UNEARTHED! MPC 1:20 SCALE TURBOCAR KIT

MAT IRVINE REPORTS

Strange how some things happen. The SMN team is spreading out and working on producing a range of ebooks, and the first title will focus on my own modelling activities. It’s called Mat’s Marvellous Model Museum, and to this end I’ve not only been scribbling away furiously, but also doing some research on the vast stack of models in the collection. 

Oil Treatment Special

During this, some things I’d forgotten about were unearthed, one of which was this old MPC kit of the ‘STP Indy Turbine Car No. 40’, which debuted in the 1967 Indianapolis 500 race. I actually spotted the kit because the box was somewhat dented, damage that can often be straightened out with careful ironing. (Honest - maybe this is an item for a future piece?!) However, I then remembered that although I started to build the kit - which must have been more than 35 years ago - I never quite finished it!

Plenty of internal detail reveals the gas-turbine engine's unusual position. It's beside the driver, rather than in front or behind.

Unusual scale

The STP Indy Turbine Car No. 40 kit was first issued by MPC in 1969, one of a new range of cars in 1:20 scale. 1:20 as a scale has been dabbled with by most model car companies over the years, but has never really caught on. In fact, MPC later made the STP Lotus Turbine car - but that was to 1:25 scale. 

As a bonus there's an included pen stand on which to place the finished model, though you have to provide your own pens!

Interesting extras

But the STP kit represents a unique car, so even if it is in 1:20 scale, I spent a couple of hours finishing it. That’s all it really needed, so I’m not quite sure why took so long. There are plenty of things to mention about the kit, including the relatively unusual vertical box format. As a bonus you got a pen stand on which to place the finished model - though you had to provide your own pens! A neat touch from MPC were the lift-off body panels and the asymmetrical engine cover, supplied in clear plastic.

Incoming - Mat's Marvellous Model Museum ebook

And that’s the sort of odd story you’ll be able to read about in my upcoming ebook Mat’s Marvellous Model Museum, when it appears in early Autumn.

Mr J note: The official name for STP chief Andy Granatelli’s gas-turbine racer was the STP-Paxton Turbocar, Paxton being STP’s division in Santa Monica, California, where the vehicle was built. The car is now in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.

Plenty of racing car models here.

The real STP-Paxton Turbocar, on museum display.

IT’S A SMALL WORLD - THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MODEL KIT

TINY VIEW BY MAT IRVINE

You may have noticed some of Round 2’s AMT and MPC kit releases that also include a miniature version of the kit's own 'big box.' A new idea? Not exactly, as AMT/MPC’s previous owner, RC-2, had produced a range of small diecast cars in its Johnny Lightning ‘Classic Plastic’ series.

Unique mini-models

These mini-models were probably unique in the annals of diecasts, as they were miniature versions of what were already miniatures - plus you got a mini-reproduction of the kit box as well. The only difference is that the Classic Plastic mini-boxes came ready-assembled, the recent versions come flat, and you have to cut them out and make them up yourself. 

Anniversary Corvette

There were several Classic Plastic series, and I keep an eye out for the odd ones I’m missing. Although I have only a passing interest in anything ‘ready-built’, the interest is of course to get all the ones I have kits of - or alternatively, to find the kits for the ones already in diecast form. One of my recent finds was a 1978 Corvette, as issued in a 25th Anniversary box by MPC. I’ve had the MPC kit for years, but only recently found the Classic Plastic version. 

Mystery releases

Exactly how many there are of these is a slight mystery. There has been no set pattern to the releases - some have appeared as part of a set of four, some in six, and at least one series as a set of nine. To date, I have details of about two dozen. Most feature AMT or MPC car kits, but there a couple of Jo-Han items, and at least one each of Aurora and Pyro subjects. 

AMT Royal Rail 

Here is an example of the current style ‘miniature kit box’, demonstrated with AMT’s reissue of its Royal Rail show rod. The box is shown as you find it in the kit - flat - plus a completed example.

Mini-AMT Blazer

The AMT Chevy Blazer follows the same format as the 25th Anniversary Chevrolet Corvette, and comes complete with its Classic Plastic equivalent. 

AMT Surf Rod - or is it a Woody?

Here I show a builtup AMT Surf Woody, compared with the Surf Rod box and Classic Plastic version. The Surf Rod was a reissue of the original Surf Woody kit, that you could build either as in Woody form, or as the ‘Surf Hearse’. The Classic Plastic version combined elements of both designs.

MPC kits available here.

AMT kits here.

WONDERFEST 2012 - GHOULS AND GARGOYLES

A MAT IRVINE EVENTER

As you might have surmised from Part 1 of my Wonderfest 2012 review, there was a lot to see at the show. So here’s Part 2, and this time, think back to my October 2010 review of a DVD entitled The Aurora Monsters - The Model Craze That Gripped The World. One of the DVD’s producers was Cortlandt Hull, with featured characters that included Gorgo the Gargoyle, his keeper being Bill Diamond. Well, all three of them were at Wonderfest 2012.

The Witch’s Dungeon

Cortlandt Hull also created the amazing Witch’s Dungeon Classic Movie Museum in 1966. The Witch’s Dungeon celebrates the Golden Age of Hollywood chillers, featuring famed movie stars such as Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price and others. 

Silver Screen Movie Museum

Cortlandt still runs the Witch’s Dungeon, and is now hard at work expanding the whole idea to become The Silver Screen Movie Museum and Archive. However, despite its Hollywood connections, the Silver Screen is not based in Tinseltown, but in Bristol, Connecticut.

Cortlandt Hull with spare head. 

Model connection

So what’s the link with scale models? Well, at WonderFest, Cortlandt bought along a selection of 1:1 scale (full-size!) figures, and some scenery too, especially featuring Bela Lugosi’s Phantom of the Opera character.

Gorgo the Gargoyle and Bill Diamond (above) with more of his creations in the background.

Below, Bob Burns, Gorgo and Bill, plus another guest, Frank Dietz

Gorgo meets a legend

And what about the character Gorgo the Gargoyle? Well, Artist Bill Diamond added Gorgo to the DVD as a foil for the DVD’s host and guide, Zacherley the Cool Ghoul - so Gorgo also got a trip round WonderFest, where he met up with Bob Burns, a legend in the world of Hollyword sci-fi and horror.  

A sample of the treats in store for you at the Witch’s Dungeon Museum.

Mat's SMN article here.

More on the Witch’s Dungeon Classic Movie Museum here.

If you are in the area, the Museum is at 90 Battle Street, Bristol, CT 06010, USA.   

Visit the Bob Burns Museum here.

Plenty of sci-fi and horror kits here.

Bill Diamond greets you from his stand.

Museum fare, courtesy Cortlandt Hull.

THE WONDER OF WONDERFEST

SMN EVENTER BY MAT IRVINE

Each year sees the Crown Plaza Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, transformed into WonderFest - an event that presents all that’s wonderful in science-fiction, fantasy and horror model-making. WonderFest 2013 was held a couple of months ago, over the weekend of May 25-27, and your occasional SMN writer attended the show as a first-time guest. 

CultTVMan invite

All this was down to an old friend, Steve Iverson (on his stand above) who runs the CultTVMan website, who had been suggesting for a few years that I should, “Come over for the event”, and this year decided to sponsor me - so there was no argument!

Mat Irvine (above) preparing one of his talks during the SciFi University session (below).

SciFi University

I’ve attended many UK science-fiction conventions and also a number of model shows in both the UK and US, but WonderFest is a unique mix of both convention and model show. I arrived for the Friday session, which featured the SciFi University (above), a joint venture by CultTVMan and Federation Models, the latter run by Tracy Brownfield. 

Skills improvement

For this, around 30 keen modellers wanted to expand their skills, and so with a number of Iron Man kits - donated by Moebius Models - the morning and afternoon were spent painting the parts, then fitting LED lighting supplied by Paul Bodensiek of ParaGrafix. I and a few others, including Jim James, an ex-pat living in Florida, made our way round, talking with the builders, making the odd suggestion and generally putting in our two pence worth - though, given the location, I should say “two cents worth…”

Wait here please

The main events started on the Saturday with dealer rooms being the initial focus for attendees, who patiently stood in line down the corridor - until the doors were opened, when the rush started!  

Meeting a mastermind

Dealers and displays, of which there were almost 100, covered the whole range of WonderFest interests, so we are talking science-fiction, fantasy and horror, with many figures, but a good smattering of craft and other models appeared as well. I met up again with George Stephenson, after many years. George was the mastermind behind GEOmetric, though that was some time ago, and I hadn’t seen George for well over a decade. He’s now creating 1:1 scale figure heads for his company BlackHeart.

More faces

Fellow space modeller Jay Chladek was there, as was Rob Schmitt of Iwata Airbrushes, Larry Thompson of Pegasus Hobbies, and Frank Winspur and Dave Metzner of Moebius Models. Jamie Hood of Round 2 was showing the company’s latest - and one of the largest - creations, the 1:350 scale original Star Trek USS Enterprise. Another guest I was pleased to meet was Eric Chu (above), who had worked on designs for the new series of Battlestar Galactica.

Original Ghost Buster

A special guest was Bob Burns (above left) who besides having taken over, to a certain extent, the mantle of the late Forrest J. Ackerman, with his collection of movie memorabilia, was also an actor in his own right. However, for one of his premier roles, he spent the whole time inside a gorilla suit, playing ‘Tracy’ from ‘The Ghost Busters’. And here, yes, the style of wording is correct, as we are talking about the original TV series, not the better-known movies. If you can locate a DVD of the show, its blend of absolute chaos is not to be missed - rather like The Three Stooges colliding with The Goodies, with a bits of Scooby-Doo and Rentaghost thrown in for good measure!

People at WonderFest

The photos here concentrate on the people at WonderFest. Future articles will cover dealer stands, the model competition, and some of the other ‘interesting events’ over a very full weekend. I thought the event was excellent - if you get the chance to go, go! 

Space modeller, Jay Chladek (left) with Bob Koenn. Bob worked on all the Shuttle missions, mainly inspecting the Orbiters when they returned from space.

You never know who you’ll meet at WonderFest, Here, Jango Fett bumps into Bossk.

One of the Show’s organisers, Lee Staton, glances through one of Mat’s books. Lee was the mastermind behind Icarus Models, though that was quite a few years ago. 

Rick Delfavero, (right) of MegaHobbies was present. His business partner Pete Vetri was also there, though he managed not to be in this photo!

Rob Schmitt on the Iwata Airbrushes stand.

Dave Metzner of Moebius Models (left) with Jimmy Flintstone - of his own ‘Productions’.

Mat Irvine and Steve Iverson. 

More visitors from another planet…

Dave Metzner, Frank Winspur (of Moebius Models) and Steve Iverson.

George Stephenson and his latest project, 1:1 scale heads, though I presume Godzilla isn’t actually lifesize.

Tracy Brownfield of Federation Models and friend. Er, Tracy’s on the right.

WHAT NEXT FOR SCALE MODEL NEWS?

Here’s an update on SMN’s forward plans that have affected our daily routine. We’re working hard on moving ahead with some new ideas, including...

Model competition

We’re aiming to present a regular model competition, with prizes. You’ll get to vote for the best looking creations, so perhaps now’s the time to get cracking and finish off those half-finished scale projects!

SMN Store

We’re looking for better ways to buy kits and components with an easy-to-use SMN Store.

Wordpress coming soon

A techie thing this, but we’re moving to the popular Wordpress platform, which should enable quite a few extra features, including easier to use real-time comments and conversations.

Ready for Autumn

These improvements are taking a while to get into operation, so meantime, we’ll be here with weekly articles until the new Scale Model News comes up to speed.

Look out for

Mat Irvine’s latest work, Mat’s Marvellous Model Museum, which we’ll be producing as an ebook available here and at all online sellers, from Amazon to the Apple Store, and many more besides.

Revell kits

Meantime, Revell has revealed tasty views of recent kits, including the ones shown here. Top to bottom: Ferrari SA Aperta, Leopard 2 A5, Heinkel He 219 Uhu. And below, more shots of space and sic-fi stuff from the recent smallspace model show. The bottle-green Starbug is our favourite - how about yours?