Exoto GT40 Mk IV Hulme/Ruby 1967 pre-production
Maisto 2003 Ford Mustang Cobra GT/GT convertible pre-production
Highway 61 1941 GMC fire truck
 

As charming as it was to share a little homestead-style family time during the blackout, Exoto’s GT40 MkIV, Maisto’s new Mustang Cobras, and the elusive Highway 61 1941 GMC fire truck – at last – were sitting within arm’s reach. This kind of detail and scale beauty doesn’t read well by candlelight; and even if it did, the thought of tapping out the column on the trustworthy old Remington and mailing it in seemed a little... extreme. If I could even find the old Remington. Or, for that matter, the candles.
 

I’d like to tell myself that I could create a model the likes of the Exoto GT40 MkIV. That given a very good kit as a start, a princely aftermarket parts budget, and a couple of months’ worth of stolen moments in my basement shop, I could represent this warhorse Ford at a level of finesse and polish approaching the replica we see here.

I’d like to tell myself I could – but I can’t. For one, my sprue-stretching days are mostly over; perhaps in the years between retirement and dotage, I’ll have the luxury of the time and the focus required to model something of this caliber – and the time to do the research and provenance such an undertaking would require. Secondly – and most telling – I’d invariably wind up dwelling on the process more than the finished result.

Nope. I’d rather leave the task to the people at Exoto. And after spending a few days with this press sample of their latest GT40 MkIV, I can say that they’re more than up to it. Overall, it is an exacting replication of the car that Denny Hulme and Lloyd Ruby DNF’d in at Le Mans in ’67, a quality piece that looks right at home in the collection of any serious race fan. Low, sleek, and decorated with a knockout paint job and pinpoint graphics, this is a stunner that reveals its charms slowly; a dose of model motor medicine on time release.

To any who appreciate a fine model, the thing transcends and just plain amazes with its depth of detail and engineering. Prep on the body casting is top shelf, especially around the many vents, scallops and scoops molded into the car, and the doors, nose, rear clip, spare tire access door and fuel filler open and close on tidy shut lines. These last two items swing on the tiniest manufactured hinges I’ve ever seen, yet operate smoothly and with precision. Photo etched fasteners and small chromed castings round out the car’s hardware, and it looks ready to roar.

Glazing and lensing are fastened into place with Exoto’s usual attention to pristine placement, and detailed with pinhead small simulations of screw- and rivet heads all round. This effect is especially effective around the car’s side curtains and riveted spoiler out back. A low look at the car’s nose reveals a real screen in the grille.

The car rolls on crisp turbine wheels and Goodyear Blue Streak rubber, scuffed on its tread to look road used – always a welcomed touch of realism. Behind anodized-look knockoffs (red for the passenger side, blue on the drivers’), the wheels themselves are great castings; sharp, well-defined, magnesium-tinted at their centers and so well rendered that the brake discs are plainly visible behind the angled fins of their vented architecture.

Getting behind those wheels is easy – nine times out of ten. The chains that hold the nose and tail sections in check while on display occasionally catch on this sample model’s below-decks workings.

If you’re the sort who drools over cutaway drawings or loves those old photos of race cars in the pits, this model is for you. Viewing the car with the panels akimbo is a joy; Hulme’s ghost would recognize every bit of the racer and marvel along. The tilted radiator is photo etched and plumbed; just astern is a creditable battery that’s convincing to its terminals – and terminal bolts. Above it, the lateral steering box is attached to an incredibly complex and wonderful casting that establishes the working multilink suspension and red steel coil springs. Flexible, play-along rubber hoses run from the huge cooling ducts to the brakes, and the underside of the nose itself is ducted, painted, tampo’d and wired.

The engine is so good that I’d ask Exoto to offer future releases of this model with a stand-mounted unit to display alongside the car. Seriously - the 427’s detail is so complete and so far-reaching that it seems a sin to miss a single square centimeter of it behind the equally marvelous workings occluding it at the car’s rear. The clear air box steals the show, of course, and the twin Holleys beneath it are plumbed and linked. Even the felt gasketing on either side is replicated, all the better to seal against the inlets molded into the car’s tail. Along with the luggage trap in the back and the tiny spare, I was surprised to find the heat-tinted headers molded of a flexible material – and genuinely delighted to witness the tops of the shock plungers emerge from the coil spring carriers when the car’s rear suspension was compressed.

The interior begs a lingering visit. The doors open on “real” hinges, and reveal a lovely spring detent as they travel. (A note of caution – resist the urge to open the doors to lift the model by its roof. The fairings around the door openings are delicate pieces; better to pick the model up by the tanks or tilt it onto your fingertips by grabbing the front wheels. I know from whence I speak.)

The instrument cluster is readable and fronts a cockpit that lacks nothing in the way of detail. That includes the fuel hoses and anodized fittings piped out of the tank on the passenger side, and the conduits that run to the bottom of the driver-oriented section encrusted with toggles and lights. The accelerator has a linkage sprouting from behind, and the fire bottle wears a readable label. But the most amazing thing – and one of the coolest details on the model – is the nest of multicolored control wires that run beneath a photo-etched screen atop the switchgear, clearly visible through the windshield.

I remember reading about the classic Invictas of the ‘thirties; low slung sporting machines so lovingly built that even the braces that held the dashboards in place – braces that would never be seen again, once installed – were meticulously machined with the maker’s name. As every new detail revealed itself on this Mark IV, I thought about Invictas, and of craftsmen who cherish their art enough to leave evidence where it is least likely to be discovered – and, if discovered, most likely to be appreciated. This model is a work of art. Very highly recommended.

 

Well, the Camaro has gone to that great boneyard in the sky, as have the Barracuda, the Charger, the Firebird, and the rest of those who would do battle with the original pony car. The Mustang endures, and is as popular a subject for modeling as it ever was.

That includes our little corner of the world, and for those who wish a nicely turned out model for their collection without dipping into the kids’ college fund, a natural choice is the latest offerings from Maisto.

These samples are of the Ford SVT (Special Vehicles Team) Cobra coupe and convertible – mechanically the same, save for a few braces and structural details, but different enough (and inexpensive enough, here) to warrant buying both, should the sound of prancing ponies excite.

The basic body shape looks great; there are enough of these cars in circulation to compare the models to, and here, Maisto has done their homework well. The finish is good, if a little orange peeled, and the fitment of the various plastic castings to the models is neat and well-intended. A little artifice – tampo’d silver screening on black plastic castings to represent the boy-racer grille treatment riding in the car’s hood and nose – nonetheless sells the goods where photo-etch might have done the job on a high-buck version of the car. Intercooler detailing below the bumper line is a fine plastic piece, and the lensing – always one of Maisto’s strong suits – is clear, meticulous, and as good or better than that of some hundred-dollar plus cars we’ve seen lately.

The models roll on massive show-chromed SVT five spoke wheels, and the bouncy-bouncy suspension is always a fun feature on these lo-buck confections. Details cast into the car are crisp, and the snake emblems on the quarters and chrome tailpipes poking through the blackout roll pan out back tell of the supercharged V8 under the car’s hood.

And that motor is done right here – in a low cost kind of way. Call it a semi-clamshell design; though the upper and lower regions of the silver painted block do meet, most of the ancillary castings for the blower drive and hoses don’t. Close inspection reveals truncated ends and dangling details where a costlier model might have gone just a little farther. Tampo’d callouts and generally well-laid castings topside redeem the area – especially at the model’s price. Ditto the treatment of the cars’ frames – Maisto has actually replicated the ragtop’s additional stiffeners below. Interior detailing – another winning hand on most Maistos – is neat, sharp, and gives the right visual cues as to the Cobra’s cabin. Of course, this area really shines on the topless pony.

Both cars have opening trunks, and both will probably be available in the real world at an astonishingly low price. That makes them perfect for the casual collector/Mustang fan who buys his cars at wholesale clubs or toy outlets, already owns a real Mustang, or hopes to someday. For the pittance these will cost, they’re certainly worth checking out.

 

Nostalgia is a palpable thing in this huge heart warmer from Highway 61. Based on the “Art Deco” truck model we first saw last year, (itself based on an actual truck owned by H61’s Pat Valant) this latest from Dubuque is a beautifully turned out old machine for the collector of things red and ready to go.

At 19 inches long (with the ladder installed) the truck will set you back a lot of shelf space. But the rewards are many, and the details that adorn the old pumper make for a centerpiece display.

From the cab forward, this sample’s perfect representation of the 1941-’46 Chevrolet/GMC body style comes to us as a ’41 GMC here. A companion release comes as a ’41 Chevy, and has a chromed grille.

Shut lines, panel fit, and assembly values are flawless, and the hood and doors open on neat, modified piano hinges. Under that hood is one of the model’s highlights – a wired and deeply detailed model of the big six that pulled these old wagons around. The carburetor, intake and exhaust manifolds, horn, radiator, and accessory pieces are all neat castings with smooth, believable paint detailing and a neat, matte sheen. The all-business, bench seat interior has the steel-floored look of a turnout wagon, right down to the floor-mounted parking brake and PTO lever. Steering is by worm and sector – neat stuff.

Among my favorite parts of the old truck are those enormous wheels and shiny Goodyear tires. Above these, the paint and chrome are brilliant, and set off by tampo’d gold leaf trim and generic Fire Department markings. A little creativity with decals could make this one hell of a personalized presentation piece for those who work the shifts.

A walk around the model reveals chrome bezeled gauges and pump and valve controls on the driver’s side, near a red bucket attached to the running board. Feed hoses are permanently fastened to gutters above, and cool chromed fire extinguishers and high-pressure hose ends stand at the ready on the truck’s rear apron.

Up top, a plastic casting simulates folded hose; and the tops of the bed’s retaining walls are crowned with well done simulated wood, the same material that’s used to model the permanently-mounted gaff on the truck’s left side. When stained and painted, the stuff looks real, even on close inspection.

The included ladder extends to a scale nosebleed-inducing height of 33 inches, and is this rolling road show’s only operating feature. The hose reel up top rotates, but the hose itself is glued down, as are all of the small bits that live on the model.

The model may not have a lot in the way of finger fun, but it makes a ton of impact on the shelf. The quality of finish and the level of detailing belie the price (between eighty and ninety bucks), and truck collectors should give this one a long look. It’d be hard to miss. Size does matter, and if you’re a fan of smoke eating machinery, I can’t think of a better way to spend a little quality time. Highly recommended.