$1.97 Rat Shack Pickup Truck
 

- no fancy mod here (yet), but just thought i'd pass on that you can find inexpensive alternative shells for your zz carriage...

- here are two shots of a pickup shell snarfed from a $1.97 discount HotWheel item (which came with a really funky 3-AA charger base and crude drive mechanism)...

- stupid Mattel put triangular depression screws in the bottom to hold the shell onto the carriage (do they think no one has a Dremel?), so i ground a tip to use as a screwdriver, removed the shell, then ground out the inside..

- found this one in a local Rat Shack; you may find quite a few of these things in the stores, as it seems that RS pulls old stock out of the warehouse for holidays sales? (take a look at your local store, and you'll mostly likely find all kinds of junk piled in spare floor space at this time of year and over the upcoming weeks)...

- i then glued a tab in front and back to the shell to hold the zz carriage, which pops in and is held nice and tight... drilled a hole thru the roof of the cab for the antenna...

- i did have to sand out room on the front side panels for the front wheels, but believe it or not, not that much! i did a quick touch-up with a black permanent marker, which 'paints' any bare spots...

- (btw, permanent markers in different colors are nice for touch ups if you don't want to hassle with airbrushing or thick model paint)

- voila! a $1.97 pickup shell:

(sorry for quality of shots - i was in a hurry)

http://www.tux.org/~bball/zz/pu2.jpeg
http://www.tux.org/~bball/zz/pu1.jpeg

have a happy!

Looks good!

hmm...seems a little big for a zip..i would probably end up hacking it up and building a body out of the pieces...you could come up with a pretty sweet truck if you tried...

Preety Nifty work it looks like you would have to do only minor hacking on the back and front the side dimensions look good. Love your mod!