Kit: Maisto Die-Cast 1992 Ford Explorer 1/24 Scale
To understand this model, you may want to know I saw the original ‘Jurassic Park’ in the theater no less than 15 times. It was a sort of obsession, plus it gave me and my dad something to do together when we were a bit distant.
To my dismay, the only kit produced was a crap-tastic 2-door Explorer/Mazda Navajo with a sticker package. I barely even looked at the box before putting it down in disgust. I was on my own on this one.
My first attempt was to try to convert a Ford F150 model that was available at the time into an explorer. Spoiler: It didn’t work and eventually was scrapped. The leftover parts went to several other projects so it wasn’t a complete waste.
Through my meager teenage connections I managed to secure not one but two 1/24 Maisto Ford Explorer models. These are die-cast and probably meant as dealer displays or something. Pretty nice stuff, steerable wheels, fold-down backseat, etc. The metal body was going to be the end of me though. Cutting the hole in the roof was an enormous undertaking.
The roof portion was scratch built from styrene, including the lights that even have clear lenses. The dome was 3 sections of clear styrene glued carefully together. It WAS clear at one time but apparently the clearcoat ate the hell out of it, turning it into an opaque texture. Bleh. It’s fairly well built into the roof too, so I can’t just cut it off and pop on a new one. Oh well at least the shape is right.
The front interior was gutted and replaced mostly from scratch. I modified the dashboard to have the camera mounted where the instrument pod used to be. I made seats from scratch. Not just from styrene, but seriously with bits of foam in them and everything. Something I hardly believe to this day and can only prove by pushing on them. I’m so weird.
The push bar is a great source of pride. Hand-drilled holes, brass tubing bent to strict measurement, and hand-sanded lights with clear lenses all from scratch. Even nicer, the whole front fascia pops off so I could work on it independently.
The paint job was a lot of fun. I couldn’t get the hang of an airbrush (plus it took longer to set up than it did to use it) so the blending effect was done with a cardboard mask held slightly away from the car to give it a bit of splatter/fade. The truck started out a maroon color, and was then painted solid green through the middle, then sprayed yellow on the bottom. Red stripes were hand-painted, as well as the logos and printing all over the car. That remains some of my finest hand-painted work on a model.
Die-Cast doors.. Am I right?! Ha! Well I never liked how they opened but I wasn’t about to redo them myself.
Just a heads up, this was my first version of this vehicle. Hold on to your butts..