Force

Nice build Ken!

I hope you are right...all the old US staff was as I understand it laid off after the deal was done so they must have re-instated some of the old staff again and Ed Sexton in particular...that's good news.

I will buy if it comes out.

Many have both a belly pan under the engine and a diaper, the main thing is that you have to contain all 16 quarts of oil to prevent oil downs if the engine breaks.

Here are some from me from my USA and L.A. trip last October. We passed this Pete uphill going north on I-15 before Cajon Junction. Somewhere on Hwy-91 East. Hwy-58 going west just outide Bakersfield CA. This is taken at Tejon Pass on I-5, we're going south. Uphill at Cajun Pass on I-15 north. Same place. We met this Lonestar on I-15 just before Hesperia CA.

Nice build. Revell started to do the "new era" Top Fuel Dragsters in 1987 with Don Garlits Swamp Rat XXX and the last issues they did are the Kenny Bernstein Bud King and Tony Schumacher Army Dragsters from 2002. Unfortunately Revell decided to do these Top Fuel Dragsters (and Funny Cars) at a time when the cars evolved a lot each year and they updated the kits some a couple of times and the last update to the TF kits was when they did the Bud King and Army Dragsters, but they never did enough to get them to the standard the real cars had at the time as the evolution of the cars surpassed them and they didn't keep up. This was very unfortunate because if they had done all necessary changes to get them up to date back then they would be pretty much up to date even now 17 years later as the real Top Fuel Dragsters haven't changed that much visually in that time, so except for wheels, head shield, larger puke tank and belly pan wich has been required by the rules since then they are pretty much the same today as they were back in 2002.

The Bandag Bandit kit is from a time period some years before Martin Carvers record setting, the kit version (Bandag version 1) is from around 1980-81 like all the Tyrone Malone kits are except for the Thermo King version of the Super Boss wich is earlier (1976-79). The "Bandit" still had Bandag Tyrone Malone markings on the tires when Martin set the new record August 26th 1988 and his name was only taped on the doors at the time, otherwise the truck was pretty much like before but somewhat gutted and stripped to get it lighter and some more stuff for safety was added. Martin Carvers name appeared on the tires after he set the record and the paintjob was slightly changed from the version the kit represents and his name was also painted on the doors at the same time, so this is Bandag version 2. The "Bandit" was damaged in a fire at Malones shop some time after the record and the cab was changed to an older one (pre 1973) and the paint scheme changed slightly again, this is the version wich still exists and sits at the Iowa 80 Truck museum (Bandag version 3), the interior is also different from the first versions as it's now all black, the earlier versions was much flashier with beige, white, blue and yellow colors for the interior. So there has been four versions of the Bandag Bandit under it's life, one Thermo King version wich was from the first couple of years and three Bandag slightly different versions from 1979-80 to today. Based on this I think the tires in the Bandag Bandit and Hideout Truck will most likely have Bandag Tyrone Malone markings like the Super Boss, and Papa Truck kits and I would guess the decals would be pretty much the same.as the earler issues of these kits from 1981-82. Because if they would do the later Martin Carver version (Bandag version 2 after 1988) they have to do all new artwork for the decals for both the Bandit and the Hideout Truck as the paint scheme changed on both trucks about the same time. I just hope they will include the "Bandag Bandit AMT Hobby Kit" scripts in gold and blue wich was on the end plates of the rear wing for most of the 80's, this was missing on the first issue. The Bandag version of the Super Boss kit has "Super Boss AMT Hobby Kit" on it's wing end plates and these scripts were put on when AMT did the model kits, and after Martin Carvers record 1988 the scripts on the end plates on the "Bandit" was changed to "Timed By United States Auto Club Bonneville Salt Flats August 88 150.918 mph".

The creativity to do new kits was gone when RC2 bought AMT/ERTL in 1999, most of the good new AMT kits was done before that...time flies...thats over 20 years ago. RC2 didn't do much new and did mostly re-issues over the time they owned the company of wich many had been out very recently, and the same goes for Round 2, they have had the rights to do AMT, MPC kits since 2008 and owns the brands since 2011 and I thought they would have done more new tooling kits by now as most of what they do are re-issues. Don't get me wrong, I like many of the re-issues Round 2 does as they have more imagination than RC2 had and dig in the tooling bank and does things that hasn't been out on the shelves in decades...but a new kit now and then would definately not hurt. Now with Revell sold to Germany, who knows when we get any new tooling kits of American cars...the latest new kits from them was developed before the sale...so Moebius is maybe our last hope.

I buy from Jack at Model Roundup a couple of times a year, and quite large orders each time mostly because kits are very expensive over here and I can't get everything I want and have to wait a long time for new kits to arrive here if they do come at all...so it's sometimes faster and cheaper, I have never had any coupon from them but he has given me a discount sometimes anyway, so I don't know how it works.

No big surprize, to my knowledge there wasn't in any of the earlier issues either.

It doesn't bother me as much but I expect to read about truck kits in the truck section of the forum, not cars.

Well my original T522 kit has Good Years and the box side reads "10 Brand Name Vinyl Tires", they don't specify wich brand tho'. I also have the T500-500 and it has Good Years and a Good Year sticker, same for my T500 with the sleeper, but no Good Year sticker there

This is the truck section so please take the car talk to the car section where there is a similar thread.

I agree with that.

Well Round 2 and AMT is the same as Round 2 is the owner of the AMT MPC, Polar Lights brands since 2011 and they produce the kits and brands them accordingly. Even if the tires in question is new tool they sure look like the old Good Year Hi-Miler, they still have the Good Year diamonds on the sides and the same tread pattern as the old Good Year tires. I don't have any of the Peterbilt 359 1100 cab Wrecker issues but I have a couple of the 1100 cab tractors and I have the original T522 Unilite small window cab wrecker and all have the Good Year tires. AMT used Good Year in most of their truck kits but have also had Uniroyal in some and Bandag for the Tyrone Malone kits...I don't remember any Firestone but that could also have been used. I looked in some of my newly aquired truck kits, amongst them the recent re-issues of the Mack R685ST and Kenworth W925 and they still have Good Year tires, the recent Freightliner and Autocar has Uniroyals...so why they decided to do the Firestone on the wrecker I do not know. But I think the licensing thing has blown out of proportion, haven't they heard of free advertising and product placement...they do it all the time in movies and TV productions, they make movies and TV shows to make money don't they...so what's different with model kits. I don't mind the Coca Cola thing at all allthough it's becoming a bit boring when they use it all the time and on everything, so to me it doesn't matter if they include the decals or not, if I want the kit I buy it regardless and you don't have to use the decals if you don't want to...I wouldn't be surprised if Coca Cola pay Round 2 to use their logos instead of the other way around as their advertising budget is one of the highest percentage of revenue compared to all companies in the world.

Maybe it was a victim of the California wildfires last year.

Yes, Round 2 doesn't have the rights to the ERTL brand name and have never had it, and some of the tooling like the farm equipment and some other things are still ERTL, that's probably the reason to use the AMT name on the kits originally issued by ERTL wich they have in their possession. This is nothing new and has happened all the time, back when ERTL owned the AMT and MPC brands they used AMT/ERTL on everything, Revell and Monogram merged in 1986 and the Revell and Monogram names was used on respective kits for some time, later both names was on all kits, then Monogram disappeared and only the Revell name was used, and finally they used the Monogram name on kits that originally wasn't Monogram at all.

Licensing was the main reason Revell stopped with tire markings altogether in their kits, Good Year wanted too much for them to use the name on the tires Caterpillar is the same and Round 2 omitted the name from the bulldozer kit even though it really is a Cat....sad but true...maybe they could mold it in red and call it Coca Cola Bulldozer instead.

Yeah it has to be the reason. Unfortunately for them Malone didn't have Coca Cola as a sponsor so the logo doesn't fit anywhere. I think Coca Cola Company pays Round 2 to put the logo on everything instead of the other way around, because why would they do it otherwise, I don't think the kits sell better because of it and most modelers doesn't care if the kits have it or not, but Coca Cola wants exposure and one of the target groups is young modelers so I don't find it unlikely...who haven't heard of "product placement". Coca Cola is one of the companies in the world who spends the highest precentage of their revenue on advertising with around 4 billion US Dollars per year.

Very nice.

Interesting, this I will follow.

Well that maybe a reason for real trucks but for a model the maintenance issue doesn't matter much and retool a new suspension for the kits costs money. I think it had to be something else maybe like the air ride was too complicated to put together and get right and the walking beam was easier like with the AMT Kenworth K123/W925 kits where the torsion bar suspension the kits originally had was hard to put together and get right and was replaced with walking beam in the later kits...I don't know but it's a possibility.

Well the Bandag Bandit and Hideout Truck kits have been in the works for a while now and was mentioned to be up for re-issue when the Super Boss and Papa Truck was re-issued back in 2016...but I didn't think it would take so long for them to do it. The Hideout Truck is an easy re-issue as it's exactly the same as the Papa Truck except for the decals. The Bandag Bandit and Super Boss kits share some things like the basic engine (except for some bits), gearbox, chassis, wheels, cab and some other things, but there are many parts that are specific for the Bandit and they had to find the tooling for them before they could do the Bandit kit again.

A while ago I bought a 4270 kit on ebay wich was in a 4300 box, the original box was bad but included too, the other day I took it out and had a look in it as it had came up in another topic. I noticed that the 4300 box has the same pictures on the sides describing the features in the kit as the 4270 had, a picture of a red Cummins V903, spoked Dayton style wheels and so forth...the hood in the pictures even has the same paint scheme as the 4270 kit had on the boxart...but the 4300 has 10 hole Alcoas in all positions and a IH V-800 and is yellow on the boxart. One can also wonder why ERTL decided to change the air ride in the earlier kits to the stiffer walking beam in the later kits, air ride would have been more for highway trucks and walking beam should be more for construction and other heavy duty purposes and both the Transtar 4300 Eagle and the Transtar II looks to be more of the highway type.

My point exactly and it was what I meant with "look no further than the Revell '67 Plymouth GTX", swap the 9-3/4 for the Dana 60 and build both cars.