Aoshima Beemax Honda Civic EF3 (Gr.A) '89 PIAA 1/24 | Model Kit Index

Background:

The EF Honda Civic is my second favourite after the EK, and coupled with wanting to see/try the quality of the Beemax kits made getting this kit a no brainer. Although despite that, it still sat in the stash for 4 years. After a lot of road cars, I wanted to end 2020 with a race car and the result has reminded me I really ought to build more race cars.

Pros:

Aside from a couple of bits I had trouble with, it all fits together perfectly. It's well moulded, the transparent parts are - as you can see from the images - very clear and distortion-free. The decals are really grippy once applied, greasy fingers won't pull them back off easily. The door mirrors mount really securely (easily-broken-off mirrors are a bugbear of mine in kits). The window rubbers are moulded into the glass rather than the body - something I wish more kits had, and the windows are all seperate and mount from the outside, which is just a lot better. Nice to see a kit have actual moulded elec/fire shut off levers - there's a lot of detail in the kit.

Cons:

Inexplicably, two of the wheels are chromed whilst two are not. The two that are chromed are far too shiny for any practical purposes, although at least it comes off with oven cleaner. There are large black decals for the sides, rear and c-pillars and these are of the Tamiya level of optimism "you expect that to conform to this?". There were some decals left over that seemed to have no place on the kit's decal instructions.

Verdict:

Very recommended if you like the subject matter - it's a really great kit and being a compact car, won't even take up too much room on the shelf. I will pay attention to future Beemax kits.

Build notes:

I bought the optional Photo-etched detailing set as well and it's got a lot of fiddly parts, many of which are no better than the plastic part they're replacing. However it's useful for certain detailing - seatbelts/buckles, brake disks, bonnet pins and few other bits and pieces. So the whole thing is built from only the kit and the PE set, no further detailing was necessary. I painted the interior floor pan white rather than the suggested black as it made it easier to see the details and in my mind this is a white car with black bits, not a black car with white bits. The whole body is clearcoated with Mr Hobby Topcoat Gloss, the first time I've tried clearcoating over decals. It's not solvent based so didn't attack the decals, but it did loosen them a bit and cause a couple to move. There's a few bits I find imperfect on this build but the photos don't show them.

---