THE ELM CITY HOBBIES SPRUE VIEW

Posted Jun 26, 2010

With its sleek body lines, familiar gull wing doors, and stout 5.4l Supercharged V8 engine, this is one monster of a car.

With its sleek body lines, familiar gull wing doors, and stout 5.4l Supercharged V8 engine, the SLR McLaren takes us back to yesteryear and the famous racing exploits of Stirling Moss.

Enter the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 Edition. The “722” refers to the victory by Stirling Moss and his co-driver Denis Jenkinson in a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR with the starting number 722 (indicating a start time of 7:22 a.m.) at the Mille Miglia in 1955.

The “722 Edition” includes an engine rated at 640hp, modified suspension, larger brakes and wheels, slightly different taillights and headlamps, revised front air dam and rear diffuser , and red “722” badging harking back to the original 722 Racer. This all results in a 0-100km/h time of 3.6secs, to 200km/h in 10.2secs, 300km/h in 29.6secs, and a top speed of 338km/h (210mph)

Now at a paltry sum of about $795,000USD, not just anyone can own one of these beauties. Now along comes Tamiya with their 1/24 version, and now everyone can own one!

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.

The kit consists of 132 parts, with 39 in grey styrene, 50 in black styrene, 11 Chrome parts, 27 in clear styrene, 4 rubber like tires, and 1 cast metal, pre-painted chassis. As well the 10 page instruction booklet, along with decals for badging, and gauges, as well as a masking set for the windows, and a chrome metal transfer set for the badging and mirrors.

I always wanted the previous edition of this car by Tamiya, the regular SLR McLaren, but never managed to get one in my stash. Now I am glad I waited, with the addition of this “722” edition, it is basically the SLR on steroids.

Now this isn’t an entirely new kit, as it does share most of its parts with the previous kit, however includes all the parts necessary to build the “722 Edition” including the revised headlamps and taillights, special wheels only found on the 722, front air dam and rear diffuser. This is a very sleek car, and being of typical Tamiya engineering, I have no doubt that this is one of those “shake n bake” kits from Tamiya that we know and love.

Beginners, novices and experienced modelers alike should have no problem building this kit.

If I had one negative to say about this kit, it would be in the engine, and the engine compartment. As it is, the whole assembly is but 5 parts, with most of the engine already molded into the engine bay, and you only needing to place the valve cover/airbox assembly in place. I would have much rather seen this kit with a full build-able engine block and assembly, but thus seems the direction Tamiya is leaning with their street car kits. I suppose I should be happy that it has any engine detail at all, as most these days from them are strictly curbside with no engine detail what so ever. This coupled with the elevated price keeps me from giving this kit a higher score, however the ease of building this kit, as well as the sheer beauty of it once it is built saves it from an even lower score.

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

http://www.scalemodeladdict.com/forum/index.php/topic,1092.0.html

This kit retails for $79.50CDN and can be ordered from Elm City Hobbies

I would give it 4.0 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.