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So, I finished up the Honda, and decided to grab
another kit that I'd started and put aside years ago. I bought my
1980 Jeep CJ-7 back in April 1995, and started building a model of it
sometime later that year. I don't remember what happened, but it
got boxed up and put aside for at least 5 years, when I dug it out and
started working on it again. I'd swiped the wheels out of a Tamiya
Wild Willys, done a 'spring-over' lift kit, and then kind of stalled
again. I actually displayed it 'unfinished' on a computer speaker
for several years, and boxed it back up again (dust and all).
Fast forward to mid-Feb 2018, and here we are hitting
it hard again... for real this time. I'd also swiped a set of the
correct rims and TSL Super Swamper tires from an Aoshima Toyota Hi-Lux
4x4 truck, and decided to go for it.
First things first, took it all apart, clean up
everything, and see where we're at. I found some more suitable
seats to match the current TJ high backs with Bestop covers, and went
from there. My brother-in-law Tom had hooked me up with a couple
big boxes of model car pieces and parts - the front seats I found in
'the stash' just happened to look almost perfect. Then, I swiped
the rear seat from one of my Desert Rat Jeep kits, which matched up very
well to the real deal as well.
Over the years, the Jeep's changed a bit, so I had
to update a few things. The front and rear bumpers were completely
dreamed up and built by me on the full-size, so I had to scratch-build
them as well for the kit. I completely
scratch-built the center console using some pieces of flat styrene, then
the cargo net using a mesh bridal veil I found on clearance at Michael's
(which I 'colored' with a blue Sharpie). Small 'decal' things
(like license plates, KWFR bumper sticker, etc.) I printed out on the
color laser printer. The nerf bars, front bumper, and rear tire
rack were built from the sprue the parts came from.
I'm really glad I went with rebooting this kit, rather
than starting with a new kit and having an unfinished mess still in the
box... and I'm really glad I'm finally done with it, after having
started it pretty much over 20 years ago (that's just sad when you think
about it). |
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