Aaronw

I mostly built aircraft as a kid, a little bit of armor so if you count a half track... Truck kits are a relatively new thing for me, I think the IH Paystar was the first I actually completed.

I don't directly work with the stuff so I'm not sure, but based on talking with my brother these trucks stay on the move so would assume they just come straight from a plant where they are loaded with hot asphalt. Asphalt stays hot for a long time, so unless you are way out (like Australian outback out there) I'm assuming it stays hot enough to work for several hours. When I worked in Yosemite they were doing major roadwork, and the asphalt trucks had to be coming from at least 2-3 hours away. There were no onsite cookers that I saw.

You know maybe they don't have a truck, so they just put everything in the yard together drove it all to the scrap yard.

The backend kind of works in a quasi batmobile kind of way, but the whole package... I like the stop sign door panels.

I have one, but I mostly got it for the wheels to make a civilian H1. Not particularly common, but I have seen a few used by law enforcement and fire in the same role you find Tahoes and Expeditions used. If I ever get around to it, I'm thinking of doing mine as a search & rescue rig. Looks pretty nice in US Border Patrol markings (it won't let me make a direct link, but its there if you scroll about 1/2 way down the page). http://www.dpdproductions.com/page_emergallery_vehicles.html Not bad looking as an off road racer http://www.wallpaperup.com/126021/2007_Hummer_H2_Race_Truck_racing_offroad_4x4_suv_f.html I guess this is from transformers, but if you are up for some work it could easily be the basis for an expedition vehicle or something the vehicles in Jurassic Park. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hummer_H2_Transformer.jpg

Yeah, I use gravel very loosely. You often find these trucks used in road construction because they can lay out their load in a line which can then be worked by the appropriate equipment. Here is a video showing how they can be used. This is the kind of work my brother mostly did before new state emissions laws caused him to find other work (his truck is no longer legal for work in California).

Yikes, I didn't realize there were states allowing full size doubles. I thought it was mostly a difference in allowable weight, so extra axles. Yeah, that would take up some shelf space.

These are a few years old, but I ran across them on the hard drive while answering another post. All were in the Truckee, CA area in 2009. Bottom dump gravel trailers pulled by a FL Hay haulers, a Peterbilt and a KW

I've often threatened to hand out sheets of CB lingo and make all the engines in a strike team use them. I don't because I'm sure I would be greeted with blank stares. While I'm not surprised by Clayton's "steering wheel holders" comment it is kind of sad. Seems to be afflicting a lot of jobs once known for it's camaraderie. I remember as a kid having handheld CB radios. I remember they even came with a little booklet with some of the more common CB lingo terms. We would occasionally get someone with a CB to talk to us which was neat for a kid to be talking to some random person on the radio. CB radios were pretty big in the 70s, not only in big rigs but not uncommon in cars (particularly vans and pickup trucks). We were close enough to a major highway that we could occasionally hear trucks talking back and forth.

#1 seems to be common in Australia, and I've wondered about that myself. Haven't noticed in the US, but Jeff's explanation makes sense (and also shows that it is done here as well). #2 I believe is self loading with those cranes. I've not seen that exact set up with flatbeds, but have seen photos of self loading logging trucks similar to that. #3 Doubles are pretty common, but vary in specifics (weight, length, combinations) by region. In California doubles are often 2 axle tractors with 2 axle tralers. Similar trucks are 10 wheel straight trucks with a 28 foot trailer Some of the more open Midwest and Western states allow triples I would disagree on the space issue for these as models. A pair of 28s doesn't take up that much more room than a 48 or 53ft trailer, only a few inches to half a foot in 1/25. In fact they would be more compact if run as a single 28ft trailer. I think the main reason you don't see more is there is only one kit that I know of, AMT did a pair of 28 ft box vans. Personally I'd live to see a set of 28ft tanker trailers with the option of mounting one on a truck chassis to build a combination like the copper-ish truck in the photo above.

That's ok Harry. I've never seen the Godfather. It's one of those movies I tell myself I need to see, but mobster movies just don't fill my galoshes with concrete.

I do both. I will buy an item and call it a birthday or Christmas present to myself. Most of the time that is the end of it, but sometimes I'll give it to my wife who will then wrap it and it becomes a present from her or one of the children. Much depends on whether or not they have other gifts for me. I'm not a particularly easy person to buy for, some years they find something they think I will like other years I basically pick something out for them to give me. Often a little of both. My wife is the same way, so sometimes I'm the one who wraps something she bought for herself.

If they have all the warnings mentioned I can't imagine how they still do it unless the driver is impaired. I've never seen such a system of warning lights, most low undercrossings simply having a height sign. The box truck in the photo is likely under 26,000lbs meaning anybody with a standard license can drive it. I imagine many of these accidents are campers / RVs and people renting a large truck without experience driving a large truck (so not used to worrying about how tall they are). Not to say this doesn't happen to professional drivers as well, there are numerous photos of semis stuck under a bridge. Just on the whole I would imagine the vast majority happen to inexperienced casual large vehicle drivers. On a second look it appears the truck in question is a semi, not a box truck which ups the ??????

There are a couple of large wreckers with sleepers around the corner from me. They use at least the lower part of it for equipment storage. I didn't get a good look inside but know they do occasionally have some long trips, so could possibly still have a bunk set up in the upper section to catch a nap.

I don't mind seeing it come back, just thought it was odd. I don't think any of the other Round 2 truck re-issues have had a second run. I would have thought one of the older reissues like the Astro (2008?) would have come around a second time before such a recent reissue. Maybe you are right that this one sold better than expected.

So what is the point of powering the paddles? Do you intend to run it in the water or just want them to spin while it sits on the stand? That would be a neat R/C ship, something a little different chasing ducks around the pond.

Wasn't this re-issued within the past two or three years? I'm pretty sure I picked one up in 2013 or 14.

I posted a walk around of a similar dump back in April when ever you get to this one http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/100746-1926-mack-ac-dump-truck-just-like-the-monogram-kit/ One thing I noticed is the kit appears to have some sort of hydraulic lift mechanism, the 1-1 I got photos of has a cable and pully mechanism behind the cab to tip the dump body.

In the mid 1960s the US had a trade skirmish with Europe over chickens. One of the casualties was imported light trucks which had a 25% tax placed on them (still in place). VW stopped importing non-passenger versions of their micro bus to the US in 1964-65 due to these taxes which makes any later than 1964 rare on US highways. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

Nice job, I like these old VW pickups. , Too bad these are curbside, but it looks like you did a great job dealing with that issue. When I was a kid, there was a guy at the end of the block that owned a somewhat weathered olive green crew cab. I don't know what he did for a living, but it looked like it was a work truck of some sort. It is a shame that these are so rare here because of a silly dispute over chickens.

It has a copyright of 1942, and I think it is original. It is in great shape for a 73 year old book somebody took care of it. Sadly it is probably from the estate of some old mechanic, but I'll give it a good home. The spiral binding makes it easy to scan if anybody is looking for something specific. Looks like it covers engines manufactured between 1927 and 1941.

Neat, I've had my eye on that kit for sometime, but self control always gets the better of me. I like the transitional period between sail and steam power, some really interesting ships.

Yeah, but unfortunately a lot fewer to choose from too.

Not a kit but model truck related. I just got a book off of ebay, sort of a parts manual for tractor and heavy truck engines of the late 1920s to the early 1940s. Specs and drawings / photos of the engines plus an application guide (which truck brands use which engines). It includes gasoline and diesel engines from Allis Chalmers, Autocar, Buda, Case, Caterpillar, Chevrolet / GMC, Continental, Cummins, Dodge, Ford, Fordson, Hercules, International, John Deere, Mack, Massey-Harris, Lycoming, REO, Studebaker, Waukesha, White, and Wisconsin. These things never have enough drawings / diagrams / photos but well worth the $30 I paid. It must be 400-500 pages (it is about 2" thick with a nice spiral binding) and smells like an old machine shop.

Looking at a map of population density kind of helps make sense of the east / west style thing. The Mississippi river more or less follows the state lines down from Minneapolis, past St Louis and Memphis exiting into the gulf near New Orleans. You can see the population density is much higher east of the Mississippi until you reach California, Oregon and Washington. East Coast / West Coast as a descriptive term more or less = east or west of the Mississippi River. Geography plays a part as well with larger engines being common once you hit the Rocky Mountains and go west from there (more mountains so more power). You see some brand favoritism as well, Peterbilt, Kenworth and Freightliner being based in the west and designed for that market are more common in the western states. Mack is based in Pennsylvania and has a stronger market share in the eastern states. Population Density map http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-65679/Population-density-of-the-United-States