Tyco US-1 Stomper 4x4 Dodge Van

[AMH1955]

I bought a bare Stomper US-1 chassis on ebay last week. I had to see one in real life to see what all the fuss is about.
I don't know what kind of scenario would have to take place for anybody to sell a bare chassis, it had a few rust spots so maybe it was really trashed, but the lead weights too?? I ordered a set of reproduction silicone tires for it too, glad they make them or I would of been out of luck. I had no idea if I could even put the thing together with normal parts , had a couple of donor vehicles , made one good one and stripped one for parts. I used a rear axle for the front axle and the regular wheels up front, everything else was basically plug and play.

From what I can see the chassis has dropped box sections at the front and rear so the guide pins and shoes can ride lower from the chassis, with the big tires they'd be sitting in the air otherwise. There are little tab projections under the middle of the shoes on the chassis to compensate for the steeper shoe angle and to keep them down lower. The axle holes in front are the rear axle size and vertically oblong so they have some play. The bodies have an added glued on? or molded in? body mount tab below the rocker panels so they can be mounted higher on the chassis for tire clearance . All I can see but sure I missed something,, all new to me until I got it today.
I stuck a Dodge van body on it, magnets are for now to hold the body in place, can run it too, runs good, very smooth with the big tires.. I have a lighted Blazer body I think I'm going to use, but I do like the van so who knows, different anyway.
Now I'll have to get a bass boat and trailer for it and find a super-rare #8975309 Boat launching ramp action station with lake playmat .

 

[AMH1955]

I figured out the Schtomper (German pronunciation) mounting clips , piece-o-cake. Would make a good wilderness off-road park ranger rescue vehicle. Would you believe a Smith's Tire emergency big rig tire road service unit? Orange roof, black band all th way around down to the beltline, (Smith's Tire logo fits good) , orange below, silver side pipes.
It would look like The Great Pumpkin.

 

[Tyco Trucking]

I figured out the Schtomper (German pronunciation) mounting clips , piece-o-cake. Would make a good wilderness off-road park ranger rescue vehicle. Would you believe a Smith's Tire emergency big rig tire road service unit? Orange roof, black band all th way around down to the beltline, (Smith's Tire logo fits good) , orange below, silver side pipes.
It would look like The Great Pumpkin.

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That looks really good A… I noticed when taking the body off a Stomper chassis it is pretty hard to get it to splay out. I was concerned about stress marking the body, but it finally popped off.

You did some good work making that bracket. A bit of filler and some paint and you would never know it was fabbed. Truly some top tier craftsmanship bud…

I have a couple airport taxis, so I was thinking of using one of the bodies on a stomper chassis and making some kind of home built stomper set. I have a sealed 3435 airport, and a few extra Joe set mats.

I also have like 3 fire stations loose, since the Stomper building is modeled after them, and I have 2 loose wrecker buildings, and a garage, I think I’m going to put garage walls on a wrecker track with a fire station roof. Make a real stomper garage to go in this Frankenstein High Adventure Stomper hybrid set I’m bouncing around in my dome…

 

[AMH1955]

The Smith's Truck and that other #7 Chevy truck I have are both hard to get off the US-1 chassis, always afraid of breaking the corner off prying it out with my fingernail. I pry one side loose a little then wedge a toothpick in behind it to o hold it then go to the other end and pry it loose and normally it will pop off, pushing the body from the opposite side sometimes helps too, you reallly need three hands.
Thanks for the compliment, measuring , cutting and fitting, basic carpenter work on a smaller scale, used a chain saw and an air nailer to do it, a finish nailer of course. I just built a bar at my daughter's house, never did that before either, same deal. She's going to set up their ping-pong table in her kitchen's glass encrusted atrium dining area for the US-1 set-up I gave her for Christmas, I think I created a US-1 monster!

The Stomper garage looks like the regular garage building shape? Genius! Sounds like a plan! Why didn't they do it to begin with? I would still like to build a full size one in my backyard, I could convert my barn??? The neighbors would love it, my wife won't let me get a retired 727 from the airplane junkyard in AZ to put in the back to play with, I've tried several times,.

You only have a couple of Airport Taxis? No room left? It will work fine on the Stomper chassis with those big Command Control wheel openings up front, the Smith's Tire truck would fit too, really any Command Control 2 truck body. I have the orange charger with the exact same body and chrome to possibly be a Taxi someday, maybe a Central City fire dept. chief car. I've seen repo gumballs for the roof someplace. I can't figure out those things, some stick out on stalks like crab eyeballs and others are flush with the roof? beats me. Is yours and innie or an outtie? I have an outtie.

 

[AMH1955]

I had to try it, the van clip brackets work. I don't know about the Smith's Tire graphics?? Put a General Lee body on it and every good red-blooded American country boy would have the car of his dreams. Those clips are a little rough being prototypes. I'll have to make up a good pattern if they will fit more than one vehicle before I glue those in, they actually stay in on their own right now, no place for them to go really. The pick-up trucks are different but the same deal should work. The number to watch is between the lip that projects out from the bottom of the chassis and the bottom of the two clip tabs on the chassis. Charles Atlas dynamic tension holds the body on between that and the clip bottom, leave just a light hair's clearance between that and the clip bottom. The tab opening only counts on the bottom and sides. has to be right fore and aft or the rear wheel can rub, favor it to the front. There is a prototype Stomper in the guide that was going to be for the wide pan chassis they never made with the extended bracket type mount and fat Hopper tires. that would work for any US-1 vehicle to make it look 4x4 Schtomperish.

 

[suprb6970]

I bought a bare Stomper US-1 chassis on ebay last week. I had to see one in real life to see what all the fuss is about.
I don't know what kind of scenario would have to take place for anybody to sell a bare chassis, it had a few rust spots so maybe it was really trashed, but the lead weights too?? I ordered a set of reproduction silicone tires for it too, glad they make them or I would of been out of luck. I had no idea if I could even put the thing together with normal parts , had a couple of donor vehicles , made one good one and stripped one for parts. I used a rear axle for the front axle and the regular wheels up front, everything else was basically plug and play.

From what I can see the chassis has dropped box sections at the front and rear so the guide pins and shoes can ride lower from the chassis, with the big tires they'd be sitting in the air otherwise. There are little tab projections under the middle of the shoes on the chassis to compensate for the steeper shoe angle and to keep them down lower. The axle holes in front are the rear axle size and vertically oblong so they have some play. The bodies have an added glued on? or molded in? body mount tab below the rocker panels so they can be mounted higher on the chassis for tire clearance . All I can see but sure I missed something,, all new to me until I got it today.
I stuck a Dodge van body on it, magnets are for now to hold the body in place, can run it too, runs good, very smooth with the big tires.. I have a lighted Blazer body I think I'm going to use, but I do like the van so who knows, different anyway.
Now I'll have to get a bass boat and trailer for it and find a super-rare #8975309 Boat launching ramp action station with lake playmat .

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Where did you get the paint stripped white maintenance van? Did you strip it yourself?

 

[AMH1955]

Where did you get the paint stripped white maintenance van? Did you strip it yourself?

I stripped it with E-Z Off oven cleaner, the stuff in the yellow can. I left it overnight in a plastic sandwich bag then scrubbed it off with a toothbrush under hot water, dried it and scrubbed it again with regular rubbing alcohol to get any residue off. Sometimes you have to do it twice for however long it takes. That paint is tough, probably an enamel, the purple stuff won't even touch it.

 

[AMH1955]

Now it's a Blazer.




I paid 30 bucks for it, good guess. It has lights too. That "US-1 Blazer" for 175 bucks on ebay is a joke, same body as mine with a US-1 chassis. He had or has a black lighted? US-1 Firebird for big bucks too.. Lots of Tyco "US-1" semis with chrome fifth wheels on ebay too.

 

[AMH1955]

I painted the van, was going for a ochre color but it looks more like a school bus or taxi cab yellow. . It was a Command Control #3 obstacle van, removed the roof gumballs and filled the holes, still has headlights. It has a broken windshield, hit a low hanging branch on the trail. I have a new van mint on card on the way for parts, I plan to replace the grill and rear bumper and the windshield piece. The teal blue van is the same Command Control deal but with the chin spoiler and open roof vent, filled roof holes. Excuse the dust on the ambulance and FedEx vans, need to make a US-1 car and truck wash action station.