Nice Review you have there gafotes. :nicejob
Autoart Lamborghini Murcielago Barchetta Concept
This review, while featuring comparisons to the Autoart Murcielago Coupe, is indeed directed towards the Roadster Concept. During this the review the Roadster will be reffered to as "The Concept" or "The Roadster" and the Coupe as "The Coupe". Pictures of the Roadster and Coupe can be found here:
Paint 7/8
The paint on the Concept is a lustrous, rich, yellow. It is very gloss and metallic and is evenly painted over the entire model. Autoart has been doing well with paint for a while and they only improved on this model.
I noticed when I took apart the Concept that even the interiors of the wheel wells and other places were painted well, the areas that you might see only briefly if you held the car upside down. Other areas, such as the inside of the doorway are painted black to make sure the transition from diecast frame to plastic interior is done well. I am impressed by this attention to quality.
The plastic parts are what netted the missing point. Once again we have plastic parts that are pretty easy to distinguish from the rest of the car. The intakes on both the side of the car and beside the engine are quite good but small spoiler just behind the V12 is almost a totally different shade. It is very noticeable that it is plastic. This is pretty much the same as the Coupe though so I don't see a noticeable degradation of quality here. Just no improvement
The nicest thing about the models paint section is the tampos. There are about four, everything else is a real piece (we'll get to the lights later). The lamborghini script on the back (which may not be tampo since it is so textured) and the engine identifiers just behind the side intakes. The front symbol is tampo but on a totally seperate piece! The shield on the front is now a real, textured piece in the hood and it looks amazing! On the Coupe the shield was a nice tampo and was a raised bump but not a seperate piece. I assume the license plates are tampos but they don't really look any different from the Coupe. They're just plates.
The only problem I had was that a small ding or spot was found on the engine cover. Its not noticeable but its still annoying to see since it shows up so easily in the gorgeous paint.
Exterior 8/8
The exterior on this model is almost perfect. All the body panels fit together quite nicely and the parts fit well. The engine cover opens the way it is supposed to but I don't really like the fat dog-leg hinges. Also a problem I noticed is, when the intakes are open (the ones next to the hood) the engine is propped up a bit. This means not only can you not open the vents to their proper height with the engine cover closed (the cover is pressing down on them) but the vents also keep the cover jacked up so the looks out of place. This is exceptionally ugly since this effect will make people think your cover is about to whip open. Another minor problem is the windshield wiper. Its a fine piece but feels like it might snap if any pressure was applied. Not a big problem but it feels a bit weak. Just don't tug on it
. A small niggle would be the door hinges. I don't really care for the functional handles and the handle piece on the roadster is a slightly different shade than the rest of the body which bugs me a bit. The doors aren't all that easy to work open either.
As I hinted before all the lights are perfectly defined. On the Coupe the front turn signals (right in front of the wheels) are raised bumps which were then tampoed. Now the turn signals and rear brake lights (located below the main ones and behind the back wheels) for the Roadster are seperate pieces fitted into the body with not mounting posts. They look great. The brake light on the engine cover is very well done but is still a tampo. I can see why they left it a tampo since the space for a real piece would be difficult to work with.
Continuing the light theme, the headlights are identical to the Coupes. The taillights however are same on the cover (the colored plastic) but have a new mold for the chrome backing. The coupe had only a simple chrome backing but the Roadster now features a nice mold with indented places for the lights. This may be different in the design of the real car but it certainly looks better
The gas cap is now a seperate piece (not just indented in the plastic) and is amazingly detailed. If you look closely you will notice the most disturbingly small lamborghini script there. It blew my mind to see this and to know they painted it with a rich metallic paint without covering it up. Even the gas cap is a work of art on in model.
The most important improvement on the exterior are the grilles. On the Coupe all the grilles were clear plastic with a fine mesh pattern stamped on. I never cared for this and when I saw my Skyline with its great front grille I saw that autoart had goofed on this somewhat. All those plastic pieces have been replaced with perforated grille on the Roadster. From the front intakes, to the engine cover, to the brake intakes for the rear wheels, to the grille in the engine, to the rear vents, everything is perforated. It is truly wonderful.
Interior 7/8
The interior of the Concept really isn't anything better than the rest of Autoarts stuff or the Coupe. Everything is nicely done and the carpet is great as usual, just applied somewhat carelessly (a few particles are higher up than they should be). The seats are accurately different colors. This doesn't detract from the model as far as I'm concerned since both of the colors of the seats are prevalent throughout the interior and thus don't look out of place.
The buttons are nicely done and are more well defined than the Coupes. The shifter is good but the shifter gate isn't perforated or painted black to simulate depth. Both the gauges and the steering wheel have great detail. Seatbelts and buckles are both present and very nice. The mouldings on the place where the buckles clip into place could improve since right now they just are painted red.
Overall the interior will leave you quite pleased. It's a fitting partner to the exterior work but by no means an improvement of previous work.
Wheels and Brakes 6/6
This is a close one. I'll start with the tires. They're the exact same tread as the tires on the Coupe (which are labeled as P-Zeros) but are unbranded on the Roadster. So they're obviously P-Zeros...but unbranded. When I looked at this picture it confirmed my thoughts that the tires are actually unbranded. You will notice the faint Pirelli up in the top right but no glaring red "P-Zero" text. There is no such faint Pirelli text on the Autoart cars tires but I don't see how they could do that yet. Perhaps in the future we will see that.
The Calipers both front and back are, as usual, well defined and are held independently of the spinning discs. They're pretty much identical to the Coupe. They have Lamborghini script on the calipers as well. The e-brake caliper is slightly higher than the Coupe and I assume that is the way the concept car was designed. The brake system could only improve if Autoart was a bit better with the drilled discs (the holes could be better). This is a really minor gripe though.
The rims are well realized. They are shaped perfectly and coated with a nice, slightly metallic paint that is more towards chrome then the Coupes rims. As usual they feature the raging bull on the center cap.
One of my gripes (niggles) about Autoarts Murcielagos is the front ride height. They're jacked up! The car is obviously higher in the front than the back and its pretty noticeable since the tire in the back has almost no room between the wheelwell and the tire whereas the front has about three inches. This might be part of the real car but I doubt it.
Engine and Undercarriage 7/8
The engine of the Roadster is closely related to the Coupes and shares most of the parts. The two main differences are the frame that surrounds the engine and the grille piece that covers the pipes near the back. The grille piece is the same shape but nicely perforated now in the Roadster.
The engine has many seperate parts, each crisply defined and painted. The engine features correct painting and labeling as well as all the plumbing. The only problem I have is this new frame piece is that it is incorrectly colored. Its the perfect shape and position but its black and it really should be a dark grey and glossy. This isn't a major problem though.
Overall the engine is solid and a good effort by Autoart. Improvements could be made though.
Competition 6/6
Currently no other companies make this car. Maisto plans to make it but the likelyhood is that it will be vastly inferior. This is the version you want.
Desirability 6/6
This isn't a rare model, is of excellent quality, and has no competitors.
*Total 47/50*
My opinion is that this model deserves what it gets. Its an exceptionally well done piece of work. The only thing missing in my humble opinion would be some nice leather seats. Other than that this model is closing in on some of the best work Autoart has done.
Paint 7/8
The paint on the Concept is a lustrous, rich, yellow. It is very gloss and metallic and is evenly painted over the entire model. Autoart has been doing well with paint for a while and they only improved on this model.
I noticed when I took apart the Concept that even the interiors of the wheel wells and other places were painted well, the areas that you might see only briefly if you held the car upside down. Other areas, such as the inside of the doorway are painted black to make sure the transition from diecast frame to plastic interior is done well. I am impressed by this attention to quality.
The plastic parts are what netted the missing point. Once again we have plastic parts that are pretty easy to distinguish from the rest of the car. The intakes on both the side of the car and beside the engine are quite good but small spoiler just behind the V12 is almost a totally different shade. It is very noticeable that it is plastic. This is pretty much the same as the Coupe though so I don't see a noticeable degradation of quality here. Just no improvement
The nicest thing about the models paint section is the tampos. There are about four, everything else is a real piece (we'll get to the lights later). The lamborghini script on the back (which may not be tampo since it is so textured) and the engine identifiers just behind the side intakes. The front symbol is tampo but on a totally seperate piece! The shield on the front is now a real, textured piece in the hood and it looks amazing! On the Coupe the shield was a nice tampo and was a raised bump but not a seperate piece. I assume the license plates are tampos but they don't really look any different from the Coupe. They're just plates.
The only problem I had was that a small ding or spot was found on the engine cover. Its not noticeable but its still annoying to see since it shows up so easily in the gorgeous paint.
Exterior 8/8
The exterior on this model is almost perfect. All the body panels fit together quite nicely and the parts fit well. The engine cover opens the way it is supposed to but I don't really like the fat dog-leg hinges. Also a problem I noticed is, when the intakes are open (the ones next to the hood) the engine is propped up a bit. This means not only can you not open the vents to their proper height with the engine cover closed (the cover is pressing down on them) but the vents also keep the cover jacked up so the looks out of place. This is exceptionally ugly since this effect will make people think your cover is about to whip open. Another minor problem is the windshield wiper. Its a fine piece but feels like it might snap if any pressure was applied. Not a big problem but it feels a bit weak. Just don't tug on it
. A small niggle would be the door hinges. I don't really care for the functional handles and the handle piece on the roadster is a slightly different shade than the rest of the body which bugs me a bit. The doors aren't all that easy to work open either.As I hinted before all the lights are perfectly defined. On the Coupe the front turn signals (right in front of the wheels) are raised bumps which were then tampoed. Now the turn signals and rear brake lights (located below the main ones and behind the back wheels) for the Roadster are seperate pieces fitted into the body with not mounting posts. They look great. The brake light on the engine cover is very well done but is still a tampo. I can see why they left it a tampo since the space for a real piece would be difficult to work with.
Continuing the light theme, the headlights are identical to the Coupes. The taillights however are same on the cover (the colored plastic) but have a new mold for the chrome backing. The coupe had only a simple chrome backing but the Roadster now features a nice mold with indented places for the lights. This may be different in the design of the real car but it certainly looks better
The gas cap is now a seperate piece (not just indented in the plastic) and is amazingly detailed. If you look closely you will notice the most disturbingly small lamborghini script there. It blew my mind to see this and to know they painted it with a rich metallic paint without covering it up. Even the gas cap is a work of art on in model.
The most important improvement on the exterior are the grilles. On the Coupe all the grilles were clear plastic with a fine mesh pattern stamped on. I never cared for this and when I saw my Skyline with its great front grille I saw that autoart had goofed on this somewhat. All those plastic pieces have been replaced with perforated grille on the Roadster. From the front intakes, to the engine cover, to the brake intakes for the rear wheels, to the grille in the engine, to the rear vents, everything is perforated. It is truly wonderful.
Interior 7/8
The interior of the Concept really isn't anything better than the rest of Autoarts stuff or the Coupe. Everything is nicely done and the carpet is great as usual, just applied somewhat carelessly (a few particles are higher up than they should be). The seats are accurately different colors. This doesn't detract from the model as far as I'm concerned since both of the colors of the seats are prevalent throughout the interior and thus don't look out of place.
The buttons are nicely done and are more well defined than the Coupes. The shifter is good but the shifter gate isn't perforated or painted black to simulate depth. Both the gauges and the steering wheel have great detail. Seatbelts and buckles are both present and very nice. The mouldings on the place where the buckles clip into place could improve since right now they just are painted red.
Overall the interior will leave you quite pleased. It's a fitting partner to the exterior work but by no means an improvement of previous work.
Wheels and Brakes 6/6
This is a close one. I'll start with the tires. They're the exact same tread as the tires on the Coupe (which are labeled as P-Zeros) but are unbranded on the Roadster. So they're obviously P-Zeros...but unbranded. When I looked at this picture it confirmed my thoughts that the tires are actually unbranded. You will notice the faint Pirelli up in the top right but no glaring red "P-Zero" text. There is no such faint Pirelli text on the Autoart cars tires but I don't see how they could do that yet. Perhaps in the future we will see that.
The Calipers both front and back are, as usual, well defined and are held independently of the spinning discs. They're pretty much identical to the Coupe. They have Lamborghini script on the calipers as well. The e-brake caliper is slightly higher than the Coupe and I assume that is the way the concept car was designed. The brake system could only improve if Autoart was a bit better with the drilled discs (the holes could be better). This is a really minor gripe though.
The rims are well realized. They are shaped perfectly and coated with a nice, slightly metallic paint that is more towards chrome then the Coupes rims. As usual they feature the raging bull on the center cap.
One of my gripes (niggles) about Autoarts Murcielagos is the front ride height. They're jacked up! The car is obviously higher in the front than the back and its pretty noticeable since the tire in the back has almost no room between the wheelwell and the tire whereas the front has about three inches. This might be part of the real car but I doubt it.
Engine and Undercarriage 7/8
The engine of the Roadster is closely related to the Coupes and shares most of the parts. The two main differences are the frame that surrounds the engine and the grille piece that covers the pipes near the back. The grille piece is the same shape but nicely perforated now in the Roadster.
The engine has many seperate parts, each crisply defined and painted. The engine features correct painting and labeling as well as all the plumbing. The only problem I have is this new frame piece is that it is incorrectly colored. Its the perfect shape and position but its black and it really should be a dark grey and glossy. This isn't a major problem though.
Overall the engine is solid and a good effort by Autoart. Improvements could be made though.
Competition 6/6
Currently no other companies make this car. Maisto plans to make it but the likelyhood is that it will be vastly inferior. This is the version you want.
Desirability 6/6
This isn't a rare model, is of excellent quality, and has no competitors.
*Total 47/50*
My opinion is that this model deserves what it gets. Its an exceptionally well done piece of work. The only thing missing in my humble opinion would be some nice leather seats. Other than that this model is closing in on some of the best work Autoart has done.
**Review added to the DX Model Review Database**
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I honestly haven't seen an Exoto wire wheel yet, so I can't comment. We'll have to wait until one of their upcoming releases...sittingduck said:
However, compared to CMC (which in my humble opinion makes the finest wire wheels I've yet to see on a model, AUTOart cannot compare. They look ok, but closer to Maisto quality than CMC (ok, maybe I'm exaggerating just a bit). Here's a shot of a Autoart C-Type Jag for example...
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