Chuck Most

That's always when they magically reappear...

Ertl bought out ESCI in the '80's, so for a few years there were some former Ertl kits issued as ESCI kits, and vice versa. The AMT/Ertl 1:48 Huey helicopter was originally an ESCI kit, as an example of things working the other way.

Oh- they did a '70's vintage Jeep CJ as well. Same deal as with the others- curbside, but with lots of underside detail.

I can only speak of the Ford Transit and Land Rover kits- they're nicely detailed, but curbsides with sealed hoods and no engine detail. About equal to a Fujimi or Aoshima kit in terms of engraved detail, and lots of separate chassis parts. The Transit does have opening front doors and an opening rear cargo door. The Land Rovers were reissued by Italeri a few years back, but Esci itself is long gone, and many of its former kits have scattered to the winds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESCI

Again, if it's a showdown, my money's on the Nissan.

*Slapping forehead*. Yeah...

You should be off to a pretty good start going that route. The cab shell is the same- the doors, glass, and most of the outer panels and structure interchanged with the pickup cabs. The floor and firewall might have differed slightly, but I don't know that for a fact.

I want to hang a map of the world in my house, and then I'm gonna put pins into all the locations that I've traveled to. But first I'm gonna have to travel to the top two corners of the map, so it won't fall down. -Mitch Hedberg

As far as parts fit and accuracy, they're on equal footing. I don't have the Revell boxing of the LoneStar in my stash, so I can't comment on how much better the instruction sheet is compared to the original Moebius sheet.

Nice! I have both of those- the Boley fire truck and the Jada Durastar. Mine will be staying just the way they came from the factory, but I'll be peeking in on your project for sure.

Minor update, but at least I accomplished something with this thing. Yes, WF flaps on a DR. When your old beater needs mudflaps, it doesn't really matter if they "match" the make on the front when it really comes down to it.

Just for fun... check out the end panels (smaller photo of the box top art) and see if you notice anything weird...

Why not? Plant himself referred to David Coverdale as "David Cover Version".

I love it! Where did you get the tracks?

Still want to get this one, so I can build a custom "Duroplast Sled" in wagon form to go with the roadster..

The '65's about as close to a "modern" full detail kit as anything from that era could be. The chassis and floors are molded together, and the exhaust system is molded to the chassis from the trans crossmember back, but everything else is separate. Like Curt mentioned- it even has trunk floor detail, as the '65 has a hinged trunk lid. The fuel tank is even separate. It's quite a few cuts above the plate that comes with the '70. It could stand a better looking rear axle, also as Curt pointed out, but it's a really nicely detailed kit, especially for the era.

This kit may not have had the baby Moons initially either- up until the Crusin' USA issue it had five-spoke American Mags in place of the Moons. The 1985 reissue still had those wheels, and so did the Diamond in The Rough version, which came out a year later. The next reissue (1994) had the chrome steelie/Baby Moon setup, along with separate inner wheel halves to match. The reissue from a few years back (which included the tandem car hauler trailer) showed the five spokes on the box but contained the baby Moons.

This, but I've built my share of vehicles I remember from the past, or have at least incorporated some of those memories into a project.

There was a B-series cab available a few years ago- IIRC it was mastered by Evan Hermel but I don't recall who cast it.

The engine in the Yat Ming GMC fire truck diecast would be closest, but as suggested, the Monogram 235 might be easier to track down.

Great job on all of them.

Another thread made me think of these. I've got one of these on the "to-do" pile- I've already started modifying a Monogram '50 F-1 cab. But that's about as far as I've gotten for now. Convoy Company of Portland, Oregon built a fleet of specialized Ford trucks for car hauling in their own shops in 1952- starting out with 195" wheelbase F-8 chassis/cabs. The cabs themselves were the factory Ford units, but stretched 5" behind the doors to fit the hand-built sleeper box. The chassis was shortened 8 inches, and the rigs were set up to pull the Westland-manufactured auto carriers.

That cabover reminds me of one of the old Convoy trucks I've seen. Coonvoy Co. of Oregon had a fleet of modified Ford F-8's with modified Ford factory cabs.

On a less serious note...

It's pretty well known that Ertl was planning a '50 Studebaker and '49 Olds a decade or so ago, but did they ever formally announce or show them? Word certainly got out somehow- I remember there being quite a buzz at the time.