The Revell 1/16 scale Hawaiian Charger Funny Car is a re-release of a kit first available in 1988. The kit is a representation of Roland Leong’s 1973 Dodge Charger “Hawaiian” Funny Car. These cars were essentially a rail or tube chassis with a modified fiberglass body representing the car – by this point in racing history a Funny Car had little in common with the stock car it represented other than a vague similarity and a name. In fact, the origin of the name ‘Funny Car’ comes from the elongated wheelbase and stretched bodywork – far from looking stock, they looked ‘funny’ and the name stuck.

This is a large, 1/16 scale kit, so it comes in an associated larger model box – this one measuring 11 ½ x 17 inches. It needs to be big, because the stretched Dodge Charger body is pretty long, just shy of 12 inches when completed.

Background

A familiar sight to all who have traveled the highways and byways of the United States is the “semi” tractor-trailer truck hauling goods from coast-to-coast. One of the leading manufacturers of the “tractor” portion is Freightliner, a subsidiary of Daimler AG established in 1942.

The Kit

Big truck, big box, big model – lots of “wow factor” for the young builder! Molded in light blue, white, black, and clear, the kit comprises of 102 parts. A sheet of peel-and-stick decals and instructions are also included. Copyright data on tractor and trailer parts indicate 1979 and 1980 vintage of the original tooling, respectively. As expected with tooling over 3 decades in service, there was quite a bit of flash along mold parting lines which required some extra effort to clean up prior to assembly.

From 1973-2002, the Yamaha YZR500 led four 500 cc Grand Prix riders to ten separate world championships. One of the most famous riders to take the helm of the YZR500 was France's Christian Sarron. For the 1988 season, Sarron rode for the Sonauto-Yamaha team, scoring 149 points to earn a fourth-place finish overall.

Hasegawa’s offering of the YZR500 is a re-box of an earlier release, as a limited edition with new decals and new brake parts. There are 139 parts included in the kit, including a clear windshield, two rubber tires, four metal screws, a metal spring, and two colors (black and clear) of rubber tubing. The body panels and wheels are molded in white, while the other sprues are in a medium gray. Ten of the parts are not used, and there are two options for brakes (steel or carbon). The kit comes in a typical top-opening box, and the sprues are bagged in groups by color. There is also a very nicely printed decal sheet

Part 1 of the Tamiya Fat Boy review describes the background of the Fat Boy motorcycle and the Tamiya kit contents. This Part 2 Review describes the assembly of the Tamiya Fat Boy kit.

This is a fantastic kit! Not only is the Harley Davidson Fat Boy an iconic motorcycle, assembling this kit is one of the best modeling experiences I've ever had! The engineering and detail is phenomenal, the fit and finish of the parts are excellent, and the assembly, while complicated, goes together very well. The kit is a joy to build!

Background

The Harley Davidson Fat Boy is the latest in Tamiya’s series of 1/6 scale motorcycle kits. This is a large, multimedia kit with plastic, metal, rubber, diecast, and photoetch parts. This review also includes Tamiya’s Harley-Davidson Fat Boy Lo Detail Up Parts Set, item 12655 (MSRP $96.00).

I usually write about various aircraft-related items, but when I saw this Revell 2015 SnapTite Mustang I thought my son could pitch in and help with a review. He is almost nine, is an IPMS Junior member, and has several models under his belt. William primarily builds aircraft—like his dad—but the Mustang is one of his favorite cars. While most of his builds have been glued together and painted, he is still right in the target audience for this SnapTite kit.