Can you say Doka?

[Thorsteenster]

Body so far, two Unimog bodies cut. Got most of the cutting done, need to fine trim a little, shorten the bed, and fill a small section in the rear doors where the wheel wells were. Each end of the roof slopes down to the joint so I'll make a roof rack to hide it.
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1397
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1396
I'll get the two halves fused together this weekend and I should have enough scrap from the body to fill the wheel wells in the rear doors.

[SMOKE-DOG]

Curious to see how this will come out.

[PsycoJuana]

Looks like its going to be sweet :)
wish i could do some work like that!

[CM_113]

Curious to see how this will come out.
X2 cant wait to see your progress

[Arcocustom]

What kind of chassis/driveline is going under your creation?

[Thorsteenster]

I got the fine trimming done to join the halves, well atleast enough to live with w/o going to far and having to wait for another body! I started bonding the two halves together using Plastruct Bondene and will slowly fill the joint over the next few days. Then once it's painted it'll get a bead of Shoe Goo along the joint. I'll post some pics later in the week.

A CR01 will go under it and will be basically stock except the cantilevers will be replaced with a standard shock setup and 1.9 tires, most likely PL Flat Irons on Tamiya Hummer wheels.

[Wyoming]

Very cool, polycarb custom bodies always take a little doing, look forward to seeing this one.:thumb:

[Thorsteenster]

Well I was going to wait, but oh well. Here it is while getting Bondene'd with tape keeping everything aligned. Pretty happy with the way it's coming along even though the drivers side is about a 32nd" out of alignment horizontally, not real noticeable though. After I get the cab halves a little better secured I'll shorten the bed. Body will be the same overall length roughly.
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1446
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1445

[Arcocustom]

I thought it looked a little long for a CR-01 chassis. Shortening the bed will make it work though. Is it going to be painted on the insde or outside of the body?

[Thorsteenster]

Most of the Doka's I've seen have shorter beds, so shortening it will keep it in better proportion.
Both sides will get painted, inside in a variety with some different colors, and the outside I'm thinking orange. The inside will be painted so as I encounter obstacles on the trail and scratch the body, under the outer orange paint you'll see the inner paint for scale scratches. With doing the inner randomly in different colors no two scratches will look the same. Ideally anyway! LOL
I did something similar awhile back with a Bushwacker body on Scale4x4, check it out. (http://www.scale4x4rc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=12261)

[Arcocustom]

Cool. I saw a white 1980 Unimog on Four Wheeler magazine's website yesterday that had a similar look. The paint method sounds like a winner.

[Thorsteenster]

Cab joint is finished for now and got the bed cut.
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1474
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1473

[crcoppens]

Looks good, I have never tried merging polycarb bodies before and am interested to see how this turns out. This seems to be much different than merging hard bodies which isn't so hard.

[Arcocustom]

Starting to look like something. What did you use to "bond" the halves together?

[Thorsteenster]

Looks good, I have never tried merging polycarb bodies before and am interested to see how this turns out. This seems to be much different than merging hard bodies which isn't so hard.

I did it once before and I was surprised, it really wasn't all that difficult. It's not much harder, mistakes aren't as easy to fix so you have to be a little more precise, and hard bodies don't need to be painted inside and out!


Starting to look like something. What did you use to "bond" the halves together?

Threads are more than just pictures!
:D

[Thorsteenster]

A little more progress.
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1481
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1480

[Arcocustom]

Never used Bondene on lexan before. It looks melted together. The Shoe Goo will definitely make the seam stronger. How do you plan on finishing the seam so it's not visible?

[Thorsteenster]

I have once before, and essentially that's what the Bondene does, melt it together on a chemical level. The joint won't be perfect but it will be painted on the outside as well, the overall look will blow away the fact there is a joint, and besides, it won't look any worse than the lines Tamiya makes in em right through the windows!

[Thorsteenster]

I posted a link to the other one I did like this, Bushwacker Hacker, go check out the results, you can see about how this will look.

[Thorsteenster]

Inside is painted, speckle affect is pretty cool, almost want to leave that as the finish.
:lol:
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1518
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1517
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1516

[Thorsteenster]

So here's the lower tube for the roof rack. Waiting on lights to finish up.
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1537
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1538

[Wyoming]

Looking good :thumb:

[Blazerbogger]

It sure cleans up the roof line!

[Thorsteenster]

Made a dropped bed from left over pieces and styrene strips. The front piece will just be a flat panel.
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1613
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1612

[Thorsteenster]

Bed all finished and Shoe Goo'd in place. I got about half a tube holding it in!http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1620

[Wyoming]

Very nice looking bed, looks perfect!

[PsycoJuana]

Love the Bed : ) Time to Fill er UP!!

i want a Drop bed for my tundra!

[Thorsteenster]

Here's a under body shot of all the Shoe Goo I used. I put a nice fat bead of SG around the top of the bed and slid it into place, then put another bead around the bottom. The entire cab joint is backed with SG and as well will get some styrene sheet SG'd into place for reinforcement and front body mounts.
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1624

[Thorsteenster]

Roof rack with light hoop.
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1625

[Thorsteenster]

Roof rack pretty much finished, just need to put a bottom in and figure how I'm going to mount it. It's a bit high, but looks allright, I'm happy with it for my first braze job.
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1627
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1626

[Arcocustom]

Nice roof rack! I really like the bed also. I've been thinking of dropping the bed on a plastic clod body for a little while now.

[Thorsteenster]

Well, I'm thinking this is pretty much how the finished roof rack will look.
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1684
http://www.varcoffroaders.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1683

[McFig]

The rack looks good.

Whats the story with the paint job? Going for a certain look?

[Thorsteenster]

The rack looks good.

Whats the story with the paint job? Going for a certain look?

Both sides will get painted, inside in a variety with some different colors, and the outside I'm thinking orange. The inside will be painted so as I encounter obstacles on the trail and scratch the body, under the outer orange paint you'll see the inner paint for scale scratches. With doing the inner randomly in different colors no two scratches will look the same. Ideally anyway! LOL
I did something similar awhile back with a Bushwacker body on Scale4x4, check it out. (http://www.scale4x4rc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=12261)

Crickey! Doesn't anyone read anymore?!
:rasp:
:D

Yeah I'm happy with the rack, very happy for my first go. So I'm thinking of putting and attaching in the same fashion, side pieces of mesh in. The sides look like they need something.

[hdmm]

Outstanding work!

[Waterboy]

awesome thorsteenster, i dont think the rack needs anything, and very nice welding job ;) im looking for a good torch, what torch did you use to weld that?

[Thorsteenster]

I used a standard MAPPS torch from Home Depot or your local hardware store. For solder I used Harris Safety-Silv, I forget the silver content, but my understanding is they all work pretty well.
I hope to be working on this again soon, got sidetracked with a 2.2 build.

[Waterboy]

ok thank you:) is it a normal torch or a needle point?