Scooby Doo Mystery Machine

       

Site Features

Getting Started in the Hobby

Model Categories

 
 
Original Kit:
Scooby Doo Mystery Machine
Made By:
Polar Lights (kit #814)
Scale:
1/24
Buy this kit at eBay

Other Cartoon & Anime Models
Cars Lightning McQueen Flintstones Car

Roadster Racers Donald (Review)
Speed Racer F1 Mach 5
eX-Driver Lotus Europa
Rebuild of Evangelion Mazda
Thundercats Cheetara
Cyber Formula Super Asurada (Review)
Crusher Joe Diskhound
Hello Kitty Skyline GT-R (Review)
Chop Socky Chooks Cars (Review)
G.I. Joe RAM
The Simpsons Canyonero
Planes Dusty Crophopper (Review)
Tekkonkinkreet Colt Galant
Transformers Optimus Prime
Evangelion Renault Alpine A310

Other 1960s TV Models
Monkees Beverly Hillbillies

Beverly Hillbillies Truck
Kaiki Daisakusen Tortoise (Review)
Monkees Monkeemobile
Flintstones Family Car
Scooby Doo Mystery Machine
The Prisoner Lotus 7
Dark Shadows Vampire Van
Mannix Oldsmobile Toronado
Batman Batmobile (Review)
Honey West Cobra 289
Green Hornet Black Beauty
Jetsons Spaceship
Doctor Who TARDIS
Speed Racer F1 Mach 5
The Avengers Lotus Elan
Classic Mystery Machine from the cartoon Scooby Doo
Scooby Doo Mystery Machine interior Scooby Doo Mystery Machine AC-712 license plate

 
Buy this kit at eBay

As I have noted elsewhere, I will occasionally revisit a kit if my first build was unsatisfactory. One of the kits near the top of that list was the Mystery Machine: my first version of it was OK, but I knew I could do better.

My biggest problem with it was the green areas: the original Polar Lights stickers were not quite accurate, and suffered from being printed on thick, inflexible paper with fragile ink that wore off easily. My own custom paint was a good match color-wise, but was thicker than I wanted. Unrelated to these problems, my color choices inside the body were too dark, and I wanted to fix that as well. Finally, the time came when I pulled the finished model off the shelf to give it a full rebuild.

First, the kit was almost completely disassembled. The chassis/wheels/tires assembly had already been upgraded during my first build (kudos once again to whoever at Polar Lights made sure that the Mystery Machine could use standard 1/24 scale parts), so I left that alone. Everything else was broken down to the individual parts, and the body, dash pad, roof rails, and bumpers were sanded down to raw plastic.

I was still happy with how the front seat turned out, and didn't want to lose that during this rebuild. So I masked it off before repainting the cargo floor. I also masked off the dash face so that I could paint just the pad. Krylon has discontinued the Teal that I used the first time, but fortunately I still had plenty to repaint the body. Once the teal was dry, the inside of the van was painted a medium gray.

I worked with the folks at Reprolabels to create a better, more accurate set of markings for the van. It took a few tries, but eventually we were able to arrive at a good set that should also work for other customs (should someone want to build a Pinewood Derby Mystery Machine or convert a Ford/Dodge/VW diecast van into a Mystery Machine). They're printed on stock with a little give to it, and the ink is pretty indestructible, so they do a good job adhering to the bulbous van body. The set was also designed to have as few breaks as possible: a single cut at each corner with an X-Acto or a pair of scissors is all that is required.

Now that the interior and body were done, the only thing left was the trim. First, I reshaped the rear bumper bracket to accept a proper 1/24 scale license plate. Then it was time for paint. Bright chrome seemed a little out of place on what was supposed to be a kids' van - most "cheap" trucks and vans at the time had painted bumpers, mirror housings, etc. - so I was going to go with a light color for these parts instead. I painted the bumpers and roof rack Flat Gull Gray as a primer, but ended up liking the look so much that I stopped there. The components were then reassembled, and I had a much better looking Mystery Machine in my collection.

 

Have a question, comment, or criticism about this model?
Send me an e-mail or leave a comment here!
Content and images ©1998-2025 spencer1984.com unless otherwise noted. · Questions? Send an e-mail