Monogram 1/24 Rommel's Rod
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KIT #: |
85-4260 |
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PRICE: |
$22.95
SRP
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DECALS: |
One option |
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REVIEWER: |
Scott Van Aken |
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NOTES: |
New Mold Kit |
During the 1960s and into the 1970s, custom cars were very much the rage.
Not only would you see these vehicles at auto shows, but often times, they
would be attractions on various television shows. We all know of the
Batmobile designed by George Barris on the remnants of the Lincoln Futura
show car. Also high on our list would be the Munster Coach and Dragula,
designed by Tom Daniels out of the Barris studios for the Munsters
television show.
Daniels was an industrial designer by trade and wound up being one of the
most prolific custom model car makers around with over 75 different kits to
his credit. Revell-Monogram has been slowly reissuing many of his works over
the years. One that loudly demanded by modelers was Rommel's Rod. The
original boxings were getting to be astronomical in price since the original
molds had long ago disappeared. R-M took the nearly unprecedented step to do
a completely new tool and that is why you see 2009 emblazoned on the
underside of the body. The new tool is remarkably faithful to the old aside
from more crisp detail and the shovel on the door not being molded in place.
Even the decal sheet is as it was with the swastika emblazoned on the Afrika
Korps symbol.
.
Molded
in desert tan, just like the original, the kit is, as one would expect, free
from flash, sink marks and a lot of ejector pin marks. One of the major
benefits of a new tool kit. The kit itself is not parts intensive, and if
one leaves out the two skeletons, is going to be a pretty simple build for m
ost
of us. It has one piece tracks and road wheels with the front tires being
vinyl. There is a complete in-line eight cylinder engine, but again,
detailing isn't intensive in this regard. The chrome is quite well done,
though if this were based on reality, it probably wouldn't have any at all.
Instructions look very much like those we would have had 40 years ago.
Nicely done drawings and step by step building instructions with a little
check box next to each one so we can mark off what has been done. No
FS 595 colors, just generic color information telling one to check the box
art for additional information. The decal sheet looks to be quite usable and
is also thicker than what most of us are used to.
I know that this kit has been selling quite well. The
LHS received a large consignment of these and has sold most of them, including
one to me, who never built these sorts of cars when he was younger as he thought
they were silly. Perhaps they were and still are, but they are very much
different.
September 2009If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly, please
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me or see other details in the
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Molded
in desert tan, just like the original, the kit is, as one would expect, free
from flash, sink marks and a lot of ejector pin marks. One of the major
benefits of a new tool kit. The kit itself is not parts intensive, and if
one leaves out the two skeletons, is going to be a pretty simple build for m