efini RX-7 Type-R / Mazda Rx-7 R1

[JOSE MARIA]

Hi Daryl , well first of all if you are gonna purchase this kit you got to know that there's a difference between the efini model (24110) and the R1 (24116). The first it's the domestic Japanese version of 1991 but it doesn't have engine under the hood.The latter it's the U.S. MY1992 version and does have it.Therefore, it's recommendable to pick up the US car.This US version has added several pieces more parting from the Japanese one.It has the airbag steering wheel , LHD instrument panel and specific decals.You can build the Japanese car parting from this kit also but you´ll have to paint yourself emblems and so.
The aspect and size it's better than the other 1/24 offerings from Fujimi and Aoshima and details are up to expectations.
So you wanted engine pictures, right?

I have some pictures of the real car shown on its original dealer catalog.If you want them too, just tell me.

Factory colours for the J-Spec were: Red,Black , Yellow , MEtallic Midnight Blue , and Silver.I think white was also in the chart but may be in other versions of the range. For the interior you have the standard two-tone grey (cloth) or black leather.Red leather was also offered in any version.
Instead , the US R1 had the complete colour variety including beige leather.Enjoy the making Daryl.

Not every colour is available (factory made) with all the upholstery shades.

[erix7]

Originally posted by JOSE MARIA
...
The aspect and size it's better than the other 1/24 offerings from Fujimi and Aoshima and details are up to expectations.

Factory colours for the J-Spec were: Red, Black , Yellow , MEtallic Midnight Blue , and Silver.I think white was also in the chart but may be in other versions of the range. For the interior you have the standard two-tone grey (cloth) or black leather.Red leather was also offered in any version.
Instead , the US R1 had the complete colour variety including beige leather...

Not every colour is available (factory made) with all the upholstery shades.

The Tamiya body is way too wide (6mm), especially the nose section. The Tamiya R1 kit is the only one
with engine details, but the details of the engine block in the old FC kit (cat 24060) are much better
than those in the FD R1 (cat 24116).
With the Aoshima FD kits the roof is too wide compared to the width of the body, making the greenhouse look
too bulky and the side angles look wrong.
The Fujimi FD kit bodies come closest to the right shapes and dimensions, apart from the door upper edges
that are a bit too low in the roof (can be fixed with filling/rescribing and enlarging the window area upwards).

As for details: suspension and things like the Power Plant Frame are much better represented in the Aoshima kits
than in the Tamiya kits. One thing Tamiya did best is the way the twin oil coolers are positioned at the sides.
The Fujimi FD kits come with an R32 Skyline floorpan and suspension (thanks to Hiroaki for pointing that out) !
Good news is that the Fujimi body fits nicely on an Aoshima floorpan.

To make the perfect RX-7 FD model: Tamiya engine details, Aoshima floorpan/suspension/drivetrain, Fujimi body.
(Now there's a good reason for picking up kits cheap from eBay... )
The Fujimi kits in the Speed Star series and the black FD Kai in the Initial D series (cat nr.18352) come with
the bonnet as a separate part, making it even easier to show engine details.

As for body colors: White replaced the Silver for 1994 because the Silver paint chipped badly.
Competition Yellow Mica was only available on R
types (ie japanese Type R, US R1,R2).
As for interior: red leather (initially ?) only for silver exterior, IIRC red leather was deleted for 1994.
R types only had high-grip cloth on the seats (dark grey), no leather not even optional.

HTH,
-- Eric.

[JOSE MARIA]

Ok erix, you're right in everything . Just mention that Type-Xs and Type-Ss converted theirselves on "Touring-Xs" and "Touring-Ss" around `94 , in Japan. A curious issue for a model would it be also to make the Type-RZ of 1992, right? not many changes to be made to the original Aoshima / Tamiya cars.

Well, nothing thanks for the explanation.

Ah ! You say Ebay it's cheap? err..where? when?....
Any idea about where to find Nagano`s `78 Savanna RX-7 Limited or may be the same car of Aoshima at 1/20 as well? any which has engine.I don't know which of two has it. But my Fujimi model in 1/24 isn't up to the task really.

ah ! I was thinking to make the Savanna RX-7 Enfini (The FC lightweight as you better know than me) parting from the Fujimi kit , eliminating the horrible Countach´s rims and adding Aoshima´s BBS RGs .I´ll have to redo also the seats and add another racy steering wheel. I could even duplicate in resin the Tamiya´s engine and drop it in it. Any other good advise? any suggestions? Ok erix, you're right in everything . Just mention that Type-Xs and Type-Ss converted theirselves on "Touring-Xs" and "Touring-Ss" around `94 , in Japan. A curious issue for a model would it be also to make the Type-RZ of 1992, right? not many changes to be made to the original Aoshima / Tamiya cars. Ok erix, you're right in everything . Just mention that Type-Xs and Type-Ss converted theirselves on "Touring-Xs" and "Touring-Ss" around `94 , in Japan. A curious issue for a model would it be also to make the Type-RZ of 1992, right? not many changes to be made to the original Aoshima / Tamiya cars.

[hirofkd]

Problem of Fujimi body is that the wheelbase is a bit too long to fit the GT-R chassis. I think it's
about 2mm longer than Aoshima or Tamiya, so when using the Aoshima floor pan, the rear suspension
assembly might have to be relocated (, which shouldn't be so hard). This problem would be more
critical for those who want to fit 18-19 inch rims. I addressed this to one of the Fujimi reps at the
last hobby show, and he didn't know how the GT-R chassis ended up in their FD kit, but he said he will
look into the front suspension problem.
Too bad, only Fujimi has the later front bumper and seemingly accurate headlight moldings, and we
get a GT-R chassis.

Now, what about Rosso?

[erix7]

Originally posted by JOSE MARIA
Ok erix, you're right in everything . Just mention that Type-Xs and Type-Ss converted theirselves on "Touring-Xs" and "Touring-Ss" around `94 , in Japan. A curious issue for a model would it be also to make the Type-RZ of 1992, right? not many changes to be made to the original Aoshima / Tamiya cars.

Well, nothing thanks for the explanation.

Ah ! You say Ebay it's cheap? err..where? when?....
Any idea about where to find Nagano`s `78 Savanna RX-7 Limited or may be the same car of Aoshima at 1/20 as well? any which has engine.I don't know which of two
has it. But my Fujimi model in 1/24 isn't up to the task really.

ah ! I was thinking to make the Savanna RX-7 Enfini (The FC lightweight as you better know than me) parting from the Fujimi kit , eliminating the horrible Countach´s rims and adding Aoshima´s BBS RGs .I´ll have to redo also the seats and add another racy steering wheel. I could even duplicate in resin the Tamiya´s engine and drop it in it. Any other good advise? any suggestions?

Hey Jose Maria,

I didn't mean to 'knock you out' I tried to help with providing info, I didn't intend to pick a fight,
I'm really sorry if I sounded that way !

How come you know so much about the Japanese releases of the RX-7 ?

I don't have much details about the 1992 RZ memorized, but I think you need
bucket seats similar to those in the later RZ versions (wasn't the 1992 RZ
all-black including the interior ?). Also the BBS wheels look most like those
fitted to the later ('93) R32 Skylines. Fujimi made those BBS wheels for their
R32 and 300ZX kits but I'm not sure if they sell those wheels separately.

Ebay can be cheap if demand is lower than supply. Two kits that can
usually be scooped up for the initial bid are the Tamiya RX-7 FD R1 (currently
there's one for 9.99 with no bids on it) and the Monogram Rx-7 SA (My favorite
pick for an SA). If someone else bids on the auction you want, you can just
wait a day or so for the next auction
Of course shipping costs can make it expensive afterall but some sellers ship cheaper than most stores.
It is worth checking shipping costs before you bid.

The Nagano RX-7, yeah, well, uhm, that's the kind of kit that you have to wait
patiently for, I guess ! I'm still waiting myself
Thanks for the Nagano boxart picture !
Aoshima 1/20 RX-7 SA ?? I haven't heard of that one before, please tell me more !

For any RX-7 FC model I'd use as much of the Tamiya FC kit as you can: it is
lightyears ahead of the Fujimi kit !
Especially the Fujimi chassis/floorpan is awful.
The only thing that Fujimi did better is the instrument cluster and they provide
optional storage bins to replace the rear seats in their latest FC issues.
Fujimi also took a stab at remodelling the separate front bumper, IIRC they got
the 'grill' pattern right, but they got the shape of the nose wrong.
Things like the rubbing strip along the body are tedious to remodel, but Fujimi
botched up theirs anyway so you might as well start with the Tamiya body.
The late style taillight lenses of the Fujimi kit can be made to fit the Tamiya
kit, biggest difference is that the late style is much more smooth on the
outside (the circular lights are easy to paint on the inside).
BTW the Tamiya 24060 FC kit is in the rerelease program, it was last released
in 1999 and it probably will be released again in the near future (keep an eye on
http://www.tamiya.com/japan/news/spot.htm ) so don't pay collectors prices for that kit.

If you have the Countach OZ wheels, you probably
have the black Super Inch Up series kit ?

I have to check for the right type of BBS wheels on the Infini IV, IIRC there's
no exact match available, just close ones. Same goes for the FC Cabriolet.
I did the Turbo ][ 11-spoke disc wheels myself, but still have to do the
factory '90 Turbo ][ spoked wheels (nothing comes close to those AFAIK).

Best regards,
-- Eric.

[erix7]

Originally posted by hirofkd
Problem of Fujimi body is that the wheelbase is a bit too long to fit the GT-R chassis. I think it's
about 2mm longer than Aoshima or Tamiya, so when using the Aoshima floor pan, the rear suspension
assembly might have to be relocated (, which shouldn't be so hard). This problem would be more
critical for those who want to fit 18-19 inch rims. I addressed this to one of the Fujimi reps at the
last hobby show, and he didn't know how the GT-R chassis ended up in their FD kit, but he said he will
look into the front suspension problem.
Too bad, only Fujimi has the later front bumper and seemingly accurate headlight moldings, and we
get a GT-R chassis.

Now, what about Rosso?

Hi Hioraki,

From memory I think found there's something wrong with the front wheelarches of the Fujimi body,
if you correct that, you have fixed the wheelbase problem as well. I'll check my notes !
BTW I'd rather move the front suspension than the rear one on the Aoshima FD chassis,
the rear suspension location is much more complex.

The front suspension problem you mentioned, that's the ride height problem you found with the Initial D FD kit ?

Are there still Rosso kits being sold ?
The Rosso body/chassis is a bit too wide (some 4mm consistently, not wedge shaped like Tamiya did)
and they put oversized factory wheels and very low profile tires in the kits (looks cool though :P )
Otherwise the Rosso kits have very nice detail, although the Aoshima kits come very close.

Last weekend I received the Fujimi RE Amemiya Greddy 9 and was pretty miffed to find that Fujimi
did not include the recessed headlights ! I can not believe they missed that !
Ten years on and the only way to get those headlights is to find a Little Garage set or a
Rosso DORI2 FD kit, both are almost impossible to find...

I'll get back when I dug up my FD stuff back home,

Best regards,
-- Eric.

[JOSE MARIA]

Hi Erix , first of all , when I said that I was knocked by you , I was joking, of course, I couldn´t feel offended by no means. [color=limegreen]
Well , in referring to the strange Aoshima 1st-gen in 1/20 , the only boxart I could find was in an `80 Aoshima brochure , so here you have it , scanned.In referring to the Infini here I have put you some pictures of the original catalogue.It is not a `89/`90 restyled FC , it´s the lightweight version of the early one with the alluminium bonnet, the BBSs , racy steering wheel and so.
So, it seems pretty easy to convert it from the normal GT-Limited to that.

Another thing is the `92 Type-RZ.Another lightweight version.This one had and all black scheme , including the wheels, which makes it pretty sinister

[erix7]

Okay folks, I dug up my RX-7 notes and info last night:
I am working on a set of web pages on how to model the exact
versions of RX-7 SA, FB, FC and FD types, so I took measurements
of full-size RX-7's. Usually I only start measuring things when
I notice something that doesn't look right, if it looks right, it
is okay with me, even if it is a few percent off-scale


Hiroaki,
I checked my data and the Fujimi and Aoshima kits. The problem
with the Fujimi front wheel arches is that the size of the arch
is 2mm too large, which makes the wheels look a bit small. The
Fujimi front wheel arch starts 1mm further forward than on
the Aoshima body. The rear wheel arch is at virtually the same
position for both models. I noticed that the rear wheel on the
real car is located slightly forward of the center of the wheel
arch (I'll take exact measurements next time I see real FD )
You are right about the rear suspension: it is easier than I thought
to move the rear suspension a bit. However I'd prefer to move the
front suspension if needed since that should keep the floorpan
better aligned with the body. I haven't worked out yet how exactly
to correct the front wheel arch size.

The problem with the Fujimi FD door window openings being too
small can effectively be fixed by just trimming the inner edges along
the front and top of the window.

The Rosso FD kit is a lot better than I suggested: its width is
only 2mm oversize overall and most other measurements
are very close, including the length of the bonnet (both
Aoshima and Tamiya made the bonnet of their FD kits too short)
So a Rosso kit with a set of Tamiya or Aoshima factory rims
and tires is the easiest way to do a good early FD.


Jose Maria,
Thanks for the pics ! The Aoshima kit looks like a street version
of their horrible little racer kit :hehehe:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~erix7/rx7kits/aos3g63.html
Do you perhaps have a box number/catalog number for the kit
on the picture ?

The Infini version on the pics looks like an '87 Infini or an
'88 Infini II to me.

I checked the wheels for the Infini models, these have 16in BBS wheels
with 17 sets of X-shaped spokes. I don't know of a direct match for those
wheels at 1/24 scale. Fujimi makes some 15in that look similar but those
have only 15 sets of spokes and have bolts along the rim.
The Infini III and IV models were based on the updated FC like you said.
Doing an early Infini type is easy once you have the right wheels.
I think a good copy of the steering wheel can be found in most Fujimi
FD kits (the latest R-Spec and Greddy kits contain 3 or 4 different
steering wheels and an unused extra pair of bucket seats !).

In my earlier reply I was mixing up the '92 and '93 RZ releases.
Both have indeed the lightweight bucket seats that are also in the
Fujimi 2001 RZ kit, but the '92 has the 5-spoke factory wheels
(painted gun metal grey) whereas the '93 has 17in BBS wheels.
These BBS wheels are made by Fujimi and are included in their
Just Tuning FC kit. The wheels can also be bought separately
(IU-2, cat nr 19155 and IU-6, cat nr 19151) and come with separate
colored rims, a set of Brembo brakes and Pirelli P-Zero tires (you
need those for the Infini model !) . But the Aoshima RG's are also
pretty close.

Best regards,
-- Eric.

[hirofkd]

Here is a quick summary of the limited edition FDs.

Oct. 92 Type RZ
Base Model: Type R
Special damper
Recaro bucket seat
P-Zero
change of the final drive ratio from 4.100 to 4.300
Two seater
30 kg of diet
300 units
4.05 million yen

Oct. 93 Type RZ 2nd version
RX-7 15th anniversary
Base Model: Type R
Bilstein
Recaro
Heavy duty Torsen LSD
Front 45/Rear 40 17 inch BBS RS-II
150 units
4.35 million yen

Sep. 94 Type R-2 Bathurst
Celebrating the 3rd win of Bathurst 12hrs
Base Model: Type-R2
decal
Blue glass
350 units
2.998 million yen

Feb. 95 Type R Bathurst
Base Model: Type-R 2+2
No audio
3.285 million yen (-625,000 yen froom the base model)
500 units

July 1995 Type R Bathurst X
Loaded model
Base Model: Type R Bathurst
Laser seats
Momo steering wheel
decal
777 units
3.35 million yen (+ 65000 from the base model)

Jan. 1997 Type RB Bathurst X
Base Model: Type RB
Red laser seats
Momo steering wheel
front spoiler
projector fog
floating rear wing (whatever that means)
rear wiper
decal
700 units
3.37 million yen

Oct. 97 Type RS-R
30th anniversary of rotary engine
Bilstein
Bridgestone Expedia S07
driver side knee pad
passenger side aluminum foot rest
special gauges
aluminum wheels
500 units
From this on, it's "Mazda" RX-7 instead of Enfini

Oct. 2000 Type RZ
Recaro
Bilstein
BBS
10 kg of diet
Snow white pearl mica body color
175 units
3.998 million yen

Aug. 01 Type R Bathurst R
Base Model Type R
ride height adjusting
carbon fiber gauge frame, shifter knob, parking brake handle (Mazdaspeed)
500 units
3.398 million yen

Dec. 01 Type R Bathurst
ride height adjustment
fog lights
Innocent Blue Mica, Pure White, Brilliant Black, Vintage Red, Sunlight Silver Metallic
3.398 million yen

April 2002 Spirit R
BBS 17 inch
Red brake caliper
Recaro and drilled brake rotor, 10 kg diet (Type A)
3.998 million yen (Type A, Type B)
3.398 million yen (Type C)
1500 units (A, B, C combined)

[JOSE MARIA]

Thanks Hiro for your complete information. I did know about the Bathurst limited variants. But I only knew two not so many. Thanks

About the reference number of the 1/20 `78 Savanna RX-7 , sorry Erix, but it isn´t shown (I don´t know why).It does belong to series where appeared also the Mitsubishi Galant Lambda 2000GSR and the Toyota Celica 2000GT LB. I do can see that there´s also a competition Savanna (Silhoutte group car) and(`80 cat.No. 4) in the `91 Aoshima catalogue appears as Refernce No.301 / 00196).
I know this isn´t such, sorry , but it´s what I know. Mmm I was wondering...did Bandai any in 1/20? Anyone knows?

[Jay!]

*Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About RX-7s, But Were Afraid To Ask.*

[erix7]

Originally posted by JOSE MARIA
...
Mmm I was wondering...did Bandai any in 1/20? Anyone knows?

Hi Jose Maria,

Thanks for checking the Aoshima catalogs !
Yes, Bandai did a 1/20 scale RX-7 SA kit.
I'll look up details back home.

Best regards,
-- Eric.

[JOSE MARIA]

Erix ! is that true? It would be incredibly cool to have one! Wouldn´t you have any box art of it. Jajaj I suspect it that Bandai should have that kinda model between it´s old kits...
Thanks for telling me !

[erix7]

Originally posted by JOSE MARIA
Erix ! is that true? It would be incredibly cool to have one! Wouldn´t you have any box art of it. Jajaj I suspect it that Bandai should have that kinda model between it´s old kits...
Thanks for telling me !

Hi Jose Maria,

All I could find of the 1/20 Bandai RX-7 kit is the catalog number (35252)
and this pic that I once found on eBay:



You can see on the pic that it has no engine bay.
the only RX-7 SA kits with engine details I know
are the Monogram 1/24 kits and the Nagano 1/20 kit.

HTH,
-- Eric.

[JOSE MARIA]

Thanks a lot Erix for letting me see the Bandai´s artbox. Hoe strange it ain´t have an engine.But is it 1/20 or 1/24?

I didn´t know that of the Monogram ´kit I just thought It was a curbside.The proportions look fine.
I know that theres also a kit in 1/25 from MAtchbox and AMT of 1982 but I don´t know if that can have an engine.

Thanks for telling me all this Erix.