Wagoneer81

Gee, I said that back on page one, post #16.... Well, I was right, in more ways than one! Nice work, John. You dared go where few modelers would venture with this one and I must say, I like it! *This is me, wishing for a 'thumbs-up' emoticon...*

I've had good luck with white acyrlic paint followed by a clearcoat, gloss or dullcoat depending on how much shine you want. Enamel paint reacts with the tire material and doesn't seem to cure but acyrlic has no such trouble.

That is a unique looking truck! I'm impressed! I'd say you hit the mark this time.

You have to consider that this kit is an old MPC kit and the tooling is getting up there in age. Having said that, it's really not that bad of a kit. Yes, there are some fit issues... and the instructions can be pretty vague about where exactly a part is supposed to fasten but, if you take your time and check and adjust your fit along the way, it can be turned into a pretty nice truck. Here's one that I stretched into a stakebed a little over a year ago... I glued the pass. door closed and posed the drivers door open as I didn't want to fuss with making them open and close properly. To me, the doors are the weakest link in the kit but otherwise not that big a deal... Having built this one, I really wouldn't mind doing a few more. I do want to do the tractor/tanker combo someday. Now, I wouldn't say that if the kit were a real pain or as horrible as some people say it is... I have an aversion to horrible kits...lol! I'd say, find a few reference pics and dive in and start building... If you need any help, detail pics and answers are only a PM away...

Would you be interested in trading for somthing else? I wouldn't mind getting my paws on a kit like that...

Well, folks... I'm glad to say that after an almost two-month long rough patch (concerning my health and almost non-existent energy level) where I haven't done squat in the modeling realm other than peruse my favorite forums ( this one and two that focus on warships...), I sat down at the desk today, for about an hour, and actually put some pieces together... So, believing that I'm on the mend and slowly getting back into the swing of things, I'm going to officially put my foot in the door here with this idea.... This.... Yes, the venerable old W900.... Combined with the cargobox and liftgate from the Ford Louisville Delivery Truck kit... (BTW, thanks again to Justbill for sending me these parts!) Basically, all I'll have to modify is the wheelbase with a two-and-a-half inch (actual) frame stretch and land the 5th wheel. Otherwise the box and truck will be built stock. Maybe add an APU on one side and a frame mount toolbox on the other between the tanks and the drives... Since the box has such nice detail inside and out, it'll be modeled with the doors open and loaded with 'Speed parts'... I'll raid the parts boxes for model'A' frames, drag frames, engines, wheels, tires and such and properly package them for delivery... I'm seeing engines and frames and a body tub or two, packed in wood 'skeleton crates' waiting to be delivered to their new owners...

Welcome to the Forum!, says the transplanted Buckeye stuck in the Heart of Hoosier Land! (That's me! )

Charlie, he is a VERY good neighbor. I was touched by his gesture. Ben, it was as you said... Aaand, that scenario has been touched on in the last 24 hours by more than one person. It probably would have consisted of me throwing myself down across the seats, praying for a miracle and soiling my armor as my little world crashed down around me... Realistically, other than soiled unmentionables, I would have been ok had I been in it... The cab structure remained basically intact, the drivers side took a hard, glancing blow from the main trunk which bent the drivers side 'A' and 'B' pillars. The collapsed roof occured when the guy from the power company cut one of the 'widowmakers' down (it was hanging in the old tree, closest to the house, about 25' up) and the 10" diameter, 6' long log landed on the roof... Now that, friends and neighbors was actually a neat sound... *THONK* Ehh,the truck was already totaled by that point, what's one more dent among friends? This was before the trimming and cleanup began. You can see that the drivers side of the cab was already damaged and the back window was shattered but the cab was intact... ...And after the widowmaker was cut out of up above, and said widowmaker is resting on the truck...

You laugh... The truth is, one of the guys with a chainsaw that helped clean this mess up was my nephew who just happens to heat with wood... he's taken two truckloads out so far and has another 3-4 left to move...

Unfortunately, Harry is right; this is what these companies like to do... In a perfect world there exists what is called 'replacement value'... This is what it would take to replace the truck with a vehicle in similar age and condition, at market price, regardless of bluebook value. Unfortunately, insurance companies advertise a perfect world but rarely deliver as such...

Well, at least my wheelchair issue has been solved... As you can see, the old one is toast... What you can't really see are the busted spokes and the wheel thats broken in three places... My neighbor, the one whose tree did all this, just brought me this: It's brand new, they bought it for his late mother-in-law and she never used it. Also, it fits like it was made for me. Looks like I have at least one of my sets of wheels back...

Harry P.; Lets just say that the fight with Allstate has just begun... Highway; It was in remarkable shape for its age. 201,000 miles, no rust holes, until yesterday no dents... only a few small areas of surface rust on the top of the cab and the inner bed corners. It purred like a kitten and rode and drove very nicely... The cap was watertight without any leaks... Darren B; I was so looking forward to putting that extra 100,000 miles on this truck too... Roadhawg; I'd love to build something like an old Jeepster pickup body for it... I have the skill sets to pull that off, just not the money nor the stamina and strength... Talk about the ultimate scratchbuild... James Flowers; Since the truck was in as good a shape as it was, we decided to put the value at at least $1200.00. That would be the minimum needed to find another one in that condition... And yes, we'll probably have to take that smaller, skinned tree down before long as well... The real bear, everybody, is that my wheelchair was in the back and got crushed with the truck... I need a wheelchair for extended periods out and about because the distance I can walk is severely limited due to muscle disease and physical injury... and the saga continues...

Yes, they have a homeowners policy.

Nick, that's not an odd question... More than likely the Ins. Co. will total it out, cut Dad a check for its replacement value and haul it off. I believe that the rear frame is bent so it isn't salvagable for anything other than parts... Which is a shame because it was in really good shape for an '89.

I agree with Harry on this. I use this putty for filling large areas and it works great. It's worth the price and a tube of it will last you a long time... And there's not so much there that it'll go bad before you get a chance to use it like a larger tub of Bondo or Evercoat would do... I only use the Bondo one-part scratch putty for just that, light filling, skim coats and scratch filling. Try it, you'll be pleased.

This happened yesterday at 11:30 am. Location: My Driveway. Subject: a treelimb from my neighbors tree and a squished, rust-free, formerly straight paneled, wonderful-driving, 2.5L/5-speed 1989 S-10 Tahoe... No wind, no storm, the tree just decided it had had enough and needed a break (yeah, pun intended...) I was driving this truck because it got twice the mileage as the Wagoneer and the old Jeep needs some work. I'm posting this today because the tree took out the power and CATV service when It came down and Comcast just got us hooked back up... I was borrowing this truck from Dad and was making arrangements to buy it in a few months. Yes, is says GMC... When Dad bought it, he replaced the original, damaged tailgate with a newer one. And yes, those are 1966ish Chevy SS 14" hubcaps... Notice the wheelchair... I love how it rolled the handles under and punched them through the cap... The good news is that the three fishing poles, tacklebox and toolbox that were in the back survived intact! Believe it or not, I am able to get in it and move it around under its own power. The driveline is still solid. My neighbor and his newest source of tension and stress.... Sooo, who wants to tackle this one? It'd make an interesting load for a rollback or car trailer. I may just have to procure a couple of old S-10 kits and tackle this one myself... Gimme something to remember this by...

Anderson, IN, here!

I had to bookmark this one... So many neat ideas. Thanks for the link, it's not quite a breath of fresh air (Har Har...) but, it's definitely something different!

Friend, just sit down with the rest of us, open a frosty beverage of your choosing, and enjoy the show. It's gonna be a good one!

Ohh, oh, oh, oh...... Now my head hurts. I tried to envision the finished product, finished to your usual level of detail... The detail level caused a caranial overload... :P I am so looking forward to this one! Mr. Teresi, you are a wizard! We await the outcome with bated breath.

Just when you think you've seen it all, something like this comes along and slaps you in the face... :P This thing's gonna be sick! I look forward to seeing the finished product!

Sounds like the makings of a great day! Let's go... I'll buy!

It's do-able. I think it'd be a safe bet to say you could get rid of the second drive axle. Most single-car haulers built from semi-tractors are single-drive. With a 5000 pound racecar, you just aren't hauling enough weight to justify a second drive axle, wear on four extra tires, etc... As far a sitting high on the chassis, depending on how high it sets, you could extend the wedge body down with Evergreen styrene and fabricate deeper storage compartments forward of the drive axle. When you're running a one truck race team, storage space becomes critical. Just a few thoughts...

This is a really cool and different build. I love the pinstripe work! That's exactly what it is...Please, somebody correct me if I'm wrong but the way I understand it is like this: Basically, if you can stuff enough axles under the trailer to handle so much weight per axle, The State of Michigan says that you can haul it on their roads. I don't know what the weight limit is per axle but if the limit is say, 12,000# per axle, a six-axle trailer can weigh 72,000# loaded... FYI, the USDOT weight limit for "Regular" 18-wheelers is 80,000#, combined (tractor and trailer). Michigan trailers with five to eight axles are not uncommon, especially belonging to crude oil companies or bulk commodity transports that haul within the state... That is a long pre-trip inspection!

This one has to be my favorite... I grafted two AMT cabs to make the crewcab, added an Open Road camper and a big block to come up with a used, not abused weekend getaway/ pull the race car to the salt-flats kind of ride. And I still haven't built the mirrors for it or finished the trailer and hitch details... Someday...