BYO Homer dream car (",)

[danny_galaga]

ok, so it's not a full-sized car (although i'm excentric enough to do it!). no, i bought a model kit the other day and just thought i'd review it here.

its 'The Homer' by a company i haven't heard of before called Polar Lights. When i saw an assembled one in the toy shop i thought two things- 1) i had to have one 2) it looked rather toylike (which goes against my modellers instincts). But as you can see from the piccy there's quite a few parts (about 60). it looks toylike because, after all- it was designed by Homer! i would guess it's roughly 1/24 scale (gauging by homers size) which means you can snuggle it up with your GTO's and mustangs (",). It's touted as a snap together model but i noticed on the display model in the shop that some bits were a bit loose, so on some parts i used styrene cement. also the tail lights are molded clear and the instructions suggested painting them so if you buy one and want to do a nice job then i would suggest getting some glue and some clear red paint (tamiya X-27 is what i got i think).
  if you have never built a plastic model before (and if you're on this forum i don't believe you) then NEVER just twist the parts off the sprue. if you dont have one already, buy an xacto type knife as well.
  as well as painting the tail-lights, i also decided to paint the paper towel dispenser and the telephone white. assembly is fairly easy. as a general rule, i decided to glue any small parts that didnt have the 'snap-together' barbs. main bits being the rear view mirrors (especially the inside one) the gold-fish bowl dome (which is two halves, i only used a dot of glue each side at the bottom), the aerial and of course the tail-lights. many of these parts you can put on and then put a dot of glue on the inside so if you're really messy don't worry! don't forget to scrap off the chrome where the glue is going of course...
  the only hard part i found was attaching the cabin which didn't fit brilliantly and the tailfins. these have HUGE snap together barbs and were so hard to press on i thought i was going to break something. if it was any harder i think i would have trimmed done the barbs and glued them in. the 'wanker wing' on top of the fins went on nicely.
  the only thing i'd do differently would be to grind off about a millimeter off each axle as even with the wheels firmly hammered on (with cardboard between the hammer and the wheels naturally!) they rub a little on the bodywork. once built you just can resist the urge to roll it across the floor saying 'brrrmmm, brrrmmm'!
  Looking at the Homer it's hard to believe it bankrupted Homers long lost brothers company. I mean a car that has a donut rack, paper-towel dispenser and a cup holder on the OUTSIDE has gotta be a winner! Homer, don't take it to heart. You are on a higher plane my friend.
   so there you have it! Polar Lights also do 'speed racer' and some other cars. would make a nice collection. what i would give my left nut for would be Snake from the simpsons in his GTO (",). i think i'll email them now to see what they think!

This car brought a smile to my dial building it and will do so every time i see it! i don't think my new housemate will like it up on the telly so i might build her the Mach 5 speed racer, i know she likes that...

[Bones]

......once built you just can resist the urge to roll it across the floor saying 'brrrmmm, brrrmmm'!

Dude, there goes your chance to crack onto her and her friends.

[Setabs]

I got one of those from target a couple of months ago.  The cabin was a pain and i broke a peice of one of the fins.  I just need to build a rotating platform that plays la coooracha.

[bossyman15]

mmmm i see 5 wheels in the pic but the body only have 4 wheel holes.

[ErikRuud]

Polar Lights is part of Playing Mantis. 

The Polar Lights line started out with reproductions of some of the old Aurora models.  They were able to get the rights to the models, but not the Aurora name.  Polar Lights is a play on the word Aurora.

Playing Mantis is now part of RC2, the makers of Racing Champions die cast cars.

[Setabs]

mmmm i see 5 wheels in the pic but the body only have 4 wheel holes.

one wheel goes on the back

[danny_galaga]

Polar Lights is part of Playing Mantis.

[danny_galaga]

 

Hi!



Thank you for taking the time to send us your comments and suggestions for
future models, however we are not accepting unsolicited concepts at this
time.



Sincerely,

RC2 Customer Service



so impersonal. i feel so cheap...

[Stingray]

I've got that model too, haven't put mine together yet. Polar Lights mostly puts out sci-fi stuff, which is possibly why you have never heard of them if you mostly build car models. I've built their Robby The Robot, B9 (the Lost in Space robot), and the Titan:AE Drej Alien kits. They generally produce pretty good quality kits, sometimes they require a bit more filling & sanding than other company's kits though.

The Homer looks like a higher quality kit than some of the PL kits I've built. Most of them are just molded in a single color plastic. The two robots pictured below were both inexplicably molded in a light beige color.



-S

[danny_galaga]

very nice work, stingray! im actually more of a 1/72 aircraft kinda guy myself. if you havent put the homer together yet, heed my review and what happened to setabs. im going to build their Mach 5 next. they only have the snap together where i live but apparently the cockpit has the same detail. this car i will probably do properly and fill and paint etc. the Homer was just fun to put together as is (",)

[Stingray]

When I put mine together I'll fill paint & glue. I usually avoid snap kits, but this one was too cool to pass up.

-S