Tamiya Jeep Grand Cherokee

 

What a fine kit! Really excited for this one. The end result will be a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, well worn, but still full of optimism. And Baja Blast. 

Mine had a reliable 4.0 L straight six, rather than the premium option 5.2 L V8. I'll be getting the engine from this Wrangler kit, also from Tamiya. The 46RH transmission from the V8 kit will be a close enough stand in for the 42RE from my truck, so prepare for some styrene grafts!  

There she is, in all her glory. 

Notice how I didn't show the passenger side in my for sale listing photos. 

I feel like I kept it pretty clean for someone at that age. 

Comparing the V8-Auto from the Grand Cherokee kit to the I6-Manual from the Wrangler. 

Carefully separated at the bell housing. 

Gaps filled in. 

The mounts on the straight six had to be adjusted slightly to line up with the mounting points on the ZJ. I'll need to ensure that there is still enough clearance for the exhaust manifold during assembly. 

Ready for primer. The belt drive was cut up and I added some brackets to the block to support things like the alternator and AC compressor. All the parts were sanded clean, then I added some putty to the oil pan and transmission pan to simulate the texture of several years of road grime. 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to start on the interior parts 

Very few ejector pin marks to fill, thank you Tamiya!  

This panel line marking the edge of the wood trim wasn't present on my Laredo-trimmed example... 

...and so it was filled in 

Some yellow undershading for the plastic interior parts with the most sun exposure 

Very subtle sun bleaching effect on the dashboard and center console armrest, as compared to the instrument panel and door cards that didn't receive the undershading 

Silver flocking in place on the floorpan and door cards 

Interior is really coming together now! 

Dashboard assembled too. The decal from the kit was in rough shape. Applied some Microscale LDF over it before sliding it off the backing to stop it from shredding completely. Once it dried, I liberally applied X22 over it to both flatten it out and to simulate the clear plastic in front of the instrument cluster in the full scale truck. 

The headliner fabric had separated from the foam backing in my Jeep, and drooped like a tent as a result. To simulate that, I draped a scrap of thin cotton over some toothpicks and coated it with some diluted white glue. This will get painted to match the interior fabric color next. Blue sun strip has also been airbrushed onto the interior glass. 

Much masking later... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exhaust pipe modified slightly to meet the header 

Engine bay mocked up 

Tamiya putty smeared all over the chassis parts to simulate rust texture. 

 

Finished parts - flat black or metallic gray sprayed over a rusty base color. 

Engine bay is in progress 

Weathering well underway on the chassis 

I'm gonna call that engine bay done... for now 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is about it for parting lines on the body shell. 

Filled the holes for the foglight option, touched up some ejector pin marks, and scuffed all parts with 800 grit to prep them for primer. 

First layer of paint on the body - flat black for inside the grill, now protected from the many colors to follow. Some blue tack on the hood to mask where some paint damage was on the real truck. 

Gloss black basecoat (TS-14) applied all over. Between colors, I'm applying some weathering - here I'm drybrushing a lighter color onto this plastic trim on the D-pillar, which didn't hold onto its paint as well as the rest of the body. And yes, the front quarter panel is masked for a reason. 

Same pale blue added to the roof and hood... the paint on the real thing was in pretty good shape, so I only need a subtle fading effect here 

Metallic blue (TS-53) laid down over the black base, and a light blue pinstripe added over top. Didn't have the right color decals, so hand painting will have to do for the 4x4 badge. Not as much weathering shown through on the D-pillar trim as I hoped, so I'll have to revisit that after I finish the rest of the colors 

TS-79 Semi Gloss over everything. Next I'll use some matte colors to detail all of the plastic trim and weather stripping. 

Masking for all of the flat black trim... so much tape! 

Alclad chrome over the grille and headlight buckets 

Taillight buckets too 

Pin wash to flesh out the trim panels a bit 

Masks removed. The paint damage on the hood is deliberate - recreating some peeling on the real thing 

At last, time for final assembly 

Drilling out a hole for the antenna 

Body, glass, interior tub, and chassis all mated together. Checking now to ensure the suspension is level (adjusted by screws on the underside). 

Exterior parts affixed. Antenna ready to be clipped to length 

Assembly complete, just a few touchups to the weathering and it'll be time for final pics! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mystery paint damage on the hood matching the real truck (bird crap left too long perhaps?) 

Mismatched quarter panel... I had a slight disagreement with a tree on a narrow dirt road. The salvage yard had a blue one at the time, but the mounting points were all rusted out. The front passenger window is also scratched from where the mirror had impacted the glass during the crash. 

The trailer hitch was added due to a mandatory recall right before I sold the truck. Was supposed to make the vehicle less explodey in the event of a rear end collision.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second place in the factory stock category... I'll take it!