1-87 SCALE

This is my 4 year old daughter’s models, she has abut a dozen.  She took the picture herself and has her own work area next to me.  Yes she is supervised by me as she pretends to detail her vehicles.  She enjoys working in the garage on 1:1 vehicles with her “pappy”.

This Lonestar trailer is finished from their kit.  The kit gives you two stlyes of cab protector and two styles of landing gear to chose from.  I applied weathering and A-Line conspicuous stripping.  www.lonestarmodelsinc.com

This Athearn started out as a tractor.  I extended the frame, removed the fifth wheel and added a Rick Decals dump body.  Added a pintel hitch from Lonestar, tailgate release behind the driver’s door from wire and the chevron striping from Micro Scale Decal.  www.microscale.com   This vehicle represents a classic truck still actively in use today.  If you have any questions about any of the detail I added please ask.

This Busch American LaFrance is still being detailed and is not complete.  Even though most of my focus is construction vehicles, being an active volunteer firefighter for more 20 years, I do have models of emergency service apparatus.  I also collect any passenger vehicle that appeals to me with a emphasis on Mopar.  Which seems to be on of the more popular licensed vehicles in our scale, at least from a North American prospective.   The original Busch model was lacking a lot of detail.  The most noticeable was the absence of a load of hose in the hose bed.  I used aluminium foil to create a hose bed cover.  I added A-line windshield wipers.  I used wire for the grab-rail on the back of the cab.  I also installed rails on the sides of the hose bed.  The red warning lights facing forward on the cab were made using Sheepscot headlights and applying MV lenses in them. More pictures will posted when it is complete.

WOW!  Is the way I express my fondness for the Athearn John Deers.  As I stated in my other post that it is my understanding that Athearn will not be releasing any additional John Deeres.  These needed only very minor detail paint.  I added a Kibri warning light on the cab of the loader.  The price of less than $20.00 per unit, I find these vehicles to be at the same quality of Motorart and finer detailed than Norscot.  I implore Athearn to not abandon the construction machine line and hope they will establish a license agreement with Case, Kamustu, or even Gradall.  I enjoy both modern and early 1980’s heavy equipment.  I am certain if Athearn maintains the authenticity of their John Deeres to any other manufacture type, it will sell well.

Pictured are Motorart Volvos.  Both models are die-cast with plastic parts.  I really like the representation of these units.  They are well detailed and I believe Motorart models are finer detailed than Norscot.  The rivets are small and require painting.  I added nothing other than some minor detail paint and weathering.  Unfortunately like Norscot and Athrean, the tracks are rubber.  I did add amber flashers on the front cab of the backhoe/loader.  Motorart last year introduced only one new model in 1-87 scale (construction equipment), a military version JCB backhoe/loader.  www.motorartmodels.com I emailed Motorart asking if they plan to release any new construction machines for 2010, as of this post I have not had a reply.  As I hope Motorart will continue with construction machines in this scale, I am concerned that their unit retail cost of between $30.00 and $45.00 US is at my upper threshold of spending.  I also have this same concern with Kibri.  If Motorart would follow First Gear, specifically with regards to the rubber tracks I would feel more comfortable spending this amount on one vehicle.