[merkit the grof]

This is a thread I have wanted to do for a long time, a recent PM from young Howmet, triggered it.
And in spite of the title, it is in no way connected to this annoying little chap.

I have used as a description the title of a previous thread where someone wondered (wrongly): Why clubs do not allow the use of vacform bodies?

I think the term blob bodies was mentioned as the main reason, and people suggested that this type of performance vac body attracted the rather unflatering nickname.

1/24 ?? by Parma

In fact, this is not the case, and it refers instead to the early vac bodies offered by MRRC, Mardave, JTN and others.

Ferrari 246 Dino and 250 SWB by MRRC

Ferrari Shark nose by ?MRRC?

MRRC and ?? US blob

As it says on the label

Ditto

Aston DBR1 by ?? (Hello Vincent)

Lister and Maserati by ???

It wasn't confined to small UK firms either.

250 LM by Troby and 1/24 Dino by Eldon

And it continues to this day.

Ferrari Monza by Betta??

Ferrari Mondial by Betta

Just as a contrast, this is the type of body that was available at the same time.

Ferrari 242 (a shameless recast of the Revell plastic model) and 330 TRI by Auto Hobbies

To finish for today, a little puzzle:

What is the car? And who made the vac body (1/32) (I know because I have read the label)

In the next few weeks, I will post more pictures of vac bodies (most of which do not deserve the blobby nickname).

Joel

 

[manitouguy]

oh this is going to be a good one! i love the vaccies too

ok, will go off to see what i can find

cheers, Ron

 

[dgersh]

Amen Joel!

I'll try to add a couple pix in the coming weeks and days and hours and minutes.

I have a slightly different (US...) take on the origins of the word. For me, it was always the very disdainful way of referring to early US made vac-form bodies by the journalists writing for the magazines in 63-66: mainly CC "Pete" Hagenbuch in the Racing Midwest column, but also guys like José Rodriguez Jr., etc. (they all switched over of course, by 1966-67, as the difference in performance just became too great, and as some better bods came out).

I think they were mainly talking about early producers like Shark, K&B, etc., for whom the "blob" designation wasn't all that inaccurate...

à suivre...

Don

 

[ralph]

Joel, as one of the few on this forum who have owned a Ferarri mondial quattrovalvole, may I state that the Betta body of the same does capture the flavour of the original and is reasonably proportioned,bear in mind a Mondial QV is about the size of a Ford Granada.

 

[gluebomber]

Great thread and looking forward to seeing what vac formed bodies you have to show; You're right, some of them are hardly blobby, are actually beautifully representative of the full sized cars - unlike some of the (still rather charming but need a lot of work) examples you've shown us here.

Are the 2 piece Lister and Maserati 1/24th ? Might they be Scuderia Scale or possibly Tee-Q ? They did a bunch of similar in white styrene.

There's a great 1967 Pete Hagenbuch article posted over at VSRN titled "A Concours Blob is No Slob" all about detailing vac bodies - well worth a look if you're as useless at painting them as I am.

http://www.vsrnonline.com/Mags/CM/Hagenbuch_Index.html

Simon.

 

[merkit the grof]

Don, I think the MRRC blobs were on the market first, and by far the worst of the blobs I have seeen.

Ralph, yes it does resemble a Mondial, from a distance and on a foggy day, but not much more than that.

Simon, all bodies are 1/32 unless I indicate the scale.

Now, just a few of the nicer ones.

Lancer Ferrari P4 canam

A built MRRC Dino, as seen in the first post

All bar one are vacformed (I've shown this one before)

Joel

 

[manitouguy]

very nice!!

carrera's older efforts were nice too in my opinion - moreso the body thank the cockpit ...

as were the 'detail models' bodies ... do they count as they were 'blow moulded'!??

more to come

Ron

 

[manitouguy]

(have shown these before too)

mgb, simple but nicely done as a club racer with integral cut down windshield
not sure who did the body ? maybe dubro?

and this repop of the original lancer '68 roadrunner, in my opinion can hold its own too

Ron

 

[manitouguy]

a couple of nice ferraris - rear one the same as the mrrc shell merkit shows at start of thread
but i need to trim the clear windows that came with and the other a clear repop either from mrrc or from kb??

and this one also surprisingly turned out very nice
stingray (guys help me out, the one with the mould line down the center ... mrrc again?)
forgive the t-rex - this photo was in my photobucket album ... but don't have one of car alone!!

ok, enough for now

can you tell i like the topic at hand

lets see some more

cheers, Ron

 

[manitouguy]

ooops i lied ...

here is a better one of the stingray beside the revell injection version

and when i found it ... another of a ferrari p3 or p4 and lola coupe??
i think these are mrrc possibly too?? nice thick shells, as with most of my clear ones
painted from the inside (unless they have yellowed too much then i paint on outside)

Ron

 

[dgersh]

Ron,

Those last ones look like two of the three that Lancer made for the Cox 1/32 line (along with a Ford MkIV).

Joel, you're right about the date of the MRRC bodies of course, but I didn't really think anybody paid much attention to those at the time, not even going to the trouble of insulting them! Only the hand-carved/fiberglass bodies were being taken seriously in the UK at the time, whereas in the States, the vac-formed bodies were being used pretty early by some racers... That was my impression in any case, at least linguistically speaking!

Don

 

[Slotracing Al]

QUOTE (merkit the grof @ 2 Jan 2012, 22:26) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I have used as a description the title of a previous thread where someone wondered (wrongly): Why clubs do not allow the use of vacform bodies?
I must have missed that thread, can somebody give me a link please.
Many clubs race vacform body cars, not sure how the numbers compare with clubs who don't but there are lots of both types (and several who race both).
Sounds like I could add something to that earlier thread.

 

[scaleslotcars]

QUOTE I must have missed that thread, can somebody give me a link please.

I think this may be it,
link

 

[Slotracing Al]

Thanks for the link scaleslotcars
I can see that subject has been very extensively discussed already!

 

[lemans59]

What an amazing DBR1!!!
I had some difficulties to recognize one...
Who will help us to know the brand of it?

 

[superhornets]

Hi Joel
i am sure we have been all through this before somewhere but nevertheless it is a fantastic discussion subject
While those early vac form bodies (MRRC, Super shells) had and still have a certain period charm the reason they were christened blob bodies ,in their day was bacause the hobby then was very much Scale racing
A lot of the racers had defected from model railways where appearance is everything
As a result of that the perception of these crude ,relatively undetailed bodies with incorrect undercuts was an affront to their sensibilities While it was possible to make a half decent model out of these it required a darn sight more work than painting an injection moulded or GRP shell and lots of folk coming into the sport in those days had neither the skill ,time or inclination to spend time on these shells .A quick lick of paint and then onto the track and some of them were right dogs
later when GT Models ,Betta and Taylor made, upped the ante with much crisper and more detailed mouldings were the painters rather than the modellers able to race a half decent looking model
But it is all evolution ,look how much better the commercial cars are now than they were in the 60s and yet many members of this forum seem to just love the ugly offerings that were about in those days ,and that is the great thing about out hobby all tastes aere catered for

cheers tony

 

[dgersh]

One of the nicest of the "blobs", the Russkit 1/24 Lotus 40!

 

[dgersh]

And the rather more blobby Fleischmann version... not so much the body per se, but the car as a whole!

And a rather more ordinary one from a year or so earlier, the Unique Lotus 30, still 1/24

 

[dgersh]

In 1/32, a Shark Brabham BT8 - not really that bad, everything considered, and you don't find these every day!

And an unidentified Corvette roadster...

Some kind of stock car, made in England...

And a semi-scratch Cheetah, probably Dubro, made in USA...

And a battle-scarred Paxton Indy turbine car, by Lancer I believe.

 

[Charles*Seattle]

Joel

I believe the other white bodies that you show in your first post .... Birdcage, etc. were done by Mardave. Great pictures. I must say that I am partial to the MRRC bodies and have a Lotus 11 that I want to try to build.

thanks for posting all of the pictures!

all my very best,

Charles

PS If you want me to hunt down the Mardave bodies at home, I can try to do so. I think some of them may still be in their packaging. Never tried to build one of those.