Desert Dodge Do-Over, Part 4: A Big Mistake

The shortened pickup box before filling and sanding the joint into shape.

At the end of the last instalment I was off to the hobby shop to buy a new razor saw blade to replace my old, dull one.

With blade installed I then began to merrily cut out 1 inch from the box's wheel wells to the back wall as called for in the article. I was enthralled by the ease at which the new blade cut through the plastic.

1" wide masking tape was used to mark where to cut

Well, I was until I realized what I had done.

It was obvious I had cut way too much out of the box when I compared my model to the photo in the magazine. I think the magazine's instruction should have said to cut out 'one half' inch, not 'one' inch, regardless I should have studied the magazine's photos a lot more before I started.

Ooo, that's a nasty gash on the joint. Hopefully with some filler it'll buff out :-)

Back in '72 this type of blunder would have thrown me into a funk, or tantrum, or maybe even an existential crisis :-) But not now, no. Ok, I wasn't so happy about what I had done, but I look upon this as a serendipitous customizing opportunity, not the end of the world. This project is now more than just a walk down memory lane, but something like tripping on a stone in that lane that puts me on a new and interesting path.

Next I'm going to work on smoothing out the joint in the walls of the new box. I think the article writer might have skipped this part as there's a big Plymouth Duster decal over the joint on his model. Sneaky guy.

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In recognition of '72 being long gone, I'll leave you with Moe Berg and The Pursuit of Happiness: