So at this point, sometime in 2003-2004 I had the main body panels cut out, and the chassis/floorpan assembly cleaned up. I test fitted them more than a few times, trimmed, adjusted and test fitted some more. I still had to find some of the smaller pieces, round sections, difficult shapes to replicate, but more on that later. Here is what the early mockups looked like.
After another year or so, I had made a bunch of measurements of the 1:1 scale RV and made some hand drawings to scale of the interior. I was then able to take a whole bunch of sheet plastic and build it up into the interior pieces.
Notice the toilet? I'm particulary proud of that! To me, custom modeling like this is a matter of finding things that look like they are part of something else or look like something else. This toilet is a case in point. I thought long and hard on how I was going to make a toilet for this thing and kept coming up empty handed. Doll house stuff? Too big. Make it from clay? Too heavy (this thing was already going to tip the scales and I KNEW I needed to keep it from getting heavier). One day, while sorting through my parts box I found the engine from the Monogram F-350 Duallie, which I was already going to use the rims from. Hmmm, glue it together, look at that bell housing, and what do you know? Looks Just like the can I need! and the external details look like the connections from the real throne in the RV, bonus! I sanded off all the ribs, primed and sanded until it was all smooth and used more sheet plastic for the seat and cover.
