Revell 1/25th Beatnik Bandit

As a die-hard Tom Daniels fan, I never built any Ed Roth creations when I was a kid. My best friend and I had pretty much every TD kit ever released between the two of us, and oh how I wish I still had that Rommel's Rod to line my pension nest egg before Monogram re-tool it. Never mind. So this is my first foray into the slightly odd world of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and though I am pleased with the way it came out, I can't quite make up my mind if I actually like the car or not. It's either one of the coolest rods ever, or the unholy offspring of a baby's pram and a gumball machine...

A nice kit though, especially given its age. I was impressed how well Revell managed to capture the complex shape of this thing and get it to fit together reasonably well. I did have to do a fair amount of filling between the upper & lower body sections (for which I used white Milliput) but other than that it was pretty much problem free.

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Finish was Tamiya Pearl White, which only comes in a spray can unfortunately. I decanted this into my airbrush to give better control over the amount of paint and avoid excessive runs in the many nooks and crannies. From the pics I found on the net it looks like Roth used spark plug wires with a clear insulation, which sounds like something he'd do. I found a wonderful product in the beading section of the local craft store. It is fine braided cable (.015" diameter) with a clear nylon coating and comes in various metallic colours. I used the 'bronze' colour and it replicated the spark plug wires very nicely. Its only drawback is that the stuff is quite stiff and refuses to hold its shape if bent. Bit of a pain in the ass to use but the results were worth it. I'm also planning on using the same product in a silver colour for 1/32nd scale biplane rigging, if I ever actually build something in that scale that is. Fuel lines were made from fuse wire. Revell's decals aren't quite accurate in places and the pinstriping is quite a bit more complex on the real thing than they've protrayed it but what the hell, the model still looks pretty good I think.

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