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New Moebius Ford Pick-ups 1971 Ranger XLT AND 1969 Custom SWB


SteveG

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I am amazed at how polarizing this "rivet counter" thing has become. I find nothing wrong with people enjoying kits even if they're not perfect, and I find nothing wrong with people pointing out inaccuracies. Is there a belief out there that one of these positions is "right", and the other "wrong"? What's up with this?

Always a pleasure to hear a voice of reason. B)

There are those who react as if pointing out inaccuracies is VERY wrong, and I've debunked the approaches they use most frequently in my last blog (accessible through the "Blogs" button at the top of the page).

As for people enjoying imperfect kits, guilty as charged here, and for MANY of 'em. There may be instances of people getting jumped on for liking kits even if they're not perfect - can't remember the last one I saw that wasn't provoked by an avalanche of personal attacks first - but they're far fewer and further between than those who get attacked for pointing out problems.

And even after the time I've had since to pore over the preview shots, I'm still thinking these pickups are Moebius's strongest vintage efforts by a margin. There are deviations to be sure, but not nearly so loud this time around.

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Chuck , I agree with you're reasoning . . Look, having a halfway decent replica of a early 70's Ford cab should be enough to satisfy general masses . Realisticly, yep, theres gonna be a few that I'll hear at the show running this kit down as well as this board . I don't think it's possibile to do a " Perfect " kit in scale . Not trying to be a total pessimist . Look , I do Fiberglass molding for pieces . Trying to do a Glass mold dosen't always gureentee a scaled copy will always translate ...........

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Ya know, I am simply astonished that so many are assuming that the pics Dave Metzner put up are somehow the "finished product"! May I remind the forum that those were after our first looks at the tooling mockups, and a pretty fair number of needed corrections were noted, that will have to be corrected before they go to tooling.

I'll have the privilege of helping review the revisions to these mockups come Saturday--hopefully the issues that Dave, Bill Coulter and I raised will have been corrected!

For whatever it's worth, Dave takes a pretty big risk in being so public about tooling mockups--I know of no other model company who's ever done that before--it does give modelers assurance that an announced product is moving forward, BUT it also can elicit negative comments from those who quite failed to read the very first posting that Dave puts up here--so, before you diss something like this, please read that very first post, where Dave put up the pictures--then you can understand what he (and those of us who help out) faces--and this is a process that goes on with just about every new model kit product, and with just about every manufacturer of model kits..

OK?

Art Anderson

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Art,

Thank you for reminding the forum of the hard work and revisions needed to put out a quality kit. I, for one, am like a kid on Christmas Eve waiting for these kits!

I know some feel that a kit should be 100% accurate and true to the 1:1 version it replicates but in reality it might not work that way. Have there been some recent kits that had glaring errors and other problems? Yep! And most of the time the manufacturer corrected them on the next run and offered fixes.

I think Dave helps his cause by getting us advance pictures of what we will be getting, I know it has me wanting to buy more than I intended to before I saw the mock ups!

Thanks again Art, your insight and experience has helped me have a better understanding of this hobby.

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Certainly, Art - your point's very well taken, and I trust your meaning is distinct enough from what I cover in blog item #4 that it hasn't actually been anticipated.

The deviations I speak of do not encompass uneven grille bar spacing, or side trim that's not yet quite the right length, or misplaced marker lights or any other such obvious, superficial, and presumably correctable hickeys. Was the Dana axle the most appropriate choice across the board? Maybe not, but it ain't in the zipcode of a deal-breaker for me. The stuff that gets my attention is the sort of problem that might be baked irrevocably in the main mold.

The biggest such offender I can see here is that there's perhaps too much mass in the roof just over the top of the windshield - and if that's the worst of the proportioning problems, I'm delighted. The wheel arches appear to be placed right and contoured correctly in each fender, the door cut lines are bang-on, and if there's anything like that queasy sense of taffy-pulled headlights or scrunched and bumped rear quarters in the final product, I just ain't seein' them in the pics.

The gross proportioning aspects really look the closest of any non big-rig Moebius has done so far, and that's why I'm pretty enthusiastic about what I've seen to date. And I don't think it's mutually exclusive to come to such a conclusion AND realize this project is still very much a work in progress.

Edited by Chuck Kourouklis
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I myself trust this will be a great kit once all is said and done. Dave should be given a lot of respect for showing pre=production pics. I have had the chance to talk with him several times and find him to be very commited to the hobby.

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Just remember guys, you can NEVER make everyone happy!!!!!!! Our opinions are as different as our finger prints. What Moebius is doing is great for our hobby, period! They have become my most favorite model company simply because they actually listen to our opinions and share so much information with us. Everything I have bought from Moebius so far has been fantastic!!! There are minor things that I think could have been done differently but I'm a model builder. As long as the major proportions are correct, minor details are usually easy to fix. If you take a kit that has minor inaccuracies and you correct them, your just showing everyone you have a passion for that vehicle and that you are an accomplished model builder. To me, that's part of the fun. Think about it, if a model company were to make a kit so perfect that you could just build it straight from the box to get a perfect replica, wouldn't that be just like buying a Franklin Mint vehicle or a Danbury Mint vehicle? I think most of us buy model kits instead, because in a way, they challenge us to produce a quality, finished piece the way we want it to look.

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Any updates on a release date yet I thought I read somewhere maybe August or September

Josh,

Art Anderson said he would be looking at the latest revisions this weekend, so if all goes well, I would say it would be late September at the earliest before we see these jewels. I think once they have given the green light to production, we will have a better idea of when to expect them on the shelves.

Gotta remember that they have to schedule production and get the packaging ready too!

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If there are licensing problems with tire manufacturers why not go with METZNER or MOEBIUS tires?

There has to be a small tire manufacturer out there that would see the wisdom in letting a model company put their logo on the tires for free! It's good publicity. Even store brand tires like they sell at Pep Boys would be something on the sidewall. Heck, most of us can't read that small anymore anyway!

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I'm definitely not one that will be griping and moaning about anything wrong with these kits...not based on the initial test shots! Count me among those who deeply appreciate the efforts here to keep us informed and the project moving forward. I can't wait to see more...I'm salivating! ha!

Kerry, fantastic truck! I may have mentioned elsewhere in the thread...my dad always had a Ford truck while I was a kid, as did his best friend, Barry. Between the two of them, I've got several great trucks from my childhood to build. Before my dad went out on his own as a bodyman, the two of them worked at the local Ford dealership and it showed in their pickups.

The tires...yeah, that's become a joke, hasn't it. If it were left if my hands, we'd have "Goodbeer" and "Failstone" or something at least. lol. Totally blank just sucks.

Edited by Gluhead
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I think it's a win-win for Moebius to show the tooling mock-ups in advance. It's impossible for Dave to really come forward and go "D'OH! We didn't know that xyz wasn't correct" as it would make the development team look incompetent, so it's hard to know what incorrect things that were critiqued were on the "To-Fix" list and which ones were genuinely oversights. But if anything can be learned from the original Hudson and C300 kits is that it has to 100 times easier to fix the tooling patterns before dime ONE is spent cutting steel than it is to go back in and spend a mint fixing a bunch of tooling issues that delay the kit for months on end.

Aoshima is the only other manufacturer I've seen who will share their advanced designs and concepts for public input. If a certain Illinois based company were so forward thinking then perhaps their litany of "whoops" wouldn't be so long.

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Some of you guys need to back a few feet away from your monitor and look at the big picture. If you look closely at something you will always find problems,even on the REAL truck. I guarantee you that more than a few trucks rolled of the factory floor not 100% perfect. As for moebius's other two car kits, do the same. Who else was going to make a Hudson Hornet or a vintage 300? How about we all save the rivet counting and correct dimensions for the aircraft guys.

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There are still a few issues with the tooling mockups--nothing that cannot be cured--but bear in mind: The communication gap can be considerable across 13,000 miles, coupled with language and cultural barriers.

having looked over the tooling mockups as they stand at this point, I think I can say that when the remaining issues have been addressed and corrected--these are going to be really very nice kits.

Art

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