Reviews of products for scale automotive models, including motorcycles and motorized vehicles.

Review Author
Mark Costello
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$24.95

This kit is a modified re-release of the Monogram GMC High Roller kit from 1981 (the parts have a 1978 copyright on them) with differences being different decals and the “Ground Hawg” sidewall markings are missing from the tires.

Kit

The kit comes packaged in the usual Revell 1/24/25 size cardboard box with 5 bags of white, clear, and chrome molded parts as well as the rubber tires. The tires were floating around in my box, as the bag they were in doesn’t look like it was sealed all the way. The clear parts are bagged separately. There is a total of 5 sprues of white plastic plus the separate cab, 1 sprue of chrome, 1 sprue of clear, and the 4 rubber tires. All this adds up to a total of 92 plastic parts. The parts are molded with good detail and some flash. There are some ejector pin marks that will need to be addressed. I am hoping my kit was a one-off as some of the ejector pin marks were extremely deep, almost all the way through the part.

Review Author
John Kaylor
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$42.99

Summary

After the Porsche 956 was banned from competition in the IMSA GTP in 1981 on safety grounds because the driver’s feet were ahead of the front axle centerline, Porsche made modifications to the vehicle to make it eligible for competition. The 962 debuted at the 1984 24 Hours of Daytona with Mario and Michael Andretti driving. It lead the race until lap 127 when it encountered engine and gearbox problems. These problems were worked through and it had a lot of success from 1984-1993. A total of 91 962s would be produced between 1984 and 1991, with its final victory occurring at the 1993 IMSA GTP Championship.

Kit Contents

The kit consists of a total of around 70 parts on two main black sprues; a clear sprue; several sprues with wheel parts; a rubber sprue with 4 tires; two sheets of decals, one large one with the decals for the car, and the other smaller one with two decals per tire; and an 8 page instruction sheet.

Review Author
Ron Bell
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$23.95

The Kit

The Eliminator was built for the rock band ZZ Top and has been featured in many of the band’s videos. It’s a sleek hot rod made from a ’33 Ford Coupe in bright red with the ZZ Top logo on the side. The Revell kit of this car is faithful to the original with decals for the side logos and logos even molded into the valve covers and air cleaner on the engine, which is nicely detailed and with the addition of an ignition system would display very well with those logos highlighted in red. The interior consists of a seat, nicely detailed dash and steering column with the floor pedals molded into the floor pan part. Details of the upholstery are given in decals, which adds a nice touch. There are 70 parts in total molded in red, clear and chromed and four nicely detailed rubber tires. A younger modeler could build this kit without paint as it is molded in the prototype’s color with the chrome accents, but the advanced modeler will want to add a higher gloss finish.

Review Author
Gregory Hansel
Published on
Company
Italeri
Scale
1/9
MSRP
$89.99

Introduction: I was very excited to have the opportunity to review this kit. I love the older motorcycles and this kit did not disappoint. According to www.Scalemates.com, the kit is a new tool. But I believe it is a reboxing of the old Protar kit from the 70s line the Norton Manx kit. The kit is definitely a product of the 70s era. The term "agricultural" came to mind as I was examining the sprues. Not to say it’s a bad kit at all...far from it, but it was tooled back in the day and it is not shake and bake. The kit comes on seven sprues and has two substantial rubber tires that hold their shape well. There are a large number of screws in various sizes as well. An interesting feature of the kit is the hoses. They are pre-formed in soft pliable rubber. No measuring, no cutting to length. There are a few minor sink marks on some of the body panels, but they are able to be sanded out with no filler. On to the build!!

Review Author
Ben Morton
Published on
Company
Tamiya
Scale
1/20
MSRP
$77.00

From the Tamiya America website:

The SF70H, the 63rd single-seater designed and built by Scuderia Ferrari, was born out of major regulation changes, with wider tires and cars, plus larger diffusers, meaning that the cars have more aerodynamic down force and greater mechanical grip. Fittingly for the hybrid machine named to commemorate Scuderia Ferrari's 70 years of racing, the SF70H showcases the team's innovation throughout its design. A lengthened nose and arrow-shaped front wing are a consequence of the regulations, as are the fin on the engine cover, and aero appendages ahead of the air intakes on the side pods.

Review Author
Chris Smith
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$26,395.00

With her Indy car win in Japan in 2008, Danica Patrick has become a house-hold name in racing and a celebrity based on her clever add campaign with Go Daddy, one of her past sponsors. In 2010 Danica moved to Nascar and although she hasn't won any races she has claimed pole position and led a number of laps. She has proven her ability as a racer and follows in the footsteps of Shirley Muldowney and the up and coming Cortney Force.

This kit represents one of Danica's 2017 cars sponsored by Aspen Dental. Running under the Ford Banner for the Stuart-Hass racing team, the car is shaped to represent the Ford Fusion. All the teams ran the Roush-Yates FR-9 engine that season. This 358 CI engine was equipped with fuel injection and were restricted by a plate on the intake manifold to 850HP.

Review Author
Jim Stepanek
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$24.95

Engine

Beautiful Ford 289 is well detailed and fits together just perfectly. I added ignition wiring, throttle linkage, and fuel line.

Interior

Interior is wonderfully engraved just screaming for some detail painting. Rustoleum texture paint was used to simulate a sprayed on durable coating.

Body

The body went together very well. The open grille is an impressive piece. Didn’t have to grind away the back to open it up. Every piece fits very well. I filled the holes for the outrigger spare tire and put it inside. The fender flares were made with strip styrene and Bondo. I needed wider flares to cover the tires. HOK sunrise pearl was used on the body.

Chassis

The frame rails are separate from the chassis pan making for detail painting easier. Front, rear suspension, and exhaust are all separate pieces. Some serious lowering was done to the suspension. Wheels/tires are from the parts box.

Review Author
Jim Stepanek
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$24.95

This is a review of the Revell ’80 Jeep Honcho “Ice Patrol” kit.

Engine

There was little flash on the engine parts but there is also very little detail. You get just a very basic engine with a way oversize fanbelt.

Interior

Only faint engraving can be seen on the door panels making it very difficult to detail paint. The kit does have 2 different decals for the gauge cluster.

Body

The body went together pretty well. The rear portion of the box is a separate piece that I didn’t care for, but it fit very well. You get a choice with decals in either blue tone or orange. My choice was the blue to go along with the Tru-Color metallic bright Atlantic Blue paint. The inside of the box was painted with Rustoleum texture paint for a spray in bedliner look.

The kit comes with a toolbox, 2 gas cans and a snowmobile. Once assembled, the sled won’t fit in the box of the truck with the tailgate up.

Review Author
Ben Morton
Published on
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$49.99

From Hasegawa's website: Designed specifically for taking the racing world by storm, the XJR-9 was the eighties Jaguar that finally cracked the iron grip Porsche had on the 24 Hours of Le Mans and brought Jaguar its first Le Mans win since 1957. In America, the type also brought home the win at the 24 Hours of Daytona and took third in the overall Constructor's Championship. This limited edition kit features markings for three IMSA-GTP class Daytona Sunbank 24 hours racers: Car No. 60 (the winner), Car No. 61, and Car No. 66 (third place).

Review Author
Alan Wickham
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$26.95

A very nice new kit from Revell, this is the stock version, issued after the "Starsky and Hutch" version. The kit is a very simple build that almost harkens back to the old screw bottom kits. It was a pleasure to build, as there was basically no flash, and fit and finish were fantastic. Chrome is excellent quality, and the glass are all seperate pieces that fit very nicely. A welcome attribute.

I built my kit mostly box stock, except for the following: I added a distributor and wires and I also added the factory optional quarter "opera" windows and vinyl top, simply to break up the large expanse of roof and quarter panel on these cars. I also used vintage Uniroyal white walls, as the kit supplied white wall tires seem to have too low of a profile. A wonderful kit that I would recommend to anyone, advanced or not. The only problem I found with the entire kit, are the relatively low profile tires, that if used, would look too small on the car.