Aaronw

Other than the Tamiya Volvo 850 and a couple of big rigs, have any other Volvo kits been done? I know not the flashiest cars out there, but the 140 / 240 are iconic cars (1966-74 / 1974-93), and were even involved in a bit of racing. Many of their less refrigerator like cars were (are) quite a bit more stylish, Amazon, 1800, and 164 for example. The current cars styling and performance stands up fairly well to the sport sedans from Audi, BMW and Mercedes which all seem to get their fair share of kits. Wouldn't expect to see them from the US makers, but maybe one of the Japanese or European kit makers?

There are kits I'd like that were never done (IH Loadstar comes to mind), and kits I'd like to see reissued so I cuold get a few more at reasonable prices (IH 2476 & 2575 for example), but I'm actually doing alright as far as kits I'd like to get that I don't have. The Stevens and Round 2 re-issues over the past 6 or 7 years really helped me out. If they re-issued the turbine along with the Astro or as a parts pack, I'd pick one up, but I wouldn't call it a grail item.

I've got the same project in (glacially slow) progress, if you are painting the frame then you have already passed me up. I will definitely be watching to see how you handle the many issues. Any idea how you are going to handle the decals? I've never been able to find photos with enough detail to work from, they are all screen shots from the movie.

I've always avoided the ignore feature on forums, but it got to the point I didn't care anymore. Just a handful of people made the cut, but this site has suddenly become much more pleasant. I highly recommend it if the constant negativity is getting you down. It's under your profile options.

If you pour the resin with some height (12-24") so that it is a very thin stream, you can reduce the air bubbles. You want the stream about the size of the tip of a ball point pen. This will help keep bubbles that formed during mixing from getting into the mold (it will pop all but the smallest bubbles). For very small parts you might dip a popsicle stick into the resin and dribble it instead of pouring from the cup, since that would be hard to control such a small quantity. Poking the bubbles as suggested (I use a tooth pick) can be effective for shallow molds, I have less luck with deeper molds. A pressure pot is very nice, but if you are careful and are only doing a small amount of casting for personal use, it isn't absolutely necessary.

Harry I think you are getting hung up on the name. If these snap kits are just toys then why make the effort to turn out some pretty high end snap kits. Have you built any of the recent Revell snap kits? They are far better than the toylike snap kits when I was a kid. While they may be called build and play, I think they are looking at diecast collectors as well as kids, simple kits that an adult can put together and display on their shelf, buy for their child as a toy, and an entry level kit to bring people into the hobby. The majority of "recent" (like the last 20 years) police car kits are snap kits because a lot of police car modelers just want something to put decals on. They will buy blank diecast police cars by the case. The police car modelers you see on forums like this one are typically modelers who like to build police cars, so they take more time , modify the kits, add detail etc. They are not usually the guys who churn out dozens of models on commission, those are the guys model makers want to lure away from diecast and into plastic. A good quality, simple to assemble snap kit works for the serious modeler who will work with what they can get, the assembly line police car builder who just wants something quick and cheap, and kids. That Revell would miss the mark on this that badly on the Crown Vic is mind boggling.

I've got plenty of ideas for tweaking existing kits from the other manufacturers, I just didn't think this was the place to bring it up.

Jim, if you decide to give a set of bottom dumps a go, I've got some photos of a trailer around here somewhere. My brother does a lot of highway work pulling a set bottom dump doubles so when I found one of these trailers parked convieniantly I took some photos with the idea of "someday" building a set.

Read the thread, there is no "proof" given until the last couple of posts AFTER my post. Quite a lot of this guy said, and I know but I can't tell anyone but... Some serious attitude issues in here, thanks for reminding me why I spend less and less time here.

The engine out of the Revell F250 / 350 would be an option for a gas powered rig. Ford replaced the smaller gas V-8s in the late 70s with a 370 cid V-8, the Super Duty was gone after 1981 and replaced with a 429 V-8s. These 2 engines were available until the end of production in 1990. Both are based on the 460 and externally should look about the same in 1/25.

Assumed to be a 95-97. I agree a snap '95-97 makes no sense, as there really isn't anything wrong with the Lindberg kit. We had incorrect box art showing a 53-56 Ford C (actual kit is the long lived C-600 kit) a while back from Round 2, so I would get too crazy over the year of the Crown Vic just yet. It would be easy for someone to grab the wrong year to post on FB.

Actually in this particular case that does kind of make sense, particularly if it really isn't the 1995-97 shown, but a more recent vintage. The target is probably not kids, but police car bulders. There are quite a few "custom" model makers who build and sell department specific models for retirement gifts and such. A kit like this would be competing with the blank diecast models, while also grabbing part of the plastic model crowd who typically don't like diecast. Ever notice how many of the more recent (90's up) police car subjects are snap kits?

Well this is a thread specifically started about future Moebius trucks, by Dave who works for Moebius. If Tom Lowe started a thread about the future of truck kits at Round 2 / AMT I would expect to see discussion revolving around their past, present and future kits. Basically I wouldn't read too much into the lack of discussion about the other brands, they are sort of off topic.

Do we even know for sure the Ford is a Crown Vic? At this point in time with the CV going out of use it would make sense they might go with the Taurus / Interceptor, although personally I'm hoping for a late model vintage CV because if it doesn't happen now, it probably won't happen at all.

I agree that the Lonestar had a lot of things going for it, first modern truck kit in nearly a decade, appeal to the car modelers, good platform for a resin transkit, and just generally a good kit. The Prostar doesn't have the same crossover appeal to car modelers, and doesn't have the same pent up demand for a new truck kit that benefitted the Lonestar. It wouldn't surprise me though if after a couple of years the Prostar overtakes the Lonestar in continuous sales. I don't really think the bling factor is really that big of a deal with truck modelers. Sure there are builders who like the heavily customized trucks, but it seems like working trucks are at least as popular from what I see being built online anyway.

A base model daycab Prostar without the fairings would be a nice option. Not sure if the layout on the sprues would make sense, but like the Lonestar / Prostar it would get additional mileage out of the tooling. Yes I know there is a daycab available in resin which serves my needs, but that doesn't make any money for Moebius. Lower end day cab opens up a lot of building options. A new engine would be just another carrot to get people to pick up a different version as well. Seems to be working for Revell to tool up minor variations of the same kit (57 Ford, 50 Olds, 62 Corvette).

I put the 3406 in an Italeri Ford LTL-9000. It has a few short comings detailwise due to the snap nature (mostly hollow areas and pegs), but was not hard to improve. It was a fairly easy swap for the Cummins that came in the kit.

The wheels / tires on the AMT Ford C600 look like the pnuematic tires I've seen on some updated Mack ACs. Not sure if they are the correct size, but they look right.

I'd really like to see more 28 foot trailers available. Besides just being something different I've seen many comment on the lack of space to display a semi with a fullsize 48-53 foot trailer, so it would offer an option for those with less space than displaying the tractor alone. An interesting option would be to design the trailer to offer the option mounting it to the truck frame for a straight truck with or without a 28 foot trailer, or doing it as a tractor with doubles.

Agree with all of the above. And take the advice about gloves seriously, most of these cleaners will remove the top layer of skin quickly and will cause irritation and with extended exposure can cause minor burns. I'd suggest a pair of dishwashing gloves, they are cheap and reusable.

I don't know Tim, the grill on that '39 doesn't exactly look like it was easy.

Thanks Mike, so maybe I could look at the 510. I assume it would need to be de-race tuned but maybe a good starting point.

Did Datsun / Nissan run the same basic I-4 in their trucks throughout the 70s-90s like Toyota did with the 22R? I've got the older (late 70s?) Datsun kit that came with 2 dirt bikes. Monogram put a Chevy small block in that kit instead of the Datsun 4 cyl. I'm wondering if the engine from this kit would be an appropriate swap to build a stock version of the older truck.

That is neat (both the 1-1 and Tim's scale version). You can see the family resemblance between those early Peterbilt trucks and the last of the Fageol trucks. San Francisco Fire Department's 1936 Fageol rescue truck.

I think it would be neat to see a Dodge L700 with a Perkins or an early Ford C with an inline Dagenham or Dorset diesel. I have found a pdf of a Perkins shop manual that gives dimensional data and has a lot of diagrams / photographs. http://www.rgknightandson.co.uk/files/6.354.pdf