January Model Kit Challenge "Alternative Reality"

Time to ring in the new year with another kit build. I proposed an "alternate scale" challenge which got a positive response, so dig out those oddball kits you've been hiding in the closet. Any kit in a scale other than the usual 1/24 or 1/25 is acceptable. And since slot cars fall into the smaller scale I'm okay with seeing those too, provided it gets painted and detailed like a regular kit.

The challenge runs through the end of the month and winner will be by popular vote. We can have more than one winner if someone else wants to offer up a prize. I'm giving this drag car kit I won previously which is still sealed.

Yes, I'm a re-gifter.

As I am hosting I will be ineligible to win the prize I already have. I'll be playing...er, building along however. I won this kit way back when we first started these challenge builds and it is an intriguing little thing.

Monogram released this in 1990 and it has never been re-issued. I suspect that the scale was a detriment, coupled with the cost of the photo etched metal parts. The car body is only 3.5 inches long. Though it comes with stripes and racing decals there is no roll bar. I kind of like 289's as street cars anway so will build it as such. As usual, I'll do a video for my YouTube channel when it's finished.

Looking forward to this challenge and your build!

OK, I'm done.    (1:160 scale for the record)

kazoospec said:

OK, I'm done.    (1:160 scale for the record

Roughly micro machines scale??

Any suggestions for good quality reasonable available large scale kits? 1/18, 1/8. Open to about anything but a truck would be fun.

In reply to solfly :

I mentioned this in the other thread, but AMT has produced some re-releases of 1/16 scale kits. Now I'm looking and see some nice options from other brands as well.

https://www.modelroundup.com/category-s/33.htm?searching=Y&sort=5&cat=33&search=16&show=14&page=1

In reply to solfly :

Auto World rereleased a few MPC big kits as well: https://www.autoworldstore.com/product-p/mpc862.htm

I'm game, I like the alternative scale concept. Here's my 1:1 build, with my daughter next to it for scale. 

solfly said:

kazoospec said:

OK, I'm done.    (1:160 scale for the record

Roughly micro machines scale??

Pretty close.  It's for our N Scale layout.  Some people actually use some Micromachines on N Scale layouts.  I don't because it always seemed that Micormachines were kind of charactures of real vehicles.  

BTW, just to prove the tow truck was at least sort of a kit, here's the instructions:

I've done a few N scale vehicles myself. They are really small.

Not to discourage anyone but I've found that the larger the scale the more difficult they are to make look good. Bigger = more detail possible but also a lot more real estate to paint, etc.. It tends to make the flaws jump out easier. Smaller scales reward steady hands but are also easier to hide faults.

BTW, if anyone wants to build a standard kit and show it off that's okay too, you just won't be eligible to win the lack of cash and single prize. We still want to see your builds.

Yeah...and no 1:1 stuff.

I should also add, today I replaced the 924 with a 3 Series, to make the "parked in a handicapped spot" thing more realistic.  I haven't met too many vintage car people who would hog an accessible spot.  

In reply to ddavidv :

I once built one of those 1:16 scale AMT Nomads and, yeah, lotta area to cover in paint. 

Thanks for the tips. Never done a small one but maybe I'll try!

I have a 1/20 Tamiya Lola T9300 in my stash. I'll pull it out and see if it looks like something I can finish in a month. Looks like my modeling time will be limited again in January.

Browsing the stash I think the best thing I can do for this is a 1/32 SS100 multi media kit by  Tomy. It looks to be an easy build with good detail. We'll see....

In reply to TurnerX19 :

That actually looks really cool!

I found this on eBay. I have no more small scale of my own and given postal delays I'm betting on not much time to complete a model. Hence this:

Now it just needs to get here. I haven't given up on large scale yet. Just not gonna happen right now.

still haven't rounded anything up yet, one local spot that sells models was wiped out

I had picked these up last year to potentially convert them to slot cars, but there's plenty of ready to run rally slot cars, and these actually have a lot of detail that might go wasted in the conversion, so I think it'll be better to just build them up.

Tomy SS100 is building quickly. The only nit I can pick so far is all 5 knock offs are for the left side. Should have 3 Lefts and 2 rights.......The wheels went together sweetly, and have 60 spokes, so they look really good, regardless of actual count which ay be correct.Five wheel pieces are held together by the tire, so no glue gets capillary pulled between the spokes.

The SS100 chassis is ready for the coachbuilding department.  Zero fit issues so far!

In reply to TurnerX19 :

That's such a nice looking build but we need a banana for scale.

I finally found the kit in my stash I've been wanting to build for this!

The wheels and tires are molded together on this kit, so that was kinda tricky. I painted them flat black first, then taped and painted the wheels, and finally did some touch-up work by hand.