Aaronw

I have some photos of a D8H I found a few years ago being used by Inyo county roads. It has a retrofitted ROPS. http://modelfireapparatus.com/apparatus/Dozers/Dozers1/dozers1.htm

The re-issue with the white truck has drums, some crates and the push broom.

Model Railroad shops usually have the best selection. If none of your local shops carry it, then I don't see much option to buying online. For sale signs and such may work in a pinch but don't offer much variety. For online shops Tower Hobby and Megahobby both have a good selection and good service.

There is a lot more variety in these than I would have expected, I guess ordering a higher quality of wood would not be much different than vinyl vs leather seats today. I really like the 1948 Marmon Harrington 4x4 conversion you have in there, I may be making an adjustment to my project.

What is that black part on the front of the rear fender, a rubber pad?

Thanks, I was planing on trying out some wood grain techniques but wanted to double check on what a basic factory finish would have been. Ever since I found out the attractive varnished wood in the back of pickups is just a restoration thing, I'm wary of wood finishes on old cars. I'm actually going for something very much like the '48 at the bottom of Danno's post.

Nice job on the Paystar, I really like these trucks. You are not kidding though about the first pic, I think I can see the molecular structure of the plastic. One minor thing, the instructions are wrong. The bars on the drivers side air intake should run up and down, not side to side.

I have to find it, but that shouldn't be too hard. I'm probably off on the date of the truck looking at photos. It might be the 1948 Chuck mentioned, but until I see it again I'm not sure. It definately has that rounded look but as I recall the grill is flatter more like the mid 50s. I will post some photos when I find it. I don't think I would want to part with it, I'm not a huge Studebaker fan like you, but it is a nice looking truck and an unusual subject.

I have a 1960s Studebaker truck I got in a trade a couple of years ago. I have no idea who cast it, and it looks old. Unless you absolutely hate diecast, that might be your best bet. I have seen a few diecast Studebaker trucks in 1/24 - 1/25.

Nice job, and it is always good to see a wagon built. I find those old Impalas odd, I think they are kind of ugly, but I still find them to be an appealing car. I guess they have a good personality.

AITM is another option http://www.aitruckmodels.com/

If you have a tight budget then at a minimum I'd suggest 600, 1000 and 1500, you should be able to find these at any decent hardware or autoparts store, a pack of each (3-5 sheets / pack) should run less than $20 and will last you through many models. 2000 grit can be harder to find but probably worth getting if you can find it. A good plastic polish like Novus or Maguires Scratch X does a good job of buffing out the paint after you have used your finest sand paper. That should provide you with a respectably smooth paint job. It won't be one of those mirror finish jobs some of these guys pull off, but still very nice. I do use 240 and 400 grit but usually only for shaping, or removing really nasty sprue gates and other defects in the plastic. Since you say you are a beginner, the Micro Mesh might be overkill for now.

harry I realize monitors will vary, but when the 2 or 3 other computers I have access to show similar results, I figured my laptop is the one most out of whack. I thought I remembered seeing a similar topic awhile back, but I could be imagining it. Foxer, I did a google search which probably should have been my first step. I had no idea there were so many sites on the subject. Anyway I did find some sites with basic tests to see how out of whack a monitor is. Not sure I want to spend that kind of money for a program, but it is worth considering since I take a lot of photos (of stuff besides models) and it doesn't make a lot of sense to edit my photos on a monitor that is way off. Mtndewd still on XP. Thanks guys, the google suggestion found a bunch of sites to work with.

Jacque Littlefield, the tank guy who was featured on the show Tank Overhaul lived in the SF Bay Area. Twice I passed lowboy loads going to his shop. The first was an early short barrel StuG III (WW2 German turretless assault gun) the second time a few years later was a German Panther tank. Both of them would have been awesome weathering projects for a modeler as they were in as found state. I don't know much about the StuG but the Panther was featured on the show and had spent 50-ish years in an Eastern European river before being found. As there are a few military bases in California it is not that uncommon to see tanks and APCs being hauled down the highway, but WW2 tanks do stand out. I've also passed some interesting carhaulers over the years, one near Bakersfield had a number of nice restored old cars including a 1960s Cadillac ambulance. Probably in 1981-82 I was riding a Greyhound bus to Boyscout camp and we passed a load of General Lee Chargers and Roscoe patrol cars headed to the show.

II'm finding that photos I adjust on my laptop, show up with a red tint when viewed on other computer screens. I know there is supposed to be a way to adjust the screen to be more accurate. I know I can adjust the tint but how do I know it is "right" so my photos will appear on the screen the same way elsewhere (or when printed). Hoping one of the computer / photography types might be able to help with this.

I want to get back to a '48 Ford Woody wagon I started a couple of years ago, but I have a question about the wood. Is the light colored frame work, with dark panels appropriate for the original time period or is that something that came with restorations? Seeing the current trend of finished wood in pickups vs the painted wood of the originals is what got me wondering if the Woodies we see restored today are really an accurate representation of how they looked new. I'm building mine as a working vehicle. The two tone is very attractive but just want to make sure it would be correct, since there is no way the one I'm trying to replicate would have had any custom options.

Frying pan grease screens are a good source for fine screen or expanded metal. Some have a fine square mesh like screen door screen which is less useful, but some brands actually use a very fine expanded metal which makes good 1/25 expanded metal for about 1/4 the price of similar screen sold by hobby suppliers. Electric guitar strings are a good source of stiff steel wire, I use the .008" ultralight "8 gauge" E strings for aircraft rigging, but it would also work well for radio aerials and such. A walk down the electronic do dads aisle at Radio Shack provides all kinds of possibilities from wire to lighting.

I forgot MPC did one too, were any of theirs 1/24-1/25 or only 1/20? I actually want it to build an ambulance so I'm not to worried about the interior except up front. I do need a basically stock body / grill though. Some of the kits had wierd custom grills. The 4x4 actually sounds kind of neat, I remember seeing a Chevy camper van, but don't remember seeing any 4x4 van kits of any make.

AMT did several 80s Ford Econoline vans, but not all could be built stock, and some were really out there. I want to get one of these as they seem to get harder to find each year, but I want to make sure I can build a stock van from the kit. A list of those kits that include the parts for a stock van would be appreciated. Thanks

A vector based program like Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator is the best to use because it doesn't have the distortion of pixel based programs. This allows you to make the drawing in a large size which is easier to work with, then scale it down. Also useful if you want to make decals in different scales, since you can just change the size without issue. These programs also allow the work to be done in layers, which is handy for printing with an ALPS or for doing the artwork for screen printed decals (if you get really serious). Pixel based programs like paint or photoshop use a group of pixels to make the image, when you change the size the number of pixels also change, frequently altering the image. Vector based programs do not use pixels, they measure the distance between each object and automatically rescales the entire drawing. You could draw the artwork full size and reduce it ti 1/25 without the loss of any detail (within the printers capability). From my experience Corel Draw is the more popular with those doing decals, but either will work if you have experience with Illustartor or get a better deal. You can often find older versions of Draw cheap on ebay, anything from 10 up will work just fine for your needs.

Yep, you just bought the wrong type, BMF sells both kinds and they are not interchangable. The inkjet has a special coating that keeps the ink from beading up on the film, but I've been told the coating will melt in a laser printer. The laser paper doesn't have this coating so in an inkjet the ink will not stay put. Laser printers use a powder which melts onto the paper, inkjets use a liquid ink.

Very nice Chuck, I am going for a similar look, except a stake side instead of a flat bed. I just wish there were more reference photos available for the truck. I did find a decent site showing a restoration, but they swapped in a Cummins diesel from a pickup, so not many usable engine shots. I'm building one that was sold as just the tractor, I didn't know they were eventually going to include it with all of their trailers. Anyway it is white plastic with very little flash and I haven't noticed any warping so far. I've heard that Lindberg used the money from the first batch to clean up the tooling, I don't know if that is true or not but it could explain why yours are so different. I have the tanker too, I can check and see if it looks like the one I am currently building.

Yes, they changed the name to Pledge with Future Shine but it is supposed to be the same stuff. For those of you haveing trouble finding it, Future is a floor wax, so you should be looking in the cleaning products section. I only mention that because some people think it is a hobby product or a car wax.

In general it has to do with copyright / trademark issues. There was a post fairly recently from a decal maker who used to do several truck logos who got a letter telling him to stop or face legal action. When he contacted them for official permission it wasn't even a matter of money, they just told him no. Not sure how MS is doing HO scale, perhaps they got them lumped in with a general model RR deal, or they have just flown under the radar for now. The model railroaders have really been hit hard with this. Because of the many takeovers over the years they were having trademark issues with railroad logos long defunct but still maintained by the current owners.

I built a Paystar about 4 years ago, I don't remember any issues with the exhaust and looking at the model the exhaust does come down between the frame and transmission on mine. I can't say for sure if it fits right on the motor end though, I was having problems with the hood so closed it up. I think the engine is a V-800. I found an article online somewhere for detailing it, but don't have it saved. It doesn't have digital gauges but IH does have square gauges on many of their trucks.