Monogram's
1/24 Quaker State March Indy Car
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
History
The Indianapolis 500 is probably the most famous US auto race around, dating back to 1911. Over the years many different styles of cars have come and gone. In 1988, Quaker State put forth their entry into the Indy 500, combining the March chassis with a Porsche V-8 engine. With a top speed of 230mph, the Quaker State March/Porsche car looked to be a contender in the pack. Driven by Teo Fabi, the car performed well initially, but then an accident took the car out after only 30 laps. In 1989 the car returned to the track, again driven by Teo Fabi. Disaster struck again, though, this time in the ignition after only 23 laps, taking Quaker State and its March/Porsche combo out of the race.
The KitMonogram's kit of the Quaker State March/Porsche car is nicely done and provides a good look at a classic design of a late 80's/early 90's Indy car. Molded in white this kit features a full engine, detailed chassis and something of a rarity in car kits, a driver. The instructions start you out with the chassis, and the parts are broken down to achieve a fairly straightforward construction. Everything fits onto the one-piece lower chassis, starting with the radiators and their respective plumbing.After that comes the driver's cockpit. Since the kit includes a driver there is no harness attachment points present, as these would be covered by the figure. The instrument panel and steering wheel assembly fits over the figure body, after which you are directed to attach the arms. This could make for some difficult painting procedures and some careful fitting might be in order to see if you can fit the figure in afterwards.The rest of the construction is very straightfoward, with the engine being the most complicated part remaining. Made up of ten parts for the engine and two more for the transaxle, this part of the kit will definitely stand out, especially if extra attention is spent through the addition of wiring it up. Once that is finished the rear suspension is added, completing the busy look of the back end of this car.The front end features a nice touch by Monogram in the form of two styles of front wings: one for the speedway and the other for the road course. Likewise, two sets of rear wings are also included, matched to the front set, allowing you to present your model in either configuration.The final step is painting this car up, and here is where the challenge comes in. The car is finished in Quaker State green and white, with gold trim. The decal sheet includes the gold trim, along with some of the green. Finding a match for that green will be a challenge, but at least the paint scheme isn't a difficult one to paint. The decals look to be very thin and the white appears to be opaque enough to still be bright white once applied over the Quaker State Green. |
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Conclusion
If you're wanting to build up an Indy car from the 1989/1990 season this may be the only currently available kit out there. The detailing is good and the added bonus of a figure really adds a nice touch. While this isn't a kit of an Indy 500 winner, it's still a striking color scheme and will look great in any Indy car collection.
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