-Fujimi S14 Silvia K's edition- 
I have a 200SX. In the US, this is not the silvia/240SX its the baby brother... the little 2 door "sentra" if you will. My car is also known as the
Lucino in other countries. I want a 240SX/Silvia. This model I'm building represents the car I look to purchase in the somewhat near future. A 240SX/Silvia in the U.S begins life with a non-turbocharged KA24 series engine. But, with the slue of venerable engine swap options, it quite quickly can become a true champion of modified Japanese Imports in the U.S. as well as abroad. For example, a silvia with a RB25DET from the skyline (GTS-T) will run 12's at stock boost (7psi). pretty neat eh? Can you feel the Nissan love?
If Nissans quality control was anything like fujimi's they would be out of business. I guess thats why Fujimi makes model cars instead of.. cars.
Breaking open the box and diving in, the first thing I sorted out was the ride height. the suspension pieces and undercarriage/frame are identical on all the Fujimi Silvia's S13-S15, so take note -anything
mentioned here about suspension work/quality/modification go's for all Fujimi silvias.
I plan on fitting 18 inch rims by fujimi and lowering the suspension. The stock ride height and wheels are a joke. Actually, the rims although small in diameter, are a pretty good representation of the stockers (they even have the little Nissan emblem cast in the center), but... the tires seem a bit out of scale (too much sidewall). If building the model box stock, expect the car to have the ride height of a SUV. Here's what I did to correct this. I used Joeclaws tutorial in our "how-to" depository to lower the car onto my 18" rims. The tutorial is spot on and I can't recommend it enough, but it doesn't cover the rear suspenion. The shocks and springs are not at all representitive of what the actual pieces on the 1:1 car look like. The wheels can be turned back and forth when completed. lowering the rear of the car proved to be quite an affair to sort out. I recommend taking a good look at what you need
to do before putting any of the parts under the knife. What I did, was modify the spring area of the shocks just like I did the fronts per joeclaws how-to, then I filled in the little spots (with styrene) on the end
of the suspension arm where the axle sits. finally, I cut and sanded out the back area of the brake disk/shock part to accommodate for the end of the suspension arm no longer lining up with the hole its supposed to fit in. Once it was sitting lower, the model began to make sense.
the undercarriage is O.K. There's nothing really to specifically complain about and nothing to write home about. basic undercarriage details are there, undersurface of engine detail also, but very plain. Cat back piping is molded to chassis, exhaust is a seperate piece and its the stock Nissan muffler. The interior tub is a one piece joint to which you
apply only the dash, seats and shifter. The doorpanel detail is weak. The dashboard isn't very good, instrumentation cluster dials are cast and decals are to be applied. center console detail is acceptable, with
HVAC dials and something that could be made to look like a single-din stereo. There is a HUGE mold line running across the top of the dashboard directly above the drivers side. It's pretty annoying having to sand all of this stuff, at this point all the mold lines are getting old quickly. You wouldn't have to do any of this with a better quality model. The steering wheel detail is good, it has the Nissan emblem area hollowed out, ready for a decal. On the surface where your hands would touch the steering wheel you can see texture.
The seats are molded after stock S14 silvia seats and are ugly in
real life and in the model kit. the quality of the seats are acceptable, they're pretty plain seats in reality, and fujimi is real good at replicating that "plain" effect. credit is given for molding them with seatbacks and making the seats a one piece unit instead of having to build them. There's no detail on the seats for adjusting the seatback or seat position. I upgraded the seats to skyline seats from a Tamiya R32 GTR kit. The Skyline seats represent a realistic upgrade as the seats are
almost a direct fit replacement in real life and offer much greater support. The Tamiya skyline seats fit on the Fujimi chassis quite well. They slide right into the existing seat guides molded on the chassis. they
only require a small amount of sanding on the bottom to lower their position a bit, as they were too high (but do fit without any modification).
fit and finish of the chassis to the tub and the other pieces in the tub fit together well. the door sills line right up with the interior tub, better even
then some Tamiya models I've built. the plastic windows are a single piece unit that fits without any real modification or finesse. their are molded 6x9's on the rear trunk deck that can be seen through the
rear window. they could easily be sanded off if you were so inclined. that about wraps up the interior of the Silvia. Back seats are present but no great detail.
The body. Here's where things go awry. The mold lines are VERY invasive. There are mold lines in the last place you would want to have to deal with mold lines. they run along the window frames right near what would be the rubber trim around the windows (but they AREN'T the window trim) , meaning once you sand your mold lines.. you guessed it -you've sanded your window trim off also. if your going to do it right, your going to need a dental scraper to score deeper grooves around the window trim after you've sanded the mold lines. the mold lines run down the A-pillar, there are mold lines SURROUNDING the antenna, mold lines run across the top of the front quarter panels, right in the bend where the quarter panel turns into the A-pillar. FUN!!! Theres more too!
needless to say the body is going to require plenty of attention with sandpaper. This cannot be a slap together 1st place model, this one requires extra love (and extra sandpaper!!)
One of the greatest features of the S14 are those menacing headlights. Fujimi's representation of these headlights is so-so. The lines of the car, the headlights, everything LOOKS good, but its up to you as to just HOW good its going to look. The headlight body's are molded into the chassis and have no chrome plate. the clear covers of course are seperate pieces that fit...so-so, the do FIT, but its up to you to determine the quality of the fit and finish end result (want that 1st place show winning fitment? gonna require some work). Paint and patience will be required to get a high level of realism from them, but a quality build is possible. The taillights are a choice between the kouki or zenki versions of the S14, as Fujimi puts all versions of S14 lighting on the same clear parts tree.
With adequate work I do believe this model can be made into a good piece. If your looking for an easy kit to build this isn't the one. This is a kit for people that just love the S14 silvia and have to build the model. Since you are limited in your choices, you work with what you have. Expect extra work on this kit, but if you want to build a S14 get it. It contains no aftermarket pieces, no GT-wings or mufflers, just a K's aero S14 Silvia. Not the greatest, but nothing that will have you sending the kit back for a refund either.
love's love folks. and love will make you do strange things. If you love the S14 like I do, then you'll probably love building this kit regardless of it's flaws.
Accuracy: 2.75/3
Fit&Finish: .50/2
Detail: 1.0/1.5
Options: .75/1.5
Final Verdict: 5.0/8.0
(only perfect kits with a price under what you'd expect to pay will land a higher than 8.0 ranking. Making them special 9.0-10.0 kits)