Chuck Most

Did a little work on the '71 tonight. Well, I started last night, but got quite a bit accomplished tonight as well. The Type 4 hubcap Moebius provides isn't right for a 15" F100 wheel. But I had some old MPB Detail Products hubcaps that looked to be about as close to a match to the Effie dog dishes I'd ever hope to find. I tried them on the Moebius wheel and found that, without modification, they'd have that "knobby knee" look... they'd jut out way too far past the edge of the rim. I didn't want to file down the caps, as they look to be about the right depth, so I did a little surgery on the wheels. I cut down the hubcap rings on each wheel, and then sanded until they were nearly flush. The front wheels needed to have the grease caps dealt with in a similar manner. It's a bit of a butch job, but since the whole point here is to accommodate the hubcaps, it's no big deal to me. I had hoped to just cut away the crossover pipe from the V8 exhaust... no go. So, I spliced in the downpipe for the inline six exhaust. The engine has the starter mount up to the driver's side for some reason- I cut away the mounting tab on the back and glued it to its proper home on the opposite side, where there's a proper bumpout for the gear. Note that the engine mounts which attach to the block are not in place- this was just a test fit. I actually cut away the mounting pin for the oil pan and just glued the engine to the mounts, just like the 1:1... minus the glue, of course. I also modified an extra rear wheel to serve as a spare- it will either be mounted up front or in the bed. The basic chassis is pretty much done, other than a few needed touch-ups, some rust effects, and washes. I drilled out the tailpipe and removed the mounting pins for the spare tire carrier.

I too, like doughnuts, but regarding the topic at hand- yes, I'd love to see some type of universal wheel mounting setup, or at least something in the same ball park. But like Bill said, even among the Japanese kits they aren't really standard. Two kits may both use wheels which attach via polycaps, but even then, they'd differ just enough that swapping wheels from one kit to the other wouldn't be a simple "substitute B for A" kind of thing. For now, though, I'll just keep an arsenal of plastic tubing and rod ready for just such occasions... not to mention all those MRC wheel adapters I've managed to hoard over the years.

Love that color combo! I've only seen about five episodes of Fast and Loud, and it seems like those guys ALWAYS have a Bump or two in the shop.

I sure hope he's throwing in a romantic dinner for that price... I have yet to see any locally for over thirty bucks, high 20's/low 30's seems to be the average asking price. I'd check definitely check around online if I were you. Unless you buy from a place that charges a pretty penny for S&H you should be able to nab one for way less than 40.

Ford had (still has) a fleet-order system in place. Every manufacturer did. But Ford didn't have as many restrictions with engine/chassis choices, so they never needed a way to get around corporate restrictions, like Chevrolet did with the COPO vehicles. If, say, you wanted an F-100 with a dual-quad 427, they'd just approve it and build it on the assembly line, send it off to an outside entity (say, Dearborn Steel Tubing or Kar Kraft), or have it built at the engineering center. It would depend on the number of units you wanted and how much the vehicle needed to be modified from 100% factory stock to suit the customer's wishes. So... almost anything you can imagine would be at least plausible, if not possible.

"Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have (messed) with? That's me."

I missed out on the Tim Flock version of the Hornet... lesson learned, I'm snapping up as many of the Model King kits as I can right off the bat. The fact it's a base-model, no-option truck with a straight six just sweetens the pot for me.

This thread will start focusing on the '69. As you probably know by now, the '69 has the 240 inline six, three-speed manual, and the short bed, not counting the model-year and trim-level specific differences with the '71, which has a 360, C6, and a long bed. Here's the idea... I will use the V8 from the '71, and use it in the '69, which will then be built as something of a "what-if" factory muscle truck... oh, let's just call it an F100 GT. The six will then be swapped into the '71, which will also be downgraded to a base-model and done up as a rundown old work truck. As you might expect, a kitbash between the two kits is mostly drama free. The only real difference so far is in the frames. Not so much the length, bt the mounting pin locators for the transmission... On top you will see the '71 chassis, with the '69 below it. The 360/C6 combo uses a locator hole on the #3 crossmember, which accepts a corresponding pin on the transmission's tailshaft. You can either cut away the locator pin on the tailshaft, or drill a hole for it with a 5/64" bit. Other than that, the chassis and engine/trans were assembled out of the box for the most part. I will be adding a few engine parts from the Revell '68 Mustang GT 2-in-1- the plated "Power By Ford" valve covers for one, and possibly the air cleaner. I still need to dress a few mold parting lines, but the entire chassis will be done in semigloss black. The shocks will be painted a different color and installed later. Moebius has you install the radiator to the inside of the body, but I opted instead to install it to the chassis. By the way- the radiator is different in the two kits, so I also nabbed the V8 radiator to use in the '69. I also installed the rear cab mount crossmember to the chassis, rather than to the floor, as the instructions suggest. The Revell Mustang also barfed up its styled steel wheels. IIRC, these are 14" wheels and had a smaller bolt pattern than the F-100, but since we're in fantasy land, why not use them? They are wrapped in the Moebius tires, which have had the scuff bands painted red with Tamiya acrylic paint. The red "GT" lettering on the hubcaps is from the Mustang's decal sheet. That's also the Mustang's hood scoop- it will need a little tweaking and I may end up not even using it. More to come.

I did find a minor snafu in the instructions to look out for- the instructions show the rear cab mount crossmember being installed with the flange facing to the rear. It should face to the front, like so... So, if it doesn't seem to want to fit, and you somehow don't notice the pins on the floor (and the corresponding holes in the crossmember) are different sizes, there's your problem. It's shown being installed backwards in the sheets for both kits. And yes, I informed Moebius of this BEFORE I climbed to the rooftop of the internet and shouted about it. As an aside, you can mount it to the frame instead of to the floor (as the instructions suggest). The instructions also have you install the radiator to the inside of the engine bay, but you can add it to the chassis if you'd rather do it that way.

'68 and '69 were pretty much identical, and IIRC the only noticable difference with the '67's were slightly different hood side badges and narrower bump trim where applicable. So you can pretty much cover three model years with the '69 variant. No need to wait on a stepside bed... just rob one from an AMT '53 F-100. It would be the same bed for a '68, just with different side steps. The side steps would be easy enough to make. Tom mentioned modifying the rails, but I don't think you'd need to do that- again IIRC the bed rails didn't change until mid '76, but that was an entirely different bed design, the type used until 1991.

I like how this one's shaping up. I'm really digging that forward rake on the body!

Just for the record- the decal lays down beautifully over the letters. That's not the problem. The problem is a common one with decal graphics... that is, the lettering on the decal isn't quite the same size/spacing as the lettering on the surface it covers. If you're really good with such things- you could foil the tailgate panel, then paint over the foil in a drybrush wood grain pattern, then scrape the paint off the lettering with a toothpick. I'd planned to at least try that on this one, but then I got the production kit with the decal... so... there went that idea (thankfully, as I'm not great at painting wood patterns).

Nice! I've got a bunch of 1:16 Ertl diecasts, but the only thing I hate about them are the engines with everything molded onto them. If I were better at working with diecast metal I'd love to give one the full detail treatment.

For me it was Ford Friday...

Review, you said? http://chuckmost.wix.com/madhouse-miniatures#!Moebius-71-Ford-F100-Ranger-XLT/ccly/555500860cf248741732db65

Stephen King is to Maine what Ted Nugent is to Michigan... seems like everyone has a sighting to report.

RC2 is no longer involved... but Round 2 might at least look into such a project.

True, but on the real truck you didn't need to worry about a decal settling smoothly over raised lettering.

I'm a Ford guy... but if Round2 reissued that Chevrolet wrecker I'd be all over it.

^Now, that's the good kind of weird.

A couple I saw this weekend...

They should play Maximum Overdrive at that theater... Bangor Maine, Stephen King's hometown and all. I'd actually consider going all the way there to see it.

Very nice! Where did you get the wheels? I have that exact set in resin somewhere, but I have no idea where they came from.

I, for one, am stoked that this one is coming back. All the ingredients are there to make a Michigan gravel train. I already have one tractor nearly finished to pair up to such a setup, and a couple more planned.