'55 Kurtis Midget

[Terry Jessee]

The late Chris Etzel was one of the best pattern-makers in the business. He used those patterns to create some wonderful race cars. This Kurtis Midget has resin, white metal, nickel, and photo-etched parts. The markings--according to the instruction sheet--are for an Offy fuelie that was based out of Tennessee in the mid-50s. I've included a shot of the model sitting next to a '53 Ford pickup to give you an idea of relative size. The Midget is in 1/24 scale, so would be even smaller in 1/25 scale. This pre-dates Revell's Midget kit by about 15 years. The ultra-thick windshield is actually from the Revell kit. The Etzel kit came with a vacuformed windshield but it seemed kind of small.

[Pierre Rivard]

Very, very nice!

[absmiami]

Yup - do you have any other Etzell kits ???

[misterNNL]

 Very nicely done.

[cobraman]

Looks great !

[Ace-Garageguy]

Another beautiful vintage race-car model.

I sure wish I'd had my current appreciation for Chris Etzel's work when I got back into this hobby some years ago.

I saw his jewel-like kits at a few shows, but passed on buying them primarily out of my own ignorance.

I doubt we'll ever see his like again, though some of the CAD designed / 3D printed stuff that's coming online is equally spectacular.

[Bainford]

Sweet little midget. Nice detailing. Very cool!

[Big John]

Great build and finish work Terry!  Chris was "The Man"  Have several of his kits and treasure them even though unmade.  the midget unfortunately isn't one of them.  Back in the day... 60s there was an article in Rod & Custom Models that had a how to chop down the Monogram midget kit to make a 1/24 (or was it 1/25) car.  I want to say the Monogram kit was out of scale.

Edited July 13, 2022 by Big John
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[Straightliner59]

Terry, you've done a beautiful job, with an equally beautiful kit. Love the color, the markings. Excellent work, sir!

[1930fordpickup]

Another great Model from your bench Sir! 

[Gary Davis]

Very good build Terry. I have a few of his midget kits. They are nice.

Hey John...That Monogram kit is not out of scale. It's 1/18th scale. I 've built one of the kits and have 3 more in the build stash. Here's a pic of that Midget & trailer build.

[Big John]

Learn something new every day.  That is one Cool car, what a great build and trailer display, I love the color scheme and .  Wonderful detail detail work all around!

[afx]

Very nice.