Kit: Tamiya Toyota Supra, #24123

Pros: Great engine details, excellent parts fit, very nice tires and rims, true to the original body proportions, choice of right/left steering (2 dashboards), excellent mold quality, good instructions and correct painting guide.

Cons: There aren't many - Toyota emblems and "Supra" decals printed in black, so they are visible only on light-colored models (which was definitely a Con for me!), Molded-in headlights, and huge pinholes on the inner side of the hood.

Verdict: One of the best Tamiya kits I've ever assembled. Everything fits very nicely, and the car almost falls together. Once I saw a real car and decided to build a kit. After I've built a kit - I want to buy the real thing! Get one - you won't be disappointed!

One of the first additions to this model was a fine metal mesh from Fujimi F40 kit behind the grille and brake cooling ducts. I applied black wash to the mesh to make it look slightly "weathered". Note front spoiler-lip - great little working feature of the kit.

Interior was painted satin black at a low pressure to simulate leather, and then the floor and seat backs were flocked. Dashboard was painted flat black and detailed. I wish I knew about photoetched pedals back then!

The engine is a work of art in this kit, and with little work it looks even better! I added throttle and battery cables, wires and lines here and there, BMF clamps to all the hoses, and detail-painted everything.

Rear suspension is a complicated assembly and was built straight from the box. Exhaust was painted Testors flat aluminum enamel with Tamiya Gun Metal muffler. Finally, I picked out all bolts and nuts with different metallic paints.

To add more realism to the model, I installed an antenna made from E guitar string.

Front suspension was put in after I installed the engine, and its assembly was rather tricky. Be very careful not to break tiny steering linkages, there is not much room to work there. Also, when sliding front wheels on, do not apply a lot of pressure - you can break delicate A-arms. To bring out more detail, I painted bolt heads with metallic paints in the front.

This is the type of kits that I don't build very often - I like Japanese cars, but there are so many Ferraris to build! Toyota Supra is one of my favorite performance cars (I almost bought one), and Tamiya kit sure does it justice. This is a wonderful kit, with a excellent details, and traditional Tamiya precision. If you want to build a Supra - look no further - this is the kit to build. I painted mine with Testors Turn Signal Red enamel over gray Dupli-color base. Interior was painted with Wal-Mart rattle-can satin black enamel sprayed with an airbrush at a low pressure to simulate leather texture - I think it turned out great, very leather-like! The rest was painted with Testors and Model Master enamels. This was one of the first kits that I started detailing, and the first one that turned out good. I wish some aftermarket company made a P/E detail set for Supra - I would not hesitate to build another one!