Casey

I'm guessing it will have generic "City of ________ Dept. of Sanitation" type decals. Something close enough to pass the eye test, but no official city/village/township seal nor logo. That's a great idea. I would think they'd be two old school, corrugated and galvanized metal style cans, and two separate lids would be a nice touch, too. I think the new wheels alone will move a few kits, even to those who don't have much interest in the refuse body. It won't be long before the "when is Round2 going to include the Budd wheel with ________ kit?!!" question appears.

Are the seats based upon the original MPC '68 Coronet parts? It appears they have seven "rolls" in the center, while the 1:1 seats have eight.

As Round2's Marketing Manager, Chad Reid should at least be prepared for any public presentation, and he wasn't. That's unprofessional, and could have been prevented with a few minutes of Google searching. The history on the Californian kit is not that difficult to find, and admitting, live, you know nothing about one of your company's soon-to-be-released products is not a good look. If you want to call that "folksy", fine, I guess, but I'd rather see a prepared, professional presentation any day, everyday. Round2 isn't some cottage company operating on two weekends every month, putting out product when they feel like it. They have almost 40 employees according to their own webpage, so the days of six die-hard models builders forming a company and working out of their garage do not apply to Round2: https://www.round2corp.com/meet-the-team/ While I doubt the livestream will have much impact either way in terms of sales of the two automotive kits presented and discussed, they could have done much better, and that's why people are disappointed. Clear and well lit video, and prepared and knowledgeable presenters would have helped immensely. Anything a company puts forth into the public view reflects upon that company, and this wasn't a great effort. Hopefully, they do better next time.

I noticed that, too. $23 w/shipping and up on eBay.

I think this is key, and considering is was designed to pair with the Ford C-series cab/frame all those years ago, it makes too much sense not to pair it with the C-series cab now. Maybe the Ford Loiusville frame is similar in width, or perhaps Round2 designed the new refuse body to work with trucks which have a wider frame, too. I guess we'll know more when things are further along.

"THESE MODELS ARE NOT EYEBALLED COPIES" Nice dig at Palmer, there. ?

Uh-oh, you got the chopped roof, early issue.

Round2 has done half the work needed to build this one...:

Good reference here: http://www.classicrefusetrucks.com/albums/GW/GW18.html

I think the 'spread' between the lower end of the front fenders can be hit an miss on these kits, as I had some warpage on one red version I built in the '80s. There are plenty of slots for aligning the front end chassis and suspension parts when assembling it all, but multiple parts need to be assembled at the same time, so everything needs to go together perfectly to get a good end result.

It was about what I expected, based on the previous teaser video Round2 released. We're fortunate that there are two Round2 employees/consultants here on the forum, so we are usually far ahead of the curve regarding what new compared to the general public. I would bet that's exactly what will happen.

If you can determine the various stripe heights, I think you could come close. There are pinstripe and slightly thicker widths stripes in various colors available, and Microscale (?) has hundreds of model railroad sheets with very thin stripes, too. Fred Cady offered solid color sheets, too, which can be cut into thin strips. *edit* Like these:

"Unable to reach an agreement with"...not sure how that would have worked out since I doubt anyone at Round2 knows how to work a pantograph, nor wants to learn, but it's probably best they decided to start from scratch. It sounded like there'd be at least four or five movable parts (hinged rear compactor, ram plate/sled inside the body, movable hydraulic cylinders), a new fuel tank, and all-new Budd style wheels (I couldn't tell of the rears were Budds, too. or not), so a fairly healthy investment in the Ford C-series...series. Very cool to see this finally come to fruition, though not exactly as designed by AMT in the '70s, which is fine.

Not with this wheel and tire combo. Do you know which brand, model, and size the tires are? All I can make out of the raised sidewall lettering is "_ _ _ _ _ CLASSIC"

Those are American Racing Equipment Torq-Thrust D style wheels. The AMT '55 Chevy Nomad kit contains two 14"(?) versions, but the pictured wheels may be 15", as there appear to be disc brakes fore and aft? The kit tires you have are generic tires which AMT included, and not great for a Cobra. Not how the spokes are curved, to allow for disc brake caliper cleanace: Different view. Tires have that vintage Dunlop/European tire look/tread pattern so maybe someone here can ID them and/or suggest a source:

^This.

Most of this info was laid out honestly in the review topic, but the kit is basically a lump, promo style chassis which was never very good, and made worse over subsequent modified reissues.

This, but more specifically, use a metal wire to make your own springs instead of trying to source a matching pair from something existing. Use the correct gauge metal wire in a softer, more malleable material than steel, then wrap the wire around a machine bolt of the correct thread pitch and diameter. This also eliminates the need to sand the mold seam off of every coil spring loop on the kit part, which most people don't do, and which also sticks out like a sore thumb after you paint the recess black. Yes, you'll nee to make your own shock body and perches to fit inside the coil spring.

I didn't recall these being "that" bad, but the Ollie's price sticker don't lie...

http://italianhorses.net/Tutorials/Primer/primer.htm

Following James breaking the news on this kit at the IPMS show, found here...: I figured there'd be enough interest in this kit to merit a topic of it own. All pics found here: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10807406

From the April 1995 issue of SAE: