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I was glad to see Menard's produce a second batch of '56 Ford trucks.  I liked them when they first came out but never ordered.  With the recent introduction of Power Wagons I just had to order and the only '56 Ford left in stock was the Menard's Box truck so I ordered one of those also.  When that shipment arrived I posted it here and noted how light they were for die-cast and that the cab was die-cast but the box was plastic.  Apparently the chassis is also plastic but for $6 I wasn't disappointed.  So when this second batch hit the market I ordered a few and picked up the Army Power Wagon I left behind the last time.  The only minor disappointment was the size of the dump bed on the County dump truck.IMG_1623

The Menard's offerings are advertised as 1/50 so I took some pictures with other die-cast for comparison.  Here is the Menards Texaco Tanker sandwiched between two ERTL Chevys .indicated to be 1/43.  As you can see my local Texaco station has an impressive tanker fleet.

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Next up is an Athern 1/50 Ford C Series box truck.  The cabs compare favorably but the Athern box body is significantly longer and taller than the Menards.IMG_1632IMG_1633IMG_1634

Here are two Road Champs'56 F100 pick ups with their bigger siblings.  I think I'll have to keep them separated.  The pick ups are clearly larger.IMG_1635IMG_1637

Next up are a couple of 1/43 '34 Ford BB models.  Even though they are are larger scale these could populate the same space with the '56s.IMG_1639IMG_1640IMG_1641

A comparison of the pick ups, 1/43 '34 Ford BB, 1/43 '56 Ford F100, Menard's '47 Power Wagon and a Matchbox 1/43 '40 Ford Pick up.  The '56 F100 definitely looks out of place, the rest couldshare space on a layout in my opinion.IMG_1642IMG_1643IMG_1644

The last comparison is between the dump truck and an Athern C Series tractor.  Both are 1/50 scale so cabs compare very nicely.  The dump truck wheel base compares to the tractor wheelbase.  Since I feel the dump body is a little small I may think about converting it to a tractor.  Like I need more projects.

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HI Guys Hope your all doing well.

@jEFF boat

A pink Cadillac, I'm sure everyone has one in their collection. But this one has a pretty lady doing her shopping.

Keep those trains running!

JeffIMG_1681

Hi Jeff, no Pink Cadillac here in Hoodsport, wa.

@coach joe Hey Joe, wonderful review! If your out and about you might check out Tractor Supply if you have one near you. They have some nice 1/50 scale trucks there!

Here are a pair of mods/repairs I recently completed.  Nothing fancy but something different for the layout.  This is an ERTL 1/43 scale H&W Motor Express, 1950 Chevy COE tractor converted to a covered stake truck.  The body came from one of my son's toys years ago.  It made it's way to the Chevy and stayed for several years because I had no trailers for this and two other ERTL tractors I had.  Trailers eventually made their way onto the property and this tractor was called back into semi duty.  The body, with it's home made mud flaps has been hanging around for years.  This COE tractor was pulled from storage along with other COE variants and some Athern 1/50 scale Ford C series variants for the above comparison with the new Menard's '56 Fords.  While I had them all out I retrieved the body and tried it on it's original truck and an Athern C Series tractor.  It didn't take very long for me to reunite the two.

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The container below was in need of repair.  I had picked up a Lionel CN Maxi-Stack of the bay to add to one I bought when Lionel first graced us with "modern" intermodal equipment, not just TOFC.  The pair needed work and of course had no containers.  The top containers were not an issue however Lionel made these special bottom containers to allow loading and unloading with their container lift so the hunt for reasonably placed bottom containers began.  In the "You never know what you're gonna get!" category this container showed up with no floor or back doors.  I figured "No problem"  I'll make a floor and get some doors from Lionel.  Only Problem Lionel only had right side silver doors.  So this sat for a while until I could find adequate photos of trailer doors.  I thought this one would work ok but looking at the pictures my execution was very poor and I think I've got to give it another go.  Even sitting in the well of the Maxi Stack I'm not happy with it.

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I really don't need more vehicles, but I couldn't pass up a nice Menards modern box truck for 5 bucks.

Looks even better with the stickers removed and the Menards logos MEK-ed away.

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The wookie is about the height of a1/48 human and the stormtrooper is around 1/56.  The truck should look good in my Plasticville-heavy compressed O-27 Christmas Layout.

Will probably paint the grey box at some point to. I think the whole thing would look good in orange.

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Last edited by Eilif

The three cats with Chevy SS 396's thought they were the fastest trio in town until the new guy showed up with the Buick Grand Sport with a 455 under the hood...the lady with the briefcase, leaving work, wonders who's the new guy in town...she doesn't appear to be in a hurry to hop into her green MGB for the ride home...

Grand Sport 3

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Last edited by Capetrainman

Another $5 Menards deal. This time a Ford Transit Panel van.  Scale is listed as 1:48.

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Interestingly, this one has a rather thin coat of orange (probably to save $) but it works out for the best.  The finish isn't so glossy and unsurprisingly doesn't fill in the grooves completely, leading to nice darker panel lines.  A couple of ford logos and some pretty good details make this nicer than you'd expect for $5, but it has almost zero underside detail.  I miss the more interesting $3 vehicles they used to sell, but I'd happily buy more of these $5 vehicles if they were as nice as this.

5 other versions are available.

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Surprised they didn't do a straight passenger version as all they'd have to do would be darken the "window" panel areas like the do on the fire version.  No worries though as I have a passenger version with actual windows from "Caipo" which is quite well done.

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Last edited by Eilif
@mikey posted:

All of the vehicles in your ad are posted NOT AVAILABLE ON LINE,why bother posting them, 3/4 of the Country doesn't have a store near them.

Mikey

I selected 1 of the vehicle lots at random. You can ship them to your house or local store. It may say they are not available, but the site begs to differ.
Your How to Get It Selections

Parcel Shipping

1 item shipping

Product
How to Get It <button class="btn btn-link p-0 align-top d-print-none" tabindex="0" type="button">How to Get It Information</button>
Qty
Total Price
<fieldset class="" id="shippingOption171658279"><legend class="sr-only">How to get it options</legend>
<input class="d-print-none custom-control-input-inverse" id="shipment171658279" type="radio" value="shipment" /><label class="col-12 radio font-weight-bold custom-control-label" for="shipment171658279">SelectShip To Home</label>
Available for immediate shipment
<input class="d-print-none custom-control-input-inverse" id="pickup171658279" type="radio" value="pickup" /><label class="col-12 radio font-weight-bold custom-control-label" for="pickup171658279">SelectShip To Store - Free!</label>
</fieldset>
<label><input class="form-control text-center" maxlength="4" pattern="[0-9]+" type="text" />Enter or modify your quantity. Current quantity is: 1.</label>

Individual item price is:$84.96/each

Total Price is:$84.96

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I get the same display as Mikey and Steven, where there is an "X" in the 1st line that says "Not available on-line".

Its shows up in my browser for O Scale buildings, as well, and maybe other items.

However, if I click on the item, it allows me to buy it and either ship to my house or store, but the initial display is a little disconcerting and may be scaring potential purchasers away. 

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