Aaronw

Yeah, I'm looking to build a stock cabriolet, so I guess I need to find the Monogram kit. Thanks

Was a '36 Ford deluxe convertable ever done as a kit? What about a conversion for the AMT 3 in 1 kit of the '36 Ford coupe?

Julian, the SFPD has used the same markings forever, except for a short period in the later 1970s under Chief Charles Gain. During that period the cars were light blue and marked as San Francisco Police Services. Their early cars were dark blue, but they switched to black and white well before 1970. I can't say for sure that the SFPD bought Ford's in 1970 but they have been heavy users of Ford automobiles so I think you are pretty safe using the kit you have for an SFPD car, at worst just having a slightly wrong year.

Single axle trucks are commonly used to pull a set of double trailers. AMT's double header trailer set would be appropriate for a single axle truck like that.

The jeep looks good in green, nice job. Danno, it is Revell National Park...

I don't know, there is something a little Z about the front end that would not make me immediately think Jag, but it is a sharp looking car.

Well that's a bummer, I was sure one of them had a lawn mower. Looks like everything but, what a strange omission since I would think that would be an important item and they seem to include everything else.

Here they are http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2047675.m570.l2632.R2.TR3.TRC1.A0.H0.Xhobby+gear&_nkw=hobby+gear&_sacat=222&_from=R40 Unfortunately I don't see the landscaping set with a lawn mower, but now you have the brand name.

There is a company that sells kits of pre-painted plastic items for models. I bought a garage set that had things like an air compressor, roll around tool box, floor jack and other shop items. They had other sets as well, including a yard working set with a lawn mower and other landscaping items. Unfortunately I don't recall the company but I used to see them at Hobby Town USA.

Poor Capri, started as a pretty nifty, stand alone Ford sport coupe, one of the successes in the gas crisis 70s. Then became a Mercury Mustang, then an odd, but kind of interesting Mercury "Miata" and now you suggest it become a Lincoln? Capri would have been a good possible name for a performance version of the Focus or Fiesta. Personally I think Lincoln should be looking at Cadillac. These are luxury brands, they don't need a car for every niche, and should focus on their strengths. Lincoln and Cadillac are brands that are hurt when they try to be everything to everybody. Cadillac seems to have learned from its attempts to puts frills on low end Chevrolets.

Target has sold models from time to time, usually a very small selection and often snap kits when they have them. I'm pretty sure that is where I bought my son the Jada Speed Racer models several years ago. I was more just throwing out the kind of places where a person might buy a model because they see it on the shelf rather than go specifically looking for models.

The Cat I swiped from the Peterbilt is an easy swap. My order from Class A Resin arrived today, not cheap, but very nice stuff. A set of 5 hole rims and 8 drive tires made from a soft rubber like material. I'll probably be using the tires from the kit for the steer axle unless I can find a set of Toyos like those on the 1-1. I've been tinkering with Sketchup with the idea of possibly having a set 3D printed.

It has been a while, but still plugging away on this thing. The tank was causing me some trouble, but I finally got it worked out. I used two sizes of PCV pipe, cut the smaller in half lengthwise and glued it to either side of the larger giving me a nice elliptical framework that I wrapped in aluminum roof flashing. The end caps are styrene sheet cut to size. Have some more work to do, but I think it is getting there. Sitting on the frame, it will sit a bit higher once I've worked out a subframe for it. The cab is still loose, I'm waiting to secure it until I have other details in place. The hood will fit better once the cab has been secured.

Any idea how casual model sales (Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Target etc) stack up vs sales through specialist hobby shops? Volume not subject matter.

I think it would look better with round headlights, this shows an obvious connection to the Fusion. Not a bad looking car, but it would have a more distinct retro Mustang look with round headlights.

Brett, thanks for posting the sales info. That kind of data is usually lacking in these discussions. Very interesting to see how well the truck models are doing since we are told by many on the forum that they are sales losers. Hopefully this is not a statistical fluke and it leads to more new tool truck kits in the future.

You also have an issue that when they do have a good product, they frequently fail to market it well. I am a die hard Toyota truck fan, I think it is by far the best small truck available and I've driven most of them over the years. The Chevy Colorado is a very nice, well made, well designed small truck. It is the only small truck I've driven that I would even consider replacing my Tacoma with. GM has done little to push this truck focusing on full size trucks, SUVs and sporty cars. Understand it has been close to being dropped from the line up several times since it's introduction. Of course it is pretty much an Isuzu which may explain the superior quality...

He is looking for a full detail kit, the Ecto kits are curbsides. David's solution is probably the best currently available.

Thanks Tom and Lee, you demonstrate in photos what I meant about what can be done on a car is not always quite so simple on a model.

Kind of putting the cart before the horse to build the booth then ask for suggestions isn't it? The safety aspect has been discussed to death, search for paint booth and you will find a million threads arguing about the proper fan to use. Flex hose has about 3x the resistance to air flow as straight metal ducting and that little 180 you have it doing right on top of the booth is the equivalent of adding about 40 feet of duct. You will get better airflow if you used a straight piece of duct and only used the flex right at the end (better to use a metal curve, but admittedly the flex is much easier to work with). At the very least straighten the flex line to remove any unnecessary curves and cut off any unneeded remainder duct. It may draw the fumes out of the box well, but all the drag in the duct means it will slow down the flow allowing fumes and particles to build up in the flex line and that is really where the hazard comes in by concentrating the fumes.

Does that actually work with a kit? I mean that seems obvious, but what you can do with a real car often doesn't work out so well with a kit. If it were that simple I would have thought we would see more Baja Bugs built. Maybe they aren't as popular a subject as I thought.

I've got a 2008 Ford F250 at work and it is running 17" rims stock. Have a couple of late model F450/550 trucks at work as well and they areusing the same 17" rim as the 250/350 downsizing from the 19.5" rims on the older trucks. The older duallies would have had a 16 or 16.5" rim (not that this difference would be terribly obvious in 1/25). I don't think there is anything out the in the aftermarket specifically for these newer trucks. There isn't a lot out there for the older trucks. You might have a look wheels / tires for 1/32 or 1/35 military trucks. A 1/35 scale 22.5" wheel would scale out to about 16", 1/32 17.5" and would most likely have a beefy military style tread.

There is a Baja bug kit out there, pretty sure it is from Revell and was reboxed into the Blacktop warriors series. Understand it is not a particularly good kit being based on a not terribly good (and fairly old) Beetle kit. With several good beetles to start with now, it seems like an obvious modified tool option for Tamiya, Hasegawa (probably unlikely) or Revell's new "old" Beetle. I think the Baja bug is probably mostly an American interest so would appeal primarily to one of the US based kit makers. The lack of a decent Beetle kit from an American kit maker until now does kind of explain the fact we don't have a good one I guess.

A bit surprised at the holes in the VW line up. Multiple kits of the 1960s Beetle, and T1 transporter but little outside of that. One or two old kits of the Karmann-Ghia, and a kit of the 1979-90 Vanagon Camper. No later model Beetle / Super Beetle (ok, one but understand it is horrible), no 1969-79 T2 Transporter (Micro bus), no Type 3 (notchback, squareback and fastback), and of course already mentioned, no VW Thing. A good Baja bug seems like another no brainer. I can understand the lack of the later water cooled econobox VW's (which in fact we have several of) but it would seem like any of the air cooled VW's would have a similar appeal to those buying the early Beetles and Transporters. Ok, sorry not really a business case, but these seem like obvious choices if the first two are good sellers.

I haven't built that exact version of the kit, but the Louisville has been released in several versions, dump truck, delivery etc. Only problem I had was the hood, it didn't want to stay in the closed position. Also the engine in the kit is not a 3208, it is an earlier version known as the Cat 1150 / Ford V200. Very minor external differences, but the V200 on the valve covers is the big clue. The 3208 was known by Ford as the V636. As Jim points out these were originally painted Ford blue, but in an older truck that has had an engine replaced they could be Cat yellow, blue, grey or black depending on whether it is a rebuild or a new motor from Cat. Plaskit in Canada offers several alternate hoods for this truck if the short hood LN doesn't float your boat.