After cleaning a little, and “mounting” the windshield, I got to work.

It took most of the day just to clean, but finally I got to welding. First, I cut all the pieces for the fenders and rear rail for the bed and found myself lacking one rail for an inner fender. I took that from my first welding project ever… my old welding table that was too wobbly to hold anything. Freed up some room in my shop too. That table was becoming a “catch-all” or “junk pile” and wasn’t much use anyway. It’s that mess next to the welder in the above photo.

Next, I made the rear bed rail. That was too easy. So I started on the passenger rear fender.

Just because my kids like to build with me, and my wife wanted to see, but didn’t want to come out into the single digit temps, I brought it in to show her “her fender”.

With the Passenger fender and rear bed rail done, I placed them on the frame rails for temporary placement. I placed a piece of flat stock on top and was tempted to stand on it to test out the strength, but decided it wasn’t stable enough yet. I’ll make sure to do that later. And yes, it does look like it isn’t welded to the truck bed rail…because it isn’t yet. I want to get more pieces together and make sure they’re all square before tacking together.

I like the look, but I think I need bigger tires.

Then, after dinner, I started on the driver’s side rear fender. It was slick and quick because I figured out all the issues with keeping the other square already, but then I ran out of wire for my little Lincoln welder, and it was too late to get more.

I’ve been using Google SketchUp version 7 Pro, and it’s just plain awesome! I use it for architectural rendering, fabrication and engineering planning, landscaping, hobbies, and even to build virtual studio sets for use in green screen video production. While I use the Pro version, the Free version is quite powerful.

Let me show you how I started and finished a 3D copy of my Hummer replica build in SketchUp.

Since I already have the plans for the TremorMUV Hummer replica, a real 1984 Suburban in my garage…or what’s left of it. I’ll follow along with SketchUp.

Start with this 1986 Suburban from the Google 3D Warehouse:

Remove the Body… like I already did to my 1984 Suburban:

Now in this case, I removed the engine already, and traded up from the model’s existing chassis to one I built from the dimensions of the one in my garage.

For fun, I added an engine, transmission and transfer case, and swapped the wheels. These wheels are 40 inch INTERCO Super Swampers I found in the 3D Warehouse here. The 454 Chevy engine was also from the 3D warehouse.

Then from a clear file, and using the aforementioned plans, I build the cage or body skeleton of the Tremor MUV, accurate to dimensions given, so I could test it out in pixels before I start cutting steel.

And incase anyone asks, no I’m not sharing this file, because of the license agreement I’m in with Rocky Mountain Coachworks. Anyway, legal stuff out of the way, back to sketching. Next, I put the cage on the chassis model.

Looks great! But of course, it’s not finished there. I need body panels, doors, a hood, and all that stuff. I found the taillights, seats, and doors from a Jeep Wrangler model (since I’ll be using the real parts for my real build.). I modeled the body panels, doors (with movable glass), hood (because all others I found were incorrect), bumpers, bumper step, front pushbar, and winch housing. The winch and hood lights were from another model, but I regret I don’t have the reference for it. But, here’s the steering wheel I found for now. I may change it later. That’s one beautiful thing about SketchUp. It’s easy to change a component at any time. You can literally destroy your model and start over without going over budget in the garage.

But, the beauty of SketchUp is that you can “fabricate” anything you want, to try it on for size, style, etc. Here’s a shot with a removable top, to turn the open top Hummer replica into a Hummer wagon replica.

For anyone who has been following my build, I’ve posted some screenshots of hypothetical look influenced by the new Batmobile, the Tumbler from the newer Batman movies.

The Tumbler model comes courtesy of the Google 3D warehouse, linked here.

What else can one do with SketchUp? Nearly anything 3D! I’ve used it for modeling before metal fabrication, small home projects, and in projects for real estate developers. Maybe I could even do something for you…(hint, hint, nudge, nudge).

Thanks for your time!

The first two pieces of the frame header welded together.

Three happy travelers in our pretend Hummer

In the meantime, I made a little stand for the steel I got, to keep it off the floor, because I get a nasty leak in the spring…not a moment too soon, there was a puddle on the floor right next to that wall the next day.

Of course, my helper thought it was fun to just be out in the shop.

Duh! You might say. I’m building a Hummer replica. Well, yes, but for the longest time I hadn’t figured out if I was going to go it alone with no plans to speak of. That’s the part I’ve figured out! i’ve decided to use a tried-and-trusted planset from folks who have paved the way rather nicely.

I’ve received the TremorMUV planset. It’s a set I picked up secondhand—not something I’d recommend anyone else doing, right now I’m missing some of the important parts of the set…the build manuals. I was trying to save a few bucks, but in hindsight I should have saved up for the full planset.

Link and advertisement here:

The folks at Rocky Mountain Coachworks have a nice set put together from a nice working prototype they build a few years back. They’ve got on their website, www.tremormuv.com, everything you need to build a Hummer H1 or HMMWV replica, an extensive build forum with some current builds going on, and, most importantly, the most accurate plan set around that is correct to dimensions of the Hummer H1. The best part is, it’s not a kit. You don’t buy and ship parts from someone else, you put it together yourself, according to your needs. If you want to build it in aluminum, go ahead. If you want bulletproof doors and windows, your choice! If you want a soft-top, hard-top, wagon, slant-back, two-door truck, or to put an ambulance body on the back…go for it!

Now the details: If you’ve been reading along with my replica build, you’ll notice that I’ve been leaning in the direction of an open top like the 2004 Hummer H1 Alpha. It will save on some construction time and materials, not to mention weight. Since I live in Idaho, I’ll be considering a wagon hard-top for the winter. One that I’ve looked at and think will work is the wagon top from CalGoldProducts.com.

An alternative would be fabricating my own similar design out of aluminum. I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

Finally, I like the pseudo-camouflage that Shawn Smith used in his AngryIron.com Special Operator build…

Here’s a photoshopped look for what I’m going for, open top:

soft top:

hard top with a possible logo configuration, so I can write it off for advertising :

Help me save up enough to keep the project moving along…

As I consider the upcoming work that needs to be done, I have encountered a couple dilemmas.

Here’s dilemma #1:
I have 6 large people in my family… even my youngest are tall for their age. So I am hesitant to put them in a rumble seat between the other two rear seats. For one reason, they might end up kicking the heater/component doghouse that I need to build. The other reason is that even before the older kids move out of the house, the younger ones might be hitting their heads while in the middle rumble seat.

One solution is to do it like Shawn did, six-seater with a soft-top option (which I also don’t think will work in ten of Idaho’s twelve months):

Another option is to lower the floor and go with a look more like Ben’s Badlands here:

But, I’m not a big fan of the Badlands, nor Urban Gorilla. They’re close…but the Tremor is closer.

Dilemma #2:
We’re soon going to have “Hummer-lover #7″ in the family. I first wanted to make a four-door replica like this one by Francois Couture:

or like the Tanto build:

There’s no possible way to have the wife and all five kids in the seats of a four door, so I’m leaning toward the wagon…but I want the soft-top look. I don’t remember seeing a final Tremor in Wagon form, and I’ve never seen a replica or even civilian wagon with a soft-top. Closest I’ve seen in anyis this one:

I would also like to try the removable hard-top for the 10 winter months in Idaho, like this one from Fesler:

But, in wagon form…

So I grabbed a soft-top photo from the net, also from Feslerbuilt.com, and stretched it out for the wagon:

I think I like it.