Revell '57 Cadillac

[Eshaver]

Kevin, while I can't argue the fitment issues of this kit, let me remind ANYONE under age 45 that this kit was tooled in 1957 or there a bouts ! The ability to mold , manufacture delicate pieces was still being experimented with . Remember , Revell had only gotten into plastic automobiles back in 1950....... Go easy on technology , will ya ? Ed Shaver

[evilone]

Kevin, while I can't argue the fitment issues of this kit, let me remind ANYONE under age 45 that this kit was tooled in 1957 or there a bouts ! The ability to mold , manufacture delicate pieces was still being experimented with . Remember , Revell had only gotten into plastic automobiles back in 1950....... Go easy on technology , will ya ? Ed Shaver

i seen the copyright date and tripped out. but really they coulda updated the molds a little and made a production kit out of it.

[charlie8575]

i seen the copyright date and tripped out. but really they coulda updated the molds a little and made a production kit out of it.

Not quite that simple, my young friend.

Remember, to create a mold, done properly, take several hundred man-hours and many thousands of dollars.

Even a simple curbside kit will take approximately 200-300 hours to engineer, from measuring the prototype to placing the cavities in the molds, designing the inserts to form parts like the body, designing the gates, testing the molds and revising anything that may need to be revised.

Figuring that most engineering work of that nature will cost at minimum $50-75 per hour, it's easy to see why kit subjects tend to be considered carefully. While I certainly wish (along with a lot of other people) that the manufacturers would take a Moebius-like leap of faith and attempt something truly different, given the costs involved, it's also very easy to understand, especially given the current marketplace and economic climate in general, why they haven't and generally don't.

But wait....there's more.

Cutting the mold, which of course would come before test-shots and revisions, needs to be done. Assuming a kit like the '57, with a fairly low parts count and not too-terribly complex shapes, would still take an additional 50-100 hours to simply cut, polish and finish the mold. Typically, this costs between $60-75 per hour, at bare minimum.

That said, the Eldo isn't too tough to build. It requires patience, care and thought in its assembly, to be sure, but will still build up nicely.

Charlie Larkin

[exnyman]

I haven't seen a re-issue of this kit but remember my cousin having one when we were kids. I can't say how it builds up but it has to be better than those old Palmer kits were back in the 60's to mid 70's. They made some unusual subjects in the 70's like a 75 Mercury Marquis (which oddly seemed to have shared molds with of all things, a Chrysler Cordoba). Trouble was, the box art was nice but the kits were awful. they usually only vaguely resembled the actual car they were trying to replicate. And they all had seperate body sides, generic wheels and chassis. I had a few over the years. The one that seemed really odd was the 68 Impala....it depicted a standard, non-SS Sport Coupe, but, had Caprice hidden headlights. The front bumper really more resembled a 67, and the side had 67 moldings rather than 68s. I still have remnants of that kit stored away...

Edited January 23, 2011 by exnyman

[Phil Patterson]

The kit is dated, but where else are you going to get a 57 Cadillac Eldorado in 1/25th scale?

Better than nothing, better than collector prices too.