Jeep must be an American icon. They’ve been around forever and keep on going.

Engine

Well, there isn’t an engine. All you get is an oil pan molded into the chassis.

Chassis

The chassis features nice detail and crisp engraving. The exhaust pipe, front and rear differentials, and springs are separate assemblies. The kit comes with actual springs for springs – they were a very pleasant surprise. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to screw the chassis to the body, but this kit calls for it. Fit is right on and the screw heads are covered by the suspension parts. The kit also has metal axles to hold the wheel/tires to the suspension. Wheels are gorgeous bead-lock units and the no-name tires are just beautiful. I’d like to see the wheels/tires in a Revell Parts Pack that they had years and years ago.

This ’56 Ford Victoria was originally issued by AMT in the 1960’s, then re-released several times after that. Even with Round 2’s mold clean-up process, I have never encountered so much flash on a model before. Literally, every piece had excessive flash that needed to be cleaned off prior to fitting and painting.

Back in 1960, I remember a guy named Mickey Thompson setting the land speed record of 406.6 mph at Bonneville Salt Flats. He did this feat with one of the most original cars ever seen. This was the Challenger 1. It was powered by four supercharged Pontiac engines, each powering a separate wheel. I remember at the time hoping that someone would make a model kit of this car. Well, Revell did back in 1962. They produced the kit from 1962 until 1966. I was busy with getting on with my life at that time, so I forgot about Challenger 1. Last year at the IPMS Nationals in Orlando, I saw that Revell was going to re-issue the kit. I couldn’t wait for it to come out and when it came up for grabs by the Reviewers corps, I jumped at the chance to build it.

This 1/24th scale 1955 Chevrolet hardtop is another re-release of an older model designed by Tom Daniel for Monogram Models. As you may know, Tom Daniel designed 87 model cars for Monogram between 1967-1976. Most of his kits can be built in an evening or two, and this one is no exception. There are only 68 parts in this kit. It can be built straight from the box for an attractive model, or extra time can be spent in detailing the engine compartment if that is what floats your boat. The interior is decent with racing seats, a 2-piece roll bar, etc. However, once the red-tinted windows are in place, nothing of the interior can be seen, anyway. There is some compromising of detail – Monogram used the body and chassis from another release of the ’55 Chevy and, as a result, the molded exhaust pipes and muffler are still present on the chassis. This is in spite of the racer having header pipes attached that exit out the sides of the chassis.

The Kit

This is a review of the Italeri 1/24 scale Mercedes-Benz 2448 Canvas Truck. The box is large and features photos of the built-up model on the top. Along the sides are 360-degree views of the model that can be used for reference. Inside the box you will find three individual bags of yellow, black, and grey styrene; there is a tree of chrome parts and a tree of clear parts, each wrapped individually in plastic bags. There is a super decal sheet which contains markings for two separate trucks, twelve soft rubber tires, and a twelve-page, well laid out instruction booklet. All of the parts trees are clearly marked. The first two pages of the instruction booklet contain a drawing of all the parts trees, making the individual parts easy to find. The instruction guide also calls out painting suggestions.