Chuck Most

This was one of my last, if it the last, purchases from Dave at AITM. It's an AMT White Road Boss with the AITM Autocar A64F conversion kit. AITM also provided the wheels and tires and the toolboxes. Filters are from the AMT A64B. Paint is Chrysler Forest Green Pearl.

This was just disposing of an incomplete kit by doing it up as a crusty curbside custom. The grille is a narrowed 1960 Mercury part, the hood is an old Ron Cash piece, and the exhaust pipe and bullet taillights are from the 1960 Ford pickup, the latter in modified Ranchero bezels. The rest is more or less out of the box.

Resurrected AMT kit. Since I stole the bed for the '65 F250 4x4, I nabbed a '53 bed for this. I also used the '53 wheels, and the tires are Plastic Performance Products 1957-1959 Goodyear Style Truck Tires. The wrecker boom came from the AMT '34 Ford pickup. The bed was littered with accessories from this kit and the '34, and an Iceman Collections milk crate for good measure. The trailer is out of the box except for the Ford hubcaps from a second '60 kit, and it's plastered with sponsor decals from Gopher Racing.

Moebius 1965 cab set up on a shortened 1970 chassis. Bed is from the AMT 1960 F100. The engine has been "hopped up" a little and rear bumper was scratch built. Paint is Rust-Oleum Satin Moss Green with Gopher Racing door graphics, so it's a little sister to the '59 C1000 I wrapped up a couple weeks ago. As for the '60 F100 that donated the bed? Stay tuned.

Nice! Now it just needs a companion... A model of your '62 in it's current form. ?

Testors Dullcote. It's been at least a year and a half since it was dull. Now it's more of a semi gloss, which would be just fine if I didn't need dead flat, like Dullcote used to be. Sure, Revell Matt Clear is better, but it can't be applied over vinyl.

Hobby Lobby. Specifically, the Mt. Pleasant, Michigan location. As somebody who hates Hobby Lobby (big box retailers in general), this one is almost too good to be a Hobby Lobby. I might actually be a repeat customer to this one. Up until this point I was last in a HL maybe fifteen years ago.

Looks good to me. The "everything as one piece" type of prints always put me off, because of the potential for difficult detail painting as you described. Even though that theoretically means I'm saving time by not having to do as much assembly, it takes that little extra bit of patience I don't always have. ?

I remember seeing these a lot in the 90s and then one day they all seemed to disappear at once. Kinda like the Chevrolet Celebrity or Chumbawamba. Very nice work on this one. Bummer that's a rare cab because I kinda want to build one now.

I cut the cab but I would imagine you could just slip it over.

Atlantis Toy and Hobby kit built out of the box and heavily weathered. Since the last one I built had the roof, windshield, lights, and tall stakes, I chose to do the open cab (aka Bermuda)version this time. Might end up with a dismantled Ferguson tractor in the back. We'll see.

Stevens International reissue of the AMT kit. The thought was an older restoration, something a retired truck driver might have to take to shows and maybe do the occasional local hot shot job when he's bored. It was updated to 1982 spec by removing the "Gear and Lightning Bolt" medallion, widening the fender lips, and moving the door lock cylinders. The Cummins 6BT, Allison 6 speed auto, and air to air intercooler are from Iceman Collections , and the sleeper came from Too Many Projects . Wheels and tires are Moebius and the rear air suspension uses modified GMC General doodads. Paint is Colorshot Kale. It was supposed to be a matte finish but it came out a bit glossier that I would have preferred.

Love it! Best part of this motorhome is that if you are stranded in the desert you can convert it into a motorcycle and escape like that guy did years ago.

Pierce Brothers Fabrication in Sickles, Michigan, is known for many things. Orange Dodge trucks and Cummins 6BT swaps. While this Cummins swapped Dodge is not orange, it serves as a test subject and demonstrator for a typical Pierce Brothers swap. Starting with a forlorn 1971 L700, the brothers swapped in a 6BT and 47RH automatic transmission. The hubs and brakes were upgraded with late model Freightliner parts, and the old cast iron wheels were then replaced with Alcoa aluminum wheels and modern radial tires. The brothers left the exterior exactly how they found it, aside from adding their logos to the doors, Cummins decals, and newer mud flaps. The story is much the same inside, although the sears were recovered in blue and white material. Even the aftermarket cassette deck sound system and aftermarket air conditioner were left in place. And yes, it all still works. Model is a Lindberg kit set up on Moebius wheels and tires. Iceman Collections supplied the Cummins 6BT and a Revell Sidewinder supplied the 47RH. My spares box provided the doodads found throughout. Paint is some matte aqua I had handy. It's going to need some touchup on the hinges but overall I'm happy with it, despite the fact that I've only ever successfully gotten the doors to open on one of these once. This wasn't the one. ? .

This is the AMT kit, backdated from the kit 1971-ish specs by adding quad headlights, grille mounted parking lights, moving the turn signals from the cowl to the door, and reducing the cab mounted clearance lights by 60%. Those last two aren't 1959 specific but I did it anyway. I also removed the door emblems, I may or may not seek out some era specific replacements. To replicate the heavier duty 1000 model, I modified MPC Mack six spoke wheels and used AMT Autocar Firestone floats up front, and the standard Ertl Goodyears out back. Paint is leftover satin Moss Green from the Dodge garbage truck.

Not quite. I had a couple of bad chrome sprues so they were just stripped and any parts used got painted. I'm saving the good chrome for some "nicer" projects.

Fantastic work on both these big bruisers!

This is the sum of parts from four incomplete AMT kits I had laying around. It was more or less built box stock from these four different boxes. Paint is Krylon Matte Soft Lilac and the door graphics are home printed.

If it were a '51 it would pretty much be a duplicate of the one out behind my grandfather's barn. This still has the engine though. ? And instead of a gas can that one had a disassembled aluminum rooftop TV antenna in the back, the bed floor was in about the same shape.

The AMT reissue is essentially the same kit, except it comes with some options this one didn't, probably parts from the old Color Me Gone version. The AMT kit also comes without stock tires. It has the Goodyear NASCAR tires from the Petty Belvedere. It also has more warp than a typical episode of Star Trek. I bought it mainly for the decals and so I could use the other photoetch grille included in the MCG set.

2024 marks the 50th Anniversary of Pierce Trailer Sales, and the final year of ownership by John Pierce. This summer, he will be stepping down and putting the dealership up for sale. As a means of celebrating, and giving the old man something to have fun with in his retirement, sons Dan and Jason and daughter Andrea arranged a gift. John started his trailer selling business with a 1964 Dodge 330. The pale blue slant six sedan was nothing special, but it was as reliable as the tide and more than powerful enough to pull a lightweight and handy size Haul-Away trailer, so it was his first "company car", and delivered and demonstrated numerous trailers for customers. Time eventually caught up with the old Dodge, and it was sold, it's current whereabouts unknown. So the kids searched for another '64 330. Thanks in no small part to Andrea's connections in the local antiques market, a disassembled but buildable 330 was found and purchased from an auction in Indiana. The car was hauled to Pierce Brothers Fabrication, the shop owned by Dan and Jason. In 2003, Dan and Jason had done some work for a customer. Unfortunately for the customer, he ran into financial problems and had to "pay" them with an item in place of money. The item? A 426 Hemi. Granted, it had seen better days, but it was a 426 Hemi above all. The boys rebuilt the engine in their spare time, and kept it on a stand in their lobby, occasionally wheeling it outside and firing it up for people. The plan All along was for the Elephant motor to end up in a "special project". All these years later, Dan and Jason figured it should end up in this project. To back up the healthy Hemi, the Pierce Brothers built a 727 automatic and a Dana axle. Period style traction bars help transfer the torque. The Hemi exhales through full dual exhaust with cutouts. The boys kept the interior simple, just replacing the front bench seat with buckets, and moving the shifter from the column to the floor. A Pioneer head unit supplies tunes. Aside from the hood scoop and Pierce family trademark Allis Chalmers Persian Orange paint, the body remains mostly as it came from the factory. Modern radial tires and American Racing wheels replaced the original 14" steelies. Finally, though the original '64 is long gone, the original Haul-Away hitch it had was saved , and spent five decades in the corner of a shed on the Pierce family farm. It was cleaned up, repainted, and installed on the finished car. The Mighty Mopar front plate was swiped from John's office. It was previously on several Rams and Ramchargers he had owned over the years. Johnny is still pretty sharp at 74, but even so, he didn't even notice it was missing until he saw it attached to the bumper. The kids presented the Dodge to John in April, and he's spent a little time behind the wheel so far. Dan says if there are any bugs that need to be worked out, John should find them quickly, and he (Dan) will get on Jason to sort out said bugs. They hope to have everything up and going smoothly by car show season. If you're at any car shows in the central Michigan area, and you see this big orange Dodge, say hello to John and Jill. And wish Johnny a happy retirement! And that original Haul-Away trailer it's towing? That's on loan from Andrea's Tried And True Antiques. You might see it being towed by the 330 when John isn't boiling off the back tires. The model is the Lindberg kit, and boy howdy did it not go together smoothly. Practically nothing fit together in a positive way. Ironically the parts brought in from other kits and the aftermarket actually fit better than the Lindberg parts! I don't remember the kit giving me this much grief when I first built one twenty odd years ago, but back then I probably wouldn't have known any better. My original plan was just to use the wheels and tires from the Moebius Satellite on an otherwise box stock 330, but obviously I ended up going a little further. The engine is a Ross Gibson Hemi with Mickey Thompson rocker covers from Morgan Automotive Detail. Wheels, tires, shifter and seats came from the Moebius 1965 Plymouth Satellite, and so did the section of exhaust with cutouts. The traction bars and hitch came from the MPC 1968 Coronet, and naturally so did the Haul-Away trailer. A Model Car Garage photoetch grille and instrument panel were used, along with the front plate from Best Model Car Parts. The scoop came from a Revell '68 Dart. Standing in for Allis Chalmers Persian Orange is Tamiya Orange. The electric fan is meant for an HO scale locomotive but looks perfect as a 1:25 scale radiator fan. Not the best experience I've had building a kit but I'm reasonably pleased with how it came out. Might be time to tear into the similar '64 Belvedere kit next time I'm in the mood for a passenger car project.

My real hangup is the purple. That's a shade of purple that just doesn't seem to exist beyond the Big Al. ?

Not sure how I missed this originally, but nice old Dodge. One of these days I want to model a Big Al engine. I think an AMT Cummins would get me about 75% there. I've got an Illini Big Horn that I need to pay more attention to.

I've never had quite as many problems with this kit, but you did and still got a great looking result. Just goes to show that sometimes a little skill and a whole lot of patience is all it takes.

This was just a fun project, a kitbash between the (now) AMT Dodge L700 and the AMT Ford C900 Garwood packer. The rear frame rails were grafted onto the Ford chassis to get the wheelbase to 153". Basic large subassemblies were mostly out of the box, though I added a winch cable made from leader line and added some work lights. Line-O reflective tape was used in place of the kit waterslide decals. The paint on the packer body started the entire project. I found a can of Rust-Oleum Satin Moss Green in the garage, and thought it was an appropriately hideous color that would look good in a garbage truck. The same green was used for the wheels, bumper, and grille.