Background

This is the second Moebius Models kit based on the monster art of Von Franco, a self-taught American artist associated with the Lowbrow art movement and Kustom Kulture. Von Franco’s skill at drawing hot rod and monster art follows in the art style of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and Von Dutch.

The inspiration for this kit is Von Franco’s caricature monster painting Stoned Hoods & Crooks. The challenge of this kit is not in the build, but in painting the model in the cartoonish style of the box art. If you ever wanted to paint a fluorescent orange model piloted by a lime green monster driver with bloodshot eyes, then this is your kit!

Kit Contents

This kit was released in 2013, and follows a previous Moebius Models artwork-turned-kit version of Von Franco’s Eye Gone Wild painting. The Stoned Hoods & Crooks kit includes an instruction sheet, decal sheet, and 42 parts molded in gray plastic. The details on the parts are appropriately exaggerated for a three-dimensional caricature. Although the box top painting features lots of chrome parts, the corresponding plastic parts are not chrome-plated. These parts will need to be finished with chrome paint.

Assembly

Moebuis has done a great job in molding this three-dimensional kit to emulate the two-dimensional Von Franco painting. The parts go together well with a nice fit. There are some mold seams to remove, and some flash on a few of the parts. The alignment of the mold seams is really good and the parts have a great fit for a model made of these weird shapes. Some minor trimming and putty are required to align all of the pieces, but the fit is generally really good. Many of the parts fit so well that the kit can almost be assembled without glue.

The kit goes together in five cleverly named steps:

1. “The Roller,” the wheels and chassis.
2. “The Pipes,” the exhaust pipes
3. “The Driver”
4. “The Mill,” the engine
5. “The Tin,” assembling all of the subassemblies and the body.

The only problem I encountered came in the very last step when the driver’s arm was to be installed through the window. My driver must have been working out too much, as his arm wouldn’t fit through the window opening without major liposuction. Make sure to check this fit before painting everything.

Painting

Assembly and cleanup only takes about two hours, and then the kit is ready to paint. Painting the kit can be done very simply, or it can be as elaborate as the box top artwork. Online photos and Moebius’ website show the kit with a very basic paint scheme, but there’s also the opportunity to let loose and go wild when painting.

I decided to try and emulate the t-shirt monster art of the box top using florescent orange for the body and flames, Alclad Chrome for the engine and pipes, and fluorescent lime green for the monster driver. I painted each of the subassemblies before final assembly.

Conclusion

The kit builds to a very eye-catching piece of model making art! Younger modelers will enjoy the easy assembly and ability to have a simple paint scheme, and more advanced modelers can go wild with the painting and finishing. This is a very fun and enjoyable build for everyone!

Many thanks to Moebius Models for creating a kit of such an unusual subject and doing a great job at it! As usual, thanks to IPMS/USA for the chance to review this fun kit and for the chance share the enjoyment through the Reviewers’ Corps!