Cornbinder

Just a box stock rendition of the Atlantis reissue, finished with Tamiya paints and Monroe weathering powder. This is the first one I've built out of the box, and now I've started a second. 🤣 Now I need to go through my back issues of Model Cars Magazine and find the series from the 2007 NNL.

Love it! I've always liked the "late model" Paystar hood design.

Just the Atlantis kit, thrown together out of the box with the exception of door graphics from the Atlantis Chevrolet flatbed. Not the greatest end result but I just wanted to get familiar with the kit.

First of all.... I'm going to clear the air on one thing. MSRP on this is $177 US dollars. Now that they're not as thick on the ground, people are asking more for them. Is it worth it? Well, that's for you to decide. I, for one, have zero regrets! The transkit comes in a sturdy cardboard box. A picture shows the contents of the kit, but there's nothing quite like having a peek inside... The cab and floor castings are thick, but every detail that should be there, is there, and the molding quality is the best I've seen- zero pinholes or surface blemishes to be found. The sturdy box (which was carefully packed into another sturdy box for shipping) protected the kit while it was being mauled by the USPS, though there really aren't too many "dainty" resin parts in the kit. Check THIS out... the roof and side panel detail for the sleeper is molded into the cab shell. I have no idea how KFS pulled this off, though I for one think I might have a hard time doing some of the details with it molded in place like that. All the same, I really got a kick out of seeing this. Such detail is rare for a commercial plastic kit, much less an aftermarket resin piece. Other resin parts include the dash, side skirts, grille frame and splash apron. The radiator has the shroud and fan molded to it. Again, nary a flaw to be found in the castings. More resin parts, including the inner door panels, battery boxes, and intake/exhaust piping. These pieces exhibit more surface detail than many plastic kits I've seen! Some of the more delicate parts, such as the steering wheel and shifter, are done in white metal. Some not-so-delicate parts like the bumper and headlight bezels are also done in white metal, which can be polished to resemble chrome. Just the thing for the Alclad-challenged among us! The windshield is vacuum formed- the rest can be taken care of with clear flat stock. The kit includes metal and plastic tubing for making the exhaust, and for fashioning the cab hinge. The photoetch sheet looks scary, especially if you (like me) suck at soldering. The wipers in particular look like they'll be "fun" if you aren't good at such things. There are three decal sheets- two factory stripe motifs, plus a small sheet with details for the cab, including a choice of a woodgrain or aluminum gauge cluster. So... I'm sure by now you have let the price sink in. And you know that you'll need a donor kit. KFS suggests the Freightliner FLD120, which is a bit odd as that is a set-back axle tractor, while the CL is a forward- axle... never mind the fact that a '90's Freightliner frame bears little resemblance to a '70's Ford unit. That being said, you'd need to track down one of those, and KFS's detailed instruction booklet tells you what you need to do to the Freightliner frame to fit the Ford cab. KFS also suggests reinforcing the front axles and spindles to cope with the weight. That's something you can't see in photos... this is a heavy sumbitch, by non-diecast-model standards! As a lifelong Ford guy, I knew I had to have this kit when I saw it, no matter the price. Throw in the fact that my great uncle ran a couple of these in the late '70's and early '80's, that sealed the deal. You may not have the same kind of feelings or personal connection to the 1:1, but if you just plain want a cool looking old tractor, something you won't see 50 examples of at the next show, this might be right up your alley. Look at it this way.... building this is still cheaper than landing a real one, and the model will never require repairs, upkeep, insurance, or fuel. I can't wait for KFS to bring back the Michigan loader kit.... and one of their White Road Commanders looks pretty enticing, too...

Mostly box stock AMT kit in Krylon Colormaxx Matte Sunrise. Eventually it will get dirtied up and loaded with trash. Still debating putting a figure on the back with a high visibility vest and about six inches of butt crack. 🤣 We'll see what happens.

This is an original T596 kit that I bought a couple of years ago. I just love that old rigid plastic. 😁 The hardened vinyl tires I could do without but hey ... That's the tradeoff I guess. Inspired by the box art I used that and a Purple Wave auction listing for a 1969 C700 as my guide. The paint is Tamiya Camel Yellow overall, with the bed finished in Krylon Scarlet. The chrome was stripped (no thick nasty undercoat in 1971... Another plus for the old kits) and refinished in Krylon Colonial Ivory, which is a decent match for aged Ford Oxford White. The Speedy decals are from Gofer Racing, I changed the location from Chicago to Detroit with a section of old Fred Cady graphics. Wheels and underside were lightly weathered. The box art showed the door emblem above the character line, 1968-1970 style, while the actual cab has it below, 1971-1990 style. I sanded off the original emblem and replaced it with the Moebius 1967-1972 F100 hood emblem. There's a "bonus" set of these in the 65 and 66 kits. Speaking of, I modified a 65 F100 bench seat to use here. The crates were painted Tamiya Flat Flesh and dusted with weathering powder.

So I had an incomplete AMT plow truck, a box or two of spare Louisville parts, some AITM rear wheels and tires, and some Models by Dave cab steps. I decided to combine the whole mess into one tattered tractor. The quad headlights came from a White Road Boss, I added them after seeing a junkyard Louisville that had been fitted with a similar setup.

It has the block and heads (and not much else) cobbled from a couple different LNT 800 kits.

Lovely Autocar! The Autocar Driver Cab (style we're all familiar with in the AMT kits) first came out in 1950. There are some design differences but that's the newer style cab with the curved glass.

I've had the idea of a septic truck rattling around in my head for a while, and recently decided to take a shot at it. I paid the princely sum of 20 bucks for this thing. It had some engine assembly done and was missing the steering column and one cab clearance light, but those were easy enough to work around. Not even the diecast chassis parts could scare me off. The idea was for a truck that was originally painted white then repainted in green later on in life. To that end, the "factory" white was left visible on the firewall and inside. That green, by the way, was purchased specifically for this project. I bought it just because I liked the color, APWA Safety Green from Ace Hardware. But I found out later that color is used by APWA to denote sewer lines. Perfect! You can also see the beginning stages of the weathering with Valejo rust washes. I also used a spare AMT lens to replace the missing cab light. Here the firewall doodads have been added. The maple leaf is from AK Interactive. They're 1:35 scale but they'll work in 1:25 too... not like there's a "standard" leaf size, right? Here some weathering powders and AK weathering pencil action has taken place, along with a few washes. The headlight bezels have been weathered a bit, and more weathering will come later on- mostly some grime and maybe some chipping. I omitted the passenger side seat and filled the void with an extinguisher, tool box, and a hazard reflector. 2mm strips of Bare Metal Foil were used to simulate duct tape on the seat. Vallejo mud cakes the floor, and the entire thing was dirtied up with powders and washes before being sealed with dull coat. Note the white strips on the side panels, again representing the painted metal in white of the truck's "original" finish. That's it for this time. After a few mockups and seeing where things sit I'll get started on the tank and such.

Went with the entire Moebius front floats/super singles set. The battery boxes are in place and I went with the optional roo-bar front bumper.

Well... After the hood hinge snapped off (again), and the die cast chassis more or less exploded after being elbowed off the workbench, a slight change of course. It'll be curbside and set up on a spare White Western Star chassis. The kit battery boxes were glued together side by side and fitted with step plates from a GMC General. Still trying out ideas for the tank. Not sure what wheels and tires I will use in the end, but the Moebius front floats are likely to stay. May go with the matching super singles in back. We'll see. Just a quick mockup shot.

More like McDirty, am I right? No? No. Okay... I'll show myself out, then... 🤣

Very minor update, but here we go. The engine is assembled and installed. I just went with primer gray and an oily wash, with Tamiya Linoleum Deck Brown on the exhaust manifold and turbo inlet to simulate rust. As you can see the engine is more or less completely hidden once the cab and everything is on, so I didn't go crazy with the details there. Add steering box to the list of missing parts. If I can't find anything suitable in the spares pile it shouldn't be much of a chore to fabricate something. For now the chassis is just flat black. It will be weathered as the project inches along. The grille needed a broken hinge repaired. Once that was done foil was added and the whole thing was coated in Tamiya Rubber Black. Once dry, the paint was scraped off the foil with a toothpick. The lettering was done with brushed Tamiya acrylic.

About the crooked lettering... I actually got them fairly straight the first time but for some reason that bothered me given the "hastily resprayed before the shift" kind of vibe I had going. So off they came and I added a bit of slant. They might get chipped and scraped once I add the grime.

Nice set! I believe this is in the "Forum Finds" section of the latest issue of MCM.

Lovely old warhorse.

As a lifelong lover of International trucks, and a model builder, I have to say that among my all-time favorite kits are the '70's-era Ertl International kits. Mostly accurate and crammed with detail, it takes little more than clean and careful building techniques to make a real show piece from one of these kits. While the Paystar kits are relatively easy to find, the others can be a bit more of a challenge. Case in point, the Transtar II. Though it was reissued in 1996 and run until 1999, it's tough to track down today, which is ironic considering that it was a bit of a flop in the marketplace at that time. This kit started out as a Transtar CO4070A, and Ertl later updated it to the current Transtar II Eagle specs. The original kit had an innovative feature- templates for painting the stripe scheme, a feature picked up later on by many of the Japanese kit manufacturers but pretty much forgotten by everyone else. The 1996 reissue, which is what I'll be showing here, does not include these templates, though their presence is still called out on the box. Ertl's box art was always striking, and fortunately this kit was not reissued in the unimaginative "standard" AMT-Ertl boxing of the time. The 1996 reissue is pretty much a pure duplicate of the original Transtar II box art. Here we have the cab, and the piece to the right is the upper interior bucket, which has the inner door and side panels, rear upholstery, and headliner with sun visors. Almost anything that could be done as a separate piece on the cab, WAS done as a separate piece. If you take a close look at the cab, you might be thinking "Hey... it kind of looks like a big Cargostar." That's because, in a way, it is. When IH designed the Transtar cabover, they opted to use as many existing stampings from the Cargostar as possible, in order to cut costs. In fact, I know of a resin caster who is using one of these cabs to master a Cargostar. But that's a story for some other time... Here we have a sprue full of engine and chassis parts. The Detroit V8 in the kit has very nice surface detail... much more so than AMT kits of the period. I have heard it is a tad underscale, but it is an impressive looking engine when built up and detailed. We also have the battery boxes, dash, cab floor, sleeper partition (complete with a rolled up curtain), visor, and various other doodads. Here we have the passenger's side frame rail up top, with more chassis parts, mainly wheel parts, front axle, forward drive axle, air brake chambers, and radiator. Again, all parts exhibit very nice surface detail. Keep in mind that this kit dates from the mid 1970's! Here we have the driver's side frame rail, rear drive axle, the massive walking beams, batteries, inner front spring halves, and the fifth wheel plate. Two high-back buckets, standard on the lux Eagle model, are also included on this sprue. Also note the CB radio... a feature which is strangely lacking in many "big rig" kits. Unlike AMT, Ertl did not go "primate feces" with the chrome plating, though you will want to strip the fifth wheel. Again, great engraved detail on these parts, and the chrome plating doesn't muck it up too badly at all. The "International" lettering on the grille frame stands out far enough to accept a paint wash quite well. You'll want to strip the exhaust manifolds and piping, and possibly the air cleaner, but the rest here is good to go. Again, sharp detail and the plating quality is pretty good. Again, the "Transtar" lettering in the side trim stands out proud- note that the side trim pieces also include the door handle and side step. Oddly, Ertl had a love affair with molding the fog lights into the bumper. A little detail painting... or going to the extent of drilling out the molded lenses to replace with clear units, helps quite a bit. Still, that's a very small fly in the ointment, considering how good the rest of the kit is in terms of parts breakdown. Again typical of an Ertl kit, all the "clear" parts are just that... clear. You'll need your favorite clear red and clear orange for the taillights and turn signals, respectively. The clear parts are relatively thin and don't exhibit much distortion. Tires are hollow Goodyears by way of MPC. Remember at one time Ertl, AMT, and MPC were all separate companies. Ertl did buy out MPC's "big rig" tooling in the late '70's. A few years later, Ertl took over AMT, and later, MPC. If you've built pretty much any AMT, Ertl, or AMT-Ertl semi reissue from the late '80's onward, you are no doubt familiar with these tires! The decal sheet includes the Eagle graphics, along with door signage for two fictional hauling firms- Eagle Freight and TSR Freight Lines. Several small permit labels and detailing graphics are also supplied. The names "Linda" and "Elaine" are also on the sheet (hard to see in the pic but visible just to the right of the top "Eagle Freight" decal... so your Transtar can have a name, or so you can put a female driver behind the wheel. Like most '90's Ertl sheets, the carrier is thick and you'll want to trim it as closely to the graphic as possible, but they do tend to lay down well and look good once in place. Barring that, Jerry at modeltruckin.com does a set for this kit, and no doubt there are numerous other choices available through the aftermarket or kitbashing. Ertl kits don't have instruction sheets. They have full-blown, bona fide, honest-to-Thor instruction booklets, laid out in a checklist format. This booklet also includes a few photos of 1:1 Transtar IIs for reference, thought the photos are black and white and not quite as sharp as you might hope. As far as building goes, there are really only two things to watch out for. The front track is a bit wide, so you may look into modifying the axle and or front hubs so that the front tires won't stick out past the sides of the cab. You also may want to move the battery box rearward just a tad. Every time I hear someone comment on building this kit, those are the two things always mentioned. Of course, since the kit has posable steering you could always take the lazy way out and just display the model with the wheels turned to hide the track! I have not yet had the chance to build this kit, but I am very much looking forward to it. The Transtar was once a very common sight on American highways- even 40 years later you'll still see a few out and about from time to time. It's an iconic kit of an iconic semi tractor, an I do hope Round 2 will see fit to bring it back again. Given the superiority of Round 2's decal sheets to the old Ertl sheets, that alone would be an improvement over what is already a great kit.

Been about three years since I finished a semi tractor or heavy truck of any kind, so here's my triumphant return. I guess. I had the notion to build a hot rod shop truck, and kind of combined that idea with an AMT Autocar A64B. I started with an incomplete Stevens International kit I'd had laying around for several years. The engine is a Detroit V12 made from AMT and GW Trucks parts. The whole mess is lowered and sits on wheels from the infamous old Turnpiker Peterbilt 352, and the front tires are from a Revell Bill Signs 359. The rear tires, get this, are from the Revell Jeep CJ. Other than the height they're otherwise exactly the same as the 1:25 front floats. Same width, same tread and sidewall lettering, same I.D. even, just slightly taller overall. The single axle air suspension was made from spare parts and scratch built air bags. The headlights in this kit always looked dinky to me, so I replaced them with some lights from a Revell '32 Ford. The Haulaway trailer is pretty much box stock, aside from wheels and tires to match the tractor, and mud flaps cut from .020" styrene. The models on the trailer were all ones I had sitting around, and were built between about 2008 and 2020. Upper deck has a '76 Scout II, '53 F100, and '70 Ford Custom, while the lower deck carries a '75 Matador and '62 Impala.

Beautiful model! I have the KFS cab in my stash but haven't built it yet. It intimidates me just a little bit. :D

Looks like it just came off a muddy two track... but not too muddy. Can't wait to see it paried up with the dump trailer.

Love that shade of green. The truck has a nice, purposeful look to it.

Wish I had this much ambition! I've had a Crosley Farm-O-Road scratch build planned for years and I can't even be bothered to do that.

Love it! I've always wanted to do something similar fitted with a flat bed.

Shaping up quite nicely. With that color scheme she'd look right at home in East Lansing.