Aaronw

Bay window micro bus, Squareback and VW 181 "Thing" all seem like they would do fairly well. At least as well as another bug or split window and probably better than the Vanagon which has been kitted.

Long before my time but an older ship modeler told me that in the 1950s-60s Pyro and Palmer were so notorious for copying ship models made by others that they were referred to as the Plastic Pirates.

So basically the same idea as the fake woody "wood" paneling on station wagons in the 70s or PT cruisers in the 90s.

Model Round up has it listed for $36 with an expected arrival of May 2018.

That really kills me. I had a 1996 Tacoma which was a very nice size truck, no issues parking, 26 mpg, decent power and a 7 foot bed so not difficult to haul 2x4s, or a 4x8 sheet of plywood by dropping the tail gate. 1996 was a few years before they started to grow. In 2008 or 2009 I remember parking my station truck a 2005 Ford F150 4x4 nose to nose with a Tacoma which was taller and wider than the F150. I checked the Toyota twice because I was sure it must be a Tundra, but it was a Tacoma. I have trouble these days telling a "compact" Chevy Colorado from a "full size" Silverado and forget about trying to find a 2 door cab truck. My Tacoma got wacked in 2014, the insurance gave me $3500 which I thought was pretty good for an 18 year old truck with 300,000 miles. Then I tried to buy another... I couldn't find one for less than $5000, I only paid $7500 for the truck in 2000. If you just need an occasional truck I've found U-haul is quite reasonable, $20/day + mileage for a 1/2 ton pickup. Not a bad price for hauling stuff to the dump or picking up some lumber particularly if you combine both tasks in the same day.

The grousers are perhaps exaggerated but not grossly inaccurate, just an extreme type. I'm guessing they based them on a brand new very aggressive track for use in terrain, something like you might find on a logging dozer. You will find tracks vary greatly in design depending on the intended use from nearly flat to very aggressive similar to what is in the kit. Here is a nice set of photos like might be useful for detailing the kit. Also shows similar tracks to the kit although not quite so tall. https://www.purplewave.com/auction/150910/item/J8575 and another without ROPS and a much less aggressive track style https://www.purplewave.com/auction/130227A/item/C3395 The grill on the box art actually looks more accurate that the last issue. The grill is probably the most disappointing aspect of this kit. The last RC2 era issue had regular plastic for the tracks, I hope this issue does the same I had no problem painting them. Decals are fairly easy to get around. For most of the production Caterpillar used simple block letters, the stylized C A T came late in this models production. The rippers are also easily cast. I made a few copies so I could build mine with 3. Unfortunately I had some resin go bad and refuse to cure remaining a gooey mess. Since I had what I needed I tossed the mold.

Maybe the stack and hydraulic rams? I built the grey plastic RC2 era issue. I don't remember any chrome either.

I would agree that on the whole model car builders are less strict about "correct" but you will find some whimsy in aircraft and armor Model car builders have their versions of rivet counters as well, you will find race car builders who take the markings of a car very seriously down to exactly what markings were on a car at a specific race. Factory stock builders can also be pretty strict, and even the rod and custom guys which are generally thought of as creative can get picky about displaying the right period equipment and style.

This whole table in front was one modeler's display at the 2007 IPMS Nationals, these are all 1/35 Sherman tank models. Now obviously this is just one individuals obsession, but I've seen similar collections of other tanks and aircraft. There are plenty of aircraft modelers who focus on one or two major types like P-51 Mustangs or Bf-109s. Certainly there are people who only build one example and move on, but I don't think they are anymore of the majority than people who only build one subject. I know of one modeler who is trying to build one of every aircraft used by the US Navy. With a project that size you would guess he doesn't build many duplicates, but that would be wrong. He has stacks of the same kit of a variety of aircraft.

I don't think so Hobby Lobby does stock some mid range aircraft, armor and ships, Italeri, and Revell of Germany maybe even some older Tamiya (not sure on the last, I'm rarely in a HL). I picked up the new Revell C-54 kit at a HL with a 40% off coupon (I'm not made of money, or proud, if someone want to save me $20 I'll take it). While it is true you are unlikely to find some of the smaller more expensive brands in your HLs, Micheals and Walmarts, you won't find the high end model car kits there either. You can certainly find cheap aircraft and armor kits but if you spend time on forums dedicated to those subjects the cost of kits just doesn't come up with the frequency and volume as it does on model car sites. When it does it is typically a new kit breaking an accepted ceiling for the scale. Except for race cars which are an expensive niche, model cars as a genre have gained a stigma of being the cheapskate end of the hobby. I don't speak Japanese maybe that message hasn't been heard as loudly based on what we see coming out of Japan. We are starting to see some companies take a chance on higher end kits, ICM, Meng, Belkits, Ebbro, Beemax are testing the market for $50-100 kits, I guess we will see if companies feel there is a market there or not. I certainly don't mean to bash people who don't have the money to spend on expensive kits, but the message has gotten out there loud and clear that model cars builders are less willing to part with their money that other genres.

I think that is the number one reason. You will see armor and aircraft builders paying $50+ for a kit and then see them slap on another $50 in aftermarket without a whimper. Car model sites seem to have a lot of discussions about 40% off coupons that I just don't see with other model types.

I've got a 1/72 P-40, it measures 5/8" wide at that point. 1/48 is would be 1-1/2x larger so should measure around 15/16" , 1/32 is 2-1/4x larger so should measure around 1.4" (roughly 1-7/16")

This and also sometimes just as a place holder while I shop around. Sometimes I don't really even want the actual item but want to come back and save some photos for reference but don't have the time or inclination to do so right then.

These threads always go like this, no market for truck models, no market for old cars, no market for small cars etc, usually followed by the hobby is dying, kids just want to play video games... Then the next thing you know one of the companies comes along with a Hudson Hornet, a 1950 Oldsmobile, a modern Ford F250, 1970s Ford pickups, a full detail Hummer, not one but 2 Citroen DS- kits... Never say never, who would have put money on a kit of an Isuzu I-Mark being tooled up?

If you are thinking about casting the Eisenbrenner Seagrave you should know there are more recent better quality resin Seagrave kits out there. Uptown Automotive was doing a couple more to the standard people today expect. Recently 3 inches under has started to sell a decent looking Seagrave on ebay that offers some different options than the Uptown kits. Based on your past connection to Uptown, I'm guessing you are looking at those. After much pestering I finally got one of each from him about 10 years ago, shortly before he stopped offering them.

Let me know which you prefer, the above model or a nice handbag... https://us.louisvuitton.com/eng-us/products/tuileries-epi-nvprod830008v People buy ridiculously priced things all the time.

Revell did some 1/28 WW1 aircraft. The Fokker DR1 triplane and Sopwith Camel have a rotary engines (spinny round radial style, not Wankel), don't know the quality of detail. They also did some with inline engines but don't know if those included engine detail or not. I wouldn't be surprised if there is aftermarket for them though. A little small for 1/24 but probably would pass the scrutiny of most.

Does Pierce actually offer 42 shades of white or are some of those blanks to fill up the rack? That is a great photo to show the huge variety of colors available and that is just one manufacturer.

Maybe a leather punch and a lot of patience? https://www.tandyleather.com/en/product/craftool-oval-drive-punch

Find something that looks good to you. There is a huge variety of options, everything from black, to purple has been used on fire apparatus. Unless you are specifically trying to match a 1-1 piece of equipment you really can't go wrong. The Key lime mentioned isn't bad for the more green hued slime lime, Krylon Sun Yellow is a nice bright yellow. There are some fluorescent yellow paints which would work for the yellow end of slime lime, but they tend to be tricky paints to work with. For shades of yellow, I'm partial to Chrome yellow aka School Bus yellow. If you wanted to go really crazy, during the period these trucks were in service some departments painted their apparatus in red, white and blue flag themes complete with stars and stripes for the bicentennial.

There is an article on converting the OBS into a 1 1/2 ton truck in the July 1992 Car Modeler magazine.

I bought an Italeri FL kit to do that. That is as far as I've gotten with the project.... 5 years into it so any day now.

Yeah, I'm probably being harder on it because I look at the thing all the time and I can't help but see all the issues.

At least in the US the 740 was available with 6 cyl diesel engines that are not listed above. The engine in the 760 kit catches a few key features which is enough to suggest it is a Volvo redblock. That is about all I can say positive about it. It certainly provides something to work from and improve in the 760 kit. I'm just not sure the work involved improving the engine and fitting it to the new Beemax 240 kit would be worth the effort. I have an '85 240 with a B230F in the driveway and have done all of the work myself so I'm fairly familiar with the 4 cylinder engines. Granted there may be some differences based on the exact year, model and market. There are a couple of things they got kind of right and a long list of things that are very wrong beyond simplified detail. Like I said, it looks like they let the guy take a peak under the hood and then he had to design it from memory. He got the 3 or 4 things that jumped out at him and the rest is generic inline 4 cylinder engine.

On practically every other Volvo you are correct that the middle number is the number of cylinders.The 700 / 900 series were weird and didn't follow normal Volvo naming rules, the 760 was just a fancier version of the 740. It was possible to get a 6 cylinder 740 and a 4 cylinder 760. Same with the 940 / 960.