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In-Box Review
125
Pennzoil Top Fuel Dragster
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by: Scott Lodder [ SLODDER ]

The paper

The instructions are complete with history, color chart, and safety tips. There are seven pages of assembly instructions. One nice thing about these is that each part is labeled with its real life name. This is nice, someone can more easily do research knowing what the name is. You will find that where detail is necessary there are good close up “call out” diagrams. All in all these are solid well done instructions.
The Plastic

Inside is a variety of colors: white sprues, chrome sprues, black rubber, clear parts and a large sheet of decals.
The most prominent piece is the body of this skinny beast. It is molded in white plastic and is nicely done. The white parts are all the same plastic which appears to be fairly workable. It is a bit on the soft side so be careful when removing your parts from the sprues. Use snips so you don’t damage the parts. The body has quite a bit of detail molded on. While that sounds and looks good; comparing it to the box cover shows that the detail is too strong/heavy.
The rest of the white parts are nicely molded and have a good amount of detail. It is all uniform in quantity, size, and ‘boldness’. If you leave it all the way it is then the kit will be consistent.
The chrome parts are the same basic white base plastic with chrome paint applied. This paint is thick and standard for the time when this kit was produced. The chrome does make a dramatic ‘statement’ and really makes these parts ‘pop’. The thick paint also softens the detail a bit.
The Parts Overall

All of the plastic parts do have a bit of flash here and there. There are mold lines and ejector marks on the majority of parts; nothing big, nothing too challenging. All are manageable and most are in discreet locations.
The tires are made of a rubber material that will give the kit a nice realistic appearance. The back tires are two pieces while the fronts are just one. All have nice raised “Good Year” labels on them. A touch of white paint and these will pop out nicely. Note, these parts are re-used parts from other top fuel kits. You can tell from the inclusion of two extra medium front tires. The newer ‘bicycle’ style tires used by the Pennzoil team are on the separate sprue and there are two additional thicker style front tires.
The decals

The decals are water slide style. They look quite comprehensive compared to the box images. Close examination shows excess clear decal ‘flash’. This is the ‘non-color’ outer edge of the film material. You should be careful and cut this off before you put these in water. Removing this flash reduces the chance for decal silvering and yellowing. The decals will fit the area better after removal too, there isn’t a lot of room in some locations, plan accordingly.
Overall

Overall this should build into a very nice representation of this skinny go fast car. It will require a bit of attention to clean the parts up and make them fit well. The decals will be a challenge because of the excess flash and size in general.
For an older kit released in 1997 it’s a nice pickup from ebay or the LHS. If you like Top Fuel cars this should be on your shelf. I look forward to building this kit and doing a build review.
It looks like a very solid kit.
SUMMARY
Revell-Monogram has a nice kit you should be able to find cheap at the LHS or ebay or even a garage sale. This looks like a great little kit that will be a proud member of a display shelf.
  FLASH/EJECTORS:75%
Percentage Rating
85%
  Scale: 1:25
  Mfg. ID: 7650
  PUBLISHED: Nov 15, 2006
  NATIONALITY: United States
NETWORK-WIDE AVERAGE RATINGS
  THIS REVIEWER: 82.50%
  MAKER/PUBLISHER: 75.85%

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About Scott Lodder (slodder)
FROM: NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES

I modeled when I was a teenager. College, family and work stopped me for a while. Then I picked it back up after about 12 years off. My main focus is dioramas. I like the complete artistic method of story telling. Dioramas involve so many aspects of modeling and I enjoy getting involved in the ...

Copyright ©2021 text by Scott Lodder [ SLODDER ]. Images also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. Opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of ModelGeek. All rights reserved.



Comments

It looks like the same mold as the Army marked "Sarge" dragster I bought several years ago. Nice job.
NOV 15, 2006 - 06:13 AM
Based on the tires and the over emphasize detail on the body - all you have to do is switch out the decals and 'shazam' - different Top Fuel. Still will be fun to build.
NOV 15, 2006 - 06:46 AM
When I was a kid I made every Dragster or Funny Car I could get a hold of. They were always great fun! It nice to see that spirit still exists! Can't wait to see it built! It sucks that Ebay isn't a viable option here, it seems like you can get some good stuff at a reasonable price.
NOV 15, 2006 - 12:26 PM
Eddie Hill, the first man to ET under 5 seconds, as far as I can recall. Very nice review Scott. Looking forward to seeing it build Thanks Scott.
NOV 15, 2006 - 12:41 PM
Hmmm I have this kit from 97 :-)
NOV 19, 2006 - 09:52 AM
Nice review Scott, can't wait to see it started. Yeah the kit has pretty much stayed the same the last 15 years with a few little changes. Jasper, yeah Eddie is the man. That was in 1992 when he ran under 5 sec. a 4.77 with a 9 and in the same year he ran four straight 4.80’s. In 1999 he ran a career best elapsed time of 4.535. Eddie “Holeshot Hill” is full of record firsts. Joe
NOV 19, 2006 - 10:15 AM
   


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