Auto-kit experience?

[1971Hans]

I found these two boxes yesterday in a dusty corner of a model shop for really no money!?

A metal Austin 7 from Auto-kit, a brand I never heard of before. It looks quite challenging, wheels still have to be spoked with wire. Any suggestions for glue, or painting methods ?

I also took a small Revell box, from the Highway Pioneer series. Seems rather old. To my surprise it contained two models. The 1900 Packard, and a Fiat tourer. Unfortunately no building scheme. Though I don't think it is really necessary. I think not to build it and keep it as a vintage gadget...

[Mark]

I remember seeing a selection of the Auto-Kits in Auto World catalogs in the late Sixties.  Those were costly in their time as I recall.  Being all metal, your paint choices are wider than those for plastic kits, as long as the paint sticks to the metal.  Cleaning the metal, and applying primer, would be the rule with that kit.  Being different and more complicated than typical car kits, building it will require more "bench time".

The Highway Pioneer kits are from the Fifties.  I don't think instruction sheets were included; the guy who designed them said he'd make them easy enough to figure out without one.

[Matt Bacon]

Auto Kits were independent, and then were bought by South East Finecast

http://www.sefinecast.co.uk/Car Kits/1 24 Scale Autokits Page 1.htm

They are not quite as nice as the kits originated by SE Finecast, but pretty good. I would recommend investing in a couple of varieties (fast and not so fast) of two part epoxy resin, and three flavours of superglue: gel, gap-filling and thin. You'll also need a couple of decent fine files. The white metal cleans up nicely, but you will need to test fit and adjust some of the pieces before committing to glue. The epoxy provides real strength, and having fast and slower curing varieties will give you a bit of "wiggle room" and time to get everything exactly square before it cures. To see what you're getting into, check out my Finecast Rolls Royce Silver Ghost build thread here:

Happy to answer questions you may have...

best,

M.

[Joe Nunes]

Pretty neat finds!  ?

Joe

[1971Hans]

Yeah, this metal kit looks far from easy, I'll take my time for it.

On the other hand, Revell looks quite naive. Not many pieces, I could do without instructions I think.