All,
I hope you enjoy this review, my first budget model review, and also in a new format...Enjoy!
Maisto Chevrolet Corvette Stingray (1965)
Paint: 4 out of 8
This model has a light yellow paint job. Overall, it is well applied, viewing from a distance however. Looking in detail at the model, we see scattered blemishes in the paint, mostly grains of dust under the paint in a few places. The paint is applied, in my opinion, too thickly. This is most apparent when looking at the molded in vents behind the c*ckpit doors. Some areas within these vents are painted so thick that you can not see the molded in vents. Opening the doors and hood, we see where the insides of the doors and hood were not painted, albeit the hood having a black plastic interior cover, you can still see in these areas where the paint was not applied.
Why 4 out of 8? Thick paint in places that hide detail, grains beneath the paint, unfinished undersides of parts.
Exterior: 4 out of 8
On the front of the car, we are presented with a grill below the chrome bumper that is see through. It is molded in black plastic, and surrounded by chrome trim. This is molded actually well, meaning, no flashing from the mold. On each side of this grill, we see two marker lights, 1 on each side. These marker lights are round, and are surrounded by chrome trim. These lights are clear amber, and are not engraved or textured. They reside in outcroppings of the body work. While mounting posts on these marker lights are not present, you are able to see tiny bubbles in these marker lights, where air was mistakenly trapped. These lights are actually clear plastic, and have been painted with some type of clear amber paint. I know this because it is not applied consistently, so on each light, you can see clear areas that are not covered by the paint.
The chrome bumper is only decent. Not only do we see mold lines on the top and bottom sides of this bumper, we also see where the plastic was not well trimmed before being plated with chrome. From a distance, sure, it looks fine, but it's not that smooth chrome you see on higher end models, but this is a budget model right?
On top of the grill, we see the pointy nose section. Where pop up headlights should be, we see simply molded in definitions representing the pop ups. Between these faux pop ups, we see a tampo'd Corvette logo, that is at first glance nicely done. But look again, and you notice that the right checkered flag, the black squares are printed so that they not only overlap the white squares, but also overlap the outline of the flag. The flag is designed to look like it is waving, but these black squares are printed outside this wave, so it is miss applied. The tampo is outlined in silver with the checker flag being made up of white and black squares, the other flag is red and silver, red being the background, with silver logos. This also is poorly applied, with the entire red flag looking fuzzy. Well, at least they didn't use stickers!
The front hinged hood's shut lines are pretty good and pretty even. The hood has a raised, curved character area that starts wide at the bottom windshield frame and goes to a point in front of the hood (where the above mentioned tampo resides). Don't know how to explain this other than that. On each side of this hood, we see flared up fender flares that in my opinion, are represented well. Behind the hood, we see two molded in vents, and two chrome windshield wipers. These are separate pieces from the chrome window frame, however, they are somewhat clunky in appearance and mold lines are present again on these wipers.
Behind the wipers, we see a chrome windshield frame surrounding the windshield. Nice effort, but again, we see that rough chrome, and one really bad thing is that you see thick areas of clear plastic along the top part of the frame where the windshield connects to the frame. The chrome frame actually indents for these pieces of clear plastic. The chrome windshield frame is actually pretty good except along the top, where it's really rough meeting the roof.
Along the sides of the front fenders, we see 6 molded in vents behind the front wheels, 3 per side. These are not see thru, nor are the see thru areas represented by black paint, flat nor gloss. Above these sets of vents, we see another tampo. This one is red, white, and blue, horizontal in position. On top of this "flag", is a horizontal silver triangle with the words "FUEL INJECTION" in black letters. These two tampo's (1 per side) are done rather nicely, but upon close examination, we see that the "FUEL INJECTION" letters are not applied as being centered on top of the silver triangle. A good representation, but not great.
The doors are pretty good, with shut lines going from great to ok. These doors cut into the roof…that area has great shut lines, but only on the drivers door. The passenger doors shut lines in the roof are not too good, and they are uneven here. But the shut lines on the front sides of the door are not bad, but not great either. The rear sides of the doors have better shut lines than the front sides, but not as close as what we see in the roof.
The doors have triangular window vents which have silver (not chrome) trim painted along their outline. The passenger doors window vent lines up great with the door frame, the drivers door window does not, with the up most point sticking out slightly from the door frame. On both doors, we see separately applied chrome door handles. You can see the push buttons on these handles, and if they didn't have mold lines, they'd look awesome. Below each door handle, we see a silver round tampo which represents the key hole. This tampo is very fuzzy and almost oval in shape on the drivers door, and is perfectly round and sharp on the passenger door.
Below the doors, on each side, we see a piece of chrome trim that goes from wheel well to wheel well…looks nice except for those mold lines and rough edges at each end (where it meets the respective wheel wells).
The roof has a raised character line running along the top center of the roof.
The wheel wells by the way, have squared off tops, and they look good.
The rear fender is rendered well, with sharp edges along its top, forming a slight arch over the rear wheel wells. We also see another arch on the sides of these fenders above the wheel wells, sort of arching out from the body and coming to a close in a nice curve towards the rear section of the car.
Looking at the rear of the car, we see that the c*ckpit area gradually gets thinner as it meets the rear window, and then comes to a close at a sharp point almost at the rear of the car, forming a raised triangle. The rear window here is framed by chrome, but here it is terrible. We see 4 indentions in the chrome trim where thick pieces of the clear plastic meet the trim in a way to hold the rear window in. Looks really bad. The chrome trim here by the way is somewhat better, but it isn't great.
The aforementioned raised character line on the roof continues after the window (this isn't the "Split Window" version) and ends at the end point.
In the center of the triangular area behind the rear window, we see a separately applied piece of chrome that represents the fuel cap. This piece is actually nicely done, with an inner circle of engraved "fins" for lack of better words. But again, we have issues here. The gas cap resides on top of the raised character line, on it's own raised outline. But it isn't centered, and is slightly skewed to the left. I know it's skewed, because at the top of this round gas cap, we see a rectangular piece, which makes the skew more prominent. In the center of the gas cap, we see the same, but smaller tampo that is at the front of the car. It's smaller in size of course, and is a little fuzzy.
On the right top side of the rear body, we see another tampo in silver and black. We see "Corvette" written in the Corvette script, and below that, we have a silver rectangle shape, with "STING RAY" in black letters. The "S" and the "R" are in a bold font. This tampo is good.
On the left top side of the rear body, we see a chrome plastic piece sticking up about an inch to represent an antenna. They should have simply left this off, as it is far too thick, and the ever present mold lines are here also.
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The rear of the car is nicer. We have 4 round, clear red tail lights surrounded by individual chrome trim rings. These tail lights are very nicely done, and the chrome rings are very nicely done as well, no mold lines or roughness on this chrome. Between these rear lights, we see a chrome framed license plate. The license plate is black, with yellow letters. This is a sticker, and resides on the chrome frame, which is nicely done, no mold lines or roughness.
On each side of the license plate, we see a bumper, 1 per side. They begin on the rear sides of the car, about halfway between the wheel wells and the rear of the car, and curve around to almost the license plate area. Here they take a 90 degree turn down towards the ground. These bumpers have mold lines, and you can see where they were removed from a parts tree on the bottom.
Below these bumpers, we see the exhausts, 1 per side. The exhausts are chrome, and are actually hollow. But, these exhausts are the same piece as the chrome trim that frames them. The chrome on these are nicely done.
Why 4 out of 8? Re read above please!
Interior: 6 out of 8
The interior is really nice. But first, there is no carpet, and the roof is not finished, but other than that, it is really nice.
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Open the doors, and we see that the interior doors are flat black in color. We see that the window cranks, door handles, and door locks are molded into this one piece, and are painted silver in color. We also see some silver trim painted along a the sides of the interior doors to section off a section of the interior doors. I believe that's accurate.
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On the lower door frame, we see a chrome sticker that is somewhat haphazardly applied, representing a chrome door sill. It is obvious that it is a sticker.
The dashboard is a double binnacle affair, with the drivers side binnacle covering 6 silver ringed gauges. Two large ones set side by side behind the steering wheel, and 2 smaller ones on each side, reside below these, angled towards the steering column. In the center console, between these two binnacles, we see another silver trimmed gauge, I'm thinking it is a clock. All of these are represented by separate stickers, being black in background, with white letters, and needles, with the 2 large gauges behind the wheel having red needles.
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The steering wheel has 3 chrome double spoke spokes, and the wheel itself being wood grain in appearance. The center hub is black, and there is a red white and blue tampo's circle, with some emblem in the center that is too small to make out.
The clutch and brake pedals are textured, the gas pedal is not. The clutch and brake pedals are hinged from the dashboard, and the gas pedal being hinged at the floor.
Also in this center console, we see 4 silver molded in knobs, and a vertically inclined push button radio. This is outlined in silver, and is molded very well. In the center console between the seats, we see a silver painted area. In this area, we see a molded in, closed ashtray. Also, there is a black painted area in this silver area, where a chrome gear shifter comes out, ending in a wood grain handle. Behind this area, we see a silver tampo, with a faint, black outline of the shift pattern. And on behind that, we see two additional, raised, silver box's, and then behind that, molded in seat belts along the console, with those old style GM clasps. This big black clasps have a silver round button in the center.
In front of the passenger, we see the other binnacle. There is a grab handle molded into the top edge of the binnacle. The area inside the binnacle is painted gloss white, and we see "Corvette" in silver. This entire white thing may be a sticker.
The seats are soft rubber, with a nice feel to them, albeit they are a smooth surface, but they are molded very well. There is a silver line that runs from each side of the seat, along the top of the seat, and down the other side of the seat.
Behind the seats is a flat luggage area beneath the rear window. There is not a trunk on this car, as their should not be.
As stated, the ceiling of the c*ckpit is not finished. It does have two black sun visors, but guess what? We see two ugly yellow rivets poking thru them to hold them onto the roof. How cheap, why even put them up there? Why not glue them? We also see a chrome rear view mirror between these.
Why 6 out of 8? No carpet, unfinished roof, molded in handles on the interior doors. Overall, a nice interior.
Wheels/Brakes: 5 out of 6
The wheels and tires here are really nice! The wheels are chrome, with nicely engraved fins. The center knock offs also are chrome and look great. If you look close, you will see valve stems coming out between the fins. There is an area towards the center of the wheel where we can see through these fins. I'd like to say that there are no mold lines or rough chrome here…very nicely done!
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The tires are just as good, being whitewall tires, that are branded as Goodyear. We see "Goodyear" as well as the tire size and type. The tires have a nice tread pattern. So, since I've given the wheels and tires such a good review, why a 5 out of 6? Well, you'd wind up in a lot of trouble if you drove this car, as it does not have any kind of brakes! No disks, no drums. But lets step back…the way the wheels are designed, you wouldn't be able to see them thru the wheels anyway. But still, even if you can only see them by flipping the car over, a car needs brakes!
Why 5 out of 6? Simply because there aren't any brakes.
Engine & Undercarriage Detail: 7 out of 8
When you open the front hinged hood, you first see that the underside of the hood is black, actually a piece of black plastic that is molded very nicely representing the depressions, etc that one sees on the underside of a hood.
The engine is really nice…one has to wonder how they did such a good job on the engine and such a mediocre job on the exterior. It is fully wired and plumbed. That's great and all, but when I say fully wired and plumbed, it isn't fully wired and plumbed to Kyosho levels, but again, we're talking about a budget model. The plumbing, or tubing is all there, but it is hard plastic. That's fine on a budget model…how many are out there with no plumbing? The spark plug wires are 1 big piece, black in color, made out of rubber. They are nicely represented. With this being a Corvette, you will not see a distributor, as it is covered up by a silver colored item in the back of the engine.
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We see many colors in the engine compartment, silver, orange, black, flat black, white, and gold. The engine block is orange, and is covered by silver valve covers. These valve covers have nicely molded raised fins, as does the silver colored fuel injection system, which reside in the space between the valve covers. Here, we see the first of a few tampo's. On the top of the fuel injection system, we see the two flags that are also present on the front and rear of the car. Why is it so sharp and nice here and not on the exterior? Hmmm…anyway, this tampo is great, with red, black and white colors. We see some accessories to the passenger side of the fuel injection system that are gold in color, and they look nice. On the drivers side of this system, we see a large tube coming out, angling at a right angle (via a molded in corrugated area) and going on towards the front of the car. There are silver painted rings on each side of this corrugated piece. Also, ahead at the front of the fuel injection system, we see a corrugated plastic tube going towards the black radiator. Ahead of the radiator, attached to it, we see a fan shroud that covers the fan. On the passenger side of the fan, we see a silver alternator floating in space, being magically held up by the fan belt!!! Meaning, no mounting bracket. Fine for a budget model in my eyes.
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On top of the radiator, we see two additional tampo's. One is a large white rectangle with black lettering (too small to read), and another white and black tampo representing some type of symbol or logo.
We see, on the firewall, two silver hood latches, some more accessories, and a separately molded battery with silver raised acid covers. We also see molded in tubing on the firewall, and on the side fenders. All in all, an exceptional engine for a budget model…a very good engine for a lower end mid priced model. Very good! This engine could easily fit into earlier model efforts of Kyosho in my opinion…earlier efforts I say!
The undercarriage is mostly one piece, and is more detailed than many budget models, albeit, one piece. The silver colored exhausts are separate pieces, but, they are actually molded onto the transmission, which also is silver. The go back to the silver colored mufflers, and on to the aforementioned chrome exhausts. If there is a representation of the rear differential, please tell me where it is…
This is a Maisto, so there is a suspension…but all it does is allow the car to be compressed. The suspension itself is poorly represented, and is 1 piece (front and rear being 1 piece each). The wheels compress on hidden springs, the suspension pieces do not compress with them.
Why 7 out of 8? Plumbing is hard plastic, but at least it's represented. 1 piece suspensions.
Competition: 4 out of 6
More than I can count…Hot Wheels, Motorbox, Ertl, and others make this model in various forms and in various degrees of quality and detail.
Desirability: 3 out of 6
I picked this up just because I wanted another Diecast, and it happened to be one of the better choices of what was currently available at Wal-Mart at the time. I hesitated quite a bit when I noticed the thick paint along the vents behind the doors, and the terrible window frames…but I got it anyway. I'm glad I got it, as I like it.
Overall: 33 out of 50
I hope you enjoy this review, my first budget model review, and also in a new format...Enjoy!
Maisto Chevrolet Corvette Stingray (1965)
Paint: 4 out of 8
This model has a light yellow paint job. Overall, it is well applied, viewing from a distance however. Looking in detail at the model, we see scattered blemishes in the paint, mostly grains of dust under the paint in a few places. The paint is applied, in my opinion, too thickly. This is most apparent when looking at the molded in vents behind the c*ckpit doors. Some areas within these vents are painted so thick that you can not see the molded in vents. Opening the doors and hood, we see where the insides of the doors and hood were not painted, albeit the hood having a black plastic interior cover, you can still see in these areas where the paint was not applied.
Why 4 out of 8? Thick paint in places that hide detail, grains beneath the paint, unfinished undersides of parts.
Exterior: 4 out of 8
On the front of the car, we are presented with a grill below the chrome bumper that is see through. It is molded in black plastic, and surrounded by chrome trim. This is molded actually well, meaning, no flashing from the mold. On each side of this grill, we see two marker lights, 1 on each side. These marker lights are round, and are surrounded by chrome trim. These lights are clear amber, and are not engraved or textured. They reside in outcroppings of the body work. While mounting posts on these marker lights are not present, you are able to see tiny bubbles in these marker lights, where air was mistakenly trapped. These lights are actually clear plastic, and have been painted with some type of clear amber paint. I know this because it is not applied consistently, so on each light, you can see clear areas that are not covered by the paint.
The chrome bumper is only decent. Not only do we see mold lines on the top and bottom sides of this bumper, we also see where the plastic was not well trimmed before being plated with chrome. From a distance, sure, it looks fine, but it's not that smooth chrome you see on higher end models, but this is a budget model right?
On top of the grill, we see the pointy nose section. Where pop up headlights should be, we see simply molded in definitions representing the pop ups. Between these faux pop ups, we see a tampo'd Corvette logo, that is at first glance nicely done. But look again, and you notice that the right checkered flag, the black squares are printed so that they not only overlap the white squares, but also overlap the outline of the flag. The flag is designed to look like it is waving, but these black squares are printed outside this wave, so it is miss applied. The tampo is outlined in silver with the checker flag being made up of white and black squares, the other flag is red and silver, red being the background, with silver logos. This also is poorly applied, with the entire red flag looking fuzzy. Well, at least they didn't use stickers!
The front hinged hood's shut lines are pretty good and pretty even. The hood has a raised, curved character area that starts wide at the bottom windshield frame and goes to a point in front of the hood (where the above mentioned tampo resides). Don't know how to explain this other than that. On each side of this hood, we see flared up fender flares that in my opinion, are represented well. Behind the hood, we see two molded in vents, and two chrome windshield wipers. These are separate pieces from the chrome window frame, however, they are somewhat clunky in appearance and mold lines are present again on these wipers.
Behind the wipers, we see a chrome windshield frame surrounding the windshield. Nice effort, but again, we see that rough chrome, and one really bad thing is that you see thick areas of clear plastic along the top part of the frame where the windshield connects to the frame. The chrome frame actually indents for these pieces of clear plastic. The chrome windshield frame is actually pretty good except along the top, where it's really rough meeting the roof.
Along the sides of the front fenders, we see 6 molded in vents behind the front wheels, 3 per side. These are not see thru, nor are the see thru areas represented by black paint, flat nor gloss. Above these sets of vents, we see another tampo. This one is red, white, and blue, horizontal in position. On top of this "flag", is a horizontal silver triangle with the words "FUEL INJECTION" in black letters. These two tampo's (1 per side) are done rather nicely, but upon close examination, we see that the "FUEL INJECTION" letters are not applied as being centered on top of the silver triangle. A good representation, but not great.
The doors are pretty good, with shut lines going from great to ok. These doors cut into the roof…that area has great shut lines, but only on the drivers door. The passenger doors shut lines in the roof are not too good, and they are uneven here. But the shut lines on the front sides of the door are not bad, but not great either. The rear sides of the doors have better shut lines than the front sides, but not as close as what we see in the roof.
The doors have triangular window vents which have silver (not chrome) trim painted along their outline. The passenger doors window vent lines up great with the door frame, the drivers door window does not, with the up most point sticking out slightly from the door frame. On both doors, we see separately applied chrome door handles. You can see the push buttons on these handles, and if they didn't have mold lines, they'd look awesome. Below each door handle, we see a silver round tampo which represents the key hole. This tampo is very fuzzy and almost oval in shape on the drivers door, and is perfectly round and sharp on the passenger door.
Below the doors, on each side, we see a piece of chrome trim that goes from wheel well to wheel well…looks nice except for those mold lines and rough edges at each end (where it meets the respective wheel wells).
The roof has a raised character line running along the top center of the roof.
The wheel wells by the way, have squared off tops, and they look good.
The rear fender is rendered well, with sharp edges along its top, forming a slight arch over the rear wheel wells. We also see another arch on the sides of these fenders above the wheel wells, sort of arching out from the body and coming to a close in a nice curve towards the rear section of the car.
Looking at the rear of the car, we see that the c*ckpit area gradually gets thinner as it meets the rear window, and then comes to a close at a sharp point almost at the rear of the car, forming a raised triangle. The rear window here is framed by chrome, but here it is terrible. We see 4 indentions in the chrome trim where thick pieces of the clear plastic meet the trim in a way to hold the rear window in. Looks really bad. The chrome trim here by the way is somewhat better, but it isn't great.
The aforementioned raised character line on the roof continues after the window (this isn't the "Split Window" version) and ends at the end point.
In the center of the triangular area behind the rear window, we see a separately applied piece of chrome that represents the fuel cap. This piece is actually nicely done, with an inner circle of engraved "fins" for lack of better words. But again, we have issues here. The gas cap resides on top of the raised character line, on it's own raised outline. But it isn't centered, and is slightly skewed to the left. I know it's skewed, because at the top of this round gas cap, we see a rectangular piece, which makes the skew more prominent. In the center of the gas cap, we see the same, but smaller tampo that is at the front of the car. It's smaller in size of course, and is a little fuzzy.
On the right top side of the rear body, we see another tampo in silver and black. We see "Corvette" written in the Corvette script, and below that, we have a silver rectangle shape, with "STING RAY" in black letters. The "S" and the "R" are in a bold font. This tampo is good.
On the left top side of the rear body, we see a chrome plastic piece sticking up about an inch to represent an antenna. They should have simply left this off, as it is far too thick, and the ever present mold lines are here also.
The rear of the car is nicer. We have 4 round, clear red tail lights surrounded by individual chrome trim rings. These tail lights are very nicely done, and the chrome rings are very nicely done as well, no mold lines or roughness on this chrome. Between these rear lights, we see a chrome framed license plate. The license plate is black, with yellow letters. This is a sticker, and resides on the chrome frame, which is nicely done, no mold lines or roughness.
On each side of the license plate, we see a bumper, 1 per side. They begin on the rear sides of the car, about halfway between the wheel wells and the rear of the car, and curve around to almost the license plate area. Here they take a 90 degree turn down towards the ground. These bumpers have mold lines, and you can see where they were removed from a parts tree on the bottom.
Below these bumpers, we see the exhausts, 1 per side. The exhausts are chrome, and are actually hollow. But, these exhausts are the same piece as the chrome trim that frames them. The chrome on these are nicely done.
Why 4 out of 8? Re read above please!
Interior: 6 out of 8
The interior is really nice. But first, there is no carpet, and the roof is not finished, but other than that, it is really nice.
Open the doors, and we see that the interior doors are flat black in color. We see that the window cranks, door handles, and door locks are molded into this one piece, and are painted silver in color. We also see some silver trim painted along a the sides of the interior doors to section off a section of the interior doors. I believe that's accurate.
On the lower door frame, we see a chrome sticker that is somewhat haphazardly applied, representing a chrome door sill. It is obvious that it is a sticker.
The dashboard is a double binnacle affair, with the drivers side binnacle covering 6 silver ringed gauges. Two large ones set side by side behind the steering wheel, and 2 smaller ones on each side, reside below these, angled towards the steering column. In the center console, between these two binnacles, we see another silver trimmed gauge, I'm thinking it is a clock. All of these are represented by separate stickers, being black in background, with white letters, and needles, with the 2 large gauges behind the wheel having red needles.
The steering wheel has 3 chrome double spoke spokes, and the wheel itself being wood grain in appearance. The center hub is black, and there is a red white and blue tampo's circle, with some emblem in the center that is too small to make out.
The clutch and brake pedals are textured, the gas pedal is not. The clutch and brake pedals are hinged from the dashboard, and the gas pedal being hinged at the floor.
Also in this center console, we see 4 silver molded in knobs, and a vertically inclined push button radio. This is outlined in silver, and is molded very well. In the center console between the seats, we see a silver painted area. In this area, we see a molded in, closed ashtray. Also, there is a black painted area in this silver area, where a chrome gear shifter comes out, ending in a wood grain handle. Behind this area, we see a silver tampo, with a faint, black outline of the shift pattern. And on behind that, we see two additional, raised, silver box's, and then behind that, molded in seat belts along the console, with those old style GM clasps. This big black clasps have a silver round button in the center.
In front of the passenger, we see the other binnacle. There is a grab handle molded into the top edge of the binnacle. The area inside the binnacle is painted gloss white, and we see "Corvette" in silver. This entire white thing may be a sticker.
The seats are soft rubber, with a nice feel to them, albeit they are a smooth surface, but they are molded very well. There is a silver line that runs from each side of the seat, along the top of the seat, and down the other side of the seat.
Behind the seats is a flat luggage area beneath the rear window. There is not a trunk on this car, as their should not be.
As stated, the ceiling of the c*ckpit is not finished. It does have two black sun visors, but guess what? We see two ugly yellow rivets poking thru them to hold them onto the roof. How cheap, why even put them up there? Why not glue them? We also see a chrome rear view mirror between these.
Why 6 out of 8? No carpet, unfinished roof, molded in handles on the interior doors. Overall, a nice interior.
Wheels/Brakes: 5 out of 6
The wheels and tires here are really nice! The wheels are chrome, with nicely engraved fins. The center knock offs also are chrome and look great. If you look close, you will see valve stems coming out between the fins. There is an area towards the center of the wheel where we can see through these fins. I'd like to say that there are no mold lines or rough chrome here…very nicely done!
The tires are just as good, being whitewall tires, that are branded as Goodyear. We see "Goodyear" as well as the tire size and type. The tires have a nice tread pattern. So, since I've given the wheels and tires such a good review, why a 5 out of 6? Well, you'd wind up in a lot of trouble if you drove this car, as it does not have any kind of brakes! No disks, no drums. But lets step back…the way the wheels are designed, you wouldn't be able to see them thru the wheels anyway. But still, even if you can only see them by flipping the car over, a car needs brakes!
Why 5 out of 6? Simply because there aren't any brakes.
Engine & Undercarriage Detail: 7 out of 8
When you open the front hinged hood, you first see that the underside of the hood is black, actually a piece of black plastic that is molded very nicely representing the depressions, etc that one sees on the underside of a hood.
The engine is really nice…one has to wonder how they did such a good job on the engine and such a mediocre job on the exterior. It is fully wired and plumbed. That's great and all, but when I say fully wired and plumbed, it isn't fully wired and plumbed to Kyosho levels, but again, we're talking about a budget model. The plumbing, or tubing is all there, but it is hard plastic. That's fine on a budget model…how many are out there with no plumbing? The spark plug wires are 1 big piece, black in color, made out of rubber. They are nicely represented. With this being a Corvette, you will not see a distributor, as it is covered up by a silver colored item in the back of the engine.
We see many colors in the engine compartment, silver, orange, black, flat black, white, and gold. The engine block is orange, and is covered by silver valve covers. These valve covers have nicely molded raised fins, as does the silver colored fuel injection system, which reside in the space between the valve covers. Here, we see the first of a few tampo's. On the top of the fuel injection system, we see the two flags that are also present on the front and rear of the car. Why is it so sharp and nice here and not on the exterior? Hmmm…anyway, this tampo is great, with red, black and white colors. We see some accessories to the passenger side of the fuel injection system that are gold in color, and they look nice. On the drivers side of this system, we see a large tube coming out, angling at a right angle (via a molded in corrugated area) and going on towards the front of the car. There are silver painted rings on each side of this corrugated piece. Also, ahead at the front of the fuel injection system, we see a corrugated plastic tube going towards the black radiator. Ahead of the radiator, attached to it, we see a fan shroud that covers the fan. On the passenger side of the fan, we see a silver alternator floating in space, being magically held up by the fan belt!!! Meaning, no mounting bracket. Fine for a budget model in my eyes.
On top of the radiator, we see two additional tampo's. One is a large white rectangle with black lettering (too small to read), and another white and black tampo representing some type of symbol or logo.
We see, on the firewall, two silver hood latches, some more accessories, and a separately molded battery with silver raised acid covers. We also see molded in tubing on the firewall, and on the side fenders. All in all, an exceptional engine for a budget model…a very good engine for a lower end mid priced model. Very good! This engine could easily fit into earlier model efforts of Kyosho in my opinion…earlier efforts I say!
The undercarriage is mostly one piece, and is more detailed than many budget models, albeit, one piece. The silver colored exhausts are separate pieces, but, they are actually molded onto the transmission, which also is silver. The go back to the silver colored mufflers, and on to the aforementioned chrome exhausts. If there is a representation of the rear differential, please tell me where it is…
This is a Maisto, so there is a suspension…but all it does is allow the car to be compressed. The suspension itself is poorly represented, and is 1 piece (front and rear being 1 piece each). The wheels compress on hidden springs, the suspension pieces do not compress with them.
Why 7 out of 8? Plumbing is hard plastic, but at least it's represented. 1 piece suspensions.
Competition: 4 out of 6
More than I can count…Hot Wheels, Motorbox, Ertl, and others make this model in various forms and in various degrees of quality and detail.
Desirability: 3 out of 6
I picked this up just because I wanted another Diecast, and it happened to be one of the better choices of what was currently available at Wal-Mart at the time. I hesitated quite a bit when I noticed the thick paint along the vents behind the doors, and the terrible window frames…but I got it anyway. I'm glad I got it, as I like it.
Overall: 33 out of 50
