I’m changing things a bit–the Tremor plans don’t give directions on a wagon build, and I’ve made the floorpans true to the 7-inch tall door-sills as found on the Hummer. I’m also not going through the series as outlined, I’ve started with what I could afford and had steel for and continued on from there. This latest work completed the two floorpan frames that will eventually house the seats for the driver and passengers, along with mounting the rear fenders, finishing the rear wagon door frame, starting the center tunnel frame, and repositioning the rear body in proper position over the wheelbase.

The hardest part so far has been keeping it all level and square. The problem is my front right tire is flat. Because of this, the frame tilts down that direction. I’m not going to weld the assemblies together until I know the chassis is level and true. Actually, I may end up doing it anyway and wheel the chassis outdoors to save space. My shop is kind of small. But that would mean constructing another assembly on which to roll the Tremor frame out in order to combine the two later. It would also mean finding some way to lift the completed frame onto the chassis. Neither of these sounds like much fun or possible without more money. So, I planning to keep as much of the frame level and square as possible before welding these major assemblies together. You may notice this as you see cinder blocks and paving blocks holding things roughly in place.

On to the build diary:
Here’s a wideshot of the rear of the wagon. As you can see, I’ve put a chair in about the placement of the driver’s seat… I know it’s not exactly right, but I had to try it out. Also, you may be able to see the rear driver’s side fender had to be chopped. I mistakenly cut the wrong angle on the two pieces that come down to the floorpans on this side. They were both square to each other, but not to the passenger side. I’ll redo these before fitting to the floorpan.

Another few shots of the mock-up of the assembly.

This is a shot of the passenger’s side floorpan. Also visible is the temporary assembly to keep the tunnel level.

From the front, i began placing the firewall pieces, not welded, or even tacked because the floorpans need to be in place first, but just for a guess as to the finished position. Also clamped the windshield on for looks.

With the progress comes silly photos time. Here’s our three crazy drivers’. The older kids have become less enthused with the length of time this is taking. The younger ones are just happy to be part of it.

All in all, this has been a good year for the build so far.

First, a point. I have been looking all over for a hood. I can’t find any near Idaho for a price I’m willing to pay. Next, I don’t know how keen I am on building the whole truck myself and getting a used hood. I may change my mind again down the road, but right now, I’m leaning towards building my own hood. Finally, I think there are some aspects of the HMMWV and H1 hood design that are just ugly. Besides, I don’t know yet if I want a fiberglass hood.

Another thought that has crossed my mind is the desire to not have the truck look TOO much like a Hummer. Yes, I know that sounds ridiculous…build a Hummer replica that doesn’t look like a replica. But, I look at it this way: I can build this truck to look any way I want. There’s no rule book that says I have to make it look like anything at all. I can use some aspects of the Hummer that I like, and mix them up with something else that I like….say the Tumbler from the new Christopher Nolan directed Batman movies.

In fact, that’s just what I have been doing.

Start with a nice Hummer hood as a base (like this nicely modified NOPI winner from Shawn Smith of AngryIron.com):

Add pinch of the Tumbler:

These should blend naturally. Think of it. The Tumbler is supposed to be a shelved military vehicle produced by Wayne Enterprises. The Hummer is both the civilian version of and generic term for The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee). Best of both cool superhero combat and real-life military vehicle design.

Now, there is a particular part of the Tumbler than lends itself quite well to transmission to the hummer hood. That is the flat part just above the cockpit for the caped crusader:

So, I first drew out a few ideas on tracing paper over the photo of the Berserker above. It took about four or five times to get that top part just right:

The really difficult part was the front. How do I keep the grill and headlight placement just right, and still incorporate the aggressive look from the Tumbler? What to do now that I’ve essentially eliminated the Hummer turn signals and corresponding fiberglass shape? I can’t just slap this on a Hummer hood and expect it to look ok. This was the most difficult part of the entire design. I finally came up with this:

Obviously, it’s still fairly rough in design. But, I think I like it. Don’t you?

If you do, maybe you could help me save up enough to keep the project moving along…

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