Chuck Most

First one of these I've ever seen built up. Really nice!

Hey, look! Progress... I used some K&S aluminum tubing to make some slash cut stacks. I wanted them to be tucked behind the cab instead of out past it, though the pipes did end up a little closer to the back wall of the cab than I'd have liked. Too late to change it now, though! I do have to go back and polish some areas where the superglue fogged the aluminum. There's no muffler- just a straight pipe off the turbo to the T on under the cab. I also cut off the kit mudflaps and replaced them with ones made from thinner (.020") styrene. I also made new weights and decorated them with some Detail Master truck mates.

I'm calling this one done enough for now. Eventually I plan on adding some top bows draped with tattered fabric, and some broken glass fragments on top of the dash to represent the driver's side pane being smashed in. It's a curbside with a glued hood, and since I plan to eventually put in on a base sunken into dirt up to the rockers, there's only enough suspension componentry to keep the wheels in place.

I'd suggest finding a kit with a separate bed and inner walls, then trimming as needed to fit the Charger body. Jairus also did a rendering of a custom Pontiac-camino like the one shown (I think), and if I recall Pontiac built a car/truck prototype in 1959.

NICE!!!!

Ah- right! That distant thumping sound you hear is me smacking my forehead...

Don't worry... just today I bought the 9/32" aluminum tube which I'll use for the smokestacks on both this and the LoneStar, and I've started work on the frame for this one. Should be some updates shortly. I can't guarantee how shortly, but shortly.

See why I love WRC so much, despite the fact that practically nobody in the US broadcasts it?

Followed the buildup on this, and love the end result. Came out great!

Clean and VERY realistic.

This one's a little out there. Grain of salt- this is the 'shrunken' '34 body, taken from that awful Revell 'Saints' street rod kit. Remember the underscale '34 body proportioned to fit the Buttera T chassis? Yeah, that one... I used the grille from a Revell Kurtis Midget, but it might look a bit puny with the larger, closer-to-correct-in-size AMT body.

Looks like I've got a few choices for what I'm after, or at least a few sources. Thanks, guys! Jim- I'm not sure about R&K- I saw the transkit listed in an old issue of 'Truck Stop' in SAE ( a 1996 issue I think)and it was reffered to as being cast by a company called R&C Trucking.

What James says makes me wonder- in a lot of ways, trucking is becoming more of a 'punch in, punch out' kind of job than it has been in the past. Even a lot of the old-timers I know who were diehard OTR guys for years are taking jobs with more localized routes. There's always going to be a need for long haul trucks (and folks to drive them), but it seems like trucking is becoming less specialised. I've noticed that even the trucks are beginning to reflect that- nowadays you can get heavy trucks with automatic or clutchless manual transmissions, meaning that just learning how to operate the truck wouldn't require as much skill as in the past.

And... that same basic stake body was used by Ford from 1932 or therabouts into the early 1970's, with a few modifications.

I'm thinking of doing a Detroit Lions kit, but I need to find a car that fits that team. So... can anyone suggest a car that seems okay on paper, but always turns out to be a huge disappointment in the end? Note- I'm only half joking, anyone know of such a car that's available in kit form?

Constant inventory shuffling- remember? Can't buy the kit if I don't know where in the store they're keeping them this month, and if the employees don't know and I don't feel like scouring the whole building.... And it's nice to have somebody actually at the register when I'm ready to check out. Unless, you know, I'm planning to shoplift.

Thanks! Didn't know White Motors owned Autocar.

I suppose I am fortunate (and a bit spoiled) to live within a 40 minute drive of what have to be two of the best hobby shops in the Great Lakes reigion- Hulings Hobby House and Dean's Hobby Stop. The 'mom and pop' type places seem a bit more willing to listen to what their customers want and keep that stuff in stock, rather than whatever the toy department manager things might sell. And of course there's the internet, though Hulings and Deans are still my main pushers. I'd like to amend my statement about mostly straight reissues and restored kits- I also have no problem with 'special edition' kits commanding a premium price. The Dirty Donny version of the AMT Chevy Van being one example. But even then, there are limits. Take the Chevrolet 100th anniversary tin box version of the new-tool '57 Chevy. Sorry, I just can't justify spending almost fifty bucks on that when I can get a sealed Pro Shop issue (same kit aside from the decals pretty much) for twenty. But on the other hand, I can see something like that as more of a collectible than something meant to actually be built.

Love the Force 440 kits. I've heard from a couple of people the 2-door specific tooling still exists-, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Round 2 will reissue it one of these days.

Accurate, like something you'd actually see being raced. Not even close. Cool looking, and looks like something there needs to be a class for, so you could see something like it being raced? Absolutely! I have to say I'm not much into E-Body Mopars, but I really do like the way this one looks.

Wouldn't your existing LoneStar daycab work? I mean, after you removed the "LoneStar" scripts from the doors.

Yep...

First and foremost- none in my general area. And from what I've been told by friends and family members who are regulars there tell me, their selection normally sucks. Kind of like the old Walmart days- ten each of the same five kits I didn't want the last time I was there and still don't want now. That and they're a retail chain- that usually means clueless employees and constant inventory shuffling. Combine them all and I see no reason to set foot in that particular establishment. Ditto Michaels, Jo-Ann, etc. ...

I don't care how detailed a kit is- I think the kit manufacturers are missing something by not doing more Skill 1 kits (dare I say even snap kits), if the body and interior look good I could easily do without an engine and full chassis detail. As far as paying what I was paying 15 years ago for a newly-tooled kit of comparable quality? I'm too much of a realist to even entertain that thought. The price of EVERYTHING has gone up from where it was 15 years ago. And I personally don't care what country the parts are molded in- the American kit manufacturer, the good old American hobby shop I bought the kit from, and all the people in between made their money off of it. I've never set foot in a Hobby Lobby and doubt I ever will, so that 40%-off coupon I hear about at annoyingly-frequent intervals is meaningless to me. $25 is reasonable for a reasonably detailed, relatively recent (say, tooling for it dates from 1985, 1990 or later) kit. BUT... I'm sorry, I just saw the reissued AMT '66 Mustang kit for sale at that price, and I don't see the value. Other than the new decal sheet and printed tires, it's 99.9/10ths the same kit as the last 20 or so RC2 reissues, which I can buy online or at one of my local OOP kit vendors for ten bucks or less? Sorry, not even interested in the new tires, and I'm sure Round 2 will offer something similar as a parts pack, like they did with the M&H slicks. A kit like that shouldn't sell for $25, maybe not even $20. The Gremlin I can see, as it's a special edition and hasn't been reissued in 30 years (not to mention the fact it had to be restored back to a stock configuration), but $25 for a tired reissue just isn't worth it. I'm not going to pay $125 for an original AMT screw-bottom kit. Why? Because Modelhaus probably sells a repro of it for about 30 or 40 bucks less. I can't believe people get worked up over some minor detail being off. And I don't buy into this 'why don't we get kits as accurate as the military guys'? Just check out any military modeler's online forum. Or just read through any kit review in Fine Scale Modeler, and you'll see that most of the military kits they review DO have accuracy problems. Some are minor, while some kits seem to be just as riddled with errors as any car kit you can name. As far as the old 'metal wire' kits being 'better' than newer kits of the same or similar subject? I have to wonder how much of that is just nostalgia talking. Yes, some car kits are almost tragically flawed (cough, cough... anything by Trumpeter...), but the majority of them build into great replicas if you don't make nit-picking into your main hobby. The kit manufacturers DO produce what modelers want. Well, the vast majority of modelers, anyway. If they didn't they'd be out of business by now. Just because they don't make a kit of that Volkswagen K70 or 1985 Pontiac Grand Prix you lust for doesn't mean they are turning a deaf ear to their customer base.

Nice! I looks like I picked a great time to seriously start getting into heavy truck models.