Dave Metzner

Here is a link to a photo gallery showing the mock-up of the Moebius Models 1953 Hudson Hornet Club Coupe. This is a mix of photos showing the mock-up at various stages of development. It is currently undergoing one last round of minor revisions. I hope that we can start tooling within the next 10 days - 2 weeks. My link Thanks, Dave

This kit will have conventional dual wheels on the drive axles...We'll see what we can come up with in future kits for wheels and tires... Dave

BTW guys, I work out of my home, which is in Norhtern Indiana not Florida.. Product development is done here.... Dave

We're still working on the mock-up - making corrections and adding a few items that were missing on the mock-up. If all goes well the mock-up should be shipped to me in the next couple weeks, then it'll take a trip to visit the guys at Navistar for their in person review. If it passes muster with Navistar it goes back to China and tooling starts... You can figure for about 90 days from start of tooling to 1st test shot another 45-60 days from 1st test shot to start of production and 30 days or so from start of production till it ships out of Hong Kong - about 20 days on the water and another 10-days - 2weeks thru customs -to wholesalers and shipment begins to retailers..... I'm saying finished product on store shelves - Mid to late February 2011.... This is only an ESTIMATE... schedules are subject to slippage along the way! We may get it done quicker or it might take a bit longer....I can probably tell you more in about 120 days - after I have the first set of test shots in my hands! This is a big project for us and we want it to be right, so all I can say for right now is please be patient, we're going as fast as we can without taking any short cuts along the way... Dave

Hi Chad, The kit will be produced in China, Moebius Models is based in Deland Florida, but I work out of my home in Mishawaka... With computers and e-mail I can do my job just about anywhere that I can set up my computer. Dave

Hi Kostas, We have distribution in Europe, I cannot provide alot of detail on that other than to say that I'm pretty sure that the kit will be made avaialble to all of our distributors. Dave

Sorry, no steerable front axle it's too fragile made in all plastic parts especially if everything is kept to scale... The roof fairing is part of the sleeper roof in this kit - building the truck without it will require some surgery. The lighs as you see them on the mock-up are what will be in the kit... Dave

Thw Mock-up is a tooling mock-up, primer is the only paint it'll ever get. There won't be anything to paint until we get first test shots, that looks like it'll be late this summer or early fall. There are only a couple wheel mock-ups not a full set. We won't have a full set of wheels and tires until test shots are ready.

I'm pretty sure that we'll mold it in White or Light Gray... Dave

Licensing is indeed the issue, we'll see what the future brings. Right now we're concentrating on the task at hand which is getting this kit done. Dave

Hi Daniel, Frank Winspur, the owner of Moebius Models grew up building models and has a long background in the retail hobby business. I'm a model buider myself though I haven't built many cars for quite a while. I build all of our test shots and most of our show displays so I build a little bit of everything these days. I'll certainly get a chance to build our car and truck kits myself, probably several times before they get to production.

Hi Ben, We have pics of the mock-ups for the kit wheels. They look really good to me. I've compared the pics of our mock-ups to your wheels and I'm very satisfied with our mock-ups that I see in photos. Before we start tooling I will have the mock-up here and I'll be taking it and it's components to Fort Wayne for a hands on review with the guys at Navistar engineering. It will be easy to compare the model kits wheels to the real ones. We are making every effort to get this thing as right as we can.

At this stage of the game our kit has Alcoa 10 hole aluminum disc wheels. Those are by far and away the predominant wheel seen on Lonestars. The Navistar "5 spoke wheel" seems to be seen most often on Harley Davidson Special editions - those wheels are on the Harley special edition wrecker a few posts up the page. It seem to me that those wheels were originally offered only as an exclusive on the Harley Davidson Lonestar... They may offered on any Lonestar now but they seem to be pretty rare on regular versions of the truck.

Daniel, That wrecker with a full sleeper is the first one I've seen with the sleeper on it! That's wild! Must be set up for someone who's planning on towing something really big a really long distance! Navistar shows a Lonestar "recovery" trucks on their web site. Dave

Tha black and silver Lonestar Wrecker is a Harley Davidson limited edeition Lonestar! Dave

Navistar refers to the rear suspension on Lonestar as IROS I don't think that is a Hendrickson system,I believe that I've been told that it is a Navistar proprietary design However I am not a heavy truck expert. I know just enough to be dangerous! The prototype tractor that I photographed back in July of '09 had Hendrickson suspension both front and rear (althought the rear did not look like the illustration above - it had large links between the frame rails) it also had a Cummins engine. The one I shot in December had a Navistar maxx force 15 and an IROS rear suspension With Navistars front suspension it was one of the first six trucks built with the new engine. I've been told that production trucks will have Navistar engines and suspension components... I would not be surprised to find out that you can order Hendrickson suspensions if you want them I'm sure that these trucks can be built to your spec for the most part. My understanding is that engine choices may be more limited than they once were it may be that you can have any engine you want so long as it's a Navistar engine. This change may be mandated by the way the government wants to regulate polution from diesel engines as much as by Navistar's desire to sell their own engines... Navistar is the only manufacturer of big diesel trucks that uses EGR technology to control polution and I don't think that tey provide engines to any other manufacturer. Dave

Don't know what we'll include for decals yet. I'm sure that we'd like to do follow on kits and a daycab would be one possibility, its way too soon to discuss that future kit... Right now our priority is to get this kit from the mock-up stage you see now to tooling! There are a number of details to be corrected - mainly in the interior and engine.... I'd be really happy if I have the mock-up physically in my hands for a final review with the guys at Navistar within the next 30 days! After that I can start working on stuff like a decal sheet and box art etc! We are hopeful that the kit will make store shelves at the end of this year or early next year. Glad to see that we picked a good subject i think it's the first really differnt new truck since the kenworth Aerodyne I've had the good fortune to spend a good part of a day crawling all over one with a camera. That truck happened to be a prototype that Navistar had given a local man & wife team to drive as a test vehicle.. I guess that they had truckers pounding on their door in truck stops all over the country wanting to know what that truck was and where could they get one like it.. The guys at Navistar finaly came up with literature racks to hang on the mirrors so potential customers could get those answers!

My name is Dave Metzner and I'm new here, Art has already pretty well explained that I'm the product development guy at Moebius Models. I'll try to stop by here from time to time as my schedule allows. Just a couple quick additions.../ corrections regarding our Lonestar kit The engine in the kit will be a MaxxForce 15 not the Maxx Force13. This is Navistar's own engine - it is an all new engined, derived from the Caterpillar 15 Litre engine with all new fuel and air management systems and Navistar's EGR polution control system. The suspension will be Navistar's proprietary pieces. Navistar provided CAD files for the Cab, hood, aero package, sleeper, frame, suspension, fuel tanks, battery box and brackets, and exhaust system. I photographed a couple trucks on two different occasions. And we had access to Navistar's computer illustrations of the interior. Plans are to have this kit on store shelves by the end of this year or very early next year.. Thanks, Dave