Revell 85-8883 1/4 Scale Visible V-8 Engine Model Kit - 12-Inch Detailed Plastic Assembly Kit for Car Enthusiasts & STEM Learning - Perfect for Educational Projects, DIY Builders & Collectors

I’m an old retired mechanic. I have been wanting to build one of these for a long time. I finally got the time to do it. I was very patient. I spent the first day, (about 6 hours) just trimming parts and looking through the directions. It took another 3 days, or so, to complete. Some pieces MUST be allowed to dry thoroughly before proceeding. Most of the parts fit very well. However, some pieces need to be ‘shifted/pushed’. Its wise to pre-fit, and understand how everything is going together, and, some temporary assembly is also helpful. The finished engine looks very good, with some mis-alignment where the water pump matches up with the heads; mostly caused by slight warpage in a front clear piece. Its minor to me. The box recommends paint. But I think that is an error. This model looks great without painting. Instead of adding detail and realism, I believe painting just distracts from the purpose of this model. (Having said that, there are exceptions. Some of the pictures other builders have uploaded, are impressive.) I used Canola vegetable oil, It seems to be working fine. You really need to be careful to clean the oil off the end of the rocker arm shaft, before gluing the cap on. And then work that closest rocker arm back and forth, to be sure no glue is stuck to it. (OR, just lubricate it after gluing.) DON”T apply oil to the cylinder walls. It is not necessary, as the pistons are a loose fit. The oil will just cloud up the view. I used Testors Clear Parts Cement where it said to use epoxy. I think the clear parts glue worked very well. It takes longer to dry, but it also gives you time to clean any glue from the threads, and you can even install the screw, and tighten the nut into the hole, getting it perfected centered. AND, it dries clear. The screws and nuts in my kit were nearly perfect. The sole exception was putting the screw through the generator bracket into the thermostat housing. I had to enlarge the hole opening a little bit, then it worked. It is a copy of an old small block Chevrolet. (Although, you can modify it to look like other engines.) If you assemble it correctly, the valves and pistons are in correct ‘time’. HOWEVER…some fool put the rotation direction on the bell housing pointing in the wrong direction. The engine actually turns clockwise…looking at it from the front. (The same as a real engine.) It doesn’t hurt to turn the wrong direction, its just that the valves work backwards then. It has great detail, and a lot of parts. I actually would have liked to have seen even more detail. Such as, a timing chain, camshaft bearings, a rotating distributor shaft, and a clear distributor cap. They also need to include spark plug wire looms. My pictures do not show them, but I have some split wire wraps on the way from Amazon. That should make the wires look better. Interestingly, if you build this correctly, some of the important items can be disassembled. You can add oil to the parts, or even swap out pistons, heads, etc. I don’t really see this as a great father/son project. This is a model you will need to concentrate on. (I believe this is the same, or very similar to a model engine that I tried to build 45 years ago…and failed. If my memory is correct, I gave up after messing up installing the nuts. I had them crooked, with glue in the threads. But, back then, we didn’t blame others, for our own failures, like I see many reviewers here doing.)