7000in5th

Well, Gary, I sure don't mind it when you have such great IH stories to tell, particulary since I am an International Truck retiree! Can you post some pictures of the International tow truck? When you are ready to build a model of it, we might work something out to get you some parts like I used for the truck in the original post.

Thanks to everyone for your comments. Although he calls it a 1956, the R&R resin that "miteymouse" sells on eBay is actually a 1957 International. It would make a great build because it was the 50th Anniversary model and a special gold and white paint job was available:

Have you seen one of these lately? And how did it get Farmer Cyrus into so much trouble? Story HERE.

The 1956 Corvette dual quad engine has always been one of my favorites. It just looks "right".

Not exactly a bus, but very close, Joel Dirnberger has spent more than 10 years on a scratch-built model of the GM Futurliner, a bus-size display vehicle that GM used in the '40's and '50's for the Parade of Progress tours. To my knowledge it has never been finished. It is a major undertaking.

From my all-time favorite movie, by Revell in 1:25 scale: -------------------------------------

Thanks to everyone for all the great comments on the balsa Ace kit. I am glad you enjoyed it. Yes, Andy, my grandkids are pretty sure I was born before there were dinosaurs.....

I don't know when Product Miniatures Company (PMC) was started but I do know that they made promotional truck models for International Harvester as early as the '40's. Some of the IH tooling was rescued by the sons of an IH dealer in Des Plaines, IL in the late '80's and for a while in the early '90's they produced, from the tooling, a licensed 1956 International S-Line 110 pickup under the name of "Triple Diamond Replicas". Some other IH tools were tested but never produced. Since the IH tools had to be rescued from a scrap yard, the automobile tools may not have survived.

Since this has turned into an educational thread (and an excellent one, at that) and, on the slight possibility that anyone has missed my several postings of the kit below, here is a history lesson on one very early kit. As noted previously in the thread, there were plastic kits in the late '40's and early '50's, but Ace stayed with the more traditional balsa kits. Building one took a lot of carving and a LOT of sanding sealer. This is an Ace kit of a 1949 Ford that I had built as a kid (about 60 years ago). I found a couple of partial kits on eBay and put together this essentially complete kit: And what happened to the one I built 60 years ago? Check HERE to find out.

Herb Deeks is still around! And selling off some of his "unusual" cars from his backyard (when is the last time you saw a Renault 17?). I got the tour in the '80's. Herb also was sitting on this tooling last I heard, don't think he ever did produce anything, did he Andy? (Sorry, didn't mean to highjack the thread, just had a memory rush.) Back to the wire wheel question, yes, photoetch is the way to go but it will be tough to find a 15" in 1:25 scale.

A 1969 Camaro that I modified from a Revell kit to represent a car that I saw Mark Donohue drive in the Trans-Am series at the Mid-Ohio race track in 1969. Model built in 1991, picture taken 2005. Fred Cady decals. They were unfortunately thin and light. The wheel color is more accurate.

The car is terrible; almost as bad as the news in her second story.

Hi Dave, Our plant in Emeryville, California was willing to build almost anything as Special Equipment, if the customer was willing to pay. I seem to remember the KT450-KTA600 Cummins and the 3408 Cat being built in the 4300 some volume. Not sure about the 12V. Generally the major problem with big power was getting in enough radiator to cool it. That sometimes meant raising the cab as was done with the 12V in the CO-4090. I would say if the model engine fits, go for it; somewhere, sometime, we probably made one or more. Just to add more confusion to the engine question, our production line used red for non-IH big diesel engines through the early '70's. The Special Equipment "one-offs" may well have gotten engines in the manufacturers "standard" color, because of the cost for a few special engines.

Hi Jim, Sorry I didn't subscribe and I missed your questions. Yes, up through the '70's, in IH trucks, the big diesels were red except the International V-800. I matched the blue on the model above as closely as possible (I had a lot of them to look at). The V-903 might have been an exception, if so, I seem to remember that they might have been black (!?). If anyone still has an old original 4200 kit, it should list the correct color for the V-903.

I did this Revell '69 Camaro converted to a Penske TransAm racer many years ago: The vinyl roof is overlapped masking tape and the trim is Evergreen strips. It is painted flat black. It was easy and I still like the look. I haven't tried any newer techniques. (BTW, Penske himself told me years later that the vinyl roof was applied because the acid-dipped roof flapped so badly they had to cover it up!!!)

Hi Tim, I appreciate your confidence in my memory and filing system. I'll look around and see what I have. I could open up the case in which I have my 4300 conversion displayed and take some detail pictures if that would be of interest:

Well, children, I started building before plastic was invented: Well, okay, maybe I glued together a couple of the plastic Revell (?) Old Timers before the Ace kit but the Ace came early in my kit building life (at age 10 or so). The box of wooden blocks above was supposed to result in a 1949 Ford convertible, like so: HOWEVER, being the Kustom King that we all thought we were, I decided that a two seat roadster (pre-T-Bird) would be a whole bunch sexier. Here is my Brownie Hawkeye picuture of it taken in the day: And, to my everlasting delight, it is still in my display case today: If you want to learn a lot more about this Ace kit and my version, check HERE.

Thanks to all for your comments. To chuckyr: 1 - I have a truck on the workbench now, I am restoring it as a Christmas present for a friend. Photos to follow. 2 - The 4070A was retooled into the Transtar II which was, I believe, reissued in the '90's. The 4070A is gone.....

Hi Tim, They may ignore individuals, but they seem willing to respond to complaints filed through the Better Business Bureau. I had great sucess with the BBB in waking up Dell to an issue they tried to ignore. Might be worth a shot. David Business Contact and Profile Name: Aplus.net Phone: (877) 275-8763 Address: 16505 W 113th St Lenexa, KS 66219-1383 Website: www.aplus.net www.hostopia.com Original Business Start Date: July 1992 Local Start Date: February 2007 Principal: Deluxe Corporation, Parent Company Customer Contact: Desiree Boxberger, Director, Regulatory Affairs - (913) 495-4525 Incorporated: CA Employees: 180 Type of Business: Web Hosting, Billing Companies, Computer Graphics Companies, Internet Service Providers, Web Site Design BBB Accreditation: This organization is a BBB Accredited business. Additional DBA Names: APplus Billing Service Hostopia.com, Inc. Abacus America, Inc. Customer Complaint History When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints. BBB processed a total of 70 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total of 70 complaints closed in 36 months, 23 were closed in the last year. These complaints concerned : 3 regarding Issue Not Defined 4 regarding Advertising Issues 1 - False or unsubstantiated claims in advertisement 3 - None of the Above - Advertising Complaint Issue 19 regarding Billing or Collection Issues 4 - Failure to correct billing errors 1 - Failure to substantiate charges 3 - Improper collection practices 4 - None of the Above - Credit, Billing or Collection Complaint Issue 2 - Unauthorized bank debits 5 - Unauthorized credit card charges 4 regarding Contract Issues 2 - Failure to honor a contract or agreement 2 - None of the Above - Contract Complaint Issue 4 regarding Customer Service Issues 1 - Failure to provide promised assistance or support for products or services 3 - None of the Above - Customer Service Complaint Issue 3 regarding Product Issues 3 - None of the Above - Product Quality Complaint Issue 12 regarding Refund or Exchange Issues 4 - Failure to honor promised refunds, exchanges, or credit 3 - Failure to honor refund, exchange or credit policies 5 - None of the Above - Refund or Exchange Complaint Issue 3 regarding Sales Practice Issues 2 - None of the Above - Sales Complaint Issue 1 - Sales presentation used dishonest sales practices 18 regarding Service Issues 3 - Failure to honor service estimate or agreement 4 - Improper or inferior service 9 - None of the Above - Service Complaint Issue 2 - Services resulted in additional damage (exp. Damaged product during shipping) These complaints were closed as: 54 Resolved 22 - Company resolved the complaint issues. The consumer acknowledged acceptance to BBB. 31 - Company addressed the complaint issues. The consumer failed to acknowledge acceptance to BBB. 1 - Company resolved the complaint issues, but not within BBB's timeframe. 14 Administratively Closed 7 - BBB determined the company made a reasonable offer to resolve the issues, but the consumer did not accept the offer. 2 - BBB determined the company provided proper verification that indicated there was no obligation to resolve the issues of the complaint. 4 - BBB determined that despite the company's reasonable effort to address complaint issues, the consumer remained dissatisfied. 1 - The parties could not provide sufficient information to support their positions nor were they agreeable to make reasonable efforts toward resolving the issues of the dispute. 2 Unresolved

I used to work for an International Dealership in Cincinnati Ohio and the current IH color is blue, reman/Ford IH engines are black. I haven’t seen any IHC diesels red in our trucks. The only red engines I’ve seen in IHC trucks are the older gasoline engines. Thanks, Jason xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I remember back in 1978 My Dad and I went to our International dealer with the instruction sheet from the Ertl Paystar 5000 mixer kit. The chaps at International said the V8 engine should be red and not blue as the instructions said. I thought back then Ertl were on the ball with information so I was a little surprised to be told the instructions on the engine colour were wrong. Cheers John Wilson As a further comment to both posts above, International paid Cummins, Detroit and Cat about $25 per engine to have them all painted IH 2150 Red for many years. The practice ended in the '70's, as I remember, and we (International, my employer) pocketed the 25 bucks. Concerning the blue International V-800 in the Paystar, marketing decided that International's new big bore engines should be blue to distinguish them from the competition. International V-800 transplant into a 4200 with the hood extended to make a 4300 (before the 4300 was released). Ertl Paystar Dump kit box art Regards,

Hi, I just recently got two PM's from Forum members asking about my truck modeling days. On the slim chance that someone else cares, I will answer here so everyone knows the awful truth. I worked for International Trucks/Navistar for 38.5 years and, except for a 2.5 years stint in World Headquarters in Chicago, I worked in the Fort Wayne, Indiana Engineering Center. I spent time in Sales Engineering and eventually was the Product Information Manager, both were jobs that included supplying technical data and drawings to model manufacturers that wanted to build models of International trucks. There might be folks here that would consider it a dream job and I'll admit it was always my favorite part of the day when I was talking to model manufacturers about new International truck models. It is possible that more International models have made it to market than otherwise might have been, simply because several department members and I went out of our way to make it easy for the manufacturers to get complete information. Now the awful truth: although I built, in the day, at least one of all the 1:25 International truck kit tools, usually from test shot parts, I have not built a truck kit since I retired in 2001. Most of my hobby time since then has been involved with R/C cars, slot cars and model railroads. I have moved from Fort Wayne to the Indianapolis area so I don't have any good contacts in the "what's new" info flow anymore, either. On that uplifting note, let's move on to the questions and comments: From chuckyr: Do you still work for International and build truck models? See above I heard at the recent Chicago model show that a model company plans to offer a Lonestar kit in 1/24th or 1/25th scale. Glad to see that there are plans, I love that truck! I have never heard of the company involved. Your web site is quite interesting. Thanks very much Have you heard that the Transtar 4300 has just been reissued? Yes, I am very glad, it is a kit with which I was very invloved. The Sales Engineering manager was not pleased that it was first released back in the 70's as a short hood 4200 with a Cummins VT903. He was right, the VT903 was a flop. From Ben: Someone posted a partial picture of that International 4300 that you built a while back and I was wondering if you had any other pictures of it? It looks like a really great build and I would love to see more pics! Just because you asked, Ben, I snapped some quickies tonight (with the dust cover still on) and posted them on my web site, e. g. : More here. I am currently mastering a McLaughlin Super Suite to be used in building an Eagle Brougham. Love that one, how are you going to do the graphics? Regards and thanks to you both for asking about an old war horse,

I love these cars. I even got the info pack back in the day but never got a car built. If you want to learn a lot more about them check this: Fisher Body Craftsman Guild The most amazing thing is that the contest started as a competition to build a very closely regulated model of the Fisher Body coach:

Don't the engines in the AMT Parts Packs have valve train and crankshaft details?

Above - 1951 Chevrolet Deluxe Styleline Station Wagon 4-door, Tan with Wood-Appearance Decal trim, Powerglide, 235 6-cylinder, 105 hp, Real Wood Interior (Dad bought it used and it is the car in which I learned to drive. I got my license on February 7, 1955.) Above - 1956 Chevrolet 210 4-door, Pinecrest Green, Column Shift 3-speed, 265 V-8, 205 hp Power Pack, Two-tone Green Interior - I owned it from about June, 1959 to July, 1963 (Dad bought it new and I was able to talk him into the stick and Power Pack because the wagon had been such a dog. Not sure how my license and I survived all the "speed contests".) Great thread idea, Andy, thanks.

My first car was a 1950 Chevy Coupe, similar to these: I would sure like to find a good resin also. I have a very old SCMiller resin but it is barely worth building. Appears to be a knockoff of a Banthrico pot metal bank.