Aaronw

Nice job, the whole thing is coming together quite well.

I missed that you finished this. You did a nice job, I like the contrast of the wood spokes with the black.

I don't really care about the stooges aspect, but am glad to see the Model T out again. I wonder if it is the kit with the chopped coupe body, Tall T body or some new combination of bits and pieces.

I have an earlier non police issue of the kit and it says 1997 Ford Expedition. It has 5 lug alloy wheels which are different than the box art on the police version of the kit. The Expedition was based on the new for 1997 F-150, so I think they were all 1/2 tons.

This makes sense and also reflects on Meng's background of military models where aftermarket extras are very common. Not everybody interested in the Hummer kit will want to build an off road expedition hummer with storage racks, snorkel, off road lights etc. Many will want to build it OOB as the common Suburban Mall Commandos personal vehicle. Including the add on bits in the kit would add considerably to the price of an already expensive kit. The fact the upgrade kit is resin, not plastic suggests to me that they expect the base kit to sell in much larger numbers than the upgrade kit.

Speaking of police cars how about a Peugeot 403 convertible

Maybe somebody could have got him interested in models as a kid....

Who says you can't have fun with a washing machine. Don't try this at home

Great minds think alike. The late H1s got the Duramax diesel which would not be as useful since we don't have any late model Chevy trucks to put it in.

I wonder which engine they are doing. The 6.2 L GM diesel used in the military HMMWV and earlier H1s would be nice to have for 80-90s GM trucks.

We have a lot of Old Man Johnsons on the site. I don't think a week goes by that we don't have a rant about "kids today".

End of the month, I'll get some progress photos tomorrow but making my May post while I still have a couple hours left...

I'd love to see them spruce up the 1972 GMC Stepside / Chevy trucks and re-issue them. If they tooled up a better detailed chassis plate to replace the promo style of the original that would go a long way. The kit has a few issues but the promo style chassis and wire axles seem to cause the most complaint. If they tooled up a new chassis for it, then optional 4x4 parts would be possible as well. Maybe offer the short bed as a 4wd and the longbed in 2wd. The 67-72 trucks are very popular in the 1-1 market, one of the best looking pickups out there in my opinion.

I think much matters on the particular situation and how it is done. I've done it to others and I've had it done to me, 99% of the time I've been fine when it has been done in one of my posts, and I've never had anyone complain about my doing it in theirs, although in the second case I can't say it has never been a problem, because they might have been and the offended party was just too polite to say so. I'd like to think most who do it are trying to be helpful offering encouragement or pointing out a problem area they ran into.

Nice start, did you have any luck on finding the correct paint color?

As far as the fire extinguisher, both brass and copper were used. I made a pair of chemical tanks from copper pipe, some model railroad bits along with styrene and metal tubing. You can get both copper pipe / tubing at most hardware stores in 3/4" and smaller, and brass pipe in 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2". Brass tubing in smaller sizes is available at many hobby shops, and some hardware stores. Nice thing with using copper and brass is they polish out like copper and brass.

The AMT 1925 Model T was re-issued several years back as a 3 in 1 hotrod, pickup, roadster or closed body 2 seater. Two different boxings, one with the "tall T" stock closed body and one with a chopped top. They also did a 1927 Model T police car 4 seater with convertible top (phaeton?). The police car included some vintage police stuff as well as vintage 1920s speed equipment. I snagged several at the time but haven't seen any of these kits recently. Hopefully another reissue is due soon as I believe the last reissue was at least 6 or 7 years ago. Hoping we see the Depot Hack as well. All of the Model T kits seem to be packed with hotrod stuff, the two 3 in 1 kits actually allowing you to build 2 complete models if you choose your options carefully. The kits outlined in green include the parts for a stock pickup, but vary somewhat in other options. The one in the top left corner is the old RC2 re-issue which left out a lot of parts included in the other two re-issued by Round 2.

To expand on the shipping thing I just put 3 random car kits into my shopping cart. Shipping on 1 kit was 7.27, 2 kits 8.06 and 3 kits 9.60. So if you divide by the number of kits shipping drops from $7 / kit to $3.20 / kit by buying more than 1 kit at a time.

When buying online it is often a better deal to buy in bulk. I bet if you check shipping goes up very little for a second or third kit. $9 for one becomes $5 or $6 for 2 and probably $4 for 3. Many offer free shipping if your purchase goes over a certain threshold. Mike I think he is talking about Hobbylinc in the USA not Hobbylink Japan.

It looks good so far, and they always look good in black. Model Ts are fascinating, a very simple vehicle but they were available with a dizzying variety of options both factory and aftermarket. I built this kit a few years ago as an early US Forest Service supply truck. The kit is simple and in places a bit crude but I had fun with it and have plans for many more I the future. Like you I intended it to be a quick simple build that also ended up taking about a year to finish.

The Revell Build and Play are super simple, it literally takes me 2-3 minutes to assemble them. My 2 1/2 year old has become interested in my models, so I've done a couple of them with him. Pretty durable for a model, although he has managed to break the wheels off. The police car made it a few days, the jeep a few weeks before the wheels came off. For an older 4-6 year old child they are plenty tough as a toy, just not 2-3 year old tough. The level 2 kits are a nice curbside snap / simple glue level kits that are easy to assemble but offer room for added detailing. I've got the Jeep Rubicon and Ford Raptor which I actually got for myself because of the subjects. The Revell Peterbilt and Kenworth mentioned above are similar being fairly simple to build but well detailed even including a nice CAT 3406 engine which I've swiped for other projects. I don't know if they are still around but Jada had some nice snap kits I built with my older son when he was 7 or 8. Again tough enough to play with but nice kits open to detailing for a more advanced modeler. There were some Speed Racer kits (Mach 5 and Mach 6) as well as some sports cars a Corvette and I think a Mustang, probably others.

I try to keep up with posts in the news / reviews section but I completely missed your post on it. Looks like a nice little kit, thanks for putting it up.

I had an ad pop up for a Hasegawa Honda N360. I don't recall seeing this before and haven't seen it mentioned in any of the upcoming products threads. Minis, Trabants, Renaults, we are starting to get quite the selection of kits for the space challenged who don't want to go to a smaller scale. http://www.hasegawausa.com/product-pages/hsgs1121.html

I really want one of these. I'm not old enough to need to bring my whole house camping, but I am old enough that sleeping on the ground has lost its appeal and these are just perfect for that, a bed and a kitchen in a small package that even a Prius can tow.

Just throwing a wrench out there, but wouldn't cars you had available when you got your license make more sense? If we go with birth year that means it is 16-18 years old by the time you could drive it. Going birth year +16 I'd go with a 1983 Volvo 245 wagon Honestly I was contemplating a 145 myself, one little problem, Volvo only offered the 142 and 144 door sedans in 1967, the 145 Wagon wasn't introduced until 1968. I mean sure we could all throw out Shelby Cobras, Corvettes, Ferraris etc, but from a realistic and practical point of view (drivability, cost, durability) the choices are a bit more pedestrian. Volvos aren't cool in a tire squealing, race from stop light to stop light way, but they are very well engineered, durable and very practical as a daily driver. It is not uncommon to find the pre-1999 Swedish built Volvos pushing 500,000 miles with simple maintenance and regular oil changes, and the wagons offered seating for 7 with the optional rear facing seats. As the 145 isn't an option for me based on birth year I'll go with a 1967 Toyota Landcruiser FJ55 although 1969 is a better year (a tad more refined with modern cartridge style oil and fuel filters, and a 2 bbl carb). I also happen to own a 1969 which I've had since 1996 so I am already sort of playing this game.