At last years NEC show, a trader had both a boxed Gate 1:18 Mk1 and a Kyosho 1:18 Mk1 for sale. I was gobsmacked to find the going rate for a Gate was £85 and for the Kyosho was £120, and they’re not even particularly good scale models. Not so long ago, you could bus the Gate model new for £10-20. At the time, I thought, no problem, I’ve a Gate kit someplace, good excuse to put it together. Numerous house moves though, and bits have gone missing.
At this year’s NEC, I snagged the Kyosho V-Spec, albeit a V-spec badged up as a Miata. And missing a mirror and wiper. And I had to beat the trader down to £30 for this. Now have the quandry of do I leave it as is, do I try and repair… Do I even consider customising it into a S-Limited?
IL Motorsport have “limited” quantities of the Motormax Mk1, which has appeared under various brands over the years, but this is a fairly terrible model
Its amazing that its nigh on impossible to obtain a decent large scale diecast scale model of the world’s most popular sportscar, the Mk1 MX5. Gate models doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Kyosho is still about.
Supply and demand I suppose. You say the Gate model is out of production so the price will rise as the remaining stock is sold off. Although admittedly nearly £100 is excessive.
The answer is to keep a lookout for a cheap one, assuming you aren’t in a hurry for one. The cheapest I’ve seen a brand new Gate MX5 is £30. I paid £35 for mine as it was the cheapest silver one I could find.
The Kyosho model is a lot more expensive, they used to retail around the £60 to £80 mark new.
I don’t know if you were expecting a 100% accurate representation of a car down to the last nut and bolt but I thought they were both very good models, the Kyosho even had flocked carpets and pop up headlights. I can’t really see how they could really have improved on them unless they were handcrafted one offs that would end up many times the price.
Regarding the Kyosho model, I paid about £12 including postage for a slightly damaged one on ebay. Wheel snapped off, mirror snapped, windscreen slightly pushed down. With a little work I had a model that looked almost like new. Bargains are out there.
The thing is that there seem to be a vast selection of models of NA MX5’s if you look, from 1:87 scale to 1:18 scale. Or there is the one that Sindy had that sometimes comes up on ebay. I even have a wooden one that is approaching 1:12 scale. Or there’s the pewter one I have. And one that is cold cast aluminium that looks like pewter.
At least you can get model of an MX5, there are plenty of cars it’s impossible to get a model of. The Austin Maxi Owners Club actually had a model done for their members as there wasn’t one available. You can get one on ebay if you like, £135. And it’s only 4 inches or so long!!
The one that I can’t understand though is the model I received from MX5 Parts at the Gaydon car competitions. It’s a 1:43 scale model of the 25th anniversary MX5. On ebay they are over £75 from a seller in Japan or there is one in the UK for £100. Crazy!!
Your model is never going to be "mint & boxed"Saz so personally, I’d have a bit of fun with it and make it your own. Doubtless you are aware the actual model is about 50% value of the deal, a spotless box being the other. I say this as an avid model maker & collector of railway oldies. So, crack on an “Saz” it I’d say!
Edit:
Plastic may not be your bag Saz but some fun can be had with them…if you can find one in stock.
For the kit builders and modellers among you, Tamiya make a 1:24 scale kit of the Eunos Roadster (Mk1) with the option of hard or soft top. It’s right hand drive and with care can be built into a stunning model. Cost was less than £20 and I bought mine from a branch of WH Smith that has a ModelZone model department. In my case, at the Metro centre, Gateshead.
Have fun
JC
Just this week I made some moulds and today cast in resin a front lower lip spoiler and rear spoiler for the 1/18 scale Gate NA and also have some new wheels being machined and also done a rear spoiler for the tamiya 1/24 scale eunos roadster, will do some test fits over the next few days and might do the front spoiler for this also.
Tamiya do the eunos roadster
Aoshima do an NB
Fujimi do a NC
All in 1/24 scale RHD soft tops, the fujimi kit is exceptional with full engine chassis detail.
I ordered a 1/24 Aoshima kit of the NB from HobbyLink in Japan on Dec 1st. It arrived just after Xmas which was not bad as I specified the cheapest shipping cost. Total cost including shipping was £15.16. I thought this was quite reasonable. The kit was out of stock but I think Aoshima must have made a batch recently. Perhaps I should have ordered a few kits for other club members as this kit does not seem to be stocked in the UK.
I will paint this the same colour as my 1998 NB to go alongside the Tamiya 1/24 model of my Son’s Eunos.
I’ve also been looking at the Fujimi (about £40) and Aoshima (£?) kits, but the info is sketchy on those I’ve seen so far about how much detail is actually there.
It would be nice to use the same colour paint as on the car (I have some), but I have a horrible feeling that the cellulose paint sold for repairs and touch up will dissolve the plastic of the model, and finding an acrylic Icy Blue will be difficult.
I bought the Aoshima NB model and intend to paint mine the same colour as my car. Don’t take my word for it, but I have been told that if you spray it with acrylic primer first, you can use ordinary car paint without melting the plastic.
I found a Fujimi NC on Hobbysearch different reference though, this set of pics include all the assembly diagrams and also shows parts frames and bits list. It is also one of the £40 kits listed on Amazon, but a lot cheaper in Jp.
Hmm, too many coats of paint and the details become swamped, I’ll have to think about that one.
So I splashed out on Amazon and bought the Fujimi 1:24 plastic kit Mk3.0 from Japan. It took almost four weeks to arrive this morning but is surprisingly well detailed considering that it is only a plastic kit, with lots and lots of tiny tiny bits - even Frankenstein bolts.
It will be some time before I finally manage to finish it, in the longer darker evenings. And I will be experimenting with alternative paint colours on some of the break-out frames.
If it wasn’t for the red plastic for the body panels being slightly transparent it would almost be the right red for your car. Some painting IS required, unfortunately.
I’ll also be painting the seats and ‘carpets’ and some of the interior of the engine compartment transmission, etc, because the engine compartment and cockpit and under-body are all black plastic.
I now have to exercise self control and not think about it for a couple of months!
Edit. I notice the Az price has almost doubled since I bought mine (was £22 inc p&p from Japan, in August) .
I’m in the process of negotiating the possible loan of a mini spray airbrush/pencil kit of bits and compressor from an artist friend some time in November. But it might not happen if he gets yet another commission for ‘real paint’ instead of Adobe Illustrator commercials.
Failing that I might buy something cheap (his is several hundred pounds worth of DeVilbiss).