Oldsmobile 1901- "RL" Jet petrol station vintage car

 

Occasionally on the look for compatible vehicles to pose with my airplane models, I am happy when I find them, as it's not easy to get them in 1/72nd scale. I have built a number of wonderful Jordan Highway Miniatures, but they are in HO (1/87th) scale, aimed for railroad modelers. Nonetheless I posted their builds here and photographed some of them with airplane models, tricking the eye. Over the time I gathered a number of other vehicles in 1/72nd -that I have posted here in this blog too-, but I always welcome additions. So I was happily surprised when a Santa Box came from England from friend and fellow modeler Andrew Nickeas (thanks, Andrew!). In it was the little nostalgia treasure of a Jet petrol station collectible Oldsmobile 1901(together with some nice airplane kits that I plan to build and post too). This little almost toy, could stand without being ashamed at the side of  some contemporary offerings by improving just a few things. I am  not sure of the scale, which is not stated, but it looks compatible, or close enough.

Although my vehicle models tend to belong to the Golden Age, this 1901 car could be posed, for example, with a model of the Wright Flier (I have one in the stash), or perhaps any of the earlier designs I have built and posted here that are pre-WWI. As these are mostly photography props to enhance the airplane models, a little improvement here and there is done, but without going crazy, aiming for a pleasant result that won't offend the scene with a toy-ish feeling. 

Oh, the times where most countries had their own industries, employing their own people, before the corporate bastards cried that they needed to lower the costs, and what they did was amplify the margin of their earnings, screwing once more their clients, never transferring to them the savings. Sigh..:

Very few parts, but well molded:

The "kit" was designed to be assembled without any glue:

I reamed the lights and will use home.-made lenses:

The back light will be removed as it seats in the mold partition line, and another added later:

The main body is assembled, and some thin sheet lining added:

A few details resembling the original car are added:

Now ready for the basic colors:

After masking and base-coating, more colors are applied:

Final assembly in progress:

The tail light is also given a home-made (red) lens:

 

Here it is with a Santos Dumont 14 Bis, that flew for the first time in 1906, whilst the car is from just a few years earlier, 1903, so they are a good photo match: