Toyota 86 Rocket Bunny Transkit Comparison (Factory 81 VS Hobby Design)

[turbos86]

Factory 81 (Left), Hobby Design (Right)

As promised, I have purchased both the Factory 81 1/24 Toyota FT86 Wide Body Kit (016/286) and Hobby Design 1/24 TOYOTA FT86 Wide Body (A) Detail-up Set, to do a direct comparison.

*Note: Both kits are listed as FT86 Wide body kit instead of "Rocket Bunny". Although Factory 81's kit is an officially licensed product of TRA Kyoto, the maker for the Rocket Bunny body kit, they did not get their licensing until after the transkit went on sale. Hobby Design's transkit is an unofficial product.


Factory 81's transkit was purchased directly on their Facebook page for $86.99 shipped. It's also available on their website and HLJ


It includes the body kit, a pair of racing seats, a small turbo with 2 intercoolers, and two sets of 15" deep dish wheels (SSR Mesh and Volk TE37V) with stretched tires. No instructions were provided.


Also has resin parts to build the GT wing. Although the wing is too narrow and thick.


Hobby Design's kit was purchased from HLJ for 7000yen plus shipping.
For this you get the body kit, engine pulley set, turbo with piping, intercooler, large exhaust tips, PE brakes, 2 resin GT wing tops, PE GT wing sides and supports, 19" Enkei RS05RR rims with tires, PE Scion logos, Greddy x Rocket Bunny decals, full color instructions.


This is the GT wing side parts included in the HD kit. Ever since Factory 81 had their kit approved by TRA Kyoto, they demanded HD to not include this part in their kit on the terms of copyright infringement. HD at the time had agreed to not include the words "Rocket Bunny" in their kit. I guess after all, HD doesn't really care and still ship out these PE parts in their kits.

Factory 81 sells these same parts separately for $15USD on their website (In my opinion, it should of been included in the transkit in the first place.)


Hobby Design includes two sheets of full color instructions to help with construction of resin and PE parts, as well as a decal placement guide.

Factory 81 does not provide any instructions or decals along with their transkit. However, on their Facebook page, they posted the following picture and warning:

"The trans-kit required a set of Tamiya FRS / 86. Also required some advance modelling skills. For the fenders installation, cut the orginal fenders like the 1:1 installation. We highly recommanded buyer clearly understand the kit before any purchase."

Factory 81's kit was designed around Tamiya's offering of the Toyota 86, with tabs on the underside of many body parts to help with alignments. These same tabs have to be shaved in order to fit the body kit onto Aoshima's 86. Hobby Design's kit was also likely designed around Tamiya's kit but they do not have tabs on the underside, allowing parts to easily be mounted on Aoshima's kit.

The following images shows both kits mounted on a Tamiya 86 body:


Factory 81's body kit is molded in brittle light color resin.


Hobby Design uses their standard grey color resin.



Let's take a look in more details:


Left side over fenders. Factory 81 on top, Hobby Design at the bottom.


Ride side over fenders. Hobby Design on top, Factory 81 at the bottom.

Hobby Design's lines are more crisp and accurate. The rivet holes are also smaller, compared to Factory 81's. Both require a fare amount of clean up before use.


Front lip. Hobby Design on top, Factory 81 at the bottom.

The "hump" on both side of the lip, both companies managed to get it wrong. Factory 81's is accurate looking from the top and front, while Hobby Design got the overall shape correct but made it too narrow.


Hobby Design on top, Factory 81 at the bottom.

Factory 81's piece looks incomplete as it does not extend under the car enough, nor extend away from the bumper enough. Hobby Design's piece is not perfect as it extends away from the bumper too much, but that can be easily fixed with some sand paper.


Brake cooling duct bezel. Tamiya in white, Factory 81 in yellow, Hobby Design in gray.

Hobby Design's is deeper than Factory 81's. Factory 81's piece does not require drilling while HD's does.


Side skirts. Factory 81 in white, Hobby Design in gray.

Factory 81's piece is too short and will require extensions to fit on Tamiya's 86, Hobby Design's doesn't. Shape wise, HD is better.


Brakes. Tamiya in white, Factory 81 in yellow, Hobby Design in PE.

Factory 81's resin brakes are molded in 1 piece and is the exact same size as Tamiya's. It is likely they included such small brakes so it could fit into the include 15" rims. Hobby Design, on the other hand has included PE brake discs and resin calipers which are bigger than stock brakes to fill the void created by the included 19" Enkei.

Speaking of the Enkei, here's an extra comparison:

Factory 81 left, Hobby Design right.

*Note: Factory 81 does not include the Enkei RS05RR 19" rims with tires in their Rocket Bunny transkit. However, it can be purchased separately on their website. Hobby Design does include these rims in their Rocket Bunny transkit.

The spokes on Factory 81's version does not go all the way to the lip of the rim, which is incorrect. The center of the rim are also missing lug nuts details.

Hobby Design's rim has thinner spokes that extends all the way to the lip and have lug nut details.

Width wise, HD is wider and probably will look better under the over fenders with its more concaved face.

CONCLUSION

From a consumer's stand point, both kits are about the same price. However, Factory 81's offering lacks PE parts, is missing the wheels from the box art. They do provide the missing items for purchase separately, but that's $30USD extra on parts that should of been included in the first place. On top of this, Hobby Design also include in their transkit, decals, PE parts and instructions.

From a modeler's point of view, Hobby Design's kit is more accurate, and include more parts.

In my opinion, Hobby Design is better overall, even though Factory 81's is an officially licensed product.

Thank you for reading

[tonioseven]

Excellent comparison Henry!! Although I have no plans to purchase either one, it's STILL nice to know what's going on with them both.

[lovegt40]

and from your pics they also improved a lot the casting quality.
Happy for theme, is a good company making a lot of very cool subjects, as this one.
The PE parts provided in all their kits /tk are always stunning and very nice to work with.

[nugundam93]

that's some great comparison there. pity the HD kit is unofficial, it's got more goodies and looks better for me.

[jano11]

Originally Posted by nugundam93

that's some great comparison there. pity the HD kit is unofficial, it's got more goodies and looks better for me.

WTH does everyone keep coming up with this 'official' vs 'unofficial' rubbish?!
It is a 1/24th scale model transkit not a 1:1 copy of the original tuning kit, so it's not like they are copying a product and taking away the market from the company that created the original kit.

What is important for a scale model builder is if the parts look like to the real deal not if there has been some kind of agreement behind them.

turbos86 - Great thread and great comparison, thanks a lot!

[nascar49]

Thank you , you have just helped me make up my mind which one I am going to get

[da_ashman]

Great Comparo!! I brought the 81 Transkit 2 weeks before HD anouced it... typical...
81 Did a good job considering its one of their first kits & theyre new to the market & effectively there a 2 man band & made mostly by hand, the fenders are pretty good the main downside is their outer lip is the same as the standard 86 which is incorrect. Hobby Design are a much bigger company & offer hundreds of products. Theyve even survived after having a bad patch with their resin molds shrinking, but keep releasing great products!
Hobby Design have also just announced a 993 RWB transkit too

[petesy]

Originally Posted by jano11

WTH does everyone keep coming up with this 'official' vs 'unofficial' rubbish?!
It is a 1/24th scale model transkit not a 1:1 copy of the original tuning kit, so it's not like they are copying a product and taking away the market from the company that created the original kit.

Tell that to Bburago who went bankrupt and got bought out by Maisto, because they got their money tied up in Ferrari kit toolings which they could not use due to the Mattel exclusive license back then. Surely they should have just ignored that "'official' vs 'unofficial' rubbish" and kept on producing the Ferrari models, as they were not taking away the market from Ferrari anyway? I'm sure Fiat, Mattel and their lawyers would have agreed to that, no?

How about those decal makers offering tire logos? They are not taking sales away from Goodyear, so just screw the "'official' vs 'unofficial' rubbish" and keep making decals with the Goodyear marks? What cease-and-desist nonsense are we talking about?

In this case, however, an unlicensed product is indeed taking away business from a licensed product.

[jano11]

Originally Posted by petesy

Tell that to Bburago who went bankrupt and got bought out by Maisto, because they got their money tied up in Ferrari kit toolings which they could not use due to the Mattel exclusive license back then. Surely they should have just ignored that "'official' vs 'unofficial' rubbish" and kept on producing the Ferrari models, as they were not taking away the market from Ferrari anyway? I'm sure Fiat, Mattel and their lawyers would have agreed to that, no?

How about those decal makers offering tire logos? They are not taking sales away from Goodyear, so just screw the "'official' vs 'unofficial' rubbish" and keep making decals with the Goodyear marks? What cease-and-desist nonsense are we talking about?

In this case, however, an unlicensed product is indeed taking away business from a licensed product.

Straw man argument.
Or should I say comparing apples to bananas?!
Burrago went bankrupt because their quality wasn't up to scratch. They could have sold their die casts titled as 'Italian sport cars' instead of Ferrari and without using the Ferrari logo.

Show me how many transkits or wheel kits have a licensed product.
And there is a good reason why no one does it, because it is not needed unless you will want to use the name and the registered logos.

Here's an example which proves that it is not a must to pay a license fee in order to sell Ferrari scale model kits:

http://www.ebay.at/itm/Academy-Plast...item3f217013b8

[petesy]

Originally Posted by jano11

Burrago went bankrupt because their quality wasn't up to scratch. They could have sold their die casts titled as 'Italian sport cars' instead of Ferrari and without using the Ferrari logo.

If it is possible for them to do so they would have done it already.

Show me how many transkits or wheel kits have a licensed product.
And there is a good reason why no one does it, because it is not needed unless you will want to use the name and the registered logos.

Just because someone does something does not automatically make it right.

No one bothered because the companies they modeled the parts from are too busy fighting 1:1 counterfeit parts, and do not have the resources to wage legal battles overseas over model stuff.

Were you to offer for sale a kit of, say, a certain pony car with a galloping horse on the grille, I can assure you Ford's lawyers will contact you in no time.

Here's an example which proves that it is not a must to pay a license fee in order to sell Ferrari scale model kits:

http://www.ebay.at/itm/Academy-Plast...item3f217013b8

There is a reason why it is only offered for sale in Korea and Academy's logo is not plastered all over the box. Were you to resell it in western countries in large scale, I can assure you Fiat's lawyers will contact you in no time.

See, these companies put in a lot of resources to design and develop their products, and they have trademarks and copyrights to protect.

[turbos86]

A follow up to the Enkei RS05RR

I contacted Factory 81 today regarding the Enkei RS05RR rim set. As it turns out, I was sent rims from their first batch, which many of their customers complained it to not resemble the real rims. They offered to send me a replacement set without tires (Just pay $5 for shipping) from their second batch, which looks identical to Hobby Design's version and the real thing. I have accepted the offer. Points to Factory 81 for listening to customers opinions and great after sale support.

[jano11]

Originally Posted by petesy

There is a reason why it is only offered for sale in Korea and Academy's logo is not plastered all over the box. Were you to resell it in western countries in large scale, I can assure you Fiat's lawyers will contact you in no time.

See, these companies put in a lot of resources to design and develop their products, and they have trademarks and copyrights to protect.

Korea is no 3rd world country, and the EU has a bilateral agreement with Korea, which means that the laws are enforced over there too, so its not like they are getting away with something very bad. And not putting the Academy logo on it wouldn't protect them in case they were infringing the law. It most probably has to do with these being re-boxed Italeris.

What no one is saying is that you don't have to get any licensing as long as you are not using the copyrighted name and logos to market your scale product. And that is because no company does fill patents for 1/24th, or 1/12th or 1/43rd scale reproduction of their 1:1 designs.

Anyway, back to this thread, I find it funny when a model kit builder sees an unofficial/unlicensed kit to be an issue.

[hirofkd]

http://ameblo.jp/aoshima-kumablog/day-20130614.html
Hmmm, I wonder what Aoshima blog means by two upcoming kits which include a set of new Rays or Enkei...?
"GD x RB" is a dead giveaway, isn't it?

[turbos86]

^ Oh snap! Must, buy, Aoshima's, version!

[nascar49]

Originally Posted by turbos86

^ Oh snap! Must, buy, Aoshima's, version!

Agreed