1/24 ESCI BMW M1
1/24 ESCI BMW M1
Kit Review
The Box Art
This is a very hard to find 1/24th scale kit titled Crystal BMW M1 from an Italian kit manufacturer ESCI. I believe ESCI made
various versions of M1 car ranging from stock M1 to Marlboro sponsored Procar, and this one is Jagermeister version with a clear body shell.
For simplicity, I won't go into the detail of the history of BMW M1 (a long history book won't be still enough), I rather focus on the kit evaluation.
For those who wants to know more about this kit, please read on.
The Content
To be honest, I have never built ESCI kit before and I do not know much about its quality to comment on at this time. However, if this kit is anything
like Protar (another Italian manufacturer), my guess is that the fit and finish are going to be average. By looking at the parts, the moldings are
fairly good considering the fact that this kit was produced in early 80's.
The Body
All the body parts are molded on clear plastic and they do show injection marks. However, I was very surprised to see that the injection marks are minimum
and lightly marked. There are four marks on the hood and four on the back. That is it for the main shell! The recent Tamiya's clear view kits
have far more injection marks than this kit. To remove injection marks, you will have to wet sand and polish the markings multiple times.
The rest of the parts are molded in black, and I see
no fresh, which is always plus. To give you a basic ideal, there are about 100 parts and just the engine itself makes up with about 24 parts.
Rest of the Parts
The kit has potential to be "super detailed" as the clearshell gives that possibility. However, I think it could be also interesting to do "half-half", where half
of the body is only painted and the other is left out with clear body. See my example below.
What to do with Clear Parts?
The Engine Assembly
This is the typical method of assembling an engine, where the cylinder block is already mounted on with the tranny. There are many books where M1
engine pictures can be found, and it could be easily detailed.
The Marking
You can build this car "traditionally" (painted on clear parts) to produce Jagermeister sponsored orange M1!
The Decal
I cannot comment on the quality of the decal and I hope it can handle the clearcoat. This kit's decal was damaged (blue arrows), and it seems that
the decal is very sensitive to humidity. At any rate, I would definiitely make a copy of this decal just in case I damage it later on. With little bit of Adobe software
and ALPS printer, any decal can be reproduced!
The Wheels
This would be the worst part of the kit. The picture shows the BSS wheel included in this kit. The spokes are not separated and I will probably look elsewhere
for replacement. Fujimi sells BBS wheels individually and they would greatly enhance the kit. In addition, the tires have "Good Year" logo/word stamped, but
the car has Pirelli sponsor. This is a mistake on ESCI.
Overall, I think the kit is a fine one and it can bring some joy building it. Not only that, the subject itself is so rare, it will be surely a unique collection among collectors.
