1970 Toronado

[Helix]

G' Day folks,

Saw a documentry on TV about this car, then the opportunity came when a fellow model builder was selling a few kits, he had this one, so I grabbed it because I have never built a JoHan before .

For it's age, it was in pretty good shape apart from the tyres, I used some spares I had in my parts box.

I've gone for the factory look and the colour choice was tough but in the end I settled for Testors Deep Maroon. The paint chip chart showed a Grenadier Red which looks like Maroon anyway. I used Tamiya finishing compounds instead of a clear coat.

The final assembly was very tricky, especially mounting the separate wheel wells inside the body, the stance looked odd so I modified the front end to give it a more realistic look.

Anyway here she is

Cheers

Ray

[Johan020]

Very shiny and nicely build Olds .

[Cool Hand]

Looks good Ray, cleanly built and very well detailed as always.

[PappyD340]

Beautiful build Ray, paint looks fantastic!!

[Chris White]

really well done Ray

[disabled modeler]

I like it!...then again my first real car was a 72 Toronado...love to find me one.

[cobraman]

I agree, very nice.

[Guest]

Stunning!

[MrObsessive]

What an excellent build! A beautiful example of one of Bill Mitchell's nicest designs! This was back when a front wheel drive car didn't look a FWD car. I have to say that your photos are excellent as well--------very clear and sharp showing off that beautiful paint!

[om617]

66-67 are my favorite year Toronado, but this is very beautiful. Great job.

[slusher]

Excellent looking build Ray, great shine and foil also..

[unclescott58]

Nice job Ray. I love those big late 60's - early 70's personal luxury cars. Riviera, Thunderbird, Toronado, etc.

Glad you got hands on your first JoHan kit. I miss those old JoHan models. Most were much simpler in the details than the Toronado. But, they all looked pretty good when they're done. The only problem I've ever had building their Toronado is with front end. Things like the steering knuckles and axle shafts I found them a little tricky and fragile. How about you Ray? Have any problems in this area?

By the way, laying in my collection is an origin JoHan '72 Toronado I need to build some day. Chrome was shot, but it's complete. Despite the fact that the real Toronados switch to coil springs with their redesign in 1971, the model kit comes with the very same chassis as the 1970 and prior Toronado kits had. With the leaf springs in the rear. This is OK with me. I understand why they did it. Saves a little money tooling up the new kit. And most model builders at the time would not know the difference. In general, the car looks right, other than the leaf springs and the older style, but also inaccurate air cleaner. Today, modelers would flip out, and complain to no end about things like that on blogs like this. By the way, if you did used the air cleaner included in the kit, like I did, and will on my '72. It's not correct. That air cleaner was only used on the '66 Toronados. But, it sure looks cool!

Scott Aho

[ToyLvr]

Gorgeous!

[yura1961]

Very cool!

[Plasticfanatic]

Beautiful!!!, love the color combination.

[Mopar - D]

Very nice stock build.

[bbowser]

Very nice, love to see any year Toronado!

[peekay]

Very nicely done and great colours.

[Greg Cullinan]

Nice. Perfect color.

[Monty]

I've always liked the '66-early '70s Toronados, so I love it when a talented builder does this kind of work on one of the old JoHans.

My compliments on your color choices, paintwork, foiling and photography.

[Belugawrx]

I really like the stock colour!!

Nice stance as well

Clean build there

[Danno]

Elegant! Nice job.

[rustybill1960]

Beautiful!

A Johan kit , I may have to look for one

I really applaud your detailing work fantastic work as well as your foiling skills!

Thank You for sharing

Later

Russ

[Frank]

Nice build of a car not often seen, the maroon suits it and I like shiny.

well done Ray.

[Duntov]

This is really cool --- would love to have a 1:1!!!!