Review: Renaissance TK - Porsche GT3 Road Challenge "Gordon" -

[rallymaster]

Hello all,

I recently purchased the new Porsche GT3 Road Challenge TK released by Renaissance, with the (first?) available decal to match with, the "Gordon" beers version from the 2006 "Ardennes Bleu rallye" in Belgium.

here is my review, hope you enjoy reading it.
please note I'm talking about "Renaissance TK" for both items, the TK itself and the decals sheet, which are in reality two different complementary items.


First, like usuall Renaissance standard, the TK comes with a A4 page of pictures and a black and white copy of the decal sheet to give instructions on where to place the decals:




The decals sheet:
As you can notice, the grey and the red colors have to be painted
(Red = TS8 & Grey = TS30 - those informations were given to me by the builder of the model shown in the modelling meeting on Renaissance stand, but are missing in the instructions...?)




Building instructions, one of the best point of Renaissance stuff, two A4 pages for this TK:




The new front lights clear covers (they are different from the original GT3 ones);
The Photoeteched parts;
the pattern for carbon fiber (carbon decals could also have been added more than the pattern to make them in such an expensive TK...)




The new resin inside and the roll cage:
not the best and the most precise resin cast seen in Renaissance range, but the new inside perfectly fits the Tamiya body; for the roll cage some work is firstly needed to verify it.





The resin parts:
once more, not the best resin cast of the brand, especially the rims, but a complete detailled inside possibility is given by all these parts





Rims:



side skirts:



the new front and rear spoilers:







My conclusions after the review and before any work on it:

- The kit offers a very nice and original car from belgian rally championship.
- the TK could be used without decals, but you may have some troubles to build the car without the resin TK.
- the resin cast isn't perfect, and some parts like the rims aren't really fine...
- the prices !! I paid 64 euros for the TK plus 22 euros for the decals. For that prices I would have appreciated that the carbon decals would have been supplied in the kit better than the pattern to make them...
You also have to add the Tamiya kit price. That would put this model close to a complete resin kit price level...
- I appreciate the references pics, even if inside pics were taken in another car than the one to build (that could always let a doubt come about the accuracy, but all cars of the challenge have to be identical I suppose)


Conclusion of my conclusions:

This is a very orginal model to build, with a good base kit (Tamiya GT3 kit) and a good but not perfect TK and a nice livery version well reproduced.
I also saw the finished model during the show, but had no camera to take pics, sorry.
The result is really impressive for a real interesting and original car in any Porsche or rally collection.


Thanks for reading
feel free to comment or ask your questions.

Phil

[deltableh]

I might get that transkit.... looks pretty good. I dunno if I'd pay that much for decals, though!

[rallymaster]

Hello,

that's right, 22 euros for a decals sheet is expensive, I thought the same before buying...

but this will give a very nice model, and TK without decal would have been a shame when one can see the result; here is a pic of the real car:




Phil

[Enzoenvy1]

I love how Porsche has never been afraid to rally their production cars. It would shock me to see an F430 out there doing the same. True they "road trip" a lot of their cars, but rallying is so much more cool!

This kit looks really great btw. My Renaissance has a ton of flashing/holes/ and thick spokes. I can't wait to fix it though! Makes you feel like you did more then just sand mold lines on a tamiya.

[blubaja]

Also have this. But I'm just going to make the street GT3. Too bad they don't make the street decals. Or does someone now? On my interior block, It was warped...or just really messed up. Not using it so it doesn't matter. And the front bumper is a little bit off, in fit, with the headlights.

[Guido]

here is another one.



Truly the best looking livery on the 911 GT3 Road Challenge. The sound that these Porsches are producing on the rally stages is, well... just awesome.