Table of contents for February 2017 in Scale Auto

We have a lot of ground to cover this time, so let’s get right to the mailbag. Tip: In the past I have used a rotary tool to open wheel wells on race cars, but I struggled to get an effect I was happy with. Then I discovered that one of my old prescription bottles had just the right diameter for the wheel wells I was working on. I used rubber cement to attach sandpaper to the bottle, and after roughing in the wheel well openings, I was able to finish off the openings with my homemade sander. I’ve made several of these sanders in different diameters, and with different grades of sandpaper. The nice thing about these containers is you can cut a few pieces of sandpaper and store…

Revell’s third auto-show “Build & Play” model for Ford is the incredible Ford GT supercar. The street version of the GT isn’t even in customers’ hands, but Revell’s new kit was available in January 2016 at the Detroit Auto Show – for kids to build at the show – and in March to hobby shops for general consumption. Following in the footsteps of the 2015 Mustang GT and the 2017 Ford Raptor kits, the GT was developed as a simple kit, with no side mirrors for the autoshow version; the kits later available to consumers have side mirrors. The GT is marketed as a SnapTite kit, having a bit more detail than Revell’s Build & Play kits. The model has only 28 pieces total. There’s a two-piece body, an interior…

When it comes to an all-new kit of an all-new car, it’s rare that the kit is on the shelves at almost the same time the car is in the showroom. Tamiya surprised us recently not only announcing the new NSX kit, but the announcement was made to fans and customers that it was already shipping. I have yet to see the new 1:1 NSX in person, so all I have are photographs to compare the look of the kit and contents to images of the car. The 1:1 car is a hybrid-powered exotic, with a twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6 with electric propulsion to each front wheel and between the engine and transmission in the rear. Worldwide production of the NSX is from Honda’s factory in Ohio, and the options list…

Although it has been almost 10 years since its initial release, this is still an accurate, “state of the art” 442. It represents a 1967 Cutlass Supreme with the 442/W-30 option. Assembly starts with the engine. A four-speed transmission is molded to the block; the oil pan is separate. There is a single four-barrel carburetor. The paint chart calls for the engine to be Olds Blue, but it should be bronze. The belt assembly is supposed to be installed at this point, but that creates a clearance problem when mounting the body to the frame. The chassis/underbody is a one-piece molding. Exhaust is separate. Front and rear suspensions include coil springs. Fully inserting the tailpipes’ rear mounting pins creates a clearance issue with the rear bumper. The inner fenders are…

The 1969 Trans-Am season was a runaway victory for the Penske Camaros; they won 8 of 12 races. The other four races were won by Mustangs: three to the Bud Moore team and one to Shelby. I wanted to add to my collection of Shelby race cars, so time to build a 1969 Boss. NO KIT? Unfortunately, there has never been a kit of a 1969 Boss Mustang. The obvious solution is to use a 1969 Fastback kit and modify it. Thankfully, the body modifications are fairly simple, and mainly involve filling in the rear quarter-panel scoops behind the doors. I did this for my street version of the 1969 Boss, but was less than happy with the results; the fender curves in two directions, and it’s difficult to get…

I’ve always loved the look of the 1964 Mercurys, and I had a Monterey convertible for eight years as a summer car. It was a local 1964 Caliente with black paint, a warmed-over 289, and deep-dish steel wheels that I absolutely loved, and used to cruise around my hometown. This car made a big impression on me, so I decided to see what I could do with the Model King release of the promo-style 1964 Caliente kit. I wanted to make a detailed model from the toylike kit, and build it as a street-racer-style car. Grabbing the Revell 1964 Thunderbolt kit off my shelf and a lot of sheet styrene, I went to work on my vision. TOTAL PERFORMANCE During the early 1960s, the Ford Motor Company launched its “Total…

I suppose my love of anything in the way of automobiles and motorcycles is in my DNA. I grew up on California’s central coast, going to the races with my Dad and riding on his motorcycle with him. I attended car shows, such as the Oakland Roadster Show and Fresno Autorama, with a family friend who would later become my employer and mentor in the automotive collision and restoration business – which is still my vocation. I built my first model at age 9, which I received as a gift from one my Dad’s best friends. It was a Monogram 1940 Ford pickup: the early-1960s issue that had the neat Darryl Starbird custom pieces and Kelsey Hayes wire wheels. I was immediately hooked. My Dad, Robert Kenyon, and my uncle,…

Editor’s note: Please welcome Lee Hartman, who is is auditioning as a guest columnist for “Truck Stop” this issue. Please let us know what you think of his work. This Railway Express truck is the oldest model-truck kit in my collection. From the research I’ve done, it’s probably the first in 1/25 scale (or close) of its kind. The kit was sold in 1946 by Continental Products Company of New York City. Continental was a division of the Vitamax Company. Vitamax made batteries for airplane and car models with gasoline engines. Apparently this was supposed to be the first in a series of truck kits, but I haven’t found any other kits from them. Their motto was “A model is as good as the parts that go into it.”…

Editor’s note: California modeler Mark Jones is well-known for his stunning 1/12 scale Caterham Super 7 models that are based on the Tamiya kit. This one, though, is a bit different: it’s completely scratchbuilt. I had wondered for years if I could build something 100 percent purely from raw materials. It was a private challenge. All work had to be done by me. No outsourcing of any kind. Even decals from other kits would not be allowed. The goal was completion to a satisfactory level. Hopefully, at a minimum, all parts would be equal in quality to a standard kit. I think part of the draw to build Super Seven models is that the 1:1 cars are kits, and the freedom that affords to personalize/customize them. ABOUT MARK JONES I…

Model car builders and collectors often forget that kits are a business proposition for their manufacturers. One way to increase the potential appeal and success of a kit is to tie it to a popular TV or movie franchise. This kit is an example of this appeal, as well as the risks of this merchandising approach. Produced for the fall 1971 television season, an American-Western-themed program called Bearcats! featured two pre-WW1 “troubleshooters” who used a 1914 Stutz to deliver “private security” services to various wealthy benefactors. The box art of MPC’s kit proclaimed the show as a “TV Hit.” In reality, the show was cancelled in midseason after only ten episodes. But without the potential publicity associated with Bearcats! we probably never would have seen a full-detail kit of a…