Fat Brian

Check out this one, it's just a painted soda bottle with wheels. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Hand-Made-1-24-8-1-2-long-Farm-Tractor-for-junkyard-diorama-parts-/381518576880?hash=item58d4477cf0:g:mj8AAOSw5dNWldRF

This guy raises so many questions. Some of these builds look really old based on how dirty they are and some of the kits being long out of production, did he inherit these atrocities or is he selling off his builds from when he was an alcoholic or drug user? Did the same person who built the kits also build the diorama, because it's not too bad while the models are... special. There are so many builds with the same style and "quality" they have to be from the same builder and not someone selling off bought collections from different sources. I go through some of his listings in awe such a thing could exist and that it's for sale.

The grille and bumpers could be had in white on the super base models. The dash is pretty confusing, I've seen brown and gold ones with a body color dash and red and blue ones with a white dash. Maybe there is a factory option list out there somewhere that would tell if a white or body color dash is part of a trim package or option. Here is a link to some good early Bronco information. http://www.bronco.com/etc/history.shtml

Your writing style in these reviews inspired me a bit. I actually have great memories of riding around with my grandparents in that car but even by the early 80's my family knew the car was something to be ashamed of. They all would make little jokes about it say how much of a steaming pile it was.

I'm proud of that first line, that really paints a picture.

I grew up in a Pacer exactly like this one. My dad traded in his 68 LTD with a 428 Police Interceptor and C6 in a bought a straight 6 auto, tan on tan 77 Pacer. At some point in the early 80's he gave it to his parents who drove it until the late 80's. I remember countless trips in this lackluster, poop colored sadness factory. It was constantly breaking down, my dad said that some of the parts were Ford and others were GM and he was convinced that AMC raided the reject parts bins of the other manufacturers and used them on their cars. I'm going to have to build at least one of these to represent that somewhat disappointing part of my childhood.

The 70 GT and Cobra kits have the same 429 engine but the Promodeler GT has some great aftermarket valve covers and headers that the Cobra doesn't. I can't remember if all those parts are in the reissue that's out now or not.

I've made a little more progress in the last few days, I got the dash and steering wheel in along with the front windows. I didn't like the way the front window on the passenger side fit so I ended up cutting two new windows from clear plastic. The seats and shifter will be attached to the floor pan and inserted on final assembly. I also made some wheel chocks to hang from the headache rack.

Wow, that's ambitious but you're doing a great job on it. I had an 88 Suburban and would love to build it, you have my attention.

Russell, that is amazing.

If it does have the cargo doors that increases the number of these I get by a couple.

I saw that in another thread, this is really great news.

Great, thank you.

Unilite cab Petes did come with Cummins engines though, right? I mean, the swap should work in real life.

I searched the interwebs over for a few grainy, ancient interior pics to get it right. I should have made the kick panels go all the up to the wood trim but otherwise it's pretty close. I found the pics but started building based on my memory of them and got it just a bit wrong but it still looks good. The interior is so dark with the windows in you won't see it anyway.

It's a leaf spring front end so it's pretty close.

The engine not fitting really threw me for a loop, I was not expecting that at all. The outcome was good, that's probably my best interior ever, but it was definitely not how I expected this build to go.

I guess I'm far enough into this project that this thread won't kill it. There is a logging company near me that runs a variety of old and weary trucks. The one that inspired this build is a white early 80's square light 359 that is super short and very broken in. I used the California Hauler as the basis for this build to give it a bit more age and I was just anxious to build one. I shortened the frame and swapped the rear suspension along with the wheels, tires, and engine from a Diamond Reo kit. It turns out the big Cummins is too long and I ended up recessing the firewall a quarter inch because I didn't have any room to make it a long hood. After that the interior bucket didn't fit anymore so I ended up cutting the door panels off the interior floor and gluing them to the inside of the cab. Then I added styrene strips to the edges of the floor pan until it fit tightly into the bottom of the cab. The cab height is set by where the floor pan rests on the bottom of the door panels. I also rebuilt the door panels, adding the wood inserts, arm rests, kick panels, window cranks, and door handles. I also built the headache rack from Plastruct and Evergreen pieces.

The open Bronco kit I have doesn't have any stock suspension parts in it.

You're post brought back a long lost memory. My grandfather had a black '60 panel truck for his work vehicle when I was barely able to walk, this was in the early 80's. I've got to try to build it now.

Wow, I really want to see that Suburban.

I did a lot of business with one lady from Texas who was listing a lot of semi truck stuff until she tried to cheat me on a Revell K100. I've also bought a few junkyard lots when there was something interesting in them, I picked up most of a livestock trailer and a the very early Peterbilt sleeper for cheap.

Thank you Sam, I guess I will save them for an A/C truck then.

Yeah, I noticed those flat vents after I posted the picture and I saw a ton of pics with a dash mounted fan too. I didn't like the way the interior fit in the cab so I cut it apart and changed it to a flat floor Italeri style interior with separate door panels and stuff so I wanted to try to include some more detail if it was appropriate.

In looking for shots of the interior of Unilite cab Petes I've noticed there are two vents on the dash that are there sometimes and gone others, what is the function of these vents and what years and/or options are necessary to have them? My truck will not have A/C if that matters. Note the round vents on the dash above the switch plate: Note the same style of dash with no vents: