Darryl Starbird's Futurista

[jbwelda]

I have been collecting up parts and pieces of the long out of print Monogram kit of Darryl Starbird's Futurista, that three wheel, VW powered, bubble topped, Pearl painted kind-of-awkward-looking showcar with an eye to painting and detailing it a little closer to the real item, which I remember seeing (and not being impressed with) at an auto show in St Louis around the mid sixties sometime. After some time with the collecting part, I am at the stage where I can start getting serious about putting something together. Have done some body prep and am still trying to acquire some small bits to really begin the prep and paint phase for real. Using a far better detailed Tamiya VW engine instead of the kit supplied blobular one but that will probably be the only departure from out of box. Main thing is to cover that horrid yellow plastic with Tamiya Pearl White to better replicate the original. Couple quick photos, note the Car Craft magazine with front cover feature on the car back when it was unveiled.







thanks for looking and comments appreciated!

jb

[lo51merc]

I'm not familiar with that car, but it looks like an attempt to out daddy, Big Daddy. Didn't work did it. That said, go for it. Build that little sucker.

[jbwelda]

its a weird duck, thats for sure, but not that sure about if he was trying to outdo Roth. They all competed on the show circuit but odd ball ideas like this one were pretty far beyond what Roth was doing in those days. It is similar if you consider both this car (VW powered) and some of Roth's later creations used small, obscure engines instead of the crazy big chrome detroit mills more common with "kustom" cars of the day. Personally, what initially attracted me to the Futurista was the use of the VW engine and driveline, more than the bubble top, tricycle design which of course Mr Roth specialized in for a time. Mr Starbird was in a class of his own what with this, the Predicta and whatever other rigs he was pumping out of his Wichita(?) shop. I am also building this just because the kit is so rare and expensive and you rarely see one built (I do not recall ever really seeing one built other than right out of the box, but then again I am no expert on the subject matter).

jb

[TooOld]

I'm no expert on these either but I've always been curious and have been keeping an I out for one at a decent price . Looking at your photos I'm surprised because I always thought it was much larger , maybe closer to 1/20th scale .

[jbwelda]

I kinda thought it might be outsized too, but it is stated as 1/24 and the Tamiya 1/24 VW motor pretty much is exactly the same size as the lump that came with the kit so at least in that it appears correct. If you get one and actually build it, I will be very interested to see the result!

jb

[jbwelda]

A lot of progress since I last posted on this, it has been on the back burner until recently but even so I had smoothed the body and put a few coats of grey primer and silver to seal off the yellow plastic. Now I have sprayed the body components with Tamiya fine white primer, followed by Tamiya Pure White, which I polished a little to make sure it was smooth, and then hit it with Tamiya Pearl White, which in reality is more Pearl Clear with a tiny bit of white pigment, and that is after shaking the snot out of the can. Still needs the clear and then a polish but looks pretty good so far. Can't really see the pearl effect in these photos but it does come through in selected areas.










I think clear followed by a polish is going to make these panels really come alive. I am not showing a few of the parts: doors and a little detail piece that is body color, but they are done too.

Meanwhile out back, I have adapted a Tamiya VW engine to replace the blobular one that came with the kit. Coming along pretty smoothly. I am trying to use the kit custom pieces as much as I can so you will notice the chrome valve covers with the exhaust hangers. I also ditched the funky looking little single barrel carbs in the original for a pair of Fujimi Webers with velocity stacks from Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland. Most of the top of the engine is going to be covered by a fan shroud, as this application apparently is a flat style VW engine, by that I mean the fan shroud sat down on the engine ala Type 3 instead of sticking up like a normal Beetle application. So I detailed a little with spark plug wires and fuel line, but most of that will not be seen so I did not terminate lines under the shroud. I drilled the carbs for fuel lines but as it turns out there is so little space between the carbs and the side of the compartment that I will probably not run them unless I do it from the top once the interior is down over the engine.


Engine components including block as it is now, fan shroud painted as original, and chrome valve covers.




Here is what shows with the shroud in place:





And here is the next project along with the paint: the weird azz exhaust system. You can see where I have already trimmed the pipe ends so it will fit on the Tamiya engine block, then drilled and inserted wire to make assembly more predictable. I also cut and pasted some little pieces of aluminum tubing to capture and hold the other end of the pipes. This system is something I wanted to keep from the original but it leaves a lot to be desired looks wise. Should clean up though and then maybe some Molotow or possibly Spastick chrome paint.




Alright and thanks for looking, comments always appreciated!

jb

[Spike]

Great attention to detail, this is going to end up a nice looking model.  Can't wait to see the final.

[Dave from Pleasanton]

I too am looking forward to the build. I looked for information on Futurista on the net but didn't find much.

[constructionbob]

Love it!

[chepp]

That's looking good — especially your detailed engine work.

[patw]

Yes I agree, it's good to see yet another VW engined kit and the mods that are made.

[jbwelda]

Thanks folks, I think this is going back into the box for awhile, kind of hit some road blocks and don't really care to deal with it right now, so best bet is not to lose patience but instead set it aside whilst I concentrate on getting my commercial drone license. Probably get back to it this winter but right now my concentration has strayed from building models. Plan on spending October in Utah and Montana searching out some petroglyph sites I have been told of, so thats gonna be dead time as well.

thanks again
jb

[jbwelda]

Just wanted to confirm that this is still on the bench, and progressing, a little at a time...fighting me tooth and nail every step of the way! But the light at end of tunnel can been seen, so pressing on regardless.











I have much to be modest about on this one. But the improved engine really looks much better than the out-of-box one did.

Thanks again for looking!

jb

[Dave from Pleasanton]

Looks really good to my eye JB. I just noticed that you didn't post the bubble top in any of the photos. Do you have it? I must say it looks good without it. Just curious.

[jbwelda]

It would not be the Futurista without bubble tops so of course I plan on using them. Its hard to take photos of clear plastic not in place.

That does not factor in that a bubble top, esp in California or other warm weather sunny area, would make for an incredibly hot interior, not to mention the fumes from that VW engine being right in the interior compartment. That's why it's a "show" car, I guess.


jb