The Rommel’s Rod is almost finished and it has been a while since I had a true challenge for me and my airbrush, so instead of going for an easy paintjob, I decided to go way difficult and over my head haha.
I started this van somewhere in 2009, but quickly stopped due to poor fitting and so much work that has to be done, but since it is the perfect canvas and I want to enter a contest with it in March, I decided to take it and go full on.
Most of my day yesterday and today, I’ve spent on sanding, sanding and sanding. And I am still not done, but I think the biggest obstacle on this build is getting it prepped, other than that, I should be able to handle it within a month.
So, my goal is to get the car it’s basecoat the latest on sunday, which is a challenge, since the outdoor temperature is about 0 fahrenheit and it is quite cold in the attic. I can do assembly work in the livingroom, but prefer to do all the sanding and painting up in the attic.
My plan is to go wild custom on this build, make it a bit more modern and use a lot of custom-things. I have no idea which way to go with wheels and stuff, but see that later, when the car will have it’s graphics.
Some pictures:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^those were the pictures from 2009, that is how far I got
And this is where I started yesterday:
What I had to do, whas to sand a lot of bondo from the fenders, they really didn’t fit well. Plus there are many, many spots on the car that are irregular, not very good molded.
And I gave it it’s first shot of primer this afternoon, I must say; it looks better than I thought, which means there is less work left.
I was able to put the final primer coat on today, which means I could start on the paintjob as well. I went a lot faster than I thought up front, I thought it was going to take me all week to get all the panels sorted out, but here we are, wednesday evening and I already finished the mural.
Anyway; I let the pictures do the talking in this project.
In the box of parts ( that is what I got, a big box full of parts, of which I can make at least 2 vans, (the wizard & Shock-treatment), but I also have some parts from a black van.
One of the parts was a front spoiler lip, I liked it and fixed it to the car.
All the doors had to be fixed too, there were a lot of shrink-marks and I filled the key-holes.
The car, finally in Primer.
After the car was ready, I could start with the airbrushing, these are the items (next to paint) I might going to need for the mural, I didn’t use the glossy and the stickers, but I might needed it, so I had them available.
The car, ready in the paintbooth after a little prep-sanding with 3200 grit. And before the 2! hour airbrushing.
The first thing I did was to paint the black background and made some stars, using white paint and ultra-low pressure from the compressor. After this picture I did the same thing with light-blue, yellow and red.
Using a template, I made some moons and planets.
It’s shown a bit better in this picture.
I got the black paint and put a light coat on top of the moons and planets, this makes them a little less bright and more to the background. I also added some stars, by using 2 straight lines accross.
After I was happy with the space art, I started working on the foreground, I used another template and different colors of grey to create depth
The other side of the van, showing another mural in the same style
And the look after all the layers for the foreground were ready
The final thing I had to do, was to create some fog, for the ‘connecting’-lines, but that will explain itself after I have the next paintjob on it.
Well, some time has passed and I didn’t really got into this project, but it needs to be done before next week thursday, the day after I am heading for the show in Belgium (about 4,5 hours from where I live) and thiss will be the first time I attend with my own booth, so a little bit excited.
In the last 2 weeks, I have mostly worked on the clearpaint. Having a van this size, is a pain in the buttocks to get it nice and even. It took me a couple of days to get all the little smudges polished out.
I will tell some more along with the photo’s.
With the kind donation of Casey, I was able to get the matching rear-tires and get myself a rolling chassis. I did used the wrong propshaft, so I need to paint the right one, in the right color.
A dryfit, to see how well the dashboard fits against the body, I wasn’t unhappy. Note the rough clear paint, obviously before the polishing.
Same dryfit, but now shot from the inside out
The rear wheels are serious wide, the body wasn’t put on proper, so it looks extra wide in this picture.
The interior is starting to take shape, I flocked the floor, but also added to that ‘shag-feeling’, I flocked the sides as well.
The bed, ready for a couple of romantic nights…..
And this pictures makes it so obvious, how bad those mold-lines were. I wasn’t able to get it nice, so I decided to hide it with a curtain.
During a modelday near the border of Germany, I could get some devoted work done to the van.
I finally finished polishing yesterday and usually it is a sign that better things will happen; assembly time! I added both grilles and colored the lights. Since the headlights were molded in the grille, I decided to give them a ’70s look by turning them yellow. I also added some BMF
I think the BMF really sets off the paintjob. and the paint is so shiny, you can hardly see the airbrush art in this picture.
I worked tonight a little bit on the detailling, I wanted to create that ‘shag-feeling’ a bit more, and how perfect are satn sheets? I found 2 colors of satin and make that into bedding.
I finished the dashboard, I decided to make it black and make it stick out from the rest, just to be different in this.
The kit pieces that had to ressemble wood looked terrible, I tossed them and went into my garden and cut a few dead branches up. It does look so much nicer.
I got the side-doors in place and the glue is drying overnight. I hope it will be strong enough
And another dru-fit, with these kits you cant have too many dryfits.
For now… nighty night and I close the curtains…
The last update! I will upload the finished pictures soon too, but for now the last little bits.
Since the engine was a disappointment, I didn’t think it would pay off to detail it. So I glued the cover in place and got the dashboard glued in as well.
This is what you can see of the engine, not much.
To prove it really is there: here’s the proof.
The undercarriage in the rear.
And some windows glued in place.
With the rearlights in place, it starts to look like a finished model
I added some seatbelts and glued the seats in place.
I glued the huge sunroofs (with very poor fit) in place
The kitpart for the mirror was quite course and I replaced it with some metalwire.
The kitpart for the mirror was quite course and I replaced it with some metalwire.
With a lot of hard-pressing, the body fits the undercarriage, it was a very, very tight fit.
This is why I made those hooks, they can hold the chain. Which is sometimes used on shows to keep people outside the van, while being able to look inside.
I made a small TFT-screen in the ‘livingroom’…
I didn’t want to use the kit-exhaust, so I made my custom exhaust from some tubing.
…And I added a big TFT-screen in the ‘bedroom’.
Finished!