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.
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