I thought it was about time I contributed something useful to this site, after all the things I've learned here. So I present to you my review of the 1/12 MFH McLaren MP4/23 (Brazilian GP).
Kit: McLaren MP4/23 (Brazilian GP)
Scale: 1/12
Manufacturer: Model Factory Hiro
Year of first release: 2013 (late december)
I bought this kit from Macs Modelling and received in only a few days. Very well packaged and in excellent condition. This is the black box the kit comes in:
Very stylish black as you can see. Next up is a picture of the instructions. There are only two pages as this is a curbside model. The instructions look kinda busy, but are easy to understand.
The first parts I want to show you are floor and the monocoque.
I was blown away by the size of these parts, here's a comparison with a 1/20 Lotus E20, to give you an idea of how big the parts really are:
The tires (and aluminium rims) are next. The Brazilian GP version comes with intermediate tires and these are absolutely stunning. The pictures don't do them justice at all.
Then there's a whole lot of beautifully cast white metal parts. Almost no clean-up needed and great details as you can see below:
And here some details:
And a size comparison, red parts are the Lotus E20 wing endplates and the white metal part is the McLaren frontwing endplate:
There are relatively few PE parts in this kit, here's the PE fret:
Then there are some more resin parts also very nicely cast and with sharp looking details:
One thing that really caught my eye, is the engine cowling, that comes with a PE part cast inside it:
And a size comparison with seats:
The decals are next:
As you can see in the following close-up, there are some CF decals that need a special undercoat (eg. gun metal) and some that don't need that undercoat. I think that this will give a very nice touch to all the CF parts on the model.
And last but not least, the seatbelt material and some screws to put this beast together:
All in all, I think this is a very beautiful kit and well worth the money. I think the pictures speak for themselves. I can´t wait to get started on this thing, but first I have to finish the Lotus E20. I will start a WIP for this kit as soon as I get to it.
Thanks for looking, I hope this was a useful review.
Cheers,
Wessel
and I think it's to expensive for curbsite...although it looks to be an amazing kit.
