Chuck Most

The old MPC second-generation Ford Econoline van is pretty nice too, if you can track one down. MPC was really pushing hard for 1:20 scale back then, and later when George Toteff was in control of Lindberg in the early '90's he tried it again, resulting in the kits Matthew just mentions. I can back up everything he has to say about them, and throw in that, because of the "oddball" scale, you can usualy score a sealed example for relatively cheap. They're about as good as any of the modern light truck kits from other manufacturers of the time as far as detail and overall accuracy goes, just in a larger size. In fact, that's really the only major gripe most modelers seem to have with them- the scale itself.

Very nice! I personally think the mud looks about right, like it just drove off the site and down a short stretch of dirt road before it hit the main highway.

I know a guy who had a project like that going on, but he was using the 1:16 Revell Pete. I'll have to get back with him and see if he ever made that work.

Great detail, and that paint combination just plain knocked me out. Nice!

That it did. Wrecker boom and a few other added-on accessories aside, it appeared to be otherwise stock.

I actually started this last year- added the front fender extensions and cab extensions, did the bodywork and paint, and installed the grille and headlight bezels before it went back in the box for a year. This might be the worst-fitting kit I've built in a while (not worst of all time for me though), but once I had it all figured out I was pretty pleased with the end result. I always hear of the old timers talking about building models and then blowing them up with firecrackers. I never did that as a kid, but there were a few times during the building of this one that I got to thinking if there's really ever a bad time to start... It is mostly box stock, with the exception of the front wheels (cast iron spokes from a Diamond Reo) and the mirrors (from a Ford C-600, after the kit's passenger side mirror mysteriously walked away during the project). The paint is White Argent Silver, the color used on White's line of farm tractors- eventually the plan is to pair this up with a Loadcraft lowboy loaded with a John Deere tractor... let's just say a 1:25 scale farmer came to his senses and decided to trade up from that green monstrosity. Some '70's style WFE logos and dealer markings will likely end up on the doors once that happens. I was going for a simple, basic look... a little on the plain side, but not quite "fleet spec" plain. I won't say I nailed the look was after, but it ended up better than I expected. All in all, not the most fun to build kit ever, and the resulting model isn't the finest looking semi tractor on my shelf, but despite all that (or maybe because of it?) I'm still fairly pleased with the outcome. Anyway... Here it is as of now.... I added the turn signals and side markers, as well as some door markings for a fictitious "Great Lakes MM-Oliver-WFE" dealer. The Great Lakes graphics came from a Monogram Porsche rally car, the others are from Bossen Implement.

The Modelhaus wheel and tire set would be the closest thing out there- those are what I used on my Michigan State Police '97 Ford. For some reason Don lists each year separately (1992,1993,1994,1995,1996, 1997 instead of as just '92-97) but they're all the same set. Those wheels and tires were actually carryover from the previous generation LTD Crown Vic.

Great piece of work on this one, ESPECIALLLY for a first-time scratchbuild. Can't wait to see what you cook up next.

The 108" hood looks great- a little less cumbersome than the 122" BBC setup the kit has. Some semis look great with long hoods, I guess for me the Road Boss just isn't one of 'em. I wasn't in any big hurry to build another Road Boss, but now I'm thinking I need to give that 108" hood a try on one.

Just might be the best color combo I've seen on one of these yet. Very nice.

As far as the AMT kits go, you picked a pretty good one to start with. This one's actually a pleasure to build compared to some of them.

I typically build day cabs, but even so I might pick up a couple of these.

While I do hope Moebius can work out deals with other manufacturers, more Class 8 Internationals would be just fine with me. If in the end it came right down to a choice between only the WorkStar and PayStar I'd be happy either way, but I'm personally leaning toward the WorkStar, mostly because that might open up the possibility of a MaxxPro MRAP. Yeah, I doubt that Moebius would do a 1:25 MaxxPro, but with a WorkStar kit you'd have a big chunk of usable parts to start with if you wanted to roll your own, and there's the sliver of a possibility an aftermarket conversion kit would appear. I'd love to try it out. I'd also love to do one as a snow plow, and I'm thinking the guys who build fire apparatus would love to have one. Even barring that little flight of fancy altogether, you could do any number of variants on the WorkStar kit, and even a few more Military (non MaxxPro) variants, no matter how Moebius chose to outfit the kit (ie dump truck, highway tractor, etc.). I'm pretty sure somebody like Dave Carey would jump in with extended and crew cabs for it. Then again, quite a few possible building subjects a modeler could wring out of the PayStar, as well. I think the WorkStar is just a bit more flexible as far as possible applications, thinking in terms of both how Moebius will equip their kit and what else is possible beyond that, once the modeler decides to have a little fun with the subject. Even if Moebius released the kit as just a tandem straight truck it would make more than a handful of people happy.

I actually used to have that one. Low mile farm truck, but it turned out to be a bit rougher than it looked so my brother and I parted it out. Didn't like doing that, but now there are about ten other Loadstars across the country still on the roads because of parts it donated.

One of the most "delightfully terrifying" sounds I remember from my childhood is the uncorked Detroit in a local farmer's old GMC crackerbox. When he'd step on that thing, everybody in Gratiot county knew he was headed their way. Wonder if he ever got cited for noise pollution...?

Maybe straight pipes, no mufflers....

She's grown a few more appendages since the last time around, as well as a name- "Bruiser". Why? Why not? The air cleaner housing was made from a modified piece from the Revell "snap" Peterbilt 359, while the end cap came from the spares box- I think it came from an Ertl IH Transtar, but don't quote me there. I also used some aluminum mesh for the grille- I had it left over from making a jockey box for a log rig I'm working on, and though it isn't a correct representation of the stock DR grille, I liked how it looked and figured I'd go for it anyway. Not sure if I want to have a single stack or duals- I know it seemed like the majority of Detroit V8 trucks and tractors had duals, but I kind of think this one would look just right with a single stack. Guess I'll see where the project takes me.

There are still quite a few of these in my area- mostly straight trucks used by farmers for transporting crops at harvest time. None of them are this nice, though! Great job on this one.

I'll probably just paint them on. At one time there was a photo etch set for these which came with (among other items) the intake grilles for the the sides of the cabs. I wish AMT had added them for the reissues as a separate part, or even as a decal- even a decal would look better than nothing.

Settled on some rolling stock- the Goodyear floatation tires from an Ertl IH Paystar, with the front wheels from an AMT Ford C-600, because I nabbed the REO spokes for this to use on a White Road Boss. I used the C 600 rear wheel rims so they'd be wide enough to work with the Goodyears. In the back, I used the Paystar's 5-hole steel wheels wrapped with some AMT Firestone tires. For power I went with a Detroit 8V-71, still a tight fit under that stubby hood even after some radiator and firewall clearancing. Still a ways to go, but getting there...

Looking really good, and making this kit look good is no small thing! I have one of these I'm about 95% finished with and the thing fought me every inch of the way. I'm just hoping that'll make seeing the finished product that much more satisfying.

Just got an AMT/Philco promo today, mine's a '68 T-Bird in pretty decent shape. Not sure if I want to restore it or leave it as is, but I do want to find out if the radio still works.

Thanks, guys! This was a relatively quick and easy project, but it was the most fun I've had building a model in quite a while.

Just a little project I'm throwing together for giggles, using mostly spare parts. Modified the grille to represent an earlier style. Cut just a hair over 20 scale inches out of the hood, and added some raised details to the new grille opening. And of course the fenders needed to be modified- I just held them up to the shortened hood and determined where to cut them. I also added a new/old paint job to the cab. Of course, the rear suspension/axles were moved forward, and the frame was shortened behind the rear axle. Not sure if these are the wheels/tires I'll end up using on it, but they'll keep the chassis up and out of the dirt for now anyway.

Cabs on both are now painted.