Arrg! Why did I buy this Fujimi kit???

[DSM-Mark]

Well, I did it. My first Fujimi kit purchase. Knowing what I know about Fujimi, I was skeptical. But I figured, meh, a lot of you guys build them, how bad can it be? The kit in question is a lancer evolution VII Garage TT kit, shown below. It MSRPs at 2400 yen, so I thought maybe they did a little extra work getting this one out the door. Not so.


First of all, the grill doesn't look anything like that. It's just a standard EVO VII grill. 2nd, the raised edges on the hood vent also don't exist. And, surprise, surprise, the tires are small. If I wanted their RalliArt version of the EVO VII, I would have bought their RalliArt version. All I can say is never again. It looks exactly like this...

[Zcaithaca]

fujimi isnt too great with 1/24 kits but are wonderful with 1/16....im thinking of getting a 1/16 f40... they are so detailed and good that it almost put them out of buisness

[Lambo003]

Originally Posted by Zcaithaca

fujimi isnt too great with 1/24 kits but are wonderful with 1/16....im thinking of getting a 1/16 f40... they are so detailed and good that it almost put them out of buisness

Except their 1/16th Countach kits. They should be shot for even releasing them . . . They're horrible . . .

[Jay!]

Say it with me: "Always ask the forum before buying a new Fujimi kit."

The "Auto Gallery" Series are (all?) street-cars with the decals to match the race cars. (The EVO series seems to be an all-EVO off-shoot in the same vein.) So far as I've seen none of them are coming with the correct race bodies and interiors.

[gasman03]

I builtm that RalliArt kit, it is very nice, but I understand you problem with the VII Garage TT kit, why did they bother

[willimo]

Originally Posted by gasman03

I builtm that RalliArt kit, it is very nice, but I understand you problem with the VII Garage TT kit, why did they bother

Probably because us, as modellers, can modify the body with styrene putty but can't make the decals. While this doesn't excuse them, it's this market, plus the "I don't really care" market that they probably get plenty of sales with.

[ratdat]

It saddens me what has become of Fujimi. I have a few of their current kits and generally they are best described as mediocre.

I just picked up and older Lamborghini Countach LP400 Enthusiast Model kit of theirs..it looks amazing...very detailed and accurate from what I can tell ( hehe..what do I know about Lambos ) If only all their kits were like this. I'd love an S13 or R32 kit with this level of detail, opening doors, hood, trunk etc.

[clem24]

<sigh> I bought the "Cockpit SW20 MR2" last year. It was a '98 spec MR2 on the box. I figured at the VERY least, they'd include the new rear spoiler (R33 GT-R style). But hey, you guessed it. Same ol' '93 spec. I was quite disappointed. The worst part: the kit cost more than a typical Tamiya kit of superior quality! But at least in this case, you can still modify the kit to update it, and luckily, I had a GT-R style spoiler handy from the Revell Integra.

However, I don't think I can really stop buying their kits simply because they seem to choose really popular subjects that no one else really touches. The only time I will totally avoid their kits is if I know that they aren't even close (like the new RX-8 kit --> the front doesn't even look anywhere CLOSE to the real thing!). I just picked up the NSX-R, GDB WRX, and Legacy B4. The NSX and B4 look good (with some small mods), but the GDB is really in a league of it's own; it's horrible! Hood scoop is too high, wheels too small and don't even look prototypical, car body only resembles a wrx, recycled GC8 interior parts, extremely thick rear spoiler, goes on and on...

However, if any modellers happen to be in Hong Kong, Universal models in Causeway Bay don't tape the boxes, so you can open them up to inspect the contents. Let's you avoid the bad Fujimi kits if they have them.

My 2 cents...

clem..

[iceblend]

Show the parts man!I mean show me how the parts really look like...So far all my kits are Tamiya..

Fujimi's box art always look very attractive to me..hoho..maybe they shoud go into ads design or something..

[hirofkd]

Auto Gallery simply represents the normal cars with pretty decals. It has been that way, and it will remain so. The intermedate modelers will still appreciate those decals, so just consider them as decal sets that include a street car kit as an extra bonus. Make sense, does it?

[will69camaro]

I have a few fujimi kits, i didn't know they were such bad qualitly. I have a gt40 that fujimi makes. Is that by any chance a decent model atleast. Hard to find gt40 models.

William

[SonyMobile]

Arrg! Why did I buy this Fujimi kit???

Because it looks cool on the box I agree, fujimi kits blow monkey chunks, but hey its a model, at least the 2 fujimi's i have built i have found to be half decent, but ya no what, they propose a challenge, not all the peices slide right into place, infact there are alot of fitment problems, so it is actually fun to build (for me atleast) you can stick it together, tear it apart, rebuild peices, its kinda fun, I think im the only one that actually semi enjoys building recent AMT kits, other than the fact that all the stuff is sooo unrealistic and way off, none of the peices fit! which is great

[EMAXX]

I've had this same problem with Fujimi. I wish that they would just put a little more time into their kits and make a good quality kit that everyone likes.

[Vric]

Originally Posted by Zcaithaca

fujimi isnt too great with 1/24 kits but are wonderful with 1/16....im thinking of getting a 1/16 f40... they are so detailed and good that it almost put them out of buisness

i have does this kit and nothing fit on the body.. lot of work to get it right..

[shieldwulf]

The "Cockpit" variant of Honda Integra Type R was my first and is my last 1/24 Fujimi model car kit I will own.

After inspecting the contents of the box, the only part worth my money is the sheet of decals, and perhaps the nice large photo of the car on the front of the box.

The problem is the lack of definition of the part details and shape. I was totally demoralised when I opened the box to inspect the contents. The instruction sheet was downright vague and seemed to be hastily done. When I compared the photo on the box with the actual car body kit, there are so many areas that are way off the mark.

In Singapore, Tamiya kits are generally much cheaper than Fujimi kits. Fujimi "wins" by its sheer range of kits released every year. However, I still prefer quality. Tamiya usually releases new kits with a bang, even though they are slower. Their Enzo Ferrari, Williams F1 are good examples.