the 288 GTO is back!

http://www.hlj.com/product/FUJ08254

http://www.hlj.com/product/FUJ10163

in both 1:24 and 1:16

:sunglasse

I was dreading hitching out 50-60$ for one of these in 1:24 scale enthusiast...and now they're back :biggrin:

Nice :sunglasse

Why is Fujimi re-releasing all their previous Ferrari kits? Did they get to renew their license with Ferrari or what? :lol:

I've pre-ordered the 550 Maranello and 575M Maranello a couple of days ago and when I browse through the Future release item this morning, I came over the GTO, now I'm in a dilemma whether I should get this one as well because I have the 288GTO by Italeri still unbuilt. Should I order it or just stick with the Italeri? :confused:

By the way, is it the Enthusiast series or curbside because some of Fujimi products is a bit expensive even for curbside?

Why is Fujimi re-releasing all their previous Ferrari kits? Did they get to renew their license with Ferrari or what? :lol:

I've pre-ordered the 550 Maranello and 575M Maranello a couple of days ago and when I browse through the Future release item this morning, I came over the GTO, now I'm in a dilemma whether I should get this one as well because I have the 288GTO by Italeri still unbuilt. Should I order it or just stick with the Italeri? :confused:

By the way, is it the Enthusiast series or curbside because some of Fujimi products is a bit expensive even for curbside?
The greedy Mattel monopolized the Ferrari license for the past few years, and until recently Mattel kept saying no to Fujimi for the release of Ferrari related items. Only handful of model makers were allowed to release Ferrari kits in each country. Then, it was only a few years ago (around the time when Tamiya's 360 was released), when Ferrari established its licensing body called IDEA, and then other companies started releasing Ferrari models without Mattel's involvement.

Anyway, I'm sorry to say, but Fujimi's Enthu 288GTO is much better than the Italeri counterpart. The Italeri one isn't so bad, but when the two sit side by side, the Fujimi beats the Italeri hands down, because the Fujimi kit was released before the infamous Rosso rebellion.

Perhaps you might want to make both in different colors, like red and yellow.

The greedy Mattel monopolized the Ferrari license for the past few years, and until recently Mattel kept saying no to Fujimi for the release of Ferrari related items. Only handful of model makers were allowed to release Ferrari kits in each country. Then, it was only a few years ago (around the time when Tamiya's 360 was released), when Ferrari established its licensing body called IDEA, and then other companies started releasing Ferrari models without Mattel's involvement.

Anyway, I'm sorry to say, but Fujimi's Enthu 288GTO is much better than the Italeri counterpart. The Italeri one isn't so bad, but when the two sit side by side, the Fujimi beats the Italeri hands down, because the Fujimi kit was released before the infamous Rosso rebellion.

Perhaps you might want to make both in different colors, like red and yellow.

Thanks for the useful information Hiro, hopefully a lot more Ferraris (older ones) is going to be produced in the near future.

It seems now I really have to order the Fujimi GTO :banghead: One more Ferrari in my order (FYI I've ordered the Studio27 Ferrari F40 Totip decal, pre-ordered the Ferrari 550 Maranello and Ferrari 575M Maranello). Hope they don't ship all in one shot... :lol:

Edit:I've placed my order for the Fujimi Ferrari 288 GTO a few minutes ago... :lol:

yes the fujimi enthusiast has engine detail...and the engine is a model itself. Search for the Fujimi 288 GTO builds by Veyron and another person whose name i forget... both of their builds are stunning :sunglasse

I've been buying these fujimi EM-series Ferrari kits couple of years now and have all of them,in fact two of most, and NOW they rerelease them! I hope they will release the Daytona Competizione version too, that's the only one i'm missing (has that one ever really been released, was it just planned?).

-Niko

Thanks for the info, all, I was also a bit hesitating about the italeri (which will be rereleased by revell AG later this year) or to get the enthusiast car...

dunno yet, prolly try to get both, if I can cough up the dough

Oli

nice to see that my decision not to buy one on ebay for lot´s of money was right.
I already built one of the Ethusiast 288 GTO. You all will love that kit. One geogeous car and one great kit.
Only problem as always are the wheels. But you might want to get some aftermarket versions!

I heard fit of Fujimi is kind of bad.

Has anyone got experience with fitting of this kit?

in short, fujimi enthusiast kits are as near to perfection as you can get in 1/24 in plastic.

as an example, someone once said to me (after me asking about the 288 GTO kit and if it was worth 30 of my not so hard earned £££) that if it's on the real car, chances are it's in the box.

i've got a couple of the old enthusiast 288 kits (one with embossed box-lid, one without...) and even after building two italeri 288 kits, i am still worried about screwing up the enthusiast kit and haven't even thought about opening up them bags.
maybe this means i can get finally give it a go knowing that i can afford to screw it up!

How does the 1/16 compare to the 1/24, anybidy know??

I've built a few Fujimi Enthusiast kits, and have looked at most of them. I find them to be of average parts quality...there is a lot of work necessary to clean up/fix mold lines and minor sink marks-much more so than a modern Tamiya kit or even some modern Revell/Hasegawa/Aoshima kits. The number of parts can be staggering, they will not build quickly. Comparing their BMW 635 with Tamiya's much simpler version (but beautifully executed), I'll take and build the Tamiya kit any day of the week. You get started on the Fujimi kit and you will be a slave to it. Look how many years Veyron's been stewing over his... :evillol:

Yes the Enthusiast GTO is a nice kit and will reward a builder with great skills and patience, but if you have the Italeri version it's not that bad. I built mine long before Fujimi's kit came out, and I'm not at all inspired to spend 40+ hours to build Fujimi's model that will look maybe 25% better on the shelf. Pay attention to the wheel location on the Italeri, and it'll look pretty good.

Here's the Italeri version:
http://images1.fotki.com/v5/photos/1/10258/17860/288GTOF-vi.jpg
http://images1.fotki.com/v5/photos/1/10258/17860/288GTOR-vi.jpg

I will watch this kit. The 1/16 version look way simplier than 1/24 (sad)

one thing with the italeri kit,
the exhaust/turbo is a bit on the heavy side and it doesn't fit properly (at least mine didn't fit properly); that's why i built two of them.....

but yeah....
the enthusiast kits will eat into your life....
i have a lp400 countach that is taking forever.

Bummer. I was gonna order it, but they've stopped taking orders for now?

Murray

that's great news.
As I have been building this kit for a year about now and my mirrors are missing. Now it is possible to reorder the mirrors. Hooray!

Well, I Guess I Can Go Ahead And Open Mine Up And Build It!
I've Sat On This Kit For Years Because I Did'nt Want To
Mod A Rare Kit. Years Back(Late 80's) Road & Track Had
A 288GTO With A Twin Turbo 426 Hemi For Power!(No Joke!)
I Will Try To Dig Up My Copy And Scan & Post It Here.

As I said, I already built one 1/24 GTO. The Fitting is nice, lots of detail, lot´s of work. The only real problems I had was when I fitted the body onto the chassis. Took me forever to get it into a proper position.

I had the 1/16 version of the 288 GTO as well, but eventually sold it, because I did´t really like the looks of the 1/16 kits from Fujimi. Especially as the wheels and tires look totally out of size. Besides that the doors on those kits are very challenging, as I found out, when I built the Fujimi 1/16 Ferrari F40.

I never saw or checked with the Italeri kit, but as I have a 25th Anniversary Countach from Italeri, I could compare it to the Enthusiast kits, I have and it´s way less detailed. I bet y´all that you will enjoy the Build of the Enthusiast version more even though its more challlenging.
So if I had a chance to get a hold onto a 1/24 288 GTO Enthusiast kit, I´d go for it and wouldn´t ask a question. Actually I already ordered one from hlj.com.

Dreaming about building the 288 GTO brings me to a problem. I really need reference pictures of the interior an the engine. Does anybody have an idea bedides the google and yahoo picture search?

Dreaming about building the 288 GTO brings me to a problem. I really need reference pictures of the interior an the engine. Does anybody have an idea bedides the google and yahoo picture search?

Try this book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1855324385/qid=1114603204/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-0627260-2095102?v=glance&s=books). It has good coverage of the F40, the F40 Evo, and the 288 GTO, including interior and engine. Good collection of pics, only thing really missing is shots of the brakes (I can't find pics of the F40's brakes anywhere!). The text on the other hand, is crap, but it's hardly what I buy references for.

godfather23,
Here are some.
http://www.carclassic.com/stock.asp?StockID=102306
http://www.carclassic.com/stock.asp?StockID=102307

I really need this kit. :smile:

I've been buying these fujimi EM-series Ferrari kits couple of years now and have all of them,in fact two of most, and NOW they rerelease them! I hope they will release the Daytona Competizione version too, that's the only one i'm missing (has that one ever really been released, was it just planned?).

-Niko

There never was a Datyona Competizione kit originally eventhough pictures of it appeared inside Enthusiast kit boxes, therefor there can't be a reissue.

But....there could be a mold of it that was tooled up then....I have a suspicion that the recently released F355 Spider mold has been lying dormant since the original F355's released too.

I have a suspicion that the recently released F355 Spider mold has been lying dormant since the original F355's released too.

Makes sense at first glance, but then I have to wonder...if it was tooled back when they did the GTS or original F355's, why would it have the engine lid scoop and rear spoiler area so much better executed than the others? I think they did the Spider rear deck tooling much more recently, but it's used w/the tooling inserts for the GTS. Just a partial retool-depending where it was done, the new insert may have cost 'em less than 10 grand to retool. The scoop and rear spoiler area are quite an improvement. Too bad we can't say that about the side scoops and door panels... :rolleyes: .

This makes me wonder whether the new 550 Maranello and 575M Maranello will be one of their Enthusiast Model as well? From the price they sell the kit it should at least comes with a decent engine eventhough they have no intention to make it an EM series. I hope I will not be paying my pre-order kits that amount of money for a curbside :grinno: but even if it is a curbside kit, I have to have it. :lol:

This makes me wonder whether the new 550 Maranello and 575M Maranello will be one of their Enthusiast Model as well? From the price they sell the kit it should at least comes with a decent engine eventhough they have no intention to make it an EM series. I hope I will not be paying my pre-order kits that amount of money for a curbside :grinno: but even if it is a curbside kit, I have to have it. :lol:

The days of EM kits are over, their 917K kit was as close as they will get to one. I would bet the Maranello's are curbside and that's fine with me.

the Maranellos would most likely be curbside, since the engine is under the hood and is not visible.

the Maranellos would most likely be curbside, since the engine is under the hood and is not visible.

I would have guessed so. Fujimi is well known for their high priced curbside models :lol: . Anyway, it's fine with me as long as there's going to be more Ferraris in my list :lol: .

The only Fujimi Enthusiast models I have is the Lamborghini Countach Quattrovalvole (which I got at a mall for $9 :lol: and only after a couple of days that they realize the wrong prizing and change it) and a Ferrari 365GTB (won it at Ebay).

the Maranellos would most likely be curbside, since the engine is under the hood and is not visible.

As I ordered the Maranello from hlj.com I found out that it is a release in the Fujimi Real Sports Car section, which are only Curbside kits. Definately no engine detail.

and what's the chances that it'll have a semi-decent interior?

Judging by their latest Lambo kits, not a lot.

If it is released as the enthusiast kit, which is what it's now listed under on HLJ, it has a decent interior, lots of detail including seatbelts, etc...

edit:.... ooopps, I was back on the 288gto again, my mistake.

If it is released as the enthusiast kit, which is what it's now listed under on HLJ, it has a decent interior, lots of detail including seatbelts, etc...

I think they got sidetracked and were talking about whether the Maranello was going to be an Enthusiast kit or if it would have a halfway decent interior.

I think they got sidetracked and were talking about whether the Maranello was going to be an Enthusiast kit or if it would have a halfway decent interior.

Aha, I think you are right :disappoin . I have turned into one of those non-post reading members. The shame of me....... lol. How could I let myself sink to this level :nono: .

My ACME friends will diss-own me.... let the beatings commense!!