Revell 1/25 Patrick Racing's Visteon Reynard.

By Tony Paton

The Subject

Revell has produced the Reynard as driven by Scott Pruett in the 1998 Fed Ex Champ car series. Owned by Team Patrick Racing and finished in the black, silver and orange scheme of major sponsors, Visteon. Pruett finished the 1998 season in 6th place without recording a single win. He did managed to get one pole position and only managed to lead two laps in the entire season!

Construction

As there is no engine detail, there were not many parts to this kit. The body was in three parts so I taped these together and sprayed that with Tamiya's gloss aluminium. As this was drying I started on the rear suspension. As this was basically all black, this was finished in minutes.

Turning back to the body, I cut out the orange decals that separate the black & silver. I made a template with tracing paper and used this for a mask. I sprayed the rest in Tamiya's gloss black. At about this time I started on the spoilers for the front and back. I decided to use the road wings in preference to the oval wings. As I stated earlier, I wish these could be interchangeable. If more decals were produced this could be done.

The rear wing was easy as it was straight black. The front spoiler of the front wing had to be painted silver. This was masked off and sprayed black.

While I waited for the body parts to dry over the next few days, I started on the driver's figure. It was the first time I had done one of these and it was very simple. The helmet decals were a bit tricky but with the use of Microsol, it went down ok. The body has the seatbelts molded in but you don't have to worry about painting these as they are provided in decal form. The end result is very impressive. The decals were then applied to the body. The orange outline decals also have black on them, so the masking does not have to be accurate. After a few days of drying, the body and wings were given a spray of Tester's glosscoat and left to dry. When dried, the body parts were separated with the decals between parts, cut with a knife beforehand. The rear suspension was connected to the lower chassis and work on the front could start. This didn't take very long.

The inside of the vertical surfaces of both wings is finished in bright orange. I used Testor's bright orange but the paint was brighter than the decals. On the box it is bright but the decals are just normal orange. So I used Tamiya's orange and the match with the decals was perfect. Only problem was that the numbers were in bright orange where on the box all the orange on the car is the same.

The driver is inserted from below into the top fairing. This is then glued to the rest of the car. The wheels were then fitted to the car. Again you have a choice between wets or slicks. I went for the slick option. I sanded them to make the tires look worn. Otherwise they are too shiny.

The last thing left to do was to attach the wings. These were easy to attach.

Conclusion

I enjoyed making this kit, especially after my horrid encounter with the Revell Porsche GT-1. It was easy and straightforward. The only trick is to attach the body parts beforehand and paint. This makes it easier as masking after completion would be a nightmare. The addition of a driver figure was also welcomed. More engine detail might have been better but as a stand-alone model, it looks great!

Thanks to Revell-Monogram for the review sample.