The Simpsons Malibu Stacy Car

       

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Original Kit:
Initial D FC3S RX-7
Made By:
Aoshima (kit #008973)
Scale:
1/32
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Malibu Stacy Car from The Simpsons
The Simpsons Malibu Stacy Car interior The Simpsons Malibu Stacy Car rear

 
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Third in my series of Simpsons builds is the first one that is almost exclusively based on the Hit & Run video game rather than the cartoon. The version that was used in the show was a pink Ferrari F360 Spider, while the game used a two-tone roadster that draws influence from several classic sports cars. The most common claims are usually a Ferrari 365GTS/4 or C4 Corvette (the latter a possible nod to Barbie's many Corvettes over the years), but I went a slightly different route.

Aoshima happened to make a 1/32 scale model of the Mazda RX-7 from Initial D that looked to be a perfect starting point: classic sports car lines, decent casting quality, and robust plastic that could take modifications easily. Plus, the larger car in a smaller scale worked out to be around the same size as classic roadsters like the Lotus Elan - perfect for what I wanted.

I started by chopping off the roof, front apron, and hood scoop. The rear fenders were cut down, and the fins from a '61 Datsun Bluebird were grafted in place. These were particularly apt thanks to a set of character lines that nicely mirrored the creases in the front fenders. They were blended into the sides of the car, while sheet styrene and Bondo were used to fill the rear deck to make the new trunk lid. The remnants of the hood scoop, parking lights, and side rub strips were also filled in.

The FC kit had no interior, just a bunch of framework for the motor and batteries that were part of its earliest release. I cut all of that out, making a new floor from styrene and covering it with craft felt for a nice plush carpet. The door panels were scratch built, with handles from Replicas & Miniatures of Maryland. The dashboard is a leftover piece from an early failed attempt at building a BMW Z3, smoothed and trimmed to fit the new interior. The steering wheel was a parts box item, as were the seats - trimmed and inverted to give them a unique look that fit the car.

There were a couple of different wheel options, depending on which screen I was looking at, but they were always multi-spoke chrome wheels with whitewall tires. I used the RS Watanabe wheels supplied in the kit, matched to a set of whitewalls from Pegasus Hobby. The top boot was shaped from flat styrene, then lightly textured to give it a fabric appearance. The final part I needed was the rear bumper, which was cut down from one of the bumpers in Revellogram's '37 Ford kit.

Paint was...a challenge. I had my first coats down and looking good, but when I went to apply the final coat the can I was using basically self-destructed and blobbed paint all over everything: me, the paint booth, the floor, and (most irritatingly) the car. After all the body work, I didn't want to drop it in the stripper and risk having to redo it, so I waited for it to fully dry and then sanded all the blobby areas smooth. Not wanting to repeat that particular fiasco, I did what I should have done in the first place and used Tamiya paints: TS-54 Light Metallic Blue over TS-17 Gloss Aluminum. The interior was done with white and pink primers, lightly buffed to give everything a satin finish. The trim was done with a combination of Bare Metal Foil and a Gundam Marker, plus colored Sharpies for the parking lamps (repurposed from the original driving lights) and taillights (used straight from the Bluebird kit).

 

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