Chuck Most

What's the difference between a hippo and a Zippo? The hippo is very heavy... ... and the Zippo is a little lighter. *cymbal crash*

Might have some Under Glass pics sometime tomorrow...

Moebius International LoneStar and ProStar, but that probably shouldn't be a surprise because Navistar pretty much gave Moebius full access to the CAD files used on the 1:1. Quite a few of the newer kits of "late model" vehicles hit the mark pretty well, but the Internationals are the first thing that come to mind for me.

Well, this one just got a lot closer to finished... The toolboxes I ordered from AITM showed up. The more I looked at that dead air under the deck of the headache rack, the less I liked it. I figured the toolboxes would be a good way to fill it in. I went with a 24" box on the driver's side, with the modified factory toolbox just behind it. For the passenger's side, I went with the 48" box. A deck plate and a few other doodads and this one will be a done deal. Maybe.

Yeah.... he's long gone. See if his e-mail is shown on his profile page, you may be able to contact him that way.

Lovely little short-nose Diamond Reo.

With the addition of the rear taillight panel, the business end is pretty much done. I debated on a few different treatments for this area before finally settling on the partially-dechromed kit part. The kit tool box was modified with diamond plate on the steps. An AITM diamond plate toolbox will be on the opposite side.

Round2 just wants to get maximum bang-for-the-buck with their 3 Stooges licencing agreement. No mystery here.

I want one of those Ford wreckers.

Yeah, you're right. I have an Allison in a Peterbilt race truck I've had sitting around unfinished for about ten years, guess my brain got stuck on that.

Finally wrapped up my first California Hauler. I took a few liberties, just because I could. I stretched the hood and used a later-model cab visor (for an 1100-Series cab). If I recall, on the early 359 the long hood was only available with the Allison V-12, and if you wanted a long hood, you had to order that engine. So I doubt a Cummins-equipped 359 would have had a long hood. In case you’re wondering, I’d think that a Cummins would fit just fine under the stock hood. Maybe one of these days I’ll unplug the Cummins and put a Buzzin’ Dozen under the bonnet. Maybe not. I just love how it looks with the extended hood. If I stick with the Cummins I'll treat it to a little weathering so it doesn't look like a big white brick, like it does now. The kit fenders were a bit dainty and plain looking to me, so I used some modified fenders from a Revell 359 snap kit. That kit also barfed up it’s air horns. That visor came from the Revell 359 glue kit (Revell Of Germany now), and in hindsight I wish I’d painted it to match the cab rather than foiling it. The paint is International Farmall Red, believe it or not. I tried to resist the temptation to paint a Peterbilt red but in the end I couldn't say no. I used larger Goodyear tires... the kit supplied Firestones looked a bit dinky. The first full-detail 1:25 scale semi-tractor kit was this Peterbilt in it’s original 1969 T500 form, and this is the first Peterbilt model I have ever completed. So my first Peterbilt is a reissue of the very first 1:25 Peterbilt model kit. Seems fitting.

Looks like the IMC version to me.

I'm in the "not the fan of the pipes" camp, but if the guy who built the car likes them, I'm not here to judge. Just not something I'd do to my own car. The rest of the car more than makes up for any issues I might have with the exhaust, IMO.

The "rivet counters" (for want of a better term) always seem to be quick to point out a kit's flaws and are extremely vocal about such things, but I'm convinced that the majority of modelers simply don't care. They don't care about a few proportional inaccuracies, they don't care if the separation line between the cowl and fender aren't there, they don't care if the kit includes some goofy and/or inaccurate feature or component that wasn't offered on that car in that model year,, or what not. I'm not saying these folks "don't care" in a bad way, I'm just saying... well... they don't care. Things like that don't bother them, they just want something that looks like a 1957 Wimbildon Whatzit hardtop. If the kit does that one thing decently enough, it's good enough to get their money. Has there ever been a completely accurate kit? No. So rather than go on and on about how kits "should" be perfectly accurate (despite the fact that we're a good 60 years into the hobby and said perfectly accurate kit has yet to exist), they keep doing what they've always done- having fun with the kit, and maybe even fixing a few of those inaccuracies along the way. Or not. It's like those "why don't they make a kit of fill-in-the-blank" subjects that get dragged out into the sun every other week. There may be a very VOCAL segment who would like that kit, but that group is a minority. The guys who want a 100% accurate kit aren't much different, the way I see it. Small but very vocal minority. There may be 20 people who say they'd love to have a full-detail American Bantam kit and will bring up this fact at every opportunity, but consider they might be the only 20 people who'd actually spring for one. Maybe the people who REALLY want a 100% accurate kit are a small number of a small number... let's face it, automotive modeling ain't quite as popular as it once was. Now, having said all of that, is it wrong to point out a kit's flaws? Nope. Isn't, wasn't, never will be. But on the flip side, it's not wrong to accept a kit's flaws. To be honest, I think people on both sides of the fence just need to agree to disagree and stop being such babies about the whole matter.

Yeah- it's a C series... no idea why I titled the thread F-Series. Guess I'll fix that in a sec...

Mist of Testors dullcote- and some of it might be actual dust.

None that I'm aware of. Anything in 1:25 would be way too small, and the webbing patterns/etc. wouldn't even be close, though I suppose that wouldn't be as much of a concern if you were just going to sand the block smooth and add your own detail anyway. I doubt there are even any 1:20 scale V-cylinder gas engines that would be close enough in size... not that there are an awful lot of those to begin with. If I needed a 6v53 what I'd do would be to cut down an 8v92/8v71 about 25% lengthwise and modify the heads, valve covers, exhaust manifolds and such to suit.

Not a bad way to cap off the day, especially after getting burned (literally) at work...

Tom's mail carrier is easy to spot. He's the one wearing the titanium back brace.

I think those came from the Model King Allison Thunderland kit.

I build one as a junker a while back- I used a stick-on "White" logo from Bossen Implement. I'd have to look at my invoice to see exactly which ones I bought- they make a few different sizes in white and black. They're printed on a clear adhesive-backed carrier, but if you trim the carrier close to the lettering it looks okay. Then I did one with single headlights, just because I could. The kits are missing a small peak on the tops of the fenders, but it can easily be added using some D-section plastic strip. Tim Ahlborn did this on one a couple of the Stars he built. Really nice kit, even if the hood-to-cab fit needs a little work (just like pretty much every other old AMT big rig kit). One of these days I'm building one as the Green Goblin from Maximum Overdrive.

Thanks guys! It's cut down about an inch from what's in the kit. I doubt this wheelbase would be possible with the kit-supplied transmission, as the driveshaft is just over a scale foot long now! Flag decals are from the Peterbilt 359, and the Thunder Sand & Gravel signs are from the gravel trailer kit. The yellow stripes are from an old Microscale sheet. And... here's the gravel trailer.