1963 Chrysler Turbine car - JoHan's best ?

[1959scudetto]

In 1985 or 86 I built the Turbine (the copper/orange metallic color spray that I had in my stash looked almost correct for this one) I spray-painted the inside (floor got a matte clear brush-over) - the outside got  an additional  clearcoat. Chrome-trim is only silver paint - will be foiled some time in the future (wet-sanding and polishing would have been good, too). The vinyl-roof is brush-painted.

The wheel covers have been painted with Tamiya clear orange; photos are from 2005 and 2008.

This is by far the most detailed JoHan kit I ever laid my hands on.

 

Edited June 15, 2021 by 1959scudetto

[Classicgas]

Very nice.  First time I've seen clearcoated plastic not look like..well... clear coated plastic. 

[1959scudetto]

29 minutes ago, Classicgas said:

Very nice.  First time I've seen clearcoated plastic not look like..well... clear coated plastic. 

Thank you, Lee ! Well, it is no clearcoated plastic: it was primered, sprayed from the rattle-can and then clearcoated.

[1959scudetto]

I forgot to add one :

[Classicgas]

I misread your post.  For some reason I thought you had said the copper one in your stash looked close and that you cleared it. Oops. Another senior moment lol.

[Phirewriter]

Nice job, not the easiest kit to assemble much less end up looking as nice as yours. Have a few original issues I'm hoping to get to someday however I've painted a couple for other modeler's. I'm partial to their Gold Cup classic car kits as well.

Edited June 13, 2021 by Phirewriter

[Tom99]

Very nice!!

[oldscool]

Stunning model! Always wanted one of these kits.

[ChrisR]

Nice!

[Bainford]

Very nicely built. You did a great job on this. One of the nicest looking Turbine builds I've seen.

Yes, I believe this to be JoHan's finest offering, though a bit finicky. In 1978 I was 12 years old, and just got my hands on my first Auto World catalogue. This was the first time I had heard of JoHan kits. In this far flung part of the world I live in, no one carried JoHan models. I was curious about them and their 'off the beaten path' subjects. The Chrysler Turbine seemed a cool car, so I ordered the kit. When it arrived I immediately declared JoHan kits to be the most awesomely detailed and intricate kits available (haha, clearly I needed more data points). I was very impressed, though I didn't really do the kit justice, and eventually cut the top off and made it a convertible (ahh, the innocence of youth). In later years, after owning more JoHan kits and re-evaluating them in terms of outright detail, I remained curious about why this kit in particular was engineered so much differently than their typical kits. Presumably Chrysler had a lot of input in the designing of this kit, and likely funded it for promotional purposes as well, though I don't know any of this for certain. I've been looking to get my hands on another one and perhaps do it proper justice next time around.

[MrObsessive]

Very nice and clean!

Yes, this is one of the trickiest kits that was put out back in those days and it still can be a challenge to get together. I've wondered if the tooling for this is long gone as there was talk of a Turbine Car reissue, but that was the promo-like car and not the full detailed one. ?

[John1955]

On 6/13/2021 at 7:07 PM, Phirewriter said:

Nice job, not the easiest kit to assemble much less end up looking as nice as yours. Have a few original issues I'm hoping to get to someday however I've painted a couple for other modeler's. I'm partial to their Gold Cup classic car kits as well.

I agree, their Gold Cup Classics were spectacular kits. 

[David G.]

Beautiful rendition!

I have one of these I've been working on for a couple of years now. I should get it out and fiish it up.

David G.

[Tom Geiger]

I think it looks great just the way it is.  I’d leave it intact. It’s a testament to where your hobby was back then.

[ewetwo]

Beautiful build.

[Hi-Po]

Nicely done.  I like it.

[1959scudetto]

On 6/13/2021 at 10:05 PM, Classicgas said:

I misread your post.  For some reason I thought you had said the copper one in your stash looked close and that you cleared it. Oops. Another senior moment lol.

No problem - I see your point and have just now edited the text

 

On 6/14/2021 at 1:07 AM, Phirewriter said:

Nice job, not the easiest kit to assemble much less end up looking as nice as yours. Have a few original issues I'm hoping to get to someday however I've painted a couple for other modeler's. I'm partial to their Gold Cup classic car kits as well.

Thank you Michael, you are right - it is a bit fiddly.

 

On 6/14/2021 at 1:14 PM, Tom99 said:

Very nice!!

Thanks, Tom !

 

On 6/14/2021 at 1:46 PM, oldscool said:

Stunning model! Always wanted one of these kits.

Thanks, Gerald, I think they are very rare now.

 

On 6/14/2021 at 1:55 PM, ChrisR said:

Nice!

Thanks, Chris!

 

23 hours ago, Bainford said:

Very nicely built. You did a great job on this. One of the nicest looking Turbine builds I've seen.

Yes, I believe this to be JoHan's finest offering, though a bit finicky. In 1978 I was 12 years old, and just got my hands on my first Auto World catalogue. This was the first time I had heard of JoHan kits. In this far flung part of the world I live in, no one carried JoHan models. I was curious about them and their 'off the beaten path' subjects. The Chrysler Turbine seemed a cool car, so I ordered the kit. When it arrived I immediately declared JoHan kits to be the most awesomely detailed and intricate kits available (haha, clearly I needed more data points). I was very impressed, though I didn't really do the kit justice, and eventually cut the top off and made it a convertible (ahh, the innocence of youth). In later years, after owning more JoHan kits and re-evaluating them in terms of outright detail, I remained curious about why this kit in particular was engineered so much differently than their typical kits. Presumably Chrysler had a lot of input in the designing of this kit, and likely funded it for promotional purposes as well, though I don't know any of this for certain. I've been looking to get my hands on another one and perhaps do it proper justice next time around.

Thank you, Trevor - I approached JoHan the other way round: my first one was the 1960 De Soto Adventurer which I like very much ( the ultimate evolution of Virgil Exner's "Forward look" that started in 1957 at  the Chrysler Company), but I was so disappointed about the small number of parts - engine, chassis, interior - but pleased with the body proportions: the strongest point of JoHan.

A few years later, when buying this Turbine, I discovered another JoHan : almost over-detailed, very delicate and the parts trees stacked up on each other - what a surprise !

12 hours ago, MrObsessive said:

Very nice and clean!

Yes, this is one of the trickiest kits that was put out back in those days and it still can be a challenge to get together. I've wondered if the tooling for this is long gone as there was talk of a Turbine Car reissue, but that was the promo-like car and not the full detailed one. ?

Thank you, Bill - I remember it being quite difficult to build.

 

7 hours ago, John1955 said:

I agree, their Gold Cup Classics were spectacular kits. 

Agreed, John !

 

6 hours ago, David G. said:

Beautiful rendition!

I have one of these I've been working on for a couple of years now. I should get it out and fiish it up.

David G.

Thanks, David - it is one you don't see on everybody's shelf - just go for it!

 

3 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

I think it looks great just the way it is.  I’d leave it intact. It’s a testament to where your hobby was back then.

Thank you, Tom - maybe I will foil it some day as I did with my '49 Mercury, but otherwise I will left as it is (the copper color is long gone), I don't want to rework ist, maybe a little bit polishing the clearcoat.

 

2 hours ago, ewetwo said:

Beautiful build.

Thank you,David!

 

1 hour ago, Hi-Po said:

Nicely done.  I like it.

Thanks, Terry.

[Danno]

Excellent build - particularly for an older "early technology" build!

[Mopar - D]

Awesome build!

[slusher]

Outstanding!

[plasticprime]

Great job! Love the color!

[1959scudetto]

23 hours ago, Danno said:

Excellent build - particularly for an older "early technology" build!

Thanks, Danno - if built today, I would have wet sanded the primer and the colors and polished the clearcoat and applied BMF.

 

22 hours ago, Mopar - D said:

Awesome build!

Thank you. Dan!

 

12 hours ago, slusher said:

Outstanding!

Thanks, Carl !

 

11 hours ago, plasticprime said:

Great job! Love the color!

Thank you, Benton - I think the color is ver similar to the real one.

[Rich Chernosky]

Helmut...for a 35+ yr old build that still looks pretty darn good. I always liked this car but never managed to aquire a kit of it. It belongs in my TV and Custom section.  Chrysler recalled all 50 of these cars and destroyed them. There are at least five that were never turned in. 

[1959scudetto]

5 hours ago, Rich Chernosky said:

Helmut...for a 35+ yr old build that still looks pretty darn good. I always liked this car but never managed to aquire a kit of it. It belongs in my TV and Custom section.  Chrysler recalled all 50 of these cars and destroyed them. There are at least five that were never turned in. 

Thanks, Rich - as reference material I had an issue of Collectible Automobile which had a few color photos of that car.

[PappyD340]

Looks great!