Contrary to how things sometimes seem, I do, indeed, still like to work on models. Sure, I love buying them (I mean, who reading this doesn’t?) and reviewing things out of the box, but there’s nothing quite like the thrill of gluing, sanding and painting a kit you’ve been itching to get into.
Unfortunately for me, in the past couple of years there have been some illnesses and death in my family that have really caused a shift in my priorities and a significant reduction in any time I have for my chosen hobby. However, this is not the time for regret or sadness, this is a time to celebrate, because I’ve finally got something to show for my last 1.5 years’ worth of work on the MPC California Sunshine show truck!
Well, maybe celebration is a bit too strong a word. Why? Well, this is an old MPC, and while they’re my favourite kind of car kit, they can, as you likely know from my other MPC reviews, be vexing. The Cali Sunshine has proven this true a hundred fold a thousand times. I was all ready and rarin’ to go with this extreme example of ‘70s kitsch and excess, and, as I mentioned in my out-of-box article (linked above), I thought I’d have to do some work on the decals. No problem, I had to do new decals for the BRAT and the Pinto Cruising Wagon, so I’ve had enough practice. What could go wrong?
A Half Truth, Still a Whole Lie:
Well, as you can guess, the answer was an MPC-boxful of “plenty”. In doing my usual “scan the body and overlay a scan of the decal sheet”, I became aware that nothing actually lined up. Like, NOTHING. I tried stretching and compressing, and manipulating the stripes, but compared to the real California Sunshine, nothing would sit right. WHY?
Well, the answer is because the real California Sunshine is a lot more than just a Datsun 620 with some flares and stripes. The proportioning of the truck is actually different, and the decals don’t match it. What MPC did is what you’d expect; the put flares and big wheels on their standard Datsun kit. However, that means nothing is actually quite right. Sigh…
You know how there’s that pic on the side of most MPC boxes that shows the kit in full size when it’s completed? Yeah, it’s the one that, right on this box, says “Actual Size of Model”? Well, normally, we all assume that it is generally accurate. NOT THIS TIME! MPC out and out lied to us. Right to our faces. It’s like it had a mouth full of cookies and you asked it “What’s in your mouth?” and it mumbled, crumbs and spittle spewing forth, “Nuffin…” It’s a bold-faced, shameless lie. It should be grounded for a week and not allowed to watch TV. Let’s see what no reruns of the Jeffersons feels like! That’s right, THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU’VE DONE!
You can really see what has happened only when you actually lay the kit over the picture on the box side. I taped the kit together roughly and when I did this, all the problems I’d been having made sense. The truck on the side of the box is the actual, real, California Sunshine show truck. The kit, though, is just the old Datsun 620 with some flares. The most obvious issue is the wheelbase. The real truck is much longer; just look how much out of alignment the fenders are in the pic below! I mean, it’s not even close! It’s no wonder there are problems aplenty!
Making it worse is the fact that the shape of the fenders and flares isn’t quite right either. The “foilers” (rear spats) that hang down behind the wheel on the real thing are much longer, and the front fenders are much smaller. All of this results in “more truck” than is available in the kit. Trying to make the kit decals fit on and accurately match what’s on the box is actually physically impossible! Other problems are that the “scoop” part of the rear decal is the wrong shape, size and position, and that the stripes don’t come up high enough on the rear flare; they should come right to the “kink” in the back edge, but on the kit it’s nowhere close. Add to this that the front fender opening is too high, meaning the yellow stripe which should just go over it instead gets cut off by it.
Three letters describe this. “MPC” you ask? Close… “FML”.
I worked on it for weeks, when I could, trying desperately to find some way to rationalize the two vehicles and make something out of what I had. However, in the end, it became very apparent that this was a Quixotic undertaking at best. It just was not going to happen. I was, quite honestly, crushed. What was I supposed to do with this thing, then? I mean, I still think it’s a cool kit, but I clearly can’t make a Cali Sunshine, even a good clone of one, out of it. This realization really shut me down. I didn’t want to not build it, but I didn’t have a vision for the kit anymore. I don’t know about you, but I don’t start a kit until I see what I want it to look like in my head. Without that picture, I end up grinding to a halt. Add to this that my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the Cali Sunshine was bound to cloud over.
Flares for the Win!
Things often come to us when we’re NOT thinking about them. So it was with the Cali Sunshine. I am a big anime fan; one look at the Sci-Fi and Out of Box sections of the site show that. One of my favourites is the seminal classic “Super Dimensional Fortress Macross”, the “Macross” part of Robotech. I grew up watching and loving Robotech, and I’ll never have enough Valkyries. I was just flipping through a Macross art book one day when the realization hit me that VF-1 Super and Strike Valkyries have packs on them, kinda like the flares on the Cali Sunshine. In fact, there are smaller packs on the arms, and big, heavy ones on the legs, kind of like the smaller front and larger back flares on the Cali. Hmm… could I somehow mix a Valkyrie from Macross with my still-stalled custom truck?
What if I did it as a period custom “celebrating” Macross? It would be kind of like those custom cars that are flat green and have the Flying Tigers sharkmouths on them. The truck is Japanese, so is Macross. The truck has flares like a Valkyrie, and I have spare Valkyrie decals I could use. As my mind processed all of this, an image started to form, and finally, I had my answer!
So, the Cali Sunshine morphed from “Wretched ‘70s Excess fake show rod” into the Valkyrie Truck (VT)! With this in mind, I set to work getting the flares on and fared in and working out a colour scheme. I figured it would be best to do something like Roy Fokker’s VF-1 (Skull One to Robotech Fans); the black and yellow striping are the most recognizable paint for a Valkyrie, after all. However, the question was then what colour to do the packs? In the TV show, they’re a blue-grey. However, in the Movie “Macross: Do You Remember Love?” they are dark blackish-blue. Since I have spare decals for a Movie-type Valkyrie, I decided to go with that.
Putty in My Hands:
It’s not a surprise there would need to be some puttying on an MPC, but I will say this: the flares on the VT fit the body sides very, very well. Unlike on the Gold Rush van, the flares on the VT were a nearly-perfect fit. There was some dodginess on the insides of the fenders, sure, but from the outside, I really didn’t need any filler at all! (Yes, the Twilight Zone theme should be playing in your head at this point, why do you ask?) However, this level of success was not encountered when it came to the bumper.
There’s no real place to mount the bumper, even when you glue on the custom under-chin spoiler/vent thingy. I usually use styrene tabs for this, but I could see this becoming a problem as well; the bumper is small and quite contoured. The best way to get it to stay on would be to give it a wall to glue on to, and that’s precisely what I did! Using Aves Apoxie Sculp, I filled in the gap between the chin and the grille fairing, and then pressed the bumper into it. I let it sit for a bit, and then, gently pulled the bumper off, before it hardened in place. The result is a perfect negative of the bumper, and the hope is that when it comes time to mount the darned thing, it’ll just go right on with no problems!
To make the truck a bit more custom, I also decided to get rid of the door handles. I filled the depressions in with melted styrene (sprue goo) and then I’ll sand them flush, giving a nice, clean look. I also decided to mix and match with the Round 2 1975 Datsun 620 kit. The tires, while nicely lettered, in the Cali Sunshine kit are a bit too big. As it turns out, the wheels and tires don’t actually fit together properly. Of course they don’t… why start having something fit now, MPC?
Since I want to do my Round 2 kit fully stock, I decided to lift the tires and wheels from it for the Valkyrie Truck. As it turns out, if I use the wheels and tires from the Round 2 with the wheel backs from the Cali Sunshine, I actually get a setup that not only works, but also fills the fenders nicely and is the right depth for the tires! I also get to use the nicely pad-printed tires, which is a bonus. I love that the rims are vented, Turbo Trans/Am-type wheels; a perfect period look! I decided to paint them white, like the hubs on a jet fighter, and accent them with yellow like on the VF-1’s striping. Overall, I think it’s a very striking look that’s going to be an eye-catcher on the finished truck!
Next Update:
I expect I should be able to get the interior and chassis done in decent order since they’re pretty simplistic. That’s what I’ll cover next!
The Sprue Lagoon 