MAC'S CAR BY IMAI

Professor McClaine’s Jet Air Car by Imai.

I believe this version was released in the 1980’s, and then re-released in 1997 using slightly different tooling and different box art.

The kit is fairly simple to make, although it does benefit from a couple of enhancements.  I’ve added additional detail to the turbines which come looking quite plain, and I’ve scratch-built a new cockpit with a couple of 1/72 scale figures of Mac and Joe, as I was disappointed with the cockpit and figure that came with the kit which gave it a kiddie toy - like look

It’s a fairly reasonable representation of the screen model, with the position and size of the wheels the only obvious let down for anyone wanting a more accurate look, although to be fair, part of the model’s gimmick is that the thin front wheels can be folded underneath and the rear wheels can be flipped up, an idea that may well have inspired the similar looking Vivid die cast Jet Air Car produced in 1994.

The wings pull out, and the rear tail fins pull back to complete the flying look.

In my experience it’s always best to dry fix parts together to make sure everything fits right. By and large most of the kit fits together reasonable well, however I did have to file off the lugs that stop the wings from disappearing inside the main body, as the wings stuck out too far in the closed position. I glued a new set inside using a couple of bits of plastic from the sprue.

As I couldn’t find any viridian metallic green paint locally for the body of the kit I chose to mix some Rover Java green with some Ford Neptune green metallic, which isn’t an exact match but is certainly close enough for me.

Oddly enough the kit comes with decals of the Joe 90 logo and the wording,’ Mac’s Car’. Needless to say I chose not to bother with those. There’s also a nice colour paint guide on the reverse of the instructions.

The great looking box art by prolific Japanese sci-fi illustrator Shigeru Komatsuzaki.