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.

Construction and Detailing

This kit is very simple; and it’s meant to be. Targeted at young modelers through both subject matter and ease of construction; this kit can be snapped together and played with inside of fifteen minutes. All by itself, it is a nice looking kit with rolling “wheels!” That’s all you need to do to help ease a youngster into the world of scale modeling. OR; you can add some great detailing to this kit and really make it standout on the shelf alongside those ’57 Chevys and vintage MOPAR’s. You only have to remember one thing – your only materials are wood, stone and animal hides. All the colors have to belong to those groups of materials if you are only using the parts from the box, but there are still a lot of options there.

As you would guess there’s not a lot of construction to this kit. If you just want to build it out-of-the-box (OOB) with a youth; it’s simple. Snap together (Photos 3-5) the frame, wheels, and seats halves. Attach the cross-members to one half of the frame (these parts have “D” posts on the right side to orientation) along with the roller wheels, surrey top, and floorboard. Snap on the other side of the frame with the slots and tabs provided. Snap the seats, floorboard, dashboard and steering wheel into place and you’re finished. Now go play!

The only difference I made was to finish the kit off and repair some seams for realism. I glued the frame halves together at the tabs with tube glue and ran some superglue along the seams followed by some accelerant. I scraped off the parting line that runs the full perimeter of the roof frame there. Assemble and glue together the roller wheel and seats. Apply a coat of primer to all the parts, then paint the frame; cross-members, seat backs and steering wheel medium brown (Photo 6). I painted the boughs that make up the roof’s frame, cut out parts of the bench seats, and the steering wheel spokes, tan. I went over all of that with some black wash to give the creases in the bark some texture. Next I painted the floorboard and dashboard medium gray and added the black wash there as well. I detailed those parts (Photo 7) with some dark brown for the footpads and “radio.” Paint the surrey top light tan and detail the lashing straps with some dark brown (Photo 8-9). Use some modeler’s putty to fill the seams on the roller wheels (Photo 10). Paint the wheels light tan then give them a wash in the direction of travel with some streaks and brushstrokes. I detailed the cut out part of the seat (Photo 12) by giving it a base of tan with some streaks of brown, orange, and blackwash to simulate a convertible that sits outside in the weather. I weathered the creases in the steering wheel with the same blackwash (Photo 13) and rubbed it off the parts that would be worn. Now you simply give all the parts a coat of clear flat spray and assemble them just as you would the OOB kit using some tube glue to secure the joins.

Overall

After all these years I still have fond memories of the Flintstones and their family car was a big part of the show – just like it was in heartland. I love any kit that tries to bring young modelers into the hobby and kudos to Lindberg for re-issuing the kit to that end. It was a sheer delight to see the Flintmobile come to life as vividly as I remembered it. This is a simple build that you can put together quickly with no fuss (no flash or bad fitting parts were found) or you can take your time and detail it nicely. The only thing missing were Fred and Barney figures so I supplied my own with a 2-D cutout (Photo 14). My thanks goes out to Round2 for providing these great kits from the past and IPMS for the chance to review it.