Casey

I don't doubt it at all, and I think the AMT/Ertl '68-9 Mopar B-bodies were a huge upgrade over what was available then. I'm just hoping everyone who has access to Dana rear parts can share so we can all see what's available, and then decide what works best for each of us.

Here's a pic of the '69 GTX's rear cover from an eBay listing, but I don't think it's as nice nor as accurate as the two Revell-sourced options above:

The box in your pic is from the 1997 reissue, and both boats look like they are from that time period, too, judging by the still bright white color of the bare white plastic.

I believe it is supposed to be a Dana 60, and IIRC the same rear is found in the Sox & Martin '7 Cuda kit, too. Here are the rearend halves from the SC/Rambler, the cover, and a chrome plated cover from another, unknown JO-HAN kit:

I don't see the black at all, only a blue and gold dress. Seriously though, the mesh on both images looks like natural metal color to me, but the actual positive mesh "lines" appear thicker in the top photo, hiding more of the negative space.

Wow, love the wild paint job so far. Larry Watson would be smiling if he saw this.

I measured the Jeep's wheelbase when I first took the contents out of the box, and knew it was a bit short of the correct 120" (4.80" in 1/25 scale) length, and since I was going to separate the bed and cab anyway, no big deal. Now that I'm working on reconstructing the bed, it's clear the bed is going to need some lengthening: Luckily Jeff (jeffs396) went through this exact situation before me, so he is sending me the bed stretcher tool he used, so I should be good to go once that arrives. I started looking at the engine parts, too, and there is really nothing good about the JO-HAN AMC engine, this one in particular from the '69 SC/Rambler kit. The cylinder heads are decent and I will probably use them after some clean up and minor reshaping, but the engine block itself it a hot mess, with an axle clearnace hole passing straight through it. The block's details (freeze plugs, etc.) are crude, too, so I'm looking at other options. No, not other AMC engine options, because there really are none other than the 1/24 Monogram Jeep's engine, which is the later style AMC V8, and no better than this J-10 kit's late AMC V8 engine. What to do... After doing some online research on the earlier AMC V8, I noted some similarities between it and the Cadillac OHV V8 which was new for '49. I just so happened to have picked up a cheap Revell '59 Eldorado Seville, and lo and behold, the two engines are similar, maybe similar enough that I can modify the Cadillac engine to look like the AMC V8. Both have similar head with partially exposed exhaust ports, plug bores which are nearly perpendicular to the heads, valley pans, and intake manifolds which span from head-to-head...this could work. I will need to add longer skirts to the Cadillac block, but the Y-shape is there and the JO-HAN AMC heads fit fairly well, too. AMC heads on top row, Cadillac on bottom: The valley pan isn't quite the same between the two, and I will need to dig up or make the water crossover (not sure what that's called exactly), but I think this is as good a starting point: Not sure what I will use for a transmission at this point, but it will be a manual with a transfer case behind it. I think that'll be the easy part of the drivetrain. I also owe a big thank you to Jordan White for trading me a set (still looking for more, though) of five Revell Goodyear Wrangler Radial tires, which are just about the perfect size. There's an MPC 5-slot wheel (very) snugly resting inside one tire for show, but wheel choice is still undetermined...they will be old school, though:

I will second Jeff's suggestion after comparing the first two above. The two housings are very similar, but not quite exactly the same. The '68 Hemi Dart's rear cover is slightly wider or elongated (side-to-side, when in the installed position) and just slightly larger all around the perimeter than the '68/9 Charger R/T's. The Hemi Dart's housing appear (to me) to be closer to 1/24.5 scale, if we assume the Charger's is a correct 1/25 in all dimensions. Looking at it another way, the Charger's rear could pass as a Dana 60 and the Hemi Dart's as a Dana 70 IMHO, and the Dart's rear would look right at home in either a 1/25 or 1/24 scale model. The Dana 44 front axle from the just issued Ford Bronco has a nice cover, but the housing itself is too generic and the ribbing looks to squared off to me, so I only include the cover in my comparison photos. The Bronco's cover looks just fine on the Charger's housing but appears a but undersized on the Dart's, so I think the Bronco cover used with the Charger housing produces the best option for a Dana 44 (for most applications, but not all) setup. The best thing about the Bronco's cover in my opinion is it's scale thickness, which has less "bulge" where the cover expands over the ring gear inside. This "bulge" isn't horrible on either the Charger nor Dart's covers (and not nearly as bad as seen on the JO-HAN cover), but the lip of the Bronco's cover is also much more in scale than the others, too. The thick, over-sized lip on the JO-HAN Dana differential cover can be thinned down in ll fairness, but it still comes in a distant fourth place not worth using at all in my opinion, since there are better, more accurate options available. A word about the comparison pics I added below. From top to bottom the rear ends are: 1/25 Revell Dodge Ram VTS Chrysler 9.25" 1/25 Revell '68 Hemi Dart 1/25 Revell '68 Dodge Charger R/T Unknown black rear, which I *think* is from the 1/25 Revell Chevy '73-'86 Stepside kit(s) I included the Ram VTS and unknown black rear for visual comparison, and because the black rear was the closest rear I could find which I thought would pass for a Dana 44 rear. Its shape is a bit generic, and again, in my opinion, I would use the Charger's rear and Bronco's cover to come close to a Dana 44, but considering the size of the housing alone, the black rear appears closer to a Dana 44 IMHO. That said, please have a look at the pics and judge what you think looks better, more accurate, etc. It's always good to have options. The bottom axle in the below image has the Bronco's Dana 44 cover in place: Below, clockwise from top left: Ram VTS, '68 Hemi Dart, '68 Charger, Bronco:

Dat box art, tho. Got this in trade from Ken Krawiec today. I'm thinking...Powell.

If anyone has a tire from the 1/8 Monogram Popper Chopper (or Low Blow version) mini bike kit and would be willing to take and post (or PM me) a few measurements, I would appreciate it. It looks to be close to a 1/24 sale tire, but it's hard to judge the true size. The tire has a unique diamond tread pattern as far as I can tell. Here's the tire and kit in question:

Thanks, Mark. Always helps to know what you're looking for.

I have three parts I could use some help identifying which kits they originally came from. Dark blue (maybe a little greyish, but doesn't appear to be metallic, and darker than the blue Revell used in the late '80s/early '90s) driveshaft, appears to have been molded with the rearend/differential center section at one time? It does "feel" like 1/25 scale, and not 1/24: 2. Handlebars from...some crazy custom type vehicle? No idea on this one, but the plastic underneath the chrome plating is bright yellow, and the part itself doesn't appear to be too old: 3. Inner fender/wheelhouse from ???? Kind of "feels" like '60s AMT plastic, but could be MPC, too. SHown next to a 1/24 Monogram Chevy Luv Stepsider fender. The semi-circular notch and the bottom edge appears to be original to the part, too:

Bump...even if just for motivation.

I'm in.

I would buy the Revell '70 Chevelle SS 454 SnapTite kit, too, and see how well that might work for the nose-specific parts. The AMT '70 has been changed from '70-'72 so many times, and it's an old design kit, not nearly up to par with more modern kits like Revell's '66 or AMT's '68 El Caminos. You're in for a lot of work either way, which you seem to be fully aware of, so best to have all options available when the razor saws come out. I'm not sure what the specific differences are between a '68 and '70 ElCo in terms of underbody, chassis, etc., but I would agree that the AMT '68 ElCo is the best starting point.

http://automodeler.kitmaker.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=11315

I decided to use the floor of the interior tub, as the tunnel area has a fairly complex, asymmetrical shape, and the locating studs would be useful for test fitting purposes, too. After removing the rear and sides of the interior tub, I added some material to both sides of the floor and the toeboard area. I had previously shaped the top edge of some styrene sheet which conformed to the underside of the cowl panel, so after some test fitting, cutting, etc, I joined a few pieces together and ended up with this: I got lucky after opening a Revell Ram VTS and noticing how large the front inner fenders were...just what I needed for the Gladiator, with plenty of material to spare. Looks like they'll fill up the engine compartment nicely, though they will need to be modified a bit: After they were cut free and sanded a bit:

I hope it's of better quality than this Dodge cab shown as an example on their website.

http://resinrealm.net/Star/STAR Models/55_Chevy_4dr_Sed.html http://resinrealm.net/Star/STAR Models/56_Chevy_210_4dr_Sed.html http://resinrealm.net/Star/STAR Models/57_Chevy_210_4dr_Sed.html I suspect the above are Hendrix pieces, but here's a separate list of Hendrix kits containing three Tri-Five Chevy kits: http://resinrealm.net/Star/HendrixGallery/HendrixAll.html

I hope you're planning to use the "Black Cherry" graphics.

http://offroadmodels.proboards.com/thread/48/big-oly-bronco?page=6

I worked on cleaning up the frame today, removing the inaccurate shock mounts, filling in the leaf spring shackle bracket recesses, etc., but didn't take any pics. I did take pics after I joined the bedside panels to the rear bedside caps/rear valence panel, which first required filing the rearmost ends of the bedsides to 90 degrees. I added a slight bevel to both panels since the joint is supposed to be a pinch weld joint on the real truck, so we'll see how that looks after primer is applied: I think I need to add some material to the inner vertical edge of the end caps, as it looks a little think t my eye, and the outer edge of the tailgate panel too thick. We'll see how everything looks once I get the top/inner edge of the bed rails added back on and the stake pocket holes in place, though. It's hard to tell now that I've removed the bed rails' inner edges, but this is where it's at now: I may have mentioned earlier this kit has a lot of nice things going for it, yet some aspects leave a lot to be desired, so one detail which the Revell designers nailed was the bed floor ribbing. The rib count and position are both very accurate according the reference pics, so I am going to true up the long edges and reuse the center floor section. Here's a shop of a test fit/visual mock-up with the frame, cab, partial bed floor all together: As for the interior tub, I don't think I'll use any of it. It's tapered on three sides (assuming a draft angle design concession), the door panel detail is crude, and there's a huge molded in console/armrest I don't want. The underside, which does have some okay molded in detail, still isn't great, so into the unused parts pile it goes. Here's a look at the interior tub:

The Monogram/Revell 1/24 T Bucket kit's header are probably as close as you'll find, but you'd need to tweak the spacing in the two middle primary tubes: Maybe one of the AMT Sprint Car kits had a SBF?

Nice work so far, Pat, especially that seat.

Oh, they can be bribed... I always look forward to seeing your projects develop, and this one will be no different. Did you cut and shape the center piece of the I-shaped(?) axle beam just was we see it, then bend the top and bottom sections of the "I" to match the contours?