mrmike Posted January 7, 2018 Posted January 7, 2018 (edited) This kit has been in my stash for a couple of years now and I think its time to build it! The kit is Revell's Starsky & Hutch Ford Torino, kit #85-4023. Click the link for the video theme song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsJ4pALlbEMThis As I unbox this kit and prep it for primer and paint, I am kind of curious about the car and the kit. I wonder if this is the TV car or the Movie car? A dual quad 351 CI Windsor with dual exhaust seems to be closer to what Movie car was, but some of the information I have come across points in both directions. I don't really know if this is the TV or the Movie car Torino and I vaguely recall watching a special on TV about the Starsky & Hutch Movie Cars and the subtle differences made. I seem to recall something about the stripe. Was it longer or shaped differently? Arrgh, I can't remember! Unless I can find something specific about about the S&H Ford Torino TV car, I am going to err on the Movie Car side for now. The body will be painted with Tamiya TS-49 Bright Red with a Tamiya Semi Gloss Black interior. The wheels have been in my parts box for some time now and they bare a resemblance to the wheels in the kit, but these have more offset to them, the holes have a slightly different shape, and the chrome has a more faded look now that mimics an aluminium wheel. More to come... Edited March 6, 2018 by mrmike
espo Posted January 7, 2018 Posted January 7, 2018 This should be fun. Some personal thoughts on the actual cars. Yes cars since they often use several different cars depending on the type of "shots" the director is working on. Both TV and Movies usually have at least one or two backup cars and there invariably will be differences in both paint treatment and even mechanically the way the car is built. The point is that how ever you build the model it probably would be correct. On the "Dish Slotted" wheels they were sold with two different finishes. The most common and also the most expensive were the Polished wheels. Depending on who made the wheel they would have the appearance of highly polished aluminum to almost a chrome looking finish. They were also sold as "Machined" finish. This was a lower cost wheel the difference only being the wheel finish. As the name implies the finish was not as smooth and usually had very fine groves on the finish and this would give it a somewhat duller appearance. I think the point is just build it the way it looks best to you and maybe this information may or may not be of any help to you.
mrmike Posted January 8, 2018 Author Posted January 8, 2018 10 hours ago, espo said: This should be fun. Some personal thoughts on the actual cars. Yes cars since they often use several different cars depending on the type of "shots" the director is working on. Both TV and Movies usually have at least one or two backup cars and there invariably will be differences in both paint treatment and even mechanically the way the car is built. The point is that how ever you build the model it probably would be correct. On the "Dish Slotted" wheels they were sold with two different finishes. The most common and also the most expensive were the Polished wheels. Depending on who made the wheel they would have the appearance of highly polished aluminum to almost a chrome looking finish. They were also sold as "Machined" finish. This was a lower cost wheel the difference only being the wheel finish. As the name implies the finish was not as smooth and usually had very fine groves on the finish and this would give it a somewhat duller appearance. I think the point is just build it the way it looks best to you and maybe this information may or may not be of any help to you. So true! TV shows usually have a smaller budget for cars with one or two set aside for "beauty" shots, where the series star would drive from where ever to where ever. One or two cars would be the stunt cars, doing all the hard action work like chase scenes. Movies operate with a much bigger budget and have more set aside for the "hero" cars and the stunt cars. Usually the stunt cars would be set up for any particular stunt with roll cages and specific suspension setups and other various components. This is where the bulk of the vehicle budget would go-the stunt cars. The wheels I found have been around for some time now. Having spent many, many years on a MPC Trans Am Firebird. That model is now in many pieces and the wheels and the tires I had for them were sitting in my parts box. I think those wheels will work well with the Striped Tomato. I am certain that this model will look great when I am done with it!
Dave Van Posted January 8, 2018 Posted January 8, 2018 I used ARII Japanese aftermarket wheels on mine....a tiny bit large but I like them. My understanding the model is of a tribute car....IE it's wasn't a TV or movie used car. It was just a nice repro of the star car.....the 1/1 is just like the model. It's pretty easy to obtain the parts needed to repro either TV or movie versions.
PARTSMARTY Posted January 8, 2018 Posted January 8, 2018 6 hours ago, Dave Van said: I used ARII Japanese aftermarket wheels on mine....a tiny bit large but I like them. My understanding the model is of a tribute car....IE it's wasn't a TV or movie used car. It was just a nice repro of the star car.....the 1/1 is just like the model. It's pretty easy to obtain the parts needed to repro either TV or movie versions. Those wheels look cool on there Dave.
dwc43 Posted January 8, 2018 Posted January 8, 2018 Those ARII wheels look more like the ones used on the tv show. The kits wheels and stripes are from the movie. Wheels and tires too small and the stripe is wrong for the tv car. The tv car had more of a rearward stripe where it curves on the rear quarter. It followed the quarter behind the window where it slants and goes more to the rear before it turns forward. The movie car looks more straight down like the kit decals.
disconovaman Posted January 8, 2018 Posted January 8, 2018 I have the kit also but I haven't desided what I'm gonna do just yet. The kit is a combination of the movie car and the TV car. I was told that the decal is hard to get to lay down properly. I thought about painting the TV car stripe on and adding 50 series tires like the TV car had too. As far as the wheels go, I'd strip the chrome and paint them with buffing metallizer. If you lightly polish the wheels they will look authentic, not too shiny not too dull. Here is an example of the wheels from the Bandit TA.
espo Posted January 8, 2018 Posted January 8, 2018 Another possibility on the wheels depending on what you are trying for. Last year I did a model of a '67 El Camino that I had in the '60's until I traded for a new '74 Chevy C-10. I had a set of Shelby branded wheels that we sold at Good Year stores were I worked at the time. They were deep dished 14x7 and 14x9 polished wheels. I found a perfect set of wheels in the Avanti reissue kit and used the AMT pad printed Poly Glass tires.
mrmike Posted January 8, 2018 Author Posted January 8, 2018 Well guys, I do appreciate the suggestions on the wheels, but my mind is made up on the MPC wheels that I had found in my parts box and were displayed in the second picture I had posted in my original posting. To my eye, they have the right amount of offset and shine that I require for this build. They are not perfect nor are they correct, but they are close enough for what I want.
KWT Posted January 8, 2018 Posted January 8, 2018 The wheels look pretty awesome to me, Mike. We gonna see a McNally/ Starsky & Hutch crossover? Joking... I'm looking forward to your build of this one!
disconovaman Posted January 9, 2018 Posted January 9, 2018 The Good Doctor tonight! Watch Dr. Shawn Murphy Crash a Stripped Tomato... S&H Torino... on ABC at 10pm...
mrmike Posted January 9, 2018 Author Posted January 9, 2018 (edited) On 1/8/2018 at 6:03 PM, KWT said: We gonna see a McNally/ Starsky & Hutch crossover? Seriously? That's not going to happen, Jeremy! McNally is in his early 40's and Starsky & Hutch are what-OLD!!! Edited January 9, 2018 by mrmike
KWT Posted January 9, 2018 Posted January 9, 2018 16 minutes ago, mrmike said: Seriously? That's not going to happen, Jeremy! McNally is in his early 40's and Starsky & Hutch are what-OLD!!! Hahahaha
mrmike Posted January 14, 2018 Author Posted January 14, 2018 I got the body ready for primer. I just need to wash it of all contaminants. I painted the engine block with Model Master Acryl French Blue. My friend Paul offered to drill out the distributor cap for plug wires. I removed the supports for the suspension and will replace them with coil springs offered by my friend Barry. Since the wheels from my parts box have more offset, I am modifying the wheels backs for a better fit. More to come...
mrmike Posted January 30, 2018 Author Posted January 30, 2018 I did some priming and painting this morning to get the Striped Tomato ready for paint and assembly. And, it's time to clean the paintbooth and replace the filter again! More to come...
NYLIBUD Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 Great theme music.Actually there were two sets of different theme music for the opening of the show.
mrmike Posted February 1, 2018 Author Posted February 1, 2018 Yes, there are. I chose to more popular of the two. I painted up the 2-way radio and the body and hood yesterday. Now to wet sand the paint and remove the trash and dog hair. The engine is in-process and the chassis is complete with suspension and wheels and tires. More to come...
DEL Posted February 1, 2018 Posted February 1, 2018 The "Hero" car from the movie with Stiller & Wilson resides about 7 miles from me. Guy I know bought it from Movie Mike about four years ago, the guy who built all the cars for the movie. THAT car has some kind of internally modified 351W with a Holley 4bbl. Looks tiny in that engine bay. I would have personally preferred a 460 police version of a 2 door Gran Torino but those are rare as, well, RARE. He also has about three or four other Starskys. Way big into them. Has a couple videos of his car(s) on YT under Torinoman. Good luck on the build! Looks great so far..
mrmike Posted February 3, 2018 Author Posted February 3, 2018 Thank you guys! So far it's coming along as I hope it would. I'm really liking the wheels and the new springs I have put it place of the kit pieces.
mrmike Posted February 8, 2018 Author Posted February 8, 2018 (edited) A little bit of progress this morning. I added another coat of Tamiya TS-29 Semi Gloss Black to all of the interior parts. There is a nicely detailed distributor on this engine and I had attempted to add individual wires to the cap. That didn't work out so well and I drilled one hole in the center and added all the plug wires to and fanned them out. I'll cross them over the top of the cap to the various plug holes I drilled in the block. More to come... Edited February 9, 2018 by mrmike
mrmike Posted February 9, 2018 Author Posted February 9, 2018 Thanks Jeremy! Last night before turning in, I applied the decals to the dash and let them dry overnight. I assembled the dash and the interior this morning. More to come...
Dave Van Posted February 9, 2018 Posted February 9, 2018 Your interior work is great. I may like this kit much more than the average modeler. I wanted one the first time I saw it on the original TV show. It was a long wait but happy it finally got here. Revell did a decent job on the kit......somewhere between a high detail kit and a die cast (rumored for years) I built the 'tomato' the first day I got my hands on it. Second build was a Bill Elliott NASCAR version. I have a few more builds planned......
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