Why This "californian" Model Kit Is So Fascinating!
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- After doing some research to help us get some motivation for build this kit, we discovered some cool info about the kit designer and his link to GM, Hot Wheels and MPC model kits!
Excellent history lesson on that model kit. Awesome job my pal. 👍
Hi Matt! Thank you so much my friend! I had a lot of fun doing this and it just felt like the kit and the designer needed to get some recognition and justice! 😉
A cool looking car with a cool history of the designer too. Going to look amazing as a riddler car, it looks straight out if batman!
Hello my friend! I'm so tickled that you see the car the same way I do! It just exudes Batman villain from the old TV series! 😁
Cool concept, and fun history lesson. I love the detective work and research too.
Hi Kurt, I swear the research and detective work is more than half the fun for me when it comes to building kits like this! 🙂
Here’s how I would tackle the front suspension. File down the hole to get your ride height, like you mentioned. Once that’s done put the axle in place and mark where it comes through the frame, then cut the rod taking out middle of the axle. When it come time to mount the axles during assembly I would use epoxy to hold the axle. You’ll have to fill the hole first so it’s a tighter fit. Then you can fill the transmission holes for a better look. Looks like a cool build!
Hi Robert! Great suggestions!! I like the epoxy idea. Seems like super glue will be far too weak to hold, especially over time! I had done something like this years before, but I used a nail cut down to length. The nail head helped with creating a flange to help with glueing.
Very neat kit. I really like the Riddler car idea. Well done 👍🏻
Howdy, thank you very much. I feel that this car is just slightly odd enough to be something that the Riddler would have driven. The joker gets a lot of recognition but it seems like the Riddler just doesn't get the limelight he deserves. 😉
Cool history of the car and I'm looking forward to seeing the build Bryan
Thank you very much Jeff! Fingers crossed all goes to plan. You know what I mean. 😉
I like where you’re going with it! Looking forward to seeing more.
Thanks Marty!! 😁
Nice idea for the build. Interesting history behind the model. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Michael, exactly my friend. I had no idea. Literally that this was such a cool kit designed by such an interesting person. It's making me rethink a lot of the model kits I have in my stash now. Wondering what their backstories are . 😉
@@BGsModelWorkshop Yeah, I’m sure this some interesting stuff there if you go to digging.
Loved hearing the history. Always thought it was a Cool looking vehicle. I'll be watching
Hi Mike! You bet. Glad to share. I seriously hope everything is going well at home sir. All our support BG
Really enjoyed your history of the designer,Bryan and the ideas you've had for the models.👍😎. Thanks for showing and best wishes from jolly old England 👍😎Pete 🤓
Hi Peter! Really glad you liked the video and the history behind the designer! Thanks for stopping by and checking it out my friend. 😁
Awesome idea for a unique kit, and great history lesson
Thanks again!! Just felt like the best way to go with such an odd kit!!😁
Interesting idea to do a riddler themed car, looking forward to your progress.
Hi Steve, thank you very much. I just feel that this car is odd enough to be something the Riddler probably would have driven. I know the joker gets a lot of aclaim and I feel the Riddler needs his due!
A 'Riddler' car, what a great idea. Interesting kit, I wouldn't mind reading-up on the designer myself!
Hi Geoff, It turns out he did a lot of design work for the big three automotive manufacturers. I have done some looking for one of his books. They all seem like they're out of print right now so just have to wait until I find one out of used bookstore I guess! 😁
Interesting trivia and nice kit too there Bryan. Looking forward for more updates on this 👍🏼
Hi Karl, thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed the video. I'm so excited now about the bill. Hopefully it goes to plan. 🙂
Very interesting Bryan! Riddler car sounds cool. Nice green body. Thanks for sharing ! 😎🇨🇦
Hi Peter, thank you very much for the kind comment. Fingers crossed all goes to plan when getting to the paint job on this one.😁
Really cool kit Bryan, I like the Riddler theme, 😎👍
Hi Tom, thank you my friend. Fingers crossed all goes to plan. So glad you like the idea for the Riddler car. 🙂
Great history, best body styles came from that era, that looks like a really cool kit. Gonna be sweet to see it built
Fully agree! Back when design work was artist! 😁
Great back story on that kit /car. Maybe while you're working on it you can listen to that song "96 Tears" for motivation. LOL. Cant wait to see your progress. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Alan, lol great song idea! Lol it might actually help me feel better while building this 😉
Very nice project! Look forward to following along!
Hi Neil, thank you sir! Super excited about this kit now! 😀
Fascinating dive into Mr Bradley's career,Yes? When I looked into his story I had thought so. Anyway, I do believe You are correct in "gold," as The Riddler would probably prefer that over silver. Great to favor the crooks as they too would need a ride going up against the good guys. I like what Your doing with this build BG!! Looking forward to seeing more, SOON! Thank You for sharing with Us. Later
Hi Russell! Thank you very much, I was hoping folks would understand where I was coming from with going with gold rather than chrome plating. Glad you like the idea that for the build! 😄
Really interesting history on this and so freaking cool you are doing a Riddler car! I loved the Riddler
Hi Joe! Awesome! Glad you like the idea for the build my friend!! The Riddler just doesn't get any love these days. 😉
Some great history Bryan. I did not know about Mr. Bradley. That is a fun looking kit. I'm digging where you are going with the Riddler car. For the front end, you can cut off the metal axle and epoxy the stubs in place so it does not interfere with the Engine/trans. You can also make stubs from styrene rod. In the wayback, lots of kits had large holes in the engine block too allow for the metal axle to go through. I think it was something MPC and AMT were known for. I always hated those. BTW, yoke steering wheels are impractical for high speed on curves. Nothing to grab as you are spinning the wheel. 😨😁
Hi Vince! Thank you very much. Glad you enjoyed the quick little history lesson about the designer of the kit. I had to find out what the deal was with this thing because it just seems so odd. A choice for MPC to repop this kit. Good point about the steering yoke. However! Nothing about the show cars was ever practical 😁😁
Also great tip on the axle. Thank you very much!
Very interesting research it's great when you can find out new stuff ,nice looking car .
Hi Martin, exactly! 🙂
Cool background on the car and history
Hi Paul, thank you very much my friend! I just had to wonder why MPC wanted to repop this kit, after doing the research, I figured out why. It is truly sad that the designer of the kit passed away this year though.
Drill new holes to the "spring" sections where the stock axle sits. Then cut that axle to length on both sides. Don't have to put it through the engine bay. Also check the fitment on rear lights bezels. Mine were very tight. Same goes for the hood. That front grill was tricky to attach straight, so little begs were glued to the body.
Howdy, thank you for all the great tips! I'm going to double check my light bezels right now. I saw you and Johnny had posted similar ideas and wanted to say that I had tried an idea similar to that years ago while I used an actual nail, cut it to fit and use the flat head of the nail as the mounting surface on the inside of the engine compartment for the gluing surface. It really helped make everything work out pretty well and I was thinking that for the axle coming from the transaxle I would just use some styrene rod and possibly cut it at an angle so that it might bend up if it needs to. Thanks again for the great ideas!
Very interesting video Bryan. I lived through that time and had heard his name but did not know the story. Thanks, Ron
Hi Ryan, , turns out he did a lot of design work for the major automotive manufacturers. Several cars that I fell in love with as a kid. He actually had a hand in designing!
I’m with you about the “Car Culture” from the sixties and early seventies. Tom Daniels and Dave Deal were my favorites along with the custom van craze. I like the idea of making it into a Riddler themed car. Have a great week Bryan! BTW That body side molding reminded me of a boat tail Buick Riviera.
Hi Tom, it's so sad we'll never see the days of the 1960s car culture again. However, all those great magazines and movies and such will help keep that alive for us! I fully agree about the side of the car looking like the boat tail Riviera, according to more of the research I just did last night. It seems that Harry Bradley helped out with the design of the Riviera and several other cars for GM, ford and American motors. Hope you have a great week sir and talk to you later!
Nice kit. Great story behind it.
Thanks Mars!!😁 it was a fun research project! 😁
very interesting video Bryan. Thanks for posting it. Coincidentally, I remember having a green deora hot wheels in the late 60s / early 70s :-)
Hi Sean, That is awesome! I never had any of the original 16 Hot Wheels. I have reproductions of them and keep them as treasured Hot Wheels tucked away.
It was also released as the Mannix Roadster that's where the bench seat and rear bumper were for.
Hi William, thank you buddy! I had a feeling that those bits were definitely from some other kit version. I've always wondered if that kind of stuff gets stuck in other kits because they weren't able to gate off those parts while injecting the molds. It's all good to have some extra parts in the parts stash right? 😉
Very cool history, seems like quite the interesting (and talented) guy. The kit looks pretty interesting as well 👍
Hi Mike, totally agree man. I feel this kit gets under recognized quite a bit! 😁
Very interesting!! Thanks for sharing !
Thank you Steve! I really am impressed about the history of the designer and where the car came from!
Thats an interesting project Bryan, I`ll be watching this one 😀
Hi Kim! Thank you very much sir. Very excited about how this one's going to look when we're done!
Very cool history on hairy Bradley I like the theme that you working with
Hi Phil, thank you. Glad you enjoyed the video Harry. Bradley, seems like somebody who flew under the radar for a lot of us.
Cool kit great idea !!!
Hi Mike, thank you very much my friend! 🙂😁
Cool, a riddler car. Neat history lesson. Thanks.
Hi Rick, thank you very much my friend. I definitely thought this would be a kit you would have dug! Glad you liked the video. 😉
I picked up an old built up glue bomb of the original issue of this kit at modelpalooza back in 2016. I saw it & found it interesting . It was missing the hood but it was cheap. I knew it was a custom of either a Toronado or an El Dorado. I thought that it might be a model by Johan but could not recall of Johan putting out any custom model kits. I researched after getting home from the show & found that it was the Californian by MPC. Thanks for the extra info on it. Good stuff.@@BGsModelWorkshop
Like ur Riddler idea for this build. For dropping the frt end....I would drill a hole in the 'springs' @ the distance I wanted the frt end to drop and 'ca' a piece of solid round (probably 1/16'' dia) styrene rod into the 'springs' & then cut the rod flush on the engine sides of the spring. (hope that makes sense) That would avoid the axel going through the engine thus not affecting the engine installation.
This is how I lowered mine.
Hi Johnny, that is a great way to do the lowering of the front end. I tried something like that quite a while ago with an engine that had the hole through the center of it. I just use some nails and cut those off at the right length. The super flat heads on them really helped for gluing them in place so I was kind of thinking about doing that again with this one. As for the axles coming from the transaxle, I feel that maybe just a couple pieces of styrene wedged in there might look like they're doing the job. Thanks again buddy!
Really special and cool.
Hi Daniel, thank you. It really does seem like a kid that's more special than we give it credit for. 🙂
I saw a tip once about lowering the old metal axle kits by cutting a new axle a bit longer than the kit axle and bending the ends to get the drop you want
Hi Red, oh wow! So you're actually making a real life drop axle for the model car? That is a great idea! 😉
@@BGsModelWorkshop I can't take credit for the idea, it was in the May, 1964 issue of Rod & Custom. It also said you can tweak the ends to pose the steering if you want.
Still an awesome idea and thank you for sharing where you got it from!
Very cool history bro! I LOVE researching a project! I like your idea for this puppy! "Riddle me this BG"???
Lol! Thank you Mark, I swear I have more fun sometimes doing the research than the actual building! I know you know what I mean 😉
Bryan sounds like a great plan brother ❤
Hi Shawn, thanks buddy! Really excited about how this one could turn out! 😀
That was really neat! 😁✌️
Glad you dug it my friend! The research on the kits just as much as the actual cars they represent is the most fascinating part of this whole hobby for me! 😉
That custom grille came from the '68 Tornado kit.
Hi Tony, oh wow really! I couldn't find where that was supposed to have gone or what kid it would have gone to. Of course it had to be a tornado kit. According to scalemates, there was so many different versions of this kit. It all makes sense now! 😉
Nice, I like it! Cool idea too...
LLAP 🖖
Hi Bruce! Thank you very much my friend. Hope you have a good week and LLAP 🖖
The name Californian names me think of The Continental SNL sketch with Christopher Walken.
You ought to paint the car CHAM-PAIG-NYAH Gold!
Lol! I'm going to have to go find that bit now. Seems familiar I think, but yeah Cham-pag-on would be a second choice!
Well she looks awesome good luck
Hi Travis, thank you very much my friend! Fingers crossed it comes out as I envision it. ☺️
cool idea for the car think it will be a cool build when its all done looing forward to the finished project here's some help 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪
Hi Deen, lol, thanks for all the help my friend 🤣🍪🍪🍪 I need to save some for tomorrow! 😁
Has a bit of a Stutz Bearcat look too
I was going to say that, but wasn't sure anyone would know what I was talking about!! Glad you saw it as well!! 😁
interesting story, will be a awesome car !!
Thank you Eric! Fingers crossed it all goes to plan! 😉
I am almost certain that you will complete this build successfully.
@@BGsModelWorkshop
Thank you so much Eric!!! ♥️👍
Dang, you might actually be able to make this kit pretty cool lol
Lol, fingers crossed! 😉
maybe elongate the holes in the transmission/engine? Looking forward to your build.
Hi Dean, that's the exact plan I was hoping to execute here soon. Glad to know that you are also on the same page! 😉
Looks like a 72, 73, Buick Riviera from the side
Hi Brian, it's funny you say that, it turns out that Harry Bradley also had a hand in helping design that year of Buick! 😉
I was seeing tje amx custom.
Hi Butch, a lot of folks have been commenting on that as well. Also, seeing some of the Monte Carlo and a bit of the Buick Riviera boat tail! Turns out Harry Bradley also did a lot of design work for AMC and Ford! 😉
Things that make us say. Hmmmmmmm
Riddler... Why not? Joker has a car, Cat Woman has a car, Mr.Freeze has a truck, Batgirl has a motorcycle, even Robin has a go cart,
My point exactly!!! 😁