mk11

Thanks Ron. Interesting stuff there... too bad it's global shipping. mike

Yeah, we could be stuck with the kindergarten style avatars found on another model site; with no personality allowed mike

Wasn't that the one they spent a bunch of money on 'improving' the tool? Just fixing the roof and cowl would have improved it hugely. mike

Those mags look really good. From what I've seen, though, it looks like the Ford 6 lug wheels were limited to the sixties F350s with 20" wheels. So far, searching the net has revealed only five and eight lug 65/66 4x4s. Be interesting to see where the mock-up info came from; maybe someone's got mixed up with chevy info or it's another fantasy exercise like the F250 hubcaps. Never say never mike

Some more rough measurements here, covering the supplied chrome front plastic piece for the '69 F100 kit... The red width of grill line measures 76", orange line is 56", yellow and purple on the headlight door are both 9" and the blue signal light width line is 6.5". Height of center section is 13". So far, the only modified one I've seen that even approaches reality is this one by master craftsman Tom Ellifrit. Let's hope that they'll correct the fundamentals on this design if they're planning more pre-'70 F100 kits. Interesting to see these kits get a free pass by the commentators that didn't seem to be offered to the lindberg '61 Chev and revell '69 Charger and '90 Mustang kits. mike

Nice. Who makes the coupe, Ron? mike

Kinda like most of the big M2 stuff mike

truth in advertising ... how did they sell any of these?

Right there on the first page mike

Beautiful rescue Mike! mike

Sharp looking build sir! mike

Through the 60s and 70s Ford offered both the 9" and the 44/60 Danas in the F100s. This shows that you can use the amt pickup dana diff and metal axles on your moeb F100 build to get the benefit of an expanded choice of wheels and tires and still have an accurate chassis. mike

Wasn't meant as an insult; to be honest, I have yet to see a less than fantastic build from your bench mike

Good thoughts on the roof crown, Bill. I'm coming at it from another angle... Turns out the roof on the new kits is not only out of kilter by crown, rear window width and C-pillar shape, it is also too long front to back. The front overhang projects about 2mm too far forward. One other thing to note is that on the 1:1 trucks the cowl accent lines are exactly the same distance apart from '67-'79 but the new cab has them spaced wider (incorrectly). This in turn shows that the new hood body lines are molded wrong. It's far too much trouble to correct the hood so if you use the more correct amt cowl grill area, you'll just want to section it into the area between the new cab's cowl accent lines. Some rough lines indicating where cuts may take place on mine; changes may happen as project progresses. Vertical lines on back of cab show what actual width of rear roof should be. This window area will be cut out and sectioned to match rear of amt cab roof. Rear of side window opening will be grafted into amt c-pillar with appropriate revisions for accuracy. I've tried to give a general guide for revisions here; you may want to doublecheck measurements on a local truck for your own project. Measure twice, cut once The windshield is a fine piece of engineering but, because of a subtle flaw in it's designed curvature, the front roof edge projects 1-2 mm too far forward, contributing to the 'off' look. Interesting that the tooling mockup pics show the rear of the roof was 'off' from the start, though the C-pillar was actually closer to correct at the back door edge. My eventual 'fix' may be to use the complete amt roof (and possibly part of the more accurate cowl as well ) with appropriate alteration of the side window frame, back wall angle and the grafting in of the sectioned back window frame. mike

Another shape issue obvious on these is the lack of the subtle bodyside curve-under (aka 'tumblehome'). Here's a pic showing a comparison between the AMT F350 and moeb cabs. The 1:1 cabs are fairly close in shape here and in roof crown. Fortunately, this is a fairly straightforward fix that will help the overall appearance slightly. I've found this styrene very tough to work with and it needs very warm water to reshape it. A wedge cut partly up the back wall on each side will aid in the process. Here's a pic showing the moeb and R&R resin cabs contrasted. Though the resin cab is actually only about a 'half-way' conversion from the amt F350 cab (lacking properly shaped wheel and windshield openings and rear cab roof), it does seem to capture a subtle appeal missing from the newly minted styrene cab. Also pictured is a built up R&R example found on the site here. Funny thing about the r&r kit... I was very disappointed to find it only half-finished but now it's starting to grow on me. The newer style simplified roof is definitely more appealing than the ungainly earlier one and with corrected wheel/windshield openings, proper dash and grill, it might look pretty good for a hybrid mike

Follow that line far enough and you get these... mike

Basement?? Hardly..... seems to me it's a logically laid out place for the truck fans, like me and others, to come and look at and enjoy the latest builds and ideas. The car guys know where they need to go if they're interested, with clearly delineated separate 'under glass' and 'workbench' sections for big and little trucks. Or is a separate showcase for 'cancon and friends' builds needed, maybe right up under the regular 'under glass' area? How about it, mods?

Great recent trades with superdan and spex, as well as help from khils excellent generous fellas to deal with! mike

To me, the best box art is evocative, like that piper box; it drags you into the scene, striking a chord and maybe makes you want to be there... and when the contents actually match the packaging... Just picked up another one at a model train show a few weeks ago and I still like it as much as I did forty years ago mike

Some of my favorites...

Even then, it wasn't designed strongly enough to make for a structure that would last for years under moderate to heavy use. That led to the adoption of the '57-'60 style bed as a stop-gap until they came up with the properly matching styleside bed for '64. Interesting article on that here...http://www.fordification.info/tech/wrongbed.htm mike

This afternoon I took a few rough measurements from my 1:1 truck and attempted to attach them to a picture I found. I'm hoping this will be a help to those interested in attempting to correct some of the roof/window shape issues on these scale truck cabs. Unfortunately, some of this involves serious cutting and reshaping skills and may not be for everyone. Correcting the window opening will involve removing the rear half of the rain gutter, tightening the upper radius and adding material to the forward edge of the back of the window opening, rescribing the door opening line and adding new rain gutter- without the curved bottom. The horizontal line at the top of the C pillar measures 9" from rear to door opening. After doing some measuring on a '78 F100 1:1 that recently followed me home, it's obvious that amt wanted their cab to be right. Aside from the upper windshield trim, the majority of dimensions are spot on. A nice piece of work. Those familiar with these trucks are aware that differences between the 67-72 and 73-79 cabs are mainly cosmetic; ie reshaped, simplified back of roof, bigger back window, side sculpting, door shape and two inches added to the cab length below belt line behind doors. The basic superstructure is carried over, including windshield, cowl width, floor pan, roof size and rough crown. I pulled very close to the same general roof area measurements from both my '68 and the '78. Turns out that the '67-'72 C pillars, behind the door windows, actually slope inward from behind the vertical rain gutters toward the back window. This makes the rear side to side measurement on the back of the moeb cab almost five inches too wide Now we're entering the realm of back window size issues as well. The rear window area is both too short and too wide. Interestingly, the upper rear of the original amt cab is very close to the correct width but of course lacks the fancy sculpting around the window. ...And we haven't even addressed the lack of roof crown yet Intriguing that all this was missed in development. Some serious issues and disappointment with a recent 'new technology' tool, but please note this information is not being shared to elicit negative comments or as an attack on persons or motives. Strictly commentary on how to correct or improve a product if one so desires. More to follow... mike

You are correct, sir. For some reason I was reading twin I beam into your note; time for an eye check bingo Even though the box fit all '64-'66 trucks, the wheelbase in '64 was 128" with the front single beam axle and for '65-'66 the w/b was 129" with the new twin I beams. mike

The I-beam was, in fact, not introduced til '65 That is understood, Dave, but the 'end users' that will be contemplating the purchase of one or more of these items when they hit the market want to be reassured that concerns they have regarding shape and proportion issues seen in the mock-ups will be addressed. You've mentioned the cab and the stake pocket now, which is good, but we won't know unless the questions get asked and answered. As in, for instance, this pic showing what appears to be a slight imbalance of proportion in the box side; is it being reviewed as well?... perhaps a dumb question ... Issues setting an unfortunate precedent in a previous subject release had me wound up. some actual measuring on my own truck and comparing proportions shows it to be fairly close.

Looks like moebius is joining the party with their own shortbox. The early mockup, however, shows a middle stake pocket that never existed on the 6' box. mike