mikemodeler

Saw a post on Facebook that Highway aka Matthew Brownlee has passed away.

There are only so many more versions of the Jimmy/Blazer that can be milked from this kit as it's mostly grille changes from 81-91. As Brian pointed out, modular design means new frame rails, body and interior and the rest of the kit can be used to make pickups and Suburbans. And if Revell has the 2wd front end suspension designed, a whole bunch of kits can be made. I suspect they will take a page from Moebius and milk this one for years!

I just checked his website and the old Scenes Unlimited tires seemed to be out of stock. There were some sets for big rigs but anything for pickups/suvs looked to be sold out. I noticed this has been an issue for a while now, not sure if he is so busy he can't keep up or is focused only on big rig stuff.

Check out Fireball Modelworks, Joseph can set you up with several different styles of 8 lug wheels and tires to match.

You need to contact him, I believe he casts to order now and has a decent turnaround time on orders.

Interesting discussion. I personally think 3D printing and injection molding will be a part of our hobby for a fair amount of time. There are providers out there supplying us 3D parts and kits that the model companies will likely never offer due to the manufacturing costs. 20 years ago we had the likes of Don Holthaus creating masters to resin cast parts and kits that either were long out of production or never kitted and we bought them because it was the only way to build that model we craved. As Don aged and wanted to retire, 3D printing started becoming more common and possibly less labor intensive than casting, and his huge catalog of parts and kits became a memory. People who started out resin casting are moving to 3D printing because of the time and money involved. Joseph at Fireball is retiring some of his resin tire molds and replacing them with 3D prints for that reason. I personally think we are living in a great time for this hobby. So many people offering parts and kits that we could only dream of in the past. You want a Duramax Diesel pickup kit? It can be had with 3D printing. Tire and wheel options are vast and for so many different types of vehicles from trucks to cars in custom or vintage styles. There are people offering us 3D printed kits of vehicles that we could have only dreamed of and now we see people requesting kits so unique that a model company will never kit. I am sure model companies are looking at the technology available today to see how they can incorporate it into developing new kits and reviving kits that need some help to be viable for production and it will be interesting to see what is coming next.

Iceman Collections offers a 69/70 grille to convert the current 72 pickup into a 69/70.

The sale is every other week. The had them on sale last week which means they will be on sale next week.

Fireball has honeycomb and Rally II wheels as well as tires to go with, in 1/24 and 1/25 scale. https://www.fireballmodels.info/index.html

In a somewhat related topic to this, seeing a few sellers on FB posting some of these kits for $25. I'm sure they think they are on the road to riches but only if someone buys the kit.

Fireball Modelworks has a bunch of tires and wheels. Great product and service too!

several hobby shops have reported getting copies

This should be the ones you are looking for: https://houseofhobbies.com/collections/auto-accessories/products/pegasus-rim-tire-set-1-24-312-15-8-spoke-chrome https://pegasushobbies.wpcomstaging.com/product/8-spoke-chrome-rims-with-tires/

Post a picture of the wheel or the kit they can be found in and you might get more help, some of us have extensive spare/leftover parts stashes that may have what you need.

I passed on this 40 years ago, will do so again. The toylike nature of this kit does not get me excited for this one.