Force

No that's another type of unit (I don't know what make and type it is) wich looks like this. And this is the one I'm after. As you see they are different units, thanks anyway. This type of Thermo King unit has also been done by Heller for their 3-axle Reefer trailer. The pictures are borrowed from this excellent website http://public.fotki.com/modeltrucks25thscale/ and all credits goes to him.

This looks to become a nice model Sean. Sox & Martin is my favourites and I have plans to build several of their cars sometime in the future, I have boult one tho' and it's the 71 'Cuda.

Sean- I have plans to build these trucks myself so I have recently done the research on them...so you're welcome to it. I have some vague memories from the Movin' On series from when it was on TV over here in Sweden maybe a year or so after it was televised in USA, but that's a long time ago and I was very young then, maybe 11-12 or something like that. I built the AMT version later sometime in the late 70's, it has survived and I still have it in my collection The BJ And The Bear series hasn't been on TV here but I like the appearance of the truck so I'll build it anyway.

173 views and still no answer, so it must be as i suspected then...nothing available. That's okay, I'll have to rely on my scratchbuilding skills then and do my own, I have one Ertl Thermo King unit on a built trailer to take measures from.

Yes that's correct...I don't know if the were flat black but they were indeed black, he also painted the fuel tank bright white on many of his race cars to reflect off heat so the fuel would be cooler and more dense, I don't know if he did that on this car though.

Yes, the Chinese can do good things if they want to, it's just the matter of quality demands and pricing as you get what you pay for even in China.

There are different versions and modified re-issues made of many kits by the different owners of the companys over the years and some of the tooling might not be in the model they were designed for originally as some kits share some tooling, and some has been altered beyond use, so it can be a hard task to find, sort everything out and see what's workable, so yes a complete tooling inventory must be essential to know what you have and where it is...and as Case says, they probably don't want to reviel that information publicly. Round 2 doesn't only have the AMT and MPC tooling, they also have the old Ertl, the Lindberg and the Polar Lights tooling so it's a large chunk of tool steel to go over. So I see more nice seldom seen and improved interesting re-issues in the future, and I for one welcome that....but sure, it would also be nice to see a totally new tooling kit now and then.

The last new AMT tools were the 57 Chrysler 300C's, the 58 Plymouth Belvedere, the 58 Edsel Pacer, the 60 Ford Starliner Coupe's, the 62 Pontiac SD 421, the 62 Ford Thunderbird, the 66 Ford Fairlanes, the 67 Ford Mustang and Shelby, the 68-69 Plymouth Roadrunner-GTX and 70 Dodge Coronet, the 70½ Chevy Camaros, the 71 Plymouth Duster, all these kits were developed in the mid to late 90's before the RC2 era in the early 2000's and I have most certainly forgotten a few, but these are the ones I came to think of right now. After RC2 took over there weren't that many new kits made, a few new Camaros and Challengers and maybe one or two more, the rest were straight or slightly modified re-issues of kits that were plentiful on the market allready with totaly boring boxart. I don't know the financial status of Round 2 LLC but we must not kid ourselves, they are in this business to make money...that's the main thing, and if they don't they'll stop making kits...that's the bare fact.

You will never get the drive shaft to line up exactly in the middle of the frame with this rear axle setup with the reduction gearing over to the left side and not in the middle...and that is as it should be. So the drive shaft will go over slightly off center to the left side however you do...but the wheel base on this kit is so short so it looks to be more that usual. And if you check on a rear wheel drive car the drive shaft is slightly off to one side there too as the pinion is over to one side of the ring gear. and not exactly in the middle...so that's not uncommon. But other trucks has a rear axle setup where the reduction gearing is exactly in the middle so the drive shaft will line up in the center of the chassis.

The AMT W-925 tooling was altered to a T-600A in the 90's so it cannot be reissued in it's original state without some re-tooling...and it's not correct for the TV-series truck anyway but for the pilot called "In Tandem" it's fairly right. But Revell of Germany has a W-900 that's a better starting point for a Movin' On project as it's a VIT with the 60 inch sleeper as the TV-series truck was, you just need the correct decals from JBot or Modeltruckin' and a short hood from either a Revell snap W-900 Aerodyne or an old AMT W-925, it will fit on the RoG truck. Further you need a Cummins VT-903 and a torsion bar suspension (both available in resin) if you want to do a true replica of the TV-series truck...but if you're okay with likeness the kits Cat 3408 and 8-bag air ride suspension will do. The BJ And The Bear truck is for sure expensive on ebay, but you can do the BJ truck with a cheaper generic AMT K-100 Aerodyne and aftermarket BJ McKay decals from JBot or Modeltruckin' and you're good to go. If you want to do a correct replica of the BJ McKay truck you have to change the AMT kits Detroit 8V71T (or it could even be a 8V92T) and Allison automatic transmission and put in a Cummins NTC 400 and a manual tranny, Revell of Germany has a NTC 475 in their Peterbilt and KW K-100 kits that can be changed to a 400 if you leave out one of the twin turbos...but if you're not doing a exact replica of the BJ truck the kit parts will do.

Yes, right before RC2 bought the AMT/Ertl company they did several very nice kits, some of them are the best they ever did, after that....nothing...and the people who designed and developed these nice kits was laid off or left by themselves. About the mentioned Torino Talladega: Polar Lights did a Richard Petty version the first time around so only the boxart are new...the decals might not be exactly the same but they're similar. But sure, I would also have wished that they did address the problem with the up-swept fenders...but there are lot of problems with this kit (and the Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II) that can be addressed as it feels like it wasn't really fully developed into a finished product and somewhat rushed into production when it was first released.

With that type of rear axles the drive shaft can't line up in a straight line in the middle from the gearbox to the first axle in the tandem as the reduction gearing is towards the left side...so this should be correct.

There is nothing new here, all manufacturers have been re-issuing older kits periodiclally since the very beginning and some kits have been issued over and over and over again, but they have also done new kits at the same time. The previous owner of AMT Racing Champions also known as RC2 Corporation wasn't into the model kit business that much, I think they just were after the licensing for their die-cast line when they bought the AMT/Ertl company...they laid off some of the people who knew anything about kit making and just did re-issues of old kits with little or no interest at all in what they did...they also did some new parts and some modifications to older tooling and many weren't that good. Round2 who now owns the AMT/MPC/Polar Lights/Lindberg brands on the other hand is model people and they have lifted the brands a lot since the RC2 days, they are going through the tooling bank and have re-issued some kits that hasn't been out in many many years and also more recent good sellers with new boxart and some new or improved parts...and that's fine with me. They probably want to build up some capital before starting to do new kits wich is very costly and I think we will see some new kits sometime in the future from them...it's just a matter of time.

There are lots of other '53-'56 F-100 kits available. AMT has a '53 (wich is the same truck as in the Diamond In The Rough Combo kit) done in a couple of versions, MPC/AMT has a couple of versions of a '53 with tilt front and sometimes tilt bed in 1:25th scale, Monogram has a couple of versions of a '55 in 1:24th scale and Revell has a couple of versions of a '56 in 1:25th scale...you can also find the Monogram 1:24th scale kit under Revell lable So you can most likely find one quite cheap if you look around.

The aftermarket "Olds Fiesta" hubcaps has that same pattern in the center, it's white though. But I don't know if anyone does that exact hubcap in scale, the closest you can get is the more stock looking Olds Fiesta hubcaps and The Modelhaus amongst many others has them.

There are five main caps on a FE engine and both the late 406 and all 427 has cross bolts on number 2, 3 and 4 from late '62 onwards (406 with cross bolts are very rare though), so It should be three bolts on each side...most hi-perf engines from Ford also had threaded screw in freeze plugs...but these things are not that visible on a model so you can leave it off.

Yes, and the BJ truck is basically the same truck as the Tyrone Malone transporter trucks without transporter body and Tyrone decals...and maybe a shorter frame. The BJ trucks are for sure expensive on ebay but it's quite easy to do one cheaper with a re-issued generic AMT KW K100 Aerodyne kit and aftermarket decals. The Ertl Convoy Rubber Duck kit is a regular Mack DM 600 with some added parts and decals to do the movie truck...sort of...and Model King re-.issued the DM 600 quite recently. But sure, the Convoy Rubber Duck kit first came out in 1978 (that's the issue I have) and was available continuously to 1981-82 something and hasn't been out since in it's original form with all RD parts...so you might call it rare...and it for sure fetches a lot of money on ebay for some reason.

Except for the kits allready mentioned the MPC/AMT '69 Olds chassis also works under the '70 Jo-Han Olds 442. The AMT '68 Roadrunner/'69 GTX/'70 Coronet chassis works under the Jo-Han '69 Road Runner and '70 Superbird...and all other B and E-bodies in 1:25th scale with slight modifications. The Lindberg '64 Dodge and Plymouth chassis works under the Jo-Han '62-'63 Plymouths and Dodges if you modify them slightly. The AMT '60 Starliner chassis and floor pan works under the less detailed AMT '63½ and '64 Galaxies and Mercurys with some trimming. The AMT '67 Mustang and Shelby chassis works under the less detailed AMT '68 Shelby and other Mustangs...and Falcons as the Mustang is related chassis wise to The Falcon...and the AMT '64 Mercury Comet Caliente as the Comet also are based on a modified Falcon chassis. The '62-65 Fairlane doesn't share chassis with any other car so it's not correct under a '64 Comet Caliente but it works if you're not that picky. The '66 Fairlane chassis looks to be very close to Torino so it might work as a donator.

You can do that and it will for sure work. But if you want to take engine and parts just from one kit you should get the latest AMT '60 Galaxie Starliner 2'n1 De Luxe kit as it has everything you need...and everything is top notch detailwise and it's one of the best kits AMT ever made. There are two complete engines in the kit and you'll get one 4-bbl intake with carb for 332/352/390/406/427 etc, one 2 X 4-bbl intake with carbs correct for 427 and one 3 X 2-bbl intake and carbs correct for 390/406 complete with cast aluminum oval air cleaner, same cleaner top but different base for the 2 X 4 and 3 X 2. You also get other nice parts as 427 style cast iron headers, one of the nicest 9 inch rear ends I have ever seen, lake style side pipes, nice Astro Supreme wheels, two sets of plated valve covers (one plain, one Thunderbird) and one set unplated, traction bars and lots of other usable parts...and the separate chassis and floorpan works under the less detailed old AMT 63½ and 64 Galaxies with some slight modifications...I don't like '60 Galaxie's that much but they are great kits and I have several of them as parts donors for other builds.

The Revell Germany W-900 kit has a 60 inch sleeper and I have seen separate sleepers sold on ebay from time to time.

I can only agree, very nice products and good service.

Looks like a nice start.

It was a wise decision to build something else from this kit. I also tried to build this kit back in the late 70's (my kit has copyright year 1978), but I didn't finnish it as it was too far from what it was supposed to be and I gave up...I had seen the Convoy movie so I knew how it should to look like and it didn't by far. I still have it but it's not complete anymore.

Yes I noticed that in another thread and looked if I could get the picture bigger...but no. Peterbilt also had a bicentennial paint scheme called "Patriot" and as with Kenworth only 200 was built, I suspect 100 of the 352 model and 100 of the 359 model.

The Showboat kit is a fiddly kit to build and the pipes are not easy to get right at all, so I understand if you don't want to do it over again and again. When I saw Wagonmaster at the NHRA Museum at Pomona, and on all pictures I have seen, it has another layout of the exhaust pipes, they are shorter and point straight up so they are not leaned backwards as on the Showboat...yes the Wagonmaster is built on the original Showboat but the pipes was appearantly changed at the same time as the Buick wagon body came on. The Showboat they show today is a replica of the original that was built some years ago as the Wagonmaster still exists.