Fabrux

The heater box, passenger side reservoir, and battery came from the same MPC Bronco as the air cleaner. I originally planned on using the Bronco's radiator and shrous as well because they are so thin but the hose inlet is on the wrong side for this engine. The wiper motor is from an AMT 71 Charger, catch can and the other reservoir are from a Revell 67 G TX, and the brake booster and master cylinder are from the Revell Jeep CJ-7 that donated other parts to this build. Who would've thought all those varied parts would end up on one build?

Another update, and a few steps back as well. I had a huge issue with the paint on the body crazing and ended up having to strip it and start again. I did take some mock up shots so you can see what direction I'm heading colour-wise. I have finished up the engine, which is an AMC 258 6-cylinder: The transmission and transfercase are from the Revell Jeep CJ-7. The engine is from the AMT Pacer, I believe. The air cleaner I used is from an MPC Bronco. As anyone who has built this kit knows, the engine compartment is rather sparse. As in, the kit only adds a battery to the emptiness. Here it is straight from the kit: And here it is after I've added a bunch of items: And finally, here is the engine in its home:

I'd like to enter this build, but not sure if my idea will be sleeperish enough. I know it was stated no Mustangs, but what about a stock-looking 4-cylinder early Fox model with an updated drivetrain?

A small update. I mocked up the interior and have since filled in the transmission plate and built brackets for the front seat. Haven't decided if I should make brackets for the rear seat; the Chevy bench is taller than the kit piece and even though it is sitting on the floor, the Chevy bench is at the same height as the kit bench. Will probably leave it as is. And here's my little bit of madness. I've seen the fiddly details my fellow club members that build armour and aircraft deal with so I figure I can manage this. I cut out and filed down one of the centre caps from the kit wheels to fit in the ones I'm using, which are from an MPC Bronco. Turned out pretty good!

I find my local Michael's store pretty hit or miss. I went in with a 50% off coupon to buy a kit for my dad for Christmas and ended up getting him an MPC 1967 GTO, which has probably been there for five years! They rarely if ever have recent releases and the kit section is probably about 15 feet on an outside wall.

Sorry to disappoint, Nick. I thought this issue was just a straight rebox of the last Ertl version; my mistake! I like to build oddball vehicles with options that tend to be less desirable, thus the AMC 6. I started researching the IH 4-cylinder and discovered that it is just the left bank of the V8, but I didn't feel confident in my abilities enough to be able to fabricate the intake and make that side of the engine look believable.

In serious need of a slump buster, I pulled out one of my Ertl Scout II kits that I had started on over a year ago. I had started on the rear axle doing a shackle flip (poor man's lift) in an attempt to fit some better looking wheels on it. I finished the rear axle and re-built the front axle as well. With the front axle sprung-under the rear axle needed another two scale inches of lift to sit close to level, so I used some 2mm square tubing as lift blocks. I came across some pictures of a Scout II during restoration which was a great resource to get all the missing body lines scribed. The cowl scribes look like poo as I did them freehand but they don't look too bad! Motorvation for this little beastie will be an AMC 6-cylinder, which was an optional engine, along with a 4-speed manual. I'm also going to put in bench seats front and rear, sourced from a couple of AMT 1950 Chevy pickups. I have also raided my parts box for some underhood bits such as reservoirs, master cylinder, and a catch can. Stay tuned!

They didn't change the dash, either. Interior stayed the same all the way through.

The Street Fighter kit also has a chopped roof. Jimmy Flintstone makes a resin body that allows you to make a 1960 sedan delivery using the Revell 1960 Impala kit, however once I noticed the difference in roof height I've shelved my build for now. The AMT kit you have now is 1:25 scale. If you're going to keep the screw-bottom chassis I think you can get the Revell 60 Impala and swap the parts accordingly; some massaging may be necessary.

I think I saw this setup driving down the road the other day! A local line construction company has a similar setup, although their truck is a GMC and has the four full doors. They tow around a trailer with a mini-excavator on it. The excavator is just a wee bit too heavy for the truck, though, as repeated towing bent the frame and hitch slightly; they had to rebuild the truck!

Thanks for the shots of the springs, Dan! I'm going to attempt to make those for one of my builds.

I'm really diggin' that canoe! I have enough of these in my stash that I'm going to attempt a long box one of these days. Any better shots of the new springs?

That is the same tooling as the truck I used. You'll even have the advantage of being able to use the cab lights and air horns.

I'd be happy if Round 2 somehow had these box art painting stashed somewhere and could release prints of them. Some are downright gorgeous!

Both of my GMCs are Canadian-made, suits me fine.

That's...odd. Here's my two promos, a 1993 and a 1997. The 1997 has the newer grille.

Round 2 restored the Gremlin back to stock form, so never say never!

The Tahoe grille doesn't fit the best in the pickups. The snap-kit dually and all promos 94+ have the proper grille.

Okay so here are current pictures of my progress on this wrecker. The engine is a BBC from the AMT 69 Chevelle plus some parts box pieces. The engine mounts are from the same Chevy pickup kit that donated the cab. Keeping in mind that the cab came from a glue kit and therefore had no molded in engine detail. I only had to cut the engine portion from the chassis. Here is a picture from the snap Blazer kit where I cut the molded in engine from both the frame and body: And for completeness sake, here is a couple pictures of the 1:24 plow truck cab on the 1:25 wrecker body. It doesn't quite line up and is rather oversized for the wrecker body. And, finally, just because it bugs me the wrecker kit is actually a '79 and the Chevy Street Pickup is actually a '77 or '78.

That cab is from the Revell Chevy pickup; the most recent re-issue was this one:

If only.

There's plenty of other issues, too, such as the 60 C-10 showing the old annual kit, the 68 Barracuda and 69 Charger Daytona showing rims that weren't in the kit, etc.

In the early '00s AMT sold kits through Walmart. There were a couple different box art styles that were exclusive to the store, one of them being individual kits that had a built-up model on the box top with a checkerboard background and a road graphic off to one side. The other style was built-up models with some sort of cityscape in the background; these were usually part of a 3- or 4-kit bundle.

Keep in mind the GMC pickup is 1:24 scale and the wrecker is 1:25 scale. Cutting out the engine on the wrecker and transplanting one isn't too difficult, although what bugged me the most about the wrecker was the molded in windshield visor. I swapped the cab for one from the related Chevy pickup, like so: This is a bit of an older picture as I have progressed on this build since then. I'll try to get some current shots soon.

My favourite white 80s interior that I have seen was in a Challenger (Mitsubishi based) that had white seats with blue plaid inserts! Dash and carpet were also blue. Looked pretty spiffy!