Force

The last issue was #205 and I got that back in April, nothing since then. I have renewed my subscription a while ago as it was about to expire soon and I wanted to be on the safe side. I don't know how well spread the magazine is now, subscribers get their magazines but I don't know how it is with hobby shops and magazine shops, I have never seen the magazine here in Sweden and I got my first copys in the US around 10 years ago and started a subscription soon after. So as far as I know the magazine is still in production but it's very slow.

I have the AITM resin kit and all usable parts from the ERTL Convoy kit are included with it, as well as more correct wheels, suspension, battery boxes with air tanks, sleeper and R700 hood, you may want to use the AMT R600 kit as a starting point anyway to get more details...and as the AITM kit doesn't have one at all you need the ENDT 676 engine from the Cruiseliner or the Auslowe resin parts to do the Tip Turbine Cool Power Maxidyne engine. But I'm sure you can buy the resin copied ERTL parts separate from Dave at AITM if you ask nicely , I did a custom order when I bought mine, at first I was only going to buy the necessary parts to convert the AMT R600 kit wich Dave agreed to supply me with, but after some thought I finally decided to buy the whole kit except for the decals as I allready had the same Modeltruckin' decals included in the AITM kit. As I have said before, I bought the ERTL Convoy truck back when it was new in the late 80's so I know it well and what it contains, and I can't justify paying the stupid prices asked for the ERTL kit now when the duck hood ornament, the bull bar and the roof air foil are the only parts you can use from the kit if you want to do a Rubber Duck truck, you will not have use for the rest of the kit other than to build something else from it, and the regular DM600 has been reissued several times and can be found a lot cheaper. It's funny, even as you have seen a movie a gazillion times you still pick up things every time you watch it, I have lost count of how many times I have seen Convoy, Smokey And The bandit and some other cult car and truck related movies, maybe it's because you concentrate on other things as you know the plot allready. I bought the Movin' On series on DVD a couple of weeks ago and I'm watching the series the second time now and I pick up things all the time.

According to the instructions the displacement is 11.41 litres and the output is 320 hp. And I googled around a bit and as the engine is from the 80's it's most likely a MAN D2566 Mk or MKF and the gearbox may well be a ZF as MAN used them a lot.

I do have that one too, started back in 1978-79 when it was new but not finished due to the inaccuracies, I still do have most of the parts and the box tho'. I also have one original issue of the "small window" Unilite cab California Hauler. one of the second issue with the sleeper and sun visor one "small window" Unilite 359 Wrecker one Alaskan Hauler two each of these Malone trucks, first issue. one Volvo N10. a couple of this one, both with walking beam one of this a couple of this one of this one of this as I had a real one until a couple of years ago one of this one of this one of this a couple of this Two each of these one of this one of this one of this one of this one each of these and one each of these All unbuilt but I have the intension to build all of them.

Well the 66 Fairlane 427 do, it has dual four barrel...and yes it's a nice engie too.

You mean the "Pig Pen", it was a lot rattier and a dual drive.

I agree with afx, the FE engine in the AMT 1960 Ford Galaxie Starliner is the best I have seen so far.

Awsome.

Yes I live in Sweden in northern Europe, so it seems like it doesn't matter where you live. The Kenworth K100 kits was originally issued by Revell AG in the early 80's together with the other American truck kits they had and all have been reissued by them several times, but the latest K100 and K100 Aerodyne kits from last year, and the Will Do Peterbilt 359 Wrecker from 2013 was reissued by Revell US. This Revell thing is a huge mess and the future of Revell is very uncertain as there is no word, no news, no nothing...absolutely quiet. Same goes for Moebius...nothing what so ever has been said since the Pegasus Hobbies deal came through.

Nice. The 49-51 Mercury is a car that looks nice both as a custom and factory stock, and it doesn't matter if they are two or four door.

I don't have many rare kits, only a few. In my stash I have the sought after MPC More American Grafitti Milner Dragster, an AMT 1962 Thunderbird Annual, an AMT 1964 Fairlane Annual, an AMT 1965 Thunderbird Annual, an original issue Jo-Han AMC Rebell Machine, a MPC Mako Shark Corvette, two each of the original issue AMT Tyrone Malone Super Boss and Bandag Bandit race trucks and Papa Truck and Hideout Truck transporters, one each of the original T500-500 and second issue T500 AMT Peterbilt California Hauler, and for sure some that I forgot right now...and no, I have not built them yet but I plan to.

Parts requests go through Revell AG now since there is no Revell US anymore. When I asked for the replacement cab for my Kenworth K100 I first did it with Revell US, I got an answer from Mr Ed Sexton regarding shipping and I answered that, but they never sent one to me. Then after the Hobbico deal I tried to get one with Revell AG but they couldn't help me. It's a bit funny since these trucks was originally issued by Revell AG, the re-issues was from Revell US, the plastic was molded in Poland and the tires in China but the kits were packed in the US...and no one could help me with a new cab to replace the cracked one in my kit...the chrome was good in my kit. Everything are the same in the more recent re-issue of the K100 Aerodyne except for the roof section, but it didn't help either.

I might be a bit OCD when it comes to wheels myself, because I want it to look right. Your aluminum wheels don't look exactly like the kit wheels do, they look more like the ones on the TV series trucks and that's a lot better. I have tried to find correct looking 22 inch Alcoa split rims for my Movin' On and Smokey And The Bandit truck projects but the only ones I can find are the wheels in the AMT White Freightliner kits, the rear wheels will work just fine but the front wheels have a slight ridge outside of the lugnuts the real Alcoa's from that time didn't have, they have an even curve from the lock ring up to a flat area where the lugnuts are. The wheels in the AMT Kenworth's most of the other AMT truck kits are 20 inch and looks too small, and they also have the same ridge outside the lugnuts on the fronts, and most of the aftermarket Alcoa wheels are one piece for tubeless tires. KJ Humphreys did some nice wheels for his recent Peterbilt 359 build wich looks right but he doesn't have them available on his website, so I don't know if he ever casted them.

Yes these looks right., any chance of letting Jamie cast them in resin?

It would have been better if the red hue had been more to grey or beige as the interior in a Thunderbolt is beige with a goldish shine to it.

It came out very nice Rickard, a killer build.

That's right, the "Victoria" name has been on Ford hard tops from 1951 and the "Crown" name was added for the top of the line Fairlane models in 1955 and 1956, then the "Crown" name was dropped and didn't come back until 1980. But that doesn't take anything away from your build, it's very nice indeed.

I've had nothing but the best service from Auslowe when I've ordered from them, and they carry parts of very good quality and supports the hobby tremendously. So I have all my thumbs up for Nigel and Renee and I wish them the best. I'm not a facebook guy but I just sent them a supporting email and ordered some parts for some of my future projects while I was at it.

Maybe I will get me one of these, I've never had one.

Well I think it must have been a lot easier to do a conversion kit for the AMT R600 kits.

I have to order the longer tanks for my AITM RD kit, I've got the shorter ones as it was some time since I ordered my kit. I will probably order some more stuff when I'm at it.

The old ERTL kit is not the best starting point for a correct Rubber Duck truck as it's a Mack DM 600 with an offset cab, the sleeper is too small, the frame is too short, the rear tandem is too far appart, the wheels and lots of other things are wrong too, so you have to convert and change mostly everything to even come close to the appearence of the movie truck. As mentioned before, the duck hood ornament, the bull bar and the roof spoiler is about the only parts usable from the ERTL kit, put them on a AMT R600 together with a longer 700 hood and an Able Body 60 inch sleeper, some two hole wheels and you have a much better starting point. The AITM is a complete resin kit with Modeltruckin' decals wich is close out of the box, it's a curbside but you can put in an engine if you want to, some things has to be corrected to do it as the movie trucks was but it's not much...I just looked on the website and this kit is out of stock right now tho'. AITM also has the Peterbilt 351 hood conversion meant for the recent California Hauler kit.

I have saved everyting from the St Louis Dump Trucks website before they gave it up after they sold the truck (they used to own the Duel truck too) and I have every picture posted there saved in my planned projects files, the new owner of the Rubber Duck Truck has a Facebook site with lots of pictures. https://www.facebook.com/Rubberducktruck1970/

Well as with the Movin' On trucks there has been lots of information on the interweb regarding this truck, some are correct and some are not so correct, but that's not important. The engine is a Detroit Diesel in most places if you go by the sound track of the movie, but in some scenes in the movie you definately hear a four stroke diesel, the air horns sounds a little weird on the sound track too, the long horns used on the Rubber Duck doesn't have that high pitch sound. In most pictures I have seen the air cleaner is the dual hose so at least the main truck for most outside scenes must have had a Tip Turbine ENDT676 Maxidyne engine as they had that particular air cleaner. So look at pictures (there are lots of them on the internet) and decide what version of the truck you want to do.

Yes the old ERTL kit is worthless if you want to do a correct Rubber Duck truck, I bought one back in the day in the ealry 80's and gave it a go but I gave up pretty soon as it's totally wrong, as you say it's only the bull bar and the ducks that's usable. I also got the AITM kit for the same reason, it's not exactly true to the movie and correct in every aspect but it's a lot easier to do right than the old ERTL kit or the AMT R600, the Rubber Duck is a RS700L wich has a longer hood. I have also read that they used three trucks for the movie, two complete ones and one glider, and one of the movie trucks has survived to this day and is owned by Anthony Fox in Georgia according to Overdrive Magazine.