Cheetah! and other brutal, sexy little monstrosities

Historic Racing Miniatures (HRM)  is a one-man show that makes some spectacular resin kits, mainly upgrades for other kits, but also full-detail kits. Being a one-man-show, delivery can be slow. A stack of bits ordered as far back as April from Strada Sports (here) turned up in the mail today.

The cream of the crop has to be the Cheetah. Chevrolet gave Bill Thomas, famous for his work on Corvette injection systems, some money to build a Cobra-beater; the result was the Cheetah, which was brutally fast in a straight line, and was also an exceptionally striking road racer in a period when there were a lot of striking road racers being made.



What a stunning, brutal little design! The various small block Corvette engines were exactly mid-chassis, with the driver jammed up against the back axle, and essentially no rear deck: the bodywork was stretched over the mechanicals like Lycra over an athlete, the epitome of the long hood, short deck design concept.

It had its flaws, however. Headers curved up, over the top and down the outside of the footwells, making them suitable for broiling frozen turkeys as well as driver's feet. And the chassis, although state of the art on paper, wasn't really able to take advantage of Thomas's fuel injection mods, as going around corners proved to be a significant challenge. Some drivers were spooked and refused to drive it ... in the end, Chevy didn't give Thomas anywhere near as much money as Ford gave Shelby, so there was no real competition and Thomas struggled to build a dozen cars while Shelby went off to beat Ferrari on his own.

Which leads me to the HRM kit for an upgraded motor for the Ferrari 250 GTO by Fujimi. It is a gorgeous little package of resin bits, and doing it justice will require getting plug wires, fuel lines, carburettor linkages and fan belts just right. Not that the Fujimi kit is poorly detailed to start with; in fact there are lots of highly-detailed Japanese kits that never really made it over here but that are available on eBay or Hobby 1999 (here).



Finally I got some upgraded bits (headers that fit around the frame tubes, for one) for the Accurate Miniatures model of the Corvette Grand Sport. The '60s road race stuff is coming together: Corvette GS, 250 GTO, Cheetah, plus I recently splurged on a 427 Cobra roadster (Fujimi) to go with the Daytona Coupe (Model Factory Hiro).



These are all 'mid-engine' cars, in the sense that the centre of the engine block sits well behind the front axle, but the Cheetah takes it to the extreme, with the entire engine block, and then some, entirely between the axles.



It is all high quality stuff and I will need to loosen up with some basic Tamiya kits, like the Honda S800, in preparation. In fact I should probably bite the bullet and just finish the dozen or so kits that are sitting on the shelf, incomplete.

Honda S800 drivetrain and chassis

I usually have no problems getting the mechanical bits to go together well and the S800 was no different.



The little four-cylinder sits in a simple ladder frame, with a well-located rear axle and convoluted exhaust manifolding leading into a pair of straight pipes. All very neat. Separately the saga of Tamiya TS 16 Yellow remains unresolved; I'll have to make up my mind whether to fix it or press on regardless at the point where the inner fenders need to go into the body.



I am glad I decided to get back into things with something fairly straightforward as I am stiff and made a few mistakes, among them tipping over a new bottle of flat aluminum paint. Fortunately nothing got soaked ... but this is an indication it is time to sit back and regroup. The Zen feeling is not there and there is no sense pushing, because I'll just make a mistake that can't easily be fixed, and bodywork usually makes me more tense than usual.

So on to eBay where the temptation to buy obscure stuff is almost irresistible ... there is material here for an entire post on its own. Stay tuned.

Icelandic trucks

Some of you may remember my post on off-road trucks commonly found in Iceland, here. These are mounted on huge high-flotation tires suitable for taking groups of people on treks over soft snow, fording glacial rivers with soft mucky riverbanks, and crossing crevasses in glaciers. Besides being exceedingly utilitarian, these look very cool indeed. I immediately thought how nice it would be to build something like this.




Seven people in the go-anywhere Expedition, or 21 in the on-road mini bus?
Note these are both 1:1 scale, no fooling around here.
Anyway I think I know which I'd want.

So the bits are now pretty much in place: I've had an AMT 1/25 Chevy Cameo and the appropriate 1953 Chevy Suburban body from Jimmy Flintstone for some time now; all that was missing was the jacked up 4X4 chassis. I recently acquired Aoshima's 1/24 Toyota Hilux club cab with so-called 'Lift-Up' suspension which appears to have the same wheelbase as the Cameo, even though the scale is not quite the same, and the tires probably have more tread than the typical Icelandic truck. However I'd say it's close enough, and not having to scratch build the suspension is a bonus. Plus it comes with fender lips I can use to carve out the Suburban body fender wells. A Pontiac 421 Tri-Power from the  bin will provide the forward motion (the Aoshima kit is curbside, and anyway the motor is probably a 4-cylinder Diesel).




If all goes well, the only bit I'll need from the Cameo is the windshield, leaving lots of bits for future kitbashing activities. For that matter there is a lot of curvature in the windshield, but it isn't a compound curve, so I ought to be able to make it from a sheet of thin clear stock.

Meanwhile back to the Honda S800 -- I do after all have to start completing stuff.

Honda S800

With retirement less than two weeks away, I thought I should warm up with something relatively easy. I was going to tackle the Datsun 510, which is almost finished, but I seem to have misplaced the instruction sheet ... maybe I am getting slower, intellectually, at a faster rate than I had anticipated. Old Age Looms Large...

Anyway I had been looking at the Lancia 037 rallye car (Hasegawa) and the Honda S800 (Tamiya). I decided to tackle the S800, which is one of those iconic little things: 800 cc motorcycle unit making 70 hp at some ridiculous RPM level, lots of aluminum bits, the original Japanese sports car. The size of a Mini of the same vintage, it must have been a real hoot -- the 850 cc Mini, which as we all know was as much fun as a barrel of monkeys, never made much more than 45 hp and probably weighed a few hundred pounds more. The issue for westerners, of course, was actually getting into the car, and managing to push the clutch in without catching our size 9 sneakers on the brake pedal. I am guessing it is a size or two smaller than the Europa which was well suited to Colin Chapman's 5' 6" frame, and which I never managed to drive well when I was in the auto repair business back in paleolithic times.



So some painting got done, and a bit of gluing. The kit is the usual Tamiya quality, which is to say everything fits well, except that some items that need to be black or grey or silver (exhaust, carburetors, front suspension bits) are molded in yellow, while others that need to be yellow (inner fenders) are molded in black. This is not the usual Tamiya approach... so anyway I am once again up against Tamiya's yellow paint (TS-16) and its tendency to pool in cracks and sharp corners, regardless of how much Tamiya primer might reside underneath. (See earlier problems, not yet solved, here, and see the photo below of the inner fenders inserted in the body.) There is a problem here with surface tension and viscosity... it is not good and any advice would be most welcome.



Meanwhile I am planning to not paint the body which is well molded in yellow. The goal is a quick build that takes advantage of the strengths of the kit before moving on to more complex unbuilt stuff, of which I have more than a few examples on the shelf.

Speaking of unbuilt stuff, I figure I have about 2 years' worth of work on the shelf, at a steady 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year. So it's going to be a slog ...  stay tuned!

Planning for retirement: where to start?

So I've gone and done it: told my boss I'll retire on August 31st. So what's first in the modeling world, given I've got 54 completed, a baker's dozen in progress, and a whopping 94 kits opened but unstarted? Here's the scoop, starting with those closest to completion.

Abarth OT 1300: last minute fiddling needed. This would be the first resin kit I have ever completed. I made a mess of the right side paint, and the front hood doesn't fit. On the other hand I got all the windows in OK, except for the headlamp fairings which I haven't dared try yet. Some fiddling required.



BRE Datsun 510: Ready for final assembly. I've been pretty positive about this complex but, so far, well built kit. However one little bug has surfaced. The front suspension goes in after the body has been attached to the chassis, since the upper strut mount is in the body inner fender, not the chassis inner fender. This is a problem because you are assembling suspension components to a painted body, with all the attendant probabilities of mangling the paint and/or decals.

Like I said, a challenging kit, not for beginners, but one that rewards careful assembly by a modeler with a few screw-ups under his belt.



Mazda 787B: Ready for final assembly. I decided to skip the full green and orange decal set on this Le Mans winner. Hey, it's the day after the race, the car can get out of its fancy duds and relax, right? Right. Problems will include the fact I made a mess of painting the windshield surrounds.



Mitsubishi Fuso car carrier: trailer complete, cab not started. Goal achieved: lots of storage space for Japanese cars. Not much else accomplished, and the cab won't fit on the same shelf as the carrier anyway. Revell's car carrier may move to the front of the queue if space becomes a problem again.



Aston Martin DBR1: Midway through a complex resin kit. This complex kit requires lots of trial fitting. The engine is done but suspension issues loom large. Getting doors and hoods to fit will be lots of fun. This is the second of four resin kits currently underway.



BRE Datsun 240Z: Chassis and engine assembly not started. I suspect this is going to be as complex as the 510, so it is still a long way to completion.



White Freightliner dual-drive: chassis and engine complete. Actually I am waiting for AMT's reissue of the single-drive chassis with the short cab to complete this. I'll put the short cab on this long, dual-drive chassis, and use the single drive chassis with an Allison V12 I have in the spares bin to make a 'hot rod'. I am not sure where the body will come from ... perhaps a chopped Freightliner cab made up as a monster T bucket, or something equally radical.



Mercedes 300 SL: Chassis complete but little else done. A classic, complex kit that will require lots of work around doors and other opening bits. The chassis is gorgeous and I'll probably display the body off the chassis.

Mercedes 190 SL: Paint but not much else done. This body is not a one-piece mold -- fenders are doweled into the cowling -- and I can foresee lots of tricky bits ahead. The 300 SL looks enormous in the picture, and while it was definitely bigger at 1:1, it is a Tamiya kit at 1/24, while the 190 SL is a Revell 1/25 kit.


Porsche 956: A typical Tamiya Le Mans build. About halfway on this one. No surprises expected.



Renault 40 NM Record: lots of fiddling here but once I get going, it should be quick because it's a curbside. The complex left side door needs a lot of fabrication, shimming and putty to get right. The third of four resin kits underway, it will have a Miller and a couple of late '30s GP cars as company.



Porsche 908/03: Infuriating! What a gorgeous, complex, maddening little kit. If I get it even partway right, I'll have to build a custom mahogany case to hold it.





Porsche 956 pickup truck: lots of fabrication to come but we are getting there. A real hooligan's dream! I'll park it next to the Allison-powered Freightliner chassis.





Lancia 037: kit I'd most like to start right now. This supercharged Monte Carlo racer is a lovely example of Group B excess. Status: engine halves have been glued together.



So there you have it -- at least a month's worth of work if nothing interferes, like for instance the imminent arrival of granddaughter #2. Stay tuned!

Abarth OT 1300: Almost done

Feeling a little ashamed at the large number of acquisitions since I actually completed anything, I completed the Abarth interior, and began final assembly.



The picture shows it next to the whale-like Hudson, which is actually even bigger in real life as it is 1/25 scale compared to 1/24 for the Abarth.





I also tackled the vacuum-formed windows. Given this is the first time I have ever worked with this sort of window, I started with the clear fastback which is not critical. Of course I managed to trim a little too much off and it is now scrap. The material is very thin and very easy to cut with scissors, which is obviously part of the problem. Armed with this knowledge, I now know I'll need to be more careful with the other vacuum-formed parts (windshield and headlamp covers). The real challenge is understanding where the actual window is supposed to begin.



For side and rear windows, I used 0.010" clear sheet which is a bit thick but provides some stiffness for the photo-etched window surrounds. Even so I had to start over a couple of times to get it right.



I managed the windshield OK, so I moved to gluing the body to the chassis permanently. In so doing, however, I got a finger-full of glue on my thumb and left a smudge mark in the door. The wiper is a flimsy, complex photo-etched part requiring careful folding, which I made a mess of. So I'm feeling stiff and nervous and I am at the point where I'll screw it up worse if I push now, so time to sit back and just look at it.

What's left: Right side door paint touch-up will need to be sanded and refinished. The little headlight covers will both need to be cut out of the vacuum-formed sheet. The hinges for the front compartment lid need to be lined up just right so it fits, and this will surely involve some fiddling. Finally the exhaust pipe is a long stinger-type thing that sticks way out with very little support, so it will be the last thing to go on before it goes into the display case.

When I get it complete and on the shelf, it will be the first one completed since the Nissan R34 Skyline back in February, and will bring the completion ratio from 32.5% to a whopping 33.1%. It will also be the first resin and multi-media kit I've completed. There's a spot for it in the little tiddler shelf, next to the Alpines, Lancias and Lotuses (Loti?).

What's next? Well, summer vacation is what's next, so progress will continue to be slow. On the started but unfinished list: a pair of BRE Datsuns; a pair of Mercedes SLs; resin kits of the 908 and DBR1; a GT40, 787B and 956; a kit-bashed 956 pickup truck; a White Freightliner and Mitsubishi Fuso; and a 1926 Renault 40 Record car in resin. It will be nice to pick something close to completion and finish it off; the BRE 510 and the 787B are pretty close. Stay tuned.

New acqusitions, Chapter XXIV

I guess I got a little carried away with the credit card over the last few weeks, and a couple of boxes turned up as I was going away for some R&R. Two more packages had turned up by the time I got back.

Among the critical stuff: I now have a '65 Malibu wagon to park next to my growing collection of American station wagons. It can be built as a drag car so maybe I won't need to go hunting for a big block, although suspension upgrades may be another story. More importantly, I now have one of the Corvette Gran Sports from Accurate Miniatures. This Cobra-fighter has a lovely small block motor with a full complement of 4 side draft Webers, and the aggressive bodywork will look good next to the other '60s icons such as the Cobra Daytona Coupe and the Cheetah. And the kit, while complex, doesn't look as difficult as their M8B. The Historic Racing Miniatures headers that clear the frame rails better are on order from Strada Sports.

From the sublime to the ridiculous: the Hasegawa kit of the 1969 Honda N360 turned up in a package from the Japanese site Hobby 1999, here: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10368391



One issue with Hasegawa is that you can't really tell, until you get home, just how much detail (especially engine detail) the kit might include. One nice aspect of the Hobby 1999 site is that they frequently post images of the assembly sheets (for instance here), so you can tell if it is curbside or not; this can be useful even if you don't order from them. The N360 was a very early attempt, if not the first one, by Honda at making something with 4 wheels, and fits the definition of the Japanese kei class, which includes rigid limits on outside dimensions and engine size in exchange for a significant reduction in road tax. The 360 cc air-cooled twin is pretty basic compared to the DOHC fours in the Honda S600 and S800, and while it is similar in length and wheelbase, the car is narrower than the Monte Carlo Mini. It will fit right in with the other little tiddlers: 2 CV, R4 and the two little Subaru delivery vehicles.

Back to the sublime: the Lancia 037 won the Monte Carlo in 1983 and the Hasegawa kit of the 037 also includes quite a bit of detail around the supercharged four that replaced the Ferrari-sourced V6 in its predecessor, the Stratos. The kit doesn't seem to offer an opening engine compartment, so some cutting may be needed.



The Japanese supplier also provided a copy of Fujimi's lovely Ferrari 250 GTO. I have ordered some upgrades from Strada Sports, namely the HRM resin motor, RHD conversion kit and more accurate tires. The 250 SWB from AMT is poorly done with wheels and track that are not to scale, and it will be nice to build one that is a better looking kit.



The 1954 Hudson Hornet Special is a good looking but obscure bit of '50s Americana. It is my first kit from Moebius and I am impressed by the full-colour instruction sheet printed on glossy paper, and by the level of detail. I also got the F100 with the inline 6 from Moebius and I am looking forward to these builds.



At least as obscure as the Hudson is the Delahaye 135 from Heller. This luxury coupe from France was derived from Grand Prix origins, and some examples received some very sensual bodywork from all the best carrossiers, such as Figoni et Falaschi or Pourtout. The kit provides the factory bodywork which is quite nice, although not as nice as some of the custom work done on French coupés of this era. I include a picture of a Talbot-Lago with Figoni et Falaschi bodywork which figured prominently in many of my fantasies as a boy... the car barely has a straight line on it. This will sit next to the Citroen 15 as an example of the better French designs of the late '30s and '40s. 





Finally I reeled in Revell's enormous AEC London Routemaster bus ... one option will be to build it stock, complete with 72 seats, each with a tartan decal, but another will be to make it into a racing car carrier similar to the Fiat transporter used by Ferrari in the '50s. One thing is for sure: it will require a lot of rattle cans.






So the count is 16 in progress, 54 complete, 95 unstarted and one (the Cheetah from HRM) still on order. Yes, things are completely out of hand, but so what? It's a hobby.