December launches from Tamiya

[kjohan]

Agree with Richard on the Karmann Ghia

Also the Morgan 

And the 50's jaguars 

[Jordan White]

Also the Jeeps!

[dbostream]

I agree with all of you. The list is endless.

[niteowl7710]

On 12/25/2023 at 4:54 AM, stitchdup said:

if your wanting lexus instead of a toyota, there is amt rebox of it that comes with a small pe set. it seems to be an easier find

While it is a Lexus LS400, it's NOT a rebox of the Tamiya kit.  It's a rebox of the Aoshima kit.  The Tamiya kit has a full engine, and the Aoshima is a curbside.

[stitchdup]

3 minutes ago, niteowl7710 said:

While it is a Lexus LS400, it's NOT a rebox of the Tamiya kit.  It's a rebox of the Aoshima kit.  The Tamiya kit has a full engine, and the Aoshima is a curbside.

good to know, i assumed it was tamiya because of the wheels. they are done tamiya style with the male fitting rather than the usual aoshima and fujim female fittings

[niteowl7710]

1 minute ago, stitchdup said:

good to know, i assumed it was tamiya because of the wheels. they are done tamiya style with the male fitting rather than the usual aoshima and fujim female fittings

Yeah Aoshima had a few kits in that time frame that for some reason switch fitment compared to their normal order of operations.  The Kei "ABC" cars (AutoZam, Beat. Cappuccino) all have male fitment wheels, and they were all tooled up in the same 1991-1993 time frame.

[Spottedlaurel]

Pleased to see that the Lexus has appeared for sale in the UK, just placed an order for one.

[Spottedlaurel]

Got my new issue of the LS400 today, very pleased with it. Moulded in a pearl white, almost champagne colour! I read above that the decal sheet was improved, and comparing it with my old Celsior kit this certainly looks to be the case. I don't know if the original LS400 release had wood decals for the interior (they weren't included on the Celsior), but they're certainly there now, and the brightwork for the bumpers and waistline moulding is more slender and shaped where necessary.

The remainder of the kit looks to be as it was before, so generally very nice. The door cards slightly suffer from being moulded as part of the interior tub, but the detail on them is really only lost where it's concealed by the seat bases.

The wheels are plated, which is a bit bright for how we got them in the UK but may be more correct for the LHD/US-spec car which this represents. It comes only with the LHD dashboard option, not LHD/RHD like many Tamiya kits of this era.

I took the opportunity to compare it with my AMT issue of the Aoshima LS400 kit, and also consider it against the 1:1 RHD LS400 I have sitting on the driveway.

Tamiya is best on the body shape - the AMT/Aoshima kit doesn't seem to 'roll in' enough below the waistine, which is a feature of the 1:1. Also the top front corner of the front door windows looks more rounded on the Tamiya kit, better matching the real thing. The Tamiya kit has a separate hood (well two with the clear one) plus separate grille, whereas it's all moulded into the bodyshell on the AMT/Aoshima so there'd be some fiddly detailing there. And that wonderfully smooth V8 isn't there at all on the latter.

Underneath the Tamiya has more detailed suspension and a completely separate exhaust, but it's partly moulded-in on the AMT/Aoshima. Also the box art on the latter shows an odd front wheel placement, so that might need attention. OOB the Tamiya Celsior I built sat just right (still does, just pulled it out of the cabinet).

Interior-wise the AMT/Aoshima kit is perhaps better in having separate sides to the tub, with the detail extending down to the door bins which are missing on the Tamiya.

Decal sheet is more limited on the AMT/Aoshima, and it has silver PE badges whereas they have the gold option on the Tamiya.

From building the Celsior 30-odd years ago I know it goes together very nicely. I'm sure the AMT/Aoshima would be OK too, just it won;t be quiate as authentic or well-detailed as the Tamiya kit.

One day I'd like to build a decent replica of my 1:1 LS400. The new Tamiya kit will be my best starting point, but depending on how accurate I want to get it looks like I'll need to swap some parts with the Celsior and AMT/Aoshima kit to make it reasonably accurate.

[BVC500]

21 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

 

Agree on the Tamiya body shape. Too bad it didn't include a moon roof like the AMT/Aoshima/Fujimi, as no moon roof was rare in the US.  If they could include a clear hood, they could have included a clear moon roof part and scribe lines on the inside of the roof, like the other kits.  Another thing the Tamiya kit lacks: separate buckets for the headlights and integrated fog lights.  The original release does have wood decals.

Aoshima made a '93/'94 version with the updated wheels, but it doesn't incorporate the slight mods Toyota made to the side skirts and bumpers. Hard to describe but they were fuller looking and the rockers were painted to match. Also, the Aoshima wheels weren't shaped correctly, to my eye.

Edited January 9, 2024 by BVC500

[Spottedlaurel]

2 hours ago, BVC500 said:

Agree on the Tamiya body shape. Too bad it didn't include a moon roof like the AMT/Aoshima/Fujimi, as no moon roof was rare in the US.  If they could include a clear hood, they could have included a clear moon roof part and scribe lines on the inside of the roof, like the other kits.  Another thing the Tamiya kit lacks: separate buckets for the headlights and integrated fog lights.  The original release does have wood decals.

Aoshima made a '93/'94 version with the updated wheels, but it doesn't incorporate the slight mods Toyota made to the side skirts and bumpers. Hard to describe but they were fuller looking and the rockers were painted to match. Also, the Aoshima wheels weren't shaped correctly, to my eye.

Good point about the headlights. The AMT/Aoshima does have separate buckets but they're quite shallow, I think it'd be easier to modify those in the Tamiya.

This is what I'd like to recreate, my '93 which is a late Mk1 with the 15" wheels:

 

If I was brave I could add the sunroof from the AMT/Aoshima kit (or probably find something else I have in the stash).

As an extra challenge, we got foglights in the front bumper (with extra driving lights on the inner buckets) and the inner portions of the rear lights are smaller, to accommodate our longer plates. This is what the kit replicates, presumably similar to US-spec LS400?

[Bugatti Fan]

The Fiat 500 will be a good re release.

It would be good if someone were to make a 3D printed transkit to make the GAMINE version.