20 replies to this topic

[milmilhas]

I`ve a couple of these bodies and since I was a kid that I loved to buy from the remaining stock of toy stores but is very rare see a complete car from this.

[Hworth08]

Need to find Philippe for verification but the Super Leggra kits were probably just offered in 1965 and '66. The better Lola T70, Chapparal, Ferrari, and McLaren bodied cars replaced the inferior Super Leggra bodies along with improved set screw wheels and the new Russkit 23 motor made their predecessor obsolete.
 
The Super Leggra bodied cars were a handful while the new lighter/wider bodies, improved rear tires, and 23 motor made a decent car for the period even with the same Russkit designed frame.
 
Course the new car fell far short of a scratchbuild rewind.

[TSR]

There were two kinds of "Super Leggera" bodies, in both 1/24 and 1/32 scale. The masters for the first generation were made by Bob Braverman in 1963, and were blow-molded from white, red, or yellow styrene sheet. These were sold inside decorated cardboard boxes.

The second generation was only produced in the 1/24 scale from vacuum forming clear polystyrene butyrate.
 
The original blow-molded bodies were used in the "Scratch Builder' kits the kits issued in 1964 in both scales, and sold through 1966.

The later vacuum-formed bodies were sold separately in poly bags with a blue tag, along with a clear-plastic "flat' cockpit with an injected pink plastic driver's head and a card inside with a picture of the finished and painted body.

Listing of the kits and available bodies:

1/24 scale
 
Lister Jaguar
Maserati Tipo 61
Porsche RSK
Lotus 23
 
Second generation 1/24-scale Scratchbuilder kits with clear vacuum formed bodies issued in 1965:
 
Lola T70 
Ferrari 365P2 
Chaparral II
McLaren-Elva SP1
 
Please note that the Chaparral 2 body in the above kit as well as the one sold inside the poly bag, is not the same as the one sold in the Carrera Series kit, see below.
 
1/32 scale
 
Lister Jaguar
Maserati Tipo 61
Porsche RSK
Lotus 23
 
In 1966, the new "Carrera Series" kits became available and the new body molds had been carved by Tony Bulone. These bodies were offered separately on a red and white card with decals and cockpit. There is no crossover between the three generations of bodies.
 
For more information, please spend a bit of time inspecting the Russkit pages on the www.lascm.com website with some of the above illustrated in full color, or they soon will be...

[milmilhas]

I'm talking about the first ones.

[TSR]

Miguel,

The reason why these cars are rare today is because very few survived of the ones that were built by the customers. Since they never were factory built and since the "chassis" in the kits were just lengths of brass tubing to be shaped, then cut and soldered to two brackets to lock the motor in between, in fact very few were actually completed, while thousands were started.

Hence while the bodies, new in their boxes, are not that rare, the kits have become quite difficult to find and completed cars are few and far between...

In fact, thinking of it, while we do have most of the kits, I do not believe that we have a single built car from those kits at the LASCM, in either scale!

[Hworth08]

I've been searching the Super Leggra cars for 12 years and have found five complete cars and three NOS 1/24th bodies in plus two 1/32nd ones. The built cars were pretty much a mess with only one showing any details of a skilled builder.

 

The bodies split and crack worst than clear ones with no where near the quality and detail of that era's hard bodies. I have no trouble building one of the frames using Rick's jig but most builder's of that day would have had a spell keeping the frame in alignment even in a Russkit jig.

 

The provided guide arm is nicely formed but from .047 piano wire and the mounting tube is 3/32nds tubing. Then the slant guide is retained in a shallow mount with only an O-ring. Way too much play from two sources.

 

The instruction book is complete and easy to follow for an experienced builder. The tips section is good for the times. The complete booklet is nicely displayed on Greg Holland's VSRN-ONLINE site. I can't post a link.

 

Tom Anderson has all four bodies of the 2nd generation clear bodied cars if any one might be interested. Even using the Russkit frame they are pretty decent cars with the clear bodies and would be a super commercial track class using a Russkit 23 "speed" motor if a group wanted to feel the mid-60s racing. The Russkit frame pieces  are easy to bend and build. Cheap and slow, sort of like a lot of us prefer our women now.

[milmilhas]

I have some bodies and a complete car m.i.b. and in this moment i`m buildind a 1/32 Maserati but would like to see some building examples.

[don.siegel]

Since the LASCM seems to be a little late posting these cars, thought I'd contribute a couple examples. 

 

In fact, I'm not sure Miguel is talking about the same thing as people seem to have understood: when you say "complete", do you mean a built kit, or a complete slot car kit, as opposed to the body itself? The bodies are relatively common, altho not too many have shown up lately. And the scratchbuilder kits also turn up, usually without selling for very much, oddly enough.... It was easier to find the 1/32 kits for me, but I eventually found a 1/24 example: the Lister Jaguar shown here. 

 

 

 

As you can see, these are nicely laid out, with LOTS of cardboard and much empty space. The only thing that seems to be underneath is an 8-1/2 x 11" poster (paper) of the car in the kit. I assume there was celophane wrap too, but that's missing here, so it will eventually be a candidate for building. These are relatively narrow cars and chassis building is not that easy - especially on the 1/32 cars! (and if you're doing a Birdcage, that's the worst - my friend Samy still has bad memories of building that one for a race in Bordo!)

 

As to why we see few built-up models, here's Exhibit A! A Lotus 23 in 1/24 scale I found a few years on ebay. The chassis was completed, not great, but completed, but the body seems to have discouraged the buyer of this kit... He never finished trimming the body or chassis or tires... I don't think the 1/32 kit had the drop arm, but I'd have to go drag my kit out to make sure... 

 

 

 

[milmilhas]

Don i would like to see an assembled and detailed kit because i never saw one

[don.siegel]

Can't help there MIguel... maybe somebody has built one? 

 

Here's an early article on the Russkit Superleggara bodies, from a 1963 Rod & Custom, by Jim Russell himself with one of his fancy chassis ... 

 

 

 

And another early article: 

 

[don.siegel]

PS: just checked my index and the earliest mention I've found so far of the Scratchbuilder kits is the December 1964 issue of Model Car Racing News, a newspaper from the SF bay area.... 

 

An ad announces the latest "first" from Russkit, a series of four 1/24 kits: Birdcage, Lotus 23, Porsche RSK and Lister-Jaguar. "Only" $9 - pretty steep at the time, compared with $6 or $7 for the early Revell and Monogram kits and $8 for the Cox - all a lot easier to put together! 

 

Russkit never seems to have publicized this line very much, especially not compared to their early F1 cars and then the Carerra series. 

 

Don 

[milmilhas]

Don,this article is fantastic i`m trying to make something like this! Here is my project in the moment.

 

The chassis from Strombecker and the driver`s head is Ulrich i hope make a nice detailed car! Many thanks for your help

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[drrufo]

there is a yellow RSK on rbay right now

[don.siegel]

I just posted some other photos over on SlotForum, so here are a few extras, from the 1965 and 1966 catalogs (no Scratch Builders kits after that!), and from my 1/32 Porsche kit. 

 

 

 

 

[don.siegel]

 

[don.siegel]

And here's the page from the 1966 catalog, plus a MIB Chaparral kit from GT40MKII in England... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Martin]

Thanks Don for sharing, took me back, ahhhh to simpler times.

[Bob Lalich]

I am a newbie here and just discovered this old thread. When I first rediscovered the hobby around 1987, I bought a number of NOS items from a hobby shop in SW Michigan, including a 1/32 Russkit Lister Jaguar still in the original packaging as seen in previous photos. I had never built a kit like this before. As I recall, I made a crude jig to help with alignment and soldering. Here is the result. It isn't the fastest vintage car in my stable but it is fun to run. The guide holder is sloppy but not quite as off-center as it appears in the photo.

 

 

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[Bill from NH]

Nice job on the chassis Bob! I have a 1/32 Russkit Super  Leggera Porsche bodies to build up.

[Bob Lalich]

Does anyone have a good suggestion on how to make a windscreen and how to secure it to one of these superleggera bodies?

[Bob Lalich]

Nice job on the chassis Bob! I have a 1/32 Russkit Super  Leggera Porsche bodies to build up.

 

Thanks Bill! I enjoyed building it!