Chuck Most

That does it- I might have to post a few pictures of my HO scale Internationals. You know you have a problem when you have so many factory-built HO scale trucks you forget you have them until a thread you've read a couple of times jars your memory.

I have a similar project on my to-do list. Mine's an old gun cabinet I bought at a storage sale for twenty bucks, and I want to put shelves in it for displaying models. I was thinking of using thin steel, bent to 90 degrees at the ends for a 'finished' look and sitting on L-shaped brackets attached to the sides of the cabinet. What's stopping me is I'm not sure what gauge of steel to use. The sides of the cabinet are solid and just over an inch thick so I'm pretty sure they can support the weight unless I go really crazy with the thickness, but I'd like for the shelves to display both plastic and bi-scale diecast cars without distorting over time. That's one of the reasons I was considering steel- that and I'm way better at working with steel than wood.

I suppose so- not having them would undermine the mostly stock outward appearance of the car.

Absotively! Remember- AMT was based in good old Troy, Michigan back then.

Can't be a resto-mod with those stock type rollers, but she certainly fits the bill of a resto rod. I think I'd have left the stone guards off, but even with them on that's a very nice looking little Ford.

A '59 Chevy I actually think looks good? Apparently it IS possible!

^All of the above, except for trying out scale railroading. Don't have nearly enough space at my place for that!

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but doesn't that top have engraved vinyl texture on the front 2/3 or so? Or am I thinking of some other kit with a similar optional top?

Ray pointed out the top, so... Not sure what the good points would be compared to the most recent reissue, which seemed to have most of the optional custom parts. The kit does have an opening hood and trunk. Hopefully they cleaned up the tooling a little bit for this one, it was just starting to look a little bit haggard on the last reissue in spots. It does have full engine detail. Just one engine- the 289, but if I recall it can be built with Weber carbs or a single carb. The kit also has a separate chassis with decent front and rear suspension detail- there's a metal axle at both ends, but each end has its own transverse leaf spring. Compared to the 1:24 Monogram Cobra, I think this one has better interior detail. It also lacks the wide fender flares Monogram's 427 has, so you could even convert it back to an AC Ace if you wanted. My only serious gripe with any of these I've built is the windshield frame- sometimes it fits the cowl pretty well, other times it doesn't. The hinged hood and trunk have always worked well for me.

Post title misprint- the kit is 1:25, not 1:24.

Why not? 3/4 and 1-ton Dodge pickups used an iron-block V-10, and they weren't known for being weak in the knees. Yes, there were some differences between the Viper and Ram variants of the engines (quite a few, actually), but still!

The pic may be washed out, but I like it. Maybe not the best image for showing your progress, but it has a kind of 'arty' feel to it. Almost looks like a painting.

And here are a few shots of the finished model. NOTE- I lowered the car by re-drilling the axle holes, used the Kelsey-Hayes wheels from a '66 Park Lane, and dressed up the engine with a '66 Riv air cleaner and Lincoln valve covers from the Double T kit. Aside from that the kit is box stock. And just for fun, here it is with a '66 promo, which has been in the family since it was new. My great-uncle got it when he took delivery of his new 1:1 '66 Connie.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with AMT's '65 Convertible, and its countless reissues. But that kit actually shares no parts with this one, as AMT updated its Lincoln annuals for 1966, to reflect the subtle but extensive changes made to the 1:1 car for that model year. This kit also shares a few parts with the '66-69 Promos offered by AMT- I test-fit a few parts from a dismantled '67 promo with parts from this kit and they fit perfectly. The box top- which displays the custom building verison. The side panel, which outlines some of the kit's features and the 'custom' engine- more on that in a minute... End panel, which shows off the factory stock building version- Overall, it's exactly what you'd expect from a typical annual kit of the period- chassis has all the underside detail molded in place, interior is a tub with faint but believable side panel engraving, and there are metal axles fore and aft. One thing the old annuals always got perfect (or at least very good) was the body proportions- other than a grille insert that's just a bit too short (mostly due to the way it installs- you slip it up into the bumper/grille from underneath) and headlamps that look just a touch underscale (not to mention molded to the chromed bezels), the kit most clearly looks right. About that 'custom' engine. Unlike the familiar '65, the MEL in this kit is stock-only, but completely chrome plated. This isn't the correct engine for a '69 Continental- the MEL began being phased out in early 1968 in favor of the new 385-series (429/460) big block. While some early '68 models did have the MEL, by 1969 the 385-series was the only available engine. So to be completely correct you'd need to rob the engine from a Revell '70 Torino and make a few minor detail changes, as well as graft the automatic from the Lincoln onto the 385, as Lincolns were not available with manual transmissions in 1969. That being said, the engine in this kit is a very good representation of a 462 MEL, and though it does have a hole in the block for the metal axle, it isn't the huge notch you're accustomed to seeing and is easily filled in. I believe at one point Missing Link sold a resin repop of this engine, which is a much better looking (and somwhat more detailed) engine than the one in the '65 reissues, and would be a good swap into one of those. Other highlights are the printed narrow whites, the decals (which still worked, 43 years later) which are printed on one big sheet of carrier film, so you'll need to trim around the decals otherwise you'll have a LOT of visible carrier film when you apply them, and I have to say I really dig that '69 vintage AMT box art! This was the last Lincoln kit produced by AMT (as an annual or otherwise), and I kind of wonder if the tooling for it still exists. The '65 tooling obviously survives- it was last reissued about five years ago. This kit, on the other hand, hasn't resurfaced since the year of its introduction. If it does I hope that Round 2 sees fit to bring it back- bonus points if they tool up a correct 385-series engine with automatic. EXTRA bonus points if they do that and still include the very nice MEL.

So much for my cunning plan to use an original '75 kit grille on the '76 reissue...

Rob... it is said that a handful of those were built for Oldsmobile's own use, but they were never made available to the general public. There is some dispute to that story, and most of the Olds experts say that the ones you'll see at car shows nowadays are all home-made conversions. But there does seem to be some scattered bits of evidence that Olds made a little over a half-dozen of them. You'll notice the car in the photo you posted has the Olds one-piece glass and trim. Some people insist that the Olds-built vehicles had the standard Chevrolet delivery body with the two-piece split windshield and no quarter panel trim. Either way, nobody can seem to produce a period photograph of one of these animals to prove or disprove that either way. And yes, I am planning on trying out an Olds SD once this kit hits the shelves.

Count on that. A '53 F-600 model project has been brewing in the back of my mind for quite some time. I'm working getting a 1:1 '45 Ford 1-1/2 ton truck, if I get really ambitious I might even try doing that in 1:25.

Another thing I'm wondering... could it be possible that the heaver-duty trucks also had a slightly taller fender than an F-100? I ask this because it seems that the heavier trucks sat just a little bit higher off the frame. I don't have a half-ton '53-56 Effie to compare against the F-600s. I'm not sure- I seem to remember reading that some shady swap-meet vendors would try to pass off the heavier-duty truck fenders as F-100 units, and they would physically fit the F-100s.

I carved the horns out of a thick chunk of sprue from an old Ertl semi tractor kit. Then for the base, I slipped a piece of square Plastruct over them, and filed the tops so they'd look more rounded. After that I just bent and nudged the ends so they'd resemble horns.

Just re-read Stephen King's 'From A Buick 8'- which upon revisiting does 'feel' a bit more like 'The Green Mile' than 'Christine 2'. Also recently finished 'The Lost Ships of Robert Ballard' by Robert Ballard and Rick Archbold- which tells the stories of the ships and shipwrecks Dr. Ballard has explored. Of course it is loaded with vintage images of the ships, as well as photographs of the wreck sites, and more than a few paintings by Ken Marschall. Next on the docket- 'The Physics of Star Trek' by Lawrence Krauss (a book I can't believe it's taken me this long to get around to reading), 'Sasquatch- Legend Meets Science' byt Jeff Meldrum, and depending on how busy things get this winter, I might blow the dust off a few volumes of my old Time-Life 'Mysteries of the Unknown' series.

And just for fun,the big picture...

Looks like that effect to me, as well. Very cool! For some reason it's just crying out for some color-tinted 'Lexan' windows to go along with the rusty gasser theme...

Gentlemen, behold! Cattleac...

Here's the '54 F-600, and as you could see space is pretty tight... And here's a visual for the idea I had. Like I said- cut away the existing lip marked in pencil and add a new one to the enlarged opening and it should look pretty close... but I think I'm gonna try it out and then go back and compare it to the 1:1 and see how it looks before I reccomend my method!

Nice! Love the car, and the fact I've got the song stuck in my head now.