41 replies to this topic

[TSR]

Another crazy "Big Daddy" creation for Revell, a recycled Lotus-Ford kit:

 

 

 

Please visit the LASCM to see more detailed pictures.

[slotcarone]

That was my very first slot car and unfortunately one of the few things that I don't still have!!

[Joe Mig]

Love the box art.

[TSR]

The same artist did most of the 1963 through 1965 Revell slot car boxes.. You can see his signature under the rear wheel.

[Cheater]

Well, I now know who he was. Took about 30 mins of research to pin it down.

From an old eBay item description:
 

... the famous Jack Leynnwood, who painted several hundred box top illustration for Revell model kits from 1960 to 1969, but who also did a few for other companies, such as Aurora, K&B, and Classic - you may have seen the great 1966 slot car art of the Batmobile - that was Jack's work. The Ed Roth Revell kits artwork for the Road Agent, Mysterion, Superfink, Scuz Fink, and the Rat Fink and Mr. Gasser slot cars? That was Jack's work also, although as he himself told me, not among his favorites to do!

Here's a blow-up of the signature from your box art in the first post:
 

 
And here's a much clearer Leynnwood signature, from aviation artwork he did for Northrop:
 

 
There's not much doubt it's the same artist.
 
And here's a link to an online bio of Leynnwood:
 
Jack Leynnwood – Artist and Model Kit Box Art Illustrator
 
After WWII, Leynnwood studied at the famous Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, the school where so many automotive designers learned their craft. Later, Leynnwood was an instructor at Art Center for many years and one of his former students and colleagues has some great Leynnwood stories at the following link:
 
My Favorite Jack Leynnwood Stories

[TSR]

There you go!

Thanks, Greg. 
 
By the way, I should read my own book, it's there! 

This is what memory cells do when you age... 

[bluecars]

 That was also my first slot car. I think I paid about $6.00 for it. Didn't last very long. All I had to drive it with was a micro switch. No brake, short track, lots of wrecks. Not what I would consider a well built car. But it got me started.

[Gary Bluestone]

Recently I revived a few of the standard Revell F1 cars with human drivers and they are good runners.

 

We have been racing the Cox F1s and I tried the Mabuchi-powered Lotus which came close to being competitive. I changed the rear tires to some Monogram fronts I had, and this lowered the car, giving better handling.

 

Next step is to replace that bear trap toothed, pressed steel gear with a nylon gear and I think it will compete better. One of our locals also had a Lotus but with the Pittman power.

 

Again I swapped out the rear tires and it pulled like a freight train. Again I expect that once I swap out the ragged gear and find the right ratio, we'll have some serious vintage racing fun!

[Hal Ferguson]

Greetings Slot Racer Folks!

 

I stumbled across a 1964 Revell model racer with SP-500 motor, 1/24 Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, Mr. Rat Fink in Lotus-Ford slot car kit in the original box complete with the Payless price sticker of $3.99, and also this thread.

 

I have yet to poke around this blog enough yet, but I'm thinking there's a forum channel for sales/ trades, etc. If so, I expect something along the lines of "here is the description and links to pictures and how much should I ask for it?" would be better received there. Did want to let you know there are still original unassembled kits out there.

 

Blessings and happy racing!

 

Yours,

 

Hal

[Vay Jonynas]

I have the Mr. Gasser in BRM Racer but the Rat Fink in Lotus Ford slot car kit has to this point eluded me.

 

I actually had a deal with a comic shop owner in Vancouver to buy one for $100 seventeen years ago but he never sent it after I paid for it. He claimed he knew he had it somewhere but had not been able to find it. He returned my money after about two months.

 

A year later I heard that he ended up selling it to someone else for $250 or so. The bastard!

 

[Vay Jonynas]

Recently I revived a few of the standard Revell F1 cars with human drivers and they are good runners.

 

 

 

 

The original Revell and Monogram slot car kits are what drew me into the hobby back in 1964. They were what slot car racing was all about back in the day, kids with very little mechanical expertise but tremendous enthusiasm just out to have some fun by racing their cars against those of other kids with the emphasis being on "fun". And that's still what slot car racing should be all about.

 

 

[Mark Wampler]

The thing is about this valuable piece of history is that Rat Fink is totally out of character riding in a Lotus. A jacked up '55 Chevy would be culture current for the day. :-)

[Vay Jonynas]

Culture current for any day in my book!

 

[Mark Wampler]

Not in everyone's book

[Vay Jonynas]

 

 

The Ed Roth Revell kits artwork for the Road Agent, Mysterion, Superfink, Scuz Fink, and the Rat Fink and Mr. Gasser slot cars? That was Jack's work also, although as he himself told me, not among his favorites to do!

 

That's because Jack Leynnwood:was an airplane guy! He had a pilot's licence himself and his first full time job was for Northrop Corporation drawing their planes for advertising brochures and such.

 

 

Still his box art for the Revell "Big Daddy" Roth show cars was a thing of beauty:

 

 

[Vay Jonynas]

I have the Mr. Gasser in BRM Racer but the Rat Fink in Lotus Ford slot car kit has to this point eluded me.

 

I actually had a deal with a comic shop owner in Vancouver to buy one for $100 seventeen years ago but he never sent it after I paid for it. He claimed he knew he had it somewhere but had not been able to find it. He returned my money after about two months.

 

A year later I heard that he ended up selling it to someone else for $250 or so. The bastard!

 

 

 

Incidentally I still don't have a Revell Rat Fink in Lotus Racer model kit. It's near the very top of my model kit/slot car kit want list.

 

[Vay Jonynas]

There you go!

Thanks, Greg. 
 
By the way, I should read my own book, it's there! 

This is what memory cells do when you age... 

 

You're not the only one. A couple of months ago I found myself wondering who did the box art on the Revell "Big Daddy" Roth kits and then I discovered that way back in March 2011 I'd actually posted about Jack Leynnwood being the illustrator that did the honours on those kits. 

 

Interesting too that Leynnwood was pointedly proud to call himself an "illustrator" as opposed to an "artist" with whatever highbrow connotations the latter word may contain. But whatever he chose to call himself, his illustrations were simply fabulous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark Onofri]

Rat fink! Wow ! Thanks for blast from my yout. If you didn't have a (or several) ratfink stickers on your 3 ring note book, bang,boom,pow. You got lumped up. Ahh, my misspent yuth.

[Bill from NH]

I never had Rat Fink anything, My favorite Roth car was the Beatnik Bandit,

 

[Mark Onofri]

I still (I hope) have a blue hot wheels beatnik bandit . I believe the 1st photo is a a a, 1 minute. S***t, I built one that had a barrel bomb to blow up dams. Was in a movie to. Hawker?

[Vay Jonynas]

I believe the 1st photo is a a a, 1 minute. S***t, I built one that had a barrel bomb to blow up dams. 

 

That picture is the box art for the Revell Avro 'Dam Buster' Lancaster:

 

 

It's a large and very impressive kit. Flush with post-Xmas cash, I bought one in late December 1966 at McCormick's Hobbies on Oxford Street in London, Ontario which was by then my primary "go to" shop for model kits. 

 

I was delighted to score another M.I.B. one for my present day model kit collection from the Old Model Kits site about twenty years ago.

 

[Mark Onofri]

Thanks Vay. Lancaster, It's coming back to me now. The inventor of the bomb was Britannia's super genius. He also invented/ designed the bunker buster ,it dessamated the U-boat pens.
I was rummaging through my parents attic and came across a stack of model box covers. I knew that someone, someday would want them. Now that I know what to look for, I'll dig them out.

[Vay Jonynas]

I was rummaging through my parents attic and came across a stack of model box covers. I knew that someone, someday would want them. 

 

Just the covers without the box bottoms? I know that even empty model kit boxes can fetch more than a few dollars these days, but these include the bottoms as well as tops.

[Mark Onofri]

I was 8. At least I had the insight and foresight to save them.
As far as monetary value.....
I seriously could care less. Maybe I'm alone in this but, it is what it is. They still look good , like some other things, without the bottoms.

[Vay Jonynas]

I couldn't care less about the monetary value of my collections either. That's not what it's all about for me.

 

I actually wish the stuff I collect was less expensive simply because I could then accumulate more. Collector/investor is actually a schizophrenic concept. As a collector you want things to stay cheap so you can keep on buying, but as an investor you want things to appreciate in price.