Today was I doing some cleaning during the Easter holiday break when I came across one of my old die-cast models collecting dust on the shelf. The model car shown on the picture below is a 1/24 die cast replica of a Mini Cooper with "Rallye Monte-Carlo" livery. If my memory serves me right this car was driven by Paul Easter and Timo Makinen in 1994 wherein Mini was celebrating the 30th anniversary of Paddy Hopkirk's Monte Carlo Rally win back in 1964. Don't you think it's a funny coincidence that I should do a review of a car driven by someone named Easter on Easter day...
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| This car was given to me by an old college buddy who's really fond of Minis. |
The metal kit featured here today was produced by the Italian company Bburago. The model is not your typical out of the box collectors die-cast models, this one required some assembly. Despite of that setback this kit was easy to build, in fact the box states that you only need to be eight years of age to put it together. That is due to the fact that the parts simply snap into place and no glue is necessary. It does have a few screws under the chassis so a screwdriver is required.
The body is made of die-cast metal while the rest of the parts are in plastic. Most of the major components came pre-painted. However, if I recall correctly the decals needed to be applied. I may be wrong though since it's been ages since I've completed this one. I did not bother to paint in details on the other parts so what you'll see on the following pictures will be pretty much how the kit will look when assembled straight out of the package. Now on with my review...
The pre-painted die cast body looks nice and clean. The color still retained the original quality even after all these years. The decals also held up pretty well. I don't see any discoloration on any of them. I am not much of a fan of the wheels though, I do not like how the axle peg looks out of place on the tire rims. I also wished they had some clear parts for the lamp below the rear bumper instead of just plain chrome.
The chassis on this kit looks very much like a toy, with the manufacturers labels engraved on it. There are however, a few nice details for the front and read suspension but I feel there is nothing much to look at here. That's the reason why I normally keep this car mounted to the display base which came with the kit.
Like in most die-cast models, the doors and bonnet are operable which leads me into the next part of my review. I have to apologize for the untidy interiors, I didn't have the chance to thoroughly clean up the kit before taking the pictures.
Generally, I think this kit's weakness is the interiors. Most of what is inside are just molded in black plastic. However to be fair, I think the kit does have a lot of potential for detailing. I'm sure the engine and dashboard will pop out when the details are painted in.
In conclusion, if I were to rate this kit from 1 to 5 with five being the highest I'd probably give it a 3-1/2. The pre-painted hull and ease of assembly is great for Mini Cooper lovers young and old. That's all for now... Happy Easter everyone!
