3 Aoshima 1/32 Tuner Kits

[jbwelda]

just picked up these three kits off ebay and thought some people here might like to see what to expect if they order them too. one thing, be sure to shop around because some sellers want unwarranted (you will see) dollars for them...I think I paid 12 US$ each and shipping for the three was probably 10, so total less than 50$ for the lot.

All three are Aoshima in what it take it to be the "Initial D" series (hard to tell because its all in Japanese), all three 1/32 scale: Mazda FC3S RX7, Mazda FD3S RX7 and the Nissan Sileighty (aka 180SX in the USA I believe).

one thing that was not totally apparent to me was the simplicity of these kits. and by simplicity, I mean literally no interior, at all, and no real chassis except something to hang four wheels off and support some batteries and a small Mabuchi style electric motor. because these kits are motorized, though you do not get the motor itself you get gears and some grease and as I alluded to, a chassis that cannot even be called a chassis plate. but that has its plus side too...no temptation to overdetail! I did not even bother to photograph it because they are so elemental, and all three kits includes the same parts for chassis and running gear.

the motorization is not slot car style, though there are numerous hints here that the cars are indeed aimed at the 1/32 "true scale" crowd, of which I happen to be one. as such they are well received, as the part that really counts, the body, are all uniformly well shaped with minimal or no parting lines (from a rough glance, watch the pics make a liar out of me), and they indeed feature the body mods that are shown on the covers of the boxes, something that American manufacturers (sic) should think about more seriously. as mentioned, there is no interior at all but the glass is tinted a heavy dark shade and spraying a further coat of black inside the glass cage should render the lack of interior moot.

the bonus is that each kit includes the wheels pictured on the box top including a very kool minilite style. the tires are smooth blobs but again that kind of harkens to the slot car intention, seeing as they feel like they are slot car silicone based, so its an upgrade in traction on some tracks.

there is also a nice decal sheet for each car, all three different, that includes really nice looking rear light lenses and running lights, probably won't use many of the light lense decals but the taillights look too great to pass up and complicated scheme at that.

the bottom line is basically, if you are after some nice slot car bodies, or even slammer style shelf models, these are just the ticket and available cheap. but if  you are looking for internal detail (or even an exhaust pipe for that matter...good opportunity to get rid of old paintbrushes) these will probably disappoint. I would also mention that there is at least one more in this series, the only series of 1/32 I think I have seen, and I think it is another variation on the earlier RX7.

heres a look at whats inside: Nissan Sileighty (appears to be 180SX in the states), Early Mazda RX7 (FC3S) and the later Mazda RX7 (FD3S)

 

 

 

 

bodies: sileighty:

 

FD RX7:

 

FC RX7:

 

 

 

 

wheels:

 

sileighty:

 

 

FC:

 

and FD:

 

all match what is shown on the box art and all cars look like they will look great when done. I am going to do all three at once this year sometime, and slam stance them down and maybe some brushing up on the airbrush experimentation!

sorry for the poor pics, I am still learning a new camera

jb

 

Edited August 10, 2015 by jbwelda

[superbike-shaun]

Superbike-shaun says ; most eggcellent review  grasshopper!  true  to the  variances,in pricing also, I do have an tip for the frugal  model  buyers,buying from Japanese  side of things,,there is an  ebay seller that goes by korkorfun, he has some GREAT  pricing on his wares so do check  in on him if  you want to save some  dough!. Superbike-shaun

[lysleder]

The name Sileighty is an amalgamation of the names of two different cars. The Nissan Silvia which is a coupe bodystyle, and the Nissan 180 which is more of a a fastback bodystyle. Although these two cars look fairly different, they are closely related - to the point that all the sheetmetal and trim from a Silvia will bolt right onto the unibody structure of a 180. While still technically being a 180, a vehicle that has undergone this treatment will appear to be Silvia up front and 180 at the back. Thus, it will commonly be referred to as a "Sileighty". As I understand this conversion was kind of common among car enthusiasts in Japan at some time. 

And yes, one such car appears in the Manga (Japanese comic books) series Initial D. If you don't know it already, you might want to give it a look. It is rather silly and whatnot, but I enjoyed it enough to collect some 10-15 books of it.

Edited August 11, 2015 by lysleder

[jbwelda]

thanks for that history, I figured the "Sil" part referenced a Silvia, but i never put it together that the "eighty" part was for "80". the car basically looks like what was sold here (USA) as a 180SX or maybe even the early 240SX but I didn't know the actual origin of the name and I had not noticed that the front end looked 240ish. I do remember talking to this guy one day in a warehouse district who was putting a 240SX front end on his 180SX so this must have been exactly what he was doing.

jb

 

[AC Norton]

nice little review....thanks for that info, they look to be neat little guys........the ace........

[fumi]

 I would also mention that there is at least one more in this series, the only series of 1/32 I think I have seen, and I think it is another variation on the earlier RX7.

 

The rest of the series are 2 variations of the Fujiwara Trueno, one with the pop-up lights down and the other with them up.

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/search?typ1_c=112&cat=car&sold=0&state=0&sortid=0&target=series&searchkey=Initial+D+(Aoshima)

They were first tooled up in the late 90's, when the Initial D manga series started to become popular.