1959 Ford Galaxie Skyliner 1:25 85-7162 Review

RoR Step-by-Step Review 20110912* – 1959 Ford Galaxie Skyliner 1:25 85-7162 Review

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Review and Photos by Stephanie & Marty Oberman 

Revell’s 1959 Ford Skyliner kit (SSP#85-7162) is a reissue of the original multi-piece bodied kit issued back when dinosaurs ruled the earth…the same year I was born. It was innovative at the time in the fact that it included a fully-functional retractable “hardtop”, which was a first in model kits when initially introduced.

Fig 001 Although the tooling is quite dated, there is a noticeable lack of “flash” on the majority of the parts in this kit, which I found rather refreshing. As per the instruction sheet, I started this kit by assembling the four-piece body panels. The only issues I encountered were the fact that normal clamps would not allow proper alignment, therefore I was forced to hold them together by hand while allowing the glue to dry. I started with the left-hand body panel attaching it to the rear panel, then attaching the front clip/engine bay to it, and finally the right-hand body panel. One thing I noticed was the lack of contact points on the rear of the right-hand body panel (an obvious molding flaw), so I glued the front of the body panel to the front clip, waited for it to dry, then lined up the rear panel to be able to match up to the rear body panel for a proper fit.

Fig 003 The engine assembly is rather simple and crude, consisting of only 10 pieces…most of the accessories are molded onto the block halves and one-piece intake manifold/cylinder head. In order to bring life to the engine, I hand-painted the coil, distributor, starter and carburetor after allowing the Ford Engine Blue paint to dry. The rocker covers and air cleaner were painted Ford Engine Blue as well. There were no issues with fit on the engine. Everything fell together nicely.

Fig. 033 After finishing the engine, I turned my attention to the chassis and its components. As I stated before, being an old tool I didn’t expect to be wowed by any detail, and I wasn’t disappointed. The exhaust system is molded onto the chassis pan, which also doubles as the interior floor pan. No surprises here. The only separate pieces are a two-piece rear axle/leaf-spring assembly, a one-piece front suspension cross member, and, surprisingly enough, a separate gas tank. The gas tank includes the continuation of the exhaust pipes, which I found rather curious, but I was more than happy to be able to detail-paint the tank while it was still on the tree. Luckily, I painted both the exhaust system and gas tank in Testor’s Metallizer “Stainless Steel”, so they blended in quite well upon installation. The fit of the engine to the front suspension was issue-free, and the engine remained level after the glue dried. In the interest of definition, I painted the front and rear suspension components gloss black, while painting the chassis pan semi-gloss/flat black.

Fig. 032 The tire/wheel combination consists of black rubber “no-name” skinnies with plastic whitewall inserts. I can’t remember them being in the original kit I built a long time ago, but I have a sneaking suspicion they were pirated from a more recent Revell kit. If so, I’m glad Revell did this. The two-piece wheel covers/backing plates were chrome-plated, and I black washed the ribbed inserts on the wheel covers to provide depth and definition. I left the wheel backs chrome. Fit was excellent in assembling three out of the four wheels. I had a problem with the fourth wheel, but simply reamed out the inside of the whitewall insert and tire to get everything to fit. Revell also provides nice red/white/blue wheel cover decals, which is a nice touch. I don’t recall those being in the original…but kudos to them for doing so.

Fig. #8 Moving on to the interior, I glued the separate front/back seat pieces together. Clamps took care of the slight warping I encountered when doing so. In the interest of expediting the build and keeping things simple, I am leaving the side panels and seats unpainted in their original white plastic. I did however detail the chrome trim at the bottom of the side panels, as well as door and window handles. Revell provides Kelly green decals for not only the door panels, but the seat inserts as well, supposedly to match the box art car, which is green. Again, that’s a nice touch; although if you’re not painting the car green, these decals are a moot point. Since I’ll be painting mine Hampstead Green, I took advantage of the decals. OK, call me lazy. ;c)

Fig. #4 While waiting for things to dry, I decided to detail paint the front grille/bumper assembly and install the headlights. The clear headlights have pegs which insert into openings in the chromed grille/bumper assembly; however, they don’t look very realistic when installed. I used a trick to make them look real…the textured foil in packs of cigarettes. I have used this method to make clear red lenses against chrome bezels look more realistic. In this case, I glued the clear headlights into the chrome openings from behind, cut out a small section of the textured foil, then simply “pasted” it on the inside of the headlight bucket. I took a photo of the headlight bucket to show the difference between applying the foil and not. The left side has the foil applied, the right side does not.

Fig. 14a After allowing the glue to set on the rear window panel which contains the “capture” piece for the roof assembly brackets and blocks, I moved on to the dashboard after polishing the body. I paint-detailed the dashboard “stripe” which runs along the entire unit in silver, then added a flat black “accent” to various knobs, radio, and clock. My only “faux pas” in this process was painting the knob panel underneath the steering wheel silver. The knobs themselves should only be painted silver/chrome, not the panel itself. Oh well, live and learn. On a positive note, Revell was kind enough to provide a decal for the instrument cluster. The decal went on smoothly with no issues, and looks very realistic.

Fig. 15 At this point, I installed the interior side panels to the body. There are four very obvious contact points for each panel, which makes them easy to line up and install without having to clamp them into place. The more I work on this model, the more I’m impressed with its engineering, especially considering the age of the tooling. I’m thinking Revell did its homework on this reissue and made some changes to not only tooling, but other aspects as well.

Backtracking just a bit, the brackets and blocks for the retractable roof are a bit tricky to assemble. Although the instruction sheet makes it perfectly clear which parts should be glued, and which parts should not, the actual connection of blocks and brackets requires a bit of delicacy. The modeler will need to gently force open the “prongs” of the blocks to allow the brackets to slip into them and snap into place. Once this is accomplished, the mechanism works freely and without a hitch…the brackets swing freely from their points of origin.

After ensuring the trunk mechanism was complete, the next step was to attach the rear chrome fender trims to the body in preparation for body/chassis mating. The chrome trims contain locating tabs to which the chassis attaches to the body. I used the back edge of an Exacto knife to scrape the chrome plating from these tabs, as well as the contact points where they attach to the body. I discovered that each set of chrome trims had issues where they attach to the body. One would seat properly in the rear, while jut out in the front. The opposite was true on the other side. Clamping the trims to the body with my fingers solved this problem on both counts.

Fig. #21 Before installing the body to the chassis, I installed the radiator, heater, and master brake cylinder to the firewall. Again, I deviated from the instruction sheet which calls for them being placed into position in Step 1 of the instructions. A skilled modeler would certainly know when to place these items into their respective positions. The molded-in battery and overflow bag were also painted and detailed at this point

Once this was accomplished, I installed the body to the chassis. The rear of the chassis should be slipped up into the body at the rear wheel well openings in order to set onto the fender trim tabs. Once that’s done, slightly spread the body apart to allow the chassis to engage the locating points on the body. There are locating tabs on the body between the side door panels and the bottom of the body where the chassis should slip into. This is clearly shown in the instruction sheet, and allows the modeler to place glue in the appropriate places before joining the two assemblies. The body/chassis assembly went without a hitch. I used my fingers as clamps (which was prevalent throughout this build) to ensure a good fit.

Fig. #20 Once the glue dried, I then installed the roof assembly. I wasn’t quite sure how to install dangling brackets which were pre-glued in preparation for installment, but discovered through trial and error (my most-used technique) that gluing the outside brackets to the chassis first letting them dry.

Fig. #22  Follow this by gluing the inside brackets to the chassis which beats trying to install all four at one time…which was basically impossible. In fact, this modeler lost quite a bit of hair on his head attempting to do so…and many choice words were used during this futile attempt.

Fig. #25 I tested the roof’s operation, but for some reason the roof would not fully retract into the trunk. The modeler may wish to shave down the rounded ends of the brackets (arms) for the roof on BOTH ends of the arms to ensure they fold completely flat against the roof before installing them into the body.

I then installed the windshield frame onto the body. I was hoping to be able to trap the windshield glass itself into the frame while installing it, and low and behold…it worked! I had waxed the glass previously with automotive wax (which I normally do anyway) in order to prevent the fogging that usually occurs when CA glue is used either on or near clear plastic pieces. Although a bit of fogging did get on the windshield glass, I considered the application a success. There are two locating points on the cowl for the windshield frame, and for the most part, the frame/glass installed without a major hitch. The vent frames are separate pieces with tabs that fit into slots in the body. The passenger side vent lined up perfectly with the windshield…the driver’s side was a bit off-kilter. I then installed the hood, which was a bit fiddly to do, but I wanted to install it before the front bumper/grille piece, since the hood slides up into place from underneath the protruding front fenders.

Fig. 034 Lastly came the grille/bumper assemblies. The front bumper/grill was a bit tricky to install, simply because the headlight eyebrow part didn’t want to seat fully.  I used my hands as clamps to hold it in place until the glue dried. There’s still a small gap there but not very noticeable. The fender ornaments, rear bumper, taillights, and rear fascia trim installed with no issues. My only complaint is the areas where the locating tabs for chrome parts attach to the trees. Instead of connecting in the rear of the parts, they connected where removing them would leave a noticeable lack of chrome. In fairness, the age of the tooling has a lot to do with it. After cleaning the area where the parts attached to the sprue, a few swipes of the silver Sharpie made these contact points less conspicuous.

Fig. 027a An issue of Collectible Automobile magazine (December 1998) was a valuable resource for reference. The Skyliner on page 14 shows a mono-color car with a white roof. The paint scheme on my model reflects that scheme. The final stage of assembly was applying the decals. All went on fine with no hitches. I used the “Fairlane 500” script decals for the rear fenders instead of the “Galaxie” scripts since the “500” scripts were already molded onto the fenders. The molded-on “Fairlane 500” scripts can be sanded off easily using a fine-grit sanding stick or sandpaper film if the modeler wishes to use the “Galaxie” scripts instead. Kudos to Revell for supplying both types!

Pros and Cons:
This kit has many positives, and some negatives as well. It is definitely not for the inexperienced builder, hence the Skill Level 3 classification. However, I like the fact Revell has given this dated kit a “facelift” of sorts, including whitewall tires and extra decals. An experienced modeler can also deviate from the instruction sheet with no repercussions, as I did…and sometimes it was necessary to do so. My biggest complaint is the multi-piece body and the lack of precise alignment points for it. If not performed exactly perfect, it can adversely affect other aspects of the build, especially the roof/trunk assemblies. I would love to see Revell take the time and effort to produce a brand-new tooled kit of this subject. The ’59 Ford Skyliner was an innovation previously unseen in the automotive world in 1959, and I’m sure many modelers would love to replicate this beautiful piece of automotive history, but may be hesitant to purchase this particular kit because of its intricate nature. Or they simply bought one, opened it, saw what was involved, and closed the box back up. I’m sure many modelers who are intimidated by this kit would jump on a new-tooled version. I most certainly would!

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