First Look, Hasegawa Corolla Levin AE92 GT APEX Early Type

[martinfan5]

Getting our first look at one of the next new tools coming from Hasegawa,  release is currently slated for the July EOM.

 

[GMP440]

Looks like an 89 or 90 Toyota Corolla.  My sister had one of those.  She had an 89 Corolla SR-5.  Nice car .  Ran well.

[niteowl7710]

In conjunction with this release Hasegawa announced yesterday morning for September releases their Div III, JTC Touring Car version of this kit.  This is an odd duck to me, as it's answering a question nobody asked, and Beemax already answered.  Now Beemax's kit was a 1988, and this is nominally a 1989, but comparing the CAD drawing to the existing model kit nothing is directly jumping out to me other than the location of the fuel filler, and I just bought this livery from S.K. Decals last month.  I trust Hasegawa will do more with this kit in terms of other JTC team variants, but it's still very odd to see them directly repeat a kit that isn't even 3 years old and BeemaNuNu just announced a 1989 24hrs of Spa reissue of their AE92..  Whereas the Starlet and Isuzu Gemini were both used in the earlier days of JTC and appear to both be engineered in such a way (with bare floors with separate back seats) that race variants would be possible.

Edited July 7, 2020 by niteowl7710

[fumi]

By the look of it we will be getting the late type down the road, and possibly the GT-Z Supercharged with the intercooler hood scoop.  While I also wish for a Trueno I think it is unlikely to happen.

Race version is a given, the AE92 was very popular in JTC and even if they skip the one year only Minolta livery, they still have Biyo, Wedsport, Fujitsu Ten, FET and Trampio as the more successful teams to do.  They are also not feared to go head to head with Beemax/Nunu, the Lancer Turbo is another car that would compete with them directly and it is obvious the kit is designed to have a rally variant in mind.

While the Gemini and the Starlet were popular entries in rally, with the way the interior is designed race version seems not likely.  The Bluebird, however, may spawn a rally version in the future.

[Luc Janssens]

On 7/7/2020 at 5:10 AM, martinfan5 said:

Getting our first look at one of the next new tools coming from Hasegawa,  release is currently slated for the July EOM.

 

 

 

If you would put this model in a street setting you 'll swear it's a real car.

[Rob Hall]

Tamiya made a Sprinter Trueno of this generation, IIRC.... maybe they will reissue it.  The US got the 2dr w/ the popup headlights of this generation, called the Corolla SR5 IIRC.

[martinfan5]

2 hours ago, Luc Janssens said:

If you would put this model in a street setting you 'll swear it's a real car.

 I am amazed at how great and real it looks, the builder did an excellent job.

[fumi]

On 7/9/2020 at 2:20 AM, Rob Hall said:

Tamiya made a Sprinter Trueno of this generation, IIRC.... maybe they will reissue it.  The US got the 2dr w/ the popup headlights of this generation, called the Corolla SR5 IIRC.

That Tamiya snap kit is a very nice kit.  I think it was last reissued 10 years ago and it is fetching silly money now.

All export version got the Levin tail lights and Trueno front end.  North American version also got different 5 mph bumpers without the cornering lamps.

[niteowl7710]

Eighty81 a few years back did a resin casting of the N.A. spec SR5 body and pile of resin bits (sold separately) that convert the Aoshima AEs to LHD.

[Spottedlaurel]

17 hours ago, fumi said:

That Tamiya snap kit is a very nice kit.  I think it was last reissued 10 years ago and it is fetching silly money now.

I built one of those Tamiya Trueno kits, it turned out nicely:

Tamiya 1:24 Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-Z by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Sadly it was one of the models that got wrecked by leaving out in the sun on a very hot day. Sounds like I was lucky to pick up a replacement at a decent price.