Longbox55

The Subaru plant is in Lafeyette Indiana, they also build Toyota Camrys there.

And Honda, Toyota, Mitsubishi, and Nissan all build cars and trucks in the United States, most wiht 90% or more of their components sourced inside the US.

It's a type of suspension, and can be found in street cars, race cars, and truck. The term comes from how the suspension is configured, meaning it has 4 "links" connecting the axle to the frame. This type suspension usually has either coil springs or air bags, sometimes a combination of the two. The simplest type of 4 link will have 4 control arms (links), 2 upper and 2 lower, connecting from the frame paralell to each other. It's more or less a modified trailing arm suspension, the additional links/pivot points allow for smoother operation as well as wheel location. While good for suspension travel and simplicity, it isn't best for controlling lateral (side to side) movement of the axle. Those types usually also have an extra bar called a Panhard rod. Those are usually referred to as a 5 link. You see these mostly on vehicle like the late Tahoe/Suburban, the solid axle coil spring Jeeps, Dodge trucks, and Super Duty Fords also use this type in the front. A better version is the triangulated 4 link, which sets the control arms at opposing angles to each other, usually with the lowers angling towards the wheels, uppers angling in. This compensates for the lateral motion, and is superior for handling. This type is found under many vehicles, such as the GM full and intermediate RWD cars from the late '50s to the mid '90s. Ford also used this suspension for many years under the Crown Victoria. As far as building one, I suppose it would depend on what kit you're working with. Scratching one shouldn't be too hard, again, depending on what you're after. Making the control arms can be as simple as using round stock (for a racing/custom) to make the control arms, and adding coul springs of your choice. If you really want to get into the details, adding scale Heim joints at the ends would add to a custom or race type.

Plenty of balme to around on that one. Ford was just as much at fault as Firestone. They insisted on running a 4 ply tire at way too low of a pressure (26 psi) for the vehicle weight, all in the name of ride quality. Firestone told them that the running pressure needed to be higher, or a larger tire needed to be used (like Toyota and Nissan did with their suvs with the same tire). Now, I'm laying all the blame of Ford, there were quality and construction issues with the Wilderness tires supplied to Ford by Firestone, but there were no reported similar failures of the same tire used as oem fitment on any of the other applications, including Chevrolet/GMC C/K, S/T 10, Toytota 4-Runner, and the Nissan Frontier/Pathfinder. There were also no reported failures with aftermarket versions of the Wilderness. BTW, there is a bit of humor involved on the Firestone side. The plant code for the majority of the Wilderness tires recalled was VD. The plant in question was the Dacature IL plant, which ended up getting closed when Ford passed the buck onto Firestone.

And it doesn't RUST! Black iron, while cheap, can rust internally if you don't have a good dryer inline, and add a drip leg or two. BTW, I use a 2 hp 22 gallon Sanborn running on 220v. It's about 30 years old, but I can't complain about what I paid for it, $0.00!

The Diamond in the Rough version still had the mags. The Hot Trucks version has the Babby Moons.

Is it just me, or is there an echo in here?

I'll third it, and throw in headlamp/taillamp bezels in too.

If you know what the raduis is of a full circle, you can do it with a pin/nail, a length of string, and marking/cutting devise of your choice. Simply tie the string to the pin/nail, firmly plant it at the centerpoint, measure out the radius and attach the marking/cutting tool, pull the slack out of the string, and use that as your compass. It's an old trick my Dad, a retired sheetmetal worker, taught me for doing layouts. Works everytime.

Also used on BMWs. Virtually impossible to get for the 1:1 cars, Coker is the only dealer for them.

There was also a Hot Trucks set that included the '53, the street machine version of the '50 Chevy 3100, and the '55 Chevy Stepside.

It's the sealer that made it thick. As mentioned, light coats. That will make for a much thinner decal. I actually did the same thing on some my first decals, lighter passes with the selaer did the trick. A few more tips, let them dry overnight before you try to clear them. Spraying the too soon will make the ink run. Also, there have been many reports of black doing badly in inkjet paper. I've had this happen to me on different brands of paper, with black "craking". It only seems to happen if the black area is relatively large, thin lines seem to do ok. If you have a somewhat large black area that need done, you may consider editing the image to change the black to a dark gray. That seems to eliminate the cracking problem, and is not noticable in the final product if you get the shading dark enough. One more tip, on the inkjet clear papers, the image will be translucent. You'll want to make sure to compensate for this in your color selection, or paint the area the decal will be located in white to prevent the decal from changing color/disappearing in the surrounding colors. Thsi can work to your advantage, if you ue a gold/silver under the decal, you can get some pretty nice metallic/candy effects with the decal.

If they're scaled to fit a Power Wagon, which should come out as a 9.00-16, they will be too large for a Jeep, which would have a 6.00-16 tire.

Priming isn't 100% necessary with this line, but it's best if you do prime first. You'll want to use a laquer base primer, I'm partial to Duplicolor. Tesotrs has a couple of clears in their laquer lines that will work fine with it, I've also used Tamiya clear on it without problems. Duplicolor Paint Shop clear works well, too. I'v never had to polish out anything I've finished with this paint, but it should be the same as any other finish. Side note, don't buy into the "one coat" part, every time I've usde it, I needed at least 2 coats to get solid coverage.

It's just like 1:1 wheels, some have a lip on the od of the wheel, some dont. Then there's some that even have a lip on the inside, but not on the outside. It's pretty much a cosmetic thing. BTW, the wheels without the lips or only a lip on one side can be a real bear to balance properly. Takes plenty of patience and experience to get them right, especially at high speed.

You won't be disappointed. It's gorgeous kit. I'm looking forward to the 300 and Hornet. Now, if someone would just make a modern trailer for the Lonestar....

I think it would depend on the parts being done with Alclad. if the parts are smooth, without any flaws or marks that would show, you can go with the black base without priming. The Alclad black base works very well this way. If it's something large or has had alterations/bodywork done to it, priming is a must to ensure an even base for the black to lay down on. Any imperfection will show up in the final result.

I did a little quick checking, seems you're correct on a newer tool '57 'Vette from AMT. I found both a stock version w/feul injection (the MPC was dula 4 bbls) and a street machine version using a stock body and a big block (MPC was a flip nose with a smallblock). The stock version showed an '02 copyright date, but it may have originally been released earlier. I do know that AMT did reissue the MPC version in their own boxes, as one of each in my stash.

The last 2 issues of the AMT/ex MPC '57 'Vette are of the flipnose version. One was shown in pink/white on the box, then there was one in lime green/white on the box. There was also another variant of the flipnose that came with the '90/91 C1500 Sportside and a trailer. I beleive it was shown in either lime green or yellow on the box. The stock Corvette I beleive may have only been reissued twice by AMT, once alone, and once in a 3 kit set along with the AMT '53 and '63.

Most hobby shops should have it, especially those that carry military/plane models and railroad in addition to automotive kits. Hobbytown is a good place to check. Hobby Lobby also carries the Testors line of decal paper, however, it is inkjet only and a bit pricey for the sheet count/size. Decal papers are also redily available online though several sources.

The AMT was available a few years ago, it was originally an MPC kit. There are 2 versions, one that builds stock with some custom parts, and there was also a race version with a flipnose frontend, racing wheels/tires (varies by issue), plus Hillborn feul injection and blower manifolds for the engine. The basic chassis, interior, and body trim in the same between the kits. Shouldn't be too difficult to find either version.

Great build, John. I just got mine today, and must say that I'm very impressed with the kit. Now all we need are some modern trailers for it. I'm considering going with the paint scheme from the '08 prototype I saw at the Chicago Auto Show.

The HF double action isn't too bad for the price. It does seem to be sensative to certain finishes, Dupli Color Paint Shop didn't do well through it, anyway. While I would not put it in shame catagory as a Paasce (my weapon of choice), Badger, Iwata, or Grex, I can suggest them for basic airbrushing or starting out without laying out alot of money. This one was done with an HF airbrush.

That's where I was really going with the suggestion, new kit with shared tooling, like they did with the Task Force '55 and '57s. I certainly would not want them to ruin the 3100 kit by altering the tool for it.

What would have been even better is if they had retooled into a 3600 (3/4 ton) or 3800 (1 ton), instead of just adding parts to the 3100. It would be much more accurate to what a real service station would have had, or at least closer to any that I've been around. Wouldn't have required much in the line of parts, chassis, rear axle/springs, driveshaft, longer running boards, longer bedsides, 8 lug 15" split rims for the 3/4 ton, 8 lug 17" split rims for a 1 ton, and maybe retooling the engine to have the 4 speed (optional 3/4 ton, standard on 1 ton). All other parts would be the same. Maybe they might consider doing that with the '55/'57 Chevy truck. I would definetly welcome a 3200 (long 1/2 ton) or 3600 Task Force truck!