Review 20140410 - Right On! Replicas

Right On Replicas, LLC Step-by-Step Review 20140410*
1953 Chevy Panel Truck Gasser 1:25 Scale Revell Model Kit #85-4189 Review
Review and Photos by Tom Schaefer
Retro drag racing seems to be all the rage nowadays, from vintage Funny Cars to Top Fuelers, but the
coolest “look” in retro has to be the “Gasser”. Gassers were a great and inexpensive way to break into the
next step of drag racing, without breaking the bank
For the Modeler: This is a review of the “Trucks” Series 1953 Chevy Panel Truck Gasser 1:25 Scale
Revell Model Kit #85-4189 model kit. With the resurgence of retro, Revell jumped on the bandwagon and
has given us some cool old cars to build. Their current offering, “ the Drill Sergeant” [kit 4189] is a 2-in-1
re-issue of their ‘53 Chevy panel wagon. The Kit includes parts to do a “Gasser” or a “Shop Truck” version,
the kit is molded in white plastic with soft vinyl tires, clear and chrome parts, and a BEAUTIFUL decal
sheet. This kit is Skill level 3 for the advanced builder and contains about 110 parts. Finished length of the
model is 79/16”.
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Fig 0A&B Here is the kit’s contents and layout. The picture of the Gasser in action combined with the
military style paint job and cool stance on the box really caught my attention. Unfortunately, what I got was
a reissued model with some new decals, there was nothing else new in the box from the previous version.
This model wasn’t a great kit 25 years ago, and it still isn’t. Now that being said, it doesn’t mean it can’t be
a base for some parts swapping, scratch building and ingenuity, but building it box stock will be a
challenge. Follow along and see.
The Engine: To start off, this kit comes with a Chevy “409” V8. and what looks like a 3 speed transmission.
The engine is your typical two halved affair, then just adding heads and valve covers, and timing cover.
From there you have the choice of two intake options; blower or tunnel ram. I chose the tunnel ram with
dual carbs because the blower has something on top of it that I can’t explain, it’s like Revell forgot the carbs
or the air scoop, it looks incomplete. The starter and oil filter are molded on the engine block, so there is
really no good detail. The water pump is separate piece, but, it basically looks like a bad chunk of plastic.
The distributor is separate also, but it looks like no distributor I’ve ever seen. Fan? Yeah, there is one, but it
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is not symmetrical, and just getting it off the parts tree destroyed the blades, so for ¼ mile bursts, my
gasser won’t need it. After de-chroming the headers with Purple Power, I attached them with the engine
sitting in the frame to position the headers just right OUTSIDE the frame rails. Not the most detailed engine
but looks decent sitting in the frame. There are a ton of replacement engines from other kits if the need for
more detail is required. The engine block was painted Testors Engine Red, with the trans painted Testors
Steel.
The Chassis: Ugh….the engine was the GOOD assembly compared to the chassis; Thin frame rails, bad
mounting points, no detail. The front gasser suspension is decent, molded in leaf springs with a straight
axle and separate tie rod. The rear suspension has separate thin leaf springs that have no mounting points,
good luck guessing which way they attach to the frame. The rear axle glues to the springs first, before
attaching to the frame. The whole assembly is very fragile once everything is together, so take care. Also,
the wheel backs do not fit tight, leaving the wheel assemblies to skew, so I would suggest epoxying them
on to keep them straight. The Chassis was painted with Krylon Short Cuts flat black.
The Interior: It’s a good thing that you can’t see the interior well
when the model is finished...because there is not much there. The
kit comes with the option of opening the side and back doors, but I
would not suggest it. The interior floor is just that...just a floor with
mounting stands for the seats. The door panels are separate, and
glue to the body. To make it more interesting, and stick with the
military theme, I painted the floorpan with Testors Zinc Chromate
like the inside of a plane, the dash was done in Testors Metalizer
Aluminum with gauge decals from the Revell decal sheet.
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The seats are race buckets with little detail. I painted the seats with Testors Olive Drab and outlined them
in Testors Aluminum to look like airplane seats. The separate pedals were added and shifter glued to the
floor to wrap up the assembly. A rollbar would have been a nice addition, but, you will have to add one
yourself if you want one.
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The dash is as basic as it gets, with just some gauge detail, and a steering wheel (which is horrible) and it
actually mounts to two tabs on the body just below the windshield.
The Body: The better part of
this kit would be the body. It
looks well proportioned, with
minimal mold lines, and
decent detail. There are
separate chrome door
handles, hood ornament, and
emblems, although you will
only need the handles for the
gasser version.
The headlights are clear
pieces that you will need to
glue on the body with the
rounded side in, so you will
have a flat surface to apply
the decals to for the gasser
version.
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Also the rear wheel wells will need to be radiused (opened up) to fit the rear tires, this procedure is outlined
in the instruction sheet, but the better way to do it is to trace the shape of the tire on the body, then use a
Dremel tool (or coarse sandpaper) to remove what you don’t need.
Once all the prep was done I taped off the top and sprayed the bottom half with Testors Olive Drab, and
then the top was painted with Testors German Silver Metallic. Once it was dry I used Testors Gloss Clear
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to seal it all off and give the decals something to stick to. I then attached the door panels, window glass,
and tail lights.
The bumpers and Grille were de-chromed and painted Testors Satin Black and
cleared, then attached to the frame for the front bumper, and the rear bumper was
attached to the body (it fits better than attaching to the frame, but you have to cut off
the rear frame bumper attachment points).
Final assembly; Once all is painted, it’s time to decal and assemble. The decals are awesome, in register,
great color, and well thought out. The only issue I has was that they seemed to not slide well once I got
them on. A little drop of dish soap in your water dish should help.
Also the main “sergeant
stripes” decal for the top
seems to not fit perfect side
to side; the words “Gasser
Patrol” will be crooked on
one side or the other no
matter how you position it.
The decals are nice and
thick so, you won’t have to
worry about them ripping,
but it will take some MicroSol setting solution to get
them to snuggle down to the
fenders. Upon assembly I noticed on section 13 of the instructions that there appears to be a tow bar (?)
that should attach to the front, feel free to leave that off, it looks stupid. Also, don’t worry about the trailer
hitch on section 14. The interior/body assembly is almost impossible to attach to the chassis, be patient,
and use epoxy.
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The last trick is to attach the wheels and tires, I had attached them earlier, but only temporarily. This time I
used 5 minute epoxy and made sure they were straight before the glue set. The tires were sanded down to
look worn, and the wheels were de-chromed and painted Satin Black with Steel paint on the bead locks.
One thing that annoyed me was the lack of deep dish rear wheels, they are the same depth as the front.
Overall: My final thoughts are that this is a decent looking model on the shelf, but really needs patience
and skill to make really stand out. The Gasser look is cool, there are some cool “tools” that come on the
parts tree, and the decals are sweet, but other than that...this was a miss on Revell’s part. If this kit was
made with today’s technology and tooling, it would have been really cool, but as far as a trip
down memory lane, it’s one I’d rather forget. Don’t let my opinion scare you though. I’m a
truck guy, so my drag racing/vintage car knowledge is low. You may be able to do wonders
with this kit. Good luck!
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