Black Top Warriors Pink Poison

Made By:

Revell (kit #2146)

Scale:

1/25

Pink Poison HJ Panel Van from the movie Black Top Warriors

Black Top Warriors Pink Poison front detail

Black Top Warriors Pink Poison door detail

Black Top Warriors Pink Poison hood detail

Black Top Warriors Pink Poison box front

Black Top Warriors Pink Poison chassis front

Black Top Warriors Pink Poison chassis rear

Black Top Warriors Pink Poison engine left side

Black Top Warriors Pink Poison engine right side

Pink Poison was the closest to a factory stock release in Revell's Black Top Warriors series, being a straight reissue of their classic Jeep Honcho kit. It also had the cleanest casting of the three, making the build process that much easier. No, in a rare twist for scale models, the trouble with this kit had nothing to do with what was inside the box. See, the Black Top Warriors kits were released in 2001...the same year Dale Earnhardt was killed during that year's running of the Daytona 500. A sad event on its own, but Pink Poison had the misfortune of originally being released with the name "Mr. Deadwrench." Whoops. The first cases of these kits made it to retail before Revell could rebrand them with the less problematic "Pink Poison," and finished examples can be spotted by their unique decal sheet with a Shell logo instead of the gas pump on the truck's door.

Thanks to the better quality of the kit, this is also the one that received the fewest changes during my build of it. Chassis, engine, and body all went together with no hassle and only a moderate amount of cleanup required. The shocks were among the worst parts, and even they cleaned up in just a few minutes.

Two changes I did feel were necessary were the wheels and the lights. The wheels are meant to represent wagon wheels with beadlocks, but the proportions never looked right to me. These were replaced with the eight-hole wheels from Revell's GMC snow plow kit, which were the same size so I could still use Pink Poison's wheel backs and tires. The lights were a little more subtle, and it was really just the middle two driving lights without lens covers that I thought needed an upgrade. I drilled these out, added a thin piece of flat styrene to the backs to make more proper buckets, and then made wire stoneguards from fine mesh.

Paint was pretty straightforward: pink and white primers for the body, light brown for the interior, AMC turquoise for the engine, and black for the chassis. The kit had no chrome at all, so I had to redo the bumpers, grille, mirrors, lights, and other details with BMF and paint. I didn't like the full-length side panels or the lettering that looked like it had been crossed out with a magic marker, so I made all-new graphics for it. The side panels were fully painted, with the doors and lettering being made as separate layered decals to get more of a rattle can effect. I intentionally left off the target graphic that was supposed to go over the driver's seat, thinking it was kind of a silly addition. The rear flank skulls were less intentional - I made them, but simply forgot to apply them until after it was weathered.

Unlike Alley Rat's city vibe or Killer Bee's desert look, Pink Poison struck me as a rural vehicle that would be adept at running trails and conquering mountains. I wanted the weathering to reflect that, so instead of the greasy splatter and rust streaks of an urban environment or faded and sandblasted paint of the badlands I went with mud. Lots and lots of mud. Sprayed, splattered, and caked on. The chassis was gooped up with Vallejo's "Mud and Grass" effect, especially behind the bumpers and around the wheels. Thicker clumps of mud were applied to corners and edges, then the whole truck received several shots of various browns and grays to blend it all together. To make the leaf debris in the back, I cut open a tea bag and sprinkled the contents over strategically placed white glue. The toolbox and gas can came in the kit, and were painted and weathered to match the vibe of the rest of the truck.

For this driver, I started with Master Box's "Nadezhda" figure from their "Last Bridge" post-apocalyptic series as she had a rugged outdoorsy look that went well with the Honcho. My only modifications were that I replaced the baby carrier with a backpack from the same kit and left out the rifle. She was painted to have hiking boots, jeans, a weatherproof jacket, gloves, and a knit cap, the paint for her bags was inspired by a backpack and shoulder bag my wife used to have, and her boots and cuffs were muddied to match the truck.

I had originally bought this kit to build into Jo's truck from Twister, and only changed ideas once I started in on the other kits and decided I rather liked the little continuity Revell had created for the series. It was by far the easiest and quickest of the three to build, my longest delay was talking myself into weathering it after the initial colors went on sharper and cleaner than they had any right to.

Have a question, comment, or criticism about this model?
Send me an e-mail or leave a comment here!

Black Top Warriors Pink Poison

Site Features

Getting Started in the Hobby

Model Categories

Original Kit:

Black Top Warriors Pink Poison

Made By:

Revell (kit #2146)

Scale:

1/25