Chuck Most

Allow me to chime "Nice paint!" as well! Looks like it's root beer flavored! I always thought the hinges on this kit sucked, glad to see there's a way to fix that!

When you're talking about, say, a VW Bluemotion or something like that, yes. But not on a truck! Still, this IH V8 is almost 800 c.i.- if it were a gas engine, you'd be talking 'galllons per mile', not 'miles per gallon'!

Well, I guess I'll start off by showing you the inspiration.... I saw this '55 IH pig roaster truck in a copy of Michigan Auto & RV a few months back, and it gave me an idea for a model build. Sadly, there is no '55 International in small scale (that I'm aware of), but I figured a Ford of similar vintage would work just as well! Fortunately- I've got more spare bits from the classic old AMT '53 than Tiger Woods has bad press these days. These parts were leftovers from a '53 that had donated many of its parts to several projects, including the Retro Ranger. Looks like it's time for this ex parts donor kit to shine! Here's the work so far. I plan on making it quite a bit rougher and crustier than the 1:1 IH that inspired it. My basic aim is for something that violates not only every DMV code, but many food safety and health code protocols as well! Here I have whacked the top, and performed a quasi-sectioning job by raising the fenders. Those 'patch panels' are strips of 3M metal repair tape, with holes poked into them with a sewing needle to simulate pop rivets. The BMF over the 'welds' will be exposed after paint, so the areas resemble recently-welded metal. Once the bodywork was roughed in (read:finalized), I misted the entire cab with Dupli Color textured paint, and covered over that with good ol' Krylon Rust Tough Flat Black. I also added '3M patch panels' to the roof. I have a feeling this was the easy part... stay tuned and find out how epically and unbelievably wrong I'll be!

They did fix the vent window shape, but we get some pretty lame-o scallop decals instead of the cool flames from the original issue. Win some, lose some, I guess!

I sure hope the Transtar COE gets reissued in one form or another one of these days!

A guy I spoke with once who had a Paystar said it got a (somewhat creepy) 6.66 MPG. That figure would seem very appropriate on a 1:1 version of my model!

And I read somewhere it was a '93, but most accounts agree that it's a '94- http://www.bobaugust.com/bronco.htm . Oh, well. I know it got sold at auction, ostensibly to cover The Juice's legal fees. Nicely built Bronc- sure wish I had a 1:1 Bronco!

I'll second that! I'd love to have a '64 Sprint and a '65 'Chero- I don't see Revell or AMT planning anything like this! If they're about equal to (or better than) the Bonneville hardtop in terms of quality, and nowhere near as ######-o-rific as the Monte Carlo, I'll gladly buy several of each!

Very nice!

Thanks guys- now I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that supposed Lonestar kit!

Even my mom, who knows absolutely nothing about Mack trucks, thinks the old AC looked like 'a bulldog or a pug' in her words! How many other trucks have such a rock-solid, built in marketing tag like that?

1:1, you'd have to hose Sprites out of the grille at least two or three times a week! Maybe I need to make up a few accessories for it now, like a 'Prius Scraper'. And George, yeah- she's a diesel, but to answer your question- with those 'broadside of a barn' aerodynamics and an almost 800-cube V8 turbodiesel... I really wouldn't want to know how much fuel she uses!

I was wondering why there'd be a Chrysler police car, as opposed to the cheaper Plymouth/Dodge. Seems odd a police agency would have a minumum wheelbase requirement for it's vehicles, but I guess... I've always liked the '61/'62 Chryslers, and I've never seen one built up as a police car- this should be fun!

George has a point! Blow this puppy up to 1:1, and I'd sure be inclined to buy one!

Best thing about this model- since the F-350 no longer needed it's bed, I could use it on my CXT Paystar!

Yeah! Thanks Tim- I'm toying with the idea of hydraulic rams for the bed- that's kind of why there's nothing but driveshaft under the bed right now. So much crazy junk I could cram under there... so little space! (Ironic, on a rig this huge...)

This one sat unfinished, collecting dust on my shelf for a year, until the recent blur of activity over the last few days! Maybe that White-Freightliner buildup put the wind back in my sails! It's the old Ertl- AMT/Ertl Paystar 5000 dumper kit, made into a crew cab by grafting on a second Paystar cab, and slapping on the leftover Ford Dually bed from my '26 Mack's chassis donor. Around back I added a scratcbuilt bumper and a foil copied International nameplate. The stacks are polished K&S tubing. The hood opens to reveal the engine from a Transtar kit, plated air cleaner assembly and all, and the bed also tilts, though there isn't much to see at the moment. Eventually I intend to add batteries, air tanks, hidden fuel filler caps, etc., beneath the tilt bed, but that can wait until I decide how I want to lay everything out. Click on- http://public.fotki.com/ChuckMost/big-rigs...national-payst/ -for bonus behind the scenes footage!

After a year of dormancy, three days of blurred activity netted me this... I started with the AMT/Ertl Paystar 5000 dump truck, and made it into a crew cab by grafting on a cab from a second kit. I used the bed from an F-350 (yes, the same F-350 which coughed up its chassis for my '26 Mack). I made up a pair of smokestacks from polished K&S aluminum tubing, and scrtachbuilt a tonneau and rear bumper. I also foil-copied an International nameplate for the tailgate. The cab and bed are both hinged, and I used a bunch of chrome doodads under the hood from a Transtar kit. Eventually, I'm going to add batteries, air tanks, and fuel filler caps underneath the tilt bed, so it's not 100% done, but hey... are they ever? NOTE:For behind-the-scenes bonus footage of this build click- http://public.fotki.com/ChuckMost/big-rigs...national-payst/

Way to end '09 on a high note!

You ought to see the interior... Testors metallic brown! No, Dave! I'd never do such a horrid thing! I just used parts from a model of an IH to build a model of a WF! If it's any consolation, the Transtar is a parts donor for, uh, well... my other Transtar! (I've got a few nutty ideas in mind), and the rest of it went into my 'Paystar CXT'. So it wasn't a total wash! Thanks guys- this won't be my last semi tractor model, I'll tell you that!

Yep- I stand corrected- the taigate also changed with the flat bedrails!

Finally! My stupid ol' W-F is a done deal! The paint is Testors Inca Gold, I added diamond plate to the rear of the frame, and scratchbuilt the mudflaps. The plated fuel tanks came from an IH Transtar (yep, I bought a second Transtar), and the fenders/plated fifth wheel came from a Kenworth T600a.

Oh, 'tis but a scratch!

They're pretty similar, Nick, but not quite the same! The fenders were the same (more or less)from '53-'79, and so was the tailgate. They all interchange. But the actual bed rails were changed, in the early '70's (not sure exactly which year- '73 or '74) they went to flat (90 degree) bed rails, which replaced the earlier slanted bed rails. Later versions also had the gas tank filler neck in the bed side. This bed design was still used into the mid '80's, but with different fenders on the 1980 and newer models. About the only change you'd need to perform to an AMT '53 or Revell '56 bed to work on this '66 would be the side steps and taillamps. You wouldn't need to add a fuel filler neck, as the '66 still housed it's gas tank in the cab, just behind the seat. And the 'rear' (actually front) bumper, in your Model King/AMT '79 F-350 kit? It's the correct setup for this, as well as any other 1957 through 1977 or '78 Ford Pickup. It's crazy that stuff like this was in production for so long, but the factory Ford Flatbed (like the one in the Lindberg '34 kit) was introduced in 1932 and used well into the '70's with a few tweaks over the years! And I think I mentioned this earlier, but those dog dish caps in the new 'Fairlane' reissue of Revell's T-Bolt kit were still in use on trucks for '66. Gawd... I love old Ford Trucks!

Nope, not I! It would be one hell of a drive for me just to dump a couple of gallons of Purple Power into YOUR pool!