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

Review Author
Doug Cole
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$24.95

It’s hard to argue with success and Jimmie Johnson has proven his abilities since he burst onto the NASCAR scene. This kit represents a snap together kit aimed at drawing the youngsters into the hobby with a great looking, easy-to-build race car model.

This review covers the skill level 2 (ages 8 years and older) 2016 release of the Jimmie Johnson Lowe's NASCAR #48 Chevy SS Revell 1:24 Scale Model Kit #85-1475. Molded in color and featuring colorful stickers this kit is the perfect “first model” for young builders. You will need one tool – a small Phillips head screwdriver to affix the body to the chassis. There are 35 pieces molded in black, gray and clear with vinyl tires to go with the pre-painted body. This is a “curbside” kit with no real motor and the interior and suspension parts have minimal detail. Finished dimensions are: Length: 8-3/16″, Width: 3-1/8″, Height: 2-3/8″.

Review Author
Joe Porche
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$26.95

Parts Count

  • 71 White styrene plastic parts on ten spure with two individually wrapped
  • 69 Chrome styrene plastic parts on five spure
  • 10 Clear styrene plastic parts on one spure
  • 4 Vinyl rubber tires
  • 1 5 ¾” x 5 1/8” decal sheet
  • 1 16 pages, 24 step instruction booklet

All parts are in separate sealed plastic bags and appear to be free of any flash. The chrome is bright and free of scratches. Clear parts are individually wrapped and appear free of scratches. The molds for the rubber vinyl tires appear to be fresh and without flash or mutation. Of note, the white styrene plastic this kit is molded in is extremely easy to work with; carves easily, sands well and reacts nicely with liquid solvent style glues like Tamiya Extra Thin Cement or Tenex 7. Decals have many options, are crisp printed and covered with protective wax paper.

Review Author
Jarrod Booth
Published on
Company
Italeri
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$69.99

Iveco is an Italian truck manufacturer that builds some of the latest trucks and commercial vehicles in Europe. Acitoinox is a truck accessory parts company, and plays a big part in the fancy stripes and mirrored finish stainless steel 40th anniversary scheme of this subject.

The Iveco Stralis Hi-Way is a re-issued kit with new decals and adhesive “chrome” dress up “stickers”. It comes in a sturdy box that is well sized for the amount of sprues inside. The sprues are mostly individually bagged and protected.

This truck is beautifully detailed with parts reproduced faithfully to the original - outside and inside. I referred to various internet sites for picture references. The plastic is given in approximate colors of black, blue, white and chrome, so it could be built with no painting.

The instructions are well laid out with photo like pictures, a good parts map and paint recommendations.

OK, let’s build this thing!

Review Author
Frank Landrus
Published on
Company
Hauler
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$7.20

A feature that you can quickly notice on almost any 1/48 soft-skin AFV are the windshield wipers. Often they are either molded into the clear windshield, or they are absent all together. Hauler has come to the rescue with eight different sized windshield wipers. The photoetch sheet provided gives you a total of 120 individual windshield wipers along with simple instructions on folding them to set on the windshield.

Hauler uses an open plastic pouch that is stapled to the header card. You will want to be careful handling the photo-etch windshield wipers as their small size makes them an easy sacrifice to the carpet monster.

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

Revell has re-released a fine kit that’s sure to be a hit. It is the 1980 Dodge Ramcharger. A person can go really wild with this kit if they’re willing to change things around a bit.

Engine

The engine is pretty basic and the kit offers no options and no chrome. I installed ignition wires, throttle linkage, and a fuel line with filter.

Interior

The interior is just a simple tub design with molded side panel engraving is really lacking in detail. The kit does have a rear seat that I decided to leave out to carry the spare tire.

Body

The body was straight although the bumpers and grill didn’t fit perfectly into final assembly so it was necessary to do a bit of tweaking. The sunroof is molded into the kit body part. To change things up a bit, on the side and rear kit glass, I used some peach tinted acetate. HOK cinnamon pearl and cocoa pearl adorn the boyd.

Review Author
Doug Hamilton
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$25.95

Created as a joint project between corporate partners Porsche and Volkswagen, the 914-6 hit the US market badged as a Porsche. It could have been called a Volkswagen, and in Europe, it was!!!! Produced in two mid-engine versions; a woefully underpowered four cylinder (-4) and six cylinder (-6). Each manufacturer had reservations about both versions. Designed to replace the entry level 912, it became the leading seller in the Porsche stable, the -6 version costing nearly as much as the 911!! The 914 was highly visible both on the road and on the track. I chose to build my sample as the stock version.

Molded in White Plastic, with one sprue of chrome plated parts, some clear parts and four vinyl tires the kit consists of 70 parts. Parts for both the street stock and racing version are included. Instructions and a sheet of decals complete the kit.

Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$89.95

This is a nice kit, with good detail and nice fitting parts. There is some cleanup for seams and flash, but it’s a fun kit to assemble.

The Revell Kenworth has been around since 1996 and has been reissued in several configurations. It has included different sleepers, a previous wrecker, and even a dump truck. It appears that the only difference in this version of the wrecker are the decals.

This behemoth of a kit comes in a huge box that is 14 x 20 x 5" tall. The kit is part of Revell's Historic Series and is listed a skill level five for ages 14+. The kit is 14 inches long and includes 411 parts, many of them very large.

Review Author
Gordon Miller
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$26.95

The model I am reviewing here is one of the cars out of the second movie in the Fast & Furious endeavors.

The story began back in 1967 when Chevy introduced its new pony car for the first time, the Camaro. Finally, in 1969, after Don Yenko had tried to convince them to let him build his idea of the ultimate muscle car those first couple of years, Yenko was able to convince the powers that be at Chevrolet to let him produce a special series of cars with enhanced performance characteristics under the GM COPO order program. He was able to purchase 201 of these vehicles. They were built in a factory in Pennsylvania. These specially built performance machines came equipped with a L- 72 427 C.I. big block Chevy powerplant combined with a four speed transmission, along with other performance parts and a deluxe interior unique for the Yenko design. Hence the Yenko SC Camaro was born.