Background:

I bought this in 2018 as a pre-built kit at a model kit show in Hinckley, for £5. The price and the "I've not seem this before" appealed to me. I only realized later what a good looking car it can be when done right. I figured at the time I'll either rescue it or bin it, depending on how well it came apart and how easy it was to repair things. It was a slight glue bomb and the wheels and suspension were slightly broken.

Verdict:

It seems unfair to even try and review this kit in a normal way. It's a reboxing of a reboxing of an old motorised Japanese moulding from the late 1970s, and it certainly shows with it's big battery area, moulded-in windscreen wiper, low-relief interior and overall lack of detail. My conclusion on this kit : it's a good starting point because the overall shape is good even if the kit is not. And what a shape that is. The result here really benefits from these much bigger wheels and thinner tyres, and the car itself is a thing of beauty. It certainly puts many of the more modern race cars sitting next it on the shelf into the shade.

Build notes:

Bodyshell stripped and painted over 2 weeks in 2018, then with a gap of about 8 years, and then completed over 5 further weeks in summer 2026. The interior is scratch built/parts box except for the dashboard. The wheels, tyres and brakes are new. Most of the decals are new aside from the sills and the Magneti Marelli ones that I left in place as a nod to the person that originally built this back in who-knows-when. The PE bonnet pins are an addition too. The bonnet air scoop was cut out and a scratch built/PE-spares radiator was built. Painted in Tamiya metallic red.

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