mk11

He did say aftermarket utility bed, so possibly some kind of toolbox-sided service box or a flatdeck like the one in the amt/lindberg '34 pickups. The flareside bed will be another '53-'72 shortbox. mike

Ron, you're really making me long for the dark green '68 XR7 I had years ago Some commentary over on the spotlight forum suggests that the '73 mpc cougar chassis and engine bay would work as well for a conversion. mike

You might end up with something that looks like a cross between a '69 grande and a '67, like one of the resin casters had a few years ago Maybe the '71-'73 were closer...

Nice color, Steve! mike

Another alternative for a stock chassis and engine bay aside from modified '67 mustang parts would be the '73 cougar parts... http://wwwboard2.spotlighthobbies.com/cgi-bin/bbs62x/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=204610 mike

That makes for a plausible theory but not true. The lower cougar/mustang control arms are identical so they can be used on either side. The 1:1 physical evidence (body) and specs (like 3" longer intermediate pipes and driveshaft) point to the front of the rear quarter area behind the door. Here's a couple of pics contrasting the amt mustang and cougar bodies and chassis. The engine bay from the mustang and a slightly lengthened mustang chassis should work well. mike

That's beautifully set up, JC Now it looks like those front wheels could benefit from some of that silver leaf mike

Pennsylvania Chevy dealership is going retro... http://driving.ca/chevrolet/silverado/auto-news/news/this-dealership-will-build-you-a-2018-chevy-super-10-pickup

Sorry for the lousy pic but here's the buick and falcon chrome and wheels. Both wheels have six lugs and the falcon wheels are finned...

Almost looks like a guy could use the falcon roof for a two door post version of the fairlane, if nothing else. mike

Over at http://www.fordification.info/, Keith is busy adding '61-'66 data to the wealth of information on his '67-'79 Ford sites. Brochures, tech info, schematics and all kinds of cool stuff like a page explaining the unibody and interesting evolution in box styles... http://www.fordification.info/tech/wrongbed.htm. Good info like this showing the 4x4 wheel usage- 5 lugs on F100 and eight lugs on F250. The six lug wheels were used only on the F350 and up. '66 352 V8 mike

'66 F250 4x4 Some measurements I've taken to both check the accuracy of the amt cab and to possibly help with modifying the old amt unibody into a regular cab. Note that the '64-'66 cabs are taller above the rain gutters than the '61-'63 cabs. mike

Figured we could use a reference for this Ford truck styling cycle that would be a help for those building or rebuilding the vintage AMT trucks or the currently available resin kits. Or maybe even just to supply some eye-candy for the old truck fans... If you have quality pics, bring 'em on... '66 F100 Ranger Custom Cab '66 Ranger Custom Cab '65 F100 '61 Mercury unibody big window mike

Well, the last '66 I owned went down the road a couple of years ago, Mr Anderson, but I do believe I know of another one in this locality I can get the measure of, and perhaps post as a public service somewhere Funny thing, but on my desk sits a styrene body that, when subjected to measurements (divided by 25, of course) taken from a 1:1 of similar design, shows to be 'off' in a large portion of key dimensions; amounting to multiple inches (plural) in 1:1. Actually 'off' enough to make some of those 'normal' people referred to by Bill go 'hmmmm'. It would seem to follow from this that sometimes even hundreds of pics containing measuring tapes and rules don't always translate to an accurate finished product. That is why I expressed things the way I did. A mid-run check against simple measurements that can be made by anyone clever enough to understand the non-dummy end of a tape could prove invaluable to the goal of achieving a laudable finished product mike

The Hudson, Chrysler, Lonestar, Pontiac and Comet kits are indeed examples that this is true for the most part. Will it be seen as fair to express a hope that those possessing test shots might take the initiative to find a measuring tape and a digital caliper to confirm that nothing is being lost in the translation? It would seem early enough in the process to make a difference. With the inexplicably large amount of design inaccuracies found in the public offering of the last major product, it would appear this step may not have received the attention it deserved. I do realize the distractions are legion in a company of this type and that Ford licensing seems fairly laid back but hope on behalf of thousands of other modelers desiring fairly accurate subject matter that this project succeeds. mike

The financial crisis is forcing governments and business all over to make tough decisions If this continues much longer, there's a real risk we may have to lay off Fred....

Here's a pic (wish it was my truck) showing measurements taken from my own '68 to help with building the recent kit... With some slick superficial modifications, the Ford engineers were able to carry the basic superstructure of this cab forward to use for the 73-79 style cycle. The windshield, cowl, floor pan, chassis are basically carried over and the roof top area and crown are nearly identical. Even the upper cowl has the same contours and measurements on the 1:1 trucks. The character lines at the hood/cowl interface are the same width at 55". AMT did an excellent job in capturing the proportions in their F350 cab, aside from the upper windshield molding height. mike

I don't remember ever getting a reply when I inquired about a replacement for this one but it didn't matter anyways. Really tough styrene to work with but hot water just off boiling got most of it corrected. mike

Here's a pic from the brochure...

Considering the atrocious casting, it turned out fairly well. They're certainly more heavily ornamented than the same era Fords but don't look too bad in 1:1... I've got a frontier resin '46 here that's a little nicer casting. mike

Funny how quickly and often that concept goes out the window It's one thing when a kit has proper proportions and the mods are ones you want to make but it's another when a kit is poorly rendered from the get-go. One of my on-going (first category) projects is similar, retrofitting a 240 datsun six into a 620 pickup. Fairly simple compared to other stuff in the lineup. mike

Some good ideas and thinking going into this one. mike

(from the pages of today's Grey Lady (nyt)... {...With the railway’s regular signal system inoperable, the Amtrak train would have navigated the track with help from a dispatcher at CSX, which owns and operates the railway in Cayce, S.C., just south of Columbus, Mr. Sumwalt said. Federal investigators interviewed the dispatcher on Monday but did not disclose what was said. Still, Mr. Sumwalt cautioned against casting all the blame for the accident on the crew that flipped the manual switch. He said that the Amtrak engineer on the train should have also noticed that the switch was positioned in the wrong direction...} ...Mr Sumwalt is described in the story as the chairman of the NTSB. He was apparently commenting on a train wreck that happened at 2:30 am involving a passenger train travelling at nearly 60mph that was deflected onto a side track containing a motionless freight train via a padlocked switch. Could be a reporter's misquote too... draw your own conclusions mike

x2 on trades with superdan ... Also good trade with Nick Winter. Thanks! mike

Wow Really looking forward to seeing what you guys make of this Thanks Dwayne, for sticking with this project... mike