Fat Brian

There's a seller on ebay that does two similar style wheels that are 3d printed. I'm not going to lie, there aren't the highest quality printed wheels I've gotten. But, they seem to be workable and will probably look the part with some cleanup and a few coats of paint. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Resin-21-20-Inch-American-Racing-Salt-Flats-model-car-wheels-1-24-1-25-scale-/324916764825?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0 https://www.ebay.com/itm/Resin-Halibrand-Dragmaster-style-model-car-wheels-1-24-1-25-scale-21-20-Inch-/224629726127?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

In North Carolina you can only tint a 5" strip at the top of the windshield unless you have a doctor's prescription. The front windows can be up to 35% and rest can be as dark as you want. This is one of things that every state does differently.

I've noticed the purple tint too so I stay away from Sharpies except for tiny touch ups, I'll try another brand.

Yeah, 53 to mid 70s beds are the same. At some point they changed the top rails from being angled to flat for the later 70s beds.

I've stored some kits in shed on the shady side of my house for a few years, I'm in NC so similar weather. The plastic and boxes are fine as long as you can keep them dry and keep the pill bugs out. I would take the tires and decals out and put them in a zip lock bag with the instructions and keep that in the house. Decals hate extreme temps and humidity and the tires on the kits I've kept outside have hardened and gotten weird. Throwing those in a baggie with the instructions will help you find the right tires when you're ready to build a stored kit.

The parts weren't originally in the USA-1 kit but they've been in it since the late 2000s or so. I imagine they're on the tree with the axles, springs, wheel backs and such and have just been thrown in as "extras".

It's a combination of what I'm finding interesting at the time and what I've got the parts actually to build. Since I can't seem to build anything out of the box there's always a parts gathering period before I start putting glue to styrene. I try to follow my whims a bit because I seem more likely to finish something when I'm still excited about it. Inspiration can come from cars I see in person or on research deep dives, sometimes it's a concept I find interesting or something completely different. One thing I'm working on now was inspired by the whitewall cheater slicks in the recent AMT 49 Ford kit and a youtube video about an old model T speedster.

Based purely on what's been part of the USA-1 kits recently the Bigfoot 1 kit should be do-able if the chrome tree is still around. The flares, roll bar, and even the single piece wheels from the Bigfoot 1 kits have been in the USA-1 in some of the reissues from a few years ago. If the Bigfoot 1 specific grille is gone they could still do a Destroyer reissue. The big question is the second Bigfoot kit, it hasn't been out since it was converted into the Destroyer II in the mid 90s. That era seems to be a black hole for AMT tooling during which a lot of stuff got missing or damaged.

I live near Charlotte and these come and go at the airport all the time, there's an Air National Guard station there. The approach to the airport sometimes brings them over a 4 lane highway just above tree top level. It's pretty wild to drive under a plane that big coming in.

Fireball Modelworks has BFGs, they're some kind of soft rubber now.

If he doesn't reply to this post send a message to Jhedir6. He split a body in the manner you're needing for his Cannonball build this year.

Sometimes it's cars I've seen in real life, sometimes it's cars I've seen going down some internet search rabbit hole, sometimes it's a concept I've got that I dig around and find examples of for reference. On several occasions builds have suddenly taken a radical change in direction when I've seen a car in a search and just had to build it. This usually happens when I don't have a firm direction chosen, the muse grabs the reigns and off we go.

Yeah, the Shelby has the Shelby specific parts in it, I'm not sure your can build a stock GT with the Shelby version. The tail light panel and trunk lids are different and I don't know ifcthe stock parts got held over or not.

I just saw this build, it reminds me of a pulling truck that's all over youtube. Great job, as always.

I was talking about the front fenders from the Revell Alaskan Hauler. I had heard that the front fenders were still in the regular 359.

Yeah, these old AMT kits need a lot of cleanup and squaring up to get them fitting correctly.

I just picked this up today and wanted to add a bit having been through the box. The decals are amazing and have real silver and gold areas, not the usual gray and brown stuff. There are also decals for the instrument panels. The tires are the old, horrible Revell tires with the oddly narrow tread patch and big humps on the edge of the sidewalls. I had hoped the new tires from the Kenworth kits would make it into this issue. This kit also doesn't have the pit fenders some of the earlier 359 kits had. The flash is about the same as the last few issues of this kit have been.

I believe they're completely different kits. I know the CH kit has the early grille and the wrecker has the later standard production grille. The cab of the CH kit is the "little window" cab while the wrecker has the "1100 series" cab. The CH kit has a Detroit 8v-71, the wrecker has a Cummins engine. The bumpers and tanks and other parts are different too.

Another idea is to use Tamiya clear red paint and build up a few layers until you get kind of a lens effect.

Here's a link to a pic of the AMT Western Star instructions, it should show everything needed for the turbo motor. https://public.fotki.com/modeltrucks25thscale/truckkit_instructions/amt/724-western-star/amt724---1-25---whi.html

I believe the turbo parts will get you an NTC-350, this engine was in other kits that used the Autocar cab. It should fit without much headache, although you will have to reroute some tubing.

Molotow isn't reflective on the reverse side so I would advise against it. I typically cover the back side of red plastic lenses with bare metal foil, it's the most reflective thing I've found.

Mr. Super Clear is great stuff and dries rock hard in a couple days. Yes, other stuff does take longer though most paints and clears can be speed up if you have a dehydrator. What exactly the next step is depends on how good the clear turns out and how smooth you're going for. Honestly, Super Clear usually turns out so well I just let it dry, finish the final build steps and throw it in the case, no polishing required. If you want to go the extra mile you can use Meguiar's Scratch X or Novus #2 to remove any surface imperfections then bring back the shine with one of the Mirror Glaze products.

It will be interesting to see if this brings about new safety regulations regarding shipping large lithium batteries. Maybe the batteries will have to be stored separately and installed state side. It wouldn't be the first time something like that has been done, though in the past it was to avoid tariffs on certain types of vehicles.

Just a small paint brush and a steady hand. Sometimes I'll paint more with the side of the brush that the tip for stuff like that.