oldcarfan

Ten or so years ago, one of the die-cast companies made a series of cheesy Walmart/Jesse James customs to tie in with the Monster Garage fad. Most of them were pretty bad, but at least with a little kit bashing, I got a 1/25th 1957 Chevy wagon out of it. Just wish I had bought a few more now!

The model companies have to do what they have to do to in order to survive. They need money to produce kits to sell in order to make money to put out kits. It's the whole circle of corporate life. While I would love to see them be able to partner with GM, Ford, or Chrysler and release a whole string of new models every year, that doesn't seem likely at the moment. Let's face it, the model kit target market is aging and a younger group of builders doesn't seem to be knocking down the door to get in. Kit manufacturers are becoming, in effect, a niche market. One that I really love, but there you are..... They have to break out of that. Revell is trying a different direction to see what happens. We need to support them by buying kits and also support their efforts to widen the market. Just my humble opinion.

I really love these! What scale are they?

Looks really nice!

Amazing build, man!

It's not to imply that any one is unscrupulous. I have known a couple of people, whom I like, who make more buying a rare kit and selling off the sprue trees or individual parts than they would in selling the kit as a whole. It's simple economics. Sad though. It's like a guy who is selling his prized car for whatever reason to someone who wants it due to its originality only to find out that he parted it out and kept only the frame for his hotrod or something.

It bothers me more to see kits broken up. Apparently there are people who will buy a vintage kit and part it out. Selling the hood, body etcetera, even the box separately. I was told that you can sometimes make twice the money selling a kit that way than whole.

I once asked Bic pens how come the cheap regular ball point pens have a hole in the top of the caps. They used to be solid. I got a reply that it was a liability issue that some kid might put it in his mouth and choke. The hole was so some air could get through until help could be given. A lid is kind of big, but maybe for the same reason?

Maybe someone could forward this to Revell along with all the positive reaction. They've already got the start of a '32 in their current '32 kits. Just need the bellytank. I'm getting tired of making my own! Lol!

I'll be watching this. These cars are near and dear to my heart. I might have one of these kits somewhere. Hope so.

It's good to see a kid doing something with all his fingers, not just his thumbs. Mine only play video games these days.

That is interesting. It's hard to imagine when those aircraft were just seen as junk and scrap.

You're making a good start, have fun!

Great, another weird kit I have to buy! I haven't even decided when to start the Renault R-5s yet!

Now if Ford would offer one like this as well!

Love your ideas. You have a great....

I use eBay as a quick reference tool to judge the value of a kit. I always look at what people are paying for them, not what sellers are asking for them. Those two things can be waaayyy different!!! Lol

I haven't found one yet. Someone made a stock version in 1/20th scale a long time ago. it may have been ESCI, not sure. I got one as a teenager and was very disappointed that it was the "wrong" scale. I still have the wheels from it.

I just found this neat video with some sweet R5 action in it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLrPlFRTzOw

This retro-review covers ESCI's long out of production 1/24 scale Renault 5 Rally car. I love offbeat and unusual subjects and Renault's 5, known as the Le Car here in the states, hits both of those marks. It is only a quick shoot and post as I don't have a photo backdrop or decent lighting. I just thought there might be some others who enjoy weird little cars as much as I do. I actually have two of these kits, the Gitanes and the Calberson versions. For the purposes of this post, I am picturing the Calberson version as the only difference in the kits is the decal sheets and the colors the bodies are molded in. I bought these kits in Naples, Italy at the fleet-landing gift shop over twenty years ago and just came across them in storage last weekend at my Mother In Law's.(She Who Must Not Be Named) I also found an unbuilt ESCI Gelandewagen Paris-Dakar, which I plan to start as soon as I actually get room on the table, and a Volkswagen Golf Rally car, so all in all it was a good Thanksgiving for me! I seem to remember buying the ESCI Series 1 Ford Escort rally car, the Audi Quattro rally car and a Range Rover as well. Can you guess what subject I was into back then? Maybe I'll come across them someday. I don't have any history to relay on this kit, (maybe there are some ESCI experts out there?) but I'm pretty sure ESCI produced it in other variants as well. I seem to recall seeing a red and possibly a green one in US hobby shops back in the day.All ESCI kits I have seen are packaged in large format boxes about the size of the special edition kits AMT does. There is no printed production date on these two boxes, but the cool box art paintings are helpfully signed by the artists. The Gitane's artwork was done by someone named Giglioli in 1980, while the Calberson's artwork was done by R. Cappello in 1984. The body is very good proportionally, looking better than a lot of new-tool kits I have bought. All parts are crisply detailed, with very little flash and only faint parting lines. It should require little in the way of clean up. The Calberson kit's body parts are well molded in a bright yellow, the Gitanes car's body is in a blue close to Grabber blue. The body is molded in one piece except for the hood and rear hatch which are separate. The chassis, engine and interior bits are molded in black and are on one large sprue. The only real issue with this is that the sprue containing these parts is slightly too wide for the box, meaning the guy who packed the kits had to sort of bend it to get it in. Luckily it doesn't appear to have warped the parts themselves. The interior is platform style with decent detail on the separate side panels and dash. It includes two nice racing seats for the driver and navigator. The engine is pretty simple but should respond well to detailing. The way it is designed reminds me of AMT's Volkswagen Rabbit kit of the 70s. The wheels, roll-cage and rally lights are also black and are on a separate sprue. I really like these rally lights and may have to mold them so I can put some on other kits.The windows and all lenses are on a clear sprue. Of course this sprue was not wrapped, so the windshield is a bit scratched, but it should polish out.The taillights are molded on this sprue as well, so they will have to be painted transparent red. The tires are wide, low-profiles with only a faint pebbly finish on the tread. I didn't scale them out but they fit an AMT wheel, so I'm guessing 15 inch. They also have raised outline type lettering on both sides. One side has Goodyear, the other Dunlop. The tires are fitted to three-lug Campagnolo(?) mag-style rally wheels. The decals seem in very good shape for so old a kit I think they will still be usable. The ones on the Calberson car are printed by Cartograf and represent the car as raced at the 1978 Monte Carlo Rally, and the Gitane car's were by a company called "G.Decal, Italy" The sheets in both kits are nicely done and quite thorough. For the Calberson, the only thing not included is the red stripe around the bottom of the body which will have to be painted. I don't know where ESCI's molds ended up, but I would sure love to see some of their kits back on the shelves. This is my mini-review such as it is, the pictures are not great, but I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think.

Great build!

I would love to see them. I've been working on this one for a long time. It's a 67 AMT with the 65 roof section.

Nice! I've always had a soft spot for the 67-68 coupes. My dad had one when I was little. He called it a notchback mustang.

I'm pretty sure this Mustang kit started off as a Palmer offering back in the day. I think the Challenger kit that Lindberg put out a while ago was one of Palmer's old molds too. Palmer's kits were more miss and miss than hit and miss, quality-wise.The Chevelle and the 53 Ford were later from Lindberg's renaissance a few years back. Much better kits.

You are doing some amazing work on a poor kit. It's going to look great! Keep it up and have fun with it.