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Amphibious HEMTT

Note on last post, I ordered one of those Gates belt tension gauges. It a POS. Never thought Gates would build something of such poor quality.

Anyways I have another up date.

While working on the never ending task of wiring, I realized I need a dimmer switch. I've always liked a floor dimmer and I truly delight in explaining it to younguns on my Bronco. I also wanted a left foot rest. I figured I should incorporate them together. I made a foot rest on the pax side next to the window. The main purpose is to have something to push against in the event of a exciting situation. (Other than the window) On the driver's side there wasn't any room for a rest next to the window, so I needed it to go over the window. Of course, it couldn't be solid or it would defeat the purpose of the window. So those were the goals.

I decided to make the whole thing out of stainless so it wouldn't rust after I scratch the paint off. It was to be fashioned into a grating to be "see through".

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I started with stainless flat bar 1" x 1/8" welded in to some stainless angle. Since I wanted it to be as invisible as possible, I welded the rails at a slight angle. This proved to be quite a chore to set up.

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I clamped a spacer in between to keep it straight, spaced and at the correct angle.

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I had to make a location for the dimmer switch, so I just flipped a some section of angle around to form a pocket.

I kept moving the spacer and welding new rails in at the same angle.


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After making some mounts to raise it about an inch over the glass, I tried it out.

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Not real noticeable from the outside. I think it will be less noticeable after paint, glass and the bumper is back on.

It looks decent.

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When sitting in the driver's seat, you can see how the slats line up with your eyes.

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Of course, if I'm using the rest or the dimmer, most of the view is blocked.

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It took a long time to make, but I'm happy with it. Its heavier than you would think. It also appears to be very strong when pushing yourself into the seat.
 
So even though I've been working on the time machine, I still work on the HEMTT.

The same day I bought the Delorean I also bought these rollers. I plan to use them to make it easier to paint the cab.

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I covered the bottom of the sleeper bed with some Kilmat. It's supposed to deaden sound and insulate heat/cold. I hope it stays stuck hanging upside down over a hot engine.

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I painted my first big part with the HF spraygun. Not sure if you can see here, but it didn't really come out nice. It should go on wet and dry flat. This went on flat and dried uneven.

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It also was rough. I'm not looking for concourse here, but that won't do. So I thinned the paint 2 parts paint, one part thinner. Sprayed a second coat.

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Again, you probably can't see it here, but it's much better.
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In other news, I'm almost finished with wiring. What a mess. Now that it works, I have to "neaten" it up.


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This would be so so much easier if it was a buggy with no heat and AC.


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awesome. paint always looks better in pictures :laughing:

To be clear, the only color paint is the panel hanging on the paint rack. I know the front of the truck looks like it, but it's just primer. I screwed the panel on the cab and it looks good. I need to take a pic. Can't wait till the cab is done.
 
So I got some more work done. Not lots to show.

Painted wheels.

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I'm pretty sure the wheels are going to stay green. I think it looks good against the black tires. The only prep I did for the wheels is scuff them with sand paper and wipe em down with acetone.

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Two coats with some scotch brite in between. My paint booth is the outside wind. The first time I wore a mask since covid began was painting the wheels. (The deep dish seems to blow it back in my face.)

I painted the bed floor with rustolium "bedliner". The finish is nice, but I couldn't get it to go on without streaks. I might remove it later and get it done at a LineX place.

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Before screwing down the bed, I changed the intake tube. Not sure if I have a pic earlier in the thread, but originally I had one long flex tube. It is aircraft high temp tube of good quality, but I didn't like so long a run of flex tube. So I put aluminum tube on the long straight runs.

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The aircleaner on the end is temporary. The real one is mounted to the bed side with some more of the red flex hose.

The truck looks funny with the rollers on it. I'm soon going to paint the cab green. (The black camo comes later)

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Paint is going slow because I have to deburr, scotch brite, acetone, and prime every piece first. Some pieces I have to rivet also. It's a lot of work and I still think I'm not really doing a good job. On top of all this, right now I'm getting a lot of work teaching people to fly.
 
Boy that aluminum tube really pays off in both asthetics and air flow. Eveb dryer vent makes me cringe. Flexible anything is never a permanent replacement for anything ever. on a car.
 
So we have some good painting weather and I got busy. First I set up my paint booth fan.

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Masked the cab, hit it with final rub of scotch brite and let the HF paint gun loose. First coat looks a little light.

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One more coat and it looks fairly uniform.


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Pulled it out in the sun to bake.

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I looked it over good and I only found one run. It was small and up high by the rain gutter. I'm pretty happy.

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I'm working on fenders now.
 
Wait, how is it amphibious with the air intake that low?
 
Bitchin rimz, brah1!!1

:flipoff2:

You're just like Calvin out there screwing around in the back yard building army trucks, aren't you?! WIN! :laughing:

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Thanx Subybaja, you got me pegged. Lol.

Still plodding along painting stuff. Working on the Delorean definitely slowed my progress. Not much to show, but I did need to make an cold air intake. I just whipped one up. It just screws on the side of the bed. I didn't get a pic of the hole in the side, but you get the idea. A hose clamps on the bottom that goes to the aircleaner.

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With that done, I painted the bed sides. I'm going to round up some help to mount the sides on the truck without scratching it to hell.
 
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Great progress.

I always take a different approach when painting. I'm more of a "feed the runs" guy.:flipoff2:
 
I'm still watching your build and my build both started in 2011 lol but I'm now closer to completion lol.
 
I'm still watching your build and my build both started in 2011 lol but I'm now closer to completion lol.
Yea, but your building three trucks and have to drive 200 miles through the jungle just to work on it. So your years ahead of me. Of course, the only thing my "hot pants" will help with is bleeding the brakes. Lol
 
Slowly the truck is turning green. As I paint stuff, I bolt it on. The Black camo will be done after it's all assembled
.
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Everybody says I should just "freehand the camo, but I'm not confident of that. I'm doing a test piece with masking. This bottom float can't be seen on the truck.

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I sprayed the black today. If you look close, you can see in the upper and left spot I tried to feather the edge. On the lower right, I sprayed right up to the hard line of tape. I would prefer a soft edge, but we'll see how it turns out.



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Ok, after the masking is removed, it looks like this.

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If you look close, you can barely see where I tried to feather the paint. You can see the black on the lower left is real sharp line. In any case, I didn't like any of it. So I took a spray can of the same black paint and went right along the edge. I did this on both lower black spots.


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They may look the same, but the one on the right is better. So that's the plan. Try to feather the edge and then go over it with the spray can.
 
Wow. That thing looks 100% more professionally built now that you're painting it. :beer:
 
Dude I've been quietly lurking on this thing over here, but you know I was watching it over on the other site. So fawking cool to see how far it's come, especially with you living that back to the future life on the side haha. Looking great
 
I'd do some reading on SteelSoldiers about camo patterns. DIY camo can look DIY real fast...
 
I would mask the camo out like you did that then tape a pool noodle type thing over the edge so when you paint it feathers the paint under the edge randomly and not so precise, OR unmask and fog on some paint on the edges to feather the edge a bit so it doesn't look so perfect.
 
Also, I agree that the fuzzy edge looks better, but the obvious rattlecan track that made it doesn't.



Free hand. Allows for a soft line between colors. Just turn paint down and have a tighter pattern around borders of colors.
I've always free handed it. I know the instruction manual for the 4 color MERC patterns said to use a chalk pencil or soap to lay out the pattern, but I have always felt that that would lead to a messy job (at lease for me) so I just free handed it and they have come out good IMHO. If you are following the pattern on the truck that makes it easier than going from scratch.

Painting Techniques. a. Basic Painting
Instructions. For basic painting instructions, including
care and maintenance of painting equipment, refer to TM
5-618 or TM 43-0139.
b. Spray Painting.
(1) Use of paint-spraying equipment is the
most efficient and economical way to apply the paint to
the vehicle. The first step is to outline the pattern on the
vehicle using the spray gun. The painter uses the chalk
marks as a guide for his outlining, but he must wipe the
chalk marks off the surface as he paints or the markings
will show through the new paint job and cause poor
adhesion along the chalk lines.
(2) The color areas are then filled in with the
required color paint. For good paint adhesion and
coverage, the painter must make sure that the newly
painted surface appears wet upon application. At first, it
may be easier and more accurate to use a brush to fill in
the small black areas (fig. 3-4). As a higher degree of
skill is gained with the spray guns, these may be used to
fill in the black areas also
 
Yeah, the sharp lines do not look good.
It even looks worse than the pic because up close I don't have the tape turn in nice radius. When I went over the sharp edge with the rattle can, it looks fine from ten feet, but up close you can see the previous line in the paint.
Also, I agree that the fuzzy edge looks better, but the obvious rattlecan track that made it doesn't.


I'm hoping that it won't look so obvious. In that case I really sprayed allot out of the can making a dark ring at the edge. Now I plan to just dust it. The rattle can is the same paint, so it should blend. Also, in the test, the paint dried over night before I did the rattle can. When I do the truck, I plan to do it the same day.

I know the SS guys say freehand, but my HF paint gun drips and spatters now and then. They say just have a rag handy, but I know I will have issues. I'll be lucky if I can get it sprayed without dragging the hose against a painted surface.

I'm masking the truck now. (I'll have a pic soon) it's really hard to mask because I have to envision the unpainted as black. In the back of my mind I'm thinking I'm fucking it all up. The other thing I'm doing that might be stupid is I'm leaving the bumpers and side rails black. On the military truck, the camouflage would carry on over them. If I get done and I don't like it, I can go back and do them.

Lots of mystery for me. As you might have figured, I have no idea what I'm doing.
 
Dude I've been quietly lurking on this thing over here, but you know I was watching it over on the other site. So fawking cool to see how far it's come, especially with you living that back to the future life on the side haha. Looking great

Thanks for the kind words. Your name got me thinking about a trick corvette like buggy with cantilever coil-overs. One of my dreams that I'll never get around to building. What's become of that? If your driving it now, pics please!

In other news, here's the masked bandit. It took all day to mask this and I still have a few things to do. Tentative paint day is Monday. I plan to paint one coat. Let it dry over night and a second coat the next morning. Then I will rip the masking off and do the spray can thing while it's still tacky.

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