1909 Ford Model T sports runabout

As a consequence of the national lockdowns, cancelled events and the recent poor weather, car enthusiasts are having to find alternative hobbies to interest them during the pandemic. My old friend Paul Atkinson has abandoned his garages, with their diverse collection of American cars, to return to scale auto modelling and has been pleased and surprised by the results.

Digging through his stash of old kits he came across several 1:20 scale Hubley kits. The longestablished Hubley Manufacturing Company started making metal products, including detailed model vehicles, at the beginning of the 20th century.

From the late Fifties they made simple plastic ‘promotional’ models of various cars, but in 1960 they introduced a number of kits with the majority of parts in die-cast metal, enhanced with plastic details. They produced various 1:20 scale 1930 Ford Model As and 1932 Chevrolets, plus 1:18 scale Packards and Duesenbergs, both as Hubley kits and later under the Gabriel name.

I’d forgotten that they also offered an early Ford Model T in various body styles including a four-seat tourer, depot hack, delivery truck and a 1909 sports runabout, as seen here.

The kits were relatively easy to assemble, some parts screwing together, but they were notorious for the amount of extremely sharp surplus metal, (flash) that had to be removed with snips and files before painting and assembly could be started. Wound plasters were a necessity! Paul has done a magnificent job on this now rare and expensive kit, with satin black rattle-can chassis and fenders and a custom-mixed dark green Humbrol enamel for the body. The button tufted seats look realistic too and the early style white rubber tyres make it stand out. A job well done!