It's a good model but has its flaws. As it's a Kyosho, paint rash is almost guaranteed. But you need to consider the options. CMC is very good but hugely expensive. Bburago is cheap but ancient and this shows. KK scale's GTO doesn't look to bad and costs a fraction of the Kyosho but nothing opens.

In any case, ask the seller for close-up pics of the model before purchase, so you can ensure he's not making up stories

 

Thank you! To be honest, I don't care a lot about opening parts (I wouldn't dare opening anything for fear of damaging the paintwork) but I do prioritise the 'presence' of a model and attention to detail and finishing.

 

210 EUR for the first edition 250 GTO sounds a bit steep IMO but hey who am i to judge as i havent kept up and adjust myself to the ever increasing prices since 2015. But then i would not entertain the idea of anything above $150 (or $300+ for CMC) If there is a re-released version of it and hopefully it is one of those "hi-end" version and price isnt too far off i might consider going for that instead.

For paint rashes i would imagine if it is going show up surely it would have plenty of chances to develop in the last 15+ years period. But that is not to say the rash won't progress further after all these years. All a bit of gamble me think. Perhaps we all need to approach this with open mind and set expectation accordingly. If truly no rash then great it is like you just won at a lucky draw. Worse case would be if the rashes are light one might need to learn to live with it. Do bear in mind that some of these rashes are very hard to spot until you examine it under bright natural sunlight. I got caught off guard once or twice. Models which i was selling dont appear to have much of rashes and i advertised as such. But when buyer examined them during the day under natural sunlight there are rashes that i didnt picked up at all.

But if you are fine with sealed models then KK-Scale could be a worthwhile consideration and you can probably get 2 or 3 KK-scale models at the price of a single Kyosho.

 

I have the first edition of Kyosho 250 GTO and it is still without any paint rash. I also different old Kyosho models and the paint rash did not appear on any of them, if I remember well. Thus, I would go for it. On the other hand, have in mind that CMC 250 GTO has wrong shape of the front nose.

 

So have I, this very model plus a 1963 LeMans second place finisher #24 and both are original release versions.
Neither has even a hint of paint rash.

 

Great advice shared here, so I don’t have much to add. But to pick up on your point about not opening anything up for fear of damage… you don’t need to worry about that Plus, it would be a shame not to admire that lovely engine on the Kyosho

 

Great advice shared here, so I don’t have much to add. But to pick up on your point about not opening anything up for fear of damage… you don’t need to worry about that Plus, it would be a shame not to admire that lovely engine on the Kyosho

Thank you! It happened to me once on a Minichamps BMW M1 - opened the engine compartment and had a paint chip to boot. 😉

 

I have several Kyosho models, and none have developed any paint rash.

 

You can have some of mine if you want!

 

Like others have said ask the seller to provide more pics to prove it's free of rash. I have one too and it has trace amounts of rash on a few spots which aren't obvious. The price seems reasonable especially if it doesn't have rash.

After all this time, I wouldn't think any paint rash would show up or get progressively worse. I suspect the window has closed for that (this is based on observations from my collection).

Meanwhile, there's also a new edition of the model available (KYO8438B0) - if I should just go for that one, feel free to say so.

There is a new edition, but it hasn't been upgraded, it's been marked up quite steeply (Kyosho has a high opinion of itself), and there's no guarantee it won't have/develop rash.