Introduction
The following introduction is taken from the ICM website:
In the 1920s, American entrepreneur and car designer Henry Ford began developing a new car model to replace the famous Ford Model T, which had been produced for 18 years. According to legend, the first drawing of the future car was made by Henry Ford’s son, Edsel. At least, it was he who made sketches of the design options for the radiator and the car dashboard. The first copy of the new car, designated as the Ford Model A, was produced on October 20, 1927, and mass production began in December of the same year. During the production run, Ford made changes to the design of the car, the main of which were associated with the installation of a body with more space and improving its appearance. Cars produced after 1930 had a modified outside radiator, a new shape of the front wheel wings, and reduced wheels. Buyers were offered a large number of different options, among which it was possible to choose different types of body: coupe, convertible, sedan, phaeton, roadster, pickup, and others. Production of the Ford Model A ceased in 1931. A total of 4,849,340 Ford Model A models were produced in all variants.
Review
This offering from ICM is packaged in a flip top cardboard tray with an additional card lid. Inside the mouldings are in a single plastic bag, with the tyres and clear parts in separate bags within the main package. Moulding quality is good, with no obvious issues jumping out at me. The gates are of a reasonable size, with my only real concern being the risk of damage to fine mouldings when removing them from the sprue. You will need to watch for ejector pin marks and there are also flow lines in the larger plastic mouldings, but these do not look or feel to have caused any issues.
This offering has a multi part chassis, and what makes it difficult is that the chassis rails are flared and so ensuring that you have the correct alignment you cannot use straight lines. However, if you take it steady you should be fine. You will not be surprised that you have a full engine and gearbox, which is nicely detailed despite no photo etch being included. You will need to add some wiring, if you wish to display the engine, the rest of the oily parts such as drive shaft and axles also offer a very nice level of detail.
The items such as handbrake detail, mounts in a location where it can be observed and so makes for some visual interest on the outside of the chassis. My pet hate is still in effect, in that the front wheels cannot be shown in the process of a turn. The wheel detail itself is very nice, but something that will be a bone of contention are the vinyl rubber tyres. A detailed firewall is included with some items mounted to it that you will need to check on-line reference for the wiring detail of how they connect to the engine.
The bodywork of the vehicle is tackled in an unusual manner in that the running boards and wheel arches are moulded as singular pieces, and the floor pan is then fitted between them bringing them together ready for attachment to the chassis of the model. The doors of the model are not able to be depicted open as they are moulded as a complete side section of the cab area, which is a pity as I feel that a vehicle of this scale would benefit from that option. On the plus side having separate pieces for the inner sections of the panels takes away concerns about ejector pin marks in these areas. The hood of the vehicle has separate sides but only a single piece top. It is my belief that when the hood is open on this vehicle it splits along the centre line of the top and then the side panel folds into that, and so despite a very nice level of detail in the engine bay surgery will be required to expose that detail.
The seats of the model have the quilted rib effect to them, and despite being fairly simple careful painting and weathering will makes these seats shine. The clear parts for the windscreen and lights have been well tackled. A wiper arm is moulded as part of the windscreen, but covers the driver’s side only. The canvas hood of the vehicle has a separate frame and the canvas in 2 pieces, this portion of the model is where you are going to encounter ejector pin marks that will need to be remedied, and the frame itself are made of the pieces that are most likely to get broken while removing them. ICM has continued with an addition that started with their aircraft kits in that a mask template is provided for both the inside and outside of the windscreen.
ICM has provided 3 finishing options for this model:
Model A Standard Phaeton, Ohio, 1930
Model A Standard Phaeton, Michigan, 1931
Model A Standard Phaeton, New York, 1932
Conclusion
ICM has done a large number of this family of vehicles in a number of scales, and as such I would have liked to have seen at least the ability to have the doors open and the hood open as surgery would be required to achieve either aspect. Detail wise I am pleased generally overall and it could also be further dressed up via the addition of the figure set that ICM released for vehicles of the period, and so this model is a mixed blessing as regards what it offers.