Ace-Garageguy

Great job with the photo hunting. This is really a neat little truck. It appears from these shots that it's still a unibody, like the '59-early '60s version, so probably would be very close in structural design details. The apparent light gauge of the frame-rail material would indicate a unitized type construction. Heavy conventional rails aren't necessary when the body of the vehicle is designed to absorb the major bending and torsional loads, and the structure only requires heavy local reinforcement where high point-loads are fed into it from things like spring shackles...and these photos appear to indicate that this is exactly how this truck is built. The bottom shot, and the third shot from the bottom look particularly like the frame and body are of unitized design, and NOT utilizing the Scout or any other separate frame. That construction method could have manufacturing cost benefits from the standpoint that all the major components would be made on relatively simple machinery like bending-brakes and shears, without having to resort to heavy press-tools. And a body-building company could deal with the entire fabrication operation. A unibody design could also make sense from a weight standpoint, as the body is made to do double duty as a structural member, weight can be removed from the rails, and the vehicle payload is raised without having to beef up the suspension. It would also be relatively easy to scratchbuild from flat styrene, obviously. Speaking of suspension, the front axle looks to be very similar to the Ford F100 unit of the early 1950s.

Yeah, it's been hammered a few times. Try the well-explained search function at the top of the "questions..." topics, and type in "glue" as your search term. You'll get these hits, among others...

YEAH !!!

I have multiple copies of the Auburn, the Cord, and the '48 Lincoln, in both the original Pyro and later Lindberg boxings. All of them have scale and proportion issues, but they make good bases for customs or hot-rods. They're really worthless for building correct-looking replicas of the stock, unmodified real cars...though the Lincoln has been built up by a few guys to look surprisingly good...even though it is somewhat underscale. This is by far the best build of the Lincoln I've ever seen, and it shows what you can accomplish with these kits if you try hard enough. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/26396-1948-lincoln-mild-custom-completed/

Yup. Yup again...and the Testors Clear Parts Cement cited is "white glue", as Snake suggests above.

Urethane clears require a toxic catalyst to harden, so whatever you choose, BE SURE TO USE A RESPIRATOR. It's a good idea to wear gloves when you work with the stuff too, as it's absorbed through skin. Urethane clears require relatively accurate mixing of the components to work properly, so bear that in mind. Also, reduction (tninning) to spraying or airbrush viscosity needs to be done AFTER the addition of the catalyst in order for the chemistry to work right. Be sure to read, understand and follow the technical data sheet information for whatever you decide to use. Urethane clears are also usually packaged for body-shop or industrial use, in quantities that are rather large for many modelers, so shelf life can be an issue.

X2

The load-floor in the Metro Mite van being flat doesn't necessarily prove that the frame rails are straight. Part of the production economics of basing the thing on the Scout mechanicals MIGHT have been to save the cost of stamping a different set of frame rails for it. Large, heavy press tools capable of stamping frame rails are expensive. Spending money unnecessarily isn't good business and eats profits. From the point of IH's engineers and accountants, it would certainly have been cheaper to put floor spacers on top of the dropped section of regular Scout production rails than it would have been to set up an entirely different press-line to make a dedicated set of frame rails. And, putting spacers between frame rails and truck bodies is common practice, industry-wide. But I don't KNOW that's what they did, and any opinion or conjecture or specific advice without supporting photos and facts is useless. I think it would be prudent to hold off on deciding exactly which frame to use until you know what the frame under the real Mite actually looks like, and whether it is (or is not) actually a Scout frame. The first-generation Metro Mite built from '59 through '63 apparently had a unitized body-frame construction, and this could possibly have facilitated the flat floor design. The one you want to model was a newer design and MAY have been built on a conventional ladder-type frame. Additional lines of relevant research would include the Metropolitan Body Company, the division of IH that built bodies on IH frames. Here's a start, with some interesting photos that, among other things, show the relative sizes of the Mite as compared with the larger line of delivery vehicles from IH. One photo appears to show the earlier unibody version of the Mite being lowered on to its running gear. Happy hunting, and good luck with this very interesting project. http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/m/metropolitan/metropolitan5.html

I think all you really have to do is cut the vertical parts off of the floor. I have the kit on the bench, and that would appear to be a much easier solution than fabbing rails, floor, etc. This is Mr. Most's photo. it doesn't show the underside of the frame, but does show the vertical walls extending upwards from it. Cut 'em off and you're halfway home. Here's a partial look at the underside of the frame. Though this has a large trans hump for the 4WD transfer case, you can see the walls sticking upwards that, once removed, would give you a more or less complete frame. Presto. Still better shot of the bottom. take the side walls off, you have a nice frame. That's how I'd do it, anyway.

...Which is why i got in the habit of keeping my bottles of liquid glue in ceramic coffee cups. You have to be really clumsy to knock them over. It took gluing several difficult-to-make and very small scratch-built parts...ruined entirely...to the bench before I learned my lesson.

Me too, just now. You must have been sending thought waves.

Ever since Blade Runner, I've been a Ridley Scott fan. Other notable films include Gladiator, Thelma and Louise, Black Hawk Down... Not necessarily my vote for the best, but certainly up there.

Me too.

You'll find in a lot of cases, those aluminum aircraft seats used the parachute as a cushion for the butt, and some kind of removable back cushion. Specifications vary, but this is typical of some. If you're going to drive those things for long, you'll need some king of cushions.

Speaking of Flex-i-File, their pipette-style applicator works well for very precise application of liquid glue too.

I'll have to try it. Anything that works well AND saves time and mess is a wonderful thing. Thanks.

The rule of thumb is kinda if you can't smell it, it's dry enough. Not being able to smell it, or smell it much, means that most of the solvents have evaporated out, and it's stuck to the surface about as well as it will get.

Eshaver's "frosted tape" is what was recommended on a lot of instruction sheets. It makes a very sharp edge, but isn't too bad about pulling the first color off when you remove the tape. If you're going to two-tone, you can save yourself some possible grief by making sure your model is WELL SCUFFED for maximum adhesion of the first color...and that the first color is VERY VERY DRY. Masking tape will sometimes try to pull the first color off when you remove it, so you want to pull it off 180 degrees from the surface too, NOT straight up. I personally prefer something like 3M green polypropylene fine-line tape for the edges. It stretches nicely around corners, and makes a crisp, sharp line. The blue "painters tape" is used for the rest of the masking job, because of its low-tack and gentleness to the first color. The blue tape doesn't always want to make sharp edges, in my experience anyway.

The spec sheet for the M1100 calls out the IH 4-152 engine as standard equipment. This engine is a "slant-4", essentially the IH 304 V8 with one bank of cylinders removed. A good place to start would be the 345 V8 in the old AMT IH Scout kit...and cut the driver's side cylinder bank off. There are lots of pictures of the IH 4-152 engine on the web to work from. Though I don't really know, the AMT Scout frame MAY be a good place to start too, with the upper panels removed. Though the Scout kit is 4WD, it would give you leaf springs front and rear, and a rear axle. You'd probably have to de-arch the springs some for 2WD. The spec sheet also calls out a T7 3-speed as standard trans. This is actually a Warner T-87E, also used in Ford trucks and other vehicles. Again, lots of reference material on the web. If it turns out that the Scout kit frame will work for you, all you should need for a front axle would be a straight or dropped I-beam type, like something from the AMT '53 Ford pickup kit...IF the Scout frame is actually close enough otherwise. EDIT: The engine shot in the photos you found is a six inline, and looks identical to an AMC engine of the same period. I don't know if any kits or resin sources exist for that one. EDIT 2: AHA!! YES, the Metro Mite WAS based on the Scout frame and drivetrain, so that gives you a complete chassis to start with. The AMT Scout kit frame has some vertical panels that would need to be removed, but the rails are there.

Do it right, it WILL work. Sand with progressively finer and finer grits. By the time you get to 3000, it should be almost completely gone. I usually go all the way to 12,000, then polish...NOT wax. Again, do it right, the repaired area will be as clear as the rest of the window. If it's still foggy, you just haven't polished enough.

I'm glad it's OK. It's too late to go back and un-mix all these parts.

I haven't carefully compared the cars, but a '42 looks more like a '48 than the '41 does. Remember, Revell has already given us a (not really correct) 1938 optional nose on their '37 pickup kit, and the Galaxie '48 Chebby has trim to make it several year models. Maybe something along those lines?

I think everyone's assuming that the sprues on display are the newly-tooled versions. The rest of the kit will probably be as was.

Yeah, the AMT '41 Woody isn't a real strong seller so it would seem, and they can usually be had pretty cheap on the auction site some people love and some hate. There's one on there now for eight bucks.

It's not that terrifically hard to graft the AMT '41 nose on to the Revell body shells. Just sayin'...