Jordan White

Sounds like me I seem to be collecting kits rather than building them!

I'm working on the rerelease of the opening-everything Revell '57 Bel Air and it definitely is a bit of a challenge to build. Plenty of flash, poorly molded in some spots, two-piece parts not quite lining up, finicky to assemble, along with gaps aplenty. Its not a horrible kit though, and at least now comes with one piece tires.

While it was molded well and was of a new subject, I believe that with it being of a two year old subject along with it building more like a scaled up 1/24th kit (not even steerable wheels?) probably contributed heavily to the lackluster reception.

Would one of the new parts potentially be an American style hitchplate for the Italeri trucks?

In most cases, they have a key that can be ejected from the fob in case the battery dies in the car or fob. Plus, people usually have at least a house key on their keychain as well.

Chassis is painted metallic blue, all that's left is to paint the airbags black and do some detail painting.

I haven't gotten to the sleeper yet, still trying to get the chassis painted (had bad paint, trying something else). When I do though, I'll probably just use sheet styrene since I don't have any extra sleepers to use to extend it.

Say, where did the rear bumper come from?

Been a bit slow moving since I'm building around work and homework. Right now I'm trying to get the chassis completely assembled so I can paint it all at once like it's done at the factory. I've also got the brakes/hubs mounted to the axles that came with the wheels. Here's the frame with the air tanks and suspension installed. I filled in the rear mudflap mounts and the unused fuel tank holes (had to drill out different holes since the mounts will be moved back a bit). Axles and front spindles with parts from Class A resins.

Yeah that's the one I referenced in the first post. It has some inaccuracies as well as some build issues that were the reason I'm trying to do so much research.

Yeah that's where my references have come from too. I'm still trying to figure out how to do the decals, though I think the logo will be the toughest part. I think there might be some sort of merchandise in Google images that it could be pulled from. What I did was watch the movie using VLC media player, and it allows you to take screenshots. If you get the blu-ray version, then you'd have the best clarity.

I should have some updates tonight, I'm mainly getting the frame assembled and getting it prepared for paint. I've picked out a dark blue metallic for the chassis. On the movie truck, its hard to tell the actual color since its fairly dirty. Some pics make it look black, others blue. I figured a nice dark blue that will look blue or black at certain lights and angles would work perfectly. It will also contrast well with the white cab.

I don't say this often, but that looks awesome! Love the detail, love the colors, love the color matched wheels, great build of a somewhat lackluster kit!

If you don't recognize the name at all, check out John Carpenter's movie "Big Trouble in Little China". In the movie, Kurt Russell drives a 1985 Freightliner FLC that he's named the Porkchop Express. From my searches on the internet, I've only seen one other person build this, and I noticed several issues when compared to the movie truck (plus the underwhelming build quality). Because of this, I decided to tackle this using the newer version of the Italeri Freightliner FLC. Biggest change I'll have to do is lengthen the sleeper, as well as raise the roof. I'll also have to fabricate new fuel tanks since the movie truck appears to have smaller diameter tanks than stock. Finally, there will be a few other parts from the various parts kits Italeri put out that I will add. First thing I did was purchase a set of 10 hole Alcoa wheels from Ben at Class A resins, with the domed center caps for the front and rear.

Since I really started getting into the larger scales, I've visited that area everytime I'm here. I think the biggest issue (nobody's fault) is that many of the builds don't get updated as often as the smaller scales, due to more work necessary to complete something.

Figured I would bump up this thread, but I purchased a set of the 10 hole Alcoas from him and they just arrived today. The castings are nice and crisp (with just a bit of flash that can easily be removed). They're the 22" set that fit the Italeri tires perfectly, and look much better than the European style wheels that Italeri decided to include in pretty much every kit.

How you know when you're young: you have no idea what the old tire sizes (F-60, G-70, etc.) refer to in terms of dimensions.

Thanks for the in depth explanations! I'm trying to recreate a movie truck and info for the FLC seems like the hardest to find (I've easily found stuff for other trucks like the Mack Superliner).

Honestly not the worst faults considering it's their first foray into the civilian vehicle market.

Does the brochure list all the wheelbases individually, or do they just give the range you mentioned?

Just wondering since it's supposed to be a Capri but looks like a Mustang with widened fenders. The build itself looks great with that blue though.

Is there a reason you're using the Mustang front end instead of the Capri front end?

Definitely looks great with all the detail! Only issue that holds it back (and isn't your fault) is how the valve covers have 8 bolts instead of the correct 7 bolts (4 on header side, three on manifold side). Wonder why it was never corrected for subsequent releases?

Should be an interesting build! As for the engine, good luck! You could try contacting TDR Innovations and see if they'll get to work on designing one for 3d printing, otherwise you (or someone else) will be stuck scratchbuilding one. If neither of those pans out, then I would suggest modifying the kit small block to resemble a crate engine from a place like Summit Racing with some fancy aftermarket parts and custom intake.

Here's the link for the individual valve cover sets: https://sites.google.com/site/tdrhtmllearn/home/engine-shop/chevy-engine-selection/bbc-valve-covers/individual-bbc-valve-covers I believe the owner is a member here, so perhaps check the resin section.