Force

I have several AMT Kenworth W925 with walking beam suspension and I finally got me a kit with torsion bar suspension a couple of weeks ago...I have looked for for one for some time and one came up on an auction site for a fair price so I bought it. Now to find a K123 with torsion bars, I have never seen one but I have heard they are supposed to exist.

I got the Coke GMC the other day togerther with a Cke trailer, the Hideout Truck and Kenworth Custom Drag Truck "Bandag Bandit". I also got a Kenworth W900 at the same time but that was a Revell Germany kit.

Yes they did some more to the decal sheets that wasn't there before and the sheet for the "Bandit" is nearly a third larger than the original, the sheet for the Hideout truck is the same size as the original sheet but the colors are a lot better and more true than they were before, so the new decal sheets are better even tho' some markings are left out. The tires are the same as in the 2016 reissues of the Super Boss and Papa Truck with tampo printed markings and the Bandag names are there.

If they had planned for it when they did the tooling for this kit in the first place I don't think the cost would be that high...it is now tho'. I would most likely have bought the kit if it was a full detail but it's not that interesting to me without a detailed engine bay as it takes some of the fun out of the build.

As I finally got my reissued Hideout Truck and "Bandag Bandit" Custom Drag Truck kits the other day I thought I would give my review of the kits, so I opened the boxes and had a look. These kits are exactly the same as the early 1980's issues of the Hideout Truck and Bandag Bandit but as everyone know by now they are molded in black wich I really don't like that much. It's not like black paint doesn't cover well over white or gray because it does, but light colors needs several coats to cover on dark surfaces so that makes it more difficult than necessary when you're going to paint everything else than the body itself. The Hideout Truck was allways black and the first paint job on the "Bandit" was also black but had a blueish shine to it as it had blue pearl or something like that in the clear coat, so the highlights shine blue in the sun...and I don't know many who doesn't paint their models anyway so I don't really understand why Round 2 made that decision. We start with the Hideout Truck. The instructions tells us to paint the engine white wich is wrong for a 1978 Kenworth like the Hideout Truck is, Kenworth stopped with white engines 1975 and used manufacturers colors after that with a few exceptions, and in this case the engine should be silver and I have photo proof of that, they call out for aluminum for the Allison transmission and I don't know what color it should be...maybe aluminum is right...most likely it's the color it left the Allison Transmission Plant with. The instructions also tells us that the chassis should be black...but nooo that's not right...the chassis was white on the real truck and I also have photo proof of that, so mostly everything on the chassis except for engine and transmission should indeed be white. Further it tells us to sand several of the interior panels flat and paint them semi-gloss black...wrong again, on the real truck they were diamond tuft like they are in the kit so the panels don't need any work other than paint, and the interior color was speckled darker blue, not black. The decals looks nice but the gold isn't really gold, it's more like brown and as everyone knows all Bandag, Allison and Detroit Diesel markings are missing, I like that they included the Thermo King badges tho' so it's possible to do the early 1978 Thermo King version if you want to with some aftermarket decals for the missing scripts. Now for the "Bandag Bandit" Kenworth Custom Drag Truck. The color callouts in the instructions are mostly right except for a few things, the third member on the rear axle should most likely be black, the axle housing is light blue like the instructions say and I don't know if the third member has been changed out sometime but it is flat black on the real truck now. The interior is called out to be semi-gloss black and that's right for the Bandag Bandit as it is now wich is the fourth and final version and the version before that, but the version from the time period the kit is supposed to be with the decals included the interior was blue and white with yellow buttons and piping. The interior was changed to black after a fire at Malones shop, the "Bandit" was damaged in this fire and had to be repaired, reupholstered and repainted so the "Bandit" is slightly different after that, and it was repainted at least one more time before Malone donated the truck to Bandag. The "Bandit" did not have a roll cage like the Super Boss had (wich is in the kit), it had a chromed tube roll bar at the back of the cab over the seats. The decals are nice but the gold is more brown than gold and all Bandag, Allison, Detroit Diesel related stuff are gone like on the Hideout Truck decals, as well as the Bandag Bandit name, they included the Thermo King badges for the doors so you can do the first 1978 version with some aftermarket decals for the missing name decals. They also included the temporary "Driver Martin Carver" decals for the doors wich are for a later version of the truck when the Bandag Inc. CEO Martin Carver set the speed record at Bonneville in August 1988. A nice touch that wasn't in the 1980's issue is that they did "AMT Hobby Kits" scripts for the wing side plates this time, unfortunately they have "Tyrone Malone" instead of "Bandag Bandit" on there due to the same reason all Bandag, Detroit Diesel and Allison names are gone. So maybe Round 2 should have done their homework better and researched a bit more before they did the instructions for these kits.

From the Season 1 Episode 11 "High Roller" .

Yeah, they are "all business" and no show. I found one for a fair price a while ago so I do have one in my stash for a future build. It's not much different from the regular W925 kit, everything is still there and four small sprues with the Alaskan Hauler specific parts are added with the hood, radiator/grille, headache rack, front bumper, fenders, a large propane tank for the frame, a 16-speed Spicer transmission instead of the old 5 X 4 and a few other bits and pieces, and no chrome plating.

That will work. For colors, the car I owned was Dynasty Green with Wimbledon White roof and white and black interior.

Very nice, I like the 1962 Cadillac's.

Here is one. Pictures borrowed from the now defunct Hanks Truck Pictures site.

Yes, when they do such a nice kit they could have taken the time to tool up the engine too, what difference will 10-15 parts more do to the total and I hate when they leave this "minor detail" out. Nice work by the way.

I also have two kits, one Accurate Miniatures original issue and one Revell issue...and headers from HRM. Maybe I get motivated to start one up when I follow your builds.

Nice dragster. You don't see the front wheel fairings anymore, I heard is that they worked like rudders and the cars got twitchy steering as a result, that's not fun in 200+ mph.

That's not what I'm saying. The proposed changes will in my opinion make the NASCAR Cup cars loose what distinguished NASCAR Cup racing from other saloon car series. I mean, they use large wheels with low profile tires and center nuts, air jacks, 6-speed sequential transmissions, individual rear ends, exotic materials in almost any other series and NASCAR haven't had that so far. I don't think these changes will make the cars go slower (wich NASCAR has tried to do for the last 20-30 years) or be any cheaper for the teams as they all have to start from a clean sheet and can't use anything from the old cars as mostly everything except for engines are obsolete if all changes go through...so it will most likely favor teams with large budgets. I like the limitations the current rules has regarding the wheel size, tires, brakes, 5 lug nuts on each wheel, 4-speed H-pattern transmission, rigid rear axle and so forth...and for me they can go back to using engine programs based on current production engines instead of the for NASCAR developed special non production engines they have used since 2006-2007. If you're not careful and letting the development go too far too fast it can kill the series instead of making it go forward, that has happened lots of times before in motor racing...less people watching and fewer teams will do that.

The pattern for the doors and quarter panels are the same for both so that will work, they need arm rests as you mentioned and the sedan doesn't have any cranks for the rear side windows. The Sports Coupe has bucket seats with folding back rest and the seats in the Thunderbolt's are buckets but rigid lightweight Bostrom seats from a Van so they are not correct for the Sports Coupe, but the seats from the Thunderbolt can be made to work if they are detailed right. You also need to use the center console as all 1963-64 Sports Coupe's had them, Ford used consoles from the 1962-64 Galaxie 500XL/Mercury Marauder S-55 in the 1963-64 Fairlane 500 Sports Coupe. Nice save of the body.

Well, put on all the left over parts you have in your spare parts box and you should have a Mad Max version.

It's really worth saving if it's possible as the 1964 Fairlane 500 Sports Coupe kit was issued only once. The interior is different between the Sports Coupe and the Sedan, but you might already know that, and I don't know if the Revell interior tub will fit in the old AMT body as the roof line is different, I have not tried that myself. If it does fit the upholstery on the back seat is wrong for a Sports Coupe anyway, the Sports Coupe was top of the line and had vinyl upholstery, bucket seats and console so you might have to do with the AMT interior. I used to own a 64 Fairlane 500 Sports Coupe with a 289 2V and C4 myself so I will follow this.

Nice lineup. I will follow this.

Nice.

Yes it will happen regardless of what all fans say, as I see it the new 2021-22 cup cars will be pretty much like slightly larger less stock appearing versions of Australian V8 Supercars racing on ovals, if NASCAR likes the V8 supercars so much why don't they take the whole concept then. The V8 Supercars looks more stock (except for the wings and spoilers) than the 2021-22 NASCAR Cup car will ever be anyway. I don't know but budgetwise I think these changes will benefit the larger teams with lots of money more than the smaller teams.

Cool, I remember watching these Group C cars on TV back in the day with the Jaguar XJR-9LM, Sauber-Mercedes C9 and Porsche 956 and 962, the Jaguar V12 sound was very distiguishable. I have one Jaguar XJR-9LM in my stash together with a couple of Sauber-Mercedes C9's and a Porsche 956...I liked the old Group C class wich was very popular and it was unfortunate that FIA "killed it off" when they introduced the later 3.5 litre Formula 1 sourced engine class wich were more expensive than the earlier C1 cars was.

Nice. I did one back in the day too.

Of course the safety issues has to be addressed and have been, Ryan Newman would most likely have been a lot more injured of even have lost his life if it wasn't for the safety developments over the years. But I don't like the other changes they are thinking of doing. If this continues these things will come in NASCAR too...just wait and see. What's wrong with the chassis they use, a H-pattern shifter 4-speed transmission, 15 inch wheels, 5 lugs each with higher profile tires and smaller brakes when it works, these things together with the limitations they have as a result are what distinguish NASCAR from any other saloon car series. I think the modern Factory Stock and Factory Super Stock drag racing Camaros, Mustangs and Challengers looks a lot better and cooler with the 15 inch wheels with high profile tires they use on these drag cars than the large wheels/low profile tires the regular cars are equipped with from the factory...call me old and reactionist but that's the fact. NASCAR is trying to reduce overall speed with safety in mind but the changes they want to do will do just the opposite, larger wheels will result in larger brakes so they can go faster on the straight lines, lower profile tires allows for higher corner speeds as the sides flexes less, single lug nuts reduce pit stop times and there is only a matter of time before air jacks are allowed. I think it's bad enough with the engines they use in the Cup Series now wich are not based on any production engine, they are specially developed for NASCAR Cup cars and not available in any street car.

This is going to be expensive.

Another of your "Gems".