Revell 1/25 '29 Model A Roadster

Hot rods are typically old, classic American cars with large engines modified for linear speed. The origin of the term "hot rod" is unclear. A possible origin includes replacement of the camshaft with a new ("hotter") version, sometimes known as a hot stick or hot rod. Roadsters were the cars of choice because they were light, easy to modify, and available inexpensively. The term became commonplace in the 1930s or 1940s as the name of a car that had been "hopped up" by modifying the engine in various ways to achieve higher performance. A term that was common in the early days to refer to a hot rod was a "gow job". This has fallen into total disuse except with historians.

Post WWII the hobby really took off with an abundance of early car bodies available and the introduction of the overhead valve V-8. Today, there is a paucity of old 1920s and 1930s era cars, so many of these vehicles are built from the ground up using modern materials and replacement items, including replacement fiberglass or steel bodies from specialty manufacturers.

It is no secret that Revell USA makes most of its money from car kits. The LHS has a rather large car kit selection and it seems that these are the kits that tend to disappear more frequently than others. This is their latest kit and it is all new tooling from what I have been told, and if so, the rather large number of parts in the box will account for the increase in SRP over earlier releases.

There are a lot of white sprues, three chrome sprues, a clear sprue and rubber tires. When first spreading out all the parts, you are immediately struck with the thought that there seems to be a lot of duplication. Indeed, there are two chassis, two sets of seat, two firewalls, two sets of interior panels, two floor pans, exhaust and many other bits. Well the explanation is simple. You can build this kit either at standard height or with the body lowered. This requires all of these different pieces to get the car to sit properly. It means you'll need to make a choice of which style, highboy or channeled that you want to build very early.

Other options are steering wheels, tail lights, the engine intake manifold (carbs or injectors), wheels and instrument panel. These are all clearly shown in the instructions and in fact, there are several steps that are designated for only the highboy or only the channeled version. It will behoove the builder to look these over prior to gluing anything.

The instructions are nicely done and color information is provided throughout the build. There is a very nicely done decal sheet that includes white wall tires as well as various areas of rust for the highboy version. License plates and instruments are included as are decals for the seats and interior upholstery. Naturally, you can paint any of these items as you see fit. You can also swap out the engine mainifolds if you want the injectors on your street rod.

Hot rod enthusiasts should be quite pleased with this kit. You are provided with parts for a great model right from the box and those who simply have to embellish things will have a good starting place, especially with all the spare bits you'll have.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_rod

September 2015 

Thanks to your editor for the preview kit.