Quote:
Originally Posted by MerlinPro
Yes, KA's craftsmanship is excellent but did not present a good value to me so I passed. Adding $160 to a $175 kit made little sense when you still have screwed-together construction and junk suspension components.
I did not care for the resin seats as the worst 'as-raced' photos I found were not trashed like that. Making the headers in white metal was a waste IMO when the kit's plastic ones fit and finish perfectly. And tiny PE parts where barely seen are just hours more work to little improvement. All the tin panels were either foiled or replaced by my own sourced tin can aluminum. The cylinder heads and intake are mere suggestions by Trumpeter but KA does not have parts to improve them from what I see.
I understand why SMS passed on this one. I have their Tamiya 395 kit and it is a world of difference. But I had to have this GT-40 and it does have the proper 'look' when finished and closed.
I just have not seen virtually any builds or completed models on the web. Assuming you're correct and people bought a 'ton of them' -they're just not writing about them or I visit the wrong modeling sites.
'Scale Auto' magazine did a review build by Mark Melchiori which was rushed for a deadline and he omitted all plumbing lines and had difficulty with simple to remedy kit flaws. It was a waste but made a pretty picture all closed up.
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The modelers site had a pretty nice build of this kit.
SMS did do a detail set for the Revell F2002 wich was not much better than this kit(maybe worse), so thats no excuse. I understand his decision,
and it is his call after all. I think he would have sold alot of them. The KA kit does miss alot of the problems, but has alot of nice photoetch wich will help in the build. Years ago a broke down and bought the GMP MKII and must say its much better than the Trumpeter in detail. That really makes you wonder. The big thing on the GMP that sets it apart are the tires. They are superb.
Tom Tanner/Scale Designs/Ferrari Expo 2010 model/photo contest-Chicago April 24th 2010