Aaronw

It would be nice to have all the options in one box. Most of my project ideas are dual drive day cabs, buying one of each kit to do that leaves me with parts for a single drive sleeper cab, kind of an unusual beast.

Yeah, a lot of these have been posted on the site. It is a fairly simple kit but a nice one with potential. If one was motivated it could be detailed by cutting out the engine bay and adding a full detail engine, it is also a good source for 4x4 parts. I found it a fun kit, a great break from the overly ambitious projects many of us take on.

Don't forget Tie-Ota

In WW2 GM built twin 6-71s for use in tanks. Technically not V-12s but not I-12s either and they were not independent of each other so not really just two I-6s. They also built a real monster quad 6-71 with Grey Marine for use in landing craft.

Danbury did a 1929 truck, that is the closest I know of http://www.ebay.com/itm/Danbury-1929-Dodge-Truck-1-24-/322326301751?hash=item4b0c250c37:g:oeAAAOSwA3dYJ3Vr

Mine sort of resembles an archeological site. I occasionally unearth kits I forgot I was working on.

Plaskit offers the updated grill and square headlights to convert the AMT kit, or at least they have. My catalog is a bit dated.

AMT offered a Ford LN tandem axle dump truck with plow. The last issue was around 10 years ago, so they are around but getting harder to find. Maybe you could find a built up to salvage and combine with the race car hauler. There is a complete unbuilt kit on ebay right now, the price isn't bad but who knows where it will end. I think retail was $40-50 last time it was out. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1970s-AMT-Ford-Dump-Truck-LNT-8000-Plastic-Model-Kit-1-25-Scale-w-Box-LOOK-/222327948422?hash=item33c3c74486:g:bA8AAOSwHMJYOyG6 Of course by the time you buy some resin, and part out some kits unless the ebay prices have gone insane it might still be worth going that route.

Detroit nomenclature was very clear in the 2 stroke era. Number of cylinders, configuration (- = inline, V = vee) and displacement. They may include a T suffix to indicate turbocharged. All of the 2 stroke Detroits had a supercharger. 4-71 is a 4 cylinder inline displacing 284 cubic inches (4 x 71 cid), 6v53 is a 6 cylinder vee engine displacing 318 cubic inches (6 x 53 cid) They moved away from this style of nomenclature when they started producing 4 stoke engines in the late 80s. DD was also rather practical in those days as well, with a lot of common parts shared between engines as Brian points out with the 12V engines using valve covers from the smaller engines. This makes them rather modeler friendly (easy to convert).

I vote for this.

Thanks for another source, and I guess HLJ was just out the times I was looking. More than just the van, I've been watching for all of the French vehicles. I was worried that maybe they were just a small run, sold out and that's it. I did finally get my hands on the Tamiya / Ebbro Citroen Fourgonete van recently.

Where are people getting Ebbro kits, I'm having no luck finding them even at Hobby Link Japan who seems to always be out of stock when I look.

Or the 80s/90s Fords, Chevys and Dodges.

Hmmm, one in the old box or 6 in the new box.... tough choice there.

Ken Kitchen does the Ford 144/170/200 I-6 http://public.fotki.com/KenK/kitchen_table_resin_kits/ford_144170200_engi/ I've got a few of his engines and they are nicely done

Interesting, I'll have to take a look next time I'm in my nearest hobby shop. I liked the additional variety of black shades Floquil offered. Wish I could have got my hands on one of the outgoing racks.

Which one are you looking at? There are "cheap" $600 Chinese lathes and cheap $150 Chinese lathes. What I found after asking for a lot of advice and reading lots of stuff anywhere I could find info on mini lathes. I have been a lathe owner for less than a week, so this is all based on a couple years of research to make sure I didn't waste my money, not any hands on experience. The Chinese lathes are not as inexpensive as they initially seem to be. Many need significant work (literally a tear down and reassembly) to get them ready to use, and are often are bare bones meaning you have to spend much more than the "low advertised price" to really do anything with them. It has been suggested that the Chinese lathes are really better suited for people who already have machining experience. The more expensive cheap Chinese lathes are (mostly) not junk once you put in the needed work and in some regards they are better than the Sherline posted above as they are heavier duty with more clearance allowing you to turn larger work. For 1/25 model cars you probably don't need that extra capacity. The Sherline lathes come highly recommended unless you have the need to turn hard steel on a regular basis, or stuff greater than about 2" diameter. The $150 combination lathe / mills are mostly thought to be junk from everything I've found on them, although I have seen a few positive comments from people who were very aware of their limitations and ok with that.

Agree with A-G's (Bill) post above. You could easily get away with it, or we could end up reading about you. Couldn't you shut off the heater 10 minutes before and after painting? That seems the safest and most practical solution.

Yeah it was mentioned up thread Testors, Pollyscale and Floquil had been under the same ownership for years. The story going around at the time made it sound more sinister. Interesting that you say the Acryl line has expanded, that must now exceed the standard single rack in most shops so I only see the same colors I've always seen. For me the big loss was in military aircraft colors, particularly the WW1 and interwar period colors. Many of the railroad colors were also useful for this period. Thankfully Game Workshop has a number of colors that while oddly named are a good substitute. I'd like to see Testors back under a real hobby company too, I can't really imagine what RPM was thinking acquiring a fairly small scale hobby line of paints. Seems kind of like GM buying a slot car company.

Can't wait to start watching this one. Your brass work is incredible to watch take shape

These Mack kits are neat, nice to see another being built. I started a conversion of one years ago into a rescue truck, but it hasn't gone anywhere for a long time... I don't know if you've seen it, but I posted a walk around of a local Mack dump that might be helpful for the details.

I noticed that the sprues were identical between the '64 and '66. I was curious why they re-issued it as a '66. Are the badges the only thing that sets a 64-66 apart? Alan, I made a long stepside bed from two '65 shortbeds. Not terribly hard, but since the fenders are molded on you have to add length in front of and behind the fenders (I think 12" in front and 6" behind). It would have been much easier if the fenders were separate.

I was more disappointed to lose the additional colors. Polly Scale and Floquil added significantly to the colors available in the MM Acryl line. Testors provides a much larger color selection in the MM enamel line than it does in the Acryl line. I was hopping that it was just a consolidation into one brand name and the additional colors would make their way into the Acryl line, but that hsn't happened. It is nice to know it wasn't as underhanded as buying the competition just to shut them down as I'd been led to believe.

Welcome to the future (TM), I've been using acrylics about 17 years now although I still use rattle cans for car bodies (can't get the hang of the airbrush). You will have some adjustment to technique but I'm quite happy with them. I've heard some people will add a retarder to acrylics to slow the drying time which is much quicker than with enamels. I've used most of the available paints, Testors Model Master forms the bulk due to availability, although I prefer Pollyscale which Testors bought and then discontinued I don't use Tamiya much as it is tricky to brush. Games Workshop makes great paint with funny names, it is designed for their fantasy wargaming figures so has names to match, Goblin Green, Bleached bone etc. Michaels (and probably Hobby Lobby too) has cheap craft paint in 2oz bottles which works fine for brushing, don't know if it is suitable for airbrush.

Volvo had the same issue in the 80s. They got rid of that wiring about the same time Mercedes started using it.