It’s all about the details…..
Welcome back to part 3 of the Trail Finder 2 Budget Build. This week it’s all the details….Body Details. The main reason that the Trail Finder 2 caught my eye in the first place was just how good the scale details were. Leaf spring suspension, 2 speed transmission, 1st generation Toyota hard body.
The hard body…
If you haven’t ever painted a hard body before, let me just start by saying it’s a unique experience. I’ve done plenty of lexan bodies and honestly I probably could do them now with my eyes closed. But a hard body requires you to take your time and think about each and every step before you rush into it. It also requires you to spend a little bit of money to get everything you need to make it look right.
Let’s start with gluing the back piece onto the main cab. You have a couple options and it’s really up to you to decide just how you want to build it. For me I wanted the full cab experience so that’s what I chose to do. Either way you choose you are gonna need the right glue to put it together. This is where some Plastiweld comes in handy. There are a few different options but I went with the Plastruct brand. No particular reason except it was really what I could get at the time I needed it.
After I got all the gluing done I still had work to do. I really didn’t want to see all the joints so I got some Tamiya Basic Putty and filled the cracks in the back piece as well as work I had done on the rear truck bed. I cut out some styrene and shaped it to patch the gap (very time consuming) glued it into place then added putty. The next part was the most time consuming of it all.
Sanding! I started with 600 grit and worked it till it was almost smooth then switched to 800 grit and wet sanded the areas. It was well worth the time because it was nice and smooth and ready for some primer.
Painting was up next. I knew I wanted a simple white truck with a black hood and I didn’t want it all shiny. With a hard body it’s a good idea to use a primer. I grabbed a can of Tamiya Basic Primer and put on the first of several coats. I wasn’t looking for that show quality paint so I wasn’t concerned about sanding in between coats. I did sand spots that I did see that needed attention but this body will see the trail and it will get scratches. After the primer had dried overnight I started with Tamiya matte black and masked off the body and begun to spray the hood and the truck bed. It took about 4 coats to get the coverage I wanted. This is where you cannot rush things. Let the paint dry and you will be rewarded. After about 4 hours I felt the paint was dry (it had been baking outside in 90 degree heat) so back to masking off the freshly painted black areas and it was time for Tamiya Matte White. Again, it took about 4 good coats to get the coverage I wanted. But the results were WELL worth it.
Now it was time for all the details. First up was all the chrome had to go so they got a good coat of matte black and installed. Lights were up next. They come clear so you need to paint them with some Tamiya Clear Orange & Red. Then the final thing was adding the interior bench seat and SR5 stripes. I wanted to go with the RC4WD bench seat but for whatever reason they are out of stock everywhere so the next best thing was the Tamiya Bruiser Interior set. It comes with its own dash so I had to cut that off and marry the 2 together (nothing a Dremel can’t handle). Painted that up and installed, now it’s just missing the driver.
Overall the cost of everything caused us to go a little over from our $50 budget, but we had extra built in because last week was a freebie and we didn’t spend the whole $50 in week one.
- Carry over from last week – $75.05
- This weeks Budget – $50.00
- Total budget – $125.05
- Parts Total for this week – $110.42
- Carry over for next week – $14.63
Team Shredded Gearz 