Piranha

[slusher]

Is the Piranha a good building model? I don’t think I have seen a completed build of one.

[RancheroSteve]

Are you asking about the drag racer or the street version? I'm working on the dragster now (also built one about 50 years ago), so I can address that, but I've never built the street version.

[slusher]

1 hour ago, RancheroSteve said:

Are you asking about the drag racer or the street version? I'm working on the dragster now (also built one about 50 years ago), so I can address that, but I've never built the street version.

Asking actually about both versions.

[RancheroSteve]

Alright, I'll give you a run-down of my impressions in a day or so when I get a moment.

[cobraman]

Carl, I built one quite a long time ago. I think it was a bit tricky in a couple areas but I am sure you can handle it .

[Casey]

They're both very small models, so maybe not comfortable for you to work on something that small?

See hpiguy's/Chris' build here, Carl:

 

[slusher]

Thanks guys..

[RancheroSteve]

Yes, that news & reviews thread has a lot of good info and Chris' video gives you a good sense of what you'll get with an out of the box build.

Now that I'm building the kit, a few impressions: it's a well done kit for its era, generally accurate for building a scale Piranha dragster (depending on your proclivities there are a few things that can be corrected), and has ample opportunities for adding detail if that's your thing (there's lots of reference available online and in the nice booklet that comes with the kit). Note that the kit chassis represents the second iteration of the Piranha with the added roll bars - I'm building mine as the earlier version as depicted on the box photo. As I said in the thread, I'm really glad to see the original inspiring box art back and the new decal sheet is great.

On the con side, the tooling is showing its age - there's a fair amount of flash to clean up, some mold misalignment here and there, and the chassis can be prone to warpage, so it takes a little finesse to get it together properly. The plastic tires might be a turn-off for some, but properly painted they'll look fine.

All said, I dig this unique vehicle, glad to have the model back with the right wheels and decals. It looks like they're going cheap out there - if it floats your boat, pick one up. I'll be putting up a WIP thread soon when I get just a little further along with my build.