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Honest John Missile and Mobile Carrier


Paul A H

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Honest John Missile and Mobile Carrier

1:54 Revell Classics

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The M31 Honest John Missile was developed and produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company in the 1950s. It entered service in Europe in 1954 and was withdrawn in 1961, when it was replaced by the improved M50 Honest John. The missile used a solid fuel propulsion system which gave it a range of 12miles. This would have been ample range except for the fact that it was capable of carrying a 20 kiloton nuclear warhead, which means the launcher and crew would have been caught in the fallout of the weapon.

Revell’s Honest John and Mobile Carrier is another edition to the Revell Classics range. This particular model dates from 1955, the same year that Scrabble first went on sale and just a year after the Honest John missile itself was first deployed. The kits 110 parts are moulded in a mixture of dark green and white plastic. The quality of the mouldings is actually pretty good for the age of the kit. Most of the details are pretty sharp and there is only a little flash here and there.

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The instructions are nice and clear and feature a good diagram of the sprue layout, which is handy as if your kit is like mine one or two pieces will have fallen off the sprues by the time you’ve unpacked them. The missile is simplicity itself to put together as it only has just over a dozen parts. The wooden crate that holds the missile should be equally straightforward to put together. The Kenworth truck will be a little more complex to assemble and comes complete with an engine and pretty decent parts for the running gear, suspension etc. The bonnet of the truck is moulded in several pieces in order to allow the engine to be displayed.

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Just one colour option is provided. There is a nice clear diagram for the placement of decals, but no painting diagram. Instead, painting instructions are mixed in with the rest of the instructions. The decals are up to the usual standard for a modern Revell kit – crisp and clear.

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Conclusion

As with many of the other Revell Classics this may not appeal to you if you want to build the ultimate Honest John and carrier, but it can be a fun little project nonetheless.

Review sample courtesy of

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  • 1 month later...

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Thanks to paul i now have this kit and will be building at as a general US rig. I can say it goes together very well for its age, some of the instructions are incorrect with the back axles numbers being reversed but they will only fit to the prop shaft one way! Some of the pins and lugs are not the best fit, this is due to the age of the moulds and some flash. the cab has gone together well but the interior will need some detail adding! One little sink mark has needed some filler, and as I wont be adding the air horn to the roof the two holes have been filled.The chassis and drive train is very nicely detailed!

I have added the wood to the trailer as this isnt great on the kit being a blank plastic with the holes for the locating pins on the trailer chassis coming through! Again some of the locations are not great, and need some work on the holes and pins due to the flash but nothing too hard. the trailer sides needed some filler at the front as it wouldnt go together. I have also removed the mud flaps on the back of the trailer so i can replase it with some thin plastic later in the build.

All in, its a nice kit. Now some more pics,

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Do you plan to add any window glazing...?

I was thinking that the truck and trailer would look good on a model railroad "O" scale layout....

Cheers,

ggc

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  • 3 months later...

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