Tabla de contenidos para December 2018 en Scale Auto

Holy cripes I loved fastbacks as a kid growing up in the 1960s. First it was the Jaguar XKE Matchbox car I had. Then it was Plymouth’s daring Barracuda at the Chrysler/Plymouth dealership a couple blocks away. But Ford’s Mustang, what we called the 2+2 back then, took fastbackery to a whole new level. Yes there were slick looking Torinos and even the Mercury Monterey, sort of. And AMC’s Marlin, well, OK. If you insist! But Mustang’s ruled the fastback world and when Bullitt appeared in movie theaters in late 1968, well, my love for fastbacks was complete. Heck, I still love hatchback cars better than sedans, they just look sleeker and faster! So welcome to our Bullitt issue marking the movie car’s 50 years of iconic design leadership. I…

MAYBE THE MOST ICONIC AUTOMOBILE IN MOVIE HISTORY IS LT. FRANK BULLITT’S FORD MUSTANG FROM THE 1968 FILM BULLITT. USING REVELL’S 1/25 SCALE ’68 FORD MUSTANG KIT, NO. 85-4215, YOU TOO CAN CREATE A KILLER TRIBUTE MODEL. 1 To replicate a Bullitt of my own, I used Revell’s 1968 Ford Mustang body that I had previously painted but was never really content with the final results. To strip the ’Stang clean and start over, I placed it in a canister with Dawn Power Dissolver for two days. After removing the paint, I washed it thoroughly and marked the scribed panel lines with black Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color. 2 Steve McQueen’s Mustang was Highland Green, and in an attempt to match this I contacted a friend who expertly mixed the…

While several of these toys were simplified, they often had quite accurate body profiles. All it takes to turn them into decent display-worthy models is a bit of imagination and a little scratchbuilding. To illustrate this concept I started with a Chaparral 2C kit from Japan’s LS. First released in the mid-’60s, this racer has been rereleased several times. The body is definitely a Chaparral 2C, but the cockpit is shallow, with a driver molded in to make room for the engine and battery pack. Early Chaparrals had plenty of ventilation with various gills and grilles throughout, but these are molded closed on this particular body. While the wheels have an accurate spoke pattern, they’re too shallow in the rear and the tires are terrible. Let’s get to work and…

This is a rerelease of the original molded-in-red car, now with yellow body panels. That bright color is officially called “Giallo Modena,” or Modena Yellow, and Tamiya’s yellow (TS-16) is a solid match for this model. The LaFerrari is made up of 169 pieces cast in silver, black, clear, chrome, and red clear. The kit’s pliable rubber Bridgestone Potenzas have full tread and sidewall detail. Easy-to-read instructions, precut window masks, Mylar chrome transfers, screen material for vent grilles, and an attractive decal sheet round out the kit’s contents. Despite the position of the rear spoiler being the only real option, Tamiya’s latest is a full-detail kit with poseable wheels, opening doors, and a hinged engine cover. Prepare for a decent amount of detail painting being required to bring this Italian…

IF YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH the toy department in any big box store lately, you’ve probably noticed Lego’s sizable footprint. In an effort to capitalize on that existing market and attract the next generation of model builders, Airfix has launched the Quick Build line of autos and aircraft. Curious how Airfix’s hybrid approach of combining the lines of a traditional plastic car kit with Lego-style construction would work, I asked my son Albert, 6, to build the Beetle. He’s assembled many Lego sets, from basic to appropriately challenging for his age, so he was the right guy for the task. Though the kit is geared for ages 5 and up, some parental help is necessary. The bug’s wheels, hubcaps, tires, and headlights are attached to sprues, and while the parts could…

The introduction of the Lotus 49 in 1967 was a revolutionary step in the construction of Formula One race cars. Using a central monocoque and making the engine a stressed part of the chassis made for a lighter, stronger, more adaptable car and is still the norm today. After a lull in new 1/20 scale F1 kits, we’ve seen a bit of new life from Ebbro out of Japan. Ebbro’s emphasis seems to be on the overlooked “classic” racers. Sharing much DNA with the old Lotus 49B the new 49B has crisp detail and virtually no flash or mold seams. A beautiful set of tampo-printed tires and a super decal sheet also are new. There are two build options; the high-wing car from the Daily Mail Race of Champions or…

INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER grew its roots in 1830s Virginia when Cyrus H. McCormick started a farm implement company. His horse-drawn reaper sold well, allowing him to expand and in 1902, J.P. Morgan bought the company from Cyrus Jr. and folded McCormick, Deering, and several other small farm implement companies into one family: International Harvester or IH. In 1907, IH introduced a line of light-duty trucks that it continued to build until 1975. IH also was an early producer of medium- and heavy-duty trucks as well as chassis for school buses. Initially IH’s stock in trade was on the commercial side with their Loadstar, Emeryville, and S-Series trucks marketed to private fleets and municipal customers. In the mid-’70s, IH released the TranStar, intended for the independent owner/operator market. The TranStar Eagle boasted…

Contest Cars correction On a rare occasion, sometimes when we’re sorting through thousands of pictures, things get mixed up. We’d like to note that the car seen on page 68 in Contest Cars 2018 (and below), is actually a modified 1934 Duesenberg SJ Torpedo built by Alfred Abken. We apologize for the error. -Robby DeGraff, Assistant Editor Farewell, Modelhaus I think it was a slap in the face to the modeling community when Don and Carol Holthaus walked away from their Modelhaus enterprise, leaving us stranded. Didn’t they realize how important their services were to the hobby and all those who supported them over the years? I don’t put them down for their wish to retire, but for them to fail to even offer to put the business up for…

Eleven years have passed since Ford last offered a Mustang Bullitt, but for 2019 the Bullitt is back with a package to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the iconic Bullitt movie. As a Mustang fan I wanted to build my own 2019 Bullitt based on the simple Revell Build ‘n Play 2018 Mustang GT SnapTite kit as it’s the only current Mustang kit available. Even though the kit is greatly simplified, I knew it was a good canvas to work from as the basic body and proportions are accurate. However, both Maisto and Welly offer 1/24 scale diecast Mustang GT’s, the Maisto models being common in both “Special Edition” pre-assembled and “Assembly Line” kit forms. So I saw an opportunity with the Maisto car to replace the low-detail Revell…

I started with a unique Camaro, Revell’s 427 Yenko SC Coupe. According to my research there can be a lot of variables in what could be considered a stock “Yenko Super Coupe” since the engines were swapped into various cars equipped with different option packages. Also, other performance items not available with Chevy’s COPO (Central Office Production Order) factory cars could be had on these dealer-built versions, like headers. Rather than worry about making my build 100% accurate to an original 1:1 car, I went with the premise that this Yenko has had its share of modifications and upgrades over the years. But the focus of this how-to is on a 4-barrel carbureted engine, so there’s no need to get too much into the particulars of the host vehicle. While…

AS EXPERIENCED MODEL car and truck builders, many of us naturally gravitate toward the full-assembly kits that comprise the majority of the model cars available today. Yet there are certain instances where a simplified, “Snap Assembly” kit offers something we can’t otherwise find in the hobby kit marketplace. Such a kit is Revell’s “Wheels of Fire” 1970 Chevelle SS. There are at least three other popular-scale kit tools of the 1970 Chevelle SS454, from AMT, MPC, and Monogram. Yet each of these has one or more egregious errors in their scale bodies, ones that make the finished product look “wrong” to anyone reasonably familiar with the real car. Most kit critics agree that only Revell’s snap-assembly kit correctly nails the many finessed exterior details that give the real 1970 SS454…

Jeep’s Wrangler Rubicon has been dominating the off-road trails — and the 2013 10th Anniversary Edition is no different. With locking front and rear differentials, electronic sway-bar disconnect, a beefed-up suspension, and underbody armor, it can take you places no stock vehicle can — plus you get special badging, a red interior with special Rubicon stitching on the seats, a winch-ready bumper, red tow hooks, and an all=new hood. Tightly packed inside Meng’s box are six sprues with nearly 200 parts. Metal springs are included for the suspension, and reflective lenses for the Jeep branding on the grille and for the mirrors. Vinyl tires are also included. The molds are finely detailed, but many of the parts are riddled with ejector-pin marks to remove. Clear parts are crystalline and scratch-free.…

Taking a luxury GT and turning it into a successful racer sounds like a foolish proposition, but Tom Walkinshaw Racing did just that with the Jaguar XJ-S. In addition to its sprues, Hasegawa has included photo-etched stainless steel for grille mesh, hood pins, seatbelt buckles and anchors, and the large “XJS” emblem on the rear fascia. There’s also a stiff wire to simulate the radio antenna, three sizes of vinyl tubing, and a sheet of vinyl for seat belts. Some of these extras were more successful than others. The photo-etch was easy enough to use and the mesh gives a purposeful look to the front end below the bumper, and a bit of extra detail behind the grille. The hood pins folded up simply enough, and the seat belt hardware…

When’s the last time you were trackside? Hopefully it didn’t take you longer than five seconds to reach that answer, but if you struggled to reminisce on the last time you saw the checkered flag drop, you’ve got some serious work to do my friend. The local Mecca for those with gasoline in their blood, who crave loud and fast cars, is Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. It’s four miles of long straights, sharp corners, elongated curves surrounded by Wisconsin’s best foliage. It’s a road course rich in history with checkered flags flapping since 1955. From vintage motorcycles, Le Mans type LMPs, stripped-down muscle cars, amateur SCCA warriors, and classic European exotics, it’s a 14-turn maze for all-things with an engine and wheels. I can walk right out of…

Word finally is out that Revell USA is back in business with offices and a warehouse in Northlake, Ill. (suburban Chicago). Plus it announced one all new kit, a 1968 Chevy Chevelle SS 396, is coming soon. Lou Aguilera, Revell USA’s president, told Scale Auto, that new kit shipments are arriving now and that the first shipments of Revell kits to distributors has begun. He said additional kits from Revell Germany, which owns Revell USA, should be arriving about the time you read this. Likewise, some of the early kits should now be arriving at hobby shops and other model retailing stores. Aguilera, said there are 9 car kits being released this fall, led by the 1/25 scale ’68 Chevelle that was a secret project at Revell, but had been…

Before marketing took over the world, automotive icons grew from their own coolness. It was a natural process, make something that looks great, performs great, and that famous people use and something good would follow. The Mustang Bullitt is all of that, an icon of coolness because of its looks, performance and association with the late 1960s king of swagger, Steve McQueen. McQueen drove his fastback Highland Green 1968 Mustang into movie history in the blockbuster movie “Bullitt” 50 years ago. The chase scene involving McQueen and Ford’s Mustang became an instant film icon … watch out for that baby carriage! So here we are 50 years later and Ford has released a gorgeous Dark Highland Green Bullitt edition of its current Mustang, based on the GT model. The timing…

The box art proclaims “Malco Super Vett, the ISCA Grand Champion …. Also a proven strip performer in the C/G Class!!!”. This annual award was sanctioned by International Championship Auto Shows (ICAS), which organized many hot rod and custom car events around the country into a show circuit with points and awards for exhibitors. The ultimate honor was to be voted “Grand Champion” at the end of the season. This meant fabricating a car with extreme eyeball appeal, presenting it in an attention-grabbing display, and then campaigning the car each weekend at hot rod shows across the country. MPC seemed to have connections that led to producing kits of some of the country’s most popular show cars. It helped that the national headquarters of the ICAS was located one Detroit…

I enjoy visiting local car shows and always admire my favorite rides—the rat rods. In building this project, I was aiming for something that stood out. I thought about how designers created these real rat rods I kept seeing, with their ridiculous engines, cool paint jobs, and wild body work. The idea for my bad wagon uses an array of kits. I took Revell’s 1949 Mercury Wagon and cut it in half behind the front doors then in front of the rear fenders. Next, I attached the back half of a chassis from AMT’s ’66 Chevy Nova Pro Street and front half from Monogram’s ’41 Willys Street Rod Continuing with that rat rod flow, I grabbed the front clip from a Ford Coupe and cut out impressions in the fenders…

Mention my name to anyone and they’ll immediately recognize me as “Mr. ’32 Ford.” I’ve grown up building cars, often models of real cars I read about in magazines like the old-school street rods and wild customs of the 1950s. Modeling for me is a relaxing and enjoyable hobby that lets me fully and limitlessly express my imagination. Evenings spent hanging out at cruise nights, gatherings with Wisconsin’s Auto Modelers Group, and the 1:1s I clearly remember from when I was younger, inspire me to recreate these memories in a scaled-down way. Year after year of model building gave me the inspiration and set my career path to become an automobile painter. None of the four models you see spread across these pages have been built stock out-of-the-box; they’re all…

AMT’s Autocar A64B tractor was first released in 1972 and this box contains no noticeably new parts. The number of chrome pieces, however, is reduced from previous releases. Foldout instructions with a suggested color chart show 10 assembly steps, and although the parts appear to be denoted by number, they represent the assembly sequence and do not relate to the numbers on the trees. Unfortunately each pictured part does include a description and be ready to do a fair amount flash cleanup. The engine appears to be a Cummins NH230 diesel and as an alternative, unused parts are included for a turbocharged NTC350. After an ounce of cleanup you end up with a solid looking engine. The transmission is molded separately and both radiator hoses are included. The multipiece frame…

We associate certain arenas or stadiums with being the Mecca for that sport. In football it might be Wisconsin’s Lambeau Field in a tiny town called Green Bay or the Big Apple’s Madison Square Garden for boxing. The same follows for motorsports. Take the Nürburgring, where leading auto manufacturers flock to Germany to aggressively set astounding lap times around the 12.9-mile circuit. But then there’s Bonneville. West of Salt Lake City, Utah, are 30,000 acres of flat, salt-crusted ground where vehicles soar down the Salt Flats, shooting high for various land speed records. Everything from motorcycles clad in aerodynamic body panels, to hot rods, exotics, and wild streamliners that look like rocket ships. A proven, pioneer of streamliner land speed records, was Art Arfons, who in 1965 launched his bonkers-looking…