Maserati MC12 Racing 2005 1:24 by E.JAN -Kit Review-

[sportracer02]

Hi,

having already 2 MFH kits on my shelf I got today a third one - from E.JAN, the Maserati MC12 Red Bull 2005.

Wow, what an enormous model:


















Measuring the body dimensions I think the model is more 1:23 than 1:24 (model is 89 mm wide, too much for 1:24).

Another remarkable thing are the huge front wheel wells. They appear too wide and too high and should be sanded down.

The opening in the rear under the taillights is too small. The sides behind the rear wheels tends to the middle of the car, which makes the rear narrower.

The slots in the cover over the engine are not opened. They appear as if they could be drilled out and you could look –standing above the model- into the engine room. Watch out, the opening of these vents looks to the back of the car !!!!

The middle part of the front seems to fall down to the front skirt too much.


As already mentioned in a former thread, I have the slot body kit of the same car from Scale Speed, soon available from www.automobilminiaturen.de -> Slot Racing, here are some pics of both bodys (white resin = E.JAN, yellow resin = Scale Speed).















Summary: the E.JAN Maserati is for sure a great kit and with some work it will become an outstanding model.

[Guiddy]

WOW! one of the best looking race cars around right now! Can't wait to see progress!

[Enzoenvy1]

Is this one of the new release ones that wsa announced a onth or so ago?

Sad to say, but the slotcar body almost looks better?!

[D_LaMz]

Omg!!

[Gamerxz]

Looks like a great kit to me... U seem to only shop for MFH stuff lol

[sportracer02]

Originally Posted by Gamerxz

Looks like a great kit to me... U seem to only shop for MFH stuff lol

lol, besides these 3 MFH kits there is a pile of 200+ unbuilt kits

BUT: having less kits is boring

[Gamerxz]

Originally Posted by sportracer02

lol, besides these 3 MFH kits there is a pile of 200+ unbuilt kits

BUT: having less kits is boring

LOL ur Can i have one kit for christmas? ROFL

[Layla's Keeper]

I'm a little lost here, sportracer.

The E.Jan kit is CLEARLY out of scale, and when looking at pictures of the actual car, the contours of the body don't match, either.





The fender flares are overly defined and oversized, the nose is too blunt, and the tail is cut-off and squared in shape compared to the prototype.

So, if the kit is wickedly inaccurate - even by your own admission - why do you say it's a great kit? Quite honestly, a kit with that many fundamental flaws is a pretty lousy kit, especially at 200+ dollars.

[sportracer02]

Originally Posted by Layla's Keeper

So, if the kit is wickedly inaccurate - even by your own admission - why do you say it's a great kit? Quite honestly, a kit with that many fundamental flaws is a pretty lousy kit, especially at 200+ dollars.

Hi,

well, to be honest, some months ago I made another kit review of a British racing car of a French manufacturer, that had lots of obvious faults.

I tried to show up the severe mistakes of the body and had (and still have) the impression, that I sit on the “ignore”-list of many AF-members since that time .

The response of some modelers was, that "you must be happy that a small manufacturer builds this kit" or "you better don´t write any negative critics", and they kindly ignore that left and right side of the kit have different dimensions, roof was much too low, etc . That was a 125,- Euro kit (!!! ), however I sold my kit and I prefered to buy a by far better looking and correct built-up Sparc model for the same amount of money .

Looking at the Maserati model I must say, that except of the mistakes I listed I do think it is a well done kit. Like the formerly reviewed kit it is -as I know- the only available kit at the moment, and most of the mistakes I saw here can be corrected (this was different at the kit of the British racing car: if you want to change that kit in a correct model means f.e. that the too flat roof must be lifted and you need new windows ).

However, if I get just decals for the MC12 I will buy an Enzo kit and build a display model with the Scale Speed slot body .



(Another example for uncorrect bodies: Some time ago I bought the Scoda Fabia WRC Red Bull Monte Carlo 2006 kit by domino.be. The same here: the model is more 1:22 than 1:24, front fenders are too high, … Kit price: 100 Euro )

It seems to get harder to find small model manufacturers that make CORRECT models, but on the other side modelers don´t seem to be too much interested in correct kits for the (indeed) high prices. This is what the postings in the thread of the kit review of the British racing told me .

However, nice to see a moderator supporting me to mention here critcs, even the negative ones

[godfather23]

I might not be the hardcore modeller. But when I buy something for a certain amount of money which states that it is the kit of f.ex. the Maserati MC12, I expect it to be a kit of the Maserati and not just some sort of body which has merely the shape and dimensions of the actual car.
What I´m trying to say is that I desparately support negative criticism of the work of the manufacturers. Only with this sort of agruements on the forum you can make the kitmakers producing better models/kits. BTW, nobody argues about the hefty criticism of Tamiya´s underbody´s, etc stating that if there is too much criticism in the modeling-community Tamiya will stop making carkits.
In my eyes this board is not meant to be some sort of advertisement for kit- manufacturers. With all the splendid work on the models it sometimes seems like it - which is surely a result of the great work of the modelers.
So criticism is highly welcome and I always enjoy reading your kit reviews, Micha!

[manu80]

Interesting subject. i have ordered one too.
A guy in france bought one, put some pics on a forum, immediatly people were like "yeah, wrong here and here etc...." So the thoughts can be divided. Funny to see that the japanese are always wrong but for renaissance no one says nothing....anyways....
DO we want correct kit ? yes. Even if they're expensive? Big yes ! but Must it be flawless? mmm good question.
For the renaissance aston, it's true that the shape is wrong.. I bought a Hiro kit to see also the difference, the hiro is better in shape terms but really lacks of details. Nice brakes, wheels, body but no interior, wrong painting instructions, decals etc. But th erenaissanc eis made from the eye as the Hiro is made from apparently the car plans.
Ok. Nice to have those kits on the shelf, but I think manufacturers shouldn't play too much with our wallets. The MC12 has some wrong details , right, the slot body looks better on some points but brands like ACE, Wolf, renaissance, Hiro , if they wanna do a great kit should really consider taking care of details. Since the Web you can get a lot of reference sources for nothing. So careful. Sorry this seems like a big monologue...

But unfortunaltely should we say "no one make this car" or "well it exists but it needs a little work to make it look good? " I don't know... Even studio release F1 but inaccurate ,but no way i go to revelle kits and I'm fed up of tamiya, that even if they're nice, they go really expensive for less details and parts (the NSX is hoax to me. even no brake discs except on the PE sheet? no way ! ). Working on a resin has the little "unperfect touch" and is so much cooler to do as it demands more work....

Back to the kit I wonder is Hiro is aware of all that problems....

Hope to get mine soon and start it. Any hints fo the blue?
TS44? TS15 seems too dark though....

MANU

[M4tt83]

Micha, I must say I really appreciated your honest review of the "British racing car of a French manufacturer" because it allowed me to make a decision to buy the MFH version because I probably value exterior accuracy over anything else. If you hadn't reviewed it, or worse, if you hadn't reviewed honestly because of worrying about what fellow board members would say or trying not to offend people working for a small company, then I may well have spent a lot of money on a model that I would not have been happy with.

So if you feel that a model is poor in some way, especially an expensive one, please continue to point it out because some of us are most definitely grateful for it.

[Philmodelcar]

Micha,
I need to thank you first of all because you helped me to make the good desicion : I bought the MFH kit and sold the Renaissance kit on ebay thanks to your post !

Manu80,
I know what you're talking about, I'm also member of this french forum and indeed you will never see criticism about renaissance even if the critics can be positive, there are the major sponsor of the forum and they are almost part of the administration team of the forum ! They have certainly increased their sales but not the quality to my eyes !

I will always support reviews and critics over kits, remember it is the basis of the Forum : share opinions and free open discussion !

[sportracer02]

Hi guys,

thanks for your comments. Good to hear that you are interested in those kit reviews .

Believe me, I know what it means to work on mastermodels and I know, that it is a time-consuming job with constantly puttying, sanding, measuring to make a correct body (while Hiro uses lots of technics to create new bodies)

@ godfather23: I share your opinion, positive and negative critics should be mentioned and are not only meant to be a guide for modelers, what kits are good or bad, they should be a feedback for the manufacturers, what is good with the kit and what could be improved.

Of course it is great for a small manufacturer to be main-sponsor of a forum (as manu80 and M4tt83 mentioned), but in THAT forum the manufacturer won´t hear (much) negative critics.

[sjelic]

Micha I would appreciate if you continue to do reviews in this "true" manor. I think that gesture of buying someone's kit is more then enough to make manufacturer happy and after that it is all on you, no matter how bad it could potentially sound.
By the way despite the flaws E-Jan body looks better to me