January 2015 #192 Issue of Model Cars Magazine

Issue 192 • January 2015

Inside This Issue

Cover Feature

18

Bob Steinbrunn’s 1929 Duesenberg

Regulars

Features

04 Editor’s Corner 05 New Products 32 Sketchpad 34 Kit Reviews 48 Trucker’s Corner 56 Coming Events

08 Model Cars Book Review

12 Scratchbuilding School

14 Commercial Break

26 IPMS Van

36 Mooneyes!

42 Back to Basics

“50 Shades of Rust”

Building a ‘32 Chevy woody

56 Advertiser’s Index 57 Collector’s Showcase

Coming next time…

AMT’s “Super Stones” Ford pickup

IPMS’s 50th Anniversary van

Our Annual

CONTEST ISSUE! Kitbashing a late ‘50s dragster

Cliff Read’s 1957 Dodge D100 January 2015 • Model Cars #192

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Editor’sCorner Looking ahead to 2015 and back at 2014 Well, it’s 2015, and another new year is upon us. I did a few things I wanted to do last year, and you will be seeing the results in MCM over the next year. My search for regional photographers worked out better than I hoped, and as a result we will be running coverages of contests or NNLs in almost every issue this coming year.

However, this will not affect the tradition of bringing our readers the February issue with it’s 12 to 14 model car events. Gregg and I also discussed adding a few other things to include in the magazine this year, among them reviving a “Readers’ Builds” page or two every couple of issues. The only thing we ask is the photos be up to our standards for publication. Once we work out the details we will let you know in a future column. Another thing we would like to add is a building tips segment. We want you to feel Model Cars Magazine is your window to the hobby. It is our goal to keep improving the magazine by giving you, our readers, the kind of articles and information you want to see.

As for me there are a few things I would like to accomplish in 2015.

I need to get some much needed work done on my house, and after that, to spend some time building–since I spent almost zero hours at the bench in 2014. Another thing I want do this year is to finish my 1:1 play toy, a 1956 DeSoto hardtop. For the past few years I have been working with a few friends turning the old rust bucket into a simple, clean street kruiser kustom. It’ll never be a show winner–I don’ have that kind of money–but it will be fun to attend a few shows and cruise nights during the summer. Doing a 1:1 car has been a real education. I have wasted a lot of money making decisions that didn’t work well as I hoped. If you think the cost of modeling has gotten out of hand try, building a full sized car for a dose of reality. The cost of doing the chrome exceeded $6,000 and adding newly upholstered T-bird seats to the interior nearly $4,000!

Now it’s time for me to say goodbye as I turn the Editor’s Column back to Gregg. I want to thank all of you for your kind comments on the editorials over the past year and a half. I appreciate the confidence Gregg has shown me and consider it a great privilege to sub for him during his convalesce from his latest back surgery (#6). The plans call for Gregg to resume the column with the February issue, or as it has become known, “The Contest Issue.” Like all of you, I hope 2015 will bring Gregg the relief he deserves as he resumes his normal duties. I’ll still be around doing what ever a Managing Editor does when he doesn’t have anything to manage and possibly filling in for Gregg if he needs a break from the Editor’s Column.

My first assignment will be covering the NNL West show and I am planing to cover GSL, depending on Gregg’s health. My immediate plans are to spend my time with my friend Kurt Wilson, promoting our August NNL and concentrating on improving my photography skills. I have missed going on the road and covering shows the past couple years. This year I hope to get a little more use out of my photo equipment by making unscheduled surprise visits to cover a couple more shows. At age 71 I will never do 7 or 8 shows a year like I have in the past, but I miss the interaction with all of the friends I have made over the years covering shows. So don’t be surprised to see me drop in unexpectedly at a show near you this year with my camera in hand and a trademark pipe in my mouth.

It’s been fun. Thanks and adios from SoCal…

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Model Cars #192 • January 2015

–Darryl Gassaway

Issue Number 192 • January 2015 www.modelcarsmag.com ISSN: 15274608 Publisher Larry Bell Editor ‘n Chief Gregg Hutchings gregg@modelcarsmag.com Twitter: ModelCarsMag Managing Editor Darryl Gassaway: darryl@modelcarsmag.com Art Director Harry Pristovnik Marketing Director John Oszajca john@modelcarsmag.com Associate Editor Dave Pye: dave@modelcarsmag.com Copy Editor Paul Anagnostopoulos Circulation Director Barb Miller 303.296.1600 for subscriptions 877.463.3127 toll-free Production: Kevin Reifenschneider Shannon Flynn Contributing to this issue: Tim Ahlborn Larry Greenberg Ken Kitchen Chuck Most Wayne Moyer

Darryl Peters Cliff Read Noel Smith Bob Steinbrunn Jairus Watson

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Model Cars welcomes your comments, ideas, or suggestions on our model car hobby. Articles and photographs will be returned only if accompanied by a self-addressed envelope with the appropriate return postage. Submission of articles to Model Cars constitutes the guarantee and understanding by the author of the originality of the submission and that said submission is not in current or past publication, or currently being submitted for publication to any other magazine or media, web site, or under any other copyrights. Model Cars accepts no responsibility for unsolicited materials. All material submitted unsolicited is considered done so gratuitously. Contact Model Cars Magazine, P.O. Box 89530, Honolulu, HI 96830, for information on article submissions, compensation, publication rights, or the weather in Hawai’i.

NewProducts Scribes, Part Three After doing that in-depth look at door panel scribes, there was one set that we didn’t cover. RB Productions has some cool photoetched scribes out that we found while perusing some military modeling sites. This parallel scriber, R-T020, at first seemed like a good idea that wouldn’t cut it (pardon the pun), and it sat in our to do box for a while. After doing some prep work on a body recently, the rear window area had lost some depth due to over-zealous sanding. I was going to just rescribe the channel area, but I was afraid of the scribe jumping out of the existing line, and marring the body. I remembered the RB Productions scribes I had found a while ago, and I thought this would be a good test. The instruction sheet was real small, and didn’t make sense to me at that time. I cut the two parts of the 1mm parallel scribe out with the Xeon photoetched cutters, and guess what? They fit together like magic! I had thought that the parallel parts would have to be bent, and then fitted to the blade, and then fit to the X-Acto handle. Wasn’t like that. It’s real simple. The main scribe blade (with the Scribe-R on it) gets fitted right through the middle of the 1mm scribe blade. There are notches cut out into the main blade, which fits the notches on the parallel blade perfectly! I mean perfect. I didn’t have to do any fancy bending. The parallel blade does get bent down to make the notches fit, but it’s such a small bend, and it seems to work best if you don’t try and bend anything before you go to slide the notches in. This then gets slipped into the X-Acto handle–use one with the four slots in it. This tool was designed for the four-slot handle. That’s probably what threw me off before. I had my “normal” blade by me, and it’s a two-slot one.

The four slot locks down all four sides of the scribe nice and tight. So, the test. Yes, it works. It takes practice, patience, and a steady hand. I’ll go back over the scribed parallel line with my favorite scribe, the Style-X one we reviewed here recently. But this RB Production Scribe-R Parallel will give you accurate, and yes, parallel scribed lines each and every time! Check out their web site to order your own! They retail for about 7 Euros, which at today’s conversion rate is about $9.20, plus shipping. www.radubstore.com

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AMT/Round 2 Round2/AMT has resurrected two more classic, completely chromed Custom & Competition double engine parts packs from 1962-63 featuring name-brand, period-correct speed equipment.

AMTPP010 contains a Chrysler 392 Hemi with Borg-Warner four-speed transmission with separate linkage, crankshaft and camshaft, Schiefer flywheel, valve train detai, stock Chrysler FirePower valve covers with integral plug/wire covers, fourinto-two drag-style headers, Spaulding Flamethrower magneto, Hilborn front-mounted fuel pump, and a complete GMC 6-71 blower setup with either Hilborn dual-port injection and air scoop or a single Carter AFB four-barrel carb. The companion engine is a beautifully done Corvair air-cooled flat six, no transaxle but a bellhousing, with Eelco exhaust headers and finned oil pan, and your choice of two stock intake setups: dual 1-barrel carbs (the 102 hp 145) or a Monza Spyder turbocharger setup (the 150 hp 145)!

AMTPP011 contains a Chevy 283 smallblock with finned valve covers, “zoomie” headers, Schiefer flywheel, Vertex magneto, CAE In/Out box transmission, and a single Carter AFB fourbarrel carb with “pie plate” air cleaner or a Potvin front-mounted blower with Hilborn dual-port fuel injection. Its companion engine is a Pontiac 421 big block with Offenhauser valve covers, short “zoomie” headers, B&M Hydro transmission with separate linkage, and a choice of dual Carter AFB carbs with small lowrestriction air cleaners or a GMC blower setup with either Hilborn 4-port injection and a “mailbox” air scoop or a single Carter AFB four-barrel and low restriction air cleaner. Both mills feature separate crankshafts and camshafts, and both engines’ cylinder heads have rudimentary valve train detail.

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Even though not quite state of the art, they are beautifully executed–especially that Corvair flat six! Worth getting? You bet!

MENG We found this MENG 1/35 scale concrete and plastic barrier set on eBay. You remember MENG, right? They did that superb Ford F350 that we featured first here in Model Cars Magazine.

Well, they started out doing military model kits, and they have a few kits in their Supplies Series for the 1/35 scale builders.

But, hey, we’re not stuck on any one scale, yes? The barriers are unique in that you not only get a couple of 1/35 plastic barriers, but a mold to make your own barriers is included as well!

That is a first, and really cool! And yes, we know, it’s 1/35 scale.

When you see them up next to a 1/24-25 scale model, they look a little small, but modeling is all about creating that illusion.

Maybe add a bit to the base, some good weathering, detail painting, and you will be all set! Check out your favorite hobby shop that carries the MENG line of models, or you can get them from a number of online sources. We got ours for about $12, plus shipping.

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by Chuck Most

50 Shades of Rust

Barn Finds You Wish You’d Discovered

By Tom Cotter Motorbooks, 2014, 192 pages ISBN-10: 0760345759 ISBN-13: 978-0760345757 Some of my fondest childhood memories are of the times my buddies and I would go out sightseeing in the wooded areas around our hometown. By “sightseeing” I mean “trespassing,” mostly. Sometimes we had the property owner’s permission to look around, but often, we did not. We’d spend hours snooping around in old farmsteads and overgrown lots, just looking for things of interest.

We never stole or vandalized anything, but I’m pretty sure in the back of our minds we knew that poking around on other people’s property without permission probably wasn’t the wisest thing to do. “Old enough to know better, too young to care”, and such.

While I’d never condone such activity as a (supposedly) mature adult, I’ll freely admit that it was a lot of fun at the time.

And often, those journeys would yield a sighting of an old car. I think we probably located every abandoned motor vehicle present in Gratiot County in the mid-to-late 1990s. Many of those old hulks are long gone now, but old iron is still being found in abandoned buildings, vacant lots, and in the woods. So, while I’m not much into “sightseeing” these days, I can live vicariously through people who do…legally or otherwise!

Tom Cotter is a regular contributor to Road & Track the guy behind that “The X In The Barn” book series you may have heard of, as well as the Dean Jeffries book reviewed by Dennis Doty here in Model Cars some time ago. Cotter dedicates 50 Shades of Rust to Mr. Jeffries, who passed away in 2013. The book features a forward by Wayne Carini, who you may know as host of Chasing Classic Cars, and/or for having a much less imposing mustache than that other famous television car show host, Dennis Gage.

This book does all the hard work of locating long-abandoned autos for you. No risk of getting caught and chewed out or arrested here! The cars and trucks featured here run the full gamut from (once) common everyday vehicles to rare and exotic cars, and more than a few one-of-a-kind racers and customs. Some are interesting for their history or design. Some of them likely would be of little interest at all if not for the owner, like Dale Earnhardt’s ‘67 Ford F-600 dump truck, for example. But all have a story behind them. Cotter’s words and photographs tell much of the story, but a few individual owners step in to tell their own tales of automotive archaeology.

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Some of these cars I have absolutely no interest in whatsoever.

Typically I wouldn’t even break stride to glance at the average Nova or Corvette at a car show. But the stories of the aforementioned subjects in this book were still worth a read to me, as often the story behind the car is more interesting than the car itself. The way these vehicles were discovered runs the full gamut, as well. Some were literally stumbled across, either in person or on a website such as craigslist, while some were located after years of persistent searching. There are quite a few “right place, right time” occurrences outlined. Ed Roth’s ill-fated Orbitron, which spent years hidden in plain sight in front of a strip club in Mexico, is chronicled here, as is the very first production Ford Mustang, the first production 1955 Corvette, and several others either forgotten, or assumed to be long-gone, each with its own back story and discovery.

A few of the stories will elicit a chuckle, while others will do quite the opposite. An example of the former would be the 1954 Corvette retrofitted with a fuel injected V8. It’s ad in a Corvette magazine was ignored by ‘Vette snobs, as they assumed the car to be a ham-fisted backyard hot rod with a late-model engine. It turned out to have a vintage “fuelie” engine from a wrecked 1957 Sebring Corvette. I’d say the ‘54s new owner got the last laugh in that case. An example of the opposite would be the AMC dealer who, peeved at Renault’s partnership with the automaker, closed his dealership in 1980 and left everything to rot. Yeah... no better way to express patriotism than by putting all your employees out of work in the name of pettiness, huh?

The photography in the book is great–filled with images of the vehicles as-found, after being recovered, and sometimes in fully restored or preserved form. In some cases the “before and after”

images are mind-blowing, like the 1964 Holman-Moody Ford Galaxie which today exists as a beautifully restored race car, but when found looked like it had been hit by a train and stored in a salt water tank.

Most of the stories are only two or three pages long, but that’s a good thing–Cotter manages to keep things interesting without getting a bit too bogged down. Despite the “Barn finds you wish you’d discovered” blurb across the top of the cover, not all were found in barns, either–

T

he 25th Anniversary International GSL Championship will present four days of the best scale vehicle competition seen anywhere, two full days of technical seminars, a special gathering on the history of GSL, an evening seminar focused on the International Model Car Builders’ Museum, tours of the Museum, a trade show filled with a great number of vendors, and the Sunday morning Awards Breakfast. Early registrants will receive special premiums and younger builders (16 and younger) can still enter without charge.

some were found in junkyards, in private collections, and other places where abandoned autos like to lurk. Overall, 50 Shades Of Rust is a fantastic coffee table book for any gearhead. There’s really something for everyone in here. And it doesn’t even matter if you’re in favor of preservation or restoration, there are plenty of accounts of both in the book. It may be missing the thrill of making an automotive discovery for yourself, but for some of us, it’s most likely the next best thing.

Important Note: New hotel policies have made the date when you make your room reservations very important. Please visit the official GSL website at www.gslchampionship.org and click on the “News” link for important information regarding hotel reservations and room rates. If you have any further questions, please contact Mark S. Gustavson directly at msgsl@xmission.com, and be sure to put “GSL” in the subject line.

See you next year!

For more information and complete event details, visit the official GSL website at

www.gslchampionship.org

January 2015 • Model Cars #192

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Converting an MPC 1932 Chevrolet Cabriolet into a Woody

D

id you ever wonder how certain vehicles came to be?

Some, like the pickup, are obvious. It served a utilitarian purpose–to move the farmer’s produce to market and bring his supplies home to the farm. It was essentially an evolution of the horse drawn wagon. Other body styles have their horse drawn equivalents too.

by Ken Kitchen

But what about the Woody? What did it evolve from? I mean, did surfers use a horse and buggy to carry their boards to the beach? It’s a funny image and probably not a very realistic one; still the question remains… where did the Woody come from?

Once that thought came to me I turned to the internet to see what I could find out. We all know that everything you find on the internet is the unvarnished truth, even so, it might be wise to take the following with a grain of salt and please don’t throw me to the wolves if you disagree with something I write, because after all, I found it on the internet–so it must be true! According to what I found, the evolution of the “Woody” is directly linked to the expansion of the railroads in this country. As the railroads spread, they

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became the main form of transportation for the nation. With the railroads now providing the means for people to travel farther than ever before, hotels and resorts started springing up along rail lines to handle the growing “tourist trade.” With all these new travelers, hotels and resorts soon started competing with each other for business and trying to outdo each other by providing extra services and amenities to their guests–for example, shuttle service to and from the railroad depot.

At first, whatever wagon was on hand was used for this purpose, but as the need increased, purpose built wagons with multiple rows of seating and space for luggage started to appear.

Thus was born the “depot hack”–a wagon for hire, and what has become known more commonly today as a taxi (and why taxis and/or taxi drivers are sometimes still called “hacks”). With the dawn of the Automobile Age it became fashionable to replace the horse drawn depot hack with the more “modern” mechanical marvel, the automobile. These early vehicles were initially nothing more than horse-drawn wagons converted to mechanical power. In some cases, it’s said that they even still included the holder for the buggy whip–perhaps with an eye to reverting back to a horse drawn wagon in the event the whole internal combustion thing turned out to be a fad. There you have it–it’s because of the railroads that we have our beloved “Woodies.”

Now let’s move on to the specific subject of this article. As is so often the case, I found this project while researching another one. One of the first places I look when I need ideas or detail photos for a particular project is the index to Collectible Automobile magazine (CA) to see if they have covered the subject. In particular I was looking for detail shots of the engine compartment of a ‘32 Chevy. One of the back issues I looked at had a photo article on a ‘31 Chevy Woody. The thing that most stood out in my mind was the striking similarity of the Woody body in the photos to the AMT ‘29 Ford Woody/Pickup kit. The CA

article stated that the gentleman who had built this particular automobile had started with nothing more that his love for early Chevys, a bare chassis, and an old body manufacturer’s advertising brochure. Since there is no kit available of a ‘32 Chevy Woody, I found myself doing essentially the same thing in scale as the gentleman did in CA–pulling various bits and pieces together to make my own ‘32 Chevy Woody. If you’re interested in seeing pictures of my inspiration, look in the October 2002 issue of CA. Before we start though, I do have a disclaimer to make. While the resemblance to the AMT Woody kit is uncanny, the body from the ‘29 Woody kit is not an exact match for the one in the CA article, but it is close enough for me. It could easily be modified to more closely match the 1:1 subject from the CA article. All it would require would be some minor reworking to ensure that the number and shape of the panels more closely matched the 1:1. Given the number and variety of aftermarket body builders making Woody bodies who can say that this exact body wasn’t available for the Chevy, which is why I chose to go with the body as is rather than be overcome by added complications.

As conversions go, this one is pretty simple. Fortunately I had the Woody body parts left over from when I built the AMT ‘29 pickup, so I didn’t have to rob parts from an otherwise pristine kit.

The MPC “Connoisseur Classics” 1932 Chevy kit was used for the remainder of the build.

AMT’s ‘29 Ford Woody/Pickup kit was the basis of my conversion. Seen here are the parts I used from the kit.

A scan of part of a page from the Collectible Automobile magazine article that was the inspiration for this conversion.

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The only change to the body that I made was to remove the molded in Model A cowl section. I did this by scribing along the raised section around the Model A cowl all the way to the roof line. I did this because the windshield shape is different for the Chevy. I felt it was easier to replace the whole section rather than to splice in just the lower section, and then try to match the windshield molding.

The Model A floor pan is flat, with a hump to accommodate the transverse rear spring. The Chevy floor has a significant rise at the rear where the frame kicks up, because of the parallel leaf springs. To create the back half of the Chevy floor pan I cut the Model A floor pan just behind the front seat.

I cut a piece of .040” sheet styrene to the height and width of the front of the body. The top edge of this piece also has a slight curve to match the radius of the roof. I then cut out the windshield opening. To replicate the windshield molding I added .060” half-round round material around the edge of the opening. To make installing the windshield easier, I overlaid that molding over the windshield opening, providing a lip on the backside to mount the windshield.

I then scratchbuilt the rear section of the floor. I added a couple of strips of .100” x .188” styrene strip on the bottom to raise the rear section of the floor.

It’s now time to prep for the Chevy cowl. I cut the cowl from the Chevy body at the door line by scribing with the backside of a No. 11 blade. With the cowl removed, I cleaned the edges and test fit it to the front panel. Then I carefully drew a line on the front panel along the inside of the Chevy cowl. That line represents where the Chevy cowl will line up on the front panel. Using the line as a guide, I glued .040” strips to the front panel to create the lip for mounting the Chevy cowl.

Here you can see how the rear half of the floor is raised. After building the new floor, the rest of the project is simply a matter of building the Chevy kit per kit instructions, painting and detailing as you wish.

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Now that you have followed along with my conversion, maybe you’ll be inspired to try one yourself! The basic conversion is fairly easy, and the rest is up to you!

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Time for a with Chuck Most AMT “Super Stones” 1978 Ford 4X4 Pickup AMT’s “1978” Ford F-350 4x4 is back, in ‘70s-era Super Stones splendor. We last saw this one as a Model King reissue, back when RC2 reigned and the AMT and Ertl names were still tacked together.

Little has changed content-wise since that last trip, but that’s status quo for this old warhorse. Oh, fun fact regarding the Model King reissue–that’s none other than Trucker’s Corner columnist Tim Ahlborn inspecting the tire in the box top photo... and his dog in the cab of the pickup.

You may have noticed I put 1978 in quote marks earlier. Allow me to explain. As a former annual kit, visible parts were updated each new model year, but often the less-visible stuff was left alone. Sometimes, even the visible stuff was left unchanged.

AMT did update the grille twice (and those early

grilles are available as resin repops), but little else apart from that. The kit engine is an FE-based 390, not the 385-series “Lima” 460 the box art indicates, and it has a divorced transfer case, both of which were last used in 1976. Same goes for the style of side trim and fuel filler caps the kit has. You can’t really knock AMT (or Round 2) for these inaccuracies–back in the ‘70s, kids were still the main market for model kits, and the average kid likely didn’t care if the kit wasn’t unflinchingly accurate. What it boils down to is this–the AMT kit is essentially a ‘73-’76 Super Camper Special with a ‘78-’79 grille and ‘77-’79 style cowl badging. Know that Ford did continue to offer the Super Camper Special’s

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unique bed and 140” wheelbase after 1977, though “Super” was dropped from the name to avoid confusion with the Super Cab model.

Still, there’s quite a bit to like when you consider it as a starting point for a ‘73-’79 Ford “Dentside” replica. AMT did pretty well getting the basic details and overall proportions right–a too-short windshield opening and slightly too-tall doors being the only real demerits. The windshield issue is easy to fix, and once done, that simple but effective modification downplays the door discrepancy. The kit represents the 140” wheelbase Super Camper Special, which was built from 1973-1979, though “Super” was dropped from the name after ‘76.

All Super Camper Specials were two-wheel-drive F-350 regular cabs with the special bed, though a Camper Special package (no Super) was available on F-250 and F-350 models with the regular long bed.

The kit is a bit barren in some areas. A mere four pieces comprise the interior. Well, five if you count the optional CB radio. There’s the basic bucket, seat, dash, and steering wheel with integral column. You’ll need to dig up your own shifter(s) for the transmission and, if applicable, transfer case.

The engine bay is also pretty sparse–lean on your spares box for some suitable detailing items. The bed has dual fuel filler caps, but only the rear fuel tank is provided. Oddly, the side mirrors are not chromed, and there’s no rear view mirror at all. As with any kit, there’s certainly room for improvement if you wish to go there. This kit is based on early 1970s annual kit tooling technology, after all!

The front bumper is the correct ‘77-’79 style, and what AMT furnishes as the rear bumper is suitable as the front bumper for ‘73-’76 models. The kit is billed as a 4x4, but be advised the two-wheel-drive Twin I Beam front suspension is there as an option.

It might be best to go with this setup if you want to keep things box-stock and somewhat true to factory stock while keeping the pickup an F-350, as the coil-sprung solid axle for the kit-based 4x4 setup is for F-100 and F-150 models only, and Ford never

offered the SCS as a 4x4 from the factory. Heavier 4x4s had leaf springs on both ends. That being said, to do a ‘77 or newer 4x4, attach the transfer case directly to the transmission tailshaft. The driveshafts feature iffy U-joint detail and are a bit on the dainty side–they’re best replaced by something roughly half again the diameter of the kit parts. I wish they’d included the eight-bolt alloy wheels from the earlier versions of the kit–this reissue keeps on with the lugless “Jackman” style plated wheels from the last go-round. The Firestone T/C All-Terrain tires made a return trip for this reissue, obviously.

Parts fit, particularly that of the chassis and suspension components, can be a bit vague, again typical of a ‘70s vintage kit. I suggest several test fits, and don’t break out the glue until you’re sure that part goes there, and is properly aligned. All four of my sample kits had slightly distorted windshields (as did the Model King reissue) that won’t fit flush against the inside of cab without a bit of persuasion, and one sample kit’s windshield was short shot to boot.

There’s nothing lurking in here that would immediately render the kit unbuildable, mind you, but just keep in mind that you’ll need to spend a bit more time getting things to fit just so than you would on a kit produced from newer tooling. Chassis warp can be an issue, but in the case of the blue pickup, just the weight of the assembled cab was enough to bring things straight.

I really like the decal sheet. It’s a mostly faithful reproduction of the old Super Stones sheet, but now it has two FORD lettering sets for the hood (the fender badge decals from the Model King version are gone), a Firestone logo which replaces the original kit’s engraved logo for the bed cover, and get this–gauge face decals and a tiny Ford oval for the steering wheel hub! AMT provides the former in duplicate and the latter in triplicate, in case you lose or damage any during application. Manage not to bungle any and you’ll have a spare set for another F-350 or for the Phantom Ford van. I applaud Round 2’s practice of including additional detailing decals like these, and do hope they continue providing such items! I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been much good at detail painting gauges, and decalized gauge faces always cure that little problem.

For those of you who can’t bear the thought of building a model without a little cutting and pasting, note that the bed type and 140” wheelbase depicted in the kit were unique to the Super Camper Special version, which was built specifically for use with a slide-in camper body. The short bed, regular cab wheelbase was 117”, while the standard long bed (including the non-”Super” Camper Special) was 137”.

The AMT 1953 F-100 bed can be used with a few modifications for early 1976 Flareside models–at midyear a new Flareside bed was introduced; that newer style bed can be found in the early ‘80s Monogram F-100 kits (albeit in 1/24 scale) though the 1953-style fenders were still used right up until 1979. Ford did not offer a Flareside bed in the years 1973-75. The kit bed can be modified into a regular long or short Styleside bed, but keep in mind that the wheel openings on the SCS bed were shaped differently than the ones

on the standard beds, and the standard beds lacked the side-saddle spare tire compartment. Swing-out “flap” fuel doors replaced the round fuel caps for 1977. Depending on cab, bed, and drivetrain configuration, the earlier trucks could be equipped with an in-cab fuel tank. If you want the 460 engine that the box art thinks the kit actually has (which was available during the entire Dentside production run), the engine from Revell’s ‘70 Ford Torino Cobra or the piece from Calnaga Castings can be made to work. The kit comes with a crude but decent C6 automatic, which was the only transmission used in the Super Camper Special model. And just a little FYI...the AMT ‘78-’79 Bronco hood (which has the proper engraved FORD lettering) and grille (which is molded open) will fit on the F-350 if you have any looking for a home. The custom grille from the Bigfoot kit (#6791) can also be used, in fact, that one is basically this same F-350 kit with the monster-truck specific parts added and the stock tires omitted. To do a 1/2 ton model, replace the kit rear axle with a Ford 9”.

All in all, I’m happy to see this one back, even if the kit is far from perfect. It isn’t 100% accurate, and it doesn’t exactly fall together like a newer, better-engineered kit. It’s not a kit I’d recommend to a novice, but a more experienced modeler can work all sorts of magic with it. And there’s also quite a bit of aftermarket stuff currently available for it (and more in the pipeline)–Super and crew cabs, standard long and short Styleside beds, and more, and we may well look into some of those conversions at a later date. Is it the definitive example of Ford’s venerable F-Series in scale kit form? No way. But it’s absolutely loaded with possibilities, and well worth looking into.

Sources Dean’s Hobby Stop www.deanshobbystop.com (AMT 1978 Ford Kits) Scale Modeling by Chris www.scalemodelingbychris.com (Ford 351 Cleveland Engine) Spaulding Trading and Shipping www.stsmodeltrucks.com (Service Truck Body) VCG Resins vcgresin.atspace.com (1975 Grille) Bandit Resins 1/25 Scale Resin Parts and Accessories for Model Cars and Trucks (1976-77 Grille)

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The windshield problem is easy to fix. Just cut away the upper edge of the opening, using the existing engraved trim line as a guide–the portion to be removed is shown as the crosshatched area. Once that’s done, simply touch up the new upper corners of the windshield opening if needed, and rescribe

the trim line, shown by the solid black lines. And before you ask–yes, the kit windshield will still work with the opening made taller. The easiest way to fix the too-tall doors is to add the missing drip rail–put it right over the existing upper door cut line, then scribe a new cut line just beneath it.

The ‘76-‘77 grille from Bandit Resins is another way to side-step the kit’s obsolete components. Just adding this grille and removing the engraved cowl badging will date the kit to ‘76 specs. To do a ‘77, leave the cowl badges alone, but remove the rocker trim, and address the engine, transfer case, and fuel filler updates. The ‘77-‘79 rocker trim was a thin strip which ran above the styling bump and up over each wheel opening. The upper side trim also changed for ‘76. And again, use what AMT provides as the rear bumper on the front for a

‘77 or earlier truck. This one has been cut down to the 117” wheelbase, and sits on SATCO BFG narrow whitewalls wrapped around the full wheel covers from the AMT Phantom van. A Ford 9” from the parts box replaced the kit sourced Dana rear axle. Eventually, this may have a short Flareside bed, or perhaps the upcoming Styleside bed from Greg Van Sickle. I might go with a 300 straight six engine from Kitchen Table Resins or rob one from the upcoming Moebius/ Model King kit.

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Here is an (almost) totally box-stock example which I built way back when the Model King version came out in 2006. I added a bed cover made from thin styrene sheet because the kit part was badly warped, but that’s it. Built as the 4x4 version, this is a pretty good idea of what to expect if you’d just like to “throw it together” with no kitbashing or modifications done to the basic kit. Also, notice

The easiest way to work around the kit’s outdated features (well, other than calling your model a ‘76 with a ‘79 grille swap–it does happen in 1:1) is shown here. Remove the cowl badges and swap out the kit grille for this piece from VCG Resins. VCG lists it as a 1975, but it would be correct for ‘73 and ‘74 models too. I also used the eight-bolt alloy wheels from Revell’s ‘77 GMC reissue just because. I used the two-wheel-drive front suspension, but used the 4x4 rear springs for more of a ‘tail-up’ stance. To do a ‘73-‘76, don’t forget to remove the badging on the cowl (the F-Series badge was on the fender in those years), and use what AMT provides as the rear bumper on the front. I used the rear bumper from an AMT/Ertl ‘92-‘95 F-150 on this one. My hand wasn’t steady enough to do the black stripe that runs along the center of the upper trim piece, but a thin strip of black decal film might do the trick for that particular detail. I still have not installed an engine in this one; I’m still undecided on sticking with the kit engine or swapping in a 460. But in the meantime, it looks just fine on the shelf as-is.

the windshield opening–it is unaltered, while the other one you’ll see has had this area corrected. The Model King reissue had two large open notches atop the front bumper, and F350 Ranger decals for the cowl sides–both are gone in the current issue, but I’m only lamenting the loss of the badge decals

Though there was no shortage of slide-in campers on the market in the ‘70s, Ford designed the Super Camper Special to host this–Ford’s own 11-1/2 foot fiberglass American Road camper shell. Ford had planned to storm the recreational vehicle market with this and a rumored Ford-designed motorhome. As it turned out, the American Road’s premium price tag and the automotive sales slump brought on by the Arab Oil Embargo spelled the end for this product after fewer than a thousand were produced, and the proposed motorhome was nixed altogether.

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By Bob Steinbrunn

I

’m not certain what possessed me to build this metal kit from 1963, some 50+ years after it was first released. The elegance, the grandeur, the imposing stance of the original car had a lot to do with it. Also, I like working with metal kits since I have a number of metal-working tools and machines. And when completed, metal models feel more substantial to me than plastic kits do. I like this aspect, even though metal is somewhat more difficult to work with than plastic.

Last, I had built the Hubley Duesenberg Town Car many years ago, and I wanted to see if I could improve on that effort with this phaeton version of that kit–and my current skills.

My model represents a 1929 Duesenberg SJ LeBaron dual-cowl sweep panel phaeton. What this cryptic description means is that the car Retrospective Modeling: Building the 1/18 Hubley Duesenberg was a supercharged model (SJ), the body was designed, built, and installed on a Duesenbergsupplied chassis by the LeBaron coachworks, and the car had two cowls–one in front of each windshield (the rear one hinged with the windshield to allow easier entry to the rear seats). The side panels of the car incorporated an elegant reverse curve or sweep which lent itself beautifully to a two-tone paint scheme. And a phaeton was simply a touring car with front and rear seating that had a convertible top. Based on photos supplied by the ACD (Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg) Museum in Auburn, Indiana, of a beautiful SJ that was on display there at one time (Chassis 2151, engine J-129), I decided this The Hubley kits were first released in 1959. This kit was first issued as Hubley was the car for me. kit #4864-1000 in 1963. In July 1965 Gabriel Industries took over the Hubley After about 450 hours of building time spread over a year and a half, 2,690 pieces (many scratchbuilt), and a little help from my friends, I was finished.

Was I successful wrestling with this ancient metal kit? I think I mostly was, despite the age of the kit, but I’ll have to let the readers decide for themselves.

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operations and produced these kits (including the one seen here) until 1980, when the rights were sold to CBS Toys. Ten years later the kits reappeared under the JLE (Joseph L. Ertl) label for a short time. This kit has been out of production for many years, but may still be found on the collector’s market.

The kit parts in various media spread out: zinc metal castings, injection-molded plastic in a yellowish tan and chrome plated, rubber tires, diecut vinyl sticker

Using household bleach in a metal can to strip the much-too-shiny chrome plating off the wire wheels is easy and takes about 20 minutes. Only light scrubbing under running water is necessary to fully remove the plating. A “before” and “after” wire wheel.

The unauthentic molded-on tire markings on both sides were removed with a cloth wheel driven by a Dremel tool at slow speed.

white walls and inside body panel upholstery, hardware, and instructions. Note the excessive amount of flash on most of the cast metal parts.

A “before” and “after” of an inside wheel half during the spoke replacement process using .015” steel wire. There were a total of 468 spokes to replace on the 12 wheel halves.

The completed wheels showing the realistic finish imparted by Alclad II Chrome.

This was airbrushed over Alclad II Gloss Black, which was allowed to dry for a week. The sheet metal screws in the kit were discarded and replaced with scale hex-head bolts, washers, and nuts in four sizes: 00-90, 0-80, 1-72, and 2-56 (smallest to largest).

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Helpful tools for working with metal kits: a Dremel with various cutting bits and grinding disks, polishing disks, large and small files, and a bastard file from the hardware store for large areas. There is lots of metal flash to grind, file, and polish away here.

JB Weld is a superior steel-filled two-part epoxy that is very strong. After curing overnight it can be drilled, filed, and sanded like plastic. Besides being an adhesive, it is also an excellent filler that sands out to a feather edge better than body putty. It is more liquid than putty when first mixed which makes it level out nicely, and it has no objectionable odor like regular epoxy. A short length of .015” steel wire pushed into the eraser end of a pencil makes a precision applicator for both JB Weld and CA glue. Here a depression in the engine intake manifold is being carefully filled.

The engine stand was made up from Evergreen 1/4” x 1/8” I-beam strip, and the roller wheels were cut from 1/8” brass tubing. Tichy Train Group nuts and bolts in various sizes lock all the structural elements together while .028” brass rod braces the frame.

Some parts were so buried in metal flash–such as the steering gearbox seen here–that a hobby tool and cutting and grinding disks are the only way to release them without damage. It’s an advantage in building these metal kits if you really like filing and grinding!

A bottom view of the frame with the added details for suspension, steering, and drive train. The brass cylinder is a vacuum chamber for the servo-assisted brakes that was made from brass tubing. There are hundreds of Tichy Train Group scale nuts, bolts, and washers in this assembly.

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A right-side view of the Lycoming straight-8 engine shows the various materials in it. The block and transmission are cast metal, the yellowish tan parts are plastic parts from the kit, the translucent white pieces are kit parts that have be dechromed, and the bright white parts are scratchbuilt items. Brass tubing and strip make up other scratchbuilt parts. Countless Tichy Train Group nuts, bolts, and rivets are evident. The engine is loosely assembled here onto the scratchbuilt engine stand, which is minus the casters that will be added after painting.

Above: The completed engine showing (front to rear) the supercharger drive shaft with universal joints, the oil filter, the supercharger vertical shaft, the water pump, the starter motor, transmission with emergency brake and shift levers, and the emergency/parking brake housing on the drive shaft aft of the transmission. The brake and clutch pedals were made up from brass rod, while

the emergency brake housing was scratchbuilt from .010” sheet styrene. The hoses have steel photoetched hose clamps from Detail Master. The engine has over 1,000 pieces, including hundreds of Tichy Train Group nuts, bolts, washers, and rivets in various sizes.

The engine showing (front to rear) the “computer” which lubed the chassis points automatically every 75 miles, the drive shaft for the generator and the generator itself, and the crankcase vent. Above is the intake manifold with water jacket and hose which preheated the fuel mixture entering the cylinders.

The fan belt was made from .010” x .030” styrene strip that replaced the molded-on belt. The engine is painted the characteristic Duesenberg Apple Green, and Alclad II metallic paints were used for the shades of Chrome, Aluminum, Duralumin, Stainless Steel, and Gold for the anodized carburetor.

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The chassis temporarily assembled to check fit and placement of the many scratchbuilt parts. Each of the six running board brackets is comprised of 17 parts, including Tichy Train Group bolts, nuts, and washers. The brackets required numerous attempts of “trial and error” before the angles were satisfactory and everything mated up flush with the frame and running boards. Forward of these is a bracket which will hold the spare tire and mount.

Three piano hinges for the hood sections were made up from nickel silver photoetched sets from The Model Car Garage. These are their MCG-2204 Big Rig Details piano hinges. They are 2½” long, a bit short for the hood panels of the Duesenberg, but it was an easy matter to splice in the extra 1/2” inch from another set. I found it best to tape one side of the hinge down on a piece of Plexiglas while I folded the tangs over the hinge wire for stability. The wire supplied in the set is malleable and I needed more stiffness to make the hinge more rigid. A quick substitution of .015” steel wire from K & S Metals did the trick.

The body placed temporarily on the fender/running board unit. The kit body represents one by LaGrande, while the full-size vehicle I modeled has a body by LeBaron, which has many detail differences. Some of these required sealing the vents on the sides of the body with JB Weld, grinding off the external door hinges, adding the decorative strips on the rear fenders using some Evergreen .010” x .020” styrene strip, and adding swept angles to the bottom of the windshield. The holes in the cowl for the windshield mounts required some filling to eliminate open spaces. The firewall has had most of the molded-on detail ground off so that more realistic components can be scratchbuilt.

The panels for the sides of the hood required a lot of grinding and filing to remove flash, and to remove the small projections in the openings where the mesh panels are supposed to attach. To the left is the left panel (top) and right panel (bottom) showing a “before” and “after.” The mesh panels are solid with the grating molded in, as seen as the middle of the three items in the center of the photo. The solid gratings were cut out, the frames filed smooth, then Apex Slotted Pattern .008” thick brass photoetched mesh from Plano Model Products was cut and installed within. Strip styrene sections .010” x .040” were CA-glued on the reverse side of the panel, duplicating the original outlined frame seen here. This sandwiched the brass between the two frames, improving the appearance and making the part stronger. Both sides of the framed panels were sanded down to .040” thick, making it look much more realistic. The larger frame seen above the right-hand side grilles is the cut-out frame for the left side hood panel.

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The top section of the hood was sliced in half lengthwise on my miniature table saw, then these two sections and the two side panels were joined by the photoetched piano hinges from The Model Car Garage. I used CA glue for attaching the hinges, then blended in their edges inside the hood with JB Weld for added strength and a better appearance. When all was dry, the hood sections were filed down along the hinge lines to mate them up perfectly, then the sections were polished with a fine sanding stick. The hood sections open up realistically and smoothly, but achieving this required filing, sanding, and adjusting the radiator, radiator shell, and body so that any slight misalignments disappeared.

The driving lights were primarily scratchbuilt using the housings from an Italeri Rolls-Royce kit. The mounting assembly was silver-soldered up from brass strip and rod, and includes the linkage to connect the lights to the steering of the car. There are 42 pieces in this assembly. Next to the driving lights are two rear-view mirrors which will be mounted on the spare tires. These were made from the horns of the Rolls-Royce kit, brass rod, styrene strip, and a section of photoetched grate from a Detail Associates aftermarket Diesel accessory kit.

The firewall had all of its molded-on details ground and filed off and replaced with better-appearing three-dimensional scratchbuilt items such as the chassis lubricator oil tank, and various brackets, nuts, bolts, hoses, wiring, inspection panels, the Duesenberg logo nameplate, and the mounts for the two radiator support rods. Much of the modifications and added details to the steering gearbox are also visible here.

The kit’s interior sidewalls (left) are two-dimensional diecut stickers which had lost their adhesive quality over the years, aside from the fact that they did not accurately represent the interior of the full-size vehicle being modeled. New panels were cut from .005” sheet styrene using the stickers as templates, then detailed with piping made of .010” styrene rod, and storage pockets fashioned from .040” styrene. The door stop straps are Tamiya masking tape applied to brackets made of .012” brass rod.

All of the unauthentic sockets for attaching the convertible top to pins on the windshield, body, and framework were ground and filed away. The complex folding framework for the convertible top was made up from .015” x .042” brass strip from Detail Associates. All of the joints have Tichy Train Group styrene bolts/nuts/washers. Trim pieces made from alder wood will be added to the framework after painting.

The windshield frame turned out to be a complex affair, requiring the addition of scratchbuilt wiper arms and blades made from lengths of photoetch fret. The wiper motors on the aft side of the windshield header were made from bits of styrene sheet, strip, and rod. The twin spotlights were mostly scratchbuilt. The housings were taken from an Italeri Rolls-Royce kit, while the handles, rods, mounts, and bolt heads were made up from brass and styrene rod. 010” x .030” brass strip was used to make up the four mounts for the wing windows, which were cut from Plastruct .010” clear styrene and added later. These mounts grasp the edge of the wing windows like tweezers.

The fender unit was airbrushed with Dupli-Color Chrysler Merlot Metallic.

Metallic automotive paints were developed as early as 1927 and became somewhat more common during the ‘30s. This metallic is very subtle and is a close match to certain restored Duesenbergs. It looks very elegant here, so I’m okay with that. The pin striping was accomplished with Line O Tape 1/64” red.

It’s important to note that the tape has a clear protective covering which should be peeled off as the striping is applied, about an inch or so at a time. Removing it makes for a more realistic appearance, and allows the tape to follow tighter bends, like the curves on the rear fenders, once it is removed.

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The seats were airbrushed Floquil Signal Red and allowed to dry for several days as seen on the seat on the left. They were then waxed with Johnson’s paste furniture wax which imparted a very nice leather-like sheen. Grimy Black from Doc O’Brien’s Weathering Powders was used to create shadow and depth in the leather seams. This was applied with a small paint brush, then feathered out with a foam-tipped eye shadow applicator from the cosmetics section of my local pharmacy as seen on the seat on the right.

Most parts were painted before assembly. In the foreground left to right are the fuel tank (Alclad II Aluminum), inside upholstery panels (Floquil Signal Red), and radiator. The trunk and the fabric top were airbrushed a light tan mixed from Floquil Reefer White and Mud, sealed with Testors Dullcote, and then Doc O’Brien’s Weathering Powders were lightly applied with an eye shadow applicator and feathered out. The two exhaust pipe sections are Alclad II Burnt Iron with some sections lightly airbrushed with Alclad II Pale Burnt Metal and Hotmetal Blue. In the rear are all the parts that were stripped of chrome plating and airbrushed with Alclad II Gloss Black Base which was allowed to harden for a week before the Alclad II Chrome was airbrushed on.

The painted chassis was plumbed with brake lines, fuel lines, and hydraulic shock absorber lines using Scale Scenics microfine solder (.018”) and Detail Master ignition wire (.011”). The fuel tank and exhaust pipes have been added, and the three Autopulse fuel pumps may be seen on the inside of the frame on the far side in this underside view of the chassis.

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The instrument panel was made as a triple-laminate, which is an old model airplane technique. First the outer face (layer 1) was sanded down to about .025”, then the instruments were drilled out. A piece of clear acetate (layer 2, the middle) was cut from a page protector and was shaped to the outline of the panel. This will form the “glass” lenses over the instruments. A third layer was cut from .010” sheet styrene to the outline of the dash and was airbrushed flat black. When this was dry, layers 1 and 3 were clamped together, and the instrument cutouts were scribed onto layer 3 (the black-painted piece) with a needle, using layer 1 as the template to guide the needle. Separating the layers, the instrument markings were then scribed onto the black layer with the needle.

This removes the black paint, revealing the white styrene beneath, a very effective technique in this scale. The three layers were then glued together.

After the fender unit was airbrushed Dupli-Color Chrysler Merlot Metallic it was rubbed down with Mylar-backed sanding film in decreasing grits down to #1200.

It received several airbrushed coats of Floquil Crystal Cote, which was also rubbed down, then the final polishing was done with Novus 2 plastic polish.

After the engine was mounted, the fender unit was attached to the chassis frame with two screws.

MIG Productions Dark Wash is a product for armor modelers and is excellent for creating depth and shadow around nuts, bolts, components, accessories, and other items to make them stand out. This is a subtle effect but a very effective one in creating the look of more detail. This view shows all of the scratchbuilt detail added to the firewall. The cylindrical tank is the oil reservoir for the automatic chassis lubricating system. The body and hood have Dupli-Color Chrysler Flash Red as a pleasing contrasting color which nicely complements the darker Merlot Metallic.

The flexible exhaust pipe sections are coil springs which have unrealistic open spaces between the coils where the pipes take a bend. To correct this, the springs were given a coat of Micro Kristal Klear, which dries clear and which then can be painted. From left to right in this photo: the first pipe has just been fitted and the open spaces are evident. The second pipe has been painted with Kristal Klear which looks heavy and white, but it’s not time to panic. The third pipe’s Kristal Klear has shrunk as the water vehicle within has dried and it then became clear. The fourth pipe has been brush-painted with Alclad II Chrome, which makes the exhaust pipe look realistic, with no gaps between the coils.

The rear windshield could fold down if the occupants of the rear seat felt sporty during nice weather. All of the “glass,” the wing windows, and the various light lenses were cut from Plastruct .010” clear styrene sheet since the original kit clear parts were warped and unusable due to age. All light lenses were scribed on their inside surfaces with a straight edge and #11 blade to create the lens texture. On the real car the driving lights were connected to the steering linkage and the lights turned with the front wheels. Inside the lights are pale amber MV Products lenses representing bulbs in all ten lights, front and back.

A view of the chassis underside shows the many nuts and bolts that were added, along with the six frame brackets to supporting the running boards, and other added plumbing and wiring items.

An extra taillight was procured from the Hubley Yahoo Group since the real car had two and the kit only provided one. It had to be modified from a left-hand light to a right-hand one, and inside the lenses are red reflectors cut from red transparent styrene, along with hand-lettered “STOP” warning words.

Thin strips of alder wood have been added to the convertible top bows both inside and out. Visible on the body side just above the rear fender is a chrome rest for the top frame to lie in when the top was folded. It was soldered up from brass rod and a brass punched disk.

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By Noel Smith

T

he year 2014 was a very important milestone for IPMS USA, who celebrated their 50th year at the 2014 Hampton Roads, VA. National Convention.

In 2013, IPMS (International Plastic Modelers Society) UK notched up its 50th year, having been founded in London way back in 1963. The concept of forming a plastic modelers society was the brainchild of Peter Elley, who got together a small number of plastic modelers who he knew, with a view to forming a society with like-minded folk. They first met one evening over a pub in London and initially named it the British Plastic Modelers Society. Some of the founding members already had personal model-making contacts in other countries, and the news soon got around that a dedicated plastic modeling society was being formed. Due to this interest abroad, the society was quickly renamed the International Plastic Modelers Society in order to further cultivate those links.

The earliest regular IPMS meetings were held in a hired room above a shop in central London. Soon, many plastic modelers in the UK got to know about this society that was especially for them, and branches began forming throughout Britain. IPMS USA was formed in Seattle in 1964, and chapters soon started to appear all over the country. These two oldest branches of IPMS (UK and USA) have created the building blocks upon which the society has spread, creating branches all over the world. From modest beginnings on both sides of the Atlantic, the society has become the largest scale modeling fraternity in the world. IPMS UK and IPMS USA remain the two largest national IPMS organizations to date.

At the outset, IPMS was set up to be a general modeling club that caters to all model subject interests. It has remained so, and

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true their belief that the society is “By Modelers for Modelers.”

I joined IPMS in 1974 when I met up with some of their guys who were exhibiting at a local model show and I was an individual exhibitor. We got talking (as you do at model shows) and learned that they had a good local branch (chapter) near to where I lived at the time. I went along, liked what I saw, and have been a member ever since.

When I joined IPMS, there were already a number of overseas branches in operation and the list has increased steadily since.

Back in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s IPMS USA leaped way ahead of the UK branch in membership, quality of their magazine, and size of the USA National Convention (The equivalent to the UK National Championships). I would guess that many people worldwide seeing that IPMS USA was a much more prominent organization than the UK IPMS at the time, would have naturally concluded that IPMS was founded in the United States. Possibly many folk today may still have this misconception about where IPMS was originally founded.

As the USA is a vast country compared to the UK, the IPMS USA National Convention relocates each year, and credit where it is due, it is a huge responsibility for the chapter that has to run the convention in their locality in any year, so I take off my hat to those guys in any of those chapters for the amount of organisation they have to take on.

It took the UK a number of years to catch up, and eventually when it relocated to Donington, size-wise it became on a par with the USA IPMS Convention in the early ‘90s and remained so until 1998 when the “Nationals” became “Scale Modelworld” and moved to Telford. The collapse of communism in 1992 opened the doors to many modelers from Poland, the Czech Re-

public, and other former Warsaw Pact countries, who are now in the EU and can travel freely. This has had a positive impact on the Scale Modelworld show.

The IPMS UK Scale Modelworld event has developed into being the largest scale modeling show in the world. The emphasis now is that IPMS UK is “The Society for Scale Modelers,” as opposed to being purely for plastic modelers. As I mentioned, many IPMS members travel from all over Europe and beyond to be there each year to either compete or simply to be there, as they see it now as the premier model show to attend. The competition goes from strength to strength, with automotive subjects increasing in number year upon year. The show is also open to the public as paying guests, and this, of course, is good for the society as a whole to publicize what it does and attract new members.

THE IDEA: After the long slog of making my scratchbuilt Bugatti Type 59 for the 2012 Scale Modelworld Show, I thought about doing something where I could try out some different modeling techniques, be a bit experimental as a project, and not be straightjacketed into making an exact scale replica. So having set myself a task, I thought what better than to make a model to celebrate the 50th anniversary of IPMS?

The importance of the show is reflected in the fact that now, some major mainstream kit manufacturers announce new products there instead of at normal trade shows. Also, Scale Modelworld is considered the main venue for many cottage industries to showcase their aftermarket items and specialist kits and accessories that mainstream manufacturers would not find viable.

I would imagine that the same goes for American cottage industries at the USA Convention.

There are many model making organizations all over the world.

But how many can truly claim to be a general modeling organization that caters to all modeling subjects to suit a variety of very different interests, is truly international, and has the longevity of IPMS?

model permanently on a base, it would not matter for this particular model, as all of the underside of the vehicle would not be seen anyway when it is mounted.

Before starting the model, I finished off building a 1/12 scale Monogram ‘57 Chevy that could be built stock, street or strip. I decided to build it stock, so this left me with some really nice extras in the way of custom goodies that I could cross-kit and use on the A35 Van. Airfix does not actually state the scale of the kit on the box, or even that it is in fact an Austin A35 Van. It looks to me to be about 1/12 scale, and the custom parts from the Chevy kit looked about right when offered up to the van kit parts.

I decided that I was not going to hack the van body about and flare the wheel arches out or anything, but simply use some of the goodies from the Chevy kit, such as the nice set of Cragar wheels and the tires, custom seats, steering wheel, and Hurst gear shift lever. I would be going mild, not wild!

I got my encouragement to make this model from what the “Beyond the Box” IPMS UK Special Interest Group guys were doing with all the Airfix Wallace and Gromit kits. This group lets their imagination run wild and come up with some really esoteric stuff and guarantee a chuckle or two when you see what they do with these kits! An Airfix Anti-Pesto Van kit from the movie “Curse of the Were Rabbit” was lurking somewhere in my own stash, so I thought that doing something from it for the IPMS UK 50th Anniversary might simply be an appropriate bit of fun for this special year. Particularly as it is based on an Austin A35 van, and there were lots of these actually in use on the roads of the UK back in 1963 when IPMS was founded.

The kit shape overall looked OK, but a number of things on it have been over simplified a bit, as the Airfix target market was younger modelers. Looking at all the underpinnings, the kit has been made as if this vehicle has front wheel drive. The subject of this kit was in reality a rear wheel drive vehicle with an inline four-cylinder engine and gearbox, with a drive shaft to the rear wheels via a differential gearbox on the back axle. In the kit the exhaust pipe runs back through what would be the driveshaft channel on the real thing. However, as I would be painting all the underside and chassis area flat black, and mounting the

Before anything else, there was a substantial amount of work to be done to fill in and rub down all the moulded in dents and “rust” patches that Airfix decided in their wisdom to have on the bodywork and doors. It was not exactly subtly done either! The target market for the kit was younger modelers, so I reckon Airfix could have got away with simulating the rust with decals! Anyway, that’s my gripe, because of all the filling in and smoothing that had to be done. I wanted a smooth roof line so the round hole for the dome shaped flashing lamp in the cab roof had to go, as well as the moulded on ventilator further back on the roof, so again more filling in and rubbing down.

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A number of things were going through my mind as I visualized what the final project would look like. I had a few criteria in mind. The cab area would be mildly customized utilizing some of the ’57 Chevy interior parts, and the loading bay would be wood paneled all around after suitable internal body modifications were made prior to painting. I was looking to do nothing with the chassis/under paneling except for fitting a couple of polished exhaust trim pipes to the silencer box made from aluminium tubing, and substituting the Cragar wheels for the Airfix kit ones. Doing a dry run, I found that the front track width needed to be reduced a bit so that the Cragars when fitted were within the front wheel arches. This would be taken care of during the build with a razor saw and the chassis sprayed prior to the wheels being fitted.

My first job was to prepare a number of 1mm thick strips of plywood cut to 10mm wide (approx. 3/8”). I was lucky enough to be able to cut mine on a laser, but a power fretsaw/Vibro-Saw with a rip fence fitted to guide the strips would have done the job just as well. I used some walnut coloured wood stain on each piece and set them aside to dry. When dry, they were given a quick very gentle rub with some fine sandpaper and brushed with satin clear varnish.

The paneled pieces were test fit into the body to make sure the fit was correct.

Cardboard templates were made for the inner sides, load bay roof, front and rear of the partition panel, and roof lining for the driver’s cab area.

The interior utilized various scratchbuilt and/or modified parts along with some goodies from the ‘57 Chevy kit (the red parts).

I marked a line down the center of each template, and working from this line outwards, stuck down strips of the ply that were previously prepared. PVA adhesive was used to stick the plywood strips to the cardboard, and when they had set and dried any excess was trimmed off to follow the template shape with a fretsaw.

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The custom seats from the Chevy were assembled, and then all the mold lines were cleaned up. Both seats needed to be made higher, so the hollow undersides of each were filled using scrap bits of plastic, and two plinths made from thick Perspex to raise the seats to be able to clear the transmission tunnel. These were primed in acrylic flat white and then with a beige color flat enamel. When dry, the seat backs and head restraints were coated in light brown drawing ink to give the effect of polished soft leather. The textured areas did not have the drawing ink wash but were dry brushed with white acrylic with a slight touch of brown mixed in. To finish off the seats I carefully ran a fine 0.3 mm tipped brown artists fiber pen down each side of the raised edge piping. This method gives much greater control than using a thin paintbrush, enabling consistent lining. Colored pencils would do this as well but need constant sharpening. Alterna-

tively, a mapping pen could be used with ink or thinned paint.

If you do have to use a fine-tip paint brush however, thin the paint until it is quite runny. If you then touch the loaded brush gently into the edge of the piping at different points, capillary action will draw the paint along the edge in the recess.

Plastic card was used to make a thin panel to hide gaps at the sides and behind the dashboard, and the clutch, brake and accelerator pedals all shortened to a more realistic length. The plan was also to carpet the cab interior floor with a suitably colored material and blend it with the plastic card panel behind the dashboard. I had some odd bits of flock-covered Fablon that was beige colored, so I decided to utilize this for carpeting. Flock-covered Fablon is a self adhesive vinyl sheet material that is used for the tops of card tables, etc., and generally stocked in various colours in hardware stores. It may be known by another trade name in the US. I wanted to have a have a little tongue in cheek fun with some of the extra bits and pieces I would be adding to the model. The interior has miniatures of some of my personal IPMS stuff lying around, plus scaled down magazines, newsletters, club flyers and booklets, etc.

The custom steering wheel from the Chevy had the spokes removed and remade from aluminium litho plate for a more realistic appearance. The Hurst gearshift was modified and shortened. A small console of supplementary instruments that came from the Chevy kit was fitted to the driver’s side of the dashboard, and a scratchbuilt oddments tray was made from plastic card strip and fitted to the top of the transmission tunnel in front of the gear lever position.

I detailed the Cragar wheels by adding a valve from plastic rod and some detail painting of the Cragar logo. The wheels were given a thin coat of Tamiya Smoke.

This is a translucent acrylic with a grey tint to it. I use this on any chromed parts in a kit as it protects the plating and also tones down the brightness of the vacuum plated plastic to a more realistic look. This paint can be thinned to a watery consistency with Tamiya thinners and a fine brush used to let it flow around such things as wheel nuts etc. to pick out the detail. The tire treads were given a rub with some #200 grit wet and dry for a used look and the sidewalls also rubbed over with a worn Scotchbrite pad to dull the shine of the vinyl for a more realistic appearance.

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Van body: Once all the initial filling and rubbing down was done, the body was primed with automotive matte white acrylic primer. For the next stage, all of the body was masked off except for the inlaid side panels and the rear door inlaid panels. These were given a few coats of gloss white car acrylic from an aerosol, allowed to dry and then rubbed down to a fine shine. I now had the required surfaces ready to take the collage of various decals.

Generally they went down well onto the gloss white surface, and this took some time due to the number of decals I was using. When all the decals were placed they were sealed down with clear gloss automotive acrylic varnish. Due to the uneven surfaces where decals overlapped, this was going to take a number of coats of varnish to end up with a smooth surface. I used a variety of decals to make up a collage on each of the inlaid panels. I would certainly be looking to use newer, very thin decals with good opacity that could be sealed in with fewer coats of clear acrylic if I were to do anything like this again. Unfortunately, on this project I was using a mixture of decals of varying ages, thickness and quality!

fashion, as a stencil instead of a mask, using the piece of film the logo was cut from and not the logo itself, as the roof was to be left in gold and the logo on it in candy blue. Once all the stencils and masks were in place, the candy blue was applied to the body, doors, and the spare wheel cover. The paint was left to harden off before removing the Frisk Film from the logos. The masks covering the inlaid decal collage panels was removed and a little candy blue in the airbrush was then used freehand to carefully fog in the edges of the decal collages to blend with the main body colour around them. Finally, a few more coats of clear lacquer were applied to level the finish off before polishing out. I used some very fine wet and dry (used wet) to flatten off the surface and then used a cotton cloth to polish it up.

Once satisfied with the decal collages and clear sealing, the next step was to take all the masking off the body. All the panels that had the decal collages were now masked off, ready for the main body color to be applied to the remaining parts of the body.

I was looking to obtain a real metalflake finish to start off with.

Doing it the way of pro sprayers was not an option for me, as I did not have suitable equipment for spraying real metal flakes.

First of all I was looking at automotive metallic paints, but as luck would have it I came across the Plastikote glitter spray aerosols in gold and silver, an American product developed for crafts people. I bought the gold and tested it on a piece of scrap.

It glittered beautifully, like real metal flake, but the finish turned out to be a rough texture due to the flakes. This turned out to be another surface that would need multiple coats of clear acrylic to level it off, as rubbing it down first with sandpaper would dull the sparkle effect. As the clear coats built up it was starting to look good, and I was getting pleased with the result.

My basic idea was to get the metalflake leveled off as well as the collaged panels that had already been done. Then when dry, to remove all the masking from the van body, and give the whole thing a few coats of clear, so at this stage the van was completely gold apart from the inlaid panels with the decal collages.

My idea was to leave the roof in gold and the rest of the van in candy blue over the gold with some IPMS 50th logos worked into the scheme. At this stage I needed to re-mask the panels with the decal collages, in order for the edges to be freehand fogged with an airbrush later on after the candy colour blue was applied to much of the van body.

The IPMS 50th logos on the roof, hood, and doors were done by using a product named Frisk Film. It is very thin semi-clear vinyl sheet that has a low tack adhesive on one side. First of all I found a lettering style named “Magneto” that I liked in the fonts on my PC. Then I created, sized, and printed off the logos onto a sheet of paper, and taped the printed sheet down onto a smooth board. The Frisk Film can be laid on top of this with the backing paper intact, and the design traced on to it in pencil. Using a very sharp scalpel, the lettering was then cut out of the Frisk film to be used on the model. On the hood and doors, the actual lettering that was cut out was applied to the gold base color as a mask. For the roof logo, the Frisk Film was applied in a reverse

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I made a hood ornament from a scrap bit of white metal and shaped it like the old original IPMS UK logo from the ‘70s. This would make a nice contrast to the new UK logo on the spare wheel cover. As a finishing touch I made up some old style UK number plates from black plastic card and plastic raised lettering to read IPM563 (IPMS63) that would have still been in use in the UK at the time that IPMS was founded.

The load area at the back has some of the old magenta table covers used at many of our previous U.K. Nationals from way back at Stoneleigh, through Donington and up to the 2011 SMW at Telford. They were made from rolled up tissue paper and stained with Rose Tyrien Designers Guache. Also in the back were scaled down Wallace and Gromit kit boxes for this van, various modelling magazines, two of Gerald Wingrove’s books, odd posters and some prints for framing. A small table was made from bits of plastic card, square and tube section on and around which are placed some IPMS magazines, mugs, lanyards, lapel badges, a “Join IPMS Here” sign and some Model Cars Magazine banners.

A current IPMS UK round lapel pin badge made a nice logo to fit to the spare wheel cover.

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AERO with Jairus Watson

ENGINES

W

e all love more horsepower, right? The bigger the engine and the more cylinders, the better–so why not go “Aero” for your next rod project? Aero… as in aircraft engines!

There’s a lot of 1/24 scale aircraft material available out there. One only needs to look to the other shelves in the shop and not be deterred by the sticker price, which can be sizeable. Plus one has to get over the acknowledgement that you’ll only use 10% of the injection molded plastic in the box!

Better remember to use the directions this time though, because who knows how these things go together? Clearly this is definitely not your father’s 442 Oldsmobile!

Allison V-1710 12-cylinder in-line by AMT With virtually thousands of these engines left after WWII, their presence led to the development of many a dragster and unlimited hydroplane for decades to come.

Today they may be rare and valuable, but in 1948 they sold for pennies on the dollar. The engine can be found in kit form at quite a reasonable fee, having been re-released in various forms and in a couple of kits. Since the Allison engine is already molded for car use (the power take-off shaft) it only needs the addition of a transmission/rear axle to make it a proper power plant for terra firma. Horsepower is 1710; power to weight ratio is 1.05/1. The latest AMT release goes for about $20.

Here it is doing pusher duty, mounted on an AMT ‘57 Chrysler 300.

Nakajima Sakae A6M 14-cylinder radial by Trumpeter The A6M radial produced 950-1130 horsepower in standard mode and was installed in a number of WWII combat aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Thousands of planes were found after the war in running condition–however, most were scrapped and ultimately recycled into tin-plate toys for the American market. Even so, a handful are still sitting today, rotting in jungles of the many islands dotting the Pacific from Hawaii to Hong Kong. Power to weight ratio of the engine is 0.869/1, making it the lightest engine of the four featured here. Today you and I only need to buy it off the shelf (the Trumpeter kit is running between $70-$80) in order to kitbash this neat little Revell 1937 Pickup street rod with a ’34 sedan grille shell.

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Daimler-Benz db605 V-12 in-line by Airfix Uber rare today–regardless, it was Germany’s most mass-produced aircraft powerplant during WWII, installed in many airframes during the war, including the well known HE 177 and BF 109. Rated at between 1475-1775hp, it provides a power to weight ratio of 1.02/1. In kit form it’s found in two models by Airfix, the cheapest is the Bf 109 at $50. The most interesting thing about this engine design is that it’s upside down! The crankcase runs along the top of the engine, while the two cam covers are at the bottom along with two oil scavenger pickups. Intake manifold and fuel injection system is located in the valley. The variable speed supercharger is on one side of the block, and the engine has a single overhead cam per bank with four valves per cylinder, direct fuel injection, and dual spark plugs. No carburetor and the fuel injection self-adjusts to the altitude, so no mixture fiddling! All that fabulously cool technology in only 1938? Perfect for a T-bucket “Gow Job,” dontcha think?

Napier Sabre H-24-cylinder boxer sleeve valve engine by Airfix This one model kit sells for more than a hundred, but heck, it’s only money!

Besides, it has freaking 24 cylinders! Back in the day the power plant produced 2200 to 3500 hp depending on the variant. Power to weight ratio of the Sabre H-24 engine is 1.29/1, making it the most powerful piston engine of the time… and unfortunately also the heaviest. I illustrated this piece carefully enclosed inside an era correct coachbuilders dream of an envelope, right down to the split windshield and side pipes. Base body is the AMT “Black Force” with the roof and running boards removed. The rest is up to the builder, but an opening hood is primary in order to show off that huge 24-cylinder “aero” engine.

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KitReviews LaFERRARI Revell #4332

VERSIONS: Stock MOLDED COLORS: White, Clear, Chrome Plated SCALE: 1/24 MSRP: $29.99 USD NEW TOOL ENGINE: The actual LaFerrari is a hybrid, however, this kit focuses on the traditional powerplant. Twenty-one pieces comprise the mighty V-12 with excellent engraving throughout, broken down in typical Revell of Germany fashion. Of special note are the delicate nature of the two-piece tubular headers and twopiece muffler units. Decals are provided for the upper transmission case, the hybrid case cover, and the intake plenum/engine cover. Photos of the real car’s engine room are out there online and in recent publications; study them and use them as a painting and decaling guide for this complex mill, it deserves it.

CHASSIS: The one-piece aerodynamic chassis pan features fine engraving, molded-in airflow splitters, front lower A-arms and rear lower A-arms. Front suspension is a nine-piece assembly with posable steering via separate kingpins and tie rod. Rear suspension is a twelve-piece unit with separate swing axles and shocks. The front inner fenders, rear upper frame, electric battery housing, front mounted twin electric radiator, and electronics box with connectors are all separate components, as are the covers for the rear air diffusers. The amount of detail packed into the engine bay of this kit has to be seen to be believed–it’s definitely a new high for Revell of Germany.

WHEELS AND TIRES: Four chromed 20-inch Ferrari cast five-spoke wheels with decalized wheel centers ride on big-and-little hollow, low-profile, no-name rubber tires that have excellent tread detail. Note that all four wheels have excellent drilled disc brake detail trapped between the wheel halves.

INTERIOR: The interior bucket has only the center console molded in place.

Side panels are separate with excellent engraving and separate grab handles, with decalized speaker grilles and marker light lenses. The one-piece form fitting seats are simply gorgeous and each has no less than ten upholstery trim decals! The dash is a five-piece assembly with good engraving, separate squared off steering wheel, separate steering column with paddle shifters, and no less than 13 detail decals for the dash, gauges and steering wheel. A freestanding pedal unit and gear selector lever are separate. Notable here is a separate headliner insert with a separate rear view mirror!

BODY: The LaFerrari body shape is complex and Revell of Germany has pulled it off superbly. The one-piece body has separate side scoop inserts and has the

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by Larry Greenberg rear inner fenders molded in place. At the front are a separate fascia, air scoop louver brace, and two chrome headlight reflectors with separate clear covers.

At the rear are the separate center divider panel with prancing horse logo and light lens, two two-piece taillight units, two chromed dial exhaust tips, and two tiny clear backup lights. Nearly all areas meant to be mesh insets are given as clear parts with the option of covering them with black mesh material included in the kit (a cutting template is printed as part of the instruction sheet). The rear engine cover/upper body is a model in itself, with all inner scoops and air intakes molded separately with the aforementioned clear/mesh covers, an internal hinge and a pair of prop rods to keep the rear end open and show off the engine room. Wipers and side mirrors (with separate lenses) are separate components as well.

DECALS: In addition to the items mentioned previously, the decal sheet contains blackout panels for the rear lower fascia, rocker panels and lower front fascia and dark gray exhaust tip surrounds; also a Ferrari script in silver for the rear deck and the yellow-and-black Ferrari emblem for the nose. There are two Cavallino shields for the car sides, front radiator screen mesh, rear diffuser panel mesh, mirror faces, inner rear scoop carbon fiber trim, and rear window side carbon fiber trim. Two black and silver Euro-style LaFerrari plates, two Italy Euro-style FE 467 LF plates, two French FE 64 LAF Euro-style plates, two Illinois FERRARI plates, and two New York-current blue/orange LA-001 plates complete the contents of the decal sheet.

COMMENTS: The limited edition LaFerrari is the automaker’s first hybrid design, and what a hybrid it is! The complex design of the body attracts attention from all angles. Obviously, this is yet again a Revell of Germany tooling packaged in a Revell USA box and from what’s here, it’s plain to see that RoG have hit one out of the park. The level of detail in this kit surpasses just about all of their previous Ferrari tools–and that’s saying something. Be forewarned–this is no shake-and-bake build, and a goodly amount of patience will be needed in assembly. But with the right amount of research (and there’s a ton of detail photos of the car to be had online), extra detailing and deft painting, this LaFerrari is a class standout. How does it stack up to the superb (but far more expensive) Tamiya offering? Pretty well, and though it may not have the “je ne sais quoi” of the Japanese product, it ain’t no slouch. Highly recommended? Oh yeah.

Love Ferraris? You gotta have this one. Already built Tamiya’s? Get one of these anyway and do your own comparisons. It’s THAT good!

PETE BROCK’S BRE DATSUN 510 Revell #1445

VERSIONS: Racing MOLDED COLORS: White, Clear, Chrome Plated SCALE: 1/25 MSRP: $25.99 USD REISSUE ENGINE: Datsun’s 1.6 liter OHC four produced only 96 horsepower in the street stock 4-520, but breathed on by Pete Brock, it became a little powerhouse.

The twelve-piece engine with four-speed manual transmission is very nicely detailed, with excellent overall engraving. The cam cover and Weber carbs/ intake manifold are chromed; on the real car they weren’t, so removing the plating from these components and painting them in their correct colors is a must-do. Also, the intake venturis on the Weber carbs are molded solid and should be carefully drilled out. Revell provide a length of gray vinyl tubing to plumb the dry sump oil system and the coolant reservoir. While a nice touch and very usable, the actual car’s systems were plumbed with braided lines and compression fittings, both of which are available from a number of model car aftermarket suppliers such as Detail Master and Pro Tech Model Parts. There are several good photographs of the engine room of restored BRE 510s online that will serve you well in superdetailing this little gem of an engine.

CHASSIS: The one-piece chassis pan also serves as the interior floor and has the front inner fenders molded in place. The gas tank bottom, motor mounts, and the transmission crossmember are the only separate pieces for this.

General engraving is good but simplified. Front suspension is a six-piece assembly with separate MacPherson struts/spindles. Posable steering is not indicated here, but an enterprising modeler can make the steering work with a little ingenuity. Rear suspension is a twelve-piece unit with separate shocks, a three-piece rear stabilizer, and a nicely detailed IRS setup not too dissimilar to that of its big brother 240Z. The “megaphone” at the end of the one-piece exhaust pipe must be hollowed out for realism. Revell did not skimp on the engine room details, which include a two-piece radiator wall and core, detailed stepped firewall, coolant tank, oil tank, external oil filter, oil line manifold, brake fluid reservoir, master cylinder, steering box and shaft, and oil cooler.

COMMENTS: Issued for the first time in 1972 as #H-1404, this BRE Datsun 510 was quite a groundbreaker for Revell, as it featured an excellent level of detail plus the inclusion of vinyl tubing to simulate engine plumbing. Its first reissue was in 1979 by the short-lived Revell low-cost-kit brand Advent (#3143), without chrome plating, but a silver colored plastic tree in its place. Its last appearance was in 1996 as kit #1440 in Revell’s Selected Subjects Program, this being the last time for the original kit decals representing John Morton’s actual 1972 SCCA racer. This is absolutely one of Revell’s nicest kits of the 1970s, decently detailed throughout and still providing enough meat on the bones for the superdetailer to work their magic. The inclusion of the gray vinyl tubing is a nice touch, but as said before, braided lines were used in these areas on the real car along with compression fittings on the ends. Taking the time to plumb the engine in this fashion will surely spiff up the engine room to contest quality standards. Note also the wheel centers were painted, not chromed, as the aforementioned online photos of the restored car will show. Replacing the two-piece “steamroller” tires with more adequate hollow no-names improves the kit 100 percent. Why Revell molded the taillight in with the rear panel in body color is a mystery to me, but they did, and careful painting is the only workaround. No doubt one of the aftermarket decal guys will bring back the original decal sheet for those who want to re-create the championship car. Take your time here with assembly and detailing, as there’s a bit of delicacy that can be unforgiving to the ham-handed among us. In any event, Revell’s Datsun 510, whether the BRE version or the Brock Buster street version that will likely be reissued eventually, is a super little kit that is well worth the time. Highly recommended? Oh yeah.

Enjoy the build.

DON GARLITS’ WYNNSCHARGER MPC #MPC810

WHEELS AND TIRES: Chromed four-spoke BRE cast mag wheels ride on allnew black vinyl hollow no-name racing tires, a sight better than the “steamroller” two-piece vinyl tires included with the original issue of the kit.

INTERIOR: Building up off the chassis floor pan, the interior floor features only structural engraving and a shift boot molded in. Interior side panels are stock and have decent three-dimensional detailing. A single shell-style racing seat is given with molded-in belt detail (also included as decals for those preferring not to paint these), this surrounded by a seven-piece (!) roll cage and a one-piece rear seat filler. The racing-style dash has easy to pick out instrument engraving, a separate column, firewall-mounted hanging pedals, and a small racing steering wheel that will need the holes in the spokes drilled out. For those who prefer decals to painting their gauges, Revell provides these on the new kit’s decal sheet. A small switch box (with detail decals) and a washer reservoir are also interior-mounted.

BODY: Revell did a good job nailing the shape and contours of the boxy little 510. The one-piece body is delicate, with door handles, stock chrome trim, wipers, and trunk pins molded in place. The front and rear fascias are separate. At the front are a stock front fascia, a chromed grille with two headlight covers and two oil cooler screens locating where the passenger side headlights should be, and a front air dam. At the rear is a stock rear pan (with taillight detail molded in, requiring careful painting!), rear bumper, and fuel filler neck. The separate hood has delicate underside engraving, but unfortunately a few circular mold marks that must be filled and sanded smooth. All clear window components are thin and exhibit very little optical distortion.

DECALS: On the new decal sheet, in addition to those items mentioned earlier, are all the markings needed to do the restored 510 representing John Morton’s 1971-72 SCCA championship car, along with a white taillight panel, four silver hood pins, two black and silver rocker panels, six black window clips, two black rear window tie-down straps, three silver keylocks, and two silver trim panels for the C-pillars.

VERSIONS: AA/Fuel Dragster MOLDED COLORS: White, Clear, Chrome Plated SCALE: 1/25 MSRP: $28.99 USD REISSUE ENGINE: MPC, back in its heyday, was quite good at drag engines, and the Garlits’ kit mill is a fine example. Comprising twenty-five parts, the drag Hemi features a detailed three-piece blower, two-piece Enderle injector hat, chromed dry sump oil pan and Mallory magneto, blower-mounted tach, chromed zoomie headers, Lenco two-speed transmission, front mounted fuel pump with integral fuel line, and separate chromed drive pulleys with a separate black vinyl drive belt. The block, heads and intake manifold are generic, and the shape of the heads and valve covers is incorrect–in fact, the shape and depth of the valve covers are inaccurate, this being confirmed by the photos of the actual dragster.

Replacing these with aftermarket items or more accurately shaped items from your spares box would be a big help. Those same photos show a different rib pattern to the blower casing, which is a dark anodized gray in color, and a Crower four-port injector hat rather than the kit’s Enderle three-port unit. The zoomie-style headers are nice and meaty compared to other dragster kits of the period and yes, the ends need to be drilled out for a hollow look and they need …continued on page 50

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I

was an absolute gearhead at an early age and read all the car magazines–Hot Rod, Rod & Custom, Car Craft, etc. It was only a coincidence that these magazines were printed in a small format that happened to fit into a textbook. Right! I studied those magazines more than my books, which partially explained my poor grades. Unfortunately I was not tested for my automotive knowledge!

There were two very popular dragster chassis manufacturers in the late ‘50s-early ‘60s: Chassis Research and Dragmaster. Dragmaster built turn-key cars for customers and also campaigned their own dragster. Kits have been produced which contained these classic dragster chassis. Monogram issued the Sizzler, which had a Chassis Research frame but was an odd scale–about 1/19. Fortunately they recently released a version of that kit in 1/25 scale called the Slingster. Revell issued a Mooneyes dragster kit and a parts pack with a Dragmaster chassis in 1/25 scale in the early ‘60s. It has never been reissued. However, Revell did include a Dragmaster chassis in another ‘60s kit, Mickey Thompson’s Attempt 1, which has been reissued several times.

I fell in love with drag racing and built any and all models that depicted drag cars in the early ‘60s. The NHRA and I literally grew up together. I originally built the Mooneyes dragster back in the ‘60s when it was first issued; however, none of the models I built in the ‘60s survived the many moves I made back and forth across the USA during my stint in the service, my education, and my career. And if they had, none were built to contest quality standards even though I had about 10 years of model building experience under my belt when I first built that kit. However, I recently went on a dragster model building binge and was able to add eight new front engined dragsters and competition cars to my collection (with several more planned). Three were built using Monogram’s Slingster kit and three using Revell’s Attempt 1 kit. It is hard to believe but 2014 is my 60th year of model building! Now that my model building skills are somewhat improved it was time to build another Mooneyes dragster model.

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Building my model of the Mooneyes dragster required the following: a modified Dragmaster chassis and the body panels from the Revell Attempt 1 kit; a pair of four-window Halibrand rear mags from the AMT ‘33 Willys kit; a pair of blackwall M&H piecrust slicks from the AMT slicks parts pack; the small block Chevy engine from the Revell 283 Chevy parts pack with a front mounted blower; and the Chevy headers from the Blueprinter parts pack.

I also created fresh, accurate artwork for the decals for my model based on Peterson Publishing archived photos in the July 2012 issue of Hot Rod Deluxe.

To make the project easier, I had high quality digital images of the original Mooneyes dragster, which has been restored and resides in Don Garlits’ Drag Race Museum in Ocala, Florida.

Dean Moon’s Mooneyes dragster is arguably one of the most iconic dragsters of the ‘60s. Revell released it in several 1/25 scale model forms: as a kit (H-1231, 1963), as a double kit with the Sanitary T (H-1223, 1963), and as a parts pack chassis (C1131, 1963). None of these have ever been reissued. The kits were literally collections of parts packs. Instead of waiting for Revell to reissue any of these kits or parts packs, or spending a small fortune to buy an original 1963 kit, one can kitbash an accurate 1/25 scale Mooneyes dragster using the following kits and parts packs: Revell’s Mickey Thompson’s Attempt 1 Record Car kit #7119; AMT’s 1933 Willys kit #6570 (or any of the previous issues or reissues), Revell’s Chevy 283 engine parts pack #85-7251, the Blueprinter Engines and Grilles parts pack #8158

or the recently re-issued AMT GM Engines parts pack #AMTPP011, and AMT’s M&H Racemaster Drag Slicks parts pack #AMT-PP001. Both kits and all the parts packs are readily available and affordable, unlike the original Mooneyes kits and chassis parts pack which command high prices if you can find them (they are styrene versions of unobtainum).

You now have a recipe to kitbash your own model of an iconic dragster from the early ‘60s. I have a few more front engined dragsters under construction and in planning, which may become future articles. But for now, here’s how I built my Mooneyes dragster…

Gussets were added between the roll bars and the top frame rail using triangles of 0.01” thick styrene sheet.

The chassis required the most work of any of the major components. I started by removing the parts painted here in white: the “webbing” below the top of the roll bar, the short connector at the top of the roll bars, the push bar, and the projections on the bottom of the center rear frame rail. I made a new rear upright for the roll bar and the short piece connecting both roll bars at the top with styrene rod.

The front crossmembers were replaced with 0.05” styrene rod to eliminate the joints in the centers.

I glued 6mm x 6mm squares of 0.01” thick styrene sheet on the outer sides of the frame where the front engine support bolts to the frame and added bolt heads made from 0.5mm thick slices of 0.03” hexagonal rod to the front and rear engine mounts on both sides of the chassis, an often missed detail.

Lightening holes in the front engine support were drilled out.

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I scraped the mold parting lines on the frame rails with a fresh #11 X-acto knife blade. After a light sanding with a series of sanding sticks, I sprayed the completed frame with two wet coats of Tamiya White Fine Surface Primer. After that dried in my dehydrator overnight, I airbrushed two wet coats of Tamiya TS-16 Yellow on the frame.

All the body panels were cleaned up of ejector pin marks and mold lines and wet sanded with a #2,000 grit polishing cloth before receiving two wet coats of Tamiya White Fine Surface Primer. After allowing the primer to dry for a day, I airbrushed the inner body panel surfaces with Tamiya AS-12 Bare Metal. After the body panels dried overnight in my dehydrator, the inner surfaces were masked with Tamiya Masking Tape and the outer surfaces were airbrushed with Tamiya TS-16 Yellow and placed back into the dehydrator overnight.

The body side panels required removal of the rear projections marked here in white on the panel on the left. I used an X-acto razor saw to remove them, followed by sanding with a coarse sanding stick. The modified panel is on the right.

The headers were modified by cutting the inaccurate flanges off with an X-acto razor saw at an angle so the front tube was shorter than the rear tube, allowing the headers to angle out more at the rear to clear the slicks. Resin header flanges for a small block Chevy V8 from Scale Auto Details were glued to the header pipes using Super Glue. At the top is the original header, and below, a modified header.

The tach mounting hole on the cowl panel was filled with styrene rod using IPS Weld-On #4 followed by a coat of Squadron Green Putty.

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The Parts Pack engine assembly was followed except for the modified headers, removing the molded on oil filter, using a bell housing from the Attempt 1 kit, and scratchbuilding a Vertex magneto from pieces of telescoping K&S aluminum tubing, along with a black pre-wired magneto cap from Morgan Automotive Detail with the cap decal from the Mooneyes Dragster decal set.

I drilled the heads to accept spark plug wires. The engine block, heads, and oil pan were stripped of chrome. They were assembled and sprayed with Tamiya White Fine Surface Primer before receiving two wet coats of Tamiya TS-16 Yellow. All chrome was stripped using Purple Power Cleaner and redone where appropriate, by airbrushing Alclad II Chrome over Testors Classic Black. The headers and bell housing were also airbrushed with Alclad II Chrome. The injector was drilled for throttle linkage and fuel lines and a fuel distribution block was added at the rear of the injector. Fuel lines were simulated with lengths of fine black insulted wire. A hydraulic throttle was scratchbuilt using 1mm brass tubing and scraps of 0.04” styrene sheet sanded to shape. A hydraulic line was run from the slave cylinder through the firewall on the right side. Photoetched throttle arms and a bell crank from Machined Aluminum Specialties were used to complete the throttle mechanism. Chrome Mylar 1/32” tape was used to represent the straps on the header tubes.

The hose and clamp decals from the Mooneyes Dragster decal set were used on the intake tubes.

Halibrand four-window rear mag wheels from the AMT ‘33 Willys kit were stripped of chrome and drilled to accept a valve stem and more realistic wheel studs and lug nuts. The studs were made from 6mm lengths of 0.02” styrene rod, the lug nuts from 0.5mm thick slices of drilled 0.04” hexagonal rod. The wheels were refinished with Alclad II Chrome and a valve stem was made from fine black insulated wire. The lug nuts and studs were painted with Model Master Steel Metalizer before adding them to the wheels. Piecrust M&H slicks from the AMT parts pack had their contact area sanded with a coarse sanding stick.

The front wheels are photoetched/machined aluminum parts from Machined Aluminum Specialties. The rim was drilled and a valve stem was added; the tires came from the parts box.

The Moon tank is a machined aluminum item from Detail Master that I drilled for fuel lines. Black 0.06mm insulated wire was used along with #1 fittings from Detail Master for fuel lines from the Moon tank to the fuel pump.

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The rear end was sprayed with Tamiya TS-30 Silver Leaf. The rear end cover was sprayed with Model Master Stainless Steel Metalizer. Straps were added to the seat sides with photoetched screw heads, a detail most often missed.

The Mooneyes Dragster decals from Scale Auto Details were applied, allowed to dry overnight, then two wet coats of Tamiya TS-13 Clear were airbrushed over the body panels and frame.

The seat was sprayed with Tamiya TS-14 Black and after drying the rear of the seat was masked with Tamiya Masking Tape and the seat was sprayed with Tamiya TS-29 Semi-Gloss Black. Seat belt decals from Colorado Decals were added with Simpson logo decals from Scale Auto Details. The head rest was made by laminating 0.01” thick scored styrene sheet to printer’s aluminum sheet, then bending it to shape. The back was painted with Testor’s Classic Black, the front with Tamiya Black.

Aftermarket Sources: Detail Master Model Car Garage Scale Auto Details Morgan Automotive Detail Colorado Decals

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Machined Aluminum Specialties Evergreen Styrene Plastruct Styrene K&S tubing

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I added screw heads to the body panels from a photoetched set made by Model Car Garage (no longer in their catalog). I used small dabs of Future to attach the screw heads.

This model has been on my “to do” list for quite some time. The recent release of the AMT slicks parts pack provided period correct pie-crust M&H slicks. I am glad I was able to add this iconic ‘60s era dragster to my collection of front engined dragster models.

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Building a Bare Bones, No Frills 1957 Dodge D100 • By Cliff Read

I

n 1957, Dodge found itself without a stylish, high-end pickup truck to compete with Chevy’s Cameo Carrier and Ford’s Ranchero, so the styling department came up with the idea of joining the Dodge station wagon rear fenders with a long wheelbase pickup box. The resulting limited production vehicle was called the “Sweptside,” and came with extra side trim and an upscale interior.

During the three years that the option was available, truck historians believe that less than 3,000 Sweptsides were produced.

Quite frankly, although I’ve seen them in pictures and in restored condition in recent years, as a kid during the ‘50s I never saw a single one on the street. The Dodge pickups (badged as “Fargo” pickups here in Canada) that I did see daily in 1957 were the basic D100 work trucks in both long and short wheelbase configurations.

The seldom seen upscale Sweptside has been produced by various toy and diecast manufacturers in a variety of scales over the years, although to my knowledge, no manufacturer has ever made a plastic kit of any ‘57 Dodge truck in any configuration. That’s just the type of challenge I enjoy–to build a model of a vehicle that isn’t available in traditional kit form.

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Since the MPC Little Red Express pickup model used essentially the same pickup box that had been used on Dodge’s basic D100s since 1955, I could use that kit and a modified diecast cab as the starting point for an interesting basic truck project, or to reverse an old expression, make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse.

The project languished in my imagination for a couple of years until a damaged Danbury Mint ‘57 Dodge Sweptside came along for next to nothing at a local toy show last summer. I immediately began to accumulate the parts that I’d need to achieve my goal. To add to my challenge, I decided (with a couple of minor exceptions) to make the most basic pickup available from Dodge in ‘57–six cylinder, small rear window, dog dish hubcaps on open steel wheels, blackwalls, standard interior (simple bench seat, driver’s-side-only armrest and sun visor, no inside rear-view mirror, and column mounted three speed shift). I even decided to paint the vehicle in what was by far Dodge’s most popular standard color that year, Dodge Red.

A damaged Danbury Mint ‘57 Dodge Sweptside pickup was the starting point for this project. The Sweptside was Dodge’s answer to Chevy’s Cameo Carrier, and as such was produced in limited numbers, but loaded with luxuries rarely seen on a “normal” pickup back then.

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The concessions that I made for available options were only three items, chosen because I really wanted to fabricate them: a side-mount spare wheel/tire, chrome hubcaps, and a heater (hey, I live in the Northern climes).

Once the Danbury parts were stripped, I could begin the cab and chassis modifications.

The basic components involved in the conversion: the Danbury Mint Sweptside cab and chassis, and the short wheelbase pickup box from the MPC “Little Red Express” kit.

The MPC pickup box and fenders is molded in one piece and is overly simplified inside but, as luck would have it, the diecast Sweptside’s box uses a beautifully molded multi-piece plastic box interior, albeit in long-wheelbase configuration. The upshot of this was that the modified DM box interior could be used with the MPC box sides and fenders laminated to the exterior.

I used the diecast’s tailgate in modified form because it had the “Dodge” lettering nicely embossed on the outside and debossed inside.

Two of the more time-consuming modifications that I decided to include in my basic truck model were (1) using my Dremel to raise the height of the diecast’s disproportionate windshield and (2) fabricating some imitation hood hinges in soldered brass so that the truck would look more realistic with the hood open.

The Danbury cab’s windshield opening was too short, so I used a Dremel to grind away material and raise the upper edge of the opening to a more correct position.

As usual, when doing a conversion of an existing diecast model, construction begins with destruction–or rather, disassembly–of the diecst model. Once everything was disassembled, I stripped the main components of the Danbury model in preparation for the modifications I would have to make to the cab and chassis in order to turn the Sweptside into a base model D100.

All “Deluxe” trim and details were removed and filed with Bondo.

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The Sweptside had a large rear window that spanned the cab from side to side; a base model D100 had a smaller rear window, so I made sheet metal inserts that were attached to the rear window opening to create the smaller D100 window opening.

Pinning the joint this way makes for a much stronger joint than simply gluing the chassis pieces back together.

The Danbury Sweptside represents a long-wheelbase truck, so the metal chassis was shortened by removing a section of frame in the same location as the 1:1 short wheelbase frame–just behind the fuel tank. The ends of the separated frame sections were all drilled fairly deeply for the installation of stiff brass rod to keep the rejoined chassis rigid and durable.

The reassembled and shortened chassis was painted Krylon Satin Black, with details picked out with Humbrol, Testors, and Tamiya paints.

The chassis was shortened by removing sections of frame rail just behind the fuel tank.

Many small parts were fabricated in brass and/or aluminum, including the exhaust pipes and clamps, brake lines and junction block, etc.

Before the front and rear portions of the chassis were rejoines, holes were drilled to accept brass pins.

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The wheel centers from AMT’s ‘40 Ford Panel were machined down to fit into the Danbury “screw-on” wheels. Correct base model hubcaps were lathe turned from aluminum rod, polished, and installed.

The sidevalve six-cylinder Dodge flathead engine that I’d need for my D100 came along rather serendipitously when my brother Larry began a two-ton truck model project using a ‘41 Dodge cab, and its six-cylinder motor (same basic block as the ‘57) wound up in our combined parts-bin. According to plenty of appropriate reference material, the engine would require many modifications and fabricated details, including reversing the oil pan, the addition of a dipstick, a coil mounted above the distributor, a wired external oil filter, a fuel filter added to the carburetor fuel line, heater hoses mounted to appropriate outlets, and a shortened pulley/fan assembly, in addition to the usual plug wires and radiator hoses.

The Danbury pickup box was shortened, and the MPC “Little Red Expess” outer side/fender units were attached. My model was going to have a sidemount spare, so the appropriate area was removed from the left fender with a Dremel tool.

The basic engine from the ‘41 Dodge was fully detailed, wired, and plumbed.

Sheet styrene was used to form the cutout surfaces.

The engine installed into the finished chassis. The loose hose ends will all be attached to their respective connection points once the cab is installed. Note the “plain Jane” bench seat that was standard issue in the base D100. The exhaust system was scratchbuilt of aluminum tubing.

Tailgate latch detail was aded using brass and styrene stock..

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Interior trim doesn’t get much more basic than the D100’s plain black panels.

Window cranks and door handles are from the Danbury model.

Once all bodywork was completed, the cab, hood, doors, and cargo box was primed, then painted 1957 Dodge Red using an automotive basecoat/clearcoat system. Note the white details that were added to the grille and headlight areas.

The embossed DODGE lettering on the tailgate was brush painted gloss white.

The DODGE lettering was created by cutting tiny individual pieces of “chrome” pinstriping tape for each letter, with red paint brushed on to treat the “insides” of each letter.

Because the windshield opening was enlarged, the Danbury “glass” could no longer be used. A new windshield was formed from clear polycarbonate plastic, while the “gasket” was made of black jewelry wire. The joint will be hidden under the driver’s side wiper. The wipers are from the Danbury model.

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An accurate mounting bracket for the sidemount spare was formed of soldered brass, painted gloss black, and installed. The longer running boards came from the same ‘41 Dodge that supplied the engine I used in this conversion.

The scratchbuilt hood hinges were frustrating because, although my concept seemed quite simple, the geometry to make them work was very finicky. The idea was to have the lower hinge bracket stay fastened to the fenders/firewall, and have the upper hood brackets simply swing down and sweep by the lower detail when the hood closed. The issue that kept giving me grief was the imitation spring detail, permanently and immovably fastened to the lower detail via a bent tab on the lower hinge bracket. It was always in the way if it was located to look realistic. It took two solid days, lots of tweaking, and many unusable brass bracket attempts before I achieved “nirvana.” It’s a small detail on the truck but, to me, it makes a big difference in the perceived realism.

Taillights were fabricated of brass, and the tailgate chains are jewelry chain.

It took a bit of work, and several attempts, but I finally made two hood hinges that I was happy with.

Overall I spent well over 120 hours on this model, and I’m delighted with the result. I really enjoy older, basic “work trucks” from the era before trucks became luxurious commuter vehicles, and this basic 1957 Dodge D100 has supplied me with one of those old favorites… just the way I like them!

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Trucker’sCorner

by Tim Ahlborn

The Wild West

W

hile attending the recent 75th Anniversary all-Peterbilt show in Stockton, California, I finally got to see some of the Maggini & Sons trucking fleet. I have seen photos of this fleet on websites but never in person. Their fleet colors are yellow and green trimmed in white and black. Each truck is unique and a work of art bordering on tastefully wild.

Words don’t do the trucks justice, so here is a photo spread of some of the trucks, inspiration for the Italeri Peterbilt 378 and 377 kits or a fantasy build. These photos should spark your imagination. They did mine.

Maggini & Son’s Peterbilt 385 single drive daycab tractor. The Italeri Peterbilt 377 kit would be a great starting point. You would need to make a daycab panel, source battery boxes from a 378 kit or a resin caster, and cut the frame down to around a 175” wheelbase for the single drive.

Right: Rear of the Maggini 385. Note how the paint scheme extends down from the roof onto the back of the cab.

Below: Customized interior in a Maggini Peterbilt. Chrome, bright yellow paint and custom gray upholstery accented with pin stripes make for a wild interior.

Maggini’s customized model 351 sports a green powerplant. As modelers, we sometimes get bogged down in “proper” engine colors. When building a customized truck, any color engine is correct.

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Here’s a Peterbilt 379 long nose with green flames licking back to the cab. Who says flames don’t work on a truck?

The rear of this one is different from most. The back window is flat across the bottom ledge because it rolls down. Look closely at the front bumper–there are yellow flames painted on the back side. Note the air lines for the trailer all tucked under the rear of the tractor for a clean, unobstructed back of cab.

The 75th Anniversary all-Peterbilt show was a blast. I met quite a few fellow model truckers who were just as overwhelmed by the building ideas as I was. More inspiration to come!

New Parts from AITM Dave at American Industrial Truck Models has a set of Peterbilt 359 lamps (Part #HD-263). These lamps would be good to give a different look to the Revell Snap kit, the Revell of Germany 359 kits, or even the Italeri 378 kit for a custom look. Also new is a set of COE headlamps (HD-296). I suggest using these on the

AMT Peterbilt Pacemaker 352, replacing the rather bland looking kit piece. These two items are not on the AITM website yet, you will have to email and ask for them directly. www.aitruckmodels.com

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…continued from page 35 to be drilled out for a hollow look and they need to be dechromed and painted either flat black or flat white to simulate VHT hi-temperature coatings. From a wiring and plumbing perspective, fuel dragsters and funny cars require far more work than most other automotive types, requiring fuel and oil lines, compression fittings and distribution blocks and so on. But adding such items (and making accurate the items that need it) will produce a superb little engine–and considering that almost all of the mill is exposed, consider such actions mandatory for making a good replica of Garlits’ last front-engine rail.

CHASSIS: A one-piece slingshot dragster tube chassis in a model kit was a big deal back in the early 1970s, and the chassis in this kit is extremely well done.

There may be some minor warping in the unit simply due to its length and molding considerations, but it’s nothing that cannot be remedied with some hot water and some patience (emphasis on the patience.) Minor flash on the unit is easily cleaned up, and make sure the mold lines inside the tubular structure are carefully removed. The roll cage and front crossmember are the only structural pieces separate from the frame. Front suspension is a three-piece unit mounting to the chassis’ torsion bar, with the tie rod molded into the unit. Rear suspension is a five piece assembly solidly mounting to the chassis and featuring a chromed banjo axle and separate disc brake calipers. A two-piece, chromed, flat fuel tank fits at the chassis front.

WHEELS AND TIRES: At the front are chromed motorcycle-type wire wheels (with one side having a “beam breaker” solid outer ring) on black-vinyl Pirelli O-ring tires, while at the rear are chromed deep offset Halibrand five-slot wheels on Round2’s new hollow black vinyl pad printed M&H Racemaster wide slicks.

INTERIOR: A realistic black vinyl seat insert fits into the frame rear. Steering gear (including the axle connection) is a four-piece all chromed unit with butterfly steering wheel. A chromed chute release lever and a chromed gas/brake pedal unit fit to the chassis rails. That’s about it.

BODY: The dragster body is multi-piece; two rear halves with one-piece upper cowl, one-piece main body and two-piece front end. The cowl and body front are meant to be removable. At the rear is a two-piece drag chute pack and the cowl has a clear windscreen that is fairly thick, but is no impediment to viewing the detail underneath.

DECALS: A reproduction of the original kit’s sheet, it includes all the striping, titles and sponsor decals to replicate Garlits’ last major front-engine fuel dragster. The sponsor decals are for Dodge, Fram, Schiefer, Pennzoil, Wynn’s, M&H, Crower, Bell Helmets, Cragar and Champion.

OTHER: As is customary for Round2, a printed miniature of the kit box is also included as a collectible. And how’s this for a real piece of nostalgia–an iron-on T-shirt transfer!

COMMENTS: In March of 1970, Don Garlits’ Wynnscharger’s transmission exploded while coming off the line at Lions Drag Strip, seriously injuring Garlits in the process. While hospitalized, Garlits formulated the idea of a fuel dragster with the driver sittting in front of the engine–an idea that not only created a safer car ,but a faster one as well. From 1971 on, the rear engine fuel dragster was the norm at drag strips everywhere. In 1/25 scale, MPC released a kit of Don Garlits’ last front engine Wynnscharger in 1970, sometime before the Lions accident. This featured a revolutionary (for the time) one-piece dragster frame and a black vinyl seat insert. Good kits of front engine slingshot-type fuel dragsters were once quite common, but the MPC kits (Garlits’ Wynnscharger, Ramchargers Dragster and Carl Casper’s Young American) from 1970-72 were the best of the lot. Photos of the actual car show a small, round fuel tank mounted not far from the engine (this can be gotten from the spares box or scratchbuilt) and the four-port Crower injector can be had from Competition Resins. As stated before, the key to a contest-winning dragster build is a super paint job and extra special wiring and plumbing on the engine, fuel system and oil system. The body panel fit isn’t perfect, so be prepared for some tweaking.

Not a great deal of usable photographs of the actual car are around, however, there are a few decent shots online in various places that can be of help, including some of the preserved car. After 40-plus years, it’s good to have this one back. Now, Round2, how about bringing back the Ramchargers AA/FD as well?

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PORSCHE 911 TURBO Revell #4330

VERSIONS: Stock (U.S. spec) MOLDED COLORS: White, Clear, Red Clear, Chrome Plated SCALE: 1/24 MSRP: $25.95 USD REISSUE ENGINE: Mostly chromed, the thirteen-piece engine with manual transaxle is quite nice despite simplification in places. This example differs from similar engines in Fujimi’s and Italeri’s 911 kits as being correctly US-spec with a proper catalytic converter. Detail engraving is quite good throughout. Of special note are the multi-piece intake and exhaust systems, both extremely well done.

As the engine is just about fully chromed, it may make a nice display piece for a diorama or on a stand alongside the model itself. Otherwise, the chrome plating should be stripped from the parts and proper painting, including multi-toning the aluminum engine components, be the order of the day. Decals are provided for the intake plenum and he fan case uppers. With some detail painting and a little bit of wiring, this engine should come alive.

CHASSIS: The basic chassis pan has only the inner wheel wells, oil cooler, and rear chassis crossmember molded in place. Detail engraving on the chassis underside is quite good. Front suspension is a simplified four-piece unit with separate struts. Though this was not designed for posable steering, an enterprising modeler can accomplish this with very little trouble. Rear suspension is a nine-piece assembly with separate shocks, swing arms, and stub axles. Four data decals are provided for the inside of the engine compartment, which is molded to the body.

WHEELS AND TIRES: Four chromed Porsche five-spoke cast wheels with decals for the wheel centers mount to four black vinyl no-name wide radial tires.

The actual wheels were painted aluminum and not chromed, with matte black trim; plenty of pictures of these exist both in print and online that can serve as a guide.

INTERIOR: The interior bucket has the rear seat bottoms and all pedals molded in place. Side panels are separate and have very good three-dimensional detail.

Upholstery engraving on the side panels, two-piece front bucket seats, and rear seat cushions (both separate uppers and molded-in lowers) are first rate. Floor console, shifter, and hand brake lever are all separate. The dash has good detail engraving and instrument decals, a twin-stalk steering column, and a correct Porsche style steering wheel with a horn emblem decal.

BODY: The iconic shape of the 911 Turbo, including the massively flared rear wheel wells, has been captured well here in the kit’s one-piece body. At the front are chromed headlight bezels with clear lenses, a separate front fascia, two clear running light lenses, two clear fog light lenses, and a license plate mount.

At the rear is a one-piece red clear taillight with black surround decals and PORSCHE lettering, separate rear fascia, rear wiper blade, US-spec rear bumper

with separate “accordion” trim, and a license plate holder. The “whale tail” rear spoiler is the upper section of the separate hood, and this has been correctly done. Separate trim include the wiper blades, two-piece side view mirrors with chromed faces, and door handles. There’s not much of a headliner inside the body, but there is an engraving representing the underside of the sunroof area.

All clear components are thin and exhibit minimal optical distortion. Note that the rear window unit has finely engraved defroster lines and a separate red clear high mounted stoplight lens.

DECALS: In addition to the items described earlier, the decal sheet includes a Porsche crest for the nose, black trim panels for the rocker panels and rear fender flares, a black Turbo logo for the rear deck, and two Illinois TURBO license plates.

COMMENTS: With the interest in exotic sports cars running very high in the late 1980s and early 1990s, both Monogram and Revell jumped into the fray, offering kits of European exotics for American modelers’ consumption. First issued by Monogram in 1992 as #2956 and based off their earlier 911 Flat Nose Convertible kit, this 1987 Porsche 911 Turbo, taken on all its merits, can very well be considered one of Monogram’s best car kits of the period. While not quite as heavy on the parts count as Fujimi’s Enthusiast Series kit, the Revell (ex-Monogram) offering acquits itself well in terms of overall detail and finesse.

Add to that the US-spec nature of the kit as opposed to its Japanese competitor, and that alone is a good reason to add this one to any collection of exotic sports car models. The kit builds up nicely and lends itself to a small amount of super0detailing to produce a contest-quality entry. Though the tires in the kit are adequate, replacing them with a set of Fujimi’s or Aoshima’s rubber Pirelli P7s would raise the detail quotient a bit. It’s good to have this one back, especially for those that missed it the first time out, and for those with a love of exotic sports machinery. As said before, this 911 Turbo is, in this writer’s opinion, one of Monogram’s best kits of the period, and very welcome back under the Revell label. Highly recommended!

1953 STUDEBAKER STARLINER AMT #AMT877

VERSIONS: Stock, Custom, Bonneville Racer MOLDED COLORS: White, Clear, Chrome Plated SCALE: 1/25 MSRP: $28.99 USD REISSUE ENGINE: Two complete engines are included in this kit: a stock Studebaker 232 V-8, and a full-bore-racing Chrysler 392 Hemi. The stock Studie mill with threespeed manual transmission is a 20-piece unit that is not only quite accurate, but surprisingly well detailed for a kit of this vintage. Note the separate fuel pump/oil filler and top mount oil filter. Photos of the real engine are hard to come by, however, back issues of magazines such as Old Cars, Hemmings Motor News and Collectible Automobile will turn up something as all three had articles on 1953-55 Studebakers in the past. The 392 Hemi with “in-and-out box” transmission is a 29-piece marvel with a dual 6-71 blower setup on a “pyramid”

intake manifold, each blower having Hilborn dual-port injectors and two-piece mailbox-style air scoops. Notable here is a two-piece, front-mount fuel pump/ water pump and a two-piece Vertex magneto with separate top. Wiring and plumbing will certainly make both engines stand out.

CHASSIS: Frame and floorboards are one unit here, with only the gas tank, front upper A-arms and engine bearing crossmember molded in place. Engraving and texturing are quite good, especially considering the kit’s age. Front suspension is a 14-piece assembly featuring posable steering and a choice of three different ride heights. Rear suspension is an eight-piece unit with separate shocks and drum brakes. The three-piece stock exhaust system (with crossover pipe) will need to have its end drilled out to represent a hollow tube; same goes for the “zoomie” headers for the race Hemi. The engine compartment is well catered to, with the inner fenders and firewall molded to the body, and a separate two-piece radiator/shroud and battery. The separate heater unit fits to the interior bottom rather than on the firewall as most other cars would have them. Studebakers were indeed different!

WHEELS AND TIRES: Two sets of plated wheels are given here; stock Studebaker full wheel covers and American Racing GT five-spoke mags with separate two-bladed knockoffs. One set of tires are provided: AMT Firestone Supremes with pad-printed narrow whitewalls.

INTERIOR: The one-piece interior bucket has only the side panels and pedals molded in place. Side panel engraving isn’t bad at all for a tooling of this age, and the separate dashboard is also nicely engraved. Very few kits over the years offer as many interior options as this one does. The stock interior has separate front bench seat, rear seat with separate arm rest, stock steering column including both shifter and turn signal lever ,and stock steering wheel with integral horn ring. The custom interior features a pair of low-back bucket seats and a center console with chromed T-handle shifter. For the racing version, there’s a “shell” style driver’s seat with separately molded seat belts (!), a ball shifter with internal linkage, a four-piece roll cage with a separate chromed fire extinguisher, a plain steering column with separate two-piece chromed tachometer, and a four-spoke racing steering wheel .

BODY: The engineers at the original AMT Corporation nailed the flowing lines of the classic Raymond Loewy-designed Starliner coupe near perfectly. Door handles, key-locks and wipers are molded in, and the emblems are molded proud and won’t get lost under a coat of paint. From its outset, this kit has offered the option of a chopped top for the racing version; this is molded as a separate piece with a corresponding clear window unit. Front end options are as follows: for stock, body-color front pan, two chromed grilles, chromed stock headlights with separate lenses and chromed stock front bumper. For a custom, the stock front pan with separate grille divider, two chromed upper grilles and two custom lower grilles with integral bumperettes and two chromed tunneled headlights with separate clear lenses. For racing, a solid front pan, two body color grille fillers, and two body color headlight fillers. At the rear is a stock plated bumper, two chromed taillight bezels with separate clear red taillight lenses and a license plate, with an optional custom chromed rear bumper and “aero” style red-clear taillights for the custom version and two chromed push bars for the racing version. Separate plated exterior items include a radio antenna, a driver’s side rear view mirror and a pair of custom spotlights. Two different hoods are given; stock (with good underside engraving) and a clear domed hood with cutouts for the twin-blower setup. As a bonus in this kit, Round2 gives the chopped window unit, domed racing hood, headlight lenses and hood hinge again in blue tinted clear parts for yet another option.

DECALS: A copy of the original kit’s decal sheet, this contains two black-andtan (gold) Mr. SPEED side motifs, two blue-and-red Studebaker logos, two large and two small blue stylized number 53 and pairs of white B/CC, B/SC and A/ SC classifications. Also included are one blue DOUBLE TROUBLE text, two tan (gold) DRIVER SANDY texts, one black-and-tan (gold) GERALD SPEEDY HADRIAN RACING ENTERPRISES GROSSE POINTE FIELDS text, two red-and-black HEADS BY HONDASON texts, and an Indiana 7 A2989 license plate. Additionally, there are sponsor decals for CAE, USAC, Autolite, Shell, Vertex, Castrol.

Hilborn Fuel Injection, STP, Potvin, CT Balanced Power and MoPar Parts .

OTHER: As is Round2’s norm, a printed collectible cut-out miniature of the box is included.

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COMMENTS: Widely regarded as one of AMT’s best ever model car kits, the ‘53 Studebaker Commander Starliner coupe made its first appearance in 1964 as kit #2053. In 1968 the kit was reissued with psychedelic box art as the Gasser (#T245), and in 1971 with all new boxing as the Double Whammy (#T262). Two years later the kit reappeared in AMT’s Modern Classic series as #T396, and in 1978 issued as the Salty Dog (#3006) under Lesney’s ownership of AMT. The Ertl years saw the kit issued in 1991 as #6955 and once again as Double Whammy, in the limited run Buyers Choice series as #30107. Under RC2’s stewardship the Studie came back as #31759 in 2002, with a special run for Wal-Mart (the gold checkerboard boxing) as #38110. And now, Round2 restoring the kit to its original configuration for this latest issue is very welcome. The Studie builds up very nicely and the plethora of options is a real plus point.

Considering this kit is now 50-years old, the crispness and accuracy is a real testament to the engineers at the original Troy, Michigan-based AMT Corporation. One could argue that no self-respecting high-speed Bonneville racer would be running on bias-ply whitewall Firestone Supremes, and I would agree, but the spares box or the aftermarket can supply viable replacements. And, since narrow whitewalls didn’t really come into vogue until the 1960s, using Round2/ AMT’s new wide-whites from their Parts Pack will improve the look of a stock (or custom) Studie greatly. The sleek shape of the Starliner lends itself to period-style customs, and I can’t tell you how many times I looked at the ‘53 and thought “possible Batmobile”–why not! Consider also the various resin ‘54 and ‘55 Commanders and Conestogas, ‘56, ‘57 and ‘62 Hawks, and ‘58 Packard Hawk “Packardbaker” that use the AMT kit as a chassis donor. Kudos to Round2 for bringing back yet again one of AMT’s best 1/25 scale models to be enjoyed not only by us old timers waxing poetic, but by a whole new generation of modelers who grew up well after the demise of one of the greatest marques in American automotive history.

PEPSI CHEVELLE MPC #MPC808

stiffener and fuel cell. Front suspension is an eight-piece unit with separate front spindles. Posable steering was not designed in here, but an enterprising modeler can make the steering work with just a tad of ingenuity. Rear suspension is a 13-piece assembly, featuring separate quad shocks and shock mounts.

Two, two-piece hollow exhaust dump tubes attach to the ends of the headers and no, they do not need to be hollowed out! The engine room is very well catered to, with separate tubular support members, detailed firewall, separate radiator core with upper shield, two-piece oil sump, two-piece oil cooler, separate electronic ignition coil, overflow tank, and external oil filter.

WHEELS AND TIRES: Four, plated, nine-hole Bassett-style wheels rise on vintage MPC wide Goodyear Blue Streak Stock Car Special black-vinyl tires.

INTERIOR: Building up off the chassis pan, the interior section has quite a bit of detail. A three-piece generic dash has good instrument engraving, with a separate steering wheel and column, and a separate unit with three hanging pedals. A two-piece NASCAR seat is flanked with a separate chrome shifter, fire extinguisher, and two-piece rear end cooler. The roll cage is a six-piece unit including a separate headrest and separate chromed multi-section rear view mirror. At the rear is a separate battery and two-piece fuel filler mechanism attaching to the fuel cell.

BODY: Representing a NASCAR-ized 1974-76 Chevelle Laguna S-3, MPC did a good job on the body. It is well proportioned, with separate front fascia, moldedin rear window straps, door handle covers, bumper fairing sections, and the characteristic S-3 opera window “slats” molded open. At the front is a onepiece front fascia, grille and headlight covers molded in, with a separate chrome bumper rub strip. At the rear is a chromed bumper and a separate deck spoiler.

The side window protector netting is molded as a separate piece. The hood has good underside engraving and molded-in hood pins. Both the clear windshield and rear window are a tad thick and there is a small amount of optical distortion, but no enough to warrant replacement.

DECALS: Not representing an actual car raced in NASCAR, the decal sheet contains red/white/blue number 39 sections for the car sides and roof, PEPSI sponsor decals, MPC logo decals, smaller white 39s for the headlight and taillight covers, and smaller grouped sponsor decals. These include Goodyear, STP, Holley, MP, Borg Warner, Champion, Hurst Airheart, Hurst Shifters, Bendix, Hooker Headers, The Great Ones, and NASCAR Winston Cup series logos.

VERSIONS: NASCAR MOLDED COLORS: Medium Blue, Black, Clear, Chrome Plated SCALE: 1/25 MSRP: $28.99 USD REISSUE ENGINE: MPC’s NASCAR kit series of the 1970s all featured a generic engine block and accessories with make-specific heads and valve covers. This Chevelle is no exception. The engine is a 22-piece assembly that, although detail level is good, accuracy-wise is, as our British cousins say, “neither fish nor fowl.” For example: the distributor is mounted at the front of the intake manifold, which no GM engine of the period had, but was quite correct for Ford. Some research and some kitbashing will be needed here for those wanting an accurate engine; however, what’s in the kit will suffice for a great many.

CHASSIS: MPC’s generic NASCAR chassis was based on a two-piece frame and floor pan that is extendable for different wheelbases. The front chassis section includes the upper suspension A-arms and engine bearing crossmember with a separate transmission crossmember, and the rear section has a separate rear

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Model Cars #192 • January 2015

COMMENTS: Originally issued in 1977 as #1-1712, MPC’s Pepsi Chevelle was yet another of their NASCAR series kits with generic engines (except for the cylinder heads and valve covers), generic chassis, and generic interior. Yet despite the generic nature of the parts, there was quite a bit of detail lavished on these kits and the parts were indeed somewhat representative of what NASCAR rides were running at the time. The body was close enough to stock to merit an article in the early years of the former Scale Auto Enthusiast Magazine on kitbashing it with a Jo-Han ‘75 Olds Cutlass to product a stock Laguna S-3.

Sharing many parts in common with the Bobby Allison ‘71 Mercury kit released last year, the reissued Pepsi Chevelle will be welcomed by fans of vintage NASCAR, especially those wanting to build a replica of Cale Yarborough’s Holly Farms-sponsored Laguna S-3 with the JNJ decal sheet, among others. Some research, kitbashing and parts swapping will be the order of the day for authenticity here; however, the kit is well detailed and provides a good starting point for a good vintage NASCAR build. Hopefully, Round2 will bring back the 1970’s AMT Monte Carlo and Malibu NASCARs to complement their MPC brethren.

January 20175 • Model Cars #192

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Model Cars Market

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Model Cars #192 • January 2015

January 2015 • Model Cars #192

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COMINGEVENTS February 23 Wheaton, IL 63rd Illinois Plastic Kit & Toy Show.

Dupage County Fairgrounds, 2015 W. Manchester Rd, Wheaton, IL. 9am - 3pm.

Past-Time Hobbies, Inc. 630.969.1847 March 14 (Saturday) Sylvania, OH Toledo Toy Collectors’ Fair. Sylvania Exhibition Cntr/Tom-O-Shanter, 7060 Sylvania Ave., Sylvania, Ohio. Contact John Carlisle, 6996 Chestnut Ridge Rd.., Lockport, NY 14094-3430, 716.434.0733 March 15 (Sunday) Honolulu, HI Hawai’i NNL. Sunday, March 15, 2015. Ala Moana Hotel, Garden Lanai. wwwHawaiiModelCarShow.com March 29 (Sunday) Wayne, NJ New Jersey Model Car, Diecast & Kit Collectors Meet. Wayne NJ P.A.L. Building, 1 Pal Drive, Wayne, New Jersey.

Contact John Carlisle, 6996 Chestnut Ridge Rd.., Lockport, NY 14094-3430, 716.434.0733 April 11 (Saturday) Owensville, OH The Cincinnati Auto Replicas presents the Cincinnati Challenge 20 Model Car Contest and Swap Meet. Clermont County Fairgrounds (298 Locust Street) in Owensville, Ohio 45160. Theme: “Any Hue As Long As It’s Blue’’ Free general admission. Info: J.R. Wilson: jrw68gt@ aol.com 513.831.6879, or Rockne Riddlebarger: themodelcitizen46@gmail.com, 513.471.0809, Cincinnatiautoreplicas.org

April 18 (Saturday) Wayne, NJ NNL East 29. Wayne PAL Building, 1 PAL Drive, Wayne, NJ 07470. www.NNLEast.com April 30-May 3 Salt Lake City, UT GSL-XXV, International Scale Vehicle Championship and Conventino. Sheraton Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah. www.GSLChampionship.org October 10 (Saturday) Sylvania, OH Toledo Toy Collectors’ Fair. Sylvania Exhibition Cntr/Tom-O-Shanter, 7060 Sylvania Ave., Sylvania, Ohio. Contact John Carlisle, 6996 Chestnut Ridge Rd.., Lockport, NY 14094-3430, 716.434.0733 October 25 (Sunday) Wayne, NJ New Jersey Model Car, Diecast & Kit Collectors Meet. Wayne NJ P.A.L. Building, 1 Pal Drive, Wayne, New Jersey.

Contact John Carlisle, 6996 Chestnut Ridge Rd.., Lockport, NY 14094-3430, 716.434.0733

Send in your event or show information to:

events@modelcarsmag.com * DO NOT SEND EVENTS TO THE DENVER OFFICE! *

If events are sent to Denver, They WILL NOT be received in time. Also, please follow the format you see here in the Coming Events section when submitting your show event.

Advertiser Index

Alumlite.............................................................................................. 54 AMT/Round2..................................................................................... 64 Bandit Resins..................................................................................... 56 Detail Master..................................................................................... 62 Dirt Modeler...................................................................................... 56 Galaxie Limited................................................................................... 6 GREX................................................................................................... 63 GSL-XXV.............................................................................................. 9 Hobby Link Japan (HLJ.com)............................................................ 2 IPMS.................................................................................................... 54 JMModelAutos.com.......................................................................... 54 MCW Automotive Finishes ............................................................ 54

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Model Cars #192 • January 2015

MEGA Hobby.................................................................................... 55 The Model Car Garage..................................................................... 55 Pace Enterprises (Pace Spray Booths)............................................ 55 Parts by Parks.................................................................................... 55 Pattos Place........................................................................................ 56 Pro-Tech.............................................................................................. 55 Replicas & Miniatures Co. of Maryland........................................ 75 Revell.................................................................................................. 61 Slixx....................................................................................................... 7 SMS Motorsport................................................................................ 61 Strada Sports...................................................................................... 54

Collector’sShowcase

by Wayne Moyer

Bunches of Beauties If good things come in threes, this column is a perfect example. This time we have three modern supercars, three classic Delahayes, and three of Ixo’s fine Museum Series models.

SOURCES

Mighty McLaren: AUTOart 1992 F1 With a top speed of 231 mph and $1.1 million price tag, McLaren’s F1 was the fastest and most expensive street-legal car in the world when introduced 1992. Its F1 style-central driving position with flanking passenger seats made it one of the most unusual cars, and a legend in its own time. With 198 parts (this is 1:43 scale!), more than 150 painting steps, and a hefty price tag, AUTOart’s F1 may take on the same status. Its wind-tunnel-shaped body matches Road & Track (December 1997) drawings and photos perfectly, its very subtle two-tone magnesium silver metallic paint is flawless, and every detail is there with perfect scale fidelity. But what really makes this one different are the eight opening panels that pivot or lift on nearly invisible hinges, and what lies beneath them. The big doors are spring-loaded to the open position and are held closed with tiny magnets, as are the unique side-located baggage doors (with removable fitted luggage). Most of the panels have really fine carbon-fiber detail on their interior surfaces, while the exhaust bay hatch and pop-up wing correctly have heat-reflecting gold foil. It’s AUTOart; the interior is complete and highly realistic; lifting the engine hatch displays the big V-12 with authentic carbon-fiber intake tubes, very thin ignition wiring, and lots more. The suspension functions (about as much as the real car’s) and disks rotate through Brembo calipers behind accurate O.Z. magnesium wheels. Every dimension is within 0.01 of perfect 1.43 scale, too.

Gateway Global (866.288.6278) has AUTOart’s incredible miniature McLaren.

Brasilia Press

P.O. Box 2023 Elkhart, IN 46515 Fax: 574.262.8799 www.brasiliapress.com

Carville Models

13464 S. W. 131st St. Miami, FL 33186 www.carvillemodelsshop.com Sales@carvillemodels.com Ph: 866.973.6550

Gateway Global, Inc. 16720 Marquardt Ave. Cerritos, CA 90703 Ph: 866.288.6278 Fax: 562.623.0211 www.autoartmodels.com

Grand Prix Models

4 Thorpe Close Thorpe Way, Banbury OXON OX16 4SW United Kingdom Ph: 44 (0) 1295 278070 Fax: 44 (0) 1295 278072 www.grandprixmodels.com email: mail@grandprixmodels.com

JM Modelautos

P.O. Box 15 Fairview, PA 16415-0015 Ph: 814.474.5697 Fax: 814.840.4026 www.JMModelautos.com email: Judy@JMModelautos.com

Wild About Wheels Mr. Eric Bauer PO Box 448 Richboro, PA 18954 Ph: 215.322.7593 email: eab_49@msn.com

www.hotwheels-elite.com

Under The Hood: AUTOart 1992 McLaren F1

55 5 5

Realism/Scale Detailing

Working Features Paint and Finish

BUT… Really?

You gotta be kidding.

Scale: 1/43 Price: $179.95 Medium: Diecast www.autoartmodels.com

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Exclusive Aston: AUTOart 2009 One-77

Under The Hood: AUTOart 2009 Aston Martin One-77 4 Realism/Scale

4- Detailing

4 Working Features 4 Paint and Finish

BUT… Yep–no hoses to calipers on the carbonceramic discs.

Scale: 1/18 Price: $218.90 Medium: Diecast 866.288.6278

Aston Martin built only 77 of the One-77 (each is therefore One of 77); with a 750 horsepower 7.3 liter V-12 and a price tag of almost $2 million American dollars. It immediately became, in Road & Track’s words (August 2009), the world’s most exclusive supercar. Fortunately, AUTOart has just released this superb 1/18 scale model in flawless Villa D’Este Blue. Its curvaceous body matches all the photos I found, while every piece of trim is reproduced with separate plated or aluminum-colored pieces; only the Aston emblems on the accurate 10-spoke wheels are printed. There’s a lot of hot-printed, carbon-fiber under the hood, but very little visible wiring; that’s correct, as none can be seen on the real car, either. The big blue horizontally mounted front and rear shocks have real wire springs but aren’t functional. Interior details include more carbon-fiber, detailed instruments behind the correct paddle-shifted rectangular wheel, and fabric-and-photoetched belts, while the full-length belly pan has, of course, carbon fiber detail. Gateway Global (www. autoartmodels.com) has this very accurate Aston, too.

Show Stopper: Minichamps 1939 Delahaye 165 Cabriolet This Figoni & Falashi-bodied Delahaye Type 165 stopped 1939 New York World’s Fair goers in their tracks, even though its V-12 engine was a hollow shell. Fitted with a Cadillac V-8 after the war, it was lost, and finally restored with the correct engine by Peter Mullin–and it still has that effect on onlookers. Although Ixo made a fine model several years ago (MCM issue 142), this new version from Minichamps is better in every respect. Its dark maroon finish is excellent and every piece of brightwork has been reproduced with plated parts, bright photoetched pieces, or bright printed chrome. Even the tiny hood latch handles are separate pieces. Inside, there’s thin piping on the seat, cranks are separate plated parts, and the accurate dash has correct red numerals on the white gauge faces. Most published dimensions (and the Ixo model) are based on 1993 Road & Track estimates and are wrong; this model matches the dimensions given on the Mullin site, as well as all the photos there. Carville Models (866.973.6550) has this gorgeous French Beauty.

Under The Hood: Minichamps Mullin Collection 1939 Delahaye 165 4+ Realism/Scale 4 Detailing

1 Working Features

4+ Paint and Finish

BUT... Headlights should be French Yellow.

Scale: 1/42 Price: $99.95 Medium: Resin

www.carvillemodelsshop.com

Durable Delahaye: SLM 43’s 1938 Le Mans Winner

Under The Hood: SLM 43 1938 Delahaye 135CS Le Mans Winner 3+ Realism/Scale 3 Detailing

0 Working Features

NA Paint and Finish

58

BUT… Poor instructions make assembly difficult.

Model Cars #192 • January 2015

Scale: 1/43 Price: $117 (kit) Medium: Resin

mail@grandprixmodels.com

Delahaye 135CS #15 won the 1938 Le Mans race when the leading Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B (MC 190) lost its engine with just an hour to go. SLM 43 has now released an accurate and good-looking model of this Le Mans winner in both factory-built and kit form. The kit is relatively simple with 41 resin, white-metal and photoetched parts that include pre-assembled photoetched wire wheels. Castings are crisp and clean but the resin body has several bubble holes on the lower edges which had to be filled with putty. Testors’ Model Master #2030 True Blue is a good match for the recommended RAL 5010 color. Parts fit well once you’ve figured out where they should go, but the instruction photos don’t make that clear in some cases and some just aren’t shown at all. Given the simplicity and poor instructions, the kit is pricy, but when built the lines, details, and dimensions are all right on the money.

Grand Prix Models (www.grandprixmodels.com) has both the kit and factory-built versions.

Upper-Class Opel: Ixo 1928 10.40 Modell 80

Under The Hood: Ixo 1928 Opel 10.40 Modell 80 4- Realism/Scale 4- Detailing

1` Working Features

BUT… Chassis detail is pretty basic.

Scale: 1/43 Price: $44.99 Medium: Diecast

www.JMmodelautos.com

3+ Paint and Finish

Before the rise of the Nazi party, Adam Opel AG built German luxury cars. The 10.40 (10 taxable horsepower, 40 real horses) introduced in 1925 was built on two chassis lengths to accommodate a middle row of jump seats in sedan (Limousine) bodies if desired. This long-wheelbase formal Modell 80 was the top of the line and photos (www.alt-opel.org.BilderHist.640) confirm that Ixo has again done their homework. The boxy formal lines are right on the money, and all trim details are present and accounted for. The radiator shell and hub caps are plated, while all other trim, including the beltline moldings, door handles, and drip rail, is printed with bright chrome, while wipers are photoetched. Inside, the two-tone gray/black upholstery has relief handles and cranks overprinted with chrome and detailed instruments on the wood-colored dash. Footwells in the back side of the front and middle rows of seats provide legroom for six passengers, with access through the suicide rear doors. JMModelautos (Judy@JMModelautos.com) has this pre-war Opel, too.

Gorgeous Graham: Brooklin’s 1937 116 Supercharged Sedan Financially troubled Graham dropped their eight-cylinder engines in favor of a supercharged six in 1936, and purchased bodies from Reo, giving them only a new front clip. 1937 models grew an inch in wheelbase and got a revised front end and bumper, new mascot, five separate circular hood vents, vee windshield, and new steel wheels. Brooklin has released this fine model of the Series 116 Supercharger Trunkback four-door sedan, with all of the above features–along with the basic shape and details (Collectible Automobile April 2012)-exactly right.

Relief-cast nose and hood badges are over-painted, the tiny supercharged script is missing from the trunk, and photos show the running board edges should be chromed, but all other exterior details and trim, including very narrow windshield dividers, is done with separate plated parts. As usual, interior detail is limited and the prominent floor shift handle is missing, but dash details match photos very well.

Brasilia Press (Fax: 574.262.8799) will supply dealer addresses.

Under The Hood: Brooklin 1937 Graham 116 Supercharged Sedan 4- Realism/Scale

3+ Detailing

1 Working Features 4 Paint and Finish

BUT… Bumpers extend too far from body.

Scale: 1/43 Price: $129.95 Medium: Diecast www.brasiliapress.com

Berliet’s Last Beauty: Ixo 1939 11CV Dauphine

Under The Hood: Ixo Museum 1939 Berliet 11CV Dauphine 4 Realism/Scale 4 Detailing

1 Working Features

4- Paint and Finish

BUT… None of the photos I found show whitewall tires..

Scale: 1/43 Price: $44.99 Medium: Diecast

www.JMmodelautos.com

If American readers recognize the name of French manufacturer Berliet, it’s because of the trucks they built through the 1970s.

But Berliet also built cars before WWII; this 11CV Dauphine was introduced at the 1938 Paris Show. Already in financial trouble, Berliet bought Peugeot 404 bodies and updated them with a Buick-like grille. Ixo’s new Museum Series model is very well done; photos of this car at the 2002 Retromobile show that it’s also very accurate and fully detailed down to the tiny etched Berliet nameplate behind the skirted rear fenders. Its pearlescent yellow paint is very good, and smaller trim pieces are neatly printed in bright chrome, while window surrounds are printed black and the windshield moldings are chrome on black! Ixo hasn’t shortchanged the interior, with gray upholstery, chromeprinted relief handles and cranks, a detailed single instrument, pedals and gearshift lever. There’s decent chassis detail in the baseplate, too. JMModelautos (814.474.5697) has this accurate model of a very unusual automobile.

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A Better Bentley: Minichamps Bentley Embiricos

Under The Hood: Minichamps 1939 Bentley Embiricos 4 Realism/Scale

4- Detailing

1 Working Features

BUT… Steering wheel almost touches seat.

Scale: 1/43 Price: $79.95 Medium: Diecast

www.carvillemodelsshop.com

4 Paint and Finish

A Greek shipping owner and Paris-based banker bought 1939 Bentley chassis B-27-LE and sent it to local coachbuilder, Pourtout, for a sleek, streamlined body. Magazine tests found it to be 30 mph faster than a factory body, but with war looming, Embiricos sold it to Englishman Soltan Hay. Ten years and 60,000 miles later, Hay drove it to Le Mans, slapped on some numbers and finished sixth overall. He did it again in 1950 (fourteenth) and with 120,000 miles showing, finished twenty-second in 1951. The car still exists and there are lots of period and contemporary photos to show how accurately Minichamps has modeled the sleek shape and all its details; the thin crisp hood louvers are especially well done. Bumpers, light bezels, grille, wipers and window moldings are plated, while the exterior handles and badges are hot-printed. Minichamps has done the aluminum dash and detailed gauges with a crisply printed decal, while the accurate leather-colored upholstery has silver-painted relief handles and cranks. Carville Models (866.973.6550) carries the Minichamps line.

Fine Final Delahaye: Ixo Museum Series 1952 235M Delahaye’s Type 135, introduced at the 1933 Paris show, was built as a Grand Prix racer, Le Mans competitor, sports car, and as a grand Touring car with some of the most voluptuous sheet metal ever hung on an automobile. After the war, with minor chassis improvements, it became the Type 235, and most of the 88 built before production ended in 1953 had modern envelope bodies by Chapron. A very similar two-seat coupe was featured twice in Road & Track, but photos (www.classicdriver.com) show that Ixo hasn’t missed a curve or detail of this Museumseries Chapron 4.5 seat saloon. Its dark green paint matches photos and is set off by a combination of brightly plated and equally brightly printed chrome trim. Wipers and good-looking wirespoked wheels are photoetched. Upholstery is painted in two shades of leather-colored brown and has a wood-tone dash with the correct instrument arrangement, silver-painted relief handles, tan-rimmed wheel, pedals, and floor shifter. Wild About Wheels (215.322.7593) has Minichamps fine final Delahaye.

Under The Hood: Ixo 1952 Delahaye 235M 3+ Realism/Scale 3 Detailing

1 Working Features

4- Paint and Finish

BUT… No brakes behind the excellent wire wheels.

Scale: 1/43 Price: $37 Medium: Diecast eab_49@msn.com

Hot Hybrid: 1/43 Scale 2015 Hot Wheels Elite LaFerrari

Under The Hood: Hot Wheels Elite 2015 LaFerrari 4 Realism/Scale 4 Detailing

1 Working Features 5 Paint and Finish

60

BUT… Panel line above rear fenders is pretty wide.

Model Cars #192 • January 2015

Scale: 1/43 Price: $50 Medium: Diecast hotwheels-elite.com

Although not quite as expensive, and a lot less exclusive than the One-77, LaFerrari (TheFerrari?) is the first hybrid Ferrari street car. With 790 Italian stallions from its 6.3 liter V-12 and another 161 from its KERS-powered electric motor, LaFerrari does 0-60 mph under three seconds and tops out at 217. Hot Wheels Elite model is licensed by Ferrari, so you know it’s right. Internet and Road & Track (August 2014) photos show that from the pointy prow to the quad exhausts, everything is there with great scale fidelity, while dimensions are literally perfect. The body isn’t one of Pininfarina’s prettiest, but clearly shows F1 technology transfer. Its Fly Yellow paint is perfect, hood and door badges are printed, and the rear deck’s Ferrari logo and prancing horse emblem are photoetched. The chin splitter, inlet turning vanes, and rear clip are all carbon-fiber printed, with more of the same to be seen in the cockpit and on the engine intake runners. Crossdrilled carbon brakes and big Ferrari calipers are visible behind the accurate wheels.

January 2015 • Model Cars #192

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