1/43 Scale Conversions

Solido is a French toy manufacturer that produces vehicles which are great candidates for conversion. The castings are clean and accurate. The trim pieces generally have good detail. There is a wide range of subject matter and they can be had for a song so I don't fret about messing one up. They also come apart easily, although the paint can be stubborn to strip. It's important to strip the paint on these if you are changing the color as the original paint is applied in a fairly thick coat.

This is a conversion of a Solido 1940 Dodge tow truck into a nice grungy wrecker/push truck the likes of which were a common sight at dirt tracks around the country. Most of the work on this truck went into the tow rig. The spare tire mounted to the top of the rig was removed and the boom was drilled and filed to eliminate the solid fill between the rails. The winch, hook and "No-Mar" rig were scratch-built, as were the boom controls and the rear skirt that holds the eye-hooks, tail lights and license plate. I print the plates myself from photos I find on the web. The floods and flasher came from the parts bin, as did the mirror. The paint is matte blue Krylon straight from the can. The truck was weathered using commercial weathering powders and some that were ground up from pastel sticks. The Mobil logo was done on an inkjet  printer.

This truck started out as a Solido 1940 Dodge fire truck. I converted it into a speedway water truck. These are used to water down the dirt tracks to provide better traction and to keep the dust down. The top platform, CB antenna, and the watering system are scratch-built. The mirrors are from the parts bin. The paint is Krylon from a rattle can, and the decal was printed on my printer and sealed with Krylon gloss acrylic. It's hard to see in the photos, but the seat in this truck looks like aged brown leather. This was a lucky accident.

The Big Pig Rig was the result of a late night journey into the interwebs. I had this Solido Ford truck that I had no plans for and stumbled upon a post by a guy who had converted a tank truck into a smoker. Brilliant! This truck  started out as a promo for a dairy. The weld lines in the tank were done with a small bead of glue, the mirror is from the parts bin and the smoker parts were scratch-built from styrene and wire. The paint is Krylon Fusion from a shaker can and the graphics were done on my printer. The grill trailer was built from another identical truck (more on that later). The trailer is an unusual build. It is the bottom half of the back of a Solido tanker that was modified into a trailer using metal sheet. I cut down some LED snowflake ornaments and tinted them red, then dusted them with black so they look like charcoal. I covered two of the LED's from the ornaments with red shrink tubing and mounted them into the "fire pit". They are wired to a pair of motherboard mounts that extend below the firebox. The firebox was then covered with Lexan that was tinted with red and amber acrylic paint. Self-adhesive screen patch was applied over the Lexan to create a grill. The meat was produced using Milliput and acrylic paint. The end result is that when this combo is mounted to its base (still under construction) the grill will glow like it is filled with hot charcoal.

This "junkyard dog" was built from the donor car for the Pig Rig and the salvaged parts from an Ertl Model T. It is a representation of a typical salvage yard vehicle that was assembled on the fly and designed to navigate the tight corners in a salvage yard. This is near and dear to me because I grew up working in a salvage yard that my dad owned and operated. We had a "yard dog" like this one, although ours was built from a 1950's era Willys truck as opposed to a Ford. Still, this is a pretty good example of a mechanically sound but cosmetically challanged "junkyard dog". I added the model of an actual dog in honor of "Rock", a 140lb King Shepard (a real junkyard dog, and meaner than hell) who gave his life defending our property. He is from Wiseman Model Services, Inc.

Matchbox makes some nice 1/43 scale models as well as the 1/64 scale cars and trucks that they are so well known for. This truck started out as a 1948 Dodge Route Wagon fire support vehicle. With just a few minor modifications, a repaint and some chic graphics I turned it into a retro-style food truck. The roof light and vestigial bar on the drivers side were removed and a vent added. The paint is Testor's Teal pre-thinned. The graphics were found online and tweaked in GIMP, then printed on Testor's inkjet decal paper. Details were hand painted and a classic tag and tail lights applied. It was a fun build and it's my wife's favorite.