mk11

Wow, that looks great! Gonna have to grab one of those kits now. Went through the St Thomas factory twice when these were being built. Been wondering about using the motormax '08 for casting the updated front and rear. Of course, there would be some fiddling required but... mike

Sure wouldn't mind something like that closer to me; might be a great motivator to get some of these projects finished. Went to lots of nmra model train meets and stuff with dad over the years mike

Me too Good point on the '71 grill. The headlamp difference in '78 wasn't actually a matter of build date but of trim level. The Custom trim level had the round lights and the Rangers had the square ones. Chev and Dodge had similar styling cues in '79/'80. mike

Here are some of the chrome shot variations in this series... First pic is from the red '75 'new Ford truck' issue. It contains the optional Thrush sidepipes, five slot 16" mags, chrome air cleaner, basic door mirrors and stock hubcaps. Here's a partial tree from the '75 Star Truk which was the most heavily optioned of all, including the sidepipes, box rails, bumper guards, western mirrors and slot mags. <edit>The Star Truk was also issued in '76 and '77 with no changes to the box art but containing the updated '76/'77 grill and cab(for '77).<thanks Mr Carter> The Mod Ford race team combo kit (75 F350, trailer and 40 Ford modified) had it as well but the other regular '75 and '76 annual trucks had the stripped down style tree shown above. The blue '77 annual edition featured a shortened chrome shot with only stock wheel covers included. The plastic allotment for the extra chrome pieces was probably used in the included canopy instead. Boonie Boss/Matchbox Ranger chrome shot Here's the Tuff Truk chrome shot with the oddball 4 slot mags (also used in the Red Alert Chevelle and GMC stepside kits, among others) . The custom grill was not chromed in this kit, just the stacked headlights. The front bumper supplied in the regular 75-77 truck kits is a pretty good replica of the '64 - '77 item. The boonie boss issue was bulked up and had slots cut in the top for the supplied driving lights along with holes in front for the push bar. It was included in the stones 4x4 kit (without the driving lights) as well as the reissued boonie boss(ranger) by matchbox/lesney in about '81. Neither is accurate for the '78/'79 truck, though, as the upper lip should be flatter and wider; an accurate one can be found in the amt '78 Bronco kit. The accurate factory '64-'79 rear chrome sport bumper was carried through all the incarnations of this kit. A resin caster might want to pick up on those vertical bumper guards included with the Star Truk, as they would be accurate for the '67 - '72 trucks as well, unless Moebius chooses to include them in their kits. As far as that goes, since all these issues contain about 80-90% similar parts and the best one is due to be reissued soon, maybe the resin casters could look at supplying the '75 and '76/'77 grills too... mike

My first score at a thrift shop about thirty years ago was a heavily brush painted first issue amt 65 mustang with the hardtop and custom front and rear pieces glued on. Once stripped, it was a very easy restoration with new chrome from a newer coupe kit. Best find was a box of nine or ten mostly untouched kits for fifteen bucks at a garage sale. The lady's son was away working on the rigs and hadn't touched them in years. She popped the lid on one of the kits and I gotta tell you, the look on her face was just priceless, for therein amongst the kit parts was his long forgotten stash of about half a dozen, um, latex items mike

Nice clean build; and you nailed the attitude. Looks great! mike

That's what counts, everyone's got their own style mike

These would look great... on another forum mike

Jes' a twinkle in my daddy's eye at that time . Was in Seattle the next summer but not breathing air - yet mike

Here's an overview of these kits compiled by the boys at sae a few years ago... mike

Thanks, Casey. IIRC, it was the same width as the other 1/24 boxes. The Quadzilla/Krusher and Night Rider aren't all that easy to find, but the re-issued monogram '80 ranger has the same box they had. Here are the factory measurements for the '53- '72 and '76- '86 flareside boxes. Note that the above pic shows the '53-'72 8' flareside but the shortbox measurements are in the text. It was only 49" wide, with flat inner walls. 77-86 mike

Now the question of scale differences arises... they're not as far apart as most people think. Here's the 1/24 krusher and the 1/25 amt box contrasted. Despite the width difference, partly by scale and partly by the newer wider design, the sidewall height is very close to identical. This one shows how the monogram '80 wheelhouse inners are not far off the inner width of the '53 box. The width of a single saw cut for sectioning widthwise will probably bring this close enough to scale that it can be used with the rounded fenders on the soon to be reissued AMT 78/79 pickup. Here's a contrast of the monogram '55 and the revell '56 fenders. The narrower '55 fenders would be a good choice for the brave soul attempting a stock build of that '56. Hope this clarifies some of the mystery on this stuff... mike

Thought a comparison of the majority of Ford Flareside kits was timely with two majorly looked forward to Ford pickup models coming on-stream in the near future. Didn't realize I had them all until recent forays into the stash. Boxes L - R: '80 red monogram krusher, '80 revell night rider, '53 mpc flip-nose, '53 gray amt and the '56 revell pickup box. Have to look again for the monogram '55 box. Fenders are (l-r): mpc '53, amt '53, monogram '55 and revell '56. MPC and AMT fenders are very close in size. The '53 mpc and amt boxes are identical in size to each other and to the revell '56 box aside from from minor engraving differences and the clearance bumps for the mpc slicks. Any of these 1/25 boxes will be perfect for the new moebius bumpside. This series and size of box ended with '72 production. No 1:1 short flareside was offered from '73 to '75. The revell and monogram '80-'86 boxes are identical in size. Note that these would be the proper style box to use on '77-'79 pickups using the '53-'72 rounded fenders. The short flareside box reintroduced in '76 was a one year wonder with taller flared sides; created by Ford's cutting down lengthwise the 8' flareside box. This was a wider design with both sides moved out two inches with the wheelhouse arch sticking out on the inside. This change was necessary because of the wider axle used in the '73-up trucks. The flared top on the '76 box was flattened for the '77-up trucks. mike

I like the look of yours more than the real one mike

Dealt with him (F/R) recently and had no problems. He was good to deal with. mike

Square headlights or anything on a deuce is just wrong Built the blue one when I was 13 at a campground in Spokane in the mid seventies after we bought it at the white elephant store. Bit of a challenge but enjoyed the build; still have it around somewhere.... mike

Is that 351 a Windsor or Cleveland, Chuck? The valve cover shape is the giveaway. A better choice, if it's a Windsor, might be the Boss 302 from an Eliminator as they had the Cleveland style heads, like the 351M/400. The Cleveland from the Mustang GTP kits or the monogram nascar T-bird kits could be another choice. mike

Very classy build! mike

Now that Round 2 has seen fit to reissue the highly coveted '78 Super Stones 4x4, we'll finally be able to get one at a decent price. I was looking at my Model King re-issue the other day and, as this is the pinnacle of the line, decided to lay it out for a review. Those with earlier 2wd editions might want to add pics of theirs as well so we can see the evolution of these as this edition does not include the optional topper, side pipes, chrome wheels and other accessories from the earlier releases. We'll open this with a pic of the original Stones kit borrowed from the big auction site... Here's a pic of the model king reissue of it, with four fine examples built by mssrs Geiger, Wiseman, Goldman and Ahlborn... hmmm...sounds like a law firm The following pics show what's in the model king kit... The first thing evident in the MK kit is the lack of the original Firestone emblem on the tonneau cover. Other than that, it appears to be a straight reissue with Firestone branded tires (identical to the 'Commando' tires in the old Boondocker kit) supplied instead of the Desert Dogs pictured on the box. The basic 2wd suspension pieces are all included with an extra sprue tree engineered with the 4wd parts. These parts actually represent the F100 or F150 regular cab 4x4 front end setup and will need replacing with leaf springs to accurately model the heavier duty trucks. Drivetrain is the same 390 4bbl C6 combo common to all issues of this truck (not the 460 as claimed on some boxes in this series). This would be inaccurate for the 77-79 trucks as it was replaced with the 351M & 400 engines in '77. Of course, the 300 six and 302 V8 were optional in these as well as the 460 in the 2wd trucks. Rep stock fans will want to do their research on the rest of the drivetrain, among other things, as the divorced np205 transfer case is accurate for the pre-77 trucks only and should be joined to the transmission on the newer ones. The cab shows some dimensional inaccuracies relating to windshield height (too short) but AMT captured well the essence of the truck. The choice of F350 super camper special long wheelbase tooling by AMT is a strange one and will require major surgery on the box sides to correct if you want a normal looking truck. 1:1 pics for body proportion reference... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=80383 ...and a link to diecast 67-79 Ford pickups... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=78552 mike

Looks so real it brings to mind the call-out tones on the loudspeaker ... just dug out and watched the pilot episode again last night mike

Best source on the net for detail on these trucks is fordification.com. Galleries, original brochures, tech stuff, it's all been done on there.... The project galleries have a lot of great stuff mike

Spotted this good lookin' little 1/24 '69 on the big auction site tonight. These have been issued in a few different colors by motormax. mike

Great topic. brings to mind a line from a L'Amour novel: 'A mind, like a home, is furnished by it's owner. If one's life is cold and bare. he has no one to blame but himself. You have a chance to choose from some pretty elegant furnishings' mike

I've seen it in a couple of different colors but not up close yet. Front wheel arch looks off but I bet uncle Jesse wouldn't mind. I don't really anticipate buying one at current pricing as I'm not really a fan of that 73-5 grill... The Liberty diecast is more like about 1/26 and the walton truck is at least 1/24 with goofy wheel arches too.. mike

Nice truck, Chuck, but those sure look like Chevy fenders. Here's a bumpside that looks good with newer Ford dually fenders mike