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Bandag Bandit


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I've been working on this truck for a month on and off and finally finished it. It's the old Amt Tyrone Malone Bandag Bandit. I got the kit off Ebay a while back to go with my Super Boss. I ended up having to make all the decals, because of the originals being unusable. I got it fairly close, the blue pinstripes are a little large but it works:) I painted it flat black and then coated that with Tamiya clear blue.

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Hi Tim:

Yep, I have the kit of the Papa truck, and the AMT Aerodyne which is the same truck and wheel base. I'll use the bed of the Papa truck to make a copy for the Hideout truck. I'm also going to replace the rims with more prototypical chrome 5 hole budd steel wheels. I'm going to make molds of the tires in the Papa truck so the tires will have Tyrone Malone's name as well as Bandag's name. I'll also end up making my own decals for that truck too. Those hauler kits go for way too much money when you can find them online, I don't even want to admit how much I paid for the one I have:)

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Bill,

Superb build, I like the shot of the engine. That big Detroit certainly takes some space. When I was fitting the V12 in my Autocar deciding how to plumb in the exhaust pipes was a problem. I like how the Bandag team got around this problem by plumbing the exhausts through the air cleaner holes. "Turn on the tap of common sense and out flows a simple solution."

Do you have any photo,s of the engine on the Super Boss?

Best Wishes

Dave Bates

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Bill,

Thanks for the photo's. It looks like the engine was the one that Hendrix used to model their aftermarket resin V12 detroit. I have 3 of these engines in various states of build. There is one on E-bay at present if anyone is interested:

ITEM No: 170260501994

The engine in the Super Boss looks great.

Best Wishes

Dave Bates

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The kits were made by AMT way back in the late 70's, early eighties. I got mine off Ebay. They are not cheap if you can find them. The Bandit seems to be the harder of the two to find, and as with mine, the decals are usually not good in them. The kit numbers are:

5003 for the Super Boss

5007 for the Bandag Bandit

There were also kits for respective haulers of these two trucks. They are even harder to find and more expensive than the racers.

Cheers:

Bill

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  • 3 months later...
Hi Tim:

Yep, I have the kit of the Papa truck, and the AMT Aerodyne which is the same truck and wheel base. I'll use the bed of the Papa truck to make a copy for the Hideout truck. I'm also going to replace the rims with more prototypical chrome 5 hole budd steel wheels. I'm going to make molds of the tires in the Papa truck so the tires will have Tyrone Malone's name as well as Bandag's name. I'll also end up making my own decals for that truck too. Those hauler kits go for way too much money when you can find them online, I don't even want to admit how much I paid for the one I have:)

Don't know if you'll see this or not but I make those Truck Mate five hole wheels that were used on the transporters. You can see pictures of them at www.picturetrail.com/lotso

Look in the model truck wheels folder.

They are direct replacements for the incorrect ten hole wheels and just need to be chrome plated or sprayed with Alclad.

Awesome job on the two race trucks by the way!!!!!!!!!

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  • 2 months later...
The kits were made by AMT way back in the late 70's, early eighties. I got mine off Ebay. They are not cheap if you can find them. The Bandit seems to be the harder of the two to find, and as with mine, the decals are usually not good in them. The kit numbers are:

5003 for the Super Boss

5007 for the Bandag Bandit

There were also kits for respective haulers of these two trucks. They are even harder to find and more expensive than the racers.

Cheers:

Bill

I saw, and had a bit of a hand in, the AMT Super Boss/Bandag Bandit kit as it got started. I was at AMT Corporation the Monday before Labor Day in 1977, to deliver a bunch of builtups for box art and other purposes, when Tyrone Malone pulled up, and unloaded SB from Papa Truck, and proceeded to demonstrate the rig in AMT's employee parking lot, and out on Maple Road. I came home with a deal to scratch up a Super Boss, for the 1978 HIAA Trade Show display--talk about a task back in the days before Evergreen was available everywhere! Building that rear bodywork was indeed a challenge, as was cutting and stretching two 8V71's to get the V12, then making up the turbocharging setup, and that exhaust system. It sure was fun laying out all the red and blue graphics on the white finish, as AMT hadn't started on decal artwork yet. Even more fun was listening to Malone's describing his first "claim to fame", a "frozen" sperm whale, "Willie, the Freeze-Dried Whale", that he toured around to shopping center openings all over the country for several years, housed in a 40' semi trailer.

BTW, Super Boss was simply thunderously LOUD at full throttle, and the black exhaust? Awesome.

Art

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Great trucks.I saw Tyrone's fleet(including the whale) at a car show once.He even had a corvette"smokey"to complement the trucks.Now you have to build his first racer,"the boss truck of america".I think there was an old coe White with a rear mount aircraft 12 cylinder engine that toured with him, later on.I may have a pic of it trailered behind one of the coe's.I have pics of "the boss truck of america"with both paint jobs and matching carrier,if some one wants me to post them.I also have a "matchbox" bandit toy.I love these trucks.Does anyone know what became of them?

KEVIN

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  • 3 years later...

I saw, and had a bit of a hand in, the AMT Super Boss/Bandag Bandit kit as it got started. I was at AMT Corporation the Monday before Labor Day in 1977, to deliver a bunch of builtups for box art and other purposes, when Tyrone Malone pulled up, and unloaded SB from Papa Truck, and proceeded to demonstrate the rig in AMT's employee parking lot, and out on Maple Road. I came home with a deal to scratch up a Super Boss, for the 1978 HIAA Trade Show display--talk about a task back in the days before Evergreen was available everywhere! Building that rear bodywork was indeed a challenge, as was cutting and stretching two 8V71's to get the V12, then making up the turbocharging setup, and that exhaust system. It sure was fun laying out all the red and blue graphics on the white finish, as AMT hadn't started on decal artwork yet. Even more fun was listening to Malone's describing his first "claim to fame", a "frozen" sperm whale, "Willie, the Freeze-Dried Whale", that he toured around to shopping center openings all over the country for several years, housed in a 40' semi trailer.

BTW, Super Boss was simply thunderously LOUD at full throttle, and the black exhaust? Awesome.

Art

Cool Jod Art

Maybe you could contact someone on a reissue of all four kits Hint,Hint, LOL

It would be nice if they came back on the market.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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