SteveG

Looks OK in Chrome but in IE something is way off, most of the Topic Lists are stacked vertically on the left side of my screen and I have to scroll way down to see everything. -Steve

Great work so far Chuck ..... I can't wait to see it finished. -Steve

I finally got this puppy painted ..... first the weather wouldn't cooperate, then my airbrush started spitting whenever I hit the trigger. I ended up ordering a seal kit from my hobby shop and bought a back up airbrush while I was waiting. The colors are Pure White over Winter Blue. I sprayed the inside of the cab along with the bed underside Blue first, then I masked off all the inside and underside areas. I pre-foiled the hood nameplate and shot all the exterior body parts White. I let that dry a couple of days, then I masked off all the areas that needed to stay White. I then sprayed all the Blue areas. The hood was taped in place for the last two coats to be sure of a perfect metallic color match. To expose the foiled nameplate I dipped a toothpick in thinner and gently rubbed the paint off of them working very slowly one letter at a time. I think the results are better then trying to foil nameplates cleanly after paint and way cheaper then photo etched scripts. The lacquer paint raised the tail gate lettering I had sanded off, so I re-sanded it flat again once the paint dried. The tailgate decal will cover it up no problem. So far I'm very pleased with how it coming out. My only disappointed is I missed two small sink marks on the roof from the visor pins. Since the roof is white it's hardly noticeable, but I'll be sure to catch it on my next buildup. In a couple of day I will add the foil trim to the body parts and the clear coat everything with my favorite PPG DCA 468 Clear Lacquer. I'll let that dry about a week and then it will be ready for polishing and final assembly. -Steve

Well done Tom !!! My sister had a Monte Carlo like that but with the opposite colors, White with Red trim. -Steve

Happy Birthday !!!

Great idea chuck ! I'll be following along .... -Steve

I'm looking forward to it Clayton !

A quick update while I'm waiting for a dry day to paint the body, I decided to do some of the interior detailing. The wood grain insert was painted by hand using a base of dark brown paint and some black dry brushing. Not perfect but close enough for me. There was no need to foil the rear edge of the door trim panel as it's completely hidden by the seat back. I'm going to move on to the dash details if it doesn't clear up soon ! -Steve

I'm following the suggestion by Chuck Most from his post. He applied the decal over the raised letters and mentioned he would have shave them off next time. This way those who are interested can compare the results between the models. Here's Chuck's photo from his build up.

Yes, If it ever stops raining in Northeast Ohio. It's been too humid to paint. I did manage to sand and re-prime all the body parts last weekend. I also decided to use the tailgate decal so I shaved the "FORD" lettering off of it. I'm hoping for break this weekend but so far the forecast is for more rain .... -Steve

Other then painting the wheels and permanently attaching them, the chassis and drive-train are done. I'm working on getting all the paint work done starting with the interior. The lighter color on the dash and door panels is 71 Ford Code Q Winter Blue Metallic. It will be one of the exterior colors with other being Code C Pure White. The Medium Blue used on the trim parts is from my stock of leftover colors. I still have to paint the sun visors which will also be Medium Blue. Here's a quick interior mock up, I still have to add the foil trim and paint details ..... I'm going to jump on getting the body panels painted and will finish up the interior while it's drying. Stay tune for more .... -Steve

Sorry for the update delay ... I haven't been able to spend much time at the workbench over the last few weeks. Here's the body parts with the first coat of primer. First impression is that the body parts will need very little clean up if any. I'll know for sure once I sand it all down. For now I masked off the nameplates on the hood and the tailgate until I decide which decals I'll use. I'm leaning toward foiling the hood " FORD" but using using the tailgate decal. I'll have sand the letters off If I do. The interior parts fit together perfectly and don't need any clean up. These parts will go right into the paint line ..... The chassis is now completed other then painting and installing the wheels and tires. I will drop the engine and trans assembly in next. Even without any aftermarket detailing the engine looks pretty nice to me. The heat riser and oil vent tube are a nice touch. I don't recall seeing any stock 70's Ford Trucks with Chrome valve covers but I left them as is so you can see how it build ups from the box. A Ford purist would probably strip the chrome off and paint them Ford engine blue. Speaking of the oil vent tube, boy is it tiny. I painted it while still on the tree and thought for sure I would either loose it or break it before I could attach it to the breather cap. Luck must have been with me for a change. Next step is to finish prepping the body for it's two-tone pant job. I'm already working on painting the interior parts. Hopefully I'll have another update soon...... -Steve

Chuck and Dave M, your both correct about the vent posts. That issue was noticed and discussed by the review team and Moebius. After a long discussion weighing the cost to correct the body and the vent glass which is recessed to fit the vent opening. Plus the additional time delay against how easily the average modeler could correct it. The decision was made to leave it alone. It's a small blemish against otherwise outstanding kit in my opinion. I would have corrected it on my build up but I wanted it to reflect a real out of the box build. Full disclosure here; I did sand the detail off the aftermarket style trans pan to make it look factory stock. I made no other changes. One last suggestion, I recommend dry fitting the grille support panel to the body when checking the hood fit. It appears the hood fit is even tighter with the grille support panel in place. -Steve

Yes, it's a production sample, I got mine today. The rest are either on the boat or being loaded up as I write this. As for the missing spots on the trees, those are definitely for future versions. You may even see the next one before the end of the year. If I was a betting man and a resin caster I would be working on a convertible ..... or a four door. Moebius has this one well planned out ! -Steve

Here's a couple of mine ...... The Imperial was restored from an old built up. The Dodge Royal Lancer is from a X-EL promo re-pop with a slightly later model dodge interior added. I have the X-EL 59 Desoto as well and a restore-able 59 Plymouth that I'll get around to one day. -Steve

My friend Dave at Moebius Models was kind enough to send me an advanced copy of the 71 Ford Ranger kit. So lets take a look at doing a basic build up. Regardless of the subject matter car, truck or otherwise. I follow the same three rules .... or lets call them guidelines. Rules sound kind of harsh for a hobby. First, every parts is as important as the next one. Second, test fit everything. Last but not least, assemble as much as I can before painting. That last one has backfired on me a few times, I've built myself into a proverbial corner more then once. As you can see I've attached most of the suspension parts to the frame. Glued up the major drive line parts and even put the brake booster halves together. I'm going to hold off attaching the rear axle until after painting and the exhaust is ready to go in. As the interior will require a lot of detail painting I've only attached the steering wheel to the column and rear interior wall to the floor. To keep the interior square the I attached the interior sides with tape while the glue dried on the rear panel. Since the firewall will be body color I went ahead and attached it the cab. This is great time to check the hood fit. Mine had the slightest twist to it. Nothing that some hot tap water and some counter twisting could fix. I went ahead and attached the inner side panels and the rear panel to the bed floor. I also attached the inner panel to the tail gate. This is one area where the engineering of this kit really shines. The bed parts all fit like a glove, better then any other pickup I ever built. My sample has some pretty good sink marks on the transmission pan but it was nothing I could take care of with a quick swipe of some catalyzed glazing putty. After I took a quick break the putty was ready to sand. A few minutes with some sanding sticks finished it off. Next time up I'll break out the Duplicolor primer. Now I just need to decide on a color scheme ..... Stay tuned ..... -Steve

Keep in mind the 71 Ranger kit only includes the deluxe interior parts and the XLT tailgate trim so you would still have to do some modifications or kit bashing with the 69 Shortbed to do a correct lesser trim model. Steve

Mike's is correct, it does come with two set of wheels. Open steel wheels with separate spoke wheel covers and the 5 spoke mags wheels. I guess you could leave the wheel covers off and have a third choice. Steve

.... and the rest of the contents except the decals which I forgot to photograph.

And here are some of the kit contents .....

I got my production sample today, they should be showing up in your favorite hobby shop or online in the next few weeks. I'll be starting a preview buildup ASAP. Watch for it in the On The Workbench Section. -Steve

That's not a bad idea Luc, but you won't need that much if a curbside will work. 100-125K would probably be enough to get it done. For example 5000 pre-orders at $20.00. I think the subject matter would fit in with what Modelking is doing with Moebius to bring back some the old Johan curbside pieces like the 59 Rambler SW. First issue is for someone to find out who owns the licensing rights to the Tucker name and design. The project won't go anywhere without a licensing agreement. Put the that together with enough pre-orders and I don't see why it couldn't happen. Steve

Good one Luc ! I would have normally added engine wiring, heater hoses and lines but that not really an out of the box build. Still there's a lot of detail in that engine bay in my opinion. Steve

As promised here's my photos of the 65 Plymouth that was on display at the NNL East ..... Last I heard is that these are still on track to arrive next month .... Steve

Here's the story ...... Dave couldn't make the trip so Moebius wasn't officially there but I've been quietly working with Dave Metzner on a few things since last fall. One of those projects turned into a build up / review story for Bill Coulter and a future issue of MCM on the 65 Satellite kit. Since I managed to finish it a few days before the NNL East, I contact Dave and he said I could display it. My plan was to place it on the Factory Stock table and see if anyone would notice so basically it was hiding in plain sight. I think it's safe to say it got noticed ..... For the record the build up was done using mostly 3rd round test shot parts so it's the same parts Dave used in his box art build up. That's about 98% of the final product only changes being some pin locations and couple of other insignificant items. Steve