Fabrux

From what I can tell on the Bigfoot website, Ford still isn't a sponsor, yet all the trucks are Fords once again.

My condolences on your loss, Darin. Instead of focusing on what you've lost, celebrate your wife's life for all the positive things she accomplished and take comfort in knowing that she is no longer in pain.

Back in the late '80s my dad took a '78 Bronco, chopped the end of the body off and turned it into a pickup bed. Combined with a cab from an F-250 he built this truck: Now, I can't remember why he cut up this seemingly good Bronco (I was only 4-5 at the time). He always said that he cut up the wrong Bronco; he also had a brown '78 Bronco that I think he was still making payments on at the time, so that could be why. But, his unmolested Bronco rotted out way before this one ever did. My uncle bought the truck and he had it all while I was growing up so I remember it well. He ended up giving it to a friend of his and the last time I saw it, back in 2006 or so it was still solid (though only a yard truck by then). I decided I wanted to try and build a replica of this truck, as close as my abilities will allow. Its going to end up with the chrome trim in the body cove for the simple fact that I don't feel confident enough to remove it and make it look right. It'll also have headlights and a tail gate (I don't think it ever had one, even when my uncle had it). Not too sure if I can get the white stripes right; they're a strobe-type affair but in scale they'd probably end up being a solid line. Maybe some artistic license. Chassis is from an AMT Wild Hoss Bronco; cab, bed sides, and tailgate are from AMT '77 F-350 kit; interior of the bed is cut down from a Monogram F-250. Having grown up with this truck, my dad's '78 Bronco and '77 F-150 the bed on the AMT F-350 just drives me nuts so I had no qualms cutting it up. As it turns out, the rear overhang on that bed is perfect for a bobbed Bronco bed, so it made sense to me! The front wheels are from the Monogram F-250 (and are actually F-150 wheels; silly Monogram) and the rears are from the Revellogram '50 F-1. They'll be painted up to match those in the picture (complete with rust-coloured lug nuts!). I can't quite tell what the the darker colour is on the cab; I think its just a darker blue than the Bronco body. I don't want to ask my dad about the truck as this build is a surprise! I have another Bronco kit that I plan to build as his.

Yes, Steve, I remember you complaining about inner fender covers... I'll get at that next. The trouble with the hood was filling in that darned gap. I had to glue on strips to each side and then carefully sand them to the contour of the hood. Then, of course, the hood opening wasn't perfectly square, so more sanding on the hood and the opening was needed to get it to fit just right. And then, of course, I had to sand away some material at the cowl to get everything to fit. I ended up having to unfortunately cut the windshield wipers off the cowl as there was no way it was all going to fit. Also, the cowl is attached to the firewall as there was nowhere else to attach it and there ended up being a weird sandwich between the wipers, windshield, interior tub, firewall and chassis that just wouldn't work for assembly. The chassis fits surprisingly well. I may end up having to trim some of the area behind the wheels as it sits a little bit below the body line. The extra bench seat is from an older build I had. I keep referencing the older kit to get the ride height right (not sure if the car OOB sits correctly, though).

I'm in the process of (slowly) scanning in my own collection of brochures... they're neat, that's for sure!

The body is the AMT annual kit, the most recent re-issue, I think (Resto Rods). I'm not sure what the wheels belong to, but I found them in an AMT 66 Nova kit I picked up that had already been started.

Apparently, when it was first completed, Bigfoot 18 wore a Silverado body shell, had Chevy power and was painted in MLB graphics. On the Bigfoot website, however, Bigfoot 18 has a Ford engine and a body shell that looks like the SVT Raptor and has Summit graphics.

Steve, this is why I'm glad our show's categories are simple.

This is my attempt to build a decent '69 Chevelle using '69 4-4-2 chassis pan and suspension. Engine is the 427 from the Revell COPO Nova. When I showed this to my fiancee I told her it doesn't look like much but there's already about 10 hours of work into this to get the hood to fit right as well as the firewall, cowl, radiator and core support. Also, I'm not sure whether to make this a full sleeper with a front bench and remove all the SS badges or go with the console and buckets.

Its as much a Ford truck as the Grave Digger is a Chevy panel...

I will say that, personally, if a 49 Merc was entered in the same custom category as, say, my 69 Cougar fastback and both were finished the same quality and the Merc won, I would be a little upset. Here is a car that has a chopped roof in the box whereas I went through all the effort of grafting on a different roof entirely. I would imagine that the effort you put in the kit counts for something. This is why for our show we have a "degree of difficulty" on the judging sheet to help fairly judge things.

This is why I'm thankful my club's shows have simple categories for automotive: automotive street, automotive racing, automotive trucks (for big rigs) and automotive misc (tools, shop equipment, trailers). We also have a theme every year for automotive; last year was longbodies, this year is pickups.

A potential source of 1:24 scale tracks that may be able to be modified to suit a snow-cat type build would be Rommel's Rod; usually cheaper than the Lost In Space chariot...

Using the suggestions here I managed to identify this as a 1936-38 Hudson...!

Now, I had noticed that the Grand Prix's roof was pretty close to the Catalina in pictures I've seen but I wasn't sure since the resin conversion has a body included. But that's because of the side trim from what I can see.

So the AMT '62 Catalina body is accurate with its roofline? Or is there a different roof?

I pulled out my AMT '70 Impala kit and, guess what, direct fit! Looks like I'll be able to use this after all. Thinking back, there may have been a 70 Impala body in the lot somewhere but I think it was too badly damaged to be useable. I'll probably end up painting the seats and door panels white and use the blue dash along with carpet and console.

A while back I purchased a large lot of models/parts from a local builder. In the parts was this photograph and a dash painted as in the picture. I have no idea what its from other than its an AMT kit (ugly gray plastic). Anyone know what it is and what kit it would be? Maybe I can use the dash someday... Thanks!

I had a 97 Expedition and its not as big as you think. Especially if you're already used to driving pickups anyways.

This car was posted in a Facebook group that I'm a member of and we're trying to ID it. I suggested a late 30s Ford while another suggestion was a Peugeot 202 (which I don't think so due to the headlight pods). The group is all about old pictures of Saint John, so the car would be something sold in this area in the 1930s-40s.

I get the impression that Chinese courts might be a little biased...

Interesting. At any rate, I know that 6 rotor wouldn't fit...!

Man, grooming machines are high-tech. Its a good thing drillers don't have carries like that, they'd never drill!

A rotary engine wouldn't fit/wasn't designed for a FWD car. The FE3 is pretty much the best bang for your buck for engine swaps into an early MX-6.

That makes sense. I've worked around all manner of tracked carries and nowadays the cabs are pretty much just boxes with no amenities at all. I can see how an enclosed cabs with heat would be useful for a snow vehicle. Standard controls for a tracked carry would be as pictured above: brake/clutch, lever for each track and the gearshift. Unless its hydrostatic like a Morooka, in which case you just have a single t-bar stick for steering and forward/reverse.