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498 Posts
It has been said in the 1:1 collecting world that people tend to buy the cars of their youth. This can be seen in the big bucks the Muscle cars of the 60's have been bringing over recent years. Well, I was in production at the same time, so while I understand the appeal, these aren't "my" cars. My cars unfortunately come from the so called automotive malaise era of the 80's. So instead of big-block Chevelles, I got Iron Duke Camaros. On the good side, things started to pick up toward the end of the decade. Probably my favorite car from that time was the 3rd-gen F-body Trans Am, so it was with great anticipation that I awaited the release of Greenlights T-A GTA.
So did Greenlight deliver? Mostly yes. Price and feature-wise, the model comes in a notch above the budget level, but it is let down by some QC and fit and finish issues.
Taken as a whole, the scale and stance of the model looks to be pretty good. The paint is smooth and glossy, though there is a fair bit of orange peel. The front bumper is plastic, but matches up well with the car. The foglights have stubs and the parking lights are painted on. The hood vents are painted on as well, but it is well applied and looks the part. The model features a working antenna mast. It doesn't go up very far, but it's a nice detail nontheless. Getting to the passenger compartment is where I start scratching my head. The roof looks to be too flat when looking from the side. My Sunstar Camaro has more of an arc to it and looks better, but in looking at pictures of the 1:1 it seems to be pretty flat across the top too. (As a side note, the T-A and Camaro are practically dead on size wise.) The hatch glass has a noticible edge as it transitions from the top to the side. It's also too short; it should extend almost all the way to the spoiler. The entire hatch is plastic, but only some thin areas of paint make this visually obvious. The taillights are a let down, as they are painted on, and lack the Trans-Am's trademark blacked-out look.
The wheels look good and the tires, though unbranded, sport the correct Goodyear Gatorback tread pattern. I think there are rotors behind the wheels, but the tight mesh design and apparent lack of paint on the rotors make this difficult to tell. If there are rotors, they make do without calipers.
Under the hood lies a complete 3-D engine - no inserts are to be found here. Underhood detailing is decent, but as I am no expert here, I can't comment as to the accuracy. Flip the car over and you'll find a nicely done undercarraige.
Moving inside we again find attempts at uplevel detailing. The interior and parts of the door panels are carpeted, and the seats are molded in soft plastic, but judging from the appearance of the back seats, the mold is a bit rough. The front seats have fabric seatbelts with photo-etch buckles, but the lower attachment point seems to have been modeled too big. This causes the seats to be mounted more inboard than I think they should be. The car also features a full headliner with an overhead console. Unfortunately, the headliner goes straight across instead of curving upward. Making matters worse, the drivers seat is fitted poorly with the headrest wedged against the roof. The dash looks to offer all the detail of the 1:1, which is to say not much, but that's not Greenlight's fault.
Overall, I'd say that Greenlight did a good job on the model. While it has a few inaccuracies, I don't think any of them are deal breakers. I'd rate this model as a 7/10.
So did Greenlight deliver? Mostly yes. Price and feature-wise, the model comes in a notch above the budget level, but it is let down by some QC and fit and finish issues.
Taken as a whole, the scale and stance of the model looks to be pretty good. The paint is smooth and glossy, though there is a fair bit of orange peel. The front bumper is plastic, but matches up well with the car. The foglights have stubs and the parking lights are painted on. The hood vents are painted on as well, but it is well applied and looks the part. The model features a working antenna mast. It doesn't go up very far, but it's a nice detail nontheless. Getting to the passenger compartment is where I start scratching my head. The roof looks to be too flat when looking from the side. My Sunstar Camaro has more of an arc to it and looks better, but in looking at pictures of the 1:1 it seems to be pretty flat across the top too. (As a side note, the T-A and Camaro are practically dead on size wise.) The hatch glass has a noticible edge as it transitions from the top to the side. It's also too short; it should extend almost all the way to the spoiler. The entire hatch is plastic, but only some thin areas of paint make this visually obvious. The taillights are a let down, as they are painted on, and lack the Trans-Am's trademark blacked-out look.
The wheels look good and the tires, though unbranded, sport the correct Goodyear Gatorback tread pattern. I think there are rotors behind the wheels, but the tight mesh design and apparent lack of paint on the rotors make this difficult to tell. If there are rotors, they make do without calipers.
Under the hood lies a complete 3-D engine - no inserts are to be found here. Underhood detailing is decent, but as I am no expert here, I can't comment as to the accuracy. Flip the car over and you'll find a nicely done undercarraige.
Moving inside we again find attempts at uplevel detailing. The interior and parts of the door panels are carpeted, and the seats are molded in soft plastic, but judging from the appearance of the back seats, the mold is a bit rough. The front seats have fabric seatbelts with photo-etch buckles, but the lower attachment point seems to have been modeled too big. This causes the seats to be mounted more inboard than I think they should be. The car also features a full headliner with an overhead console. Unfortunately, the headliner goes straight across instead of curving upward. Making matters worse, the drivers seat is fitted poorly with the headrest wedged against the roof. The dash looks to offer all the detail of the 1:1, which is to say not much, but that's not Greenlight's fault.
Overall, I'd say that Greenlight did a good job on the model. While it has a few inaccuracies, I don't think any of them are deal breakers. I'd rate this model as a 7/10.
