C'mon over and have some fun with Crazy Taxi!

puddingwrestler · May 28, 2010, 03:48:15 PM

Late last year I got a copy of Crazy Taxi on Game Cube to play on the Wii (bite me, no one has a dreamcast to play it properly anyway!). Shortly there after I got an AMT 51 Chevy Convertible to make a crazy taxi out of. Since none of the cars are completely real world (although they are close) this is the best I can do for Gus's taxi which is my favourite looking. I drive better as B.D. Joe, but Gus's 50s custom taxi just has the look.
Anyways, the Gus mobils is sort of an early 50s Buick in shape, but a 51 chev is close enough. Especially since I intend to customise it like mad and not really build it as a replica of the car in the game.

Kit looks nice, it's the latest re-issue of the 51 chev bel air convertible, in one of AMT's really sturdy new boxes with a picture of all the parts on the bottom. It also comes with all the custom parts from the original releases - custom engine set up, front and rear rolled pans, custom grille and bumpers, and (I love this one!) a cut-and-paste 1/4 scale replica of the box itself!
I've scored some generic taxi decals as well, and I have a Monogram 53 (I think) Corvette coming to me from ebay. I'm thinking of trying to graft it's grille on the front of the Chev since Gus has what looks like a De Soto tooth set up on his car, and the corvette is close to that look.
I also have some nice yellow auto touch up spray.

I've built an AMT 51 chev before (the sedan body version of this kit, but without the cool extras) and it went together quickly enough, so I can spend most of my time on custom tricks. I'll start to cut plastic later today, at present I'm scrougning the net for customization ideas. Making a Crazy Taxi is easy enough - it has to be a convertible. It has to be fast and flashy and not at all the sort of car you'd usually use as a taxi (Like a 59 Eldorado - there's one in the second game I think) and it needs four seats and a meter. With rules like that, you could easily turn it into a GB...

Anyway, watch out for pics - probably tommorow when I get back from Melbourne. I'm up here to see Richard III and didn't bring the camera, although I brought the kit.

puddingwrestler · May 28, 2010, 04:41:00 PM

Okay, my plan has now officially become insane.
A while ago, I saw some pics of a custom bodies car (not a customised car, one in which the body itself was built from from scratch) which used a 49 Mercury hood as a boot lid (trunk lid to those in heathen lands). So I held the 51 chev bonnet up to the boot... and it looked good as a sort of 30s boat tail.
Theh I spooted the box containing an aborted 50 Chev pick up custom I started building and never finished about ten years ago. And I held it's bonnet up to the boot and... well, I'm going to try grafting it on.
You may call me insane.

puddingwrestler · May 28, 2010, 07:46:38 PM

Roughly speaking, I willbe sticking this:

onto this:

Did I mention there will be spats?

puddingwrestler · May 29, 2010, 05:04:54 PM

I've shaved off all the body trim and badges, and sanded the sides of the truck bonnet flat in preperation for fitting it later todqay when I get home and have access to lots and lots of putty. I've also startyed building the chassis and engine.
I must say I find the front suspension set up annoying - the king pins to which the wheels mount are posable, however there is not sort of linking mechanism to make sure they are posed in the same direction. The kit comes with steering rods which line up in the completely straight ahead wheel layout, however they don't really fit properly, so a lot of bending is required - and they don't have locator pins. It's rather frustrating getting the things lined up really.
Did I mention I hate posable steering?

Cliffy B · May 29, 2010, 07:14:27 PM

Photos now, NOW I SAY!!!!! This thing sounds awesome, can't wait to see it.

puddingwrestler · May 29, 2010, 07:37:29 PM

Here are the body parts

And this is roughly what it looks like with the bonnet on the boot.

Of course, I'll be recessing things so it mounts flush and then smoothing it all over nicely.

puddingwrestler · May 30, 2010, 03:20:19 AM

When I said lots of putty, I wasn't kidding.
Here I've cut away the boot to allow the new panel to fit in. I over did it at the ides a bit, so there's going to be a lot of putty to fill those gaps...

See what I mean? I filled the gaps as best as possible with scrap styrene first so there's be something for the putty to stick to, then hit it with a shirt load of the gray stuff. Also added a huge wedge of lamitanted plasticard to bring the boat tail all the way down to the bottom of the car.

Shaped the laminated plasticard and covered it in putty as well to fill the gaps between sheets. Also fitted rear wheel spats and puttied them in. I like spats, but I much prefer them to be built right in, rather than having the big gaping gaps round the sides which old AMT kit versions tend towards. Real car spats fit very tightly and are hardly noticable as seperate panels until you get close.

So there is a lot of sanding in my future... and that's even before I attempt to blend a 53 corvette grille into this thing's nose, and considering I don;t even have that kit yet I dunno it it'll even work. If it doesn't, I'll use the kit's custom grille, even if it does make the car look like a Morris Major...

Eddie M. · May 30, 2010, 06:59:38 PM

Now that's some putty work! I like the direction you're going with this.

philp · May 31, 2010, 04:32:12 PM

Not familiar with the game. Any pics of what the finished result is supposed to look like?

puddingwrestler · May 31, 2010, 07:57:51 PM

It looks nothing like anything used in the game. It's inspired by the game.

puddingwrestler · May 31, 2010, 10:37:33 PM

It's also almost impossible to find pics of Crazy Taxi cars online apart from the usual screen shots showing them from the back (third person racer view).
This si the best I can get.

It's more like a late 40s Buick at the back.
Mine is more like nothing on earth at the back.

puddingwrestler · June 01, 2010, 03:34:48 AM

The 53 corvette arrived today and I've decided that it's grille's just a little too narrow to really work. It'd fit the front of the chevy, but there would be a lot of area around it which would give the front a very heavy look. So I'm thinking of using the chevy's existing grille, removing the center bar, and putting the corvette teeth in there. I think that'll work fine. Need a bit of fiddiling around with the front rolled pan to get things to fit (the rolled pan is designed for use with the cusomt grille, which is a different shape).
In other news, putty, sand and repeat sums it up nicely. A lot of things are now at the 'need paint' stage, but since my shed does not have lights, and it gets dark early now due to winter I have not had a chance to spray.
Been thinking about wheels; I have a 64 Mercury Marauder which has some nice looking wheels I might use. Have to see if they'll mount properly...

royabulgaf · June 01, 2010, 05:08:14 PM

The thing is, the drawing is not of any specific vehicle. Although the body is '51 Chevyish, the hood is more of a Caddy. The grille is probably from an early-mid 50s DeSoto. IIRC, the AMT '60 Imperial had this as a custom part, and I'm sure you will readily drop $$$ to buy this from the collectable market.

puddingwrestler · June 01, 2010, 05:49:09 PM

Like I said, not a real vehicle, I'm only buildingin the spirit of it.
And I have a set of teeth from a corvette to use.

puddingwrestler · June 03, 2010, 03:53:53 AM

Don't take my silence as a sign of the project stalling. I'm still plugging away at it.
Having reviewed all grill options (including an old old AMT '57 T Bird grille and bumper unit which fits suprisingly well, but the bumper is FAR to heavy looking for my ideas) I'm going with the custom grille from the kit with the rolled pan. REmoving the center bar from the stock grille and adding teeth would be a major operation and I'd loose all the chrome. not having access to an airbrush for Alclading (and lacking the patience to wait for it to turn up if I ordred some anyway!) I've decided not to pursue this option.
Also, I'd like to list the AMT 51 Chevy custom front rolled pan as the worst fitting item I've ever dealth with. The instructions blithley tell one to add it after the chassis. Which means the body is painted by then. There is NO WAY you could get it to work at that stage. I mean, a rolled pan is integrated ito the body smoothly, it's all part of how customs work. The kit part has enourmous gaps and is VERY hard to line up properly. This may be kit age, but it could do with a few locator tabs at least.
Gah.

Also fabricated a modern digital type fare-o-meter from plasticard to stick under the dash.