Tom Daniel Red Baron Hot-Rod (1969) 1:18

Tom Daniel is one of the most prolific hot rod and custom car designers of the 20th century. A unique combination of industrial designer and fine artist, Tom combined his formal design training with his love of cars to create some of the wildest wheeled creations ever seen! His catalog of over 80 model kit designs have left their mark in the imagination of everyone who loves cars. His passion and knowledge led Tom to the "Rocketman" Land Speed Record project and countless other design adventures during his amazing career. 'TD' continues to push the design envelope to this day, just as he's done since the late 1950's! His eye for design and wild imagination have created some of the most famous custom car and bike designs ever. Tom Daniel is a true IRON LEGEND.

1970 Dragster "Bad Medicine" Show Rod 1:24 Tom Daniel

The Bad Medicine Model was created in 1970, designed by the infamous designer Tom Daniel. With over 85 designs to his credit, this one doesn't disappoint. It's based off of an old delivery truck c-cab with a skeleton at the wheel.

Upon opening the box, one will find a one-piece body molded in purple, a leather-look fitted seat/casket for the driver, two soft wheels for the front and the two rear wheels molded, in two pieces each, from black plastic. The parts found on the sprues were molded in white, purple, and chrome-plated. A nice touch is that the rear wheels are flat on the running surface and the rubber on the sides appears to have the pull marks that a true drag car's tires would look at high speeds. Parts were individually packaged to prevent damage in transport.

I spent a little time cleaning up the excess flash on parts that were specifically molded in purple; the other sprues were good and for the most part ready to go. The engine went together with no problems until I reached the heads. There was one notch between the engine and the head that prevented it from seating correctly. I filed the notch down on the offending side in no time and proceeded to the next step.

The three-piece body and legs on the skeleton fit together nicely and is quite realistic looking. The skeleton went into the seat beautifully and the seat is skillfully molded to look like tufted leather. The guide slots provided assure that the seat will fall into position just right. I did have problems keeping the steering column in the right position while also trying to put in the engine with the drive shaft on the same step. In hindsight, I think I would leave the engine and the bottom of the model until the steering column has time to dry completely.

The chrome-plated pieces looked perfect and went on smoothly until I discovered that one of the radius rods was short. I thought I must have broken it off somehow until I saw the end that was short had been chromed. After some debate, I glued it into position as if it were meeting the appropriate connection point provided. The addition of the accents, such as the steer skull and skull and crossbones on the back went on without incident.