The finsihed taxi with an unpainted Blue Moon gangster

I’ve always been a big fan of the pulp genre. I started out as a kid listening to the old Shadow radio show, and later branched out into reading the Shadow pulps and later Doc Savage and the Spider and all the rest. I’ve never gotten a chance to run a pulp RPG campaign, but I’ve been collecting games and select minis for some time.

Cars, however, have always been a problem. Much like the action movies and TV shows of today, automotive mayhem was a key component of the pulps. Heroes spend a great deal of time chasing baddies in cars, fleeing baddies in cars, nearly being run down by cars, and taking cover behind cars. Unfortunately, 28mm vehicles from the 1920s and 1930s have always been a bit scarce. Slapping a Hummer down on a table full of tommy-gun toting minis in fedoras just breaks the mood something awful.

The basic resin chassis, right out of the box

Enter Blue Moon Manufacturing. A relative newcomer to the industry, they produce an extensive line of vintage vehicles (including trucks) to fit just about any need. Having been well-pleased with the box of pulp gangsters I had purchased from them previously, I decided to take the plunge and order one.

In due time a surprisingly heavy little cardboard box arrived at my door. Inside I found an auto body and a plastic baggie containing a profusion of metal parts and accessories. The body was a nice, solid cast in sturdy resin with impressive detail engraved into the radiator, doors and trim. It required only minor cleanup of a few mold tabs and some flash in the rear windows. I was gratified to find only a couple of small air bubbles, and those were on the undercarriage so I didn’t even bother to fill them. Clearly whoever is handling the casting for Blue Moon knows what their about.

The metal parts weren’t quite as clean, requiring a little filing and clipping to remove flash and a mold line or two. The big roof panel was a bit warped and required some gentle bending to get it straight and flat, but that wasn’t unexpected since it’s tough to cast such a big piece and keep every one perfect.

A front view, showing th detailed radiator

The kit shipped without instructions, which was no big hurdle for the most part. Common sense and a bit of test fitting before gluing sufficed to get almost everything in its’ place. I did have a bit of trouble figuring out the exact relationship between the trunk, spare tire and rear bumper, but I experimented a bit and consulted a couple of historical photos for reference and got it sorted out.

Once assembled, most of the car painted up quite quickly. I decided to make my sedan a taxi as depicted on the box photo, since taxi chases are such a genre staple. I soon came to regret this choice. It had been a long time since I’d tried to paint anything large any shade of yellow, and I was abruptly confronted once again with the abominable lack of coverage that seems to plague every line of paints in the world. It took four or five coats of my normally-beloved Vallejo paint, plus touchups, to get a nice even appearance. I’m happy with the result, but it will be a month of Sundays before I paint another taxi!

A rear view, showing the rear tire and trunk I had a little trouble with.

The whitewalls posed another problem. I massively underestimated the difficulty of painting a perfect circle of white onto a black tire, and it proved MUCH more time consuming than I had expected. Still, this style of tire was very common at the time, and skipping that detail would have greatly impacted the authentic look of the final product, so I soldiered on. The results were worth it.

The final product is most impressive on the tabletop. As one would hope, the scale is perfect with Blue Moon’s gangers and civilians. Scale issues between minis and vehicles can often be extremely vexing given the casual attitude many miniatures companies have towards keeping a consistent scale on their figs, but Blue Moon really did their homework here and the taxi looks right at home.

The metal bits straight out of the box

The finished car has a nice solid heft to it thanks to the metal, and has proven surprisingly durable. An accidental plunge from the tabletop onto a hard tile floor resulted in only a chipped right front fender, a detached roof and headlights, and a bent windscreen, which were all easily fixed in fifteen minutes or so on the workbench.

Overall, this is a top-quality kit worthy of a place in any gamer’s collection. I look forward to adding more of Blue Moon’s vehicle to my vintage garage. So if you need some wheels for your gunsels and their molls, or perhaps you have a shamus in need of a lift to save a gorgeous dame, consider this sedan one offer that you SHOULDN’T refuse.

Pros: Great detailing, Solid construction, Authentic styling, Well scaled

Cons: No instructions

Final Verdict: 4/5

MSRP: $22.50

Source: Purchased from Old Glory 25s

Popularity: 17% [?]

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