Today at the Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show in West Springfield, MA River Point Station announced two Ford F-350 models will be produced in N scale. One model will be of an F-350 utility truck, and the other will be of an F-350 crew cab pickup. The prototypes for these models were first produced for the 1992 model year, and continued in production into the early part of 1999. The River Point Station F-350 crew cab pickups and utility trucks are due in part the to the poll the N Scale Vehicle Association took at the N Scale Enthusiast Convention last summer in Salt Lake City. I want to extend my thanks to all who participated in the poll. It gave Ron the encouragement he needed to produce the models! Photos of the test shots of the body molding are shown below. Carter
We now have the first examples of the River Point Station Ford F-350 models that were assembled from the test shots of the tooling. The assembly and painting of the models was done by a non-professional, and it definitely shows. However, considering these were assembled from test shots of completely new tooling, we can expect the models produced from the finished tooling will be superb! And to make things a little more interesting, the new Fords were photographed with some existing N scale Ford models. An Atlas F-150 with the RPS F-350 crew cab. A GHQ F-350 with the RPS F-350 utility truck. The RPS F-350 utility will come with end-user applied photoetched West Coast style mirrors. Carter
Ron from River Point Station sent me some examples of the 2nd test shots for the new Ford F-350 models to “play” with. These moldings are more refined, and should be ready for production. Next we have views of the painted and assembled crew cab from four different angles. We can be assured that the factory finished production models will look a lot better than these test shots. Carter
Since a lot of people purchased these large Ford pickups to haul their “toys” around, I added a trailer hitch to the crew cab. I think the Busch boat and trailer look like they belong behind the pickup. Carter
The N Scale Vehicle Association's Industry News page has been updated with some photos of the decorated pre-production models. http://nscalevehicles.org/news.php I really like the trim on the tailgate of the black F-250 crew cab pickup. Carter
If anyone has been wondering if they would be able to create regular cab F-250 pickups, or crew cab F-350 utility trucks by kitbashing the River Point Station models, the answer is yes! This photo compares an Atlas F-150 SuperCab with a kitbashed RPS F-250 regular cab pickup. And this photo shows the kitbashed RPS F-350 crew cab utility truck with the pickup. Once the models are released (they are currently in production) I am going to practice some more on a few of the undecorated kits before attempting to kitbash the decorated models. Carter
The River Point Station web site now lists the N scale models! http://www.riverpointstation.com/pages/vehicles_n.php Carter
Here is a "first look" at production models of the River Point Station Ford F-350 and Ford F-250 trucks! I am impressed. Carter
While the prototypes for the RPS trucks would not have been available until the fall of 1991, they do have a the same cab as the 1980 models. The only external differences between the 1980 Ford pickups and the 1992 Ford pickups are found in the styling of the hood, front fenders and grille. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1981-1987_Ford_F100_utility.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:92-96_Ford-F150.jpg So, maybe you could use one as a stand-in for a 1980 model. All kidding aside, I understand the dilemma of having models just a little too new for your modeling era. The Freightliner Cascadia that Trainworx should be releasing in the not too distant feature did start rolling out of the factory until August, 2007. My modeling era cutoff is the fall of 2006. Carter
I model the modern era so I ordered up a few different versions. I hope this run sells well so they offer more in N in the future.
I received word this morning that River Point Station has begun shipping to the dealers that pre-ordered the trucks. If your favorite N scale retailer did not pre-order the trucks, you might want to let them know the trucks are now available! Also, I thought a photo of the utility truck with the photo-etched mirrors installed might be of interest, as well as a view of the pickup's tailgate. Carter
The photos posted by the hobby shops/etailers are of the final pre-production models. Ron was able to work with the factory to "refine" the printing of the headlights and front turn signals to get an extremely accurate ratio of headlight to turn signal. Here are a couple of photos of a production version F-250XL crew cab. I am particularly impressed with the treatment of the gray grille and light surround since I own a 1993 F-250XL and a 1994 F-150XL with the gray grilles. Carter
If you purchase any of the River Point Station emergency vehicles, you will probably also want to purchase the light bar accessory pack. You get 10 clear (colorless) light bars ready to paint. A 0.035 inch hole (#65 drill bill) in the roof of the vehicle is all you need to mount the light bar. Here is the crew cab from the fire department set with the light bar installed. I also added a trailer hitch made with 0.015 music wire in order to tow the rescue boat. I am finding a lot of uses for these trucks! Carter
I received a pair of these yesterday and I can say that they look even better in person. This is a great addition to the N scale vehicle fleet. Thanks to River Point Station for bringing these to market.
I "discovered" an easy kitbash to add some variety. In the photo below, I "converted" a F-250 crew cab with the XL trim package to a F-250 crew cab with the XLT trim package by replacing the dark gray grille and painted bumpers with the chrome grille and chrome bumpers from a crew cab kit. I am still working on making regular cab pickups in both the XL and XLT trim packages. Carter
The regular cab pickup with the XLT trim package is on the left, and the one with the XL trim package is on the right. And here is the cab from the crew cab pickup that donated its mirrors and bed to make the regular cab pickup with the XL trim package shown above. The forward section of the crew cab frame was spliced to the rear section of the utility truck's frame. The RPS etched mirrors were added to "complete" the crew cab utility truck. The crew cab utility truck could definitely use some weathering, and a compressor with air tank right behind the cab would be a nice addition. And this photo shows a regular cab utility truck in which the utility bed has been replaced with a flatbed. The flatbed was shop built by a local farmer, and that certainly is evident with its numerous imperfections. Carter
