Hasegawa 1/24 kits.

[Geno]

Hello guys, do any of you have any experience with their kits? Are they actually 1/24, and are they accurate representations? Do they go together well? Thanks.

[Zoom Zoom]

I believe they are accurate 1/24th scale, all the ones I've built have been excellent at least for the time period they were created. Their latest models in the past 5 years or so are rather amazing, they are truly the only company that is close to and in fact sometimes re-defining "Tamiya-like" which has been coined for far too many other Japanese/Asian kits that are not actually worthy of that moniker. 

What are the subjects you are interested in looking into further? That can help previous builders of them give an accurate assessment of the particular kit. My last Hasegawa build was an early '70's Nissan Skyline coupe and it was a spectacular kit to put together and nails the shapes/details quite well. They don't do many kits with full engine detail, but the hoods are usually separate and chassis/interior detail is pretty amazing. They seem to get better on each successive new tool. They have a new Toyota Soarer in development that spanks the old Tamiya kits.

My Skyline and Isuzu 117, both built OOB:

[Geno]

Thank you, I'm interested in the full size cars. The '66 Pontiac, Buick, and '65 Chevy.

[Ace-Garageguy]

5 minutes ago, Geno said:

Thank you, I'm interested in the full size cars. The '66 Pontiac, Buick, and '65 Chevy.

 

[Trainwreck]

10 hours ago, Geno said:

Hello guys, do any of you have any experience with their kits? Are they actually 1/24, and are they accurate representations? Do they go together well? Thanks.

I had the Chev., seemed a little small for 1/24th scale.

[Bills72sj]

2 hours ago, Geno said:

Thank you, I'm interested in the full size cars. The '66 Pontiac, Buick, and '65 Chevy.

I have built the '66 Bonneville. If you put in some effort, it turns out pretty nice. Keep in mind it is a curbside and the interior is lame.

https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/176907-big-girls-1966-bonneville/#comment-2659123

https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/187446-i-present-to-you-ruby-a-1966-pontiac-bonneville-with-a-356hp-421-tri-power-and-a-4-speed-in-testors-stop-light-red/#comment-2821067

 

[Andria H]

Gene, there's also a '66 Cadillac. Not a bad build especially if you can scare up a Jo-Han dashboard for it to make the interior look better.

[Geno]

Thank you all very much. Your responses have been trememdous.💯😊

[Zoom Zoom]

13 hours ago, Geno said:

Thank you, I'm interested in the full size cars. The '66 Pontiac, Buick, and '65 Chevy.

Those kits are a completely different animal than the recent subjects I showed, it's been decades since I bought one of the old-school American kits from them. Fairly accurate bodies that were copied from US kit manufacturers, but with generic interiors/chassis. IIRC Tamiya even had a '65 Chevy (or similar) in their lineup, 1/25th scale, I believe primarily for slot cars. They pretty much match (body dimensions) 1/25th scale. With some work you can get a really nice model out of them, depending on your own level of skill and desired results. I built the Pontiac years ago, used some AMT guts underneath, looks pretty okay next to an AMT kit (they have their own design issues) and have the Cadillac in my stash. I'm not averse to making something from it...I had the opportunity years ago to drive a friend's Dad's mint '65 or '66 Coupe DeVille, I'd build my kit to emulate that particular car, maroon with a black vinyl top and parchment interior, but might make add some modern flair to it. They're curbside kits. I love curbside kits. I'm a designer and I'd make a lousy mechanic 😆

I'd love it if Hasegawa took even one of those vintage models they cribbed nearly 60 years ago and went full-bore on making a modern kit to their new standards. Probably will never happen...and it might be a huge financial mistake on their part.  

[Zoom Zoom]

12 hours ago, Trainwreck said:

I had the Chev., seemed a little small for 1/24th scale.

It's 1/25th. All those Hasegawa American cars cribbed in the '60's were copied from American model kits. 

[Geno]

7 hours ago, Zoom Zoom said:

It's 1/25th. All those Hasegawa American cars cribbed in the '60's were copied from American model kits. 

I had my suspicion, that's why I thought I'd get your guys' opinions before I bought any. Again, thank you all.💯👍

[stitchdup]

The interiors on all of them are the same and not very nice really, as are the wheels. the body and chrome is good though

[Chris V]

As already stated by others, the Hasegawa "1966" kits were shamelessly copied from AMT, Jo-Han and MPC annual kits, and all include the same generic interior and chassis. 

You're better off getting Revell/Monogram's nicely detailed new '65 Impala or an AMT-reissue of the Buick and Thunderbird, the Hasegawa kits were copied from.

The Cadillac is more or less the only game in town, unless you want to spend ages looking for a rebuildable Jo-Han annual.

The Pontiac can be somewhat improved by using the chassis and interior from AMT's reissued '65 Bonneville.

 

[Chris V]

14 hours ago, stitchdup said:

The interiors on all of them are the same and not very nice really, as are the wheels. the body and chrome is good though

Be very careful with the tires from earlier issues. The tires in the "White box" issues from the nineties/early 00's have a nasty habit of melting/softening any plastic or paint they get in contact with for prolonged periods of time.  

[Zoom Zoom]

2 hours ago, Chris V said:

Be very careful with the tires from earlier issues. The tires in the "White box" issues from the nineties/early 00's have a nasty habit of melting/softening any plastic or paint they get in contact with for prolonged periods of time.  

Just like the tire melt from some of the original kits they cribbed. In my foggy memory, didn't the tires have a groove for a whitewall insert? If so, that whitewall insert will be the first thing to melt...the generic wheels were plated. 

[Carmak]

This is how all of the Hasegawa 65/66 kits started life - slot cars.

The only two worth getting are the 66 Cadillac and the 66 Bonneville as they are the only game in town so to speak. The bodies are not perfect coppies but they are close and look "right".

There is a great opportunity for a resin caster or 3D printer to make correct interiors and chassis for these two.

[Bainford]

I always thought these were peculiar subjects for slot cars. Perhaps I'm just not well informed on vintage slot car action, but when I think of 'slot cars', I think of race cars and sports cars, rather than large American sedans. Was this type of vehicle subject popular on the slot tracks back in the day? 

[Carmak]

9 minutes ago, Bainford said:

I always thought these were peculiar subjects for slot cars. Perhaps I'm just not well informed on vintage slot car action, but when I think of 'slot cars', I think of race cars and sports cars, rather than large American sedans. Was this type of vehicle subject popular on the slot tracks back in the day? 

The 1:24/1:25 scale slot car bug hit Japan hard in the mid-60's. I suspect the subtleties of what was and was not an appropriate American stock car was not important at that time in Japan.

Tamiya also got into the promo copy bodies for slot cars.

[Mark]

Boy, I'd bet a lot of people wish that those Tamiya slot car bodies would resurface, specifically that Plymouth Fury.  

The foreign companies weren't the only ones issuing anything and everything as a slot car.  Monogram did some stopgap slot cars with kit bodies, like the '40 Ford pickup, '58 Thunderbird, and even a Duesenberg.  AMT did a few 1966 cars in 1/25 scale.  I have a Mercury Cyclone, and have seen fullsize Ford and Chevy assembled slot cars.  

Jo-Han didn't sell complete slot cars, but did offer four bodies: Toronado, Rambler Marlin, Plymouth Fury, and Chrysler turbine car.  An operation called Paramount sold assembled Toronado slot cars utilizing the Jo-Han body.  And, yes, the slot car was front wheel drive.

[Carmak]

20 hours ago, Mark said:

Boy, I'd bet a lot of people wish that those Tamiya slot car bodies would resurface, specifically that Plymouth Fury.  

The foreign companies weren't the only ones issuing anything and everything as a slot car.  Monogram did some stopgap slot cars with kit bodies, like the '40 Ford pickup, '58 Thunderbird, and even a Duesenberg.  AMT did a few 1966 cars in 1/25 scale.  I have a Mercury Cyclone, and have seen fullsize Ford and Chevy assembled slot cars.  

Jo-Han didn't sell complete slot cars, but did offer four bodies: Toronado, Rambler Marlin, Plymouth Fury, and Chrysler turbine car.  An operation called Paramount sold assembled Toronado slot cars utilizing the Jo-Han body.  And, yes, the slot car was front wheel drive.

In the grand scheme we are lucky the Hasegawa tooling survived.