Force

January 19

On 1/16/2024 at 11:14 PM, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

One can find almost all of those items in existing kits.... -RRR

That might be true, but buying several kits and rob the parts you need to do a traditional 32 hot rod or street rod gets expensive and aftermarket parts are not cheap either.
So in my opinion the Revell 32 kits are not bad but could have been a lot better with more timeless traditional hot rod parts, pretty much like the recent Model A Ford's Revell did.

January 16

On 1/14/2024 at 9:56 PM, StevenGuthmiller said:

I would hope that if Tamiya were to jump into the classic American car market, they’d go for something a little more unusual.

Do we really need “another” ‘32 Ford? 🙄

Steve

Yes we do.
The Revell 32's are good but the chassis and some other stuff are a bit too modern.
It would be nice to get a traditional 32 with stock firewall, 32 frame rails with a 34 frame cross, a original or Model A or T rear cross member, transversal rear sping, quick change rear axle, I-beam front axle with hair pins, maybe a good 59AB or 8BA flathead with hop up parts, 39 gearbox.
I would buy if one came out.
Allthough I don't find it likely that Tamiya would do a 32 Ford.
And most of the car kits they do are curbside wich is unfortunate...they do very good kits but that takes the fun out of it.

January 14

On 1/13/2024 at 2:19 PM, Mark said:

Monogram's switch to 1/25 for car kits came in 1993 with the '59 Eldorado convertible kit.

Well Revell and Monogram was the same company under the same roof by then and I don't think they developed many new tool kits in 1:24th scale after Oddesey Partners merged both companys into one in 1986, they continued with the 1:24th scale where the kits were spinoffs based on earlier 1:24th scale kits like the NASCAR, Pro Stock and Funny Car kits wich originally was Monogram kits developed before the merge.

January 14

On 1/13/2024 at 6:37 PM, jlucky said:

I appreciate the response guys...much of that I was familiar with but it's a good summary. I guess what I was hoping to find was something like this page from an article about building AA/Fuel Altered. It gave a great overview of the various model items that was available.

I have not seen a list of what's available in different kits when it comes to blowers.
I know the Monogram, later Revell Funny car kits from the 80's forward has a Mooneyham blower with a "M" on the front cover, otherwise the blowers are pretty much generic.

January 13

On 1/7/2024 at 3:45 PM, Mark said:

Unless American hot rods become more than a niche item in Japanese culture, I wouldn't hold my breath. Believe it or not, the items they do produce are chosen pretty much for the home market, meaning Japan. Any additional sales are icing on the cake for them. Besides that, in all likelihood they would go with 1/24 scale whereas the vast majority of American automotive kits are, or are claimed to be, 1/25 scale. Monogram was the lone holdout for 1/24, and they flipped to 1/25 thirty years ago with the exception of their NASCAR kits which they no longer produce.

1:25 scale kits from Monogram came after the merge with Revell wich happened in 1986 when Odyssey Partners bought both companys, before that most Monogram models were 1:24 scale but they did both larger and smaller scales.
One thing is that the Monogram developed snap Peterbilt and Kenworth semi trucks wich originally was issued 1982, that will say well before the merge with Revell, were 1:25th scale and they also did semi trucks in 1:16 scale.

January 12

I agree with Bill here, most of the superchargers used in drag racing are based on the GMC-Detroit Diesel design from the 2-stroke diesels and the aftermarket haven't changed much from this basic design other than some has more ribs on the case and some has less, slightly different appearence of the front and rear covers but that's it, the construction and function is the same regardless.
The large 14-71 blowers used in nitro racing are modified versions of the original design, the case and rotors are much longer and the case is often machined billet and the original design cases for the Diesels are casted, the rotors are sealed with teflon and urethane strips so they are more efficient than the original design with no strips.
You have two styles of the GM/DD super chargers, one style for the inline engines like the 4-71, 6-71 wish are placed on the side of the diesel engine and this style is most common in drag racing, and one style for the V diesel engines like the 6V-71, 8V-71, 12V-71 (wich has two superchargers) or 8V92, 12V-92 and 16V-92 (both the 12 and 16 has two superchargers) where they are placed inside the V between the heads and these are more rounded.

January 12

7 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

Interestingly, I have seen them a few times on Ebay (USA) in the past couple of years, for what I thought were fairly reasonable prices, considering its short production life.

Yes, both the Transtar F-4270 and the Transtar CO-4070A had very short production runs, the Transtar 4300 and the Transtar II Eagle CO-4070B wich replaced them was on the market a lot longer, the Transtar II CO-4070B was also changed from air ride to walking beam a year or so into the production and all kits after that has walking beam.

January 11

You know the wheels on the White Freightliner are larger than most Rick?
The WF (and a couple other AMT kits) wheels are 22 inch and most of the other AMT and ERTL truck and trailer kit wheels are 20 inch, so the WF rims and tires are larger diameter.

January 11

On 1/10/2024 at 1:48 AM, RickRollerLT1 said:

I believe when Round 2 finalized the AMT/MPC purchase, they only got the Ertl non-tractor molds. I believe the reason was companies like John Deere had exclusive merchandising contracts with Ertl/Tomy that couldn't be transferred to R2. Not sure what are of the Tractor tools now or if R2 got them later, but I do know many of them haven't been reissued since 2007 and currently go for stoopid money in the marketplaces.

In addition to the all styrene trucks and 4x4s that have been recently reissued, Ertl also did various trucks and kits with die cast bodies.

'65 Mustang

'80 Trans Am

'80 Camaro

'81 Bronco

'75 Corvette

Peterbilt 359?

Mack DM Series?

It's possible the tooling still exists for some of these, but the odds are unlikely since R2 had to remake the International Transtar tool from the ground up.

Round 2 did appearently not get all the non farm tractor kit tooling when they aquired the AMT/MPC brands and tool bank from ERTL/Tomy.
The original International Transtar CO-4070A tool originally issued 1972 was changed to the later International Transtar II Eagle CO-4070B 1976 and it couldn't be issued again in the original form, so Round 2 recently did new tooling for the CO-4070A, but they don't seem to have the CO-4070B tool in their posession because they would have re-issued it by now as it's a quite sought after kit, so ERTL/Tomy must still have the tooling.
The International Transtar II Eagle CO-4070B was last in the AMT/ERTL catalogue in 1987 and the last time it was re-issued was as a AMT/ERTL Buyer's Choice series kit in 1996 and has never been issued again since then as far as I know.
The International F-4270 was also changed to the Transtar Eagle 4300 in 1977 so the earlier F-4270 can't be issued in the original form anymore but the 4300 has been reissued under the AMT brand and is up for another re-issue this year.
Other ERTL kits that haven't been out in a long time is the die cast chassis trucks like the Volvo N10 and the Peterbilt 359, it would most likely be possible to shoot plastic in the die cast molds like Revell has done with some of their kits.

January 9

Here are the brands owned by Round 2 and AMT is just one of them.
Round 2 bought the Racing Champions, AMT and MPC brands from Tomy who still owns ERTL and later they added the others to the list.
ERTL is out of the model kit business and Round 2 got most of the tooling for the kits...appearently not all but most of them.

American Muscle

AMT

Auto World

Forever Fun

Hawk

Johnny Lightning

Legends of the Quarter Mile

Lindberg

Mini Metals

MPC

Polar Lights

Racing Champions

Silver Screen Machines

Vintage Fuel

January 6

4 hours ago, ABC Auto Industry said:

I haven't found any yet, but I'll keep looking.

I might just do that. Also, since I've gotten one vote for this, I might just build my 353 as a logging truck, though the idea of building it as a mining truck is still strong in my head, especially considering I recently bought an Autocar dump truck kit and plan on building that one as a mixer using parts from the Kenworth Challenge mixer kit.

I hope it works out for you.

January 6

5 hours ago, ABC Auto Industry said:

Sorry, but I gotta agree with Force: None of those would make a good starting point for me. I'd rather not pay $150 just for a couple of fenders.

The fenders are completey wrong anyway.
You can try to send a message to Tim Ahlborn, he's a member here and he might have information for you as he's the Peterbilt guru.
his handle here is mackinac359 but he hasn't been frequent here for a couple of years, he also has a facebook page and you can try to shoot him a message there.

January 4

It's not only that the Euro tractors look front heavy with the short wheelbase and COE cab, they are front heavy.
Like many of the airplane kits you have to weigh it down so it will stay on all wheels and the weight in the tires was a great idea.

January 2

On 1/1/2024 at 4:32 PM, Fat Brian said:

Another low hanging fruit would be a 351 hood for the California Hauler.

Yes that would be nice since the AITM stuff is unavailabe since Dave passed and Doug shut down.

January 2

Looks good.

January 2

Nice.

January 2

Looks nice Steve

January 2

21 hours ago, cifenet said:

Happy New Year Håkan!

Thanks for the feedback on this and keeping this build with me.

For the problem, maybe I wasn't clear when explaining the issue. I wish it is the top grille that interferes, but unfortunately it isn't.

The problem is with these two pieces (two red boxes) having no clearance and preventing the cab movement:

To be exact, these four corners (red arrows) get locked in. Tightly!

After studying the mechanism from my mock build, in order to display the truck in tilted forward position so engine bay is revealed, you must tilt the cab and assemble first, then attach this bottom piece.

The cab will rest on the top of this bottom piece and it keeps the cab in tilt position. Wow.

I am going to modify the hinge (green arrows) so the cab can be pulled upward when tilting is required. That can provide some extra clearance to tilting and it shouldn't increase the existing height of the cab. Hopefully, it is a quick fix.

Haha, you are correct, all of the clean diesel components including DPF, EGR, and DEF related stuff always give trouble especially as soon as the vehicle warranty expires! And I heard they are expensive to fix! What about that!

Hmm...strange design...it looks like Italeri has made the parts too large, so it looks like you have to trim off a bit on both sides to make it tilt freely then, I would trim some of the bottom edge on the front wall and maybe a little on the bumper part just enough to make room to tilt the cab and not interfere, that way it doesn't show much when the cab is down and the grille is closed.
For the up position there must also be a way to make it work.
The upper part of the grille swings out so it should not be a problem and it works in real life so one must be able to get it to work on a model.

January 2

19 hours ago, Richard Bartrop said:

Apparently the '70 GT-500s were just unsold '69s fitted with a chin spoiler and some new emissions equipment, so it's possible that it's the same kit.

Yes they were.
And it's most likey the same kit...maybe with a chin spoiler and a different decal sheet.

January 1

If I do a wishlist there are many new truck kits I want to see.
Kenworth W900L, T660, T680, T700, T800, K100E, Peterbilt 379, 389, 579, 589, 352H, 362, Mack Titan, Freightliner Cascadia...tell me when to stop. 😉

January 1

23 minutes ago, Mr mopar said:

’70 Shelby Mustang GT500 should have a chin spoiler and two stripes up the hood !

Yes, so it's most likely the old 69 if they haven't done the spoiler and the black stripe decals for the hood...the 69 and 70 are essentially the same except for these things.

January 1

44 minutes ago, stitchdup said:

i think some of those were also available in metal casts. I'm sure i had most of the tractors and implements growing up that i got from the localjohn deere sales place

ERTL does mostly diecasts in different scales except 1:24 and toys nowadays, no model kits.
But I believe they still have the molds for the farm equipment.

January 1

2 hours ago, cifenet said:

The GigaSpace is the configuration that you could order and it provides spacious cabin where you can comfortably drive, live, and sleep.

Looking at the specification sheet, the head room is roughly 2.13 meters (84 inches)!

You can stand and walk around inside the cabin. Not bad at all!

I am slowly attaching each component one by one, and the truck is taking its shape nicely.

Except a couple of "what to look out for" areas in this build diary, so far my build experience was quite pleasant.

Yes, the rectangle looking silver box is the exhaust!

I decided not to further detail the brakes.

Once the wheels are mounted, no disc rotors/calibers will show up. After all, I am building this to finish quickly.

I checked the fitment of various components including the air intake system.

The lower body panels position well also and I verified their attachment locations.

No unexpected finding so far and I started to "mock" build the cab.

Using some masking tape to hold parts, I was able to complete this mock build.

I examined things as to how I would need to build and paint the cab.

I was basically planning my next move.

I really like the look of this truck. Mercedes Benz did a fantastic job styling and designing this truck. I cannot believe this design is already 10+ years old though.

Still the truck looks fresh and very modern to my eyes.

By the way, this is when I also realized that I need to build this truck in one of the following configurations:

Open hood configuration (means the cab in tilted position)

Closed hood configuration (means the cab in driving position)

The truck does not allow you to open and close the hood (cabin) once you make your choice and build that configuration.

Strangely, the kit does have a functioning mechanism so you can tilt the cab! See below (red arrows):

BUT the front bumper piece blocks the operation!

I confirmed it with the instructions also, if you are building the truck in opened hood configuration, this is how the truck would look:

I can't believe that my only option of displaying/revealing the engine is to make the truck in "Opened Hood Configuration".

I wanted a quick build, but looks like this build may drag longer.

Yes the rectangular thing on the side of the chassis is the exhaust, it's the muffler, particle filter and other invironmental friendly economy unfriendly stuff in there together with a lot of other stuff like sensors and thingamagigs on the engine that only gives hassle and are troublesome, that's the Euro 6 rating for you, EPA for the US.

Now to your problem.
If you are able to swing open the grille section on the front of the cab with some kind of hinge instead of glue it in in a fixed position you will be able to tilt the cab up and down as you wish, that's how it's done in the real world, first swing the grille open because it is in the way, then tilt the cab...otherwise some plastic will for sure break when the cab tilts up. 😉
It seems like Italeri have done the same on more kits like the recent Volvo FH4 Globetrotter XL and Scania S730 Highline where it's the same way...on the Scania you have to decide if you want to have the door open or closed also, so you have to come up with something to be able to swing open the grille section if you want to be able to tilt the cab and show it both ways.
Italeri took the easy way out and didn't do anything about it to make it work both ways, but I'm sure it can be done because the pivot points for the cab are there, it's just a matter of getting the grille section out of the way so it woun't interfere with the bumper when you tilt the cab.

January 1

Yes it's has been hard on the race legends lately.

January 1

On 4/17/2023 at 1:43 AM, Engine 51 said:

Ok, here goes…had one of these as a kid. Would love one now to try and do it justice.

On 4/17/2023 at 2:07 AM, StevenGuthmiller said:

I would guess that this mold would still exist for possible future releases, if it’s currently not available. ( I don’t know a whole lot about trucks)

My assumption is based on the fact that the kit you shared is an ERTL release, so it’s really not that old.

Steve

The ERTL International Transtar F-4270 is the second truck kit ERTL did themselves back in 1972-73 together with the International Transtar CO-4070A so it's fairly old and the F-4270 was altered to the 4300 Transtar Eagle and can't be reissued again in original form.
The CO-4070A was changed to the CO-4070B Transtar II Eagle so it could not be reissued, but Round 2 has done a new tool of the CO-4070A so that's available, the CO-4070B Transtar II Eagle on the other hand will most likely not be reissued, ERTL owned by Tomy appearently still have the molds for it but I don't think we will see it again as they are out of the model kit business.
So The Transtar II Eagle kit is not likely to be reissued, especially with the original air ride as it was changed to walking beam early in production...that is if not Round 2 can manage to get the molds from ERTL-Tomy who kept them when Round 2 got the tool bank from Tomy.

Here is another that most likely woun't be reissued in this state, the regular DM 600 and DM 800 has been tho'.