In 1979, my teenage dream came true when I bought my third car (or I should say my Dad did after I pestered him to death), a 1965 Mustang coupe. When I was growing up, my folks bought two of these beauties brand new, a 1965 convertible and 1968 California Special. The Mustang was firmly rooted in my mind as one the coolest cars I’d ever seen. I had to have one. A testament to my Dad’s wisdom, my Mustang wasn’t the hotrod my friends had with their 289 and 302 V-8s. Mine was a straight six 200 cid with diamond tuck interior and a cheesy baby blue paint job. In retrospect, he probably saved me from getting into a lot of trouble. Over the course of the next two years I restored the car to its original factory condition, down to its Philco AM radio. As nice as it turned out, I really always wanted a Shelby. Even then, Shelby’s were coveted collector cars well out of a high school kid’s budget.
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IN THE BOX
The kit replicates the back engine housing/afterburner assembly used on the F-14A Tomcat. Material is made from resin and is gray in color. Also included is a photo etched sheet of afterburner nozzles. All the parts were in excellent condition.
CONSTRUCTION
Initially, I trimmed the engine housing exhaust and afterburner housing. The end sprue material was not needed. I painted the interior prior to the assembly of the fan blades, can interior, and afterburners. Note: the F-14 kit I used did not have a “kit part” as noted in the instructions. I was able to adapt this exhaust nozzle kit to the F-14A Testor’s kit. It worked just fine – I did have to make some adjustments, however.
FINISH
The paint used was store-bought spray primer (gray), ModelMaster enamel (steel), and on the outside exhaust housing I used acrylic (steel).
COMMENTS
This kit can be assembled by any age model builder. The plans are very easy to follow.
This has got to be the best last couple of years for the Middle East Wars modeler enthusiast. Tamiya is releasing an M-1 Super Sherman (not really Super, just a Sherman used by the IDF). Dragon is releasing several useable kits for the period, one of which is a newly tooled Bison II that could be used by the Egyptian Army. A company called Meng Model has offered an injection molded import pickup truck with ZPU-1. SabingaMartin has released another book, and Bronco has released three versions of the YW series APC along with two versions of this little GAZ-69.
Modern special operation forces made their first appearance during the Second World War and have been involved in every major and many minor conflicts since. The current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with wide open spaces and heavily armed insurgents, have seen the employment of a large variety of special operations patrol vehicles. These vehicles allow the special operators to cover long distances rapidly while carrying the weapons necessary to confront a wide range of targets.
History Brief
The 1948 Ford was the company’s last model to be produced using a pre-WWII design. Distinctive “fat” fenders helped make it an instant favorite with custom builders, who tended to chop the top and add fade-away fenders and tunneled headlights. A modified Ford flathead V-8, dual carburetors, and dual exhaust was the rage.
The Product:
Kit features newly tooled optional custom parts. These include four grills with separate surrounds, two bumpers, two hubcaps, three taillights, two hoods, fade-away side panels, spotlights, fender skirts, plated metal exhaust tips, printed whitewall tires, chrome plated parts, and decals with colorful custom graphics. Total parts 136, skill level 3.
The Build: