Fujimi Fiat Nuova 500

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Here's Fujimi's Fiat 500 built for Scale Auto review. Pretty simple kit that looks decent. I painted it in a phantom Euro-retro color scheme of Tamiya AS-91 Intermediate Blue with a red interior. The AS paint is a satin color, but it buffs out nicely. I cleared it with TS-13 clear.

The only major issue I had with the kit was the wheel/tire fitment to the suspension. It was comically bad; the front ride height was way too tall, more Jeep than Fiat. The rear ride height was okay, but the track front & rear is too wide, the kit tires are old Pirelli P7's, so the wheels/tires are too wide to begin with. I resorted to some pretty basic "engineering by Dremel" to remove material from the inner wheels, suspension, whatever, to get the wheels to sit properly. I ditched the tiny brake discs since you can't see them through the wheels. Front/rear bumper fit isn't great, but not terrible. Fun kit...waiting for the Abarth Ferrari 695 version coming this summer.

[kaho]

Fantastic work as always. So you didn't have to do modification work on the tires? I am planning to get the standard Abarth kit but even the fujimi-built sample looks a bit screwy....wheels undersized and popping halfway out, front bumper looking too small, seems like even a bburago die cast has better proportions.
I am waiting on the esseesse version that is supposed to come out soon and hope it will have those problems fixed.

[dmacb]

Clean build, great pics.

[935k3]

Great build on a cute car. I would like to see a WRC version of that car.

[quadzero]

With your photography and building skills, you always manage to make your builds look like the real thing. Great clean work.

[sportracer02]

Looks nice, I agree with you: the tires of the kit are not perfect for the model

[potsie]

Lovely looking kit with an excellent colour choice. I am disappointed to here about the problems, as I was intending to get an Abarth version and convert to a tarmac rally car.

[janositamas]

Beautiful, this is how it should look! Perfect to my eyes! Congrats!

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Thanks for all the comments!

Originally Posted by potsie

Lovely looking kit with an excellent colour choice. I am disappointed to here about the problems, as I was intending to get an Abarth version and convert to a tarmac rally car.

You'd have to do the same work on the suspension for fitting proper rally wheels/tires as I did, so in reality your idea should work pretty well. It also depends on how picky you are about accuracy; the work I did to fit the wheels was pretty brutal, but you really cannot see it once the wheels/tires are fit into place. Having built this one, I have no qualms about building the Ferrari version when it comes out.

[topgearrr]

it's a real car? wonderful build!

[BVC500]

Nice job! Always love underside pics.

[BVC500]

Nice job! Always love underside pics.

[ddtham]

Beautiful build like always! I started experimenting with AS line as well and so far I am satisfied!

[mugenhb]

great work, I love these little Fiats, can't wait to see your Ferrari version when you get to it.

Steve

[Viccario]

Superb work as usual, your modifications were well worth doing, the end result is very convincing!