LOBBS

Very cool builds, this truck thing may be growing on me.

I've seen the Italeri race trailers and some similiar trailers (race and show) from Revell of Germany. Are these perhaps the same tooling or are they completely different animals?

I've never seen a "naked" picture of these trailers. I've only seen them as a finished product that has been fully skinned. In the Featherlites (and I'm sure some of the other brands), the upper deck is where the cars are stored while the lower deck is workspace with cabinetry and benches for the teams. The walls of the trailer become the supporting members for the upper deck and I'm very curious as to how they are buttressed without impeding greatly into working space of the lower deck.

Is this the Italeri trailer you posted about in my other thread? If so, this may definitely be the quickest route to get where I'm looking to be. I've seen the Italeri trailers and similiar ones from Revell of Germany. Are these kits related in any way?

Yep, once I get the frame of the trailer worked out it should be fairly simple to get the rest to come together.

Thanks Matthew, this is all new ground for me. I greatly appreciate you taking those pictures for me. Counting the ribs on the underside of the trailer it would appear they are somewhere around a 15" or 18" spacing. This is looking more and more like something I'll have to completely scratchbuild. I could knock those ribs out pretty quickly at work on a Bridgeport. For some reason, I had it in my mind that all the trailers had some kind of "spine" running from the kingpin along the full length and that the rest of the trailer was built off that. This is more like a space frame that I'm used to in the aerospace work that I do.

I have seen the various versions of the European trailers so that may be a possibility if its easier to "Americanize" them rather than going another route.

So the rails do not extend the full length of the trailer, only slightly more than where the suspension mounts? The perimeter of the box and the floor are then the main load bearing members of the trailer? I haven't been able to find underneath shots of the car haulers and the frames themselves are obscured by the storage boxes and/or sides of the trailer. Is there any way you could post of pic of the underside of the 1/32nd hauler so that I can get an idea of what the bottom looks like?

So I've got a Lonestar on the way and I want to build a modern car/race hauler for it. This will be the first tractor trailer I've ever tackled so please bear with me. From looking at pictures I'm thinking that a lowboy drop-deck trailer would give me the best start for the frame and major bits. Is this off-base? I know I'll have to build the enclosed box and liftgate. Which drop deck is the better start; the AMT Lowboy or the Revell Heavy Hauler? What are the lengths of these trailers? I'd rather build a 53 footer but I'd be happy if either of those was a 48 footer. Does extending the frames to 53' require the bits from a second trailer or are the structural pieces from Evergreen a good match for the needed frame sections? I'm not trying to replicate any brand of trailer in particular I just want something that is immediately identifible as a car hauler. I've seen some trailers with spread axles, some with tri-axles and some in the standard configuration so I've got some leeway there. I'd prefer to have an air-ride setup. Do either of those trailers come with the airbags or is that something I'll have to go to the (model) aftermarket for? If I've read right a modern trailer is 53' by 102" by 13'6"? One of the carriers that picks up at work says is has 110" on the inside dimenions of their dry van. I'm sure I'll have lots more questions as I getting rolling along with this. Thanks in advance for your replies.

I'll be there as usual. Hopefully, I'll actually have something new to enter this year.

I've had a master of the T-56 tranny for years. I've emailed several casters and have never found anyone willing to cast it for me.

Argh, that looks like an auto tranny on the 2010 Camaro. I was hoping for an updated LSx motor/T56 tranny so I could quit raiding Revell's '02 Camaro for pro-touring goodies.

Wow, we're just newbies at this stuff. My wife and I just celebrated 10 years in February. We got married when we were "young, dumb kids" (21 and 18 years old) so we've got a ways to go yet.

So did the 2010 Camaro get pushed back? I thought it was due out around the same time as the Shelby.

I wouldn't say they're a hard sell, I've bought a couple just to steal the wheels from . I don't know the economics behind it but the diecasts usually have the wheels updated over the course of a vehicle's run. I just bought a Greenlight "Jake" Vette for the sole purpose of having a set of the new Corvette Spyder wheels for my Revell Z06. I sent Greenlight an email suggesting that they could be missing a market by not releasing their wheels as a stand alone venture like Aoshima and Fujimi do but never got a response back. The Maisto and Jada diecasts can usually be had for less than a set of Aoshima rims shipped from overseas. Since designers can't seem to figure out scaling on wheels, 1/24th scale wheels off of a diecast are usually "just right" on a 1/25th scale kit.

Just awesome.

We make some medical parts at work from polycarbonate for one of our medical customers. I've got two blocks that are 1"x3"x4" and about a half dozen parts made from the same material that had the threads stripped out in process. We normally just pitch plastic scrap so I snatched it up hoping to find some modeling related use. Any ideas? I know that it can be machined just don't know what to make from it.

Argh, as long as Revell is revisiting older subjects let's see a new '67 Camaro and '67-'72 Chevy truck.

That's tasty! The Fujimi wheels look so much better than the kit's.

I'm digging how this is coming along. I personally thinks it awesome to have the owner/editor of the mag building anything. I don't know how many times I've walked into a hobby shop, shot the bull with the owner or the guy behind the counter and been shocked to find that they don't build at all. How can you really know your products or even get excited about them if you don't have any experience? Needless to say, none of them that I'm aware of are still in business.

That's awesome, I need to set up a site to get rid of this mess.

I'm not even a regular truck builder and I've got to have one of these!

Absolutely amazing. I've got a great admiration for guys that can perform this kind of surgery. Definitely above my skill level. A great subject being done right.

I know I posted on the in-progress thread but this Nova is absolutely amazing.

Darin, my oldest son was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome a few years ago. In the course of the interviews with his child psychologist doing his diagnosis, I also received my own "off the books" diagnosis. His physchologist basically told me that it was unnecessary for me to run off and get "official" because once you've reached adulthood you've pretty much learned to deal with it the best you can. Luckily, I've got a wife who has come to accept my condition and we can make inside Aspy jokes when I have my moments. My oldest son is just severe enough that he was struggling in public school so we made the decision to homeschool our kids.