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I was excited when I learned that Universal Hobbies was re-issuing their Renault 5 Turbo rally cars as prices for the original releases were getting ridiculous. I couldn't decide between the 2 WRC event winning 5s but I found a store that had both in stock. It made the decision much easier.
After receiving the models I'm very, very glad I never paid the high prices the original releases were going for. While they look good on the shelf there are a lot of faults when you look at them closely. Some parts are not aligned quite right, there are a lot of small marks in the paint, and there is even a red fiber (presumably from the safety harness) trapped under one of the decals (you can see it just to the right of the LONGINES decal on the door of #7 car).
I can live with those faults as I won't see them 99% of the time and it's not these issues that make me glad I didn't pay the high prices for the original releases. The real reason is that I feel these are solid mid-range models and worth the current price but definitely not worth the prices they were going for prior to UH re-releasing them. Note there is no North American distributor for them (at least according to Kevin at Scale18.com) so, if you live in North America, your final price will be reaching the upper limits of what I would consider to be a mid-range model price.
However, since there is no other option for these particular cars in 1:18 scale die-cast I guess none of that really matters if you want to have 1 (or some) in your collection. It still beats paying the ridiculous prices for the original releases.
Universal Hobbies 4530 Renault 5 Turbo Rallye Monte Carlo 1981 J. Ragnotti/J. M. Andrié (1:18)
Universal Hobbies 4535 Renault 5 Turbo Tour de Corse 1982 J. Ragnotti/J. M. Andrié (1:18)
After receiving the models I'm very, very glad I never paid the high prices the original releases were going for. While they look good on the shelf there are a lot of faults when you look at them closely. Some parts are not aligned quite right, there are a lot of small marks in the paint, and there is even a red fiber (presumably from the safety harness) trapped under one of the decals (you can see it just to the right of the LONGINES decal on the door of #7 car).
I can live with those faults as I won't see them 99% of the time and it's not these issues that make me glad I didn't pay the high prices for the original releases. The real reason is that I feel these are solid mid-range models and worth the current price but definitely not worth the prices they were going for prior to UH re-releasing them. Note there is no North American distributor for them (at least according to Kevin at Scale18.com) so, if you live in North America, your final price will be reaching the upper limits of what I would consider to be a mid-range model price.
However, since there is no other option for these particular cars in 1:18 scale die-cast I guess none of that really matters if you want to have 1 (or some) in your collection. It still beats paying the ridiculous prices for the original releases.
Universal Hobbies 4530 Renault 5 Turbo Rallye Monte Carlo 1981 J. Ragnotti/J. M. Andrié (1:18)
Universal Hobbies 4535 Renault 5 Turbo Tour de Corse 1982 J. Ragnotti/J. M. Andrié (1:18)
