Last night I had a chance to pop the flavor saver bags and fondle the plastic. I noticed a couple of things that tempered my enthusiasm. The biggest thing was that the upper rear and floor windows had no detail behind them - all you will see is the inside of the empty body shell. I suppose one could paint the insides flat black and call it a day, but I would like to try to put something representative behind these large transparencies. Anyone have information on what lurks in these areas? (I haven't visited our friend, Google yet.)
On the left you can see the two upper windows behind the cockpit. What you see is what you get - a nice unobstructed view of the floor of the chassis pan. Note the open footwell on the passenger's side. This is not repeated on the driver's side, probably due to molding limitations caused by the dashboard mount. Also note the minimal space under the dash for the driver's legs! The separate dashboard and seats have been dry fitted in place for the photo.
On the underside, more empty space will be visible under large clear parts. The passenger's footwell is visible on the upper right. I will make a matching one for the driver. Any experts out there who can chime in on what details there are? Also note the two scoops on the left. Again empty space behind them, although a simple blanking plate and flat black paint will be sufficient here.
Perusing through the instructions, I noticed that they mention painting the spare lamps on the clear sprue with clear orange, to be used in lieu of the red ones. I guess they didn't want the additional expense of molding another sprue dedicated to clear orange parts.
The tires are molded in left/right halves, have no tread detail, and are molded integral with the rims. My guess is that the full size prop used car tires, so a trip to the spares box or to an aftermarket supplier is in order. Or I might just paint the darn things scale black and call it a day. I sure would love to stick a set of low profile Pirellis on the kit though.
So, initial impressions are that Fujimi skimped on this kit. The little details show a lot of shortcuts, the box looks like it was done half way, and the product feels rushed. At 4,800 Yen retail, the kit is expensive, although my guess is that licensing fees are responsible for this. Don't get me wrong, I'm still really, really happy to have an injected plastic Spinner. I don't mind scratching up some detail inserts to go under the windows, and can't wait to start on the kit!