Kit Review – 1959 Ford Fairlane Skyliner by Revell in 1/25 scale

I remember that my brother bought this very same kit a long time ago (15 years ago, I guess). It was an antique kit, the box was actually smaller than this re-edition for Revell 50th anniversary. I saw the re issue one day while checking out the local hobby store and bought it… just because of the memories. Don’t expect a moden kit here, in fact, it is all the opposite. The re issue is basically the same kit as 50 years before. But it is a great piece of memorabilia. It almost feels like a time machine!

Unlike more modern kits, the body comes in different parts. Putting them together requires a lot of attention to have all the pieces well aligned. It is recommendable to glue it step-by-step and once all the pieces are together, you can sand the seams and prep it for paint. The rear end of the car has some gaps on the top for the hinges of the (working!) retractable top. My brother, back then, modified this part: he filled the gaps and re-built the hinge to make it look more realistic. You may want to do that too.

My brother also made the doors open and close. Given the fact that the body sides are just flat pieces, it may be easier to cut off the doors than in conventional models.

The kit is rather simple when it comes to details, but there are a few at least. The horns and the battery are moulded into the front end of the body. The inside fenders and the firewall look almost too simple. You could rebuild the engine bay by cutting off the horns and the battery, placing some from your parts box and re-doing the firewall and inside fenders with styrene sheet. Just an idea.

The plated parts look pretty cool! The plating is shiny and the parts are very well defined and detailed. The taillights are chromed parts, so you will have to paint them red.

The tires are somehow funny, but I guess it was a very cool detail back then. They have a gap to place the whitewalls in, which are actually separate plastic pieces. It doesn’t feel right, I would prefer to paint the whitewalls or maybe use decals. But they seem to fit just fine and it may give a better result than painting for some modelers.

The instructions are pretty clear and even have some text to explain the steps more in detail: who says “old stuff” aint good? You don’t see this kind of textual explanations in modern kits and they may come in handy in some cases. By the way, you can se the mechanism for the roof in this picture. As my brother built this model, back then, he re placed most of the roof mechanism parts because they seemed too bulky for him. He rebuilt them with a solid think wire.  I can imagine that a thin styrene or even metal sheet can be also a good option. Anyhow, the mechanism arms are indeed kind of out of scale – so you may want to re built them.

Pros

• Cool historic kit
• Comes with two figures (man and a lady). You can leave them for your parts box and use them on a diorama!
• The retractable top actually works!
• Gets a big nostalgic bonus!

Cons

• You can see this is an old kit when it comes to some details.
• Too little parts
• No red clear parts for the tail lights

To sum up: this is a great kit for those who value memorabilia. And to be fair, it does have some great details for such an “old” kit (ok, mine is a newer re-issue, but it feels old). And for those who just want to build something different, without the nostalgic touch, this kit may still be a great option. I can imagine, though, that some of you may want to keep it a collector’s item.

Tagged as: 1/24, 1/25, 1959 Ford Fairlane, collectors kit, fairlane, ford, kit review, skyliner