Tamiya’s new 1/35^th scale Fukuiraptor kit depicts a Cretaceous-era dinosaur that was found near Fukui Japan. It seems that this kit is intended to be an easy model for young or inexperienced builders. There are only a dozen parts, and at a price of $9.25 can be had for pocket money. With this kit, Tamiya introduces what they call “Clic Loc” design. The parts of this kit press-fit together so that no glue is required.

Included in the kit box are two trees of plastic parts and a small brochure. One tree of parts contains all the parts for the dinosaur. The second tree has the base and a silhouette of two people to serve as a scale reference. The brochure is printed in Japanese, English, German, and French. One side of the brochure has information about the history and ecology of Fukuiraptor, the other side has instructions for constructing the model.

Although this kit is clearly intended to be an inexpensive and simple kit for new modelers, Tamiya did not skimp on design or production quality. There are no sink-marks, flash, or ejector-pin marks to clean up. The surface of the model has realistic texture and wrinkles. Instead of making the top of the head in halves, Tamiya went to the expense of using slide-molding to make the top of the head (A1). The separate piece for the belly (A2), allows the hind legs to be molded with the sides of the body, avoiding visible seams at the top of the legs. To see how well the “Clic Loc” design worked, I built the kit as the instructions recommended by using only side-cutters and no glue. The model went together quickly and seemed solid enough to stay together over time. There were some visible seams, but the gaps were small and in many areas were made to fall where creases in the skin would be. The only areas where a new modeler might go wrong are possibly mixing up the left and right hind feet or installing the tail upside down. These parts are keyed to go on only one way, but this isn’t obvious just by looking. If a part seems to need more than a little force, it’s probably in the wrong place. If you buy this kit for a young modeler, some adult supervision may be needed, (but be careful how you pronounce “Fukuiraptor”).

This is a small model. The box is 9” by 5.5” by 1.5” and the Fukuiraptor is just under 5” long when finished. Since the kit is small and only requires side-cutters to build, it would be a good kit for a kid or immature adult to bring along on a road trip or a flight. It also seems like a good model to finish using some of the new acrylic paint markers that are now available.

After building my kit, I did go back and glue and fill the seams in preparation for painting. My memories of the Cretaceous era are foggy these days, so I’m afraid that I can’t recommend specific colors to use. The lack of color references for these creatures makes these models good paint mules for experimenting with new techniques or practicing painting skills. However it turns out, you can declare that it’s exactly what you intended!

If you are a reasonable and intelligent person, you will agree with me that building models is cool, and that dinosaurs are awesome. When this kit was announced, I knew what I would be spending my allowance on. Tamiya has produced a great little kit, and I’m glad to see a model that reverses the trend of kits becoming too expensive to tempt young modelers. I hope that Tamiya continues to produce more kits like this one.

I’d like to thank IPMS/USA for providing the opportunity to review kits like this one.