Just recieved my Meng F-350. A cursory look shows the tires to be malformed around the edge of the rim.The chrome tree was not impressive with it looking more like aluminum than chrome. I hope this was just my kit and not all.
The rest of the parts seem to be ok.

I didn't pay full MSRP, but about $51 at Squadron. I had high hopes for this company in the venture into civilian trucks,but was disappointed with some areas of this first effort.(this may be a learning curve for these folks too.)

I will look into getting replacements for these items and post the results

Jake

Meng hung the sucker sign in the window in order to get the attention of the mil vehicle crowd who want to build larger scale technicals. You could do the same with less expensive kits produced by Revell or AMT. Murphy's Law dictates that one of those two companies will issue their own version in the near future at less than 1/3 the MSRP of Meng's offering (meaning $19-$23 retail) and with better attention to details.

Spoke to a nice lady at Squadron and the replacement parts are on the way.(they are requesting the defective parts be returned...at their expense,which is not a problem).
Will advise after receiving the parts.

BTW no one else makes this kit in plastic(there is a salty resin version 1/35 and a diecast, 1/34 scale)and it is highly unlikely RM or AMT will produce this kit. We can hardly get them to reissue the older truck kits....imho.But I stand to be corrected on this.
(BTW I know Mobeius is gearing up for the earlier (79 I think) Ford. I saw the test shots at NNL East. I believe this is the first new late model pickup since the 99 Chevy extended cab from RM.

As far as the sucker sign, I disagree,and applaud Meng for at least trying in the marketplace with a domestic late model 4dr pickup. Again mho.

Jake

Both Revell and Round2 are licenced to produce Ford products; so, it's just a matter of time before one of them puts out an F-350. I'd put my money on Revell since Round2/AMT seems to be concentrating on reissuing a lot of the older classic kits from its line, which isn't a bad thing.

Revell has a Datsun Off-road Pickup (RMX4321) due in stores around August:



AMT-Round2 has reissued the Firestone "Super Stones" 1978 Ford 4x4 Pickup (AMT-R2-858):



Check out Pickup Trucks and Light Commercial: 1980-2010.

Got the new parts from Squadron Saturday morning. I got 5 good tires from the 10 available.

The chrome was not much better than the first, still looks more aluminumish than chrome imho.

Kudoes to Squadron for quick replacement of the parts. C'mon Meng step up your game. If you are going to charge high end money please supply a high end kit to match as with your military kits.

Just mho as someone who actually bought the kit....

Jake

BTW the Datsun is a reissue and the Mobeius Ford is a '71 according to my source (my bad). I still stand by my original statement about NEW kits and reissues....

I recently bought this MENG Ford F-350 kit off the shelf of a hobby shop in Las Vegas.
After reading this thread, I looked especially close at my chrome and tires.

The chrome looks comparable to factory kit chrome of my Fujimi, Aoshima and Revell kits.


This image is compared next to the Revell '99 Chevy Silverado

The tires are designed to be cast so that there will be no center seam that is so common on vinyl tires from 1/24 - 1/25 scale kits


This is the comment - "tires to be malformed around the edge of the rim", by jakes357.
My kit has this as well but only on one side because of where the tires were connected to the sprue. For me this is not a problem because I can assemble with this side facing inside (under the truck).
Also notice CONTINENTAL and CONTITRAC is molded to both sides of all tires


Notice how the Revell tires are molded and packaged in the box vs. the MENG parts


Close up of the Revell tire style and quality


Tread style and quality comparison between MENG and Revell. Size difference is that the Revell pick up is 1/25 and rthe MENG pick up is 1/24

Well here we are on July 26 and still waiting a reply from Meng on how to exchange the substandard chrome tree and tires.
This question was sent in early June and no response. So much for customer service....

Jake

Jake, wishing you good luck with this. Looking at KSO's parts and they look very good. Took another look at Jim's cracking the box picture and the tires look good, although the chrome looks more aluminumish, possibly what yours looks like?

I wonder if this was an early release issue or if they were going with a scale chrome look. Hard for me to guess without having the kit myself.

Anyway, glad to hear about Squadron stepping up, and hopefully Meng will do the same.

UPDATE
Got an email from Meng last week asking for details and photos of problem parts, which I provided. Now we wait for a response, hopefully it will be positive.

Jake

Received new chrome & tires from Meng. Took a while, but the new parts are considerably better than what came in the kit.


Thank you Meng for replacing the defective parts.

Jake

Glad you got your replacement parts.

Jim