It's actually 1/18th scale, not 1/43rd.
I believe it was put out by a company called Gwilo and it is based on the Maisto 1/18th scale McLaren F1. Quality on the Maisto cars is decent, but nothing compared to the UT McLarens in that scale. You still get the same crappy Maisto interior that doesn't even have floor-hinged pedals.
The real problem I have with the basic Maisto car - and it's hard to know who's fault it was - is that it was obviously developed using one of the early McLaren XP F1s prior to all the final design details of the car being settled. It's taillight section is odd - having the two inner-most lights covered by the grillework. The nose piece is also not production-accurate as the openings are misshaped and dont have the smaller sections towards the center. The rear engine cover is inaccurate, as well as the rear bumper when compared to a production F1. The problems are excusable given that they released their car at almost the same time as the production F1s started being delivered, but its still a bit disappointing. They still managed to do better than Guiloy, but that's a story for another time.
For reference, the Maisto F1s normally sell for around $40.00 so the price of this chrome version should seem a bit outrageous right now. Sure, it comes on a wooden base, has a certificate of authenticity and a polishing cloth to go with it, but does it really justify such a higher price? I have never thought so, but apparently many other people do as this isn't the first time I have seen the price of one get so high. If I were to find one in the $60.00 range, I might consider adding it to my diecast collection, but I really can't see paying much more than that. It's not even a rare piece, as a new one normally pops up on Ebay every other week or so.
Finally - and this is probably my biggest gripe about the thing - I actually find it rather silly they have made a chrome model of a car built from carbon fiber
- you can't chrome carbon fiber, you can only chrome metal surfaces.
Anyway - that's my
>8^)
ER