1/12th f1 manufacturers.

Hi, new to this forum. was a keen modeller before marriage, kids etc. But now retired I am very keen to take it up again. My passion is F1 models. Things have certainly moved on. I have bought a couple of cheaper kits to get my hand back in and really want to move on to the 1/12th kits. Just a couple of questions. Who makes the best kits? Are they authentic enough out of the box? and just to help me catch up, What are photo etched parts? Answers to these three questions would greatly help me get up to speed, so any help here would be much appreciated.

If you are talking plastic kits, the last one was Revell of Germany's Ferrari F2002 from long ago. It takes a lot of work to make something nice. Working on one right now myself… The old Tamiya kits keep getting reissued (which gives you newer tires, newer, sometimes better decals and now, photo-etch over buying an old issue). There were some Protar (some reissued by Revell Germany). Quality varies on those but they are usually regarded as lesser quality than Tamiya's offerings.

For all else, it's mostly multimedia kits like Model Factory Hero (MFH) that can cost several times what a Tamiya kit costs. They usually consist of white metal parts that are soldered or glued together, plus fine resin castings for the body and odd bits, some turned bits, and photo-etch. You can google them and you will get lots of results.

Photo-etch is used to replicate parts that are usually thin, and usually flat, although pieces can be stacked or rolled to form more complex shapes. The name photo-etch comes from the process where a master is drawn, photographed, a negative made, then exposed with light against a thin metal (usually brass or stainless, although MINI delta has some aluminum PE) that has been painted with a light sensitive emulsion. Finally it is set in an acid bath, which eats away the non-coated areas. In simplest terms, think of a flat strip folded at 90 degrees in the middle to form an angle bracket. It can be tough and time consuming to deal with.

That will get you started on your journey to financial ruin! ;-)

Tom

Thanks Tom, got a quick grounding now on my restart of my hobby. Will be asking a few more questions probably as time and money lol goes by.

That will get you started on your journey to financial ruin! ;-)

Tom

haha, so true !

although I got my revell 126c for about 30 euros

Was you happy with the revell quality over tamiya. And did you buy any modifications. Looks really good.

Tamiya Honda RA272 1/20. This is another 1/20 scale kit I am nearly ready to build as practice leading up to my foray into 1/12. Looking for any tips on a little detailing and pics. any pointers to do with this kit would be very appreciated. gone back to Tamiya as not overly impressed with Revell quality. it was ok but seem to remember Tamiya being a better standard.

I've built a few Revell originated airplanes that were first class, but some Revell originated cars haven't been satisfying to build. I use the word "originated" as they do some on their own and have reissued many cars that originally came from others, like ESCI, Fujimi, Hasegawa, Protar, Endai, and others. Some of these were outstanding kits, some were marginal. Consider each kit on their own merits and not by the name on the box. If you are only looking at F1 then my advice has limited meaning, as they haven't done much of reissuing other's F1 kits.

Sometimes you just gotta do it. In my case, I will gladly accept the Revell (ex-Protar) 1/12 Ferrari 126C as I really like the car and don't have the money to buy the alternative, the much more expensive MFH kit.

That said, older Tamiya often isn't up to modern standards. The ones with electric motors have compromises like the oversized and poorly detailed
gearbox on the Lotus 49s.

Tom

Thanks for your reply Tom, really had the static plastic kits in mind really as I enjoy(ed) doing these the most. Sorry, should have made that clear in my post. :)

I figured you meant static kits. We are stuck with the kits that originated as motorized, but nobody builds them that way. I only mentioned them as we work around their deficiencies.

Tom