From the Time Machine's Glove Box: A Not So Gran Turismo

As I continue to clean up and reorganize the workshop things keep getting delayed as I find stuff I'm compelled to stop and reminisce about. I found the old box for Revell's Gran Turismo kit that I built up many years ago. I lusted after this kit as a kid, but never found one in a local store, so dreams of building it were shelved. Well, shelved until 10 or so years ago when I found a 1997 re-pop at a hobby store. I built it up and posted it at retroDynamics. I learned it was tough project and I don't think I could have been successful if I had built it as a kid. Even the box says: Some Modeling Skills Helpful If Under 10. Let me tell you, they're also helpful if you're over 10 :-) Here's the post from retroDynamics in all its glory.

I think Revell first released this kit back in the early ‘70s. Well, all I know for certain is that I first saw it in their 1974-75 catalog. For some reason I wanted to build that kit, but could never find it in a local store. This one I bought a few years ago at a hobby store in Montreal. The instructions have a 1997 date, so it’s no doubt a re-pop from the original molds.

Back in the ‘70s I had a love / hate relationship with Revell kits. I loved the automotive subjects they produced and I built a few: Porsche 911, Datsun 610, 1955 Chevy, 1955 Chevy panel van, and probably some others that have slipped my mind. And there were a few I wanted to build, but never did: the Gran Turismo, Spark Bug, Barris Rolls, among others.

But, I hated the quality of the kits at times; back then their quality seemed to be always hit-and-miss. Sometimes the bodies would have warps and molding imperfections that were difficult for an inexperienced modeler like myself to correct; the tires were always two-piece affairs that had to be glued together, but struck me as not being very ‘tire-like’ for some unknown reason; chrome plating seemed brittle; parts had fit problems; and so on. Well, this Gran Turismo is no different. In fact, it’s probably the worst I’ve encountered, and it’s so bad that I’m glad I didn’t attempt this build as a kid.

Look, I’m not dumping on the kit, it’s just that, if you’re going to build this one, it’s good to know it’s a product from a different era that hasn’t aged well. I found that the parts are not crisply molded, have fit issues, have lots of flash that needs cleaning up, are peppered with circular dimples from the molding process, and need a more thorough than usual cleaning with soap and water to prep them for painting. On the other hand, it’s a relatively simple build with few parts and lots of scope for trying out some of your own ideas, which I did.

The first thing I did was strip all the chromed parts in SuperClean. The plating was terrible: a bit flakey, non-uniform, and very toy-like. Usually it’s clear sailing once this step is done. Not so this time. I jumped into assembling the engine and chassis, but every single part required extensive cleanup to remove flash from molding and burrs from the parts trees.

Even after all that work the parts still looked blobby and misshapen. This bugged me and I’m not even close to being a stickler over the crispness of moldings. So, instead of carefully cleaning, pre-painting and gluing up assemblies as is my usual approach, I decided to switch to something more aggressive: very, very basic parts preparation and then straight to gluing. I figured I’d build it up fast and try and tune-up the look to something not too horrible with some broad brush painting supplemented with some detail and weathering washes.

The body was another story. It wasn’t too badly molded. It was fairly crisp in appearance and wasn’t warped. I sprayed it with Krylon Hammered Nickel Silver. I like the results, although the fit of the lower body panels isn't that great.

The sorry state of the parts was a great incentive to do some customization. I replaced the wheels and tires with items from a Revell Honda Civic kit. The seats are also from that kit. They had to have their floor mounted seat-adjustment moldings ground off to fit on the floor pan, but the seat adjustments won’t be seen as missing-in-action once the seats are installed.

For reference, the kit allows you to install either a VW or Corvair engine; I chose the Corvair. Not that it’ll make much difference to the final look.

Don’t look too closely at what I’ve done with the wheels and tires – it’s not very realistic; it’s just an expedient approach to fixing a problem with getting the wheel-base to look right.

But, after all my grousing I still like how this kit turned out.

Ok, well, even after the rushed final assembly and misalignment between the body and chassis that resulted, I’m still happy with the build.

Back last Sunday I looked around and saw that the project was just about done, and I figured a little concentrated effort on my part would finish it off. It did, but as usual it took me longer than I thought: a few minutes here-and-there all throughout the day meant that it didn’t get finished until the early evening.

One thing that didn’t turn out quite right was gluing the body to the chassis / interior. I did a few trial-runs, and on the last fateful one I applied some superglue to the appropriate parts and went for it. Ooops. In my haste some misalignment occurred and it couldn’t be corrected. In some views – pure front and rear views – it’s very noticeable, but not so much in others. I accepted it and went on with attaching the little windshield and taillights to finish off the project.

The Gran Turismo is some sort of kit-car, or maybe even a dune-buggy, so it looks a little insubstantial compared to other car models. To me it has a squished Honda del Sol or Pontiac Fiero look to it. Not too bad, but the box art gives me the impression of a somewhat more sleek and streamlined vehicle.

If I came across another Gran Turismo kit I’d buy it just for the body. I think when combined with a more conventional chassis and interior bucket it might build up into an interesting little sports car.

In the end, I’d say if you have a sentimental attachment to this kit as I did, give it a try, but be warned that there’s lots of tedious work ahead. Now, if I could just find one of those old Revell Spark Bug kits…………