille. That flimsy plastic factory thing won't stand a chance up aginst the undead hordes! Hit just one zombie and the grille is toast. inally, what kind of firepower are you planning on packing in it?


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## tolenmar (Dec 5, 2011)

Honestly, I wish I had more material for the front glass like I used for the sides. I think I'm going to use some porch screen material for the front. I just have to figure it out.

I had four of the red pieces for wheel-guards, but one vanished, which is why the fronts have different plates.

The front grill will stay. I like it too much. But that's okay because I plan on creating some sort of enhanced bumper arrangement anyway, I have plenty of metal strips and plates, I should be able to assemble something out of them.

Firepower is the difficult part. It isn't as if I have a bunch of scale-sized weapons just lying around free to use. There is a _remote_ chance I have a .50 cal tripod mounted machine gun for a ten inch tall G.I. Joe figure lying around in one of my boxes. I doubt it, though. I think I cleaned out that parts bin a couple of years ago. But an idea just occurred to me. I'll have to tinker a bit with it.


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## tolenmar (Dec 5, 2011)

Ok, the grill has been replaced with something a bit more destructive and sturdy. In addition, I think I have a solution to the firepower problem. Stay tuned. Pics to come!


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## scottnkat (May 11, 2006)

looking forward to it!!


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## tolenmar (Dec 5, 2011)

Ok, first of all, apologies for the pictures. The place I usually shoot them has changed. The natural light levels are different now, and the automatic settings don't always engage the flash. So they are kinda dark. I'll have to find a new place to take my pics or wait til evening. (The auto settings with the new light and the non-auto settings are pretty much the same.)

So having said that, here's an overall view of the car:








The driver of this car is known in these parts as "Kid Jimmy." Kid Jimy modified the frame (well, he had to to take all this extra weight, didn't he?) so that he could weld railroad car wheels along the front. Now if he's fighting for gas with a road gang, or smashing zombies, his front end won't fold up. He was even able to keep most of the original body styling. Gotta have standards, ya know?









Now Jimmy won't tell me where he got it from, but somehow he came up with a turret mounted Acoustic Signal Generator. I've seen this thing in action. It can heard for miles, but it's effective range is only about 30 feet. With a good bass track going, he can smash through walls, and if he puts on dubstep, he can liquify rotten zombie brains in seconds. Of course, he didn't have to tie it into his stereo, it can generate tones of pretty much any range by itself. I think he just likes killing zombies to a techno beat, myself.

























I still need to add fiddly bits and cables, still have areas that need filled in (like the gap between the body and his auxiliary fuel tank), more armor plating all around. Still trying to figure out a good way to do the front windscreen. Little by little, though, it's coming together.


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## scottnkat (May 11, 2006)

I like how you're getting a story going along with this - it kinda adds to the overall experience. This is looking great!


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## Sevaa (Feb 8, 2012)

Interesting read  Went well with my morning coffee! It's looking good tolen


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## CorvairJim (Dec 16, 2011)

Oooh! An "Acoustic Signal Generator"! Going high tech against the baddies with this'n, huh? I can't wait to see some zombies jittering away with liquified brains oozing from their ears! Last dance they'll ever do...

Since we're going high tech, how's this for the windshield area: Seal off the windshield entirely and mount a camera (suitably protected, of course) to the armor directly in front of the driver. The image from the camera is displayed in front of him on a flat screen monitor, at the proper size as if it were visible out of the windshield. In looking in on the "Toothless Zombie Hunter" CBP over on the Model Cars magazine website occasionally - I don't look at it all that often - I haven't seen this tack taken before. Think it would work?


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## tolenmar (Dec 5, 2011)

You know...I think I can pull that off!


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## Dyonisis (Nov 11, 2009)

I have a grenade launcher you can have if you want it. I made this for the Arnold T-800 figure, but it was the wrong design. I've just been hanging on to it. PM me if you're interested. ~ Chris


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