THE ELM CITY HOBBIES SPRUE VIEW

Posted Aug 07, 2010

A Beautiful California Redhead..............

Ferrari California. The pinnacle of top down performance. The California name resurrects images from the past, and one of Ferrari’s greatest cars, the 250 California. With it’s 4.3l V8 engine that will propel the car to a top speed of 193mph (310km/h) this is a little more than just a little wind in your hair kind of convertible.

The kit consists of 111 parts, 75 in white styrene, 8 clear, and 4 tires, along with an 8 page instruction book, this kit represents the top down version of the car, that was originally released by Revell Germany about 6 months ago.

Here are photos of the sprues and instruction sheets. The gallery will open in a popup and you can click through to the next and read descriptions.

I had originally planned on getting this kit for myself when the Revell Germany version came out….I thankfully saw that Revell USA was going to release it as well. Same kit, just a different box, in fact on the box it says, parts made in Poland (as that is where Revell Germany kits are now manufactured), printed in China (the box) and packaged in the US, and about $8 cheaper than the Revell Germany version, not sure why….but I will take it.

The kit is very nice. Hardly any mold lines to be seen anywhere, and any tool marks are pretty much hidden from view once assembled. As with most modern cars, there isn’t much to see of the engine once everything is put together, however it is there, and it is a little jewel of a kit itself. Chrome looks good, 2 piece wheels, among a few other parts, maybe not as big as some other car kits, but this is a modern Ferrari….not alot of chrome on them these days. Great, very well detailed interior, decals for all the badging, instruments and a few choices of license plates.

A few negatives about the kit. When I opened my kit, I found that the plastic bags that the parts were in were wrapped and taped very tightly (like Superman tight), to the point that the frame on mine was slightly warped, as well the frame for the windshield was bent down well past where it should have been. When I build this I am going to have to be careful and try to bend everything back into place. Not impossible to do, but an un-necessary step in my books. The other negative is that Revell Germany released 2 kits, one top up, and one top down…..there is only one Ferrari California, and it is a convertible with a hardtop roof that folds into the trunk, however RoG decided to make 2 kits out of it. It would have been nice to see Revell USA include the hardtop roof in this kit, and give us the modeler the option of building it with the top up or top down.

Overall, a very nice kit, and I am sure will build fairly easily, I recommend this to beginners, novices and experienced builders alike. If you are a Ferrari fan, or just like convertibles, add this kit to your collection!

If you have any questions or comments about this kit, you can post them here:

http://www.scalemodeladdict.com/forum/index.php/topic,1170.0.html

This kit retails for $24.75CDN and can be ordered from Elm City Hobbies

I would give it 3.7 out of 5 Sprues!

Scott Millican lives in Elm City, New Brunswick.
No one is exactly sure where that is.
He owns an awesome hobby shop
and has a really cool website too.