MPC Howmet Mark II Can Am Turbine Experimental Racer 1:25 scale

[ea0863]

The first time I built this model, I did it as a "what-if" project - creating what I thought a Howmet Mark III Turbine Experimental might have looked (see links at the end for the WIP and Under Glass posts for that car). However, while I was building my "Mark III", I was drawn into the history of the Howmet Mark II . This time around, I decided to build the model as close to stock as possible using the few photos I was able to find of this car.

 

First up was the TS325-1 gas turbine engine. A few color photos of the Mark I showed it to be in shades of copper, thus I decided to go with that theme. The engine was done in Krylon Metallic Rust, while outlets were Krylon Metallic Rose Gold.

 

The chassis was fiddly as usual, and reminded me just how important alignment is on this model to get the tubular frame to line up. Having said that, it came out quite presentable. While the kit is a fair representation of the vehicle, I noticed it had the wrong rims and sourced some suitable replacements from the parts bin.

 

In buidling the Mark III, I had noted that the engine cowl refused to line up with the main body owing to warpage. In that instance, I had glued the cowl in place as the engine was visible through a glass panel. This time around though, I decided the warped rear cowl would have to open to show off the engine. Thus, I opted to fabricate a brass gusset glued under the cowl which could be bent as needed to re-align the meeting body panels. Finally, I tried a trick learned from Doug Whyte and used neodymium magnets to help with placement and alignment.

Without further ado, I present to you my closest approximation of the Howmet Mark II Turbine Experimental:

Here are links to the WIP and Under Glass posts for my Mark III:

 

 

Now, I am off to build the Howmet Mark I - which is where I should have started all along!  

Edited Thursday at 07:35 PM by ea0863

[Jim B]

Cool looking car.  Well done.

[ea0863]

39 minutes ago, Jim B said:

Cool looking car.  Well done.

Thank you James

[Ace-Garageguy]

Very nice job on a rarely seen model of a fascinating car.  

[slusher]

Outstanding build!

[Dave B]

Great build of a car I had completely forgotten about.

Dave B 

[bondo bill]

cool build

[ChrisR]

Looks great.

[Rich Chernosky]

Emre, what a great post. All of the information and photos are greatly appreciated.  And the model is a thing of beauty too. Thanks for sharing.  Well done. 

[TonyK]

Very sharp model! I built this many years ago and remember it being awfully fiddly. You did good!

[ea0863]

14 hours ago, slusher said:

Outstanding build!

Thank you Carl  

[ea0863]

12 hours ago, Dave B said:

Great build of a car I had completely forgotten about.

Dave B 

 

10 hours ago, bondo bill said:

cool build

 

4 hours ago, ChrisR said:

Looks great.

Thank you Sirs for the kind comments  

[ea0863]

3 hours ago, Rich Chernosky said:

Emre, what a great post. All of the information and photos are greatly appreciated.  And the model is a thing of beauty too. Thanks for sharing.  Well done. 

Thank you Rich, you're very kind  

[bamadon]

Very cool car. 

[ea0863]

17 hours ago, bamadon said:

Very cool car. 

Thanks Don!