Mustang Cobra II, by Gunze Sangyo.
Last time we finished up in the early seventies. I said “It was hard to imagine a world where cars this size were the norm. But the early-seventies styling really grabbed me. Especially intermediate Mopars.”
’71 Plymouth GTX. Built way too many of these things!
As we all know, the gas crisis disrupted the car industry to no end. I wasn’t driving yet, so I was somewhat insulated from it, except for inflating kit prices. Because they’re made from plastic, which comes from…
By 1973 kits of current American cars were becoming less common here, and the kit manufacturers seemed to fall on hard times as well. It was disappointing to open a box and find fewer plated parts and often only the one building version. But in all fairness, new American cars were becoming less interesting to a teenage modeler in the seventies. I was ready to move on to something else. Mustangs and Corvettes were always so popular they were hard to find on shelves here, while things like big Chevys just seemed to sit on the shelf forever (though I later built a ’76). We just didn’t see those kinds of cars here. Kits of classic sixties muscle cars always seemed to be popular though, both then and now.
’69 Chevelle SS396. Done several of these too.
It wasn’t just new cars. Kits existed of numerous American classics from the twenties onward – if you could find them. And various hot rods, Nascars, drag cars, and customs like the ’49 Mercury. I got hold of a mail-order catalog and bought quite a few models from America that I’d never seen here. In those days it was a nuisance to go to the bank and organize a transfer of funds, but so exciting when the goodies arrived.
Johan 1931 Cadillac V16 Tourer. Amazing detail for this scale.
About this time, I discovered that a local chain store sold Japanese kits, by a variety of brands I’d never heard of, many of which no longer exist. These were usually motorized, with working steering, so more like an unassembled toy. The bodies were sometimes a bit oddly proportioned, but they were cars I saw on the street here every day. And they were about half the price of the American kits I had been buying.
Yamada Subaru 1400 GSR. The shape’s not quite right, but you can tell what they intended.
Besides the cheap kits, there were also more expensive brands like Tamiya. Then, as now, their quality was legendary, but you didn’t find them in discount stores.
Tamiya Renault 5 rally – dead nuts accurate.
A brief digression on the subject of scale. Most US models were (and are) 1/25 scale, other countries used 1/24. No, I don’t know why the difference. That’s in addition to smaller scales such as 1/32 (most Airfix kits), 1/35 (common for military subjects), 1/43 (popular for diecast models), and the railroad HO scale of 1/87. Airplanes and ships are different again. There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ scale; whatever is common tends to be regarded as right.
MPC Trans Am Turbo in 1/16 scale. Room to add more detail.
There are also larger scales like 1/16 or 1/12. Even larger models exist, but finding space to display them can be a big problem. Mostly I build in 1/24 or 1/25, as it strikes a good balance between allowing room for detail and not being too awkward to display. With that said, Yamada had a range of cars that fitted on a common chassis, with bodies ranging from 1/19 to 1/26 scale from memory – but it was nice to have models of the Cedrics, Crowns, and Mark IIs I saw on the streets here.
Kujira! Toyota Crown S60. Just love these cars.
It’s strange to think that some of the cars which were new when I was a teen have since become highly sought-after classics. I guess many of us know that feeling. And I have heard from friends in Japan that many of the models I built back then have since become highly sought after by Japanese modelers.
Lamborghini Silhouette, tool believed lost.
I must also mention some European companies here. Heller of France was quite active in modeling lovely French classics (Delage, Delahaye, Bugatti, Talbot…), but have something of a ‘reputation’ for strange tooling layout with body parts being moulded in odd colours, and sometimes hard to fathom instructions. After disappearing from the scene for a time, they seem to have re-emerged.
Heller Delage D8SS. A headache to assemble.
ESCI of Italy were quite active in the early eighties and came out with some lovely models of interesting subjects, but then seemed to fade away. Some of their tooling appears to have resurfaced.
ESCI Ford Escort rally car. Simple but well detailed.
You may wonder about Australian subjects. There haven’t been plastic kits of Aussie cars until this year, when DDA Collectibles released a range of HQ Holdens (no, I don’t have one). I was told back around 1975 this had been due to the high cost of importing raw styrene and the limited return on investment in a market the size of ours. But Australia’s population is now double what it was fifty years ago. We have a greater appreciation for our automotive heritage nowadays now that local production has ended – that HQ Holden is a classic – and we’re accustomed to offshore production and everything imported.
There have been and are numerous kits of all sorts of subjects by small ‘cottage industry’ operators, cast in resin. These vary in quality from horrendous to amazing. And nowadays there are 3D printed kits as well. But back in the seventies, it was styrene or nothing. While I have built some resin and 3D kits, they don’t figure in this part of the story.
1956 Ford. One of my favourite kits.
Next time: Some favourites from the Fifties.
Further reading:
Some unusual subjects dotted among the more usual types there, Peter, all very nicely done. Do you use touch-up paints or sprays to get the authentic colours? I bought a load of spray cans back in the early ’80s, sadly not all viable now, but the lids back then were sprayed with the colours so provide a useful reference even when all used up or if the tin has rusted out and leaked.
Yes, 1/25th does seem odd, especially when the US uses 1/48 for 0 scale and all the Doll’s house scales are similarly related (1/48, 1/24, 1/12). Guess it was one of the bigger manufacturers that chose it and then others followed suit.
Thanks Bernard. I have used touch-up sprays a lot in the past. Nowadays there are various companies offering acrylic hobby paints in spray cans, often in some of the more popular automotive colours. These seem have a lower spray pressure resulting in a finer mist which puts less paint on the model, allowing the fine details to show through.
Just this week I was working on a Nissan Sunny pickup. Although I had a can of the correct Nissan Safari Yellow, I decided in favour of a hobby acrylic so as not to obliterate the fine detail.
I started off hand-painting Humbrol enamels for the first ten years or so, and sometimes still do it today. That 1956 Ford was brush-painted with Humbrol last year.
I’ve read that the scale difference resulted from the pantograph setting used for the blueprints – 1:12 reduced once vs. 1:10 reduced two and a half times. Some people will rigidly adhere to building 1/24 or 1/25 only, but I tend to mix and match parts on the same model sometimes, for enhanced visual effect, or if I feel something (wheels or engine) is undersize.
That Mustang II race car is awesome! I believe I have the Lamborghini Silhouette somewhere, but I wasn’t an expert modeler when I was a kid, so I’m sure it’s a laughable attempt in a million pieces.
Thanks Aaron. A Japanese kit of an American race car was someting of a jaw-dropper back in the seventies.
Amazing work Peter! I like that you are open to many car designs, and eras. A genuine car nut.
So much impressive meticulous workmanship here, and you never tire of the hobby, as it demands so much discipline. I built a lot of models, when I was younger, and never applied so much fine detail. An online gallery of your collection, would be a popular attraction. Thank you, for sharing these great builds!
Thanks Daniel. I used to build anything and everything, but these days I’ve settled down (arguably). My favourite eras nowadays would be fifties to seventies US cars and seventies-on Japanese – but what’s on my bench at the moment? A 1937 Toyoda AA, a 1975ish Nissan Sunny pickup, a 1951 Chevy Fleetline – and a Lanz Bulldog tractor!
A Facebook modelling group recently had as a daily theme “Your oldest and newest subject” – I had a 1907 Thomas Flyer as my oldest, and a 2013 Toyota Crown as my newest.
Plenty more to come!
Absolutely love the variety! Nothing boring on your modelling agenda.
Look forward to learning more about your work process. And how long your builds usually take.
My work process? In a word: chaos!
Haha! Appreciate your honesty. I think, we can all relate. No wonder, you are so familiar with so many cars, regardless of their era.
LOL, your worktop is all too familiar in appearance!
The Subaru coupe is an interesting subject I never knew was kitted. Hasegawa in recent years has developed a number of new tool Japanese classic cars from that era and through the ’80s fondly remembered there, maybe they’ll do that generation Subaru (but more likely as the first-of-its’-kind 4WD station wagon?)
Hasegawa seems determined to work their way through Tamiya, Fujimi and Aoshima’s back catalog bringing us improved versions of old favourites. That’s fine by me. Just last week I ordered three of them…
AMT did a kit of the first Subaru BRAT (another one I don’t have photos of); they could turn it into the wagon. Though I wouldn’t put it past Hasegawa to have one in the pipeline already, they’re really on a roll.
Love that 56 Ford!!!
Thanks. Here’s another.
The colors on that ’56 Ford are stunning. Really nice. How many models have you built in total?
Living in the country, I often get my colours from nature. This galah, for instance. 🙂
How many? I don’t know. I’ve stopped counting. When the guy in the hobby shop asked and I told him a thousand, he just swore in disbelief. That’s fine by me. I don’t care for bragging rights, I just build for my own interest; until the advent of the internet nobody else saw them.
The MPC Trans Am I’ve seen once before, only it was built into 1980 pacecar spec, I saw it at a car show displayed on the dash of its 1:1 scale counterpart. I collected 1:18 diecasts as a kid(I was useless at kit building lol) and was really into late second Gen Trans Ams so that was a real wtf moment for me, 1:16 doesn’t look that much different from 1:18 in scale so I was scouring the early internet afterwords desperately trying to find it only to eventually realize it was a kit.
Originally that was an annual kit, updated every year. I built mine from the 1979 version. Pace cars seem to be always popular subjects in the US, so it was reissued in that form. Hope it wasn’t a hot day; models displayed under glass outdoors can warp in the heat…
It was an indoor show so no worries there, World of wheels at the McCormick Place in Chicago.
Very cool! Those Turbo TAs may not have been the best performers but the graphic is one of my favorites
The thing on scale is interesting – I remember kits from AMT or Revell all being 1/25 and then along came MPC with 1/24 kits. I didn’t understand why the difference.
As a former dedicated modeler, I love all of these.
I also found the scale difference interesting. In looking around at this topic, I found a reference on the Wikipedia page for “1:24 scale” (oddly, there is no such page for “1:25 scale”) that make an interesting observation:
1:24 scale is very close to the scale (1:22.5) used for European G scale narrow-gauge model trains, so 1:24 models are often used on model train layouts. Doll houses and furniture are also found on a 1:24 scale.
So I wonder if the European modelers’ used 1:24 for cars since it was an established ratio for other popular scale models? As for 1:25 – I have no idea. I’d be interested to know if AMT or Revell originally sized their models to fit another particular scaled product? I’d love to know.
European G scale is rather a slippery issue. While HO-scale enthusiasts are so ultra-specific about detail and scale accuracy – my own son is one such – G-scale seems to be something of a ‘movable feast’, so to speak. That 1:22.5 Wikipedia mentions is a nominal figure. The actual proportional ratio used for the models seems to vary from one manufacturer to another, just so long as it fits the standard track gauge. G-scale figures and detail parts are often just the right size for 1/24 and 1/25 diorama (they should look visibly large), while one website offers them in 1/20.3! Doll house details, yes, they seem more particular about scale.
I’ve read 1/25 began with AMT’s promotional model of the 1949 Ford; the first plastic kits were unassembled promos.
G scale is an odd one originated, I think, by LGB, but the 45mm track gauge is also Gauge 1 which is 1/32nd scale like the old Airfix car kits.
MPC usually was 1/25 nominal, like AMT, Revell, and Jo-Han.
Monogram was almost always 1/24.
The MPC, AMT, and Jo-Han “annual” kits usually were linked to manufacturer contracted promotional miniatures. AMT, MPC, and Jo-Han were based in Michigan. MPC was started by a former AMT employee and did some tool work for AMT.
Very nice, Peter, I used to have the modeling bug as well, I still have that same R5Turbo on the shelf here 37 or so years after building it but in post-stage decor and recall building the Silhouette as well. Gunze Sangyo, Hasegawa, and of course Tamiya were top of the pile for me, over here the prices were generally 2-3x those of the American brands as I recall but the quality easily made it worthwhile, everything just worked, fit, and seemed engineered to provide satisfaction. Once you made the jump from Testors paints and Ertl quality to the Tamiya side of things and their paints and kits etc it was hard to go back.
There was one manufacturer that specialized in bringing back kits of late 50s and 60s American cars in the 1980s, I can’t recall if it was Jo-Han or another one but similar subject matter . The pictures on the kits were sort of stylized as in original advertising and the cars were “normal” cars, not what you’d more often see as subject of kits of American cars. I specifically recall building a ’60s Dodge (?) station wagon in beige but have no further memory of it except that my modeling friends were intrigued by it by dint of it not being anything “special”.
Thanks Jim. Nicely weathered 5 you have there.
Here in Australia all kits were imported so there wasn’t that price discrepancy here. Seventies Japanese quality vs. seventies American quality for much the same price – it often came down to the subject matter. And the fact that American kits almost always had a detailed engine, Japanese kits almost never. Engine detail on that 5 would have been nice; but when Tamiya did the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 rally car, that had an engine – and how!
I have been tiptoeing around the issue of quality. Lest anyone think I’m slinging off at America – no. Scale Auto Enthusiast, a now-defunct American model car magazine, complained time and time again over the years about how American model companies didn’t seem to care about quality.
That was indeed Johan you’re thinking of, and you probably had their ’60 Plymouth. Because I can’t leave well enough along, mine got a blown Hemi!
Thanks, I was especially proud of the rear wiper pattern at the time… 🙂
Yes, it most likely was in fact Johan and could well be the Plymouth. Nice engine there!
My best friend did the 205T16 and that was a superb kit. I stuck with my Renault and the Audi Quattros (rally and civilian) at the time…
No need to tip-toe around the quality thing. Just like in real life they could have done far better had they wanted to. Instead, just like happened in real life with a lot of people, you buy a few, eventually try a Japanese import, and never go back although the domestics had more engine options. The Japanese I guess you never have to lift the hood so there you go 🙂
Revell was the interesting one from what I recall where there was the US branch but I was also exposed to the European branch which did a lot of interesting Euro cars but also a lot of planes, I still have a completely unassembled Phantom kit I picked up over there on holiday back in ’83 or so I think…In more recent years I think all that got streamlined with the same kits available everywhere.
I looked out in the garage earlier and along with that large Nichimo Lotus Europa I shared a while back I came across a box of kit boxes, some of which are complete and I never did even start, one is packed full of transfer stickers, another with wheels and tires, probably will never do anything with them now, but seem to put them all in the moving truck every time I move…hard to give that stuff up. Not sure where the later Subaru came from, it may have been a gift from someone more recent but when it was new…all the others date from the mid-80s.
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Interesting you should mention Revell. Jim Keeler, who designed many of the Revell kits from the sixties on, is pretty active on facebook, and often chimes in with stories from behind the scenes.
Around 350 models in cabinets, all GM, all 1-24/5th. If it’s in those scales and by GM, I want it.
This one is awaiting decals & final assembly. Norm Beechey’s ’66 Nova.
I remember seeing that one racing on TV. Really something to watch.
Seriously great work Peter! I dabbled in model kit making when I was around ten, mainly of aircraft, but ended up playing with the finished models rather than displaying them so they didn’t last very long!
Tried to get back into it a few years back but after building a P51 Mustang and a Spitfire I realized I don’t quite have the skill to get a nice looking result. Still have a few kits in boxes and occasionally consider starting up again, but haven’t yet been able to find the time.
Maybe when my kid is a bit older I might try to get her interested.
Sajiv, one of the hardest things is getting over the ‘hump’ of thinking “I can’t do this”. That applies to all sorts of things in life, model-building included. I got into building these gradually; I haven’t shown anything built before I was about fourteen. My earlier builds were simpler smaller-scale models, and like yours they got played with. With inevitable results.
It’s a great hobby, but as with all hobbies perfection can actually be the enemy to enjoying yourself. It’s sort of like a spectrum, which develops throughout life. I can appreciate the work of those who do better, while I find folk on the net are similarly amazed by what I do. Always there will be somebody greater and lesser than yourself. I used to always strive to do better; while I am still developing my abilities in some areas, now I generally have a fall-back position, a level of detail I am comfortable with.
Peter, re the DDA models, they do have some issues. I’ve got the GTS, Kingswood, and the panel vans. I get them wholesale, so I have some for sale.
I’ve started the Kingswood, and so far:
Front seat is a Premier, rear is Kingswood.
Spare wheel position is wrong.
Fan and air cleaner are incorrect.
Cross flow radiator rather than the correct vertical orientation.
Rear side marker lights, bumper, and the body cut out are wrongly shaped.
Hubcaps aren’t quite correct.
Rocker cover is too wide.
Oil pump is a misshapen lump.
And a few more,
The good: It’s well moulded, no flash, and cleans up easily. And since it’s the only game in town it’s still worth it. Most of it’s flaws are fixable. I’ll use some after market rally wheels to sort the wheels and tyre issues, the rest I’ll kit bash or use parts from the stash.
It uses screws in many places, which makes me wonder if they’re reusing diecast tooling.
As always I enjoy your articles and I wish you a Happy Modelling New Year.