Wagoneer81

And here's a few of my nephews '69 F-250. Notice the chrome trim package on this one compared to the Plain-Jane, base model '68... This is a 'Custom-Cab' truck. Here's a couple pics that show the difference between the base model that is the blue '68 and the Custom Cab option here... Lotsa chrome, nice 'woodgrain' trim... Original AM radio that still works... This was in the glovebox... The original 1969 owners manual... My nephew is the second owner of this truck...

Here's a few more... As you can see, the truck has been used but not abused... Just normal wear in the bed, no rust holes at all... Like the rest of the interior, the headliner is original and in excellent shape... When we restore her, we will be installing shoulder belts out of a later model truck. This one only has lapbelts... Another shot of the engine bay... This was, by far, the easiest engine rebuild I ever had a hand in... Look at all that room! And this is a big-block truck! One of the four rust holes that need fixed... The inner fender on the passengers side is rusted in the same place. The '68-'72 F-series all rusted in the same places, the inner fenders at the hood hinges, the lower rear of the front fenders and the front cab-mounts... This is minor compared to some I've seen... Here's that lower rear of the front fender I mentioned. The drivers side is in a little better shape. These and the small holes in the inner fenders at the hood hinges are the ONLY rust damage on the entire truck, minus the tailgate. Everything else is just minor surface rust. The front cab mounts and floorboards are as solid as they day they left the factory Starting this spring, Dad and I plan on doing a complete restoration on this one. New paint, dashpad, tailgate, bedliner... I'd say we have a good base to start with. There are now three of these trucks in my family. My Brother owns a '72 F-250 with a 345-horsepower 390/automatic that used to be Dad's, and my nephew just bought a '69 F-250 with a 360/auto...

This is the truck that Dad bought back in July to replace the grey S-10 that got crushed by the tree... The body is in wonderful condition considering it's 43 years old. There is very little rust on this one... The only thing we've done is overhaul the motor...The heads and valve seats were in bad shape, we think from running unleaded gas in an engine built for leaded (Soft valve seats)... The odometer is showing a little over 36,000 miles and the condition of the truck leads us to believe that it is the original mileage... When this truck was ordered, the only option added was the 360 2 barrel. When you look at the interior pics, notice the radio-delete plate and rubber floor mat... the three-on-the-tree... Manual-choke... Also, notice the lack of power steering pump and brake booster... I'm posting these because this truck is a good example of an original 'survivor' and I know that some of you will appreciate it for what it is... It's a base model, all original, except for a freshly rebuilt motor and exhaust. It hasn't been butchered or cobbled up by any hotrodders, weekend racers, teenagers with more energy than smarts nor has it been left to rust away or kludged together in a vain attempt to keep it running... Shoot, it still sported the original steel wheels and caps... Enjoy! The only dent in the entire truck is on the top of the tailgate, probably the hardest part of the body to damage... Very clean interior. Just a couple of cracks in the dashpad. The only thing not stock is the aftermarket oil pressure gauge added to the left side of the instument panel... (This replaced the factory idiot light.) How many old trucks do you see with a bodyline this straight? The 360 got punched .030 over when it was rebuilt. We added an RV cam and ran new 2" dual exhaust with glasspacks... It purrs like a cream-filled kitty now... Even with a 2bbl, it'll lay rubber with ease... This guy's a real blast to drive!

Looks good to me... Keep going!

Beautiful! I love old stake trucks, farm trucks, etc...

Greymack, I have good luck with Tamiya yellow tape. It's kinda pricy but, to me, it's worth it... Since we're talking 2-tone paintjobs, I'll share a tip I learned from a model railroader about preventing bleedthrough; After you paint the base color and mask off for the second color, spray the edges of the mask with the base color. After that dries, THEN shoot the second color. This will seal the edge of the mask, if there is any bleedthrough it will be the first color, not the second... I've done this in scale and on 1:1 projects and it works like a charm... Hope this helps!

Wow! That's wild! I miss him...

Ohh, dear....Another one for the Funny Farm... WELCOME HOME!!! Seriously, this is an extremely good group of people, very helpful... There's probably 1000+ combined years of modeling experience on this forum. Don't hesitate to ask a question or post your thoughts and/or pictures of your work!

At last nights Muncie Modelers meeting, a friend gave me an original set of decals from the 'Movin' On' Kenworth kit... They look to be in really good shape... Gee, now I need to buy another W900... Ohh, Shucky Darn!

I not exactly sure but... I have an idea... Look at some of Kennb's stuff in the 'On the Workbench' section. he seems to scratchbuild everything, including wheels,tires frames, etc... out of .040 styrene. His Hudson Italia thread should shed some light on how to fab a curvy body out of sheet. And, he makes it look easy... Skulls, thanks for the link, Buddy! I love having new sites and new eyecandy to drool over... This is pretty inspiring, I think I'm gonna have find out how good I am at building with a bum right hand...

That's the best way to start, Zimmie... take it in steps. I look forward to seeing more of this! I look at it this way, (and Tim's gonna cringe at this... ) When you put it under a trailer, exactly how much frame detail are you gonna see anyhow?

I do! I have a neat two-drum tumbler so that I can work on two batches at a time... Dr. Cranky,for some reason, when I saw the title of this thread and who started it, my knee-jerk reaction was, "Ohh no... What's he done now?"...

I don't work outside anymore so winter doesn't bother me as much as it used to... Although I do get stiff and sore more easily, now... I can hear the ice and snow falling off the trees today, we got about 2" over the last day or two... It wouldn't be so bad if all these know-it-all, mental-midgets with 4wd or AWD vehicles would remember that, regardless of traction control and perceived stability, they still have to be able to STOP! Last winter, I had several people blast around me and my slow, old 4wd Wagoneer (I'm sorry, even 25-30mph can be too fast when the road is snowcovered, I am a cautious driver when it gets nasty. I was an EMT for 8 years and have seen too much not to be cautious...) Anyway, back on track; they'd usually cuss me and/or send some less than endearing hand gestures my way as they went by, only to end up in the ditch or field several miles down the road... Their comments were always the same; "I dunno what happened, I hit the brakes and lost control..." Being a nice guy, I'd always stop to make sure they were ok, or if they needed to use the phone BUT, I would always refuse to pull them out... Hey, cuss out the wrecker driver and see how much help they are to you... I told more than one, "The way you passed me back there, the ditch is the safest place for you... It's not my fault you suffered from Cranial-Rectal Inversion..." Ahhh....I love winter!

Yes, please, post them! I'm always looking for unique subject matter!

I've found that, all in all, hands down, this is the best, friendliest group of people on the Net... And I want to express my thanks to all who have stepped up with advice or words of encouragement for me during the issues that I've had in the past (and some I still have to contend with)... Sometimes, for me, just seeing a new project pop up or progress on an old, familiar project (Hint, hint, Highway... ) gives me the inspiration I need to sit down and build something... You guys ROCK!!!

I see lunar lander parts on this part... I love Greeblies and Sci-Fi modeling!

That part #12 looks like the engine halves from a Monogram 1926 AC Mack...

welcome to the Funny Farm, friend!

In the description of all my auctions, I always stated, "PayPal only"... I had one gentleman win an auction and send me an envelope via USPS with the $11.49 payment... in cash and change... I went ahead and sent him the item... Then I ammended the description to say that any other payment type would be refused and a non-payer complaint would be registered... As for shipping, I had good luck using USPS for shipping in the US and UPS for international shipping. I also stated in my description that I would NOT ship to Mexico or Italy. Those two countries seemed to be black-holes that packages enter and are never seen again... I've shipped to places like Serbia and Romania and had no issues. My theory is that if they're willing to pay the shipping, I'm willing to sell them an item... I used ebays shipping calculator and never got shortchanged.

This is looking really good! I like the decals in the first pic (drivers side) better than the second set but, that's just me...

Ebay exposes us to the absolute best and the absolute worst attributes of a Free Market Society. In other words, "It takes all kinds". You get crooks, conmen and trustworthy people... You just have to know your limits. I sold for several years and eventually will start selling again. Ebay is like a Bazaar in an old, off -the-beaten-track colonial city... It's buyer beware, know what you want and constantly keep your hand on your money pouch... I get a good laugh out of the seller who pieces out current production kits for astronomical prices... His intended market has to be people who may be new to the hobby and not know the things us more experienced builders know. I know this; He makes sellers like me look better and better as time goes by. I always start the bidding low for reasons already covered, I am timely with shipping and have even refunded part of the shipping fee when the shipping charge was overestimated. (That one will really make you popular...) Regardless of buying or selling, I only use PayPal. Their fees are worth the piece of mind you get if you ever have to deal with a dispute or claim... As far as buying, it's no different than buying anywhere else... (I usually won't buy from a seller with a feedback score of less than 95%, unless I go back through his feedback and see that it may not be all his doing...) Buyer beware, research what you're looking for, comparison shop and don't pop on it until you're sure it's what you want... I've gotten $100.00 kits for bids of $9.99 plus $10.00 shipping... The deals are still out there, you just have to shop around.

Craig, Some enamel clear coats will yellow over time. Like others have mentioned, Future floor polish works well as does Testors One Shot, Wet-Look clear. I almost exclusively use the Testors one-shot (it comes in a rattle can) and have had great results with it. It's part of their 'One Shot' Laquer system and, to my knowledge, does not yellow with time. If I use decals on a build, I always clear over them to seal and protect the decals. This also gives the decals the same shine as the paint which just makes things look better all around. One other thing I use it for; If I have a decal sheet that is very fragile, or when I print my own decals, I'll use the Wet Look clear to seal the decal sheet before I use it. I spray the entire sheet and let it dry overnight. Hope this helps!

The Pete 359 and W900 kits are engineered exactly the same. The only difference is the shape of the body. If you liked the Pete, you'll get along just fine with the W900... Here's another one, just to inspire... This one's built box stock except for the company logo and lettering. Paint is Duplicolor Royal Blue. I love these kits, I have several more in various stages of construction, both Pete and KW...

Very nice, brilliant! I am so going to steal this idea! I can see a longer version of this used to help assemble big multi-piece model semi frames... One of the big issues with me... having to place every crossmember, is getting those frames square with themselves.

Better yet, fill the cargo area with boxes, crates and cans and hitch an 88 behind it... Very nice build!