Tamiya 1:24 Ferrari F50 24160
Injected plastic, clear parts, decals, Foil mirrors and Photo etched parts
Step 1
During construction if front wheels turned too far part A44 would get stuck. Annoying but will be fine when the wheels are put on later
Step 2
Front springs (A12) can't be seen on finished model so don't bother painting it. Carbon fiber decals for door sides have to be trimmed or it will be harder to fit on kit part.. No seat belt decals provided.
Step 3
A bit tricky to assemble be careful
Step 4
Tabs on parts C12 and C5 should be cut off. Instructions don't say so but they appear to have no use whatsoever and become a problem in Step 11
Step 5
Engine assemble not easy to paint the different colours. Care must be taken here
Step 8
Part A29 not easy to paint to look good
Step 9
Custom mix colour for A34 and A37 looks odd. Holes on decal 14 should be trimmed or they won't look good. Easy to do if you have a punch set.
Step 10
Trim all carbon fiber decals or you will be sorry. Make sure Parts B7 and B6 are glued in firmly. Mine came loose near the end and took a bit of fiddling to get bask together. Parts B6 and B7 done very nicely compared to Revell kit.
Step 11
Those tabs in Step 4 damaged the carbon fiber decals during the engine installation. Impressive the way the motor assembly goes in.
Step 12
More carbon fiber decals that have to be trimmed completely. Not an easy decal job. Several slits had to be added to decal 12 to get it to lay down.
Step 14
Part B9 nicely molded but will be very hard to paint and clean up seam line. Maybe cut off top of wing paint then re-attach? PE rear Cavalino would not stick. Grill does not give it enough surface area. Had to use CA glue
Step 15
Part B9 warped and did not fit properly. Installed Part D1 incorrectly and had to pull off and reinstall.
Step 17
Test alignment before gluing
Step 19
I installed front bumper in the beginning and painted the body as one assembly.
Good points
Fit and finish are very good
Photo etched parts very nice (Cavalino, Pinnnifarina, shift gate, Ferrari script)
Nice wheels
Excellent molding
Excellent decals, Carbon fiber decals look good
Two windows provided for Barchetta or Coupe
Bad Points
Price (compared to the Revell kit)
Carbon fiber decals not easy to install
Tires Vinyl - nice but not as good as before (am used to excellent tires from Tamiya)
Rear wing area going to be hard to clean up and paint well
Rear engine cover bad fit
Engine assembly easier to assemble but hard to paint
More accurate than the Revell kit (Revell an early prototype?) but also more expensive (Note: pictures on the Revell box show the car that Tamiya has kitted). No doubt the better of the two kits but is the extra money (almost twice the price) worth the better fit, better molding and PE parts? If money is no problem Tamiya but in my opinion Revell is the better value for the price.
If you are a Ferrari nut you would have bought some of the aftermarket PE parts (Ferrari script, Cavalinos, Pinifarina scripts etc) Used for your Revell kit as well as other Ferraris your model will not be