highway

Thanks! Jim, it is just like Earl said in his post, the stretching of the frame comes down to the use or customization the truck is built for. It's just as Bart said about the pic of my Ford, the sleeper looks like a house on wheels, and that was just what I had in mind while building it. Also, with the 1:1s, the frames are only "stretched" in the sense that they are longer than the average rig, because the frames are more often than not ordered from the factory that way. I would be willing to guess most of the long stretched show rigs probably started life as workhorses instead of being built as a custom from the start, most were probably dump trucks, wreckers, and other working trucks that typically have longer frames to start with. As for the big sleepers, here are a few pics that show how some extra bucks will make life on the road much more comfortable!

Ok, I must have missed that memo!! :lol: I have not taken a break from the hobby since I started building over 25 years ago (27 to be exact) for anything. Girls, I got both my ex wife and my current fiancee models and told them to start building! Even the 1:1 car bug at 16 didn't phase me, after I'd finish working on the 1:1, which was quite often, I'd work on models! Heck, driving a truck around this country didn't stop me from building. When I would be waiting for the next load or had a few days of for truck breakdowns or no loads, the little trucks came out. I have a couple truck kits that have over a million scale miles on them, and they still aren't finished!! Of course, that last sentence is also my biggest Achilles heel, actually FINISHING SOMETHING!! I'm usually a decent painter, no pro but good enough for me. If I detail something, I've been under the hood of a car since way before I could drive, so there isn't much I don't know about what should be where. I've been under almost everything, including big trucks, and drove heavy and light duty wreckers for a time, so I can even detail those good. Decals are a slight problem sometimes, I usually goof one up, usually a small one like a gauge or a small engine detail decal. One other thing that does serve as a stumbling block is that I'm my worst critic, and sometimes I make myself so mad that I might have something almost finished and it goes back on the shelf and is forgotten about until I find it and wonder when I'd started it!

I'm going to watch this one for sure! Nice start.

I preordered it when I tried the demo out at Best Buy, and get this, I DON'T EVEN HAVE AN XBOX!!!!! Yet!

Ok, since the railfans have jumped in, here are a couple of my favorites! The Union Paciifc 4-8-8-4 "Big Boy", and this is a Revell AG (ex Monogram SnapTite) 1/87 scale kit. The Shay, this one is a Spectrum unit that is done with markings for my all time favorite places to visit, Cass Scenic Railroad in Cass, WV. The two side by side. Back to internal combustion, this is my all time favorite and wish I had a vehicle large enough to drop one into, the Detroit Series 60.

The blurry pics make the parts look fine to me!!

Paul, here are a couple pics of the Revell/Monogram kit from one of it's more recent reissues. I've seen the Polar Lights kit in person, and in my opinion the only way it should have been mentioned was if the title of this thread was "Worst kit to build build a 1964 GTO"!!! EDIT: This is one of the 2 in 1 reissues Dave mentioned, and if you'd like a pic of the box for it and what the other version looks like, let me know. I think I still have the box here somewhere.

Well, I just noticed that there was another I had forgotten about, the original AMT "Back to the Future" time machine. Strangely enough, I remembered it was one of my "Holy Grails" I'd forgot when a friend gave me a plastic tote today (well yesterday now since it is technically Monday now ) that was filled with models from when he tried modeling in the early 90s and that was the first kit I seen!!! I about fell over in shock!!

There are also full discs like that included in some kits. I can't remember which one I recently seen them in, but a kit that I got from a friend's colection had some. If you're interested, I'll find out which one, since it was one of over 100 kits I've looked through from that collection in the past few days!

Ok, add another for Spongebob!! Other than Spongebob, I also watch the Penguins of Madagascar and I also have all of the original Transformers series downloaded on my computer. My favorites also include The Simpsons, American Dad, Family Guy, and South Park. I also liked Bevis and Butthead and King of the Hill and still watch them if I find them on. One I'm glad to see go was Bob's Burgers. I couldn't stand more than the first five minutes of that show!

I'm guessing you want it for the Coors decals, because other than that it's the Kenworth cabover AMT just reissued.

Here are just a few of mine: 1969 Trans Am 400 1969 Trans Am 400 convertible, I think I read once only 6 were made in Trans Am trim 1977 Trans Am 400 "Bandit" 1979 Trans Am 403 10th Anniversary Edition 1989 Trans Am 3.8 Liter 20th Anniversary Indy Pace Car Edition If you couldn't tell, I have a little thing for Pontiac F-Bodies!! :lol: Since I also love trucks, I'd buy a brand new Freightliner Coronado and a 53 foot Featherlite trailer to haul the toys around in!

I haven't built it yet for the model of my 1:1, mainly because I'm pulling my hair out figuring out how to build it correctly, but it's my 7.3 liter diesel in my 1990 F350. The biggest thing I'm trying to figure out is how to make the Monogram's kit gas engine look close to it, and making the injector pump and modifying the intake so all it has is the massive hole in the middle under the air cleaner that gulps in the air!

I'm sure if I'd think about it, I could have a list 10 pages long of "Holy Grail" kits, but here are a few of the most inmportant. 1974-76 Trans AM-One of very few styles I don't have of a Gen 2 1978 or 79 Trans AM Type K Sportwagon Monogram's 1/16 scale tractor trailers-Any of them would do, but I would really love to have the blue Kenworth Aerodyne I had as a kid and the trailer to go with it It is ironic just a couple weeks ago I did get one of my "Holy Grails" scratched off the list, MPC's 1/16 scale General Lee. That was the first model I ever built and wanted to replace it ever since I'd lost the original in a house fire in 1997.

Frank, the contact info for Alan is on pic 4 in the "Currently Available Items" album. Here is a link to that pic, and you'll find his email and other contact info there. http://public.fotki.com/cnaind/mas-resin-price-lis/current-ly-availabl/price5.html

The funny thing is, a computer or the internet isn't too modern for him!! :lol:

Since I don't think the magazine it was in is even around anymore, I don't think copyrights are an issue!

I'm takiing mine with me, I'll need something to keep me busy!!! :lol: Ok, on the serious side, I'm only 35 and I've already thought about it mainly because a fellow club member from the former club I was in past away maybe a year or two ago now, and his collection was about the same in kit amount as mine is currently. There are some that went to a LHS to be sold, some will be going on ebay, and me and another friend both bought about 7 large boxes each. I've already informed my friend if something happens to me thanks to my high blood pressure that has been going wacky lately or any other reason, he is already volunteered to help my fiancee go through the about 500+ kits and for his help, anything he wants is his. Anything else left over either goes on ebay or to the LHS to be sold, or offered up on here for liquidation in the Swap, Free, or Trade section.

The one Dr. Cranky suggested is a nice one to have, I've been wanting to add it to my motortool lineup for a while now, but I have to say the best one I have found so far for modeling is the Dremel Minimite Cordless. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dremel-7300-N-5-4.8V-MiniMite-Cordless-Rotary-Tool/15173820 According to the specs, this one has a low speed of 6,500 rpm and a high of 13,000 rpm, but the older model I have has a low speed of 5,000 and high speed of 10,000. Regardless if they changed the speed or not, the low speed is perfect for cutting plastic without melting it but the high speed still gives you enough power for tougher cutting jobs. I also use this one quite a bit, the Black and Decker RTX. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Black-Decker-3-Speed-RTX-Rotary-Tool-Model-RTX-B/9714694 Also according to the specs on this, my older model is different because mine is a 6 speed model with a range of 8,000-30,000 rpm and the one in the link says it has 3 speeds with a 12,000-30,000 rpm range. Regardless of what you finally choose to go with, the biggest thing to watch is the low speed rpm, and I would suggest not getting anything with a low speed higher than 8,000 rpm. Anything above 8,000 rpm is going to burn through plastic, and even at the 8,000 rpm setting of my older RTX, if I have a little too heavy of a touch when cutting, it starts melting istead of cutting cleanly.

That ain't nothing, I spent more than that at the Pittsburgh show I went to last month, and that ain't the only time I've blown that much on models in just one day!!

Yep, that's what I had to do when my Hotmail was hacked earlier this year and someone sent a virus to everyone in my contact list. As for any help from Hotmail, don't bother, they didn't do anything for me!

There, since it's obvious my opinion doesn't matter to you and one of my previous replies standing up for myself and my opinion to you has been deleted from this thread, I have deleted all the posts I've made in this thread but this one!!

Ok, you got me there, but for most of us it's not a normal sight!! :lol: I'm just wondering if that is the same one, I noticed it was from Erickson Air Crane, and when I asked some of the crew if I could get some (horrible because of fading light) close ups and if it would be working in the area again tomorrow, they said they were heading back home out West. This was about the best close up I could get of it on the ground.

I had quite a surprise today when I took my fiancee to work, I found out there was a Sky Crane helicopter working in the area, and the LZ was not even a mile from her job! When we first seen it, she seen the chopper first and said "Look at that funny looking helicopter" and just about the same time I seen it and said "That's a Sky Crane!". Well, I dropped her off at work and was heading home when I seen the Sky Crane hovering near a water tower, and I was pulled in like a moth to a flame! I took a few (bad) pics with my phone and then asked one of the guys directing traffic near where they were picking up from if they were doing more and found they were and hurried home to get my good camera. Anyway, here is a video I took with my camera, it's not the greatest, but all I have for video is the same camera I take my still pics with. EDIT: To view the video, click on it and it will open a new window to it in my Photobucket album. There is also another video in the album to, it's 10 minutes long and shows the Sky Crane getting refueled between trips also. If you want to skip the (boring) refueling, advance the video to around the 7:00 minute mark. Here are some of the still pics. Those last two pics show just how close I was able to get to watch it lift the loads, I was parked along the side of the road and only about 100 yards away and it almost flew directly over me and the rotor wash would have blown my hat off if I would not have turned it around in time!! I don't know exactly what it was that was being moved, I'm guessing some power line towers, or where they were taking them, but it was only about 10 minutes for it to make a complete round. I'm watching the local 11:00PM news and see if they say anything in more detail. EDIT#2: I also found the name painted on the nose of this Sky Crane ironic, Icabod!!

Here are a few more pics I have found through the years. I think these may be close to the style you are looking for.