Post by Whiterook on Feb 10, 2024 17:43:48 GMT -5
I was originally going to build this kit for a Group Build at Modelers Social Club, but I never got off the ground with it. Seeing that KiwiModeller rose once again from the ashes and has its first Group Build, titled “Lights, Camera, Action!”, I decided to build this kit for that group build. I’d not even taken anything out of the box, and it’s still shrink sealed in the stash.
This race car from the 1967-68 television series, Speed racer!
I’ll be building the “Speed Racer” MACH 5, by a Polar Lights. 1/25 scale, at 7 ½” long with 54 parts, it’s a snap kit, which generally means no glue is required, but on a few kits of this nature, I always glue them to seal it properly, especially as some work at the seams may reveal the need. Injected in white, chrome, and clear parts, it sports a detailed interior and metal axles to allow chrome and rubber wheels to roll freely. It even features gadgets like a robot bird scout and underwater bubble canopy!
I was a huge fan of the Speed Racer show as a kid, and as dorky as it sounds, my friends and I would fly out onto our bicycles after the show and race around the neighborhood like crazy people! It was a novel cartoon show of the time and my first introduction to Japanese Manga. I found this new kit at a small toy store on a bus trip to Rockport, Massachusetts last Summer… a beautiful little New England seaside town on the coast north of Boston. I’d since bought aftermarket t decals for it, as the ones that come with the kit are supposedly stickers! The kit has been sitting in the stash waiting to be built, and this is the perfect opportunity to get it done!
I also see this as a great opportunity to get back into the automotive genre with this kit! I’ve not built an auto since the 70’s — the Russian “Snow Coach”, WWII truck, or Rommel’s Rod may kinda qualify as having done something close to that genre, but this is a flat out civilian subject.
This race car from the 1967-68 television series, Speed racer!
Teenager Gô Mifune aspires to be the world's best race-car champion with the help of his friends, family and his father's high-tech race-car, the Mach 5. I seem to remember that the character was just referred to as “Speed”, but that was a long time ago. It was originally serialized in print in a 1966 Shōnen Book . later, adapted into an anime by Tatsunoko Productions, its 52 episodes aired on Fuji TV from April 1967 to March 1968. In the US, the show aired in syndication at approximately the same time.
I’ll be building the “Speed Racer” MACH 5, by a Polar Lights. 1/25 scale, at 7 ½” long with 54 parts, it’s a snap kit, which generally means no glue is required, but on a few kits of this nature, I always glue them to seal it properly, especially as some work at the seams may reveal the need. Injected in white, chrome, and clear parts, it sports a detailed interior and metal axles to allow chrome and rubber wheels to roll freely. It even features gadgets like a robot bird scout and underwater bubble canopy!
I was a huge fan of the Speed Racer show as a kid, and as dorky as it sounds, my friends and I would fly out onto our bicycles after the show and race around the neighborhood like crazy people! It was a novel cartoon show of the time and my first introduction to Japanese Manga. I found this new kit at a small toy store on a bus trip to Rockport, Massachusetts last Summer… a beautiful little New England seaside town on the coast north of Boston. I’d since bought aftermarket t decals for it, as the ones that come with the kit are supposedly stickers! The kit has been sitting in the stash waiting to be built, and this is the perfect opportunity to get it done!
I also see this as a great opportunity to get back into the automotive genre with this kit! I’ve not built an auto since the 70’s — the Russian “Snow Coach”, WWII truck, or Rommel’s Rod may kinda qualify as having done something close to that genre, but this is a flat out civilian subject.