Aaronw

The "synthetic" motor oil you can buy at the auto parts store isn't all that different from normal motor oil. It is not synthetic in the way you sudgget that it doesn't come from petrolium oil. Both synthetic and regular motor oils are made from petroleum oil. The difference is the synthetic oil is refined differently resulting in a much more uniform or pure product. Synthetic oil is broken down to its base components and reformed into a very specific liquid, vs simply refined into a liquid of more or less similar molecules. Non petrolium based gas and diesel is possible, it just currently isn't cost effective vs. conventional means. A few years ago I did a project at school looking at various bioconversion processes available. I was coming from the angle of disposing of forest waste related to logging or fuels reduction (fire breaks) projects. There are a lot of options available to create energy from other than oil, most carbon based materials, vegetation, animal byproducts, and even a lot of garbage can be used. Some of the methods I looked at were as simple as burning the materials to create heat which is used to create electricity, but some can convert these materials into an oil like substance that can then be refined into diesel or gasoline. Most of these bioconversion processes are related and create 3 main products, bio oil (a thick oily substance resembling crude oil), charcoal and syngas (a natural gas like fuel consisting mainly of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide). The target product is where the processes differ to increase production of the more desirable substance the non desired products are often burned to power the process. The charcoal can also be sold as a soil amendment. The simplest of these go back to prehistoric times, the Ancient Egyptians made bio oil from wood which they used as a sealant on their boats. During WW2 there were more than 1 million vehicles being powered by wood and coal. They had an onboard gasification system which created a syngas, the vehicles required similar modifications to cars that run on propane. There was a company making diesel fuel from turkey and chicken processing plant scraps. They were marginally cost effective while fuel prices were at peak and they could get the waste at minimal cost. The processors figured out they could charge more for their scrap instead of paying to have it hauled off, gas prices also came down, the combination resulted in the company being unprofitable and they went out of business. They were also having issues of people not wanting their plant near them. There are similar projects using algae. Cost is just one issue, there are a lot of politics involved as well which make it hard for these projects to get funding.

Wow, I go away for awhile and I see you've been busy. This looks great! How did you change the lug nut pattern on the wheels? Carefully trim the originals and reposition or do you have a good source for scale lug nuts?

I notice a lot of these concept vehicles are integrated tractor trailer units which seems impractical to me. Not a commercial trucker but I know several who are and it seems like trailer swapping is extremely common, either different types by the job or dropping one off and picking up another to backhaul. Of all the items, the hybrid seems the most likely to catch on, and I would guess accounts for the biggest gain in fuel economy / pollution reduction. I used to work in a National Park and we had hybrid 40 foot busses and open air tractor trailer trams. The electric motors were used for acceleration which eliminated the common diesel black cloud under acceleration. Even after several years in service there wasn't a trace of visible diesel soot in the exhaust stacks. Lots of steep hills and these hybrid vehicles had no trouble climbing them. Aerodynamics is basically a no duh, tractor trailers offer some unique challenges but like it or not aerodynamic trucks are here to stay (see the thread on trailer skirts, now required in California). The biggest challenge will be combining aerodynamic styling with something appealing to buyers. Lets be honest though, fleets account for the largest number of trucks, and their buyers don't really care about aesthetics. You offer a truck that saves 5000 gallons of fuel a year, at a price that doesn't offset that savings and it could look like Barney the Dinosaur. Solar panels are cheap these days, and fairly maintenance free. A fleet could easily hire a couple of minimum wage guys to give them a good wash down every couple months. Again saves money, looks good to the accountants. So yeah, I don't see this particular truck with quite such dramatic savings showing up, but I bet you see a lot of these concepts arriving soon. If they can get even half that fuel savings, a fleet with 20 trucks could save $280,000 a year assuming prices stay where they are at now (US avg $2.80/gal), and we all know they will probably start heading up again. Fuel savings also equals emissions reductions which are being looked at by states other than California.

I didn't know there was a resin 72-73 Ventura, looks pretty good. Roy Scheider's character drove a 1973 Pontiac Ventura in the Seven ups. That would be a neat companion piece for Steve McQueen's Mustang from Bullitt.

I saw one of those once and was surprised at how similar it was to the early Japanese pickups in size and style. I mistook it for an early Datsun at first. It makes one wonder what might have been if Studebaker had managed to survive another decade. They offered smaller economy cars well before they were popular, and probably would have been better prepared than the Big 3 to compete with the small fuel efficient imports that really gained sales after 1973.

A tubing bender helps a lot. The simplest are springs you insert the tubing into, more complex ones have a grove or a hinge like mechanism. They help support the tubing and spread the forces. You can also fill the tubing with sand or similar and cap the ends to keep it in place while you make your bend. Using a curved piece like a dowel to bend the tubing around can help keep you bend straight and help support the tubing to prevent kinking.

Shawn Carpenter also did a '50 GMC conversion.

Yeah, the Revell site is claiming 10 parts, the other Rubicon kit had 91. I hope this doesn't mean we wont see more releases of the "advanced" snap kit version.

Casey, how many batteries varies by the truck. The trucks I've been around have been 12v and wired in parallel. The point of this is that it maintains 12v but adds to the storage capacity and amps available to turn over he engine. When wired in parallel the batteries have short jumpers between the extra batteries, positive to positive, negative to negative. There are trucks set up for 24v which are wired in series, with the jumpers running positive to negative from each battery. Some trucks are wired in both series and parallel (24v + extra capacity / power), I'd guess this is probably generally the case when set up for 24v as they not only need the voltage, but probably also want the additional storage and power. In this case I can only assume they would have to run an even number of batteries, some in series and some in parallel. I've never worked on a 24v truck so only guessing. Most medium duty trucks seem to run 2 or 3 batteries that are about 50% larger than a generic car battery. I'm not positive, but I would think someone working on a tight budget could probably get away with using car batteries, although the batteries would probably have a shortened life span. As far as appearance, yes they basically look the same just bigger. I've seen both top and side terminals used.

I hope this actually happens, I bought one several years ago, along with the Plymouth Fury police car when Johan was trying to start up again. I've always regretted only getting one of each since they turned out to only be available for a short time. It is a simple kit, but pretty nice particularly when you consider it is 56 years old. The last issue included a ton of extras, luggage, surfboards, and a taxi sign and I think an old style gumball beacon light. Wonder if we might see the Fury after the Rambler.

Danbury Mint did 1941 and 1953 GMC pickups. Ebay prices can be nuts on these but once in a while you can find one for a decent price. There may be flaws in my thinking, but I've always thought you could get a good starting point for a 1960 GMC by flipping the Chevrolet grill upside down, then filling and drilling the eyebrow grills in the hood. Never have found plastic GMC letters which would be necessary, although now with 3d printing that probably wouldn't be as much of an issue. There is also the issue of the engine which was different from the Chevrolet.

If you want a round top bubble gum light and are willing to do some work, this tutorial using a light bulb makes a really amazing quality beacon. The photos don't do them justice. http://scalefirehouse.com/sfh_brd/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=178&p=40766&hilit=beacon#p40766

That will buff right out with a little turtle wax. This made me think of an old CW McCall song

I know there are some over at ARC using a cameo or similar to cut masks. You might get more of a response there, I haven't seen much mention of it on any of the car model sites.

I've seen skirts that look like heavy vinyl too, but just passing on the road, never where I could take a close look to be sure.

Yes, KFS in England http://www.kitformservices.com/photoetch.html PE54 Chain Stretchers, about 3/4 of the way down the page. Yeah, was what I was wondering. It wouldn't have to take much, just enough to pull the slack out of the chain. I'm thinking maybe you could design then to take a small piece of wire at the hinge, but even then I'm not sure if the plastic could take that or not, I understand it is fairly brittle.

I think you would do well with these, KFS' photo etch binders are the only ones I know of and there doesn't seem to be anybody stocking KFS in the US anymore. The only issue would be can you make them actually work or would they be completely static? That is a really nice feature of the KFS binders, you can really snug down your load pulling the slack out of your chains / ropes. If static people would have to find a way t pull things tight and secure it while attaching the binders.

That looks about right to me. Just a guess, but I'm thinking one side is as you have done, looped through a link and the other side the chain is threaded through the cable and doubles back. There used to be a couple of US based sellers stocking KFS stuff, but they all seem to have stopped or gone out of business.

Every other year there is a logging conference held in town. It is a great chance to see logging equipment old and new up close. I got these last year with the idea they might be useful, but just hadn't got around to posting them until now.

As far as the log load and using branches, one of the things that usually stands out to me is the flush cut bases many people use. It is a small detail but including the holding wood on the end of some logs adds a lot of realism. I would think it would be fairly easy to make your cuts just like a tree with your pie cut on one side, your back cut on the other then bend until it snaps.

I was and I can. It looks like the cable ends are looped through a link of chain, or maybe the chain is doubled on itself. It kind of looks like the cable has a chain tail in some of the photos. Unfortunately unless I bumble upon a log truck parked when I have my camera, next chance for photos like this where I might be able to specifically see the connecting point will be 2016. On the plus side you should be able to use the nice chain you bought. KFS used to offer a really nice set of working PE binders, I'm not sure if they are still available or not, I bought mine in 2006.