Aaronw

The Aardvark stuff is nice, so not a bad place to try your hand at a resin kit if you can get past the price.

It kind of reminds me of this

Nice job, the '41-47 Chevy is one of my favorite pickup trucks. One tricky bit with this kit is there is a piece of the grill that should be body color between the upper horizontal bars and the lower vertical bars. Not a big deal on a restored truck though as it is not uncommon to see this piece chromed on many 1-1 restorations as well. You can see the bit I'm referring to in this photo http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/1941-chevrolet-series-ak-pickup-2.jpg The '37 Ford is also a nice kit, if you had fun with this one and are looking for another truck I think you would be happy with that one as well.

Has anyone seen production numbers on the Moebius kits? I know the Model King kits say they were each a run of 5000. Since the '69 is pretty much gone even on ebay, and the '70 is already becoming scarce at my regular online sellers I'm guessing they have sold well. The '71 is still in stock everywhere so I assume it was produced in much larger numbers or is in continuous production, and of course the '72 just came out. I've got a '71 on the bench, a '69 and '71 in the stash, a '70 and '72 are currently in the mail to me. I'm hoping these kits have done well enough for Moebius to consider another pickup in the future. Still hoping for additional options from the Fords as well, 4x4, flareside, and different combos of the existing kits. Not sure if F250/350 versions are feasible without a large amount of retooling but that would be nice as I do prefer the heavier trucks over 1/2 tons.

Wild Raspberries. We were working in an old fire scar that was thick with wild raspberry vines, vines packed with ripe raspberries. It more than made up for the poison oak and thorns.

The brass is solid rod, so I just bent it carefully with a pair of channel locks. Five pieces in total, the lower is sort of a long "L" the upper a funky "J", and a straight piece ties the two sides together. Charlie was a big influence as he has been kind enough to answer my many questions about working with brass.

It stands about 9" tall. It is nominally 25mm scale (a human would be about 1" tall). It is a proprietary plastic that feels a bit like polyethylene but it paints well even with acrylics and can be glued with super glue or epoxy. I've been a fan of HP Lovecraft since high school so I had to have this when I saw it. It is from Reaper which offers a huge line of metal and plastic figures for wargaming and such. https://www.reapermini.com/miniatures

Ok, just dragging along squeezing time in where I can but have a little progress to show. Cab interior is mostly done, nothing fancy as I don't think it will be visible once it is together. Fitting the glass into the cab tonight so in the next day or two I'll finally have the cab together and ready to mount to the frame. It doesn't really show but I gave the seats a light wash with brown artists oils to enhance the leather look. And the frame / suspension is in paint and the engine seems to fit just fine. Have to wait until the cab is in place to fit the headache rack and firm up the engine location. I've got lots of little bits and bobs done up waiting until the main components are in place. Hopefully this will start to really look like a truck within the next few days.

Over at the Scale Fire House we started a "Chief's vehicle" group build. This is my part, a 1950 Chevrolet 3100 used by a US Forest Service Assistant Fire Control Officer, more or less the Forest Service equivalent to a city fire departments Battalion Chief. I've had this AMT snapkit in the stash for quite some time, I bought it shortly before the full detail kit was re-issued. Since this is going to basically be a straight up 2wd pickup, it seemed a good time to get it out of the stash, saving the glue kits for more ambitious projects. I find snap kits great for breaking a slump and I've been in a pretty decent slump as of late. The kit My inspiration (a 1954 Chevy) First thing I needed to convert the 5 window cab to a base model 3 window using a bit of epoxy putty. Got some paint on the cab, and fabricated some brass railings for the bed. Cab paint still needs some polishing, but will need to cure a few days first.

Other enough?

Welcome, I've spent a bit of time up that way. I remember getting to tour some of the lumber mills in the late 1970s, and have eaten at the Somoa cookhouse a few times. Wish I had been into photography back then as most of those mills have closed down. I'm not a lot of help on the logging trucks end although I am currently building one. You may however enjoy some of the photos of real logging equipment I've posted from the logging conference which is held in alternate years in either Ukiah or Eureka, CA.

Watch him, and pay attention. Little kids can seem kind of dumb and boring but they are little learning machines and it can be really fun to watch them develop as the learn to crawl, walk, open a tube of toothpaste etc. As others have said just do something you like and include him. It could be assembling a toy, setting up blocks or Lincoln logs, Legos etc. Understand they will often destroy what you build either by accident or on purpose, that is what they do. They are exploring their world and everything is new to them. Because of work I wasn't around that much when my older son was 0-3 and honestly I found him kind of boring until he was about 3 because I didn't see all the little things he was learning to do. With my younger son I have been there a lot more, and I find watching him fascinating, he is like an alien probe touching things to feel the textures, tasting things, pushing and pulling things to see what happens and they will imitate what they see people doing around them. Even the little guys know what is going on around them much more than most give them credit for. My younger son is 2 1/2 and he loves to watch me build models. Just the other night he spent a good 30 minutes just quietly watching me and he was watching occassionally moving to see if I moved and was blocking his view. A bit later I saw him take a piece if paper and start "sanding" a table leg as he had s3n me doing to a truck cab. Not everybody is a kid person, but if you want to be involved just be involved and do something you can tolerate and he is interested in which will be almost anything you do so long as you include him. Talk to him to, just like you would an adult. Talk about cars, why Ford is better than Chevy ( or the other way as fits your bias), read to him from your Chilton's manuals. It doesn't matter if he understands, they are finding that talking to little kids in full sentences helps their brains develop. You can help make him smarter and teach him how to change a spark plug at the same time. ?

The spring type work for relatively shallow bends, less than 90 degrees. I've had good luck bending around a dowel or other tubing with the approximate radius of the bend I want. Just go slow and sort of massage the tubing around the curve until it is at the angle you want. Tight bends being harder than those with a larger radius. Just had a look at Big Tall Dad's link. Same idea as the dowel but his way is even better even if slightly more complicated.

Yes

I'll try to finish something, a year is pushing it though it usually takes me 6 months just to get the shrink wrap off.

Newer than a '57 Ford by several decades, and I'd be quite pleased with a mid 90s Ford Bronco.

Some like the Build and Play kits are really basic, but most of the snap kits are actually pretty nice curbsides and when it comes to trucks / suvs often our only choice. The AMT 1996 Tahoe is very similar to the Expedition in quality. The recent Jeep Rubicon and Raptor are even nicer. If somebody really wanted a full detail Expedition I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to bash one of these kits with one of the F150 kits. So there are a few more issues out there, but it would seem they are probably the same inside the box as the batch in my post. Interesting that the first one was green, I wonder what color the two customs were molded in as all of mine are black. I had a look online and it seems you are correct. Most of the first gen police package Expeditions I found were running steel wheels similar in design to the alloy rims used in the first kit, with a few running a 5 spoke style steel rim not seen in any of the kits.

Greg thanks for posting the link. I've been casting for myself 10+ years now so I'm pretty familiar with the basics, but there is always more to learn and when it comes to resin casting more than one way to do things. Just a quick skim through that forum and I've already run into a few new ideas to try.

I'd start a model company specializing in the oddball kits that everybody wants but nobody will buy and become a millionaire (singular).

The most recent re-issue (2013) was again slightly modified this time building a police version of the Expedition. Although the grill was retooled to include warning lights, they did not take the opportunity to modify the grill into later 1999-2002 style, so it still builds a 1997 model vehicle. It features clear front windshield and light covers, with tinted windows for the back and sides. Two new sprues were included to provide police equipment including a nice but generic strobe style lightbar, antennas, and protective cages to separate the back seat from the cargo area and front seats. A computer, radar gun and push bar are also provided. New wheels and generic tires without sidewall detail are included. Leaving out the police equipment this would build into a mostly stock Ford Expedition, the grill lights are of a style that could be passed off as aftermarket fog lights. It includes stickers to build a vehicle from two different generic police departments and is packaged in an end opening box under the new Snaptite Max label.

The first re-issue appears to have occurred in 2004. This time it was listed as a Custom Ford Expedition with no year listed. It still represents a 1997 model year vehicle, but comes with tinted windows and light covers, a new set of custom spoke rims and low profile Michelin tires. Molded in black with a dark grey interior. While only a mild custom it does not offer parts from the first issue to build a fully stock vehicle. This time it included stickers to provide a purple flame paint job. It was packaged in a more traditional top and bottom box this time under the Wheels of Fire line.

A question came up about the Revell Ford Expedition kit, and I found that there had not been any posts detailing the kit. As one of the few relatively modern SUV kits, since I have (I believe) at least one of each issue in the stash I thought I would start one. From Wikipedia: The Ford Expedition was introduced in late 1996 as a 1997 model. It is a fullsize SUV based on the new for 1997 Ford F150. It falls in size between the midsize Ford Explorer (1991-2010) and the even larger F250 based Ford Excursion (1999-2004). The kit represents a 1997 model year vehicle although changes between 1997 and 2002 are fairly minor. The first issue was in 1998, the kit builds into a stock 1997 Ford Expedition. It includes a set of stock alloy (chrome) wheels with Goodyear Wrangler tires. It is packaged in a hinged box as part of the Rolling Wheels line. There is a section of road printed on the bottom of the box for display purposes. Instead of decals it features stickers including a mild custom paint job. Molded in black with a tan interior, clear windows and light covers.

That was the case with both of the 1925 Model T kits they issued a few years back. You could build one stock version and one hotrod from these kits which is why I expect this is just one of those two coming round again but with new decals and a cardboard backdrop. There have been a lot of T kits though so it seems possible that they could offer a new configuration of parts. I can use a few more Model Ts so I'll be in for a couple even if it is just a reissue of one of the above kits.

Ford offered the Explorer based on the Ranger, Expedition based on the F150 and Excursion based on the F250/F350. There was little shared by the three, and other than being SUVs they don't really even share much in the looks department. The Expedition came with a 4.6 liter V-8 so it should be able to tow a small to medium size car trailer. If you are familiar with GM counterparts the Expedition compares to the Tahoe, the Excursion was meant to compete with the Suburban.

Absolutely no idea on actual hours, but I have projects I have worked on and off for years. I have an almost completed Lancia Stratos on the bench that I started in 2007. I think the fastest I've finished something was maybe 3 weeks to a month, I just got into a groove and kept at it an hour here and an hour there until it was done. Typically I'll run into a snag need a different set of wheels, need some decals which sidelines me. Occasionally I just lose interest and it sits until the mood strikes me again. I tried one of those once, actually a holiday weekend (72 hours) build. I finished the model but didn't enjoy it at all, in fact I didn't even touch a model again for probably 3-4 months afterwards.