BMW 318i - 1993 Guia Race of Macau

[niteowl7710]

Alright finally after way too long, this one clears the bench.  One of the first things you'd notice is the fact that there's a number box with no number on it.  This isn't a matter of "Calling it Done", but rather the fact that Studio27 only included three of each of the car numbers, instead of four.  They issued a "technical bulletin" for it, and offered additional numerals, but to this point I have not received them.  Fortunately one of my new friends at S.K. Decals (a Hong Kong based decal creator) is doing this same set with a Pre-Race Testing Scheme as well and he's shipping me a spare "#2" once the decals come in from the printer.  Overall this kit isn't a bad one, but it's also not a particularly good one either.  The half-hearted effort one must endure with the convoluted way Hasegawa turned their Street 318i/320i kit into a race car is well...obvious.  The dashboard's "fit" is tenuous at best as it's both too narrow and to shallow, the interior door panels are flatter than an Indiana cornfield, and the new (and nice) BBS racing wheels have no rear "lip" in which to mount to the keyhole on the wheel hub making installation a C.A. or 5 Min Epoxy affair.  But when you look at the larger picture the kit assembles smoothly, and while the reissue has a good amount of molding flash on all seams everything FITS, and once you get the wheels sorted it doesn't fight you.  Because had this thing been a fiddly poorly fitting mess beyond the compromise of race car duty transformation I might seriously consider selling the other 7 of them I have.  But I enjoyed the overall experience enough where I wouldn't rule out build another immediately afterwards especially knowing the pitfalls.  One tip I'd pass along is scrap the windshield wiper.  The glass needs to sit lower than I mounted it in order for it not to gap all around the roof.  But mounting the glass with the wiper on it so it fits the roof then creates a serious interference with the cowl fit.  Unless you need to create one of those broken in the middle of the windscreen wipers, just leave it off the mounting points sit well below the hood edge and you'll never notice it's missing.  Cracks in the rear "swoosh" area come from my own hamfistedness, however the decals themselves are not radiused correctly over the rear wheels either.  Paint is a bunch of Tamiya Whites.  Chassis, interior and wheels are White Primer, body is TS-26 (Pure White), cage is Tamiya XF-2 (Flat White).

DSC02541 (1280x970) by James Duff, on Flickr

DSC02540 (1280x732) by James Duff, on Flickr

DSC02542 (1280x667) by James Duff, on Flickr

Don't touch clear parts withing a 500 mile radius of C.A. glue or you will fingerprint them somehow.  This build was started in January for the 24 Hour Build, so in that spirit I left this goof on there since the idea is building a model, not making a contest model.
DSC02545 (1280x666) by James Duff, on Flickr

20160410_101224 by James Duff, on Flickr

20160410_101210 by James Duff, on Flickr

DSC02543 (1280x681) by James Duff, on Flickr

[hgbben]

Looks really nice James

[Rider]

Good looking build. Nice stance. 

[ChrisR]

Very nice build!

[afx]

Very nice.  I've built this kit in the past and from what I remember it was a nice kit.

[Nacho Z]

This is very cool, James!  You don't see these too often.  You did a great job with all of those decals!  I'm glad you finished your "24 hour" build.