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Over the last year or so, I have started to feel a little
mortal and I began to realise that I have so many kits to
build, I will never complete all of them in my lifetime and
needed to consolidate and stop impulse purchases. My interests
include F1 champions particularly the constructors championship,
general F1 winners, F1 cars that fit in with a particular
constructor ie Lotus, Williams, Tyrrell P34, Jordan, Benetton/Renault
and early March. I then digress somewhat into sports cars,
ie competition Jaguars, Gulf Racing, Chaparral CanAm. I have
always built kits that were from effectively works teams only.
This precluded any Rob Walker cars (Lotus) with the exception
of the Lotus 18/21 which was unique to Rob Walker. It also
pretty much excluded anything that Stirling Moss had driven.
Somehow I had to find an excuse to redress this issue. I can't understand how
I did not see it a long time ago……..the Vanwall. By considering the
Vanwall I could kill two birds with one stone, they won the constructors championship
in 1958 and Moss drove for Vanwall for two years missing out on the championship
yet again in 1958.
So to Jade's Vanwall kit. Despite my best intentions, this was unfortunately
an impulse buy as I only really wanted the 1958 variant and this particular Jade
kit (JAD4307) is of the 1956 version. As far as I am aware, few Vanwall kits
are available, SMTS does the 1957/'58 version (more on that later), and Top Queens
do a very highly detailed version (QUE030). Well never mind, the Jade 1956 version
would have to suffice for now.
This kit is clearly aimed at the beginner, and it would make an ideal starter
kit. There are few parts in the kit, just the main body, underbody/base, seat,
steering wheel, two front cast sprint/damper units, two chassis tubes, gear stick
(pin), driver figure (oh dear, enough said), transparency for windscreen, two
styles of exhaust and suspension parts in rather crude photoetching. The wheels
are rather nice wires.
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The instructions are typical
French, one sheet illustrating the component layout, breakdown
of components and a few colour photographs. There are no
actual assembly instructions but as the kit is quite simple,
it is not really needed. A further two sheets of photographs
are included in both colour and black and white.
Decals are included to make any one of six 1956 season cars (in any colour you
like as long as it's green) as well as the prototype driven by Tony Vandervell
himself which would be polished aluminium. I chose the Moss number 3 car from
Silverstone International Trophy which he won.
I actually started to build this kit quite some time ago, and then as usual left
for it a while. It also coincided with the Silverstone LMES 6 hours in August
2004. Quite by chance, a stall had for sale at a highly discounted price, an
SMTS Vanwall (RL024). I thought therefore it would be a good idea to build these
two together, but concentrate on the Jade kit. With some effort, to make a satisfactory
build, I estimated that the Jade would not take too long. Allowing for paint
to cure, three weeks should be more than enough. And so it proved to be.
The body was very well cast. My example required a little filler only on the
underside. Inside, some of the chassis tubes are cast integrally, these did require
some cleaning up but did not take too long. The dash is also cast integrally
and did not require any clean up. At the rear of the cockpit there are three
indentations that are supposed to represent the lightening/cooling holes. I drilled
these out, as it would be much more visually acceptable when completed.
All the holes required for the suspension were drilled out at this time as well.
The lower chassis part was the worst part of the kit. It was very crude, not
particularly well cast, but as it cannot be seen I left it alone. The seat did
require some cleanup. There were a few blowholes in awkward places; this did
not in reality cause any problems, just a little application and time.
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two chassis tubes were cleaned up, primed and painted with
Humbrol Medium Grey. The main body was primed with Halford's
plastic primer, allowed to harden for a few days and then
sprayed with Halford's Brooklands Green. I have no idea
if this is correct of not. I do know that the original
colour is a dark green, but that covers a multitude of
sins, it was not however dark BRG as used by Jaguar and
it was not metallic as used by Aston Martin. Brooklands
Green seemed to me to be a good compromise and in any case
it was the only green close enough from the Halford's range.
The lower body/ base was given the same treatment.
When the paint had cured on the body, I painted the integral chassis tubes the
same grey as the previous ones. I painted the seat at this time as well. The
initial colour I used was Humbrol Leather, which is a satin finish. When this
has cured overnight, I dry brushed on a much darker brown to attempt to give
the impression of a 'worn office'.
So, all that is required now is to assemble all the elements. This must have
taken all of 30 minutes. Chassis tubes were added to the lower body and fixed
in place with two-pack epoxy. Gear stick added, when glue had set I fixed the
seat in place.
Now it was time to mount all the suspension elements. As I have already said,
rather crude but once bent into shape using my 'bug' not much can be seen when
the wheels are mounted. The front spring/damper units are quite small and a little
fiddly to get in, but again can hardly be seen.
And now comes the only problems encountered. The exhaust system required for
the version I wanted came in three pieces, yes it was broken. I managed to fix
it together with ZAP-A-GAP (ZAP002) fairly easy. However I could then see why
it came broken. I've seen straighter boomerangs! With the aid of some boiling
water and my partner's Ikea washing up gloves (orange and green - a particularly
repulsive combination), I managed to get it straight enough to fit.
I primered it with Halford's plastic primer, when dry I hand painted it with
Humbrol gunmetal metalcoat. When this in turn had cured, I buffed it up and then
fixed it to the body with two-pack epoxy.
I also had issues
with the acetate screen. I cut the screen to the marks
outlined, wrong! It's just a little too short now around
the rear where its radiused.
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have managed to build up the rear but not well enough, so you have been warned!
Before I did anythng with it I dipped it in Johnson's Clear (Future) which once
dry transforms the clarity and has the added advatage of repelling dust. I fixed
the screen to the finished model with a mixture of Microscale Metal Foil Adhesive
(MSMFA) and Microscale Kristal Kleer (MSKK).
As I previously mentioned, I was building the SMTS version simultaneously. It's
quite interesting as to how this manufacturer produced this particular model.
It should, by nature of SMTS be a far superior product and in many ways it is.
The overall shape is so very similar, and after all it does look like a Vanwall
and is that not the most important aspect here. Unless you are a 'rivet counter',
you may well want to measure both models and compare those measurements, does
it really matter? Well that is only the individual that can make that choice.
What is important with this kit is how disappointing the quality of the casting
was. It was truly awful. The main body was dreadfully porous and required a significant
amount of remedial filling. Lower/under body not much better. However once this
had been done the finished product is quite acceptable.
The worst parts I am afraid were the wheels. Because I wanted to complete this
kit as a '58 version, I needed to use the 'wobbly web' wheel option. They are
so badly undersize I had to use two-pack slowly and carefully to secure the tyres
onto the wheels. Not exactly a satisfactory solution but unless one looks closely,
cannot be seen.
Paint application was much the same as the Jade kit; however I thought I would
try something new, well for me anyway. I submerged the whole body into Johnson's
Clear before final assembly just to see what would happen and I can report it
works rather well.
Way back in the early days, paint technology was obviously not what it is today.
Using acrylic paint gives too much of a shine as I believe that cellulose would
have been used and consequently the shine is much less intense. By dipping into
Clear, the shine is good but not so 'deep'.
I allowed a few days for it to harden (at least 48 hours should be considered
a minimum) and then completed final assembly.
So there we have it, two differing solutions to two similar cars. The Jade kit
is something of a bargain and I would happily source another, the SMTS kit something
of a disappointment.
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