Far Out Dude!

An enjoyable kit to build and paint! This would be a good kit for beginners who have done some snap-tites and are ready for their first glue & paint kit. It’s also an opportunity for experience modelers to let loose their creative monster art skills!

Part of Deals Wheels collection by Revell based on Dave Deal’s cartoons and far-out caricatures of cars & planes, the Nomad is a reissue of a kit originally issued in 1971. The detail is a little soft and the parts fit is loose, but it’s still a fun kit for beginners and a fun painting opportunity for more advanced modelers.

Two characters, Ol’ Farmer Frickett, and Rincon Ron the California surfer dude narrate the instructions, which are cartoons drawn by Dave Deal himself. The storyline of the instructions is Rincon Ron the surfer trying to surf the amber waves of grain in Kansas, which freaks out Ole Farmer Frickett. The model is a caricature of a 57 Chevy with huge rear tires and a gigantic blown engine. At least a gigantic blower – there is no engine!

The kit is rated skill level two for ages 10+, but is simple enough for beginners. It has 57 parts and ends up being about 5 ½” long. No scale is given for the model but it appears to be 1/24, 1/25 or thereabouts.

The kit comes on two white plastic sprues with only very limited detail – it is a cartoon after all!

The kit includes just the head and hands of Surfer Rincon Ron but no other body parts. There are no decals.

The one-piece body is noticeably shortened and exaggerated in detail. The chrome parts are heavily plated, concealing the detail. The kit also includes four tires - two very large hollow rear tires and two very tiny front tires. There is also a package of clear parts for the windshield and headlight lenses, both very nice. All of the parts are individually bagged. The one-piece body has some significant mold seams and a little bit of flash, but they are all correctable.

The cartoons, whoops - I mean the instructions, have seven steps:

• Hair’s Where to Get Started – assembling Ron’s hair and the rest of the interior. Poor guy only has a head and two hands, which will make serving in Kansas even more difficult.
• Putting Ron in His Place – assembling the glass and interior into the body. I painted the body first, trying to replicate the monster T-shirt art of the box top. The body is fluorescent green with dark green pre-shade, golden yellow & white highlights.
• The Chromy Rear End – the rear bumper. A touch of red paint for the taillights.
• Springs & Things – suspension and wheelie bars. Parts fit a little loose so make sure to get them straight.
• The Noise Extractors and Fuzz Attractors – radiator & exhaust pipes. Different mounting pins on the pipes helps to get them in the right place.
• Little Hoops and Big Skins - installs the axles, wheels, and tires. The instructions show two parts to the front wheels but they’re actually one molded rubber part. Both of the front tires and rear tires have nice detail with sidewall lettering. The large rear tires are nicely molded without a center seam or sprue connection.
• Putting it all together – final assembly. Don’t forget the surfboard!

All in all a fun, whimsical model building experience! Simple enough for beginners, but a let it all hang out painting release for more experienced modelers. Something for everyone!

The detail is soft, the parts fit loose, cleanup required, but still enjoyable! Thanks to Revell for producing this kit and releasing it again as well as to the IPMS/USA for the chance to review it!