Checkered!

[Terry Jessee]

I'm either getting lazy or I'm too used to Modelhaus and Promolite stuff. But this is a real sow's ear.

It's an R&R Vacuumcraft Checker, probably a mid-60s one, judging by the bumper. It has taken a bunch of work to get it to this point--lots of fitting and testing--and there's more work left to do. Nothing fits. This looks like someone took a bunch of parts that might go together and threw 'em in the box. The body casting is a good start, but one of the taillights is crooked, and there are lots of surface flaws to fix. The door handles are too small. The hood and grill are a real mismatch. I'm just going to glue everything up tight and try to get them to fit as well as I can.

The interior is too narrow for the body, so that will require some shims, I guess.

It's the only Checker model available as a kit. That's just about the only positive aspect of it.

Terry

[george 53]

Terry, your just used to WELL, PROPERLY cast models! I've NEVER gotten a R&R kit that didn't need SOME kinda work to get right! He DOES have some off the wall stuff though. Heck I must have at LEAST 10 of his kits, an I hadta do ALOT of work on ALL of them to get 'em right. They ARE worth the effort though, cause if ya take your time they CAN come out REAL nice, an like you said, it IS the ONLY KIT of a Checker Marathon around! (Unless ya count the old Franklin Mint Die-Cast!)

[Jon Cole]

With all the work you are putting in repairing the flaws, will you have someone cast it? What a rare animal a Checker would be! That says "Pro Street" to me!

[Rob Hall]

Interesting...I actually saw a 1:1 Checker yesterday...was an off-white or gray one, tail poking out of a carport in a neighborhood a few blocks from mine...hadn't seen one of those in many years.