How come no 1/35 scale muscle cars?

Stickframe · 13 February 2024 21:17

Well Rob, funny you’d mention those 1/32 trucks:

I built several of them. The red one above was the last in the series, so by this time I had a lot of it worked out. I wisely used all K+B alu tube for the roll cages …not the best idea - evergreen works a lot better. Yes, the tires and wheels are supposed to be used on an LAV or a Stryker! perfect…they actually scale out reasonably closer to a 37/38" tire. As for the planetary hubs, well, you need to live with some things.

A few even got the old CMK HMMWV engine - well…it’s a V8 and I really wanted an engine in these. It would have been a lot easier if there was a 1/32 or 1/35 Chevy engine. Another challenge with these is that the beds and cabs are usually one piece, and the bed floors are really thick, requiring a lot of carving to get them make into a relatively detailed build.

chevy trucks many

chevy trucks flatire

Yes, I searched high and low for Chevy truck models at this scale

1_dio3

I didn’t keep much of the original kits, just the body, and I cut those up quite a bit too. The red and black step side was a very poorly cast resin slot car body, that took a LOT of work make decent, but worth it, as I really like stepsides

I used a 1/35 M1078 for my pull truck - added a 5th wheel etc.

At the time I was a better dio builder, than model builder, but with time and mistakes, a guy gets better at it.

I’d still like to see a 1/35 square body -

This is the old Miniman resin kit, which was pretty expensive. A nice overall kit, but as I recall, it didn’t have too many parts.

My guess is like the Meng F350 and Toyotas, other 1/35 vehicles might find a place in model builder’s stashes. I built a couple of the 1/24 F350 - which is a BIG and solid model - the Toyotas were/are really nice - high quality and go together really well.

So, for now, I’ll keep some hope for more 1/35 modern vehicles, including more square bodies!

Cheers
Nick

18bravo · 13 February 2024 21:22

But of course you did.
No wonder I couldn’t find more.

barkingdigger · 13 February 2024 23:27

Indeed! But a couple decades ago it became a big issue in the model trains hobby, and now that we are getting civilian cars it’s hitting us too. With the Jeep, the design of the vehicle is US Govt property and thus cannot be trademarked, so anyone can make a detailed model of these little 1/4ton 4x4s. But the name “Jeep” and the classic slatted grille have been trademarked in the post-war era, so manufacturers need permission to use the name or the grille. Since that means securing an agreement with the trademark holder there are lots of generic “1/4ton truck” models out there! The big trouble comes with pick-ups and other civilian cars re-purposed as Technicals, because the entire vehicle was privately designed and thus is subject to trademark/copyright restrictions with or without any badges. The trademark-holders often want fees that are just not feasible within the profit margins of our niche hobby…

HeavyArty · 14 February 2024 02:23

I used a couple '80s Revell 1/32 snap-tite Toyotas to make a dual cab technical a few years ago (man, it’s been almost 16 years !!).

I used the front half of the cab of one kit and the rear half of the cab of the other to make the dual cab. You can see the two different kits and how I combined them. I also shortened the bed.

And how it came out.