The Dodge Charger Daytona, building a kit

Building the 1:43 DODGE CHARGER DAYTONA of 1969

   The 1:1 car was of 1969; the TESTORS kit was thirty years later, 1999, made in China.  As I write this, the spoiler was glued into position minutes ago (2:25 p.m., May 6, 2021) and is now drying; that was the last step in this kit’s construction.

  I like building kits.  In the early 1950’s I discovered the Revell Highway Pioneers and destroyed several as I discovered how to hold all those little pieces of plastic together.  Eventually, some thirty years later, I settled into accumulating 1:43 models that had been assembled in factories by elves or other types of miracle workers.  But earlier and later, I would sometimes fall back into those kits, paint, and glue.  More recently, shut out of society by the Covid 19 pandemic, I have turned to a combination of these two activities, building 1:43 models from kits, some even plastic.

   Most of these I purchase on the “used” market, sometimes previously and/or partially built, but surprisingly often still in their original packaging and never opened after years of storage.  Here’s my latest:

Steps in construction

• Consider the cost. As soon as the cellophane covering is stripped off, the value of the kit is largely destroyed.  Are you sure you want to make the attempt?
• Read the directions. Right at the top, usually, is an explanation of detailing the model, mostly the interior. This is what separates the idealist from the realist.  Of course, the presence of skills might also play a part. 
• Painting the body is a true level of expertise. This Testors kit comes to me at a time when I didn’t need any more stress in my life.  It is factory painted, and rather well done, too.
• The punishment for your choice to build comes with separating the parts from their plastic trees. You have one piece of plastic with 8 or 12 or more parts cast and embedded in a web of entanglement.  And some of those parts are small, tiny, wee, and little bitty.  Odds are you will become familiar with searching the floor under your feet with a strong light.

And when the glue dries, the paint is touched here and there, the tools are put away, and the pictures are taken, you check and find that the finished model has been made and/or marketed by Road Champions, Spark, Greenlight, Legends of Racing, Universal Hobbies, Dorn's, Starter, Eagle Race, American Cars, Altaya, IXO, and perhaps more. But this one has a little of "me" in it as I place it on display.

Enjoy!    David H 

One more, contrasting two Dodges.

Now I wonder how the Plymouth version would look?