Scale looking Pumpkin
When these came out I had to have one. When I was a kid (early teens), my next door neighbour was into American Culture (US trucks, Elvis hair, Country and Western etc) and Had a SWB bronco (a wellside blackfoot) then a 85 c10 LWB.
Anyway we got acquainted by the fact I had a blackfoot at the time, and it turned out he had a Clod Buster, Bullhead, and his son had a midnight pumpkin. One day wbile trawling through the local wreckers yard his son spots the tow truck, a much modified and neglected 1953 Ford F100, complete with tow deck on the back. After the towie arguing that it was not for sale, my neighbours kid picks it up for 3k with the money he has saved and a little (lot) help from Dad
Dad tows it home and for the next (I can't remember how long) strips and proceeds to restore it. So there I am, every day after school and on weekends helping by sanding etc and doing what a 13 year old can to help revive the old girl. And that is my connection to these trucks. Sure my lowride pumpkin has the wrong wheels, no tow deck, isn't red (aren't most restored f100's red?) and doesnt have 'little rebel' stickers on the side, but I love this shape truck and lo e it along side my 87 Midnight Pumpkin.
It is painted in TS-41 Coral Blue after about 3 days of indecisiveness, and still has the details to be done.
I have some upgrades like the M-Chassis Alloy Dampers and some carbon bits and some other little trinkets.
It also has a RC Light Bulb Set with the old fashioned glass bulbs installed that I had lying around.
Going to add a driver figure and some retro commercial print on the doors.
Thoroughly enjoyable build and drive.
Comments
Wyoming
that Looks great, I have one of these on my plate as well as it has to be the coolest M chassis kit to date so many possible ways to build it
berman
I agree wholeheartedly Seth! I realise it has be half-wittedly done before by Tamiya but with a proper release on a decent chassis and it's a no brainer. Quite a few holes to fill if you want, and a bit of mold line sanding to do but nothing different that Tamiya isn't doing with other reused styrene bodies.
ScaleXtreme
Looks amazing! Love the headlights.
InsaneJim69
Wow !! loving the colour.
MAD-BEE
Love that blue looks great on this mate!
Great story too!
Very cool!
berman
Thank you guys, your comments mean a lot! Yeah I am really happy with the colour choice, it isn't a colour I would normally pay any attention to.
pininy
this is sooooo soooo cool! glad someone make it! love the colour!
berman
Haha thanks! I highly recommend getting one
Zequell
Excellent work there Neil and a great choice of colour. Still having trouble deciding a colour for mine, maybe matt black or something.
gravetxt-1
Wonderful that you got to work on a real F-100 such a great story is the truck still in your family? Old blue looks fantastic lovely truck well done.
Percymon
Superb Neil - classic 50s colour scheme
Mad Ax
Always great to read a story behind the model - and that's a great looking truck. I think I have to do one of these too - I made one from a shortened M04 but it never quite looked right.
Crash Cramer
That looks great.
berman
@Zequell, Hey Gav, yeah it certainly would look good with a covering of matt black, go for it! @gravetxt-1, thanks, no it was my neighbours sons truck. I moved away and so did they so I'm unsure what happened to the truck. @Percymon, cheers mate, I'm very happy with it. @Mad Ax, Cheers, yeah it is good that big T finally did it themselves. I would certainly recommend one. @Crash Cramer, thanks Chris
pastimesteve
That's a beauty! The color is perfect.
Grumpy pants
Cool pick up and a great colour,choice, but it's the background story that really makes it a bit special.
Pintopower
That looks great. I need to model some vintage Kragers up for one of those. That would be killer. I dig the color too.
mongoose1983
That's a great story, Neil, and WOW, that little trucks is pure eye-candy! The paintjob is totally flawless! If you build a 2nd one of these, then I believe you should try to recreate the wrecker.
berman
@pastimesteve, much appreciated! @Grumpy pants, thanks mate, they're just fond memories now but thanks to Tamiya I always referred to that truck as a 'Midnight Pumpkin' first and a Ford f100 second @pintopower, man after my own heart, I searched for some SS cragars, their are some vintage ones but they look like 22' to scale, I would be after some approx 15-18' to scale. I have ordered some HPI cup racer minilites for the time being, but I don't mind the vw wheels it comes with TBH
berman
@mongoose1983, Thanks Erich. You hit the nail on the head mate! I didn't do it this time as I have had the kenworth sitting on the dining room table for 2 months and I need to hurry up and finish that. But yes I have considered making a rc version of the tow truck, I would have to do it by memory as I don't have an reference photos
Thank you everyone for the kind comments
berman
I also plan to retrofit the top half of a bruiser driver figure and some accessories in the tray, will update accordingly
the-way
Really nice
berman
Thank you!
Crash Cramer
I think you could get some more scale Crager look with the HPI Vintage wheel 3817, but at 26mm width, they tend to look a bit too fat for my liking, but you also HAVE to buy HPI's tires to suit. I also like the VW wheels as they come close to moon caps of the era, just wish that we could easily strip some of the chrome off to keep only the center chrome and paint the rest of the rim.
berman
Thanks Chris. I have already looked into the HPI ones and a couple of members have them and imo they are too big for the m chassis at 1.9.
I have seen some of the vw wheels painted with a black wheel face (but chrome cap) and white rim on a vw. I wouldn't mind the same wheel with a bit more dish on the rim
scollins
Sweet truck man, I think that Crash Cramer has a good point with the HPI wheels. I am biased as I love torque thrusts!
AndyjcClod
That look superb, I still have mine to build, started filling holes and that's as far as I got with that! The colour you have picked really suits it.
HornetRacer 1971
Love the colour!!!
Check out my red one in my showroom!
berman
Thank you fellas! @scollins, as mentioned below, if I could find them a little smaller (like in the m chassis size), they would be perfect, but I think they look a little big unfortunately @andyjcClod, I hear ya, I only ended up filling the front guards, I was going to do the extras in the rear, the old resistor hole and chop out the roll bar mounts but it seemed like a lot of work, and I will try to cover a bit with scale stuff Cheers guys!
Crash Cramer
Well, we all have our own minds about what looks 'right' to us, so that is just fine for us all. I think Kawada made some awesome wheels for the M-chassis and perhaps they also made VERY low profile tires to boot, I will have to dig a setup out of my TO DO box that I intend to put on my VW Golf Mk1 when I get a proper chassis built up.
kalsh
Thats cool Neil. I have a NIB body with the V* grill somewhere as I was going to do the old M02 conversion one day....like many of the other projects I have. Have you heard from Mike lately??
Thunderchunk66
very cool
berman
Cheers mate appreciate it
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