Patty Moise #14 Xena Warrior Princess Taurus

Made By:

Action

Scale:

1/24

MSRP:

$55

Overview:
Packaging (Design):	9/10
Packaging (Durability):	10/10
Casting (Body):	8/10
Casting (Interior):	8/10
Casting (Chassis):	7/10
Casting (Engine):	8/10
Paint (Exterior):	9/10
Paint (Interior):	8/10
Paint (Trim/Graphics):	9/10
Overall Panel Fit:	7/10
Total Score:	8.3/10

 

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Background

1998 was a big year for NASCAR. It was the sport's 50^th anniversary, race attendance was up, and some of the biggest names in the sport were making history: Dale Earnhardt nabbed his long-sought win at Daytona, Mark Martin had the second-best season of his career with an average finish of 8.6, and Jeff Gordon took his third championship title by finishing the season with a record-breaking 17 consecutive top 5 finishes, and 20 consecutive top 10 finishes. In the Busch Series, Dale Jr. drove his first full-time season and Jimmie Johnson made his NASCAR debut. Among all the spectacle was the quiet retirement of Patty Moise, who had been driving in NASCAR for over a decade. For five races of the 1998 season, her car wore a unique Xena: Warrior Princess livery.

Packaging

This is packed in the traditional shoebox with a separate sleeve. The outer sleeve has most of the car-specific decoration: on top is a large photo of the 1:1 racer in the same purple-magenta fade as the background overlaid with the Rhodes Furniture logo and a variation of the Xena: Warrior Princess hood decoration. The NASCAR logo is in the top left corner of the panel and "1/24 scale stock car/limited edition adult collectable" is in the bottom left. One side panel has the driver's name and signature along with the Action logo and car sponsor logo, while the other side has the NASCAR 50^th Anniversary logo, car sponsor logos, and "Action...the most respected name in motorsports collectables" text. The bottom has all of the car-specific legal info. The outer part of the shoebox has a generic red and gold checker flag motif with a huge Action Racing Collectables Club callout plus much smaller text for the scale, year, and manufacturing country. A blue sticker near the top left indicates this is a bank variant, and a gold sticker near the bottom right has the driver name, number, car model, and edition size. The inner part of the box is white with the generic Action legal info printed on the bottom. Inside that is a two-piece styrofoam clamshell and a piece of tissue paper to keep the car safe.

Casting/Paint

The Ford Taurus made its debut for the 1998 season, so this was an all-new tooling when it was released. This is apparent with clean casting work and a generally excellent parts fit (there's an oversized gap where the opening hood has to clear the cowl, but tolerances in the 1990s weren't quite what they are today). There's a smooth transition across the surfaces, no mean feat considering the bulbous shape of the car. The body is metal with clear plastic windows and a chrome lower grille. It's painted metallic purple with a solid magenta band and thin black stripe at the bottom. Coverage is clean and even, with a decent medium-gloss finish. The myriad logos and numbers are printed cleanly and show excellent coverage - the whites are nice and bright, and the Xena portraits are as clean as could be expected for the era. Silver paint is used to pick out the fasteners, fuel fill, and overflow tube. The window frames are sharply picked out in black, as is the rear spoiler.

The chassis is gloss black-painted metal with black plastic parts for the steering, suspension, and fuel tank floor. Wheels are 9-hole style cast in black plastic with red painted bands and vinyl tires with yellow "Goodyear #1 Eagle" sidewall printing. Everything looks good, though tires of this vintage are prone to leaching a shiny, sticky residue as they age - especially when stored in a hot area. If that happens, they can be cleaned with some water and dishwashing liquid applied with a cotton swab.

Under the hood is the same forward frame used on their Monte Carlo, now surrounding a unique Ford powerplant. The block is painted blue and accessorized with a silver front cover, silver intake manifold, black belt assembly, chrome valve covers, and a chrome air cleaner. The bottom half of the engine, including the lower part of the block, oil pan, transmission, and exhaust, is entirely painted silver. Detailing is pretty good, with the fuel pump, alternator, and fan all properly cast. There is no ignition wiring, but the distributor is cast with open holes so that wires can be added to the more expensive releases.

the interior appears to be the same generic cage seen in their Monte Carlo. It's not very detailed, but has enough paint to look more or less correct: light gray cage, black dash, seat, and net, and red fire extinguisher. The gauges have silver painted bezels, but no other detailing.

Features/Accessories

The hood opens, the front springs work, and the front wheels turn but are not tied to the steering wheel. This is also a "Clear Window Bank" (CWB), with a coin slot built into the body where the rear window meets the tulip panel. Should you want to put coins in it, they can be removed by opening the trunk floor using a tiny gold key that's held in the chassis.

Accuracy

For the most part this is a very accurate replica. The shaping is very good, the markings all look correct, and the interior and engine are good enough to get the job done. The base paint lacks the subtle gradient on the 1:1 car and the Xena portraits aren't as sharp as we would expect to see today, but given the year this was manufactured both are forgivable.

Overall

This is, if nothing else, a cool look back at a slice of NASCAR's history. The Taurus was the first four-door car sanction by the organization, TV/movie sponsorships were still in their infancy, and diecast replicas were on their way up. Plus, who doesn't love Xena?