Here's a few of the additions.
I wasn't satisfied with AUTOart's offering of the 2006 Porsche GT3 RSR of the "Flying Lizard Motorsports" team. First off, it seems like they had the wrong rims in black (not completely sure on this, but that's what I read in a lot of places). Secondly, the model by AUTOart is an American Le Mans Series model, probably one that raced at Sebring 12hr. I would rather have the Le Mans 24hr model given the choice.
Fast forward to a year later (now) and now Minichamps has finally come out with their race versions of the 996 GT3 RSR. I am happy with this offering.
This car competed in the 2006 Le Mans 24hr race. It was part of the GT2 class. This class is the "lowest" class that competes at Le Mans. They are still very fast though. This particular one finished 4th in the GT2 class. The car that won GT2 that year was a Panoz Esperante. I would love to have a model of that one in 1:18 as well.
In the meantime, here are some pictures to devour in!!
Next one up. As soon as I first heard about it, I knew I had to have it. I was there in person at the Le Mans 24hr in 2007 so I have a strong attachment to this car (as well as the Peugeot 908 and some of the other cars that raced at Le Mans that year). I am of course talking about the 2007 Le Mans 24hr GT2 class winner, the Porsche 997 GT3 RSR of the "IMSA Matmum" team.
This particular car competed in the 2007 Le Mans 24hr in the GT2 class. It won its class that year. The team is from France and is called "IMSA Performance Matmut". It won in pretty convincing fashion by 6 laps ahead of 2nd placed GT2 car of Scuderia Risi Competizione. It was also in front of the top finishing LMP2 car.
This model is very well done. It is one of the newer offerings from AUTOart which are a bit pricier than previous model. I feel its about equal in quality to the sealed models such as Corvette C6R in terms of exterior detail. The interior detail and front compartment are also very well done. I wish the hood would stay up though by itself and not necessitate Mr. Toothpick. Overall I am pretty happy with this model. It's the quality I expected from AUTOart for this price and I'm glad they made the Le Mans GT2 winner from 2007 as it means a lot to me.
I was looking forward to compare these two Porsche models. The first difference is, I believe the AUTOart model uses tampos for most of its logos/graphics, where Minichamps uses decals for most. However, both look excellent on the outside in terms of the logos and paint.
The second major difference, Minichamps uses some black stripes for the vents in the side windows, whereas the AUTOart model has real openings in the windows that look just like real vents. Another small difference is the front mesh. It is more realistic looking on the AUTOart model, but the Minichamps is no slouch.
The interior is about the same on both models. I would say the driver's seat looks a bit more realistic on the Minichamps, but they're both about even overall.
The front compartment is about even in quality on both models as well. The AUTOart one though doesn't stay up by itself. Also on the front hood, the hood pins on the Minichamps model are really well done, much better than on the AUTOart whose hood pins look more 2D-like.
The last major difference is the engine compartment at the back. The Minichamps has more painted parts so it looks a bit better (but then again they are different cars). The engine bay on the Minichamps is also a removable part, it comes out. On the AUTOart model, it just lifts up like on a regular street Porsche, so not sure whether it's supposed to be that way or not.
This next one is a re-release by Kyosho. I have been patiently waiting for this re-release for about a year now and thankfully Kyosho went through with it. I was not in this hobby when it originally came out so I never got a chance to get this model.
I had to get this model off evilbay because I couldn't really find it in stock anywhere else. It's one of the more popular "re-releases". It's really well detailed even though I believe it is the same model as the one that came out a few years ago as the original release. I am glad it still has the same features such as the light pod and the wheel covers.
One thing I don't get about this model, it has slick tyres which to me doesn't make sense. I don't think it's suppose to be that way. I know Monte Carlo has its fair share of tarmac, but it also gets a lot of snow since it's usually early in the year. Also its strange because this model has sort of undertray at the front, sort of like something to plow through snow or gravel and to protect the underside of the car from such. In that sort of conditions, you wouldn't want slick tyres. Plus tarmac stages are not exactly "clean" by any means so you'd still want a treaded tyre.
Other than that, I like the features of the model. It has mud flaps on the sides behind the front and back tyres. The lightpod on the front is also very well done. There's a lot of metallic and photoetch parts all over the car that make for a realistic look. All the logos are very well done, I think most of them are tampos. The interior seats and seatbelts also use quality materials that give them a well detailed look. I just realized this morning that I didn't take pictures of the engine bay. Like the back compartment where the spare tyre is, the engine bay is about as detailed as the usual AUTOart rally model such as the Subaru Impreza WRC 2004 that I have (which is more than acceptable). I feel the rims could've been given a bit more realistic look, but that's really nitpicking as they look very good as it is.
Overall very satisfied with the model. I actually didn't expect it to be as good quality as it is (especially the interior) since it's a re-release of an older model. I am always glad to see a model outperform my expectation. I vote 9/10 on this one.
.
[/url
