SCALE MODEL NEWS

AN APPRECIATION BY MAT IRVINE: If you have an interest in model cars, particularly Revell-Monogram 1950s-era American cars, you can likely thank Bill Lastovich, who sadly died on June 7, 2012, age 71. Developing new car kits Bill first worked for Revell-Monogram in Morton Grove, Illinois, where he contributed to product development in the early 1990s. He continued through two factory moves, and a change of owners, all the while working mainly on product development, researching for models, photographing full-size cars, and overseeing new tooling. He also made recommendations about what should be reissued in the Revell-Monogram Selected Subjects Program, planned reissues that allowed older kits to see the light of day again. Bill at the 2009 iHobby Expo, with (right) Dean Milano.  iHobby Expo visits In recent years I saw Bill a couple of times a year, one of those at the big Chicago show, October’s iHobby Expo, when he would be one of those manning the Revell-Monogram stand, having...

From Mat Irvine: Here’s a look at Revell-Monogram kits for release in 2012. I’ve previously  mentioned the recreated Renwal Blueprint series, with the futuristic Teracruzer and Mace missile, but there’s much more coming down the line. Car kits First up, the lime-green 1932 Ford 'Rat Roaster' ( above ) shown at October’s International iHobby Expo in Chicago was a taste of things to come, as the car will soon be released as a brand-new 1:25 scale kit. In fact, there’s a feast of US wheels coming our way, as the Rat Roaster will be joined by a 1950 Oldsmobile Coupe, representative of an automobile marque that has largely slipped through the running boards until now. This fully-detailed kit, seen as a test shot at iHobby, will have various build options, including the choice of finishing as a plain-Jane stock version, or hopped up as a mild custom. Both the Ford and Oldsmobile should be available early 2012. Metal to plastic Corvette The 1962 Corvette will also be available around ...

Mat Irvine goes custom crazy Although the wacky cartoonist and car customizer Ed Roth died in 2001, his legacy of amazing ideas and art - and not forgetting the infamous ‘Rat Fink’ character - lives on. Since Revell started making kits of Roth’s ideas in the 1960s, they have rarely been off the shelves.  Regular customs from Revell Revell has produced 1:25 scale kits of many of his most famous creations such as the Beatnik Bandit, Surfite, Road Agent, and Mysterion, and reissues them regularly. The Outlaw custom was one of the first kits to be made, and here it is again, now featuring new box-art, but basically the same kit that first appeared way back in 1961. Gear shift or weapon? The Outlaw was one of Roth’s very earliest designs, going back to 1956, and was originally called Excalibur because he’d used the handle of a revolutionary-period sword as the gear shift. However, urban myth has it that nobody could pronounce the name, so he renamed the car Outlaw, a story which perhaps...