highway

Same here. The bumper from my 53' Great Dane trailer was......ummmmmmm........missing something. I emailed the customer service, with the pic above of the original release of the Great Dane's bumper on the left and the reissued smoothside on the right for comparison and to show what was not there, and got a new bumper in about a week.

A friend shared this with me on Facebook, I could see me driving this to Walmart to pick up some groceries!

I'll be watching this one for sure, this has been one of the ideas floating around my mind since the first movie came out. I'm hoping you have a good recovery from your surgery, too. I know how bad back problems can be, I never have had surgery, but I did have a compression fracture to my L1 after a fall down some stairs in Dec 2012. I had a lot of free time too, but unfortunately didn't get to put it to use building, turns in life before the fall meant my collection was in storage and building supplies were at a friend's, and I couldn't get to either! I'm jealous too, the only Prime I ever got a chance to pick up was the one from the first movie. I did have a little fun with it and a Dale Jr. diecast poking fun at the second movie.

I don't know, it might just be that I haven't had enough coffee yet and I'm not fully awake, but it appears to have a lot of Mitsubishi in it to me. If you or your dad can look, you didn't say if this is his current daily driver or an old truck from long ago so I don't know if you or him still have access to it or not, see if there is an info plate somewhere that may have a name other than International on it. I know I used to drive a Mack city delivery truck here in the states that was actually a Renault cab just with Mack emblems. I forget if it was on the VIN plate or one of the other data plates/stickers, but I did find the Renault name and logo on one of them. If you or your dad would find something like that in this, that would point you in the right direction for the cab's manufacturer. Also, there is a set of similar looking mirrors in the other Italeri Truck Accessories kit. They aren't an exactly match but look as if they would be close.

Looking good so far Mike!

Yes, I know that there is more than just the engine that is incorrect for Can Do, and also depending on which version of Can Do also, because Stepp's has rebuilt the truck entirely. The entire kit would be incorrect for the new rebuild with the exception of the main pieces of the wrecker bed and rotator, and even the bed would have to be modified for the new underlift.

That would be nice, but the truck was incorrect for the true Can Do. At least they also brought out the snap Petes and KWs with the correct engine for Can Do, so correcting that isn't as much of a problem now.

Yeah, I agree 100% on all four. I would love to see some modern equipment and I have a fleet of duallys needing beds!

Yeah, just as long as Revell doesn't make us wait 10 years for another reissue of it as in the past.

Yeah, same here too. My dad worked for Sears for 25 years before injuring his back and going on disability, and I grew up with Craftsman tools in my hand. I still go there for tools on occasion, but that is even very little now since I have found Lowe's Kobalt tools are just as good, and they actually stand up better to the use (read as abuse ) I tend to put my tools through. The quality of Craftsman has gone down greatly, the old ones my dad had were far beyond the quality they have today. In my younger years, I used Craftsman screwdrivers for about everything but screwing a screw and they begged for more. The latest set I bought in 2000 while I was running heavy wrecker and doing mechanic work in their shop, I broke a flat head screwdriver just screwing in a screw. It lays with its broken tip in my toolbox, because after I had a brand new ratchet break while under a semi taking out the U joint bolts from the driveshaft to tow it and then tried to return it for a new one and ending up having the clerk try to give me a rebuilt one for my return, it hasn't been worth the hassle. That was the first time ever I had taken a tool back to Sears and was offered anything other than brand new off the shelf, and I wouldn't take anything less that day, and that is exactly what I told the manager that I had the clerk call. I haven't had any issues with returning any Kobalt tools to Lowe's, because I haven't had any fail yet!

I have to agree, and I have to laugh at those of you who think Walmart is just out there to drive small businesses out of business. If that was the case, there would be no small businesses around a Walmart, but I know for a fact small businesses still survive around a Walmart. I happen to drive and make my living delivering groceries to Walmart stores in western PA, eastern OH, and most of WV, and I see small businesses, including hobby shops, near all the stores. There are three hobby shops around Wheeling, WV where I grew up and lived until I moved to Wintersville OH to be closer to work a year ago, and those three hobby shops are surrounded by three Walmart stores that are within a 10 to 15 mile radius and for a while, all three of those Walmarts carried models. None do now, but the small shops all survived. The Walmart in Steubenville, OH did stock models until about a few months ago and there are still a few on the toy clearance shelves. but guess what, NO HOBBY SHOPS IN THIS AREA TO EVEN DRIVE OUT OF BUSINESS!! The closest shops to this area are all about 30 miles away, the three in the Wheeling area and in and around Pittsburgh PA. Oh, and also since through the day I get to interact with the store managers through the day making my deliveries, it is not the store manager's choice to carry models or not, that is corporate. One manager told me it depends on the type and size of the store, the large supercenters that carry the most inventory are usually the ones you'll find models in, smaller stores just don't have the shelf or backroom storage space to carry everything a large supercenter can.

Yeah Gator, already been thinking about adding a couple more, I just have to see if I have any extra still laying around or steal a couple from this!

I agree, thanks Dan for the pics of Bruce's truck. Leith, I think it was just a couple of episodes ago that I thought someone, and it may have been Jamie, said that they did retire Bruce's old ride. I can't remember if it was before or after Bruce passed that Howie spun it going to a call on Highway 3 and seen it once or twice on the show after that, but it hasn't been used much if at all since they announced Bruce's passing. I don't know if there are any decals out there or not, but maybe if you contact Jerry at modeltruckin.com he might just be able to custom make you a set.

I don't know Dan, the last episode of the show Sunday was making it sound like Jamie was wanting to cut back and get back to smaller like when the show started and wanted to be driving again rather than driving the desk. Maybe it is to add a little suspense for the show's sake, but I know every episode makes me think about when I was towing and sort of miss it, then I remember the 4 AM wakeup calls and just getting ready to go to bed and the phone rings for another tow call and it brings me back to my senses! I do have to agree with the bigger equipment being a value in the oilfields and not really being the greatest for the Coq, the same is similar here in the area I'm in with the oilfields of OH, WV, and PA. There are a few companies like Nick's I posted earlier (and found out they actually have 3 rotators) that are getting roators for the added work the oilfields and the terrain of the Appalachian Mountains (if you want to call these old hills mountains ) have given the tow companies around here, but still for the normal tow I see the older equipment running. Jamie being Jamie, he likes his latest and greatest and shiny chrome, but as Adam once said on the show, he likes his "Antiques Road Show" too!

No, the picture itself is not the IMG code that makes the picture visible here. Off to the right of the picture in Photobucket, you should see options like this in this pic I took of my Photobucket. It may be a little hard to see, but about the tip of the highlighter is the IMG, click on the URL address in that box and it will come up "Copied". Then in the reply box here, either right click and select "Paste" or press ctrl+v (which also is paste) and the IMG URL will be displayed as text here in the reply box something like (but not exact, because I had to edit it so the pic would not display again) this: URL=http://s769.photobucket.com/user/highway76/media/Misc Pictures/IMG_20160302_211732_9291_zpsp47mfw1q.jpg.html]http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/xx339/highway76/Misc Pictures/IMG_20160302_211732_9291_zpsp47mfw1q.jpg[/URL There would be a [ and another ] at the ends to make the pic show as it did above.

Is it the new one or the Pete? I happened to stumble across this as I was looking for more info on HR 150, even though just noticed this one had the same unit number. I'm doubting it is the one that his brother has at Aggressive, because it appears as if the boom for that truck is in the backdrop, but he could have sold this Pete to him. I know the latest episode of the show was kinda sounding with rapid growth into the Alberta oil fields and the growth of the company in general, Jamie may be looking to ease back because it sounded to me that he's getting tired of driving a desk and not the truck, I'd like to see him just stick with the current HR 150, I'm not a big fan of the looks of twin steer trucks,

You lucky dog, I won't ever get that close to HR 150, but I did get a chance to see O'Hare's "Mistress" in action a time or two going through the Windy City. I have had the pleasure of actually watching this one in action from a distance of 50 feet. It's operated by Nick's Auto Sales in Weirton, WV and one night just as I was getting back to the Walmart DC I operate out of, this and another of their heavy trucks were following me into the DC. As soon as I rounded the curve around the building where the reefers are kept and loaded, I seen why. Another driver was pulling a loaded trailer out of a space and somehow hit the loaded trailer next to them on their right side. It was enough to fold the landing gear under the trailer and dig the right front corner into the asphalt. The trailer didn't roll, but a stiff breeze could have easily finished it off. I parked my tractor across from where the trailer was and watched the show. If I would have remembered to, I should have started the dash cam rolling again and recorded it.

Jesus, to post your pics from Photobucket, copy and paste the IMG URL from Photobucket to here and your pics will come up here like this:

There's not much to report since the last update since I've been at work and finally freight is picking up some so after spending the day with my honey Cassie at work, it's been work, come home, eat, go to bed, get up and repeat. I was hoping to be able to at least get some things in primer today before I spend the rest of my weekend with my better half at her place since it doesn't feel much like winter here at the house in Wintersville OH , but the warm temps and sunny day is accompanied by too much wind to paint outside and I can't spray paint inside my apartment. Also, I didn't get the rest of the frame finished like I wanted to last night after I got home from finishing my week thanks to talking to a modeling friend on the phone and hunting parts for him to take with me when I go down there before going to the better half's house! That discussion with my friend last night did yield yet another idea for the slight trans/crossmember clearance issue, and it was one that had been running through my mind anyway, adding just a little more length to the frame. I'm not sure which route I'll take, but this beast will be made to fit in this truck, I've already had to throw it out of the big custom Ford because it was too far along, it WILL be in this one even if I have to get out the shoehorn!!

If I remember correctly, the only company in 1:1 that makes a sliding rotator is NRC, and to my knowledge there is not kit equipped with an NRC unit. The pic I posted earlier of the wrecker that is painted like "Optimus Prime" is an NRC unit, just unsure if it is a rotator and/or slider, because NRC does make a non rotating slider unit as well. The unit on the Petes are a Challenger unit, and as for the other two (O'hare's "Mistress" and Jamie Davis' HR 150) I posted pics of the real trucks, I believe they may be heavier capacity Challenger units as well. I know HR 150 was built by Miller Industries in Chattanooga, TN because in one episode of the Weather Channel's (and also aired occasionally on National Geographic Channel as well) "Highway Thru Hell" was based around Jamie Davis going to the factory to take delivery and drive the rotator back to Hope, BC.

I have the Can Do, but didn't get Will Do. I need to see if a couple of the hobby shops I go to still have one or two, need to get a few more. I want to build Can Do, but I have a couple other rotators I want to build as well. And not sure if this one is a rotator or not, but still cool!

Thanks Gino and Gator. As for your question Gator, to make the engine fit with your suggestion, it would be sitting at the angle as in the pic, and the fan would not fit in the radiator shroud and not even sure if moving the radiator to match the fan at the new angle would work because that would possibly make the radiator hit the bottom of the floor. The engines that I used for this beast are two 8V71 or maybe even 8V92 engines from other AMT kits, and since this kit has the 8V92 in it already, all the front pieces should swap right over or at least the finished engine should fit just like the kit 8V92 would have. I thank you very much for not only the suggestion, but looking at the pics again has just given me an idea that should give me the clearance I need without taking anything out of the crossmember or trimming anything off of the transmission housing. It looks to me that there is enough space in the bellhousing between where the engine mounts are placed and the transmission that trimming that to the rear mounts should move the transmission forward just enough that the rear tailshaft housing should slide right up in front of the crossmember.

Well, didn't quite get it into the full roller I would have liked, but do have the frame on its way to being ready to paint. It will be painted red as the original BJ and the Bear rig was, but much longer. Paired with the trailer for now from my big Ford custom since I haven't started working on the trailer for this yet, it will have the nice long frame look I like though. The frame has some nice flexing capabilities thanks to the weight of the trailer shifting everything loosely mocked up just before I took the pic, and that is nice for the reveal that is coming up. Now for the reveal that is lurking under the cab. I wanted to make sure the frame would stay square and was going to use the engine to help, and was going to use the engine I had from the old blue rebuilder that I had the first "idea" pic of paired with the Ford's trailer, but couldn't find it at that moment. I did later find it under the hood of my Ford, but I remembered that I had another partially built engine in the hutch of the desk that would fill in without having to quickly assemble the kit's engine to do the job. Well, that and my twisted mind led to this: The 16V71 wouldn't fit under the hood for the Ford and it was already too far along to make it fit in the Ford, but this project became the perfect place for it since there is no hood to fit under and I don't have a $20 paint job on the frame to mess up! I will have a little modification to do to make it fit here, but at least there is plenty of room under the cab and it does fit with the addition of some C channel to serve as mounts much like the kits "L" shaped mounts on the frame rails. The only problem so far: I am either going to have to shave a little off the crossmember or the transmission housing itself, but with the engine sitting level, you can see the slight gap between the bell housing and the transmission in this pic, so just a little massaging should do the trick. Of course, that beast needs to breathe, and thanks to them not quite giving me the look I quite wanted for the Ford by being a little short, the 8" stacks I got from Rhino's Custom Model Truck Parts are going to be at home on this! The lower have are the muffler halves from an old original issue Pete 352 that was missing so much it has always been a parts kit. The stacks fit tightly over these, and will allow me to adjust the height for the look I want then a little strip of BMF will help replicate a band clamp.

I needed a little "relax" time tonight, so I spent a little time getting the frame together and currently waiting for the glue to dry so that I don't lose the "square" to it, but I hope to have it in a roller tonight before I have to go to bed and go back to the daily grind in the morning. I also possibly have a "BIG" surprise going in those frame rails thanks to my twisted mind!

"I though you said the load was 20,000 LBS?!?!" "No, I said 200,000 LBS you idiot!"