Jungle Jim Vega NHRA Funny Car 1:25 Revell 85-4288 Review

RoR Step-by-Step Review 20120403* – Jungle Jim Vega NHRA Funny Car 1:25 85-4288 Revell Review
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2012_FEB 000

Review and Photos by Marty and Stephanie Oberman Stephanie and Marty Oberman

 

“Jungle” Jim Lieberman is a true legend and showman in the drag racing circles, and his cars have always been trend-setters as such. Not to mention the fact he was a winner no matter what track he laid rubber on!

For the Modeler: This re-release of Revell’s Jungle Jim Vega Funny Car isn’t a model for the novice builder but with a few corrections it turns out to be a gorgeous display model. Part modifications, assembly sequence procedures, warpage issues, axle cap correction and foil applications are fully explained in the review.

 

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Fig. 0a)  The kit and its parts.

 

Vega funny car 001
(Fig. #1) I began this build with the engine, as per my customary routine, even though the instruction sheet calls for the body and panels to be assembled first. I painted the two-piece block, cylinder heads, distributor, and intake manifold semi-gloss black, as well as the exhaust headers.

  

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(Fig. #2) The oil pan and engine front cover were painted gold, while the three-piece blower assembly, oil line manifold, fuel pump, and distributor base were painted aluminum. All other parts were chrome plated, which I left intact. The blower belt was painted flat black, with semi-gloss black and aluminum pulleys. Assembly of the engine went rather smoothly.

  

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(Fig. #4) There is one caveat, however: the bell housing not only contains three contact pins to mate to the rear of the firewall, but three ejector pin marks as well. Knowing which is which is very important: the notch at the rear of the bell housing should point up and the contact points are on the bottom half of the bell housing. Slicing off the ejector pin marks makes for a tight fit, otherwise the modeler will run into fit problems later on in the assembly when attempting to mount the completed engine onto the frame.

The tire/wheel assembly went together without a hitch. Next was the Chassis/frame assembly. Thankfully the frame is molded in one piece rather than separate pieces, effectively eliminating alignment issues. However, my sample’s frame was warped. The chassis managed to straighten out after the front suspension was installed, as I used super glue and clamps for the delicate linkage and such, and held the components together while the glue dried with my fingers. With the body warp, the main cockpit shroud may have straightened it out when I glued the rear half and let dry, then the front half and clamped it in place. Neither the chassis warp nor body warp were severe, so my tweaking of both must have straightened them out enough to be unnoticeable.

 

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(Fig. #6) Components such as the oil filter mount, fuel shutoff lever, and accelerator pedal show contact pins; none had one. The wheelie bars also had ejector pin marks which needed to be removed for a secure fit. All other components installed with no problems.

 

 

Vega funny car 011
(Fig. #11) During the driveshaft assembly, I was forced to cut out a small semi-circular section of the floorboard in order to get the engine/driveshaft to properly seat into the engine mounts and into the rear axle. The front axle assembly also required a bit of thought and test-fitting before assembly; the front axle cants backward in order to receive the radius rods. I found it best to glue the radius rods in first with slow drying CA glue, then matching the axle to them in order to achieve a proper fit. Also, while the instruction sheet misleads you into thinking the tie rod mounts to the front axle beneath the chassis frame, it is incorrect; it should be installed onto the front axle ABOVE the frame.

 

Vega funny car 008
(Fig. #8) While the steering wheel assembly contained small, delicate parts, it went together rather seamlessly. However, the two-piece fire extinguisher (FE) is supposed to mount on the steering column via two sets of “hooks”, allowing the steering column to trap the two FE halves together. Since I did not wish to mount the FE crookedly on the column, I assembled and mounted the column and its components first onto the frame, glued one-half of the FE to the column, allowed it to dry, then secured the other half to the column. I then touched up the red paint on it and applied the decal. The FE installed straight up and down on the steering column. I also detail-painted the handles of the steering wheel flat black to simulate “grips”.

 

Vega funny car 011b
(Fig. #11b) The cockpit/seat assembly went together seamlessly for the most part, with the exception of the roll cage. I glued three of the four parts of the roll cage front and back together, waited until dry, then glued the bottom of the cage back to the bottom of the cage front, since the roll cage back piece was warped. I then repeated this action when installing the completed cage to the frame due to the same issue. With patience and judicious use of glue, the results were satisfactory and looked good.

 

Vega funny car 012a Vega funny car 012b
(Fig. #12a, 12b) The rear wheels and brakes assembled without issue; however the right-hand side front axle needed flash to be removed in order for the front wheel to slide onto it properly. One of the front axle cap’s hole was not centered…an obvious tooling error.
 

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(Fig. #12) Once completed, despite the issues involved in the assembly process, the chassis looks quite nice.

 

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(Fig. #18) I painted the body Dupli-Color Chrysler Intense Blue. The body and panels for the most part assembled without incident, although the front fascia did not want to line up correctly onto the body, and subsequently left ridges which needed to be sanded smooth. The interior panels installed flawlessly thanks to guiding slots inside the body shell. The body turned out to be slightly warped, which precipitated installing the cockpit shroud one side at a time and, once dried, gluing the other in place to attempt to massage the body back into a straight piece. The windshield also did not fit properly into its recess on the body; however, the decal for the windshield frame surround hid any imperfection caused by this.

 

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(Fig. #19) The saving grace of this kit has to be the decals. They were very easy to apply, settled in nicely, and nestled into every curve strongly, even before Micro-Sol was applied. I wondered why the sponsor’s logos were separate items as opposed to a “group” decal. I soon discovered why. It appears not only the instruction sheet but the box art as well only show one side of the car with the decals on it…that’s the left-hand side. The “Revell’s Jungle Jim” decal is not a mirror image but the same layout for both sides, which means there is a gap between it and the cartoon graphic on the right-hand side, which interferes with placement of the individual sponsor’s logos. Since there was no pictorial reference anywhere dictating where the sponsor logos should be placed, I was forced to “wing it” and fill in the gaps as best I could, using the placement of the logos on the opposite side as a reference.

The final items were chrome-foiling the bumpers and installing the parachute pack. I then mounted the body onto the hinges of the chassis.

 

Vega funny car 023
(Fig. #23) I then posed the body open on the chassis using the kit-supplied support rods.

 

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(Fig.#20) Final impressions: The bad news is, this kit contained enough exorbitant flash on practically every part to be able to melt down and mold a complete new kit. The contact points on the trees, especially on delicate parts, were thick enough to cause me to wince every time I removed a part from the sprue. Missing contact points, misaligned parts, and other troublesome issues caused me quite a bit of angst while building it. There is a reason it carries a skill level 3 designation; it is definitely NOT meant for the faint of heart nor inexperienced builder.

  

Vega funny car 021
(Fig.#21) The good news is: patience and prudent use of different types of glues will reward the modeler dogged enough to see the build to the bitter end. Myself, I used 3 different types of glue: regular CA, Ambroid Weld, and Super Glue. At times I felt like a chef mixing different spices in order to attain the “taste” I wanted. But the kit is certainly buildable, and really looks quite beautiful when finished.

Unfortunately, despite the wonderful decals this kit has, I can only rate it at 2 1/2 stars out of 5. There’s way too many QC issues, even for a 20-year old tooling.    

 

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