1931 Cadillac V16 Convertible Coupe, Jo-Han, 1/25

[Matt Bacon]

Something a bit different for me: a classic American kit of an iconic American automobile. More detailed thoughts at the end, but the short version is that it is one of the best thought out, highly detailed and amazingly accurate kits I've ever built from any manufacturer. The plastic is a bit unforgiving but the fit is quite extraordinary and the box is absolutely packed with options, many of which are functional.

This one has been buried in my stash for a while, along with a couple of the later white boxings, the Mercedes and the sister 1931 Cadillac Sport Phaeton. This is an original that had been slightly started. First impressions were that there were many, many parts and the chrome was a bit thick and uneven. The styrene is also quite brittle, and some of the finer parts had broken and needed fixing (the unopened boxes featured a really clever system of stacking and locking the trees together which protects everything, including trapping the tires in an isolated cage, but it does mean once you unpack them they are NEVER going back in the box...). I stripped the chrome, cleaned the parts up and throughout the build recoated as needed with SMS Hyperchrome and AK Chrome markets. The last picture is the car I chose to reproduce. It's not the subject of the kit, which is moulded in green and black as well as the chrome  and in theory could be built without paint. But throughout the build, I kept going back to the 50 or so pictures from the auction site, and this kit has every detail in. And I mean EVERY detail. Whoever mastered it loved these cars, and had access to fantastic reference or the real thing. Every tiny badge is engraved, the door hinges are different heights, the landau bars reach the trim on the car rather than stopping at the hood, the whitewalls of the tires have clearly readable embossed lettering and the AC Delco sculpted labels are clearly legible on the accessories. The instructions are in a few large stages with detailed step-by-step build notes: read them and follow them! Everything fits without modifying bar cleaning off any flash. The latter is easy on this first-release kit, but the later releases have a lot more. The engine and chassis are very well detailed and complete. Fortunately, those Cadillac engineers deliberately tucked away the plumbing and wiring of the awesome V16 to keep it neat and tidy, so the only addition here is some white-glue-coated thread to represent the insulated plug wires exiting the distributor. You might be thinking "the windshield doesn't fit"... except on the real thing you can see that the glass does open at the bottom for ventilation., and that's how it's modelled.

if you love old kits, or you love old cars, or even both, you owe it to yourself to try one of these. I was genuinely surprised by how well detailed it was, how well it fits together, and how very, VERY well it reproduces the real thing. If you can. though, try and find one of the original boxes as shown above... It'll need a lot less remedial work than a white one.

The full build is here. Enjoy:

(I don't know why that picture is appearing as a thumbnail for the thread. It's not my build, and it's not anywhere in my thread...)

best,

M.

[ea0863]

Stunning beauty!

[Jim B]

Beautiful Cadillac.  Well done.

[Nacho Z]

So elegant!  A beautiful model of a beautiful car!

[DanL]

A fine looking auto... Well done

[Supernurd]

Very cool 👍

[Phildaupho]

Very impressive model

[Kah puts]

What a pearl 👍

[Greasefinger]

 

Very good modelling and photography also. Great color scheme.

[PappyD340]

Outstanding build!

[Tom99]

Looking good!

[Mike 1017]

Very Nice

[Ragtop Man]

To this day, their engraving has never been excelled. 

The famous example was an ad placed by AMT in the '60s touting their dedication to fine detail - and the visual was close up of the '68 Toronado grille ( in fact, a JoHan product. )

When they were on their game, they were ON. 

Your build is outstanding - and completely with you on the stack packing and getting early examples vs. later. 

[SpikeSchumacher]

Excellent!

[espo]

Amazing body trim detailing and paint finishes. 

[Rattlecan Dan]

Great-looking Classic. Did a fantastic job.

[bondo bill]

well done

[70 Sting]

Absolutely beautiful build!  Excellent photography on the veritone background as well. 

[slusher]

Beautiful Cadillac I have the monogram and I built the Duesenberg and Mercedes 540k.

[Deathgoblin]

Gorgeous car! 

[Gustavo Reis]

Beautiful model.