Force

Well there are realisticly just three manufacturers of US car and truck kits to talk about today as many of the older brands has been bought and merged with others. Round 2 who owns AMT, MPC, Lindberg, Polar Lights and some ERTL molds. Revell who owns the Monogram brand. Moebius Models now owned by Pegasus Hobbies. Occationally some others do too but these three above are the main ones who does the majority of the US car and truck kits we have today, lately Atlantis and Salvinos Jr are coming on and has bought some old molds from other brands and produces some car kits. So it's not like it was back in the 60's and 70's when all these brands were separate companies, and many like Jo-Han and other smaller brands are gone forever.

Monogram usually was in 1:24th scale but they went to the common 1:25th scale for most of the kits in the 90's but that was under the Revell umbrella since they are the same company since many years. Revell went away from multi piece bodies a long time ago so the bodies are one piece and 1:25th scale. There has been nearly nothing new when it comes to car kits from Round 2, or RC2 before them, and Revell is the company who has done most of the new US car kits released the last 20 years together with Moebius and a couple others and the quality is quite good, so I don't understand why one would stay away from them.

Like the 4070B Transtar II with air ride. not many of them left the factory, but the first batch had it. The chassis in the 4070B Transtar II kit was basically a carry over from the 4070A kit from the beginning in the production thus the air ride, but it was soon changed to walking beam after International skipped the air ride on the real trucks.

Don't have too high expectations of these kits, I don't want to discourage you but the old AMT kits are more challenging to build and the instructions are not that good...just so you know, they are not unbuildable but a bit harder than the Peterbilt kit you just did. So have patience and work slow, test and dry fit a lot before you add glue, and if you have questions ask them here on this forum and you will for sure get all the help you need.

It looks like shape of the front bumper is close to the one in the GMC General/Chevy Bison, not exactly the same but close

That's information I have found during my researches and I'm happy to share it. Yes AMT changed the rear suspension on both the K123 and W925 quite early in the production so finding a K123 with torsion bar suspension is kind of lucky, I have one old original W925 with torsion bars in my collection but I haven't been able to find a K123 with torsion bars yet. A funny thing is that the designation was wrong on the K123 and right on the W925 when the kits were new and both had the torsion bar suspension, it's the other way around after both kits got the walking beam suspension but AMT never changed it so both kits should have 23 as the last digits to be right.

One thing you have to have in mind when you look at this place is the all information there is not entirely correct as the product timelines for some kits are quite off. I have seen on some that they put kit's that has no relation at all in the same timeline, sometimes the years for first release are wrong and some kits wich are based on the same tooling and should have been on there are missing from it...so it's not a complete accurate guide. I know it's a lot of work but with more accurate information it could be a better crosslist so kits based on the same basic tooling show up on the appropriate timelines wich many of them doesn't at the moment. But it's a good place for information anyway and you get a hint on the history of the kits, when they have been re-issued and how they have evolved over the years.

I have to add this to the discusion. Just because one kit gives you trouble doesn't mean all kits from that manufacturer are bad, I have been doing models for close to 50 years now and we have all been there, of course some kits are trying to beat you down as some are bad and some are worse, but there aren't many kits I have given up on yet...and for sure no AMT kit and I have gone through a few. Back when I started building car models the majority of what I bought and built was AMT and MPC kits, some Monogram and some Revell and Jo-Han and I think I have only given up on one kit so far due to poor fitment and maybe lack of skills back then, it was an old Revell modified kit based on the Orange Crate called Chopped Deuce, the original Orange Crate is not an easy kit and this was worse So if I would have stopped buying kits from manufacturers because of one or two bad kits they have I would have left this hobby a long time ago as I wouldn't have had something to buy, you just have to percivere and overcome the problems, if it fights you, lay it aside and let it be for a while and come back to it later. AMT for sure has some gems when it comes to kits, you just have to find them, even tho' all AMT tooling has some years on it and the newest was developed about 20 years ago, because very few new AMT kits has been done since the early 2000's, but the latest ones are really good. I kitbash a lot and rarely build a kit like it was supposed to be built and I do the models as I want them, so I often change engines, wheels and other stuff and you have to make the parts fit the model you are working on because they are not supposed to be there from the beginning, so I'm used to fight to get it to work and some bad fitting parts in the kit and vague instructions doesn't bother me much nowadays, I just have to find ways to overcome the difficulties...and most important, you have to have patience and work slow. When we talk about tires in kits, very few kits I have bought has rubber tires, most of the tires in the kits I have in my pile (wich are quite large by now) are vinyl of some sort and the only car kits I have built with rubber tires are kits from the far east likeTamiya, Fujimi, Hasegawa, Aoshima. The later truck kits from Italeri has soft rubber like tires tho'. Some of the early truck kits from Revell Germany also had rubber like tires but those tires has a problem of dry rot so they are going bad over time and are worthless.

With some knowledge about AMT kits you can find kits that are very good, but you have to know what to look for. Most of the kits developed in the late 80's up to when Racing Champions bought AMT/ERTL in the early 2000's are quite good and some are very good, but you need to know what they are as they are reissued among other earlier not so good kits. Round 2 who owns AMT, MPC, Lindberg and Polar Lights brands now hasn't done many new tooling car or truck kits, most of what they do is reissues of older kits and some are bad and some are good. One thing you can do if you are uncertain on a model kit is to go to scalemates.com and look the model up, they have timelines for most kits and you can see when it was first issued, if it's of that time period they are often quite good, but unfortunately all information on the Scalemates site is not correct but most of it are fairly right and you get a hint anyway.

Nice build. Yes it's a K121, K121 and W921 is single drive regardless of suspension K122 and W922 is single drive with tag or pusher axle K123 and W923 is lighter weight tandem drive on 4 spring, Hendrickson RT/RS/AR type walking beam, Timken lightweight camelback type, air ride etc. K124 and W924 is heavier weight tandem on Timken or KW 6 rod, or Hendrickson RT/RS type walking beam K125 and W925 is lighter weight tandem on KW torsion bar Kenworth later dropped the chassis designation last two digits and they are called only K100 and W900 after that regardless of suspension type.

Well David, you must remember that the AMT Kenworth W925 kit first came out 1971 and most of the truck kits they have are from the early to mid 70's and the first truck kit they did came 1969, the standard on kits back then wasn't like it is today but they were quite advanced for the time, and the molds are worn after almost 50 years of use as this kit has been reissued over and over since it first saw daylight, so you can't expect it to be like model kits developed today. I built my first AMT Kenworth W925 model over 40 years ago back in 1978-79 when I was in my teens, it was the Movin' On version and I still have it on the shelf today so it has survived, and yes it was challenging to build but I managed to get it together without too much trouble with the skill level I had back then. You just have to have patience and go slow, test fit everything and adjust where needed because this kit and most of the other AMT truck kits are not impossible to build and there are lots of examples of that here on the forum. If you want a better full detail Kenworth W900 kit the only option you have is the Revell Germany W900 with the flat top sleeper wich is a lot newer, it's still available right now and is white on the boxart, but it's more expensive than the old AMT kit at $65-80+ depending on where you find it, Revell also have a W900 with Aerodyne sleeper wich is cheaper but it's a snap-glue kit with less detail...both these are 1:25th scale The Italeri kits Tom talks about above are crisp as they are a lot newer than the AMT truck kits, but have drawbacks like multi piece cabs, generic Freightliner chassis for most of them and the ones recently reboxed by AMT is quite expensive, and they are 1:24th scale.

Cool, he seems to be very helpful.

You are quite right. People who collects movie and TV memorabilia doesn't care if a model kit from a movie or TV show is correct or not, most of them aren't going to build the kit anyway and just put the box on the shelf. The old ERTL Rubber Duck kit is a good example, the prices on that kit is huge due to collectors wanting them, but the kit is worthless if you want to build a fairly good replica of the movie truck from it...that's the fact...I have one of these bought back in the day but even if I didn't have one allready I would not buy one even if the prices were a lot lower because it's so far off, and the only thing the kit is good for is to build a plain regular DM600. But people who gets a Movie and TV tied kit to build it will most likely want a kit that's fairly right and have the look of the subject it's supposed to be to buy it...at least I do...it doesn't have to be perfect because smaller things can be fixed, so if it's close I would for sure buy. Anything is possible, it just depends on how much money you want to spend on the subject and how fast you want to get your money back...the Coca Cola thing from Round 2 is one example of putting out merchandise and get your money back fairly quickly...those kits are aimed both for collectors and builders. Well we have to wait and see what Round 2 will offer to us.

Maybe the Lone Star Pro Star wasn't the right subject, the Lone Star is cool but not everyone likes it as the design is kind of bold, and the Pro Star is more plain jane and maybe not that common, if they had done maybe a Kenworth W900L, a T660-680 or Peterbilt 379-389 or a 579...or maybe even a Freightliner Cascadia they might have done better...I don't know but it's a hunch I have. The older trucks have their place as I said, because nostalgia is a big thing, but a newer truck kit can't be wrong to do as so many asks for one, and you can't really compare trucks to cars, the modern American cars worth doing kits of are few and most people interested in cars are more for 20's to early 70's rods, classic and muscle cars, truck people are a bit different as most are interested in both vintage trucks and modern trucks...and what we have available to us today is exclusively vintage as nothing new has been done except for the two Moebius kits wich has some years on them now too as the Lone Star came out 2011 and the Pro Star 2013. A strange thing is that so little is done for older trucks on the aftermarket considering the truck kits we have to work with. For movie trucks. I think you have to at least do the right model and be close to the right year for a movie based truck to sell fairly good, if it's too far off many will not buy it for that reason. I mean ERTL's attempt to do the Rubber Duck of the DM600 back in 1978 failed humungously as it wasn't even close to what is was supposed to be, allthough it sells for huge amounts now for some reason it's so wrong and absolutely worthless if you want to achieve a close look of the movie truck with that kit and the few usable things from it are definetely not worth the price. The AMT R-series is better as the cab is right but as it's a R685ST wich has a shorter hood it's not really right, the Rubber Duck movie truck was a RS700L Western with a long wheelbase and it's different in many ways from the AMT kit, and very different from the ERTL DM600, you also have to have the right accessories for it to pass as the movie truck. Same goes for the Duel truck, the AMT California Hauler kit cab is newer than the movie truck cabs and it's the wrong model so I don't think it will do that good as the Duel truck even if you do a new 281/351 hood for it, and you also need to include several new accessories for it to pass for the movie truck. AMT's attempt to do the Movin' On truck was not as bad as the ERTL Rubber Duck but it wasn't entirely right as it has too old cab with wrong interior, too short wheelbase, too small sleeper, wrong bumper and lots of other things, so it needs work to be right...it's better to base a Movin' On build on the Revell Germany W900 and you get the right cab, interior, sleeper, wheelbase and bumper so you only have to change the wheels, rear suspension, the engine, a shorter hood and get new decals, you will have a more correct truck than the AMT kit even if you don't change these things and just get the decals. If it would be easy to do with what they allready have and they thought they would sell good they would allready have done it, and if you see what has been said on mostly every new car model kit when it's released the last years where people say it's wrong here, it's off there, not right there, has to be changed here, not the right scale on these parts and so on...the same most likely goes for truck kits wouldn't it.

Very nice, it's your first truck model and you can for sure be proud of it.

If you do a new tool truck kit you would like to do a subject that appeals to the crowd so you sell more and get your money back faster, a subject with a narrow market does not do that. The kits available to us today are old...very old, I mean, a kit from lets say 1980 is 40 years old now...time flies when you have fun...and most of the kits from for example AMT are old as the majority came in the early 70's, a few kits came in the 90's and it's nearly 30 years now, and a very few are newer than that. There is nothing wrong with re-issuing older kits as nostalgia is a big thing, but a more modern subject is long overdue and Moebius started out good with the Lone Star Pro Star, but nothing new has been done after that. What subject should be done then...well...take a look on the highways and see what seems to be popular and you get a hint on what can be a good seller as people like to build what they see, and there are lots of interesting subjects out there. Even a Kenworth W900L or a Peterbilt 389 would sell good even tho' they are old...but they are popular, and there are most likely several other more modern trucks that can fill the void and would sell fairly good. Italeri has been upgrading their kits to newer and newer specs all the time when it comes to the European truck kits...mostly the cab styles and not much else...but the US truck kit development from the kit manufacturers has unfortunately stagnated totally wich is a bit weird as the US market seems to be quite large

Very nice model.

Nice. From the time when a Pro Stock car still somewhat looked like the car they were supposed to be.

Yes you did, but I'm happy to be able to help you out and that's reward enough for me.

Ok, the Hedman Headers from the 1956 kit would work just fine for that.

Ok, I built the AMT kit back then and it was fine by me then too, I also bought the ERTL Mack Rubber Duck kit back in the day but that didn't cut it for me as it was way too far from what it's supposed to be and I did not finish the model...I still have most of it but it's in pieces. I will build a more true replica of the Movin' On truck in the future, same with the Duel Truck, Smokey And The Bandit Truck, the Rubber Duck and Love Machine (Pig Pen) trucks and I have done a lot of research on all of them and gathered parts and decals so I can get them right.

I think my Petty Charger kit was issued 1973 and the decals wich don't have any red parts, only numbers and contingency decals, are printed October 1972 by the looks of it.

Yes the 58 Ford's and the 58 Edsel's except for the Citation and Corsair are based on the same chassis as the 57 Ford...the smaller Edsel's had no other option 1958 than the E400 wich was a 361 FE and the 58 Fords you could get a FE on the option list. So a FE would fit in the engine bay and as the later Galaxie chassis is a development of the 57-8-9 chassis with longer wheelbase the cast iron headers would most likely fit.

To get the "look" of the truck at least you have to do the right era of the truck and that demands at least a new tooled cab and hood and some other stuff. It's not like you can take any 281/351 and dirty it up and call it the Duel truck, many things like accessories has to be right to achieve the look.

I'm in for a Cascadia, and more trailers too, I would like to see a Featherlite style race car hauler myself and a Cascadia suits it fine as it's popular among racers.