Porsche 924 Turbo - Arii

[356speedster]

A new HLJ shipment arrived and I was happay add a new member to my Porsche collection :-)





This is my first Arii kit, and I've heard a lot bad talk about Arii, so I did a quick "dry build-up" to see what the kit had to offer.

The body had a lot of flash inside window openings but they are easy to cut away. The fit is quite good but there are some issues with the interior that I will get back to later.

The wheels are not from the kit :-)





The body shape seem quite good exept for one thing. The roof seems to be a little low. You notice this by looking at the side windows. So I messured it against the Revell 944 kit, and the rear sidewindow is 1 mm lower. It's not much off, but you can notice it when comparing it to the Revell 944 kit.

You can also see that the hood is precut and supposed to be opening even if the kit comes without an engine.

The major issue with this kit is the bad chassis:

The chassis is totaly silly and useless unless you build it curbside. But I have done some messuring on the Revell 944 chassis and have a cunning plan :-)

BTW: I just made my first resin cast today and it turned out just like the orignal engine... :-)

More to come...

[NissanSkylineGTR98]

Nice, I got two Skyline kits by Arii on the way, hope they're good. Looking forward to seeing more progress

[MarcoGTI]

Great and original subjet 924 Turbo!!!!!
I think 924 was made in kit only by Monogramm and Arii.I am looking for Arii 924 from many times but it's rare
I will be happy to see how is this kit when it will be built!!!

[Lurchio]

Quite keen to look at this but pictures aren't working for me

[356speedster]

Originally Posted by Lurchio

Quite keen to look at this but pictures aren't working for me

Yes, my webserver was down a few hours today because of heavy snow wich broke the power lines in my area :-(

Its up again now.

The kit is cheap (only 13$ at HLJ) so I had to buy two :-) So if you want I'll try to find time to take some better pics of the kit and post a short kit review later today.

[MarcoGTI]

Originally Posted by 356speedster

Yes, my webserver was down a few hours today because of heavy snow wich broke the power lines in my area :-(

Its up again now.

The kit is cheap (only 13$ at HLJ) so I had to buy two :-) So if you want I'll try to find time to take some better pics of the kit and post a short kit review later today.

I have seen that now on HLJ it is out of stock.I have to search on Ebay.I was interested to add one to my Porsche collection
It looks that it hasn't engine details right?However it will be easy to modify copying a 944 engine.
However nice kit!!!I am very interested to see your progress!!

[iceracer1]

looks cool...from wich manufactor are those wheels? and which type? I like them very much!

Good luck with this Porsche

Kris.

[356speedster]

Originally Posted by iceracer1

looks cool...from wich manufactor are those wheels? and which type? I like them very much!

Good luck with this Porsche

Kris.

The wheels are Aoshima Hasemi Sport 16". Looks good on "80's cars".

[356speedster]

Kit review

So I have taken a closer look at the kit.

It's a curbside kit with a good bodyshape but with a poor chassis and a medicore interior. The fit is ok, but there is a lot of flash on many parts so it needs a good cleanup. I'll let the images do most of the talking :-)

Here are all the parts in the kit.


Instruction sheets are not very good. This is basicly the only useful instruction steps. Step 1 and 2 only tells you hov to put on the wheels.


The decal sheet is garbage. The decal designs are useless and the quality is rubbish.


The tires are not very good either. Looks more like offroad tires.The pics speak for them self.


The clearparts are not to good either, they are very thick and uneven, but some sanding and polishing will fix that.


The rear lights have a strange solution with a plastic frame wich is supposed to fit between the lights. I have not tested it out yet, but I'm afraid the plastic frame will look very thick and "heavy. I'll get back on this later.
Hmm.. is that ejector marks in the middle of the rearlights???


So far this doesent look very good, does it? I need to get some food before I post more pics.

[356speedster]

Review continued...

The wheels are actually quite good looking and nicely moulded. The first smiley :-)


The frontseats also look nice. They are not accurate and sit on a too heavy base, but that wont be visible through the window anyway. The seats are "hinged" and have a very nice and curved backside. :-)


The backseats also look good, but the luggage room floor sits way to high and must be cut off and lowered. The reason it sits so high is that the chassis is made for a battery driven motor.


Dashboard is quite accurate and really not too bad, can look good with some detailing. It also got a accurate center console not shown in the pic.


Steering wheel is accurate.


Doorpanels are also good enough.


Here is the inside of the chassis with no details


The underside is just silly and useless if you plan to do any level of detailing


So there are some good parts here that can build up a decent interior with some minor modifications, and since the wheels look so good they probably will be useful on another kit :-)

If you want to make detailed a kit, the main problem is the poor looking chassis, but on the other hand it would be very easy to convert to a slotcar!

Next part is the body.

[356speedster]

Body review

So how is the body? Quite good in shape, but does have a slightly low roof profile. This is not easy to spot IRL because you usually look at the model from a high angle, and its only 1mm lower than the Revell 944 Turbo so its nothing to worry about.

The body:
















As mentioned before the body got a lot of flash that needs to be cleaned up, but thare are not many heavy panel lines.

Here is a quick and dirty dry assembly just to show the bumbers and rearlight arrangement (the missfit is my fault, I didnt bother to spend time adjusting).








This may look like a major fit issue, but it's actually the way it should be. It will look a lot better when the windshield edge is painted black and the wipers are "hidden" down there.


The hood needs to either be cut out or puttyed in, and the panel lines must be scribed.

Bodywise this kit will turn out decent after some cleanup work, but I'm really not sure how that framed rearlight arrangement will turn out. But since I'm lucky enough to have three Revell 944 turbo kits in my pile, I'm considering to sacrifice one of them as a parts donor for the 924. Is it possible to "resin cast" clearparts?

I'm wrapping this "review" up with a few comparison pics with the 944:






My conclusion? I was expecting the worst since I have heard a lot of bad talk about Arii kits, and now I understand why they got a bad reputation. But all in all, I am pleased, because I know I can make it into a good looking model... with a little help from the Revell 944 turbo kit.

So if you want a 924 turbo added to your collection just place an order at HLJ and you might get lucky in 2-3 months :-) Note that HLJ will try to get you a kit from their suppliers if you place an order on "sold out" items.

I'm currently working on many kits at the moment, but since I'm currently in a "body mood", dont be supriced if you find some more pics quite soon.

[RallyFanatic]

Nice 924!
Would love to see how you build it.
As for the clear parts, just use one of your 944's and order a replacement clear sprue again for RoG when you intend to build the 944.

[356speedster]

Originally Posted by 356speedster

The wheels are Aoshima Hasemi Sport 16". Looks good on "80's cars".

Sorry I was wrong. Just found the box anf the wheels are 17inch Fujimi OZ Racing