av405

Thanks. I scuffed the bed down with 600 grit before painting. I didn't go crazy, just enough to level out any bumps or debris that may have been there before. I then masked with Tamiya tape and plastic sheeting at the bottom and gave the bed 3 coats of the black primer: an initial mist coat to seal the tape edges and get overall coverage, then two successively heavier coats.

Thanks, Carl. Couldn't agree more. Thank you! Great tip. Funny thing is that I didn't smooth out the rear wheel moldings at all. That's just layers of paint and primer. I'll look into it. Thank you!

Painting this truck has really turned into a hassle. Unfortunately, I had to strip the cab and tailgate. The paint and clear laid down well but when I wet sanded and polished, that process exposed fairly big blemishes. I was so frustrated that I threw the pieces in 91% isopropyl alcohol before I thought to take pictures of the blemishes. The blemishes basically looked like clear coat peeling on a car. I'm at a bit of a loss since I used the same polish method that I've used many times in the past with success. I'm going to restart the process all over again on these pieces, including re-washing with Dawn dish soap. Here are the pieces after being stripped of paint and sanded down with 600 grit to even things out: But there is some good news. The bed turned out well after wet sand and polish. I painted the interior to simulate truck bed liner using Mr. Surfacer 1500 black. It laid down beautifully, but I didn't like the paint edges from using Tamiya tape. In retrospect, I should have used BMF for the edges. But it looks okay so I'll leave it be. Maybe my OCD will get to me later and I'll fix it.I also painted the rubber surface on the rear bumper and installed it along with the tail lights: I heeded some of the advice on here and added an extra lift to the rear wheels using a small, circular piece of Evergreen styrene. I then did a test fit and the stance looks much beefier from the back. After taking this photo, I brush painted the added styrene black to blend it in. Despite the progress, this project is now delayed. I'm going to be patient and take my time to make sure that the cab and tail gate come out better than before. Aside from that, I'm going to wet sand and polish the hood and hope that those blemishes don't appear on that piece as well.

Fantastic work so far! I really liked the backstory.

Do you have any pictures of his designs printed out?

Thanks! I would think most places could fab their own simple designs to meet their needs.

He doesn't, I just checked with him.

Beautiful work and great color choice!

Thanks! Yes, the wheels are great. The best part is that they can be painted chrome and double up as XLT wheels as well! I just finished up the amber rotator. From my memory, most work trucks had single rotators mounted on custom fabricated metal stands or on the utility body frames, not on the truck itself. This was common for decades up until the advent of fancier LED systems in the 2000s. I used pictures of old Caltrans trucks as inspiration. I took an old resin rotator that I had and repurposed it. Unfortunately, the chrome plating on it was terrible and flaked off, so I stripped it and primed/repainted it grey. I then wrapped the base of the rotator with a piece of industrial chrome tape that I have on hand. I got this tape from my electrician father, so it's coming full circle to replicate an electrician's truck: I painted the lens with Tamiya TS-73 clear orange and fabricated a stand for it from Evergreen styrene. After painting it Camel yellow and fitting to size, voila:

Interesting. I wonder if they pulled the plug due to slower than expected sales. The Nite package looks much better on the 92s than the 91s.

Sorry, I meant 1992 only as far as the 9th generation F-Series went. I should have been clearer. Your Nite looks great, btw.

They always have been. There's always been a surplus of these kits out there, with all the different variants and re-releases over the years. I mostly look forward to future re-releases due to expanded decal sheets and other extra new goodies Round2 can throw our way.

Welcome, Ed! I'm also in So Cal. Do you have any old articles to share?

Thanks! I'll take a look at it tonight and let you know if I have any questions. You're absolutely right about the height. I actually raised both the front and rear ends, but apparently not enough. I think it was like a 1 - 1.5 MM raise. I will probably just leave it as-is as I at least got rid of the rear sag. Maybe on the next one I'll raise it up a little higher.

I know this one's been talked about in another general thread, but figured I'd start a new topic since I found these high quality photos of the packaging. By all accounts, this is pretty much a straight re-issue plus the inclusion of an expanded decal sheet. This is the first time this kit gets this treatment as even the last re-issue under Round2, which was the Lightning, had a very bare decal sheet. Note that the old Flareside kits were the only versions of the AMT 9th-generation F-150 that came without body side molding and with running boards. I wish they had given this same treatment to the Lightning, which in real life does not have side molding. Here's a screenshot of the decal sheet from the Round2 video: Note that apart from the Flare side decals, it appears to have the Nite stripes (1992 only), but no "Nite" decals. All in all, thank you Round2 for bringing back one of my favorite kits with all new decals. I like that just an expansion of the decal sheet gives us builders a lot more options for these kits. I hope we can see re-issues of the XLT long beds and short beds. I would love to see those with Eddie Bauer decals and maybe some pin stripes.

Thanks! Thank you. I remember your build from back then. Believe it or not, it served as a huge inspiration for me with regard to kit bashing and turning the AMT F-150 into an XL work truck. It really gave me an idea of what was possible. I tried to look at your WIP thread for tips, but the lack of photos made it impossible. I will definitely check it out again once you update the photos. In the meantime, I did a mock up of the truck yesterday just to make sure everything went together well after painting and clear coating. The hood and tail gate are still drying, so I left those out. The front sits a little high but that'll be remedied when I glue the body to the chassis along the engine bay.

Beautiful build! The details on the dash look fantastic!

Try yh70's idea, but try to use a pointed q-tip or something with a pointed tip. Use just a bit of thinner and don't apply too much pressure. If that goes through the blue paint, then just lightly sand the area with something like 1000 grit and give it a quick pass or two with the blue paint (with the pillars masked, of course).

Nothing boring about this one! Looks great! I like that you did the tailgate Ford strip black. On most of the builds of these trucks that I've seen, the builders paint it red as they were pre-1992.

Great looking build! Can't wait to see it next to its Border Patrol companion.

Thanks! It turned out to be much easier than I expected. Sorry for the lack of progress posts. Unfortunately, I hit all kinds of snags when it came to the paint. First I had small but noticeable clear coat runs on one side of the bed and one side of the cab. If that wasn't enough, I then I realized after wet sanding and polishing that both the hood and tailgate had some type of surface contamination that I couldn't sand/polish off. I know that these kinds of errors have happened to many of us. When this happens, I suggest exhibiting some patience and putting aside the project for a while until you can think of a solution aside from paint stripping and re-starting over. In the case of thee cab and bed, the runs were small enough that I let them dry and then sanded the entire portion out with 1000 grit, being sure to not sand through the primer. I then followed this up by an even coat or two of paint and then clear. This was much easier than a complete do-over. I ended up stripping the hood and tailgate as those were small enough pieces and I had to get all the way to the bare plastic to ensure I got rid of any surface contamination. Anyhow, that was a wall of text. The lesson here is be patient and take things slowly. If you can live with imperfections like small paint runs and not have them bother you down the road, then leave it alone. If it'll bother you down the line like it will with me, be patient and spend the time and effort now! Here's everything as of today, all painted and clear coated without runs or other visible imperfections (aside from some orange peel). Next up will be wet sanding and some polish since I'm going for a brand new look.

Those would probably be good for a 1977 model. But you need slotted wheels to recreate a 1978 model. Quite a few aftermarket companies currently sell those slotted wheels and hubcaps.

The MPC body is by far the most accurate. The proportions on it are correct vs the Yodel body, which to me looks cartoonish. But based on pictures and what I've read online, the Yodel kit contained some parts that were more accurate compared to the MPC kit, especially wheels and tires. The Yodel version also had other goodies like a Fury grill. Yodel: MPC:

What's LCP? An aftermarket company?

Funny that you ask. I bought my copy from P&P resin works a few years back. I believe the guy who ran it is called Eric. Anyhow, P&P has a facebook page that was last active January 2023. I sent him a message on facebook about acquiring another of the Ford cabs on June 3rd, but haven't heard back yet.