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

Review Author
Mike Howard
Published on
November 9, 2017
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$51.99

Background

The Group “C” racing class ran from 1982 until about 1993. It was an extremely exciting series that saw some of the class cars run over 250 mph on the Le Mans' Mulsanne Straight (the WM-Peugeot recorded the highest 405 km/h / 252 mph). Porsche revolutionized the race series with the 956/962 cars and the associated aerodynamics and ground effects innovations. These Porsche vehicles were dominant for many years and were campaigned by both the factory and private race teams which, for modelers, allows for a multitude of paint and color schemes.

Review Author
Ian Latham
Published on
February 22, 2020
Company
MiniArt
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$48.75

The MiniArt German Passsenger Car Typ 170V Saloon 4 Doors kit is a 1/35th scale kit ideal for dioramas. This is the 5th incarnation of the MiniArt Mercedees 170V kit and includes the addition of a single female figure. There is a total of 265 parts supplied on 7 grey spue of simi-soft grey plastic with the body cast in one piece and boxed separately, 1 sprue of crystal clear plastic, 1 card of photo-etched brass, and a set of decals that include 11 different marking options. The detail is beautiful and exquisitely cast with no flash and only the subtlest of seams, which are easily removed. The instruction booklet includes beautiful color pictures of the 11 different options as well as well rendered cad drawings of each 48 steps. Color call outs are broken down for Ammo Mig, Humbrol, Mr. Color, Testors and Vallejo paints.

Review Author
Haylee Perdue
Published on
February 22, 2020
Company
Revell, Inc.
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$26.95

Kevin Harvick became a household name in 2001, when he was selected to replace the late Dale Earnhardt after the legend's fatal accident in the Daytona 500. He currently has 35 Monster Cup and 46 Xfinity Series victories, and has been piloting cars for Stewart-Haas Racing since 2014. This model kit, provided for review by Revell, is of Kevin's current “Freaky Fast” 2017 Ford Fusion stock car.

This kit is Skill Level 5, and is molded in white plastic with black vinyl tires and clear parts, which have pre-painted black frames. The kit includes water slide decals, which are excellent and very forgiving to use.

Inside the box, you will find two bags of white plastic parts, a bag which contains the body shell, chassis, tires, and metal axle pins, and a forth bag with the clear parts. The instructions and decal sheet round out the contents.

Review Author
Alan Wickham
Published on
October 18, 2017
Company
Revell, Inc.
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$29.95

The '66 Suburban is a modified tooling of Revell's '64-'66 Chevy pickup kits. The kit is nicely detailed, and complete, right down to separate lenses for all lights, interior mirror and dome, decal and "glass" for the instrument panel, and decals for the seat upholstery.

In this release of the kit, it can only be built stock, and no custom parts are included. Which was just fine for me, because I am an avid replica stock builder! I chose correct '66 Chevy truck light green and white for my model, with the correct light gold colored interior, and the correct greyish shade for the engine block.

Review Author
Jim Stepanek
Published on
February 10, 2020
Company
Revell, Inc.
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$24.95

Chip Foose is one heck of a designer and his 1948 Cadillac Eldorado is no exception

Engine

A fuel injected big block Chevy engine fits nicely. I had a set of Cadillac valve covers that I like better than the kit pieces and they fit so well. The entire engine goes together quite well with no flash to clean off. The old school Caddy air cleaner is a plus.

Interior

Door panel and dash engraving was very crisp and easy to detail paint. Side panels are separate pieces which makes for easier painting. The interior is also flocked. There are no options for the interior. It’s either kit or scratch build something. Why anyone would want to carve up the beautiful interior is beyond me though.

Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
February 3, 2020
Company
MiniArt
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$44.99

This is a nicely molded kit with lots of detail. The kit is delicate with many small and fiddly parts that require patient assembly. This will build a nice truck but requires working with some very small parts.

Background

This kit is the civilian version of the Mercedes L1500S 1.5-ton German cargo truck.

4101 of the trucks were manufactured from 1941 to 1944, and light fire fighting vehicles were the most common variant. Many of the others were used as trucks for civil & commercial applications.

MiniArt originally issued the kit in 2012 as a military cargo truck. The vehicle has been re-issued in several other versions including a personnel car, 2 fire truck variants, a 4 x 4 car, and two variations of a military cargo truck.

Book Author(s)
Andrew Ralston
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
September 19, 2017
Company
Veloce Publishing
MSRP
$30.00

This book is a general collector’s guide to classic Tinplate toy cars from the 50’s and 60’s made in Japan. It covers cars from a classic era of tinplate toy cars and covers all the major companies and countries they were sold in. The book shows the most known and collectables of the time period. The book has great pictures and lots of detailed information. This book brought lots of memories back to me as a kid getting a few of the cars shown in the book as birthday and or Christmas gifts from my family. The book may have a limited audience but I for one loved it!

I recommend this book to everyone with an interest in tinplate cars from Japan and also all those who, like me, was a kid during the 50’s or 60’s.

Thanks to Veloce Publishing for providing this book to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them.

Review Author
Jarrod Booth
Published on
February 3, 2020
Company
Revell, Inc.
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$13.95

Sometimes experienced modelers get so bogged down with the extensive projects we are working on, we forget to lift our over-taxed heads from the work bench, remove glasses and opti-visors, and smell the sweet success of a quick, easy build. So, while browsing the IPMS review list one day, I came upon this kit and “snapped” it up. My thought was to have my wife build it, but she took off in our (real) ’65 rag top Mustang instead, and left me to it.

The Revell Snap-Tite 2018 Mustang GT is a nice representation of the styling changes being made to the existing 2017 Mustang. The car will soon to be released this Fall. The main omission on the Snap-Tite model are the rear vision door mirrors.

Book Author(s)
Andrew Ralston
Review Author
Allan Murrell
Published on
August 22, 2017
Company
Veloce Publishing
MSRP
$25.75

The book is a general collectors guide to classic Diecast toy cars. It covers cars from a classic era of toy cars and covers all the major companies and countries where they were made. The book shows the most known and collectables of the time period. The book has great pictures and lots of detailed information. This book brought lots of memories back to me as a kid getting many of the cars shown in the book as Birthday and or Christmas gifts from my family. The book may have a limited audience but I for one loved it!

I recommend this book to everyone with an interest in Diecast cars and also all those who, like me, was a kid during the 60’s or 50’s.

Thanks go to Veloce Publishing for providing this book to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them

Review Author
Jim Stepanek
Published on
February 3, 2020
Company
Revell, Inc.
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$22.50

I still remember the commercials for the Mazda Wankel engined cars – like they hum. This was a pretty quick and simple build and was a pleasure to build

Engine

I have no idea about the size of the engine but it’s a Wankel rotary engine. The parts fit together like they should with no flash. There is an option for a different carburetor and air filter. I used the stock unit. I didn’t detail the engine to keep it an out of the box build.

Interior

Interior is just a basic tub. The gauges were strange because there’s 3 gauges well engraved on the dash but the included decals have 2 large gauges and 3 smaller ones that didn’t even come close to a match. I just detail painted the engraved pieces. The interior is also flocked.