Aaronw

I love these two phrases. Perhaps somebody would be inspired to start a pathetic cars of the 70s - 80s GB.

I picked up a couple of Model T delivery trucks for $9 ea, at the Arden (Sacramento, CA) HL, I left one on the shelf, didn't want to be greedy. Nothing else really appealed to me.

The Ranger was a victim of the "Chicken Tax", a tariff placed on imported light commercial vehicles (it was specifically targeting VW) in the 1960s in retaliation for European taxes on cheap American chickens. The US manufacturers were all for this tax at the time, but it has come back to bite them as it applies to US companies as well when they moved their factories out of the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

I've seen a number of 1-1 fire trucks built into car haulers. This one was built on a Ford C / Seagrave ladder truck but might be of some help for ideas. http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1395380-c800-fire-truck-to-car-hauler-conversion-is-complete.html and another based on an older ALF 700 http://recoverynut.blogspot.com/2005/07/wierd-wreckers.html If you want something different to haul, you could use it for hauling a drill team "truck" kind of a cross between a dragster and fire apparatus. It's an east coast thing, maybe even just a New York State thing? Nothing like this on the west coast.

Wow, what a great time for people who like Trucks, the Moebius Fords, then the Bronco and now a Suburban!

August update, unfortunately only trivial work completed, like July I've only had a couple of days at home.

How odd, that actually looks to have more in common with a mid 90s Ford Ranger than a Chevy S10

Update for July. I've been home a few days since late June, so no progress.

Hard to say for sure as there are differences in resin wheels and kit mounting styles. You could get lucky and get a set of wheels that match up well, or you could get a set that require a bit of fabrication to make things line up. Also a huge variation on quality of resin parts, on the good end some are nice and crisp and can be mistaken for plastic parts from a kit, on the bad end you have to do a lot of clean up and reshaping, most fall somewhere in between. Couple different theories on prep for painting, soaking in Westleys Blech Wite (a tire cleaner) is one of the more popular methods. 5 min epoxy or CA glue (super glue) work well on resin and plastic. KJ790 is a member here who casts truck parts, under the name Double Take Replicas. He has 2 and 5 hole Budds. http://kdhumphr.wix.com/double-take-replicas

There is a better photo of the built cab on the AITM site. I think you are correct on the issue but I think the issue is also there on the built up, just hidden due to photo quality / angle. Should be easy to fix. http://www.aitruckmodels.com/pages/ck97gmcdf7000crackerbox.html http://www.aitruckmodels.com/pages/ck98gmccrackerboxdaycab.html 1-1 http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/archer/2002/dec/icl_804.jpg

It is a bit of work, but here is a tutorial on making your own from a lightbulb and other fairly easily acquired bits. http://scalefirehouse.com/sfh_brd/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=178 I haven't seen anything in resin or plastic that comes close to a beacon made this way.

I built the box from the floor up leaving the roof for last so I had access to the door mechanism. I don't care about working mechanisms like opening doors so I didn't bother with tape just gluing the door closed. Besides being more difficult if the door opened I would feel obligated to add some cargo. I cut along the grooves to separate the slats then glued them into place. I did this for two reasons, one the door where it curves into the top was putting a lot of pressure on the tracks, and second, the door looked kind of like a bent piece of sheet plastic, not a bunch of individual slats. Cutting the slats apart and then gluing them individually looks more like individual slats of the 1-1 doors, plus looking at the real thing is seems like they never quite match up 100% tending to get dings along the edges and a few just slightly out of whack. Still needs some detail painting and some weathering on the door, but it has been sidelined by other projects.

Wow I distinctly remember fiddling with the hood, but that was probably 9 or 10 years ago, memory does funny things. Haven't messed with the cab yet on the current one, just have the frame and box built.

I had trouble getting it to sit flush the last time around. I could hold it in place with light pressure, but it would lift up leaving a gap when I stopped pressing down. Probably just a matter of getting the hinges just right. Not an uncommon problem with tilt hoods, but being a shorty it seems to be worse than some.

I've got the Ford LN going at the moment, getting the roll up door right was a pain, but other than that I didn't have any serious issues with the cargo box. The truck hood can be somewhat fiddly, I glued it down the last time I built one, I plan an building it with an opening hood this time around. Other than those two issues it is a fairly painless kit to build.

I wouldn't turn my nose up at a 55-57 handyman wagon and / or sedan delivery.

Excited about the Bronco, and share the hope for a half top "pickup" option. Curious about the engine, it would be nice to have another 6, but expect it will come with the optional 289 or 302 V8. Side marker lights became a requirement in 1968. I don't think there were many changes during its production other than engines offered, so this could potentially represent all but the first 2 years of production, and possibly even those with a little work (removing the side markers).

Wow, based on your scratchbuilt models I have to wonder if the resin actually saved you any work. I have a pair of resin Anniversary Seagraves (one open cab, one closed sedan type) that I believe came from Uptown Automotive. These are more along the lines of the resin kits most are used to, not simply a shell more or less shaped correctly. Amazing how resin casting has advanced from the early days, the best these days are at a level equal to mass market styrene kits and the resin much easier to work with.

I found some photos I took of one of his kits in my photobucket account. Not the Chevy, but I'd say an average example of the stuff I've bought from him.

I've got some of his stuff. My last order was a few years ago mostly due to not getting much built, not at all a reflection on his goods or services. Everything I've got is decent, no not top end stuff like Modelhaus, but not trash. You will need to add some details, and do some clean up but it is well cast and consistent, for the price I think his stuff is a good value. He does do some shows so can go through spells of being out of contact, but I've always had good service and fast (by resin caster standards) delivery of my orders. I think he is in PA so possible you might be able to find him at a local show selling his stuff, not sure how widely he travels.

I read and agree with your posts. "Wow cool color what did you use", serves the same purpose as "nice job" but comes across as more sincere and opens a dialog where you can decide if they are open to some suggestions, and if not still gave them a reply which is important to some. Honestly I sometimes have as much trouble responding to stuff on the amazing skill level end as I do the low end. We have a few builders here who have exhausted my vocabulary of superlatives. Wow! is sometimes the best that I can muster.

This is a good point as well. On an aircraft forum I used to belong to there was an older gentleman who liked to build the unusual and rare, prototypes, odd variants etc. So his models typically involved lots of kit bashing and scratchbuilding. Very cool concepts and a lot of attention to the details, but the finishing skills were somewhat lacking either due to age or possibly never developed. Still very cool models, even not that good from a fit and finish view point. Sometimes I see the same kind of thing here, really neat ideas that don't quite come together either due to a lack of skills or just an off day. There is more to a model car than perfect paint, a lack of mold lines and alternators with an obvious method of support. Not to say suggestions to help in these areas should be discouraged, but the creative aspect shouldn't be overlooked in the rush to comment on the technical side.

One of the issues is this site has nearly 16,000 registered members, so there are probably close to 16,000 opinions on "the proper" response. One persons constructive criticism is another's being a jerk. People get bent out of shape every day here. Some that I can recall, not enough comments, meaningless comments, too harsh a criticism, to soft a criticism, including a photo in your signature block, posting a similar model you've built in somebody else's post, not posting photos of your models, where to post, why does this belong over there, the mods are too harsh, the mods are too lenient. It gets to the point that I delete a lot of my responses unless I'm fairly familiar with the person, I'm here for fun not to add to my stress level. Edited to add (as the above looks a bit critical and doesn't really address the topic)... For myself, I try to look for the good, then for things I might be able to use (a technique, source of parts, color of paint etc) and then possibly mention any flaws along with a possible solution. If I don't have a possible fix, then there isn't much point in my bringing it up.

Personally I'd make the bases a hair larger, and drill out the tip but they do look the part.

I notice some minor grumbling about the stock / police option. Is the issue just a lack of "hot rod / custom" parts in the kit. I haven't got my hands on one to peak inside the box yet. Stock / Police works fine for me but I can understand for those who like to build something with a bit of personalization. I expect like the '57 we may see further variants for street rod / gasser etc. I'm happy to see a version with an unchopped top, I really didn't expect to get one. That is a bit weird, essentially generic police decals except for the license plate. Perhaps some artistic license from the airbrush artist who left off the vent windows.