Chuck Kourouklis

Awesome! I was wondering when we might see this one...

Thanks gents, and I'm realizing belatedly I shoulda put it in the "what did you get today" thread - but NOVA looks like the name of the series Fujimi evidently thought it was going to do in diecast kits. Know that "Japlish" you sometimes see in literal translations, like Rosso's "GE'AR - Great Exciting Automotive Reality" (or whatever that acronym was)? Well this seems like some kind of Franco-nese: "Nouvel Opinion Vrai Accessoir" But it's a Fujimi kit, likely the only one they'll ever do quite like this.

I think perhaps the most obvious "tell" between the second version and the original is that the later hood has small straps molded to its rear edge. Revell's got those.

Speaking of stupid Ebay prices, I hope nobody minds a quick sidetrack here: if Explorer is lurking, I'd like to THANK YOU, vriend! Turns out that pic I posted earlier was a Craigslist link to this very kit: Yep, somebody had it for sale about an hour (100 km) away - thus ending my 22-year quest! It was quite reasonably priced, too. Bedankt!

I'm good with the subject - but I'd be better still with the same treatment of Tamiya's semi-assembled 288GTO. PLEEEEAASE, Tamiya-san.

Sure thing, Harry. All I can tell you is that the semi-assembled version in that link has been on the market for a few years now, and their diecast F50, some time before that. It would seem to me that any measure of foresight would have had them planning a kit version from the start. But I halfway wonder if this kit didn't come about after the fact - maybe as a result of popular demand - based on the comparatively jagged tree layout for the dirty bits, and the eight years elapsed since the built model was introduced.

Actually rather the same, from the looks. The monocoque and the suspension bits look identical to what we get in the kit I'm guessing that the model in your link had diecast components like the floor pan and engine, and ABS body panels, that are now standard polystyrene in the kit. I think the kit's photoetched components are new too. Beyond that, we may have very much the same model. The sprues for many of the components aren't quite so "prettied up" as we're used to seeing in Tamiya models conceived from the start as assembly kits, for example.

It's based on that, Harry, but no - this is a full assembly kit with all the parts separate, as opposed to that pre-finished, mostly assembled model in the link. That is the "semi-assembled" model Creative Explorer, Ghostmech, and I were talking about earlier.

I have it on fair authority that SMS is at least working up a CF template set for this kit. It really is a bit overwhelming in your hands. I got mine 'round $360 with shipping, and looking it over, I couldn't help imagining I would not have been upset to drop full retail on it. There are certain distinctions - for six bills, I would have hoped for something akin to the CF decals Tamiya eventually put in their 1/24 Enzos, pre-tinted taillights and signal lamps, and some gearing reduction on the steering rather than the straight dogleg shaft-to-tierod arrangement that they have; but again, I wouldn't have felt cheated. At $360, though, I find it worth every penny and beyond.

HEH. No argument there...

Hereya go: http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ Just for grins, tried this one too: http://146.142.4.24/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=280&year1=1986&year2=2012 This one says $578: http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm

I understand the attraction of a Pocher classic, Harry, to such a degree that I anticipated that factor when I mentioned the typical Pocher Classic's "rewards" earlier. But I have shown you a perspective from which cost comparisons absolutely like-it-or-not DO work, and you haven't exactly refuted that. I made no bones about it being MY perspective, and as you and others have suggested, maybe it's not a perspective shared by many others, but history is irrelevant to an appraisal in absolute terms: by the same mechanism I could justify spending $280 on the Mercedes 500K/AK in 1986 ($581 in 2012 terms), $300 1989 on the Testors/Pocher Ferrari (550 2012 dollars), and most especially the collector prices o o p kits now command, $600 for a kit that's not quite as imposing but obviously far advanced in its engineering is NOT such a big step. Drop that price to 300, and it's not ANY kind of step. Explorer, I think I've seen some of those semi-assembled die cast Enzos tickle the $400 range, but only in the same context as the assembly kit is $300 - full MSRP for those was as much as $700. And that Fujimi die cast is an ASSEMBLY KIT - so it doesn't matter if the body medium is die cast or plastic, it's not so easily dismissed from the discussion. Now as for Italeri releases, I've got their 1/16 F40 which I actually rather like. But I'm having a hard time digging up anything on a 1/12 F40 from them - you got any documentation on that? If they've done one, I'd guess the odds are pretty fair it's the Protar kit - if so, Italeri's own 1/16 kit is far superior overall. Revell AG's release is likely a re-box of the Monogram 1/12 F40 - not terrible, but it recycles the Testarossa's tires to sad, comical effect. If the Protar kit has any use, maybe it's as a wheel and tire donor to the Revell/Monogram kit.

Sorry if I somehow came across that way, but I never meant to imply that the classics or even the Volvo truck were pre-painted diecast. "The Pocher kit" in that sentence above referred specifically to the example I brought up in the F40. As for 1/12 F40s, check your resources again - Fujimi also did a 1/12 painted diecast kit F40 that was available just before the Pocher F40. Enter it in a google search and you'll find it existed, though info on it is scarce: Were you aware of Protar's 1/12 F40? If not, you didn't miss much there; that thing was a wreck. Yeah, I know a thing or two about Revell's GT500, and anyone who's reasonably deft can make that kit look much more complex than it actually is, with paint alone. I wouldn't even call it crude, just simplified, and it's one of my favorites in a long time. As for your 1/25-24 examples, if we're going to reduce it to the kind of math you appear to suggest, let's fix the Enzo price at $50. You get about 70% more parts, opening doors, and a great deal of extra tooling precision for 2 - 2.5 times the cost of a 1/25 Revell Mustang, and that's just in the case of the Enzo and the LF-A - most of the time, the design and parts count of a $50-70 Tamiya kit is directly comparable to that of a $25 Revell kit. For 8 times the cost of a 1/12 GT500, using your numbers, Tamiya's Enzo gives you 300% more of the major parts (to say nothing of the roughly 100% on TOP of that with fasteners), a lot more detail, and many more operating features. So the value ratio with design factors mixed in is roughly the same - if not actually favorable to the 1/12 Enzo in the final analysis.

But you CAN look back to when those kits were available and make adjustments. Case in point: The Pocher 1/8 Ferrari F40, which we'll round down to $500 new, 1992 MSRP - that's over 800 dollars in 2012 terms. Now with the Pocher kit, you get painted diecast panels that might slide by without refinishing if you're not feeling too critical, a more imposing mass, and a roughly similar parts count and number of operating features. But detail has been held as the comparative standard here, and you need another couple hundred dollars aftermarket to match what the Tamiya Enzo gives you in the box. Let's make a rough adjustment for scale and imagine a 1/12 F40 (one doesn't need to imagine actually, 'cause there WAS a Fujimi kit like this), for 2/3 the cost at 2/3 the scale. It's a bogus line of reasoning, because it's probably not a lot cheaper to tool up a 1/12 kit with the same design and parts count, but let's just suppose - still, around $530 for rather less than what Tamiya gives you in terms of precision and, in all likelihood, buildability. And actually, from another perspective as a consumer, oh yes you can compare currently available to o o p - they're all car model kits, and thus all apples, just a different variety of apple from one to the next. You can be of a mindset that NOTHING justifies a price beyond X dollars - or, you can hold the opinion that a perverse, diabolical-to-build Pocher kit justifies four figures in its rarity and rewards. And it's a VERY short trip from that perspective to figure that a new kit justifies 600 dollars for the superiority of its engineering. At least in my mind.

Wow - I'd LOVE to see where you can get an unassembled TR for 75 any more - if you're really lucky, you may be able to snatch one up in a blue moon for about $400 or so from the right auctioneer. Got my 500 K/AK for around $280 - but that was in 1986. Now that the factory's burned down, figure $700 on up for the Alfas 'n Mercedes kits, and four figures minimum for something like the Roller Ambassador or any of the Bugattis unassembled. Heck, the F40 and 911 kits now routinely scrape the $1000 ceiling in new condition. Now honestly, I don't know how much more detail anybody could want from this Enzo kit even from the pictures; it has three times the plastic parts count and LOOKS that way to anyone paying attention. And still, once you have the kit in your hands, you'll perceive a whole lot that you don't see in photos. There's a complete plumbing scheme for fuel and brakes that you might miss from the pics, hinge-dampers for the doors, and an operational pushrod/bellcrank suspension. But more than any of this, there's tooling refinement to the plastic parts that no 934-5 (or even Renault RE20) can match. Only the Caterham kits approach this same league - but heck, maybe you gotta examine one of these personally to see how.

To each they's own, Harry - but if there's any currently produced car model on the market that can justify 600, this is the one, far as I can see. It gathers the collective wisdom of Tamiya's forty years in 1/12, and their recent foray into big-scale diecast, and combines them into arguably the most jaw-dropping plastic automotive kit they've ever done.

Yup, same here. And btw, gents, that 650-ish number apparently doesn't include all the fasteners. Did a quick sweep thru the instructions and ended up well past 800 counting all the screws. There are o b v i o u s l y waaay many more plastic parts here than in the 1/24 kit, and then there are diecast parts, stamped metal parts, fasteners, wire, and tubing to pile on besides. If you're a parts geek like me and this kit doesn't tickle your nape a little, try a new pair of bifocals. And if I'm gonna drop fifteen hunnert on a Pocher or 3 bills on a Monogram eighth-scaler, there's no way to judge this kit by those standards as anything but a bargain at six bucks and a gold-plated STEAL at 360. This kit takes 1/12 predecessors like Hasegawa's 300ZX or Efini/Mazda RX-7, OR Rosso's NS-X, and walks them. Hard. And those kits were all 'round 200 in late '80s - early '90s dollars, which works out to - why whaddya know - about $350 now.

Yup, those package tray posts are a characteristic of even the 1/12 GT500. Having just fiddled a bit with my 'vert, I can also confirm for y'all what the box cover suggests: the model's front and rear ride height are acceptable right out of the box. Why Revell seems to confine this to the snappers, I'll never guess...

Awesome! You guys just get more and more impressive as time goes on...

Indeeditdo! Nothing production yet, 'cept for this pic on the Revell website which likely represents the boxart car:

What Rob said. Interestingly enough, the Revell '10 GT has the standard headlights, and their '10 GT500 has the HIDs just as the 1/12 kit does.

I like 'em choppers too - certainly the best new series of bikes produced, at least till Hasegawa, Aoshima, and Tamiya get into a serious duke-out over bikes. It'd be foolish to dismiss the importance of Trophy Series kits, but there's a whole generation of us for whom those kits were irrelevant until they were given a proper highlight in mid-90s retro packaging. Those of us who came up in the dark ages of the disco era, when Detroit was producing purest smog-choked, mouse-fur-lined, over-bumpered ######, found Monogram the only worthwhile domestic producer - that's why many of us have a predilection for 1/24, and it's why I have a soft spot for their 1/8 line of car kits, if I have to pick out any that I think best. They all have great presence, and they're accessible enough for a pre-teen to build. But I'd also nod to their 1/25 '50s classics that started with the '59 Eldorado. And while it's not a series in the strictest sense, I'd point out the line of Mueller/Montgomery kits from 1998 - 2000 as some of the best AMT ever did.

Hats off to Mr P.

Even worse when the "parrot" has a point, huh? Nice touch, that name-calling, btw. Does your argument a world of credibility.

Yup. The iron plants in the 2010s are generally finished this way: where the aluminum mills in the 2011+ are generally done like this: And there are enough similarities there that it doesn't look like too much of a fudge to paint the 2010 engine to 2011+ specs. Most obvious things I see are the disappearance of that little reservoir in front of the left head, and the addition of the firewall insulation. You'll find that insulation on the 2011+ GTs too.