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

Review Author
Joe Porche
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$15.95

For those of you who might be skeptical of building a snap tite kit (too easy, not detailed enough, kids toys) this would be the perfect opportunity to put your uncertainty aside and try one out. I had some reservations myself but after watching my 18 year old son bang one of these out in a weekend and it looking purely awesome on the shelf, I though I could do no worse.

I chose to build mine as a representation of the Las Vegas Metro Police Departments Ford F-150. Truthfully they do no currently have any Raptors in inventory but I thought this would make a great fantasy vehicle that is oh so close to the real thing. Included is a picture of the patrol unit I was trying to emulate. Being as such I need to add a few things to the model like light bar, radio, shotgun, push bumper, donuts, etc. The decals I made for the unit where done on the laptop and printed with an HP printer on clear decal stock. Obviously none of these items came from the Revell kit.

Review Author
Bill Kluge
Published on
Company
Round 2 Models
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$25.99

It’s hard to believe that after more than fifty years of modeling, I’ve never built a car before now. But somewhere between “you’re never too old to learn” and “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”, I found myself with my first car model. I’ve always liked the aesthetics of the 1930s, particularly where technology was applied. Vehicle designers were just starting to appreciate the value of aerodynamics, and automobiles of the mid-to-late 30s were showing that influence, with teardrop shapes replacing flat surfaces and hard angles. Compared to cars of just half a generation earlier, especially two-seater coupes, cars of the late 30s looked fast just sitting still. The ‘37 Chevy was a prime example.

Review Author
Gordon Miller
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$23.95

The kit I assembled here is the 1/25th scale version of the 1940 Ford Standard Coupe. This car in real life was available in two designs ,the standard ( built here) and the Deluxe. This version was the least expensive but more popular in it's day. Building this kit was a unique experience for me . I had a lot of fun building it .The vintage engine among other things was a great chance for me to work with parts that I'd never built with before. As far as the engine goes it is a Ford Flathead V8 with 60 Horsepower. It's a very nicely detailed vintage engine. I seen that these engine had blocks painted different colors. I chose to go with Ford Engine Blue.

Review Author
Jim Stepanek
Published on
Company
Round 2 Models
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$23.99

Round 2 hit a nice spot with the AMT 1966 Ford Galaxie 500. Build it stock, custom, or racing. The box contains all the parts to build it your way and some extra pieces for the parts box.

Engine

The kit provides enough parts to build either the stock engine or a SOHC engine. Either version does not fit together very well.

Chassis

The chassis is engraved fairly well but the suspension parts leave much to be desired. The front suspension is much too thick for scale.

Interior

It’s just a tub and the engraving is almost non-existent on the side panels. In fact, the only redeeming parts are the seats.

Review Author
Joe Staudt
Published on
Company
Round 2 Models
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$29.99

In the early 1960’s, plastics were the wave of the future. The Marbon Chemical Company believed that plastic could be used for the structural parts of automobiles, and to demonstrate this they decided to build an entire car out of ABS plastic. The folks at AMT were so taken by this concept that they not only released kits of the car, but also committed to build a quantity of the full-scale vehicles. The most famous of these was used on the TV show “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”, where it served as the car driven by the main character and his sidekick, a pair of international spies.

The full-size cars never caught on, but the kits were popular, and Round 2 has recently re-released them. The first one out is the “Original Art Series” version of the “Man from U.N.C.L.E.” car, with original box art and a booklet full of color photos of the original vehicles, including the recently restored car from the TV series.

Review Author
Tom Moon
Published on
Company
Italeri
Scale
1/12
MSRP
$193.00

The one-off racing car “Eldridge", derived from the old Fiat SB4 chassis, became known as Mephistofele for the infernal noise emitted by its powerful aircraft 6-cylinder in-line engine, giving a capacity over 20,000 cm3, not attenuated by exhaust mufflers kept “free” to provide the most significant performance. On 12th July 1924 in Arpajon, the Mefistofele was able to reach, driven by its pilot and designer Ernest Eldrige, the amazing speed, for the time, of 146.01 miles per hour (over 230 Km/h) and broke the World Land Speed Record achieving an impressive result. The Mefistofele, was characterized by the high back bodywork able to contain the powerful Fiat A-12 liquid-cooled engine and for its structure especially made to achieve the speed record.

Review Author
Jim Stepanek
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$29.95

There was no flash on this kit with lots of chrome parts.

Engine

Eighteen pieces make up the little 4 banger engine that is very well detailed with all the parts fitting extremely well.

Interior

The interior is a one piece tub that the steering column gets glued into. Very basic.

Body

The body is really small. I mean tiny, but it’s molded very well. I painted the body with HOK chrome yellow.

Chassis

The chassis glues together in 4 pieces and then the tiny little chrome parts get glued to it. Some of those chrome parts are extremely small and that made it difficult for me to put together.

Included in the kit are the tiki hut that is extremely well engraved. I used several different colors in an attempt to make the palm leaves come alive. The “Big Daddy” figure was pre-painted by Revell. The decal sheet has several Rat Fink decals that can be added to the figure.

Review Author
Gordon Miller
Published on
Company
Revell
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$23.95

This release is part of an extremely popular series of models that goes under the Revell California Wheels collection that's been out for quite a while now. This particular Cadillac is actually the Eldorado Seville, of which only 975 cars were ever produced by the factory.

Review Author
Doug Cole
Published on
Company
Round 2 Models
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$24.99

The Kit

This automotive model review covers the Flintstone’s Flintmobile 1:25 Scale Lindberg Model Kit #HL604 (Photo 1). This is a Skill Level 1 Snap-It kit (Photo 2) for modelers eight years and older. It includes 22 parts molded primarily in tan and grey plastic with a white top. It also has a standup backdrop and easy to follow instructions. When finished it measures: L- 7½”, W- 4”, H- 3-¾”.

This kit’s box art will catch the eye of anyone that has ever seen the 60’s TV series featuring the Flintstones or even the 90’s movie. The hilarious antics of Fred Flintstone’s Stone Age friends and foes only mirrored that of modern day life and was enjoyable by both kids and adults alike. It’s hard not to look at the model and remember the pitter-patter of those huge feet getting the Flintmobile in gear to get “Twinkle Toes” to the bowling alley in time for the big tournament.

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

Very little flash and the parts fit very well on this kit. I had thought about trying to fit a V8 engine but the car is just too small.

Engine

The little 4-banger engine is very well detailed with all the parts fitting extremely well.

Interior

Interior panels are very well engraved and cry out to be detailed.

Body

There’s no chrome on the body. I made the mistake of masking all the window frames and painting them with black chrome when all that really needs to be done is paint the edge of the glass. The body is in beautiful shape right out of the box. I used HOK marine blue to get a pretty close to factory color.

This really cool kit to work on and Revell needs to be commended for their craftsmanship. Thank you also to IPMS for allowing me to review this kit.