12bridge Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Gentlemen, First let me explain - I was heavily into plastic for many years, and I finally got out of it, and sold off my collection, and got into Model Railroading. I have been a lurker for some time, especially when I get the nack to build something that I dont have to worry about keeping on track. I have been picking up some kits here and there, but the new Moebius Service Truck really got my attention. Now to build a Railroad Work truck. I picked up a kit, and started to tinker with it today. It is designed great, part fit is great, the body looks excellent, fantastic set of instructions... But.... The tooling, is really not all that fantastic in some areas. I mean, the gates on some of these parts remind me of some kits from the 1960's and 1970's. They are huge! And for something so new, there should be NO flash on anything. Whereas, quite a bit of this kit, has a decent amount of flash. The other thing - The work bed. Two issues. One - The Diamond plate texture is so out of scale its not even funny. No big deal. Easy fix. But the other, is the hinges on the bed side. 4/6 of them are perfect, but two of the others, and one is substantially worse then the other, is REALLY askew, and very noticeable. I am very well familiar with modern EDM tooling, and how its done, this is how most model railroad pieces are made now, and the results are amazing. But, this thing looks like it was tooled by hand, in the 1970s. I must say, for my first Moebius kit, I am a bit disappointed. Surely in 2019, there can be a better way to gate a steering wheel to a sprue.. Note the right most hinge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim H. Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Many of these kits from the moebius ford truck line have some unignorable similarities to the 70s AMT ford truck kits in the design of some parts. I specifically the 69-72 moebius kits. When compared with the AMT ford firestone kit, it would be easy to believe that some tooling was shared. I know that model king was involved in both the moebius kits and later verions of the AMT kits. But I am by no means a knowledgeable source of information relating to this hobby. I'm saying this only based on my own comparisons and things that I have read on these forums. For the record, I am a HUGE fan of these moebius trucks, regardless of the tooling or inaccuracies. But will say, that hinge is funny looking. I never even noticed it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Van Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 The Moebius Ford pick-up trucks are all new tooling and design from their own in house team. I did a little work early on with the kits and saw each stage of tooling and proofing the tooling/design. Model King Dave Burket is involved in the marketing side....he has a really good insight into what to make and how well it will sell. He does none of the design work....either at Moebius or any version of AMT. I will agree there are items that could be improved on any kit......but there comes a time after a number of tooling revisions that you have to stop and say 'run it'. The gates can be worked around, flash is annoying but again workable. We are a really small market (plastic automotive kits) and we here are a even smaller part of a small market.......cost vs profit enters into each kit. thx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930fordpickup Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 1 hour ago, Dave Van said: The Moebius Ford pick-up trucks are all new tooling and design from their own in house team. I did a little work early on with the kits and saw each stage of tooling and proofing the tooling/design. Model King Dave Burket is involved in the marketing side....he has a really good insight into what to make and how well it will sell. He does none of the design work....either at Moebius or any version of AMT. I will agree there are items that could be improved on any kit......but there comes a time after a number of tooling revisions that you have to stop and say 'run it'. The gates can be worked around, flash is annoying but again workable. We are a really small market (plastic automotive kits) and we here are a even smaller part of a small market.......cost vs profit enters into each kit. thx Well said Dave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemodeler Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Sorry you find it a disappointment, I just had two more of them delivered this afternoon. If I got caught up counting rivets and worrying about some of the soft details and inaccuracies in kits, I might not ever build a model! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrenchr Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 15 minutes ago, mikemodeler said: Sorry you find it a disappointment, I just had two more of them delivered this afternoon. If I got caught up counting rivets and worrying about some of the soft details and inaccuracies in kits, I might not ever build a model! Agree 100%, this is my hobby and it relaxes me when I'm tinkering in the basement. Hours fly by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldscool Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 If it were me, I would just sand the hinge detail away as it looks a little overscale to me anyway. I should be getting one of these in the mail today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stavanzer Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 I agree on the steering wheel. It looks like the sprues are lousy. Not sure what else has you bothered. The kit looks okay everywhere else to my eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plowboy Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 For one thing, that isn't even the right steering wheel. Is that the only one provided in the kit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabrux Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 There is another steering wheel on the box, yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelercarl Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Part 136 the steering wheel noted above is "excess" to this kit as noted in the instructions, part 61 is to be used in the build of this kit. That doesn't negate the poor sprue attachment, but eliminates any concern for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stavanzer Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Thanks, Carl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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