The Way of the Dodo

by Castor & Pollux
Sapmail, date unknown

Castor and Pollux have spat the dummy this month and decided to tip their collective bucket onto SNAP-TITE and SNAP-LOC kits (read the article and guess what they're building at the moment). So get your raincoats on and dive in...

You would have to think that by now the Japanese Research and Development bods, working for the major plastic model companies, would have their collective digits on the proverbial pulse of the wishes that the great unwashed hordes of modellers around the world want.

That's what one would naturally believe, are we right?

Well there are a couple of kits in that vast arsenal of goodies that come from those clever gentlemen at Tamiya, the logic of which completely escapes us. The two kits concerned are the 1/20 scale Indy cars that Formula 1 modellers may be familiar with, and they are the pair of T93/00 Lola Fords. Their correct titles are Newman HAAS Kmart Texaco Lola T93/00 Ford and the Dick Simon Duracell Mobil 1 Sadia Lola T93/00 Ford. Phew!

Only the Americans could come up with names like that, but that's another story.

Now before you aircraft and armour modellers skip over to the next article thinking you are going to read about model cars, just go on a bit and all will be revealed.

The subject matter of Indy cars alone (we would have thought) is not that popular outside the USA, but we could be , and probably are, wrong! The American domestic market must be vast enough for engineers to justify the money spent on tooling. What does concern us is that horrible cancer that rears its ugly head from time to time and, in our view, completely rains down on good kits.

In case you haven't already figured it out, we'll spell out the disease for you: SNAP-TITE or in Aunty TAmiya's case SNAP-LOC. Both versions are fortunately terminal.

Now, what sort of a Neolithic troglodyte could collect research and data from market surveys to suggest that all you open-wheeler car modeller out there in model land would buy a Snap-Loc kit of an Indy car - he/she obviously knows something we collectively don't.

We have always considered anything that didn't need some method of chemical bonding (ie, adhesive) not a true kit, but something akin to a toy, or what you find at the bottom of Corn Flakes or pops out of a Kinder Surprise.

But a true scale model? NEVER!

We are fully aware that TAmiya have some other Snap-Loc kits in their range, and some aAmerican companies also manufacture kits of this type; and we understand from our research, sales locally are consistently high. However, our main concern is their foray into the hallowed ground of open-wheeler, a subject dear to the hearts of many modellers and a trend considered by most to be downright sacrilegious.

The concept of a snap-anything goes against the grain of good modelling. How are we supposed to test fit any part to check for fautls, etc? All good modellers dry fit major components and tack them together with tape or blu-tack to test for errors in alignment or whatever, even if it's just to fly or zoom across the work bench. (We do, don't we?)

You can't do this with a 'Snap-O'! You see, once the parts are engaged that's it boy-o, they hang on like Dyna -Bolts to a concrete wall.

Superglues don't even get a look-in with this method of attachment. You now have to prise, gouge, twist and literally 'snap' apart as best you can and invariably end up with broken components, or worse still a #11 Exacto blade through the end of your index finger. Also, more often than not, the pressure that is required to 'snap' the various parts together is disproportionaly greater than the tensile strength of the parts, and you end up breaking the more delicate components anyway. Those F1 modellers familiar with the current range of Tamiya F1 cars will agree. While these kits are not 'Snap-Os', the suspension components, however, are. Tamiya can be forgiven for this because there is a perfectly plausible engineering reason for this.

In there diligent endeavors to maintain scale fidelity and true-to-life replication, these 1/20 scale suspension arms would be unacceptably delicate if manufactured from polystyrene, so they use a form of ABS derivative that does not react to solvents or cements and just will not bond with cyanoacrylics (ie. superglues). The boffins at R&D have come up with clever little snap-fit ends and interlocking parts that do the job nicely, but can sometimes require unreasonabl force to engage, especially the hub ends, often resulting in broken bits.

Once assembled we still have that 'Snap-O' toothache - how do we get the mongrel apart without damaging anything? Take our word for it, you can't! It literally has to be broken to be diassembled and that's not on! OK then, we'll put up with the suspension bits being a snap fit - the reason is fair enough (we'll just have to go careful with that one!

But the major contradiction that still astounds us is the body cowling covers. Tamiya have made the usual superlative job of all the engine detail and suspension components that have graced their F1 kits, but then to have a 'Snap-O' engine cover hide all that lovely detail is patently absurd. Now we ask you: built out of the box (Oh No! not that again) how do you casually remove the body cover to view all that hard work you've put into the engine, chassis, etc, without resorting to chisels and sharp things to dig and pry the cover off? Hey! You would have to be an A-grade number-one raving loony to come up with that gem. Removing all the pins and lock tabs to facilitate easy removal could possibly be construed as a modification and render the model ineligible for OOB, but we don't want to open that can of worms again, do we?!

(Was that a sigh of relief I heard, Pollux?
Yes, I think so, Castor.)

Summing up, all we can say is that in our opinion, this style of kit is not very popular with most die-hard modellers for all the reasons iterated here.

Their popularity is evident by a total absence from any public forum, either at competition level or exhibits, etc, both here and interstate or even in a dispaly in the local hobby shops. You might see one or two dusty boxed kits decaying away on the shop shelves, but that's it.

Some further investigation revealed that a Kmart Lola popped up at a SAPMA comp last year and another Kmart Lola appeared at the Expo in Melbourne some time ago, as to the Dick Simon Duracell Mobil 1 Sadia Lola T93/00 Ford, not a trace of it has ever appeared as to this date. It's just plain disappeared, like the dodo, it's now extinct.

Snap-Loc indeed: BAH! Serves itself bloody right!

See ya next time.

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