History

Ford introduced the “F” series pickup in 1948, beginning with the F-1; it became the best selling line of pickups of all time. The second generation of the “F” series was introduced in 1953 as the F-100, it ran through 1956.

The 1956 Ford F-100 is very popular among street rodders and was the vehicle of choice for famed pin striper, cartoonist, and custom car builder Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. Ed Roth created outrageous characters such as Rat Fink and Mr. Gasser, as well as vehicles like the Beatnik Bandit, Orbitron, and the Outlaw, among others. These were wild one-off creations that set the bar for custom hot rod show cars. The Revell model company turned several of Roth’s custom vehicles into model kits. Ed “Big Daddy” Roth was a notable figure in the custom car world and an inspiration to his contemporaries and future generations of custom car builders.

I have always been very interested in the odd subject, the one-offs, the participants in some historically significant or merely strange event, and the Seafire FR 46 fits in there somewhere. The Seafire 46 was a modification of the Spitfire F 22, with the bubble canopy and contra-rotating props. Combined with the larger vertical stabilizer of the Seafang, the Mk 46 fixed the problem of the sudden swing to starboard when power was added, as on takeoff.

There was an order placed for 200 FR 46s, but only 24 were built. It wasn’t a very good carrier aircraft as there was no provision for folding the wing. The follow-on Seafire 47 had a folding wing, and the 46 was relegated to shore-based training units.

Yep, I was destined to build this kit.

The Merkava began development in 1973 and entered service several years later, in 1978. Since it was originally fielded, it has gone through several iterations. Trumpeter has chosen to model the Mk. III which entered service in 1989. This model of the Merkava has several improvements from earlier models, notably the addition of a 120 mm gun produced in Israel, a larger diesel engine, and modular armor, just to name a few. Trumpeter’s kit goes head-to-head with Revell’s Mk. III which is the only other Merkava in Braille scale.