This new Hasegawa 1/24 scale plastic model kit lets you build the early 1987 Nissan Skyline GTS (R31) NISMO (Nissan Motorsport, the name for the company’s high-performance division). Nissan debuted its 7th generation Skyline R31 four-door in 1985. The car rolled off the assembly line with many innovations, like a 2-liter, six-cylinder DOHC engine, ceramic turbo charger, and driver-friendly high performance. In 1986, the two-door coupe was added to the lineup, and, in 1987, a GTS-R won the Japan Touring Car Championship.
Opening the kit's box, you’ll find all the parts trees, body, and wheels and tires individually bagged. The kit also includes window masks and a decal sheet. Be aware, this is a curbside model, so it doesn’t have parts for an engine.
The instructions have you start the build with the chassis, which does have lower engine detail molded in. The exhaust, radiator, rear axle, and fuel tank all fit well. Hasegawa simplified the front and rear suspensions. They build up without difficulty, and some detail painting brings out the performance nuances. The rack and pinion steering, four-wheel independent suspension and disc brakes, along with front antiroll bar show this car means serious business.
The 15-piece interior captures the Nissan’s appointments perfectly with deep bucket seats, center console, and right-hand drive dash — this car wasn’t made for export outside of Japan.
The beautifully scaled body needed only a little cleanup. All of the lights come on the clear parts tree, so you’ll have to paint taillights with clear colors. The provided masks make painting the black around the windows easy. The front and rear facias, spoilers, and exterior mirrors don’t require much work before attaching them to the body. The body itself is molded in blue, but you’ll want to paint it because of the swirls in the plastic. I went with Tamiya Racing Blue (No. TS-51), which is a close match for the Nissan blue used on the real car.
Final assembly goes together effortlessly with the body fitting over the chassis with no issues whatsoever. The BBS-style wheels and unbranded tires look the part when installed. Unfortunately, the decals included with this kit are mediocre at best. They don’t conform well, even with liberal amounts of setting solution. I couldn’t get one of the center-wheel decals to settle, and it fell off after I’d put up my tools after a session. Where it went, I can only guess.
The Hasegawa’s 1987 Nissan Skyline GTS assembles nicely, has all the right shapes and dimensions, and has the correct stance. However, it just feels fragile. The model is light when assembled, and that may be the reason for this feeling. That and the uncooperative decals clock as my two main dissatisfactions with the kit. If you want to model this interesting subject, I’d recommend you have a couple of car kits under your belt first, and then look online for aftermarket decals.