leafsprings

'73-'79 Ford 8' Styleside. '59 Ford pickup front end conversion, '67-'72 Chevy C 60, '60-'80 GMC tilt cab. White Freightliner cabover '61- '69.

IH trucks do have a big following, even though they stopped making pickups in '75. Here is a model ahead of its time, a 1 1/2 ton without the big wide fenders and running boards found in other period trucks.

Its not the rear suspension, the problem with the kit is the way the bed attaches to rear of frame. You must prop the rear of the bed up until the lines of cab continue a straight line to the lines of the bed. If built according to instructions, you will build the truck with a broken back. Notice the gap between cab and bed. Wide at top, narrow at bottom. Keep the gap equal, you'll solve the problem.

IMO, the front fenders are the biggest flaw in the kit, they are too short, causing a large gap between bumper, they should come down level with bottom of radiator. P + P resins show correct fenders on their site, but they don't respond to emails?

Looked at an older Kenworth brochure ( printed 7-70 ) and noticed the long hood version. It is different, straight cut down compared to newer hoods with the cut out air intake tube. Is it simply called a long hood for that year or is it a different model number. Anyone ever try to build this type of hood?

Here is a visual of a '64, same cab lines as '65-66,. It does appear the arch is the same both front and rear of cab. The black and white photo is a '65 when virtually brand new, another history lesson for Moebius, note again, carry over rims with carryover hubcaps from '64.

I see the '65 has '66 hubcaps and wheels? Check out the 61-66 1:1 reference section.. The grill and the '66 hubcaps look excellent, very nicely done.

Great photo, thanks for posting! We can pin point above photo to year model to '63. More GMC reference for '64.

Us west coast builders never really liked those set back front axle construction front ends, not much coal mining in these parts!

IMO, the Monogram garbage truck and school bus models would be a lot more valuable, then and today, if the were done in correct scale.

Excellent point Russell. We are seeing a lot of new stuff in diecast that can be utilized in our plastic builds, mostly what were getting in plastic is old reissues..

Nice job and color! Very very close match to the factory beige offered in these years. What color beige was used, a factory formula or off the shelf color? Only thing I would do is run some molding on the belt line, something Ford did on tu tones. Old school western type mirrors and step bumpers always look great on these early 70's trucks.

I think its a great idea to condense all the past great builds to they can be found much easier, and probably can be broken down by make as well for quick inspiration for a present project. Many Petes from the late 60's and early 70's seem to have come from the factory aluminum fronts, steel duals and narrow front bumpers, so that's what I did. The Willig Ford was popular unit for city work in western states. Cat and Budds were really the only deviation from the kit.

Thanks for all your contributions to this thread, you answered all my questions and then some. I guess they are pretty rare. Not much of a Detroit fan, but the 1693 would be sweet! Now if we can only get cargostar ( models by Dave) to offer a resin extended cowl for us!

Beautiful job on the interior! Old school tacho graph. love it.

Looks super realistic, excellent choices on tires, dually wheels, wheelbase length and using the BCS trading contractor dump bed ( something we expected AMT to offer us), ha!

Hubcap reference photos! 1965 F 100 used carryover 1961 thru 1964 "bottle cap" style hubcaps. Came painted argent silver or white with red letters. or shiny stainless steel with black letters. 1966 F 100 used the new outer bump style wheels with "Galaxie" style hubcaps. Came argent silver with red trim or stainless with black trim.

We must be in the same age bracket! Interest in trucking really hit mainstream American culture in the mid 70's, and AMT was right in the middle of it introducing great kit after great kit. Then the 70's were over, new AMT large truck kits died off, graduated from high school and I left modeling for about 30 years, til the internet and more free time re invigorated my interest in the hobby.

Thanks for all the knowledgeable replies. And from the photo, impossible to distinguish if its a narrow or wide nose. Something to consider with the old, but now re issued, Watkins Kenworth.

Another incredible build. Looks like were looking at a real 1:1 survivor. I assume a period trailer is in the works?

Great info mk11, we all probably already have one of these amt frankensteins.

Wow! I would have loved to attend the New York World's Fair, just to check out this exhibit! I see special order white frames and chromed wheels. I'll take the blue 6500

Another very interesting build, I'm sure it was a common practice back then for owners to kit these trucks from various sources, IMO, old trucks are the future of modeling.. I like the weight range of the F 8 or later 1950's F 800's, make great dumps, tows or tractors. I hope we see the '48-'50 heavy duty conversion back as an available item and hopefully we get a never done before '53-'56 F 800 conversion as well. I definitely write a check for good quality resin heavy duty conversions to these once popular vehicles. Found this interesting photo of an '48-'52 F 8 in the back ground with 10 lug Budds, were most of these left the factory with 8 lug Budds or cast spoke, so either owner upgrade or factory special order is my take.

Kit is available. Here is another shot of what is involved on the F 250 conversion, the rear end requires a Dana 60 which is available in aftermarket.

Nice build. I've always liked the heavy duty frame and rear wheels on these kits. IMO, the best rear Budds ever made by big plastic. The fronts have a nice offset, but the design of the hand hole is a bit odd, too triangular of a shape, it should have matched the design of the rear with smaller football shapes.