Reviews of products for scale automotive models, including motorcycles and motorized vehicles.

Review Author
Damon Blair
Published on
April 3, 2017
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$52.00

Porsche is one of the premiere names in racing and sports cars in the world. This limited edition model of the Trust Racing Team’s Porsche 962C comes from Hasegawa and is a faithful reproduction of the real thing.

The kit contains 40 white plastic pieces on six runners, one white plastic car body, 12 clear pieces, four black axle retainers, and four rubber tires. There are several extra clear plastic and white plastic parts intended to create versions of the Porsche 962 that are different from the subject of this kit.

I highly recommend painting all of the kit’s parts prior to beginning any assembly. The only exception would be the parts used to build the airfoil on the back of the car, and that is due to a fit issue with the airfoil parts. Also recommended is to leave off the small exterior parts (windshield wiper, rear view mirrors, etc.) for last, to avoid breakage.

Review Author
Dave Morrissette
Published on
March 14, 2017
Company
Moebius Models
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$44.99

There have been many incarnations of the Batmobile from the 1940’s until the latest entry, the Dawn of Justice Batmobile. All of them are cool but this latest is sleeker, armed to the teeth and looks the part. Moebius has replicated this with this kit so let’s jump in and get it built.

Looking through the instructions (gasp!), there are four major parts to the assembly- the chassis and wheels, the upper body, the cockpit and the spoilers/wings.

Review Author
Doug Cole
Published on
February 10, 2020
Company
Italeri
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$34.99

After ten years of Countach production, the 1985 four valve per cylinder “Quattrovalvole“ V-12 coupled with a new fuel injection system was a significant upgrade. If that wasn’t enough for auto enthusiast they only made 610 of them which sold out immediately.

This review covers the skill level 5 (ages 14 years and older) 2016 release of the Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quattrovalvole 1:24 Scale Italeri Model Kit #3683. This kit is molded in white, grey, black, chrome, and clear with vinyl tires. Decals are made for the detailed interior and the chassis is made in multiple parts for enhanced finishing. The motor is highly detailed and can be viewed through the open engine cover. The body is also a multi-part unit crisply molded and proportionally correct. Finished dimensions are Length 7-¼”, Width 3”, Height 2”.

Review Author
Doug Cole
Published on
January 18, 2017
Company
Round 2 Models
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$28.99

Back in ’77 the AMC Pacer was arguably ahead of its time. The expanded windows were a definite safety feature allowing greater visibility, and the sub-compact (now the same size as some mid-size cars) had great fuel consumption. Unfortunately, it was “too far ahead” and people described its odd look as an upside-down fishbowl.

Review Author
Doug Cole
Published on
January 8, 2017
Company
Round 2 Models
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$31.49

Talk about a blast from the past – this kit hasn’t been seen since its 1986 release. The secondary market prices were approaching $100 and here it is again for our enjoyment at reasonable prices. This kit features some of the largest tires available for a 1:25 scale kit, and not one, but three fully blown Hemi drag motors and a wagon full of accessories.

This review covers the skill level 3 (ages 12 years and older) 2016 re-release of the Blazing Bison Puller Tractor 1:25 Scale AMT Model Kit #1006. There are 150+ pieces molded in yellow, black, and chrome, with metal axles, gigantic soft vinyl tires and waterslide decals. Finished dimensions are; ~ L-8”, W-5”, H-3”.

Construction and Detailing

To reduce color variations I recommend that you spray all the yellow pieces with a medium-tone primer.

Review Author
Bill O'Malley
Published on
January 7, 2017
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/12
MSRP
$69.99

This is a great kit with lots of detail and fit of the parts is excellent. The assembly is complex, but the instruction are clear so it’s a fun modeling challenge.

Hasegawa's Yamaha YZR500 was released in 2014 and is a rebox of a kit first issued in 2012, The kit has been released several times since then, mostly with new decals.

Review Author
Mark Costello
Published on
February 3, 2020
Company
Revell, Inc.
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$24.95

This new kit from Revell is the 2015 Corvette C7.R that raced at Le Mans and in the IMSA racing league in the United States.

Kit

The kit comes packaged in the usual Revell 1/25 size cardboard box with 4 bags of white molded parts, 1 bag with a white body, the metal axles, rubber tires and clear red tail lights, and 1 bag with the clear parts. There are a total of 13 sprues of white plastic plus the body, 1 sprue of clear red, 2 clear sprues and the 2 metal axles and 4 rubber tires. All this adds up to a total of 64 plastic parts. The parts are molded with good detail and little flash. There are some ejector pin marks that will need to be addressed, but not too many.

Review Author
Jim Stepanek
Published on
February 3, 2020
Company
Revell, Inc.
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$26.95

Revell put together a pretty wild kit with this Beretta. It’s almost straight out of the TV show “Street Outlaws”.

Engine

We have a supercharged small block with nitrous. Real life would be putting out massive amounts of horsepower. Instructions were a little fuzzy on the distributor angle. Straight up won’t allow the body to sit correctly, so it must be angled. Provides a pretty nice Lenco transmission.

Interior

There’s not too much to the interior. Very nice bucket seats are provided, a full roll cage, ton of gauges, fire extinguishers, nitrous bottle, and shifters.

Body

Body is a simple affair and has the Chevy bowtie molded in on the engine bay. After shooting the body with HOK black followed by a quick clear coat, I wasn’t able to get the decals to set as well as I thought they should. I even used decal solvents to try get them to lay down.

Review Author
Mark Costello
Published on
January 2, 2017
Company
Hasegawa
Scale
1/24
MSRP
$41.99

This kit is a re-release from Hasegawa of the #38 Denso sponsored Toyota 88C that ran in the 1989 Le Mans race. The car finished in 53rd place and did not finish the race due to a crash. This is a curbside kit and has no engine or suspension details.

Kit

The kit comes packaged in the usual Hasegawa cardboard box and contains 1 bag of clear parts with the tire marking decal sheet inside and 1 bag of white parts with 4 rubber tires and polycaps separately bagged inside of it. There is a total of 7 sprues of white parts plus the chassis and body and 1 sprue of clear parts. All together there are 97 parts in this kit, although 14 of those parts are for other versions of the car. My kit had quite a bit of flash on the parts, but none that was difficult to remove. Just be careful to clean up the parts before assembly. There were also some ejector pin marks that will need to be taken care of or they will be seen.

Review Author
Doug Cole
Published on
February 3, 2020
Company
Revell, Inc.
Scale
1/25
MSRP
$24.95

The stunning good looks and performance of the Pratt & Miller Corvette C7.R were only surpassed by the performance of this incredible racing machine. A true race car, this triple threat vehicle only shares it outer skin with the Corvette as nearly everything else is custom made to handle the rigors of long endurance racing propelled by a 491 HP engine.

This review covers the skill level 4 (ages 12 years and older) new tooling release of the 2015 Corvette C7.R 1:25 Scale Revell Model Kit #85-4304. There are White, clear, clear red, metal axles, soft black tires with waterslide decals. You get a superbly detailed race car body with a racing chassis, safety roll cage and separate, but simplified, motor. This is a specific vehicle special subject kit and a historically accurate rendering of the 2015 C7.R. Final dimensions are approximately; Length: 7”, Width: 3½”, Height: 2”.