Rusty old pickup truck - Razzle Dazzle Camouflage

[kach22i]

A year ago I was unsure what to do with my 4x4 winter beater. Since then I've flushed out the heater core so I have heat, replaced the door latch and pins and a host of other minor repairs including converting to electric radiator cooling fan. Pretty much sorted in out for another couple of years - I hope.

This is my third "art car". In 1983 I painted black tiger strips on a orange shortbox Ford van, in 2004 white zebra stripes on a black Geo Tracker, and now Razzle Dazzle Camouflage on my 1998 200,000 mile Chevy S10 pickup truck.

I've owned this truck for 7-8 years, and been battling rust the whole time.

A technique I experiment with seven years ago was inspired by the composite construction methods I had been using on my hovercraft. It involves using expanding foam from a spray can (like Great Stuff) 2- part epoxy, micro-ballon fillers and glass cloth where needed.

What I discovered is that the expanding foam blocks out moisture in cavities, making foam filled repairs very long lasting.

At the scale I did this project at; I may have been better off just replacing the tailgate, the entire bed, and getting some glue-on replacement panels for the cab corners and rocker panel. However I saw this project as a challenge, an opportunity to expand on my skill set and explore new limits.


Link to photo gallery:
S10 4x4 Pick Up by George Kachadoorian | Photobucket

From an artistic point of view the several concepts were explored, more zebra stripes like last time, cow spots like a Gateway computer box, D-Day stripes and many others.

The point of doing a hi-contrast Black & White scheme is to obscure sometimes less than perfect workmanship on my part, plus have a little fun.

I'll start with the finished product, then back-track the design and fabrication process.












People I know, and have known my truck for over seven years have said so far; who's truck is that............ is that your truck?..........is that the same truck you were working on last week?................it came out better than the study sketches................and so forth.

I'm still fiddling with it, might add some lettering and things like tiny mission aerial bombs on it because the last minute peace sign seems to dominate the design more than intended. The balance of Black/White and War/Peace is a delicate one and subjective.

[KFC911]

Unless you're running with a herd of zebras, that ain't camouflage . But it's pretty cool and I like it! Nice job...

[Baz]

Needs a Trump sticker!

[wdfifteen]

I like it! The cow spots would have been cool too.

[Seahawk]

I dig it, especially the black bumpers and running that theme round the whole truck.

Gives me vertigo, however

Nicely done.

[kach22i]

Cab rust hole:
This side was fixed conventionally 7-years ago and rusted out.


Other side cab bottom - fixed as composite/foam: Weather pretty well considering.

















The hi-expanding foam used in hot weather kept shrinking on me, even weeks later - very frustrating.

The low-expanding foam used to fill in the missing or shrunken areas continued to expand weeks after, even after being sanded flush and sealed with a coat of 2-part epoxy.

From what I've read on-line after doing this, 2-part Marine foam is the best product to use.

The foam is intended only as a backer material to fill in the void. I sealed it with epoxy (allowed to harden), covered that with an epoxy mixture using maybe 1/2 the micro-balloon mixture - allowed to harden. Then covered with fully stiff micro-balloon paste. Because the shell of this construction was so strong and stiff, I did not use any fiberglass cloth. Time will tell if this was a mistake.




The tape you see inside of the wheel wells is self-adhesive roof flashing. It keeps the foam from dripping on to the tires.

Should you try this, use thick painter's plastic in lieu of Saran Wrap, the thin plastic wrap gave too much, the foam should be pushed into the metal cavities and not allow to balloon out like that.

[varmint]

The uboats will have a much harder time tracking you now.

[kach22i]

Mid-point taping.

[CalPersFatCat]

"Approve" but, how do you have time for this???

DL
Luke 2:14 KJV

[kach22i]

Backtracking even more now.

The original concept was just to obscure the area of body work, and leave most of the truck alone. However I could not get anything to work to my standards.





The study sheets above borrowed patterns off the Internet, at the time D-Day military scheme or a Bumble Bee were of interest.





Frustrated with drawing, I did a Cut & Paste.




Once work was started, more studies were done.



Design never ends.






I decided at some point not to paint want anything below the belt-line to keep things simple conceptually.



However two tome wheels were on the table for a while, would have used a sponge paint brush to do.

The tires I want to buy;

[kach22i]

Unused stencils, might break these out on a sunny day later next week.







In lieu of ordering glue on rocker panel covers, I had a friend which owns a plastic shop fab up some ABS runners for under the doors. This was perhaps a decision made in haste, still massaging this area - problematic.

[ckelly78z]

That kinda looks like your buddy's truck.......Ted Nugent. (zebra striped Bronco).

They say that immitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

I'm a huge fan of WWII dazzle paint schemes, and you have done an admirable job, however, I would have gone in another direction out of laziness:

[Arizona_928]

I would have gone digital, or mossy oak...

[john70t]

Looks great Kach.
Exceptional job!

Glad that distributor problem got fixed.

[HardDrive]

I like it!

[scottmandue]

Looks great!

I know you have already done all the work and you didn't want to spend a bunch of $$ on a 200K mile truck.

But I wonder how much it would have costed to slap a flatbed on there.

[masraum]

I think I saw that you posted in a weather thread the other day with the masking tape on the truck and was wondering if we were going to have something else like the Tracker (RIP), but I couldn't tell what the pattern was. I like it. I find the razzle dazzle thing really cool, and have read up on it a bit online.

I've had the desire to go "art car" on some cars before, but never the balls.

[vash]

Put an awful bell on the truck. That way it can offend the blind as well

[kach22i]

I added a few finishing touches today...................bombs away.