Reviews : Tamiya Porsche 911 GT1 Racecar GT1

This is a great Tamiya kit, with their typical well detailed instructions and well designed parts that fit properly without a fuss. The rear spoiler is a treat to build since it contains well-defined mounting points to the car body and to the spoiler itself. As such, this part can easily be painted separately and mounted to the body in final assembly. I moved adding the spoiler to the very last step to avoid damaging it when mounting the rear engine cover to the chassis. I found this to be a bit tedious since it needs to snap under the roof of the car. Take your time with it and with a little bit of effort, it will all mount perfectly. The side view mirrors also have nice mounting points so they too can be painted separately. The only negative is that I cannot figure out a way to actually make the rear of the car open to show off that beautiful engine. I thought it would tilt backwards; however, as noted, there are clips that fit under the roof so to make it tilt would require a lot of effort have the clips clear the roof. The decals are outstanding and lay down nicely. You do need some decal solvent for some of the more complex curves. The decal instructions are fit hard to follow since there are SO MANY of them that need to put down on the model in a given sequence. Some of the decals are very small, so a good pair of tweezers are needed.

As in many Tamiya kits, especially the more expensive ones with engines, to make a fine model you must be good at detail, there is plenty of detail to think about here. The final body decals are time consuming to put on and a steady hand and good concentration is what it takes to get them all lined up without spoiling any (I did goof on one and was able to leave it out, who would know?) I am very happy with the end product, the engine detail is very nice, the interior is simple but effective. The gold colored wheels are impressive and there are white tire decals too. I usually only do Tamiya models now, I find other brands, particularly the cheaper ones (no names), are not up to my revised standards thanks to the excellent engineering and design by Tamiya.

Right out of the box there's a few challenges waiting for you but one bonus is the inclusion of pre-cut masks for the glass panels. There's a lot of small Decals that make up major sections and a lot of them are flat but go on to curved surfaces and skill is required to do it well. Additionally check the two versions carefully as mistakes can happen and also take care when finishing the engine area as some inter-weaving of parts before gluing almost blindly. Lots of work leading up to a suddenly done unexpectedly. Still a good model and variations possible to make unique. Fully recommend even though originally thought this was just an okay kit before I started.

I'd not recommend for the beginner, Tis for intermediate or above to do it justice. Mine is Clear body version. GREAT KIT & now at great price, lots of Parts & detail & fiddlely bits, extremely detailed engine. & Plenty of Decals. I'd give Fit factor 8 out of 10, I couldn't quite get turbos or exhausts to match. Not a real issue as they near hidden, but we All now our own flaws. Rest of kit Fitted well. Lots of Fun to build. As usual back in its box. I build for Fun, not display.

This is a superb kit. The detail level is great. Due to the many small parts and need for precision assembly I would not recommend it for a beginner. The only down side I see to this kit is the seam down the middle of each tire, but those are easily sanded off to make the tires look worn. There are after-market decals available to build several different sponsors. I chose to use the old Revell sponsor decals.

Another good kit from Tamiya but I can’t give it 5 stars because there are some parts for the motor (turbo,exhaust I believe) that just didn’t fit well. Everything else was exceptionally well engineered. The decals were awesome. One and a half thumbs up.