MENG Ford F-350 Super-Duty 1:24

[richellis]

MENG Ford F-350 'Super-Duty' truck

The Ford F350 range is a typical American pick-up, the first Ford F type trucks where produced in 1948, with a variety of body styles and weight ratings. The F series has gone through various generations and continues today with the 2015 model (13^th Generation) now in the showroom.

The ‘Super Duty’ range was introduced in 1998 and covers trucks over the 3.9t category, being bigger heavier trucks they are built on a strong ladder frame style chassis with heavy duty suspension, brakes and axles to alow a higher payload and towing weights. The Super Duty range is assembled in Kentucky at Fords Truck plant. The F350 Super Duty has a large array of options including two, or 4 wheel drive, a choice of wheel bases, and different size cabs.

Meng has given us a Ford F350 Super duty in 1:24 and it should be a popular kit as the F series is one of the best selling trucks in the USA, the model kitted by Meng is the 3^rd Generation Super Duty (12^th Generation F series confusingly) with the bigger double cab, 4x4 drive train with the single rear wheel axle and the 6.7l V8 ‘Power Stroke’ Diesel engine.

The kit comes in a nice box with some images of the F350 and some information on the kit, the box has an outer sleeve that is plain white with just ford F-350 Super Duty on the front. The box is a sturdy lidded design, and upon opening it is packed with plastic. All the sprues are bagged individually and when you pull the bits out for a look it’s hard to get the kit back inside! The kit is moulded mainly in black, and it is well cast with no flash evident on the review kit, and the detail is crisp and sharp throughout.

Construction starts with the single part ladder frame, this is cast in black and has some very fine detail. I have seen builds where the builder has drilled some of the holes on the frame to mirror the 1:1 Ford and this looks very realistic. Looking at photos the shape of the frame is well captured and it includes tow hitch detail to the back,

The front axle is made from 2 parts, and has the coil springs moulded in-situ, the springs are well done, they are thin and to scale, with a central ‘shock absorber’ done to scale. Separate hubs are added and they include brake discs and calliper detail, I would leave these off until the chassis and axles are painted a satin black, so the discs and callipers can be painted bare metal for the disc, and the calliper to suit, I’ve seen black, red and even Gold. The hubs on the front axle have holes that clip over pins on the axle ends, a tie-rod connects the hubs to allow the front wheels to turn.

The instructions suggest fitting the exhaust in the first stage, looking at the parts and the fit I would be tempted not to fit it just yet, I would wait till after the chassis is painted as it would be difficult to mask and paint it being a contrasting aluminium/ bare metal.

The axles glue in place, with some sway bars at the front to assist in locating them correctly, then some shock absorbers can be added. Lastly some plastic U bolts and anti-roll bars complete this stage, the bars are cast to a realistic size and look to scale.

Stage 5 sees the wheels added to give a rolling chassis, there is a choice of wheels on this truck, as far as I can make out they are (top) 20” chrome Lariat option rims, (bottom) XLT aluminium rims. You get 5 XLT (one is a spare) and 4 Lariat rims, I believe the XLT is a standard spare on all trucks! They are nice and shiny, maybe a little too shiny for wheels so I’ll be stripping mine for a working truck, but I dare say some do have very blinged up rimage! There are 5 rubber tyres, they have good tread and sidewall detail, and look to me more an on-highway tyre over a heavier off-road tyre.

Section 6 kicks off the engine and transmission build, the kit models the 6.7l V8 ‘Power Stroke’ engine. The parts are cast in a silvery grey plastic and the parts have fine surface detail and the parts mirror the real engine nicely, the 6 speed auto transmission and four wheel drive transfer box are glued to the rear of the engine and this complete unit can be painted and detailed before fixing within the completed chassis along with a couple of decals. The parts are well detailed but some wire and rod can be added to give extra detail as the hood/ bonnet can be opened on the completed build if required.

This now completes the chassis and drive train and the instructions move onto the cab interior.

Stage 9 kicks off the interior with the seats, being the big double cab there is some differing seating options, Meng has given us the 5 seat option, having 2 big front seats and a bench for the rear that seats 3. The seats have separate backs so you don’t get hollow backed seats, the headrests are moulded onto the seats and this copies the look of the real seats, the stitch lines on the seats also mirror the lines on the seats and they look nicely scaled. One slight criticism is that the edges look a little sharp, I will sand the edges a little to soften them slightly. The instruction booklet advises you paint them a semi-gloss black to give a leather look, but looking at the Ford Brochure there are 8 options for fabric and leather in blacks, greys, and browns so have a look to match your body colour and interior colours correctly. The dashboard comes next and the part is nice and looks like the F-350 well, being an American truck it only comes in left hand drive so only one dash is included. The colours called out on the instructions is black and light brown but as before there is different colours available in the brochure so have a look at your reference pictures.

The steering wheel is a complex component on the F-350 as it not only steers the truck but it includes an airbag, and various electronic switches and controls. The part is well done, and once painted and a small Ford decal is placed on the wheel it can be added to the completed dashboard.

The cab interior is fitted to the floor section, the underside is very nicely detailed with the various pressings and mountings on the underside being very realistic, but on the inside of the cab there are some ejector pin marks, some will be hidden under the seats but there are 2 on the rear floor that will need some work with a sanding stick and a smidge of filler to eradicate. They may not be visible on the finished build. The side panels are fitted at this stage, the detail is good but the door pockets are open at the back, so you may want to pop some plasticard behind the parts to cover the hole, or make sure you paint the inside of the cab shell doors to disguise this. The box to the upper right corner of the sprue is the large front centre armrest/ storage compartment and had a couple of cup holders moulded in the part as per the real truck, again this can be painted to match your chosen colour scheme. Once completed the module can be added to the built chassis, there are a few engine parts to fit to the front wheel wells, some detail painting following the instructions and pictures online to give a nice look under the hood, a final few hoses will allow you to fit the large radiator, and at a guess the intercooler to the front of the chassis.

The double cab is cast as a single part with the cab doors, and front wings and slam panel. The parts are moulded in a slightly metallic black plastic with the panel lines being very fine and to scale. The door lines are deep enough to show through the paint. I’ve had a good look at the cab and I can’t see any major mould lines on my sample, there are some minor ones on top of the wings but a swipe with some fine paper will eradicate this quickly. There are 11 different exterior paint colours available from the factory including metallics and pearl colours. A trip to the motor factor, or a specialist auto-model paint store will give you the correct colour and clear coats.

While you are painting the cab don’t forget the load bed, and the hood! The parts come in the same metallic black plastic and the shapes look good. The bed has separate internal and external parts, this allows you to build up the internal bed, and paint it to suit (normally a rubbery black) then add the painted external shell to save masking. The rear tailgate is separate and can be opened and closed on the completed model.

Back on the inside of the cab once the shell is painted a separate internal roof liner is prepared to fit, there is nice pressed detail on the part, along with the sun visors at the front and the internal courtesy lamps. Once this is painted and glued in place the windows can be added.

There is a single clear sprue for the windows and lights. An adhesive mask is included to mask the windshield as there is a black surround to the glass to simulate the bonded glass look seen on most modern cars. I have seen builders that have had some issues fitting the cab together once the side windows are in place, this has needed the builders to cut the clear side window parts down, I can’t comment until I build but do some research on this problem and how people have overcome this. I will be building this soon so will give more detail in a build review later on.

There is a large chrome sprue that covers the shiny bits on the truck the chrome is well done and not too toy like to my eye but the detail isn’t as sharp on this sprue as on the rest of the kit. As said before there are 2 different types of wheel, and also an optional chrome side step. Chrome lamp bowls are included for the big headlamps, and tail lamps and some nicely detailed clear parts will sit over these on the model to give depth and a realistic look.

The build continues with the final details on the truck with the backing part for the chrome grill, this has nice grill surface detail but it isn’t see through. I may cut this out and add some photo-etched mesh to give better detail on my build. The optional black side steps are also found on this sprue, along with the folding load-bed extending frame, this allows the tailgate to be left open in the horizontal position, and the frame erected to extend the length of the bed for bigger loads. You have enough parts to build the extender in-use or stowed and pins on the parts locate into holes on the side bed so you alter between these parts on you finished model.

There is a small decal sheet that includes badges for the model, and some of the warning labels for under the hood, the detail is very fine and some of the tiny wording can be read. The dash-pod is also included with the big rev counter and Speedo flanking the multi-function display and smaller dials above copying the F-350’s layout. Some chrome metal stickers included are for the door mirrors and the internal rear view mirror.

Conclusion

This is a very nice kit, it is comprehensive and well detailed out of the box. I have no doubt this will be popular kit, and will be a base for various conversions. I hope to see MENG extending their 1:24 civilian vehicle range.

Review sample courtesy of

[Stuck]

Thanks for a great review, on the strength of it went out and brought the kit and am not dissapointed. I am half way through the construction so far with no probs. However I am a bit worried about what you have pointed out about fitting the cab with the side windows fitted. Have already tried dry fitting the cab over the chassis and it is a bit of a fiddle without the windows in, so i dont know what it will be like when they are.