Polar Lights Sunbeam Tiger "Rally Racer"

This is going to be my first build here on the new forum. I decided that I was going to use the recently re-released Sunbeam Tiger from Polar Lights. The Tiger has a spot in my heart going back to my days as a kid. I first sat the Tiger in reruns on the classic TV show Get Smart. Later in my High School days I had a teacher that had a tiger, While he really wasn't much of a talker he did love to talk about his Tiger.

The Tiger has an undeniable charm, and a lovely exhaust burble. But it never quite escaped its origins, and always had a bit of a mixed image: was it a poor man’s Cobra or a shrunken T-Bird? The fact that Maxwell Smart drove one didn’t exactly help either.

I had been looking for a Tiger kit for some time but they are relatively difficult to find and when they are found the price quickly escalates to prices I am uncomfortable paying. With this re-release that changes everything. I got this Tiger kit for about $21 dollars (US). To be honest after looking at the kit I;m glad I waited. This kit is NOT worth the prices people were asking before this re-release. That's not to say its not a good kit, its a fine kit but not worth what people were asking. The kit really shows its age. If you would like to see an indepth look at the kit and parts check out this kit review.

Sunbeam Tiger Kit Review

Now I wanted to get this kit and build the ole Get Smart car, and the cool think is almost all of the parts that make this the Smart car are still included in the kit. I decided that I was going to build a Rally racer instead. so...

The Kit



The 260, V8



I'm out of distributor kits so I have to make my own. For this I am using the kit distributor and some telaphone wire I stripped down.



I will get back to the motor later

I decided that a rally racer, or any race car version wouldn't have a console for I set to remove that next

With console



Too late to turn back now



All cleaned up



Patch put in place



I started working on cleaning up the body, sanding the seams, and removing the body molding,



Till next time....


B - Strong

I'm in Dirk. 

like to see how this turns out, nice subject

I'm following Dirk.

Wouldn't mind getting this one myself.

I'll be watching this one, Dirk. I've got the old AMT Blueprinter kit in my stash.

RetiredMike wrote:I'll be watching this one, Dirk.  I've got the old AMT Blueprinter kit in my stash.

This kit is no different then the Blueprinter version. Same parts same flash.... but of course this has newer decals

Nice subject, I am in for the duration.

Dirkpitt289 wrote:

RetiredMike wrote:I'll be watching this one, Dirk.  I've got the old AMT Blueprinter kit in my stash.

This kit is no different then the Blueprinter version. Same parts same flash.... but of course this has newer decals

And it's  an AMT not a Polar Lights

I was wanting one, as I built one way back when Matchbox owned AMT, but after seeing some shots of it somewhere and your pics, I'm not so sure now.

Promodmerc wrote:

Dirkpitt289 wrote:

RetiredMike wrote:I'll be watching this one, Dirk.  I've got the old AMT Blueprinter kit in my stash.

This kit is no different then the Blueprinter version. Same parts same flash.... but of course this has newer decals

And it's  an AMT not a Polar Lights

I was wanting one, as I built one way back when Matchbox owned AMT, but after seeing some shots of it somewhere and your pics, I'm not so sure now.  

AMT is now under Polar Lights so I'm still right. Na, na, na, na,

Its a very basic kit but it's easy to clean up. It should work out fine and its to only one there is so if you really want one... I'd rather pay the current price of $21 for it then what the Blueprinter is getting on eBay. I'm glad I lost all those bids now that I've seen the inside of the box

Welcome Dirk. You have chosen a great subject and I will enjoy following your build.

Thanks Cole

Dirkpitt289 wrote:

Promodmerc wrote:

Dirkpitt289 wrote:

RetiredMike wrote:I'll be watching this one, Dirk.  I've got the old AMT Blueprinter kit in my stash.

This kit is no different then the Blueprinter version. Same parts same flash.... but of course this has newer decals

And it's  an AMT not a Polar Lights

I was wanting one, as I built one way back when Matchbox owned AMT, but after seeing some shots of it somewhere and your pics, I'm not so sure now.  

AMT is now under Polar Lights so I'm still right. Na, na, na, na,

Its a very basic kit but it's easy to clean up. It should work out fine and its to only one there is so if you really want one... I'd rather pay the current price of $21 for it then what the Blueprinter is getting on eBay. I'm glad I lost all those bids now that I've seen the inside of the box

Well they are both under Round2 so it's a Round2 AMT

For those not up on it, the Tiger was the Sunbeam Alpine with the small 289 Ford engine. I thought it was pretty cool. The AMT kit had a few optional parts. Your fotos show inner door panels lookng pretty flat and in general not up to today's best kits. I'll really enjoy this one.

harron68 wrote:For those not up on it, the Tiger was the Sunbeam Alpine with the small 289 Ford engine.  I thought it was pretty cool.  The AMT kit had a few optional parts.  Your fotos show inner door panels lookng pretty flat and in general not up to today's best kits.  I'll really enjoy this one.

This is an old kit, so I would't expect too much. As for the door panels they weren't much on the 1:1's either so the kit isn't far off other then the missing handles and cranks

Tiger 2 had the 289, the original was a 260

gives me another build project idea...they used one in the 007 movie(Dr. No).

disabled modeler wrote:gives me another build project idea...they used one in the 007 movie(Dr. No).

You are correct

Not a lot of progress the last couple days but I did get the fender flares mounted and modified. By modified I mean I trimmed them to be flush with the bottom of the body. Out of the box they hang "BELOW" the body and I didn't like that. I also had to do some trimming to the original fenders after the flares were in place. Be warned IF you choose to use these they are a horrible fit. I could only do one at a time and they kept popping off. They were a real bitch to get in place. That said I like the look for this application because it giver the car that Cobra.

I've always had mixed feelings about fender flares. They very rarely look like they belong, but well fitted and blended into the sides, they can look better. Nice careful work!
Re: "Dr. No", I saw it at the theater and wasn't very impressed. Same for first Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Anyone who wants a successful film series, just ask my opinion. If I'm not excited, it will be a hit!

harron68 wrote:I've always had mixed feelings about fender flares.  They very rarely look like they belong, but well fitted and blended into the sides, they can look better.  Nice careful work!
   Re: "Dr. No", I saw it at the theater and wasn't very impressed.  Same for first Star Wars and Indiana Jones.  Anyone who wants a successful film series, just ask my opinion.  If I'm not excited, it will be a hit!

I'm not going to lie, I'm not a huge fan either but I wanted to make this a little different. As a matter of fact all the Rally cars I saw online DIDN'T even have them.

One thing that was disappointing me about the Tiger was that it didn't have a hood scoop and there are no aftermarkets ones available. Now if I was building the Get Smart car that wouldn't be an issue but since I'm building a rally car I felt I HAD to have one but how????

Here is what I did.

I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up this little gem. With a 40% coupon in hand I got it for about $12. Now I'm not usually a fan of buying brand new kits for parts but I figure I can yank the hood now. Later when the time comes to build it I can easily find a replacement in the aftermarket arena.



Here is the hoods side-by-side.



I extricated the hood from the Shelby and went to work getting it ready tor the Tiger









To place the scoop properly I had tto first find the center of each component



The Shelby scoop has a new home



Till next time....


B -Strong

Great work Dirk. 

A scoop that fits well into the model. I expect the Mustang won't go to waste with your skills either!