Tamiya

1/24 Nissan Calsonic Impul GTR (R35)

Kit Number: 24123

Reviewed by  Steve Jahnke, IPMS# 34991

MSRP: $62.00 Molded in blue, black, silver, chrome-plated, red clear and clear, large decal sheet, tire and metal transfers Website: tamiyausa.com The Car: The Blue Calsonic race car is a familiar sight at the Japan GT championship races since the race's inception back in 1993. The Nissan GT-R is powered by a DOHC 4.5L V8, engine mounted low and in the front while transmitting power to the car's rear transaxle. The car's body panels are mainly carbon fiber with additional aerodynamic body panels available to modify the shape for differing tracks and conditions. This car represents the 2008 Team Impul's entry for the Suzuka 1000K Super GT series race at the Fuji Speedway. Despite less than favorable weather conditions and mechanical difficulties, the team took the winning flag with perseverance and driving skills. The Kit: Modelers familiar with the Tamiya brand of model kits will tell you half jokingly that if you open a tube of glue and place it inside the model box and shake the box vigorously, your finished model will appear when the box is opened. This urban legend centers around the ease of building Tamiya kits due to the outstanding and clever way Tamiya engineers each kit. Particular attention is always paid to the placement of mold lines and assembly techniques so that modelers at many skill levels can produce an accurate miniature. This urban legend held mostly true for this build. This kit is more or less what I would call a curbside or static model, meaning that it lacks an engine. However, it is designed such that the bodywork is attached to the chassis plate/interior tub with a removable plastic 'pin' that is cleverly hidden under the two piece removable roof panel. When you lift off the body you see front and rear suspension and an interior tub with the engine exhaust stacks attached to the front of it. The Build: Upon opening the relatively big box, I was amazed at the size of the GT-R body in 1/24th scale, it is physically a big car! Everything comes wrapped in separate poly bags so everything including the gorgeous chrome and clear parts are mare free. I admit that I have not build a Tamiya race car kit in a long time so I spent a longer time than normal perusing and familiarizing myself with the 20 step kit instructions and part bags. Decaling this car may challenge you a bit as it did me as there are over 100 decals and transfers in this kit. In step nine you are to apply 26 separate decals to the nose of the car; these would be the "CALSONIC" name and carbon fiber decals over the front air vents of the body. I started the build by identifying and assembling the parts that were to be painted Tamiya TS44 Bright Blue (Calsonic blue) and TS29 Semigloss black, both colors from their fabulous rattle-can spray lacquer line. The bright blue molded body parts required minimal mold line removal prior to painting, and took only one coat of TS44 to look gorgeous. Most of the inside of the race car except for a few things in the cockpit are semi-gloss, gloss and flat black. I shot everything in spray SG black and then toned up or down with the appropriate Tamiya gloss or flat blacks. The cockpit is very well detailed with paint call outs, decals and decal based seat harnesses. A separate photo etch sheet not included in the kit but available at extra cost appears to have some harness hardware for the super detailer. Getting back to the urban legend of Tamiya kits, I did stumble upon a building issue that I will bring up in hope that by calling attention to problem, it may help others in their build of this kit. In step 1 and 3 we are to assemble the brake rotor to a wheel retaining cup that then attaches to the suspension member; the wheel and tire assembly comes through the brake disc and is then retained in the cup. The retaining cup nestles into the suspension member by way of groove in the member, excellent. However, there are no specific guide points with which to attach the member and cup assembly to the rotor. If the rotor and cup are not lined up, the wheel will not slide into the hole. I found this out the hard way and had to whittle away the rotor in order to get the wheel in, due to misalignment in assembly; the result is that the cars' stance is slightly off. An easier and more accurate way to build this if you are following me is to cement the whole assembly together while using a wheel as a guide for proper alignment. The retaining cup is designed to rotate with the wheel. Other than that, there were no other assembly and fit issues with this kit. Kit Decal Review: The following review of the kit's decals is written by fellow IPMS'er and GTR model car club member Chuck Herrmann. Chuck does a lot of race cars and likes decaling; I asked him to do the multi-piece Calsonic decal on the car's nose, he graciously agreed to do the whole car for me while he had it, thank you Chuck. The decals for this kit contain well over 100 decals on two sheets. This kit replicates this car as raced in 2008 in the Japan Super GT series. These are endurance races, with two drivers in each car alternating during the race; the drivers' names (Tsugio Matsuda and Sebastien Phillippe) are included. This car won twice that year at Suzuka and Fuji, and each race would have seen slight differences in the markings; it is not noted in the instructions which specific race the suggested decal placement is for. The decals are well done, very crisp printing and colors. And there is very little film next to the individual decal so there is no need to trim closely around each decal. They are very opaque; the white decals cover the blue completely. Most of the placement is straightforward; however the large Calsonic lettering on the front hood is actually made up of 17 separate pieces, due to the large, open louvers in the front of the hood. This assembles like a jigsaw puzzle, but by starting in the middle and working outward it does go on well. Just follow the instructions, as the individual pieces do not look like anything until they are all on the car. In the interior there are several dashboard decals to represent the instruments. And the seat belt harness is five separate pieces. Beside decals there are several other logo markings along with the side mirror faces that use bright plated photo etch that attaches to the body using a self adhesive. And the tire markings are stencils instead of water slide decals. All these markings went on without any problems and look very nice. Conclusion Overall I am very happy with the overall results of this top of the line model car kit from Tamiya. Other than the issues mentioned in the build review, this kit builds a realistic replica of the real race car and welcome addition to my collection. A big thank-you goes out to Tamiya for supplying this kit and to IPMS/USA for allowing me to review it for you.