Aaronw

Alumilite has some nice how to's on their site. http://www.alumilite.com/ Alumilite has some starter kits that are not bad to start with. There are numerous suppliers for resin casting and each has their supporters and detractors. Alumilite, Micromark, and TAP plastic are a few I've used, I've been happy with the product and service from each, but TAP is my regular supplier. Also this is the right place to ask, there are several experienced casters that visit the site (but not me I'm an amatuer )

It would be nice if somebody could get Okey to give an update here or at least to one of the model car magazines, kind of a from the horse mouth thing instead of the my friend's, uncle's cousin's aunt knows his mom's sister's neighbor's dog walker and she said... But anyway what I have gotten is Johan was in much worse shape than he knew when he bought it, and sales were not as brisk as he had hoped. On top of that there were some unfortunate incidents involving the re-issues. I'm always hoping that Johan's fate will improve but I'm not holding my breath. I'd love to see the '66 Cadillac ambulance available again and wish I'd bought more of the Fury's when they were available. I like that Desoto, are these kits styrene bodies with resin interiors or all resin?

I know where I get my resin supplies they have a product that looks like that canned air you get for computers. It is some inert gas (nitrogen maybe?) that you shoot a little into your resin container just before you reseal it and it is supposed to make your resin last longer by displacing moisture and O2 in the container. I've never used it because I haven't had a problem with my resin going bad before I use it but it might be worth looking into.

It's not just up to the resin casters, I'm sure if someone makes a master they can find a caster out there who would be happy to make a mold of it. I'm sure the compensation varies widely based on the caster, builder of the master and the value of the part. The nice thing with resin is you are almost always dealing with other modelers, often a single individual rather than a large company. Since its just one modeler talking with another the odds of finding one with a passion for a certain segment of the hobby is pretty good.

For the most part yes, realistically the difference between 1/24 and 1/25 is smaller than the margin for error of many kits. a scale foot in 1/24 scale is 0.5" a scale inch in 1/24 is 0.0416" a scale foot in 1/25 is 0.48" a scale inch in 1/25 is .04"

Yes it is fun to play one man apparatus commitee. I build some real apparatus (mostly US Forest Service stuff) but the made up stuff is fun too. I was planning on building the truck with the Ford bed, I'm also working on a Jeep J20 to go along with it, also with the stock bed. The fictional department I'm building is located on the N. California coast so brush trucks would be kind of an after thought, something is needed to take care of those small wildland fires in the redwoods but those fires rarely get big so they don't need anything fancy. Also the population is so scattered and sparse up there departments can't usually afford much beyond the basics. I am working on a tank, hose reel and pump unit to go in the back of both, a smaller (125-150 gallon) fiberglass poly tank for the 3/4 ton J20 and probably a steel tank for the Ford.

You can get C channel too, the problem I've found is frames usually are not just straight, they have bends and such making it ossible but a ral pain to make a whole frame. I noticed AITM is selling resin truck frames now, I think I'll try one out the next time I order. It would be nice if someone would offer a chassis / running gear only kit. AMT would probably do well if they sold the Ford C or Ford Louisville that way, those kits seem to be very popular to use with resin cabs.

Doesn't seem like it would be too hard to convert the bed back, filler on the door and I could put a tool box in the bed to cover the extra well. I have '53 and '56 kits so a step side is an option. I've built utility bodies but was looking at a simpler type of vehicle for this. One thing I was considering was bashing the dually kit with one of these which would give me a later Ford 4x4 and a 70's dually which I was thinking about doing as a Rescue. Out of curiosity what did the camper special offer? I'm guessing extra load capacity and the mentioned compartment for the spare tire. Sounds to me like useful features for a truck you are going to put 200 gallons of water in.

Thanks, I'll leave it as is then.

I just got one of the MK Ford F350 kits and I noticed the bed seems to have a built in "secret compartment" on the passenger side of the bed similar to the '84 GMC ex Fall Guy pickup. Was this a popular option on these trucks or just something odd on the particular truck used to base the kit on like with the GMC kit? I'm just wondering, I'm going to build one of these as a brush truck for a rural fire district. If this was actually a factory option I'll leave it alone as I could see a fire department finding such a thing useful if it was fairly inexpensive, on the otherhand if it was a custom item it is unlikely a strapped for cash FD would pay for such a thing and I'll remove it. Thanks

I always considered myself a total novice when it came to auto repair, I've done the easy stuff change the oil, air cleaner etc and have done a little more complex stuff like the brakes, replace the distributor, replaced shocks, rebuilt a carb, set the timing etc. Then I started talking to other people and found that many don't even know how to change a flat tire. It certainly made me feel better about my skills, I may need to follow along step by step in a book but at least I can do it (and know what the various thingies under the car are). My wife wanted to change her own shocks on her car, the guys at work were all shocked that I made my wife fix her car, they were stunned when I pointed out I didn't make her do it, she asked if I'd mind if she did it. As far as the original question, I like the snap kits. I have a 7 year old and we've built the occasional model together for the past couple years. The nice thing with the snap kits is he can do them with a little help (some of those parts need a lot of finger strength to get them to snap in place) but mostly they hold up to play which most glue models won't. As a 7 year old he isn't to enthused with put on a shelf look at me models he want something to play with. Luckily he does understand the difference between dad's models and his models.

I think the Revell 359 is supposed to be one of the better kits. I haven't built one though so don't have much to add regarding that, I'm sure Tim will be along to tell you everything you could ever want to know about the kit and truck. However if you are not picky about which IH you build I found the Paystar to be a nice kit, decent detail, good fit, not much flash and unlike most of the IH kits you can usually get it pretty cheap. Of course the Paystar is not what everyone considers a good looking truck but I like it.

I know what you mean about the kit, I was pleasantly surprised. When I opened the box at first I was disappointed to find it looked like a snap kit, but then found that while simple the detail and fit are actually good. I think its funny though, I've been looking for this kit for a couple years and I finally found one in August. I've also never seen one built and two other people are building one as well.

Geeez is everybody building this kit?

Wow, that is spectacular. The colors are great and I've seen Alclad used by the aircraft guys but had no idea it would work so well on a truck, the fuel tanks look like the real aluminium. Great job.

Thank you, that helps a lot. I didn't realize that headlights were an option (round or square) just thought they would change in one year like on cars. In the first photo is that an early truck or were single / twin lights an option?

Future floor wax works well too, if they are just scuffs I usually find dipping the "glass" in Future gets rid of them. You might find this article useful. http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

I know I've seen something covering this but I can't find it now. I was wondering what the approximate years the 359 Kits cover (the 1-1 trucks not when the kit came out). I am primarily interested in the AMT 359 and the Revell 359 snap kit but if someone wants to get into all the kits I'd certainly welcome that. I'm guessing the AMT kit is a 1985 or older since it has the round headlights and the Revell kit is an 86 or newer? Thanks

If its the AMT stock 3100 glue kit I can check the instructions when I get home tonight, I've been working on one myself. AMT made several versions of that truck, a stock snap kit, a stock glue kit and a custom kit.

Welcome As far as emergency vehicle kits, Police cars are not too hard to find. Lindberg has re-released their '96 Crown Vic, it comes pre-painted with decals for several departments, primarily state highway patrols / state police or plain white if you want to do you own thing. Revell currently has the Impala ('03?) which was previously mentioned. They also did a 90's Caprice which you can still find occasionally. AMT / Ertl did a 78 or so Dodge Monaco, I think it started out as a TJ Hooker car but the most recent release was as a Gotham City PD / Joker Goon Car which is still fairly easy to find. Also did an '89 Taurus as a Rescue 911 and later Robocop police car. There are a number of others but they are harder to find Johan had a nice '60's Plymouth Fury and AMT / Ertl had a '70 Ford, both were available within the last few years but are getting hard to find. There is a pretty good aftermarket for police decals. Ambulance's are few and far between, AMT / Ertl did a Cannon Ball Run Dodge Ambulance later released as a Rescue 911 Ambulance. This had a couple of light bars and generic decals but no interior details. Johan had a '60's Cadillac ambulance which is supposed to be pretty nice, you can still find it on ebay fairly easily. Auctions seem to run around $30-40. Polar Lights did a Ghost Busters Ecto 1 which is based on a '59 Cadillac Ambulance. It would take some work to make it back into an ambulance but it can be done. There are also some resin conversions that start with this kit. Jimmy Flintstone has a couple of ambulance and hearse bodies for ths kit. Other than that ambulances are resin or do it yourself. You didn't mention them but there are a few fire apparatus kits out there too. You can find a pretty complete list of emergency vehicle kits and links to parts sources at the scale fire house http://scalefirehouse.com

Ok, I just checked the box, the 4x4 is a GMC and it was made by Monogram, the release date says 1981, so I'm guessing it is of a late 70's pickup. It looks similar to the '84 GMC 4x4 kit but has round headlights instead of rectangular lights.

Revell has done two that I know of a Chevy or GMC 4x4 it was part of their "high roller" series they also did the (I believe) same truck in 2wd as a "street truck" mild custom (lowered suspension & mag wheels), I saw somewhere this kit is due for re-release late this year or early '08. I'm not sure of the exact year but the body style on these kits fall between AMT's '72 Chevy and '84 GMC.

This licensing thing is going to be the death of us, I say we start a boycott, nobody buy a new car unless there is a kit of it. Glad its worked out at least, I'm looking forward to getting one of these.

What I do when I shorten or lengthen a frame is offset the cuts, maybe an inch or so. That way the weak points are not right across from each other, then I reinforce the cut area with thin pieces of styrene. Making the frame longer is a little trickier since there are twice as many weak points but the same basic method works, it just needs a little more reinforcement. This is the frame on a 1950 Chevy pickup I lengthend about 3/4", if you look closely you can see where I boxed in the frame rails. The added section is near the muffler.

That is really neat, but what the heck is it?