Protar! Good or bad?

[Tikiman]

I saw some Protar model bikes today and i would like to know if they are any good. One was an A.Senna edition and the rest were quite ordinary looking, except they seem to have very good detail.

The thing is that i heard they were very good, but in the shop i saw them in they were not at all expensive (about the same price as most Tamiya kits). Maybe the Tamiya ones are overpriced, I live in Sweden after all.

Anyway, wadda ya think?

[lotus_man]

Protar tend to use other peoples kits and rebrand them. I've done a Ferrari 512 that was well detailed, but fiddly. I've seen their Lancia LC2 that has much less detail and looks like it was made by a totally different company.

[Tikiman]

That sounds abit dubious. Do they tend to concentrate on limited editions aswell as the Airton Senna model looked pretty spiffy. Maybe they take other peoples kits and bundle them with a parts upgrade kit, as the ones i saw had lots and lots of detail, like real chains and suspension.

Hope i get some more views

[iceblend]

I dont really like protar. Got a ducati "swift" kit. Everything sucks cept the cowling. The parts was mostly moulded as one. Details are not as crisp as Tamiya's. Only thing attractive abt it is its size. =\

[935k3]

Their quality is all over the place. Sometimes the tires have big swirl marks molded in them and there mouldinis not very crisp at all. There motorcycles looked Ok built up in their catalog I once had. I just do not trust them too much.

[sjelic]

Not Tamiya quality but I can't say any bad word against them (nothing that you can't repair or schratch build). Pros are deffinitly price, size and rare models that no one makes (we are talking about bikes).

[Tikiman]

Yeah bikes. I've only seen their bike models. Didn't know they made cars aswell. They looked very interesting with the small details they had, like the chain and suspension.

[fc3sjeff]

From what I have been told there is a way to determine the level of detail in many protar bikes-

Many of Protar's bike kits (the newer ones at least) are also sold as Revell Germany kits. If you look in the online catalog on Revell Germany's website, all of them that are listed as being skill levels 1-3 are the much hated Swift Model kits. Those that are skill levels 4-5 are the more detailed kits.

Jeff

[hirofkd]

Protar is really hit or miss. Even more so than Fujimi. (probably 10 times more!)
They have released their own kits as well as reboxed ones made by other companies. Their Ferrari F40 is almost unbuildable, unless you are an expert, but I heard positive comments about their 250GTO.
Many of their motorcycle kits look detailed and seem alright. Some of them were designed by the ex-Tamiya employee, who also designed Tamiya's very first 1/12 Honda F1 and many other big scale models for Tamiya.

[hrmodeler]

I have some their bike kits. One I'm building now, 1/9 Ducati SP. It's good and very detailed, and some mistakes can be corrected.
I also have their Yamaha Super Tenere kit with lots of white metal parts, springs, rubber parts. It's looking good too. On both kist many things working.

You must watch which series you take. "Swift" models are simple and not so good, better look more detailed their kits.