122 replies to this topic

[GeeBee]

I'm building this for a 'Group Build' on another forum, but I thought I would also share it on here, I first built this kit back when I was 15, and can still remember brush painting it in Humbrol bright yellow, the reason I bought the kit in the first place was because of a t.v program I used to watch while growing up in Spain, I would go over to a friends house to watch an American program called The Bearcats, but watching it on a black & white t.v and no internet back then, I didn't know the box art was the same as the t.v car, I didn't know back then that it was a English licenced model from MPC, who originally produced it as the model from the Bearcats t.v program.

Anyway I started it today, first major problem was the chassis, which is either warped due to age, or just badly molded, I put it into hot water for a while then clamped it to a block of wood, I will leave it overnight, hopefully when the axles and other parts are fixed onto it, it should bring it back into shape, also got the engine block, and back axle glued together ...

Edited by GeeBee, 04 October 2012 - 07:33 AM.

[doggie427]

Very nice ! I've never seen one of these built up and have always been curious. I'll be following with interest.

[sjordan2]

The car for the TV series "Bearcats" was an exact replica built by George Barris' people for the show,..does your kit have the machine gun? :-)



I have a 1/16 Aurora curbside that I want to build as a replica of the one John Wayne drove in one of my favorite movies, "The Wings of Eagles." I think I can steal the engine and other detail parts from the Lindberg 1/16 1914 Stutz racer. The movie car was part of the Bill Harrah collection. Here's a shot of the same car as used in the Disney movie, "Summer Magic."

Edited by sjordan2, 04 October 2012 - 10:55 AM.

[GeeBee]

Sadly no machine gun, Airfix in England basically licenced the model from MPC and re-boxed it, but no photo or mention of the t.v series, which I'm not sure if it was ever aired over here, here's a shot of the original MPC kit,

[charlie8575]

This is one I would love to see either get re-issued or an all-new tool cut.

I have one of these and have since I was a little kid (around 5 or 6.) It was missing pieces from the factory and I never got around to doing much with it.

The Collings Foundation in Stow, Ma. has a very pretty Bearcat in a soft pastel gray with red seats. I'm toying with that scheme for mine.

Charlie Larkin

[bryan_m]

cool subject! lookin forward to seeing more of this.

cheers
bryan

[GeeBee]

I have one of these and have since I was a little kid (around 5 or 6.) It was missing pieces from the factory and I never got around to doing much with it.

What parts do you need ?? I have a second one in the stash that's missing it's wheels & tyres, let me know which parts you need and I'll see if I have them

[modelmike]

the second pic looks like it was cut right out of the show "Green Acers"

[GeeBee]

Well the chassis was well and truely warped when I took it off the wooden block this morning, luckily the one in the other one I bought for spares had a much better one, so this is the one that is getting used ...

Spent the rest of the day glueing smaller parts together, glued the fuel tank together, and filled and sanded the joint line, I taped it to the body just to get four parts to line up, it will be painted body colour before being glued onto the body, also glued the front and back axles fitted to the chassis. the bonnet halves were also fitted together ....

[sjordan2]

Did you do anything besides using clamps to straighten the chassis?

[GeeBee]

Did you do anything besides using clamps to straighten the chassis?

Yes, it was put into very hot water to soften the plastic before being clamped to the wood, this has always worked for me in the past, but this time, it actually came out ever more twisted than it started off, luckily the one on the kit bought for spares is a lot better.

[W-409]

Looking good. This is going to be another masterpiece from your bench. I'm a fan of your work, your builds are always very clean and nice with excellent paint jobs and overall finishes. I'm sure this one will be beautiful too. You're doing very nice job so far, this is interesting subejct, keep it going.

[charlie8575]

Thanks for the offer, Geoff. If I can figure out where it is, I'll pick through it and let you know.

I'll be more than happy to help you cover postage to the U.S.

Charlie Larkin

[GTMust]

I also built this one back in the day.... wonder what happened to it?

Remember thinking those front fenders were way too high but I was young... so left them as is. What do you think?

Tony

[Dr. Cranky]

Looking forward to more.

[GeeBee]

A little more done today, all parts are now ready for paint, apart from the chrome parts which have been in the bleach, and are now soaking in the Fairy Power spray, as they are going to be using Alclad polished brass, never used the brass Alclad before, just hope it turns out o.k

[Ace-Garageguy]

Very interesting. I got one of these as a gluebomb a while back.......looks like a nice kit when it's not fused into one solid lump. Mayhaps you'll inspire me to try to resurrect it.

[GeeBee]

Spent the day cutting off all the small parts from the sprue and getting them ready for paint, getting rid of any mold lines, and fixing parts that need to be done in Alclad brass fixed together, as it would be pretty hard to put them together after painting with the Alclad, the chrome was stripped using bleach and Fairy power spray to get rid of the lacquer under the chrome, one part was missing, but luckily I had another kit that had the missing part ....









The brass parts will be done using Alclad polished brass, never used it before, but I'm hoping it comes out the same as the Chrome, as I get on pretty well with that

[Shardik]

Geoff, my experience with the Alclad polished brass is that it doesn't look very "polished". It could be, however, that my surface preparation was not up to par, so this might be something to bear in mind.

[Michigan Madman]

I built one of these as a mildly hot-rodded version years ago using the MPC kit. I wish MPC had used the white plastic- not the horrid red stuff mine was molded in! Anyway, I'll be keeping an eye on this one.