By now, most of us have probably seen Ford vs. Ferrari, the movie highlighting the companies’ epic battle in the mid to late ’60s and the rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt in Rush. For me, the absolute pinnacle of racing coolness was the Group C/GTP era from 1982 through 1993. Strong manufacturer involvement from Jaguar, Porsche, Mercedes, Nissan, and Toyota led to some amazing racing, with cars capable of 240 mph and lapping faster than F1 cars at some tracks.
For modelers, Hasegawa had a series of Group C cars in the early ’90s that were good, basic curbside kits. Recently, it has been reissuing some of those kits with different decal variants and, in addition, has also graced us with an all-new tool of the Toyota 91C-V. Unlike those earlier kits, this one has a fully detailed front and rear suspension. Sadly, however, still no engine. The nearly 200 kit parts are precisely molded in white with brightly chrome-plated wheel rims. The crisply printed decals are in perfect register with a slight satin sheen.
Step 1 deals with the construction of the interior tub. For the parts that would be carbon composite in the full-sized car, I added a touch of gunmetal to semigloss black, just to keep the assembly from becoming too monochromatic. The detail-painting instructions for the dash are excellent, but otherwise, there’s not much to the cockpit. Seat belts are provided as decals but could benefit from aftermarket upgrades.
The detailed front suspension depicts nearly everything from the springs to the brakes and calipers. The parts fit excellently, and everything comes to life with a little bit of detail painting, but you’ll need to decide how much time to spend on that because much of it will be hidden by the body shell.
The transaxle and rear suspension are as exquisitely reproduced as the front suspension. I suggest leaving the rear portion of the transaxle and wing supports off until the main section is mounted to the chassis plate. This allows you to ensure the wing supports are perpendicular to the chassis. I needed to pry mine loose to adjust.
In Step 9, you add the lower portion of the brake cooling duct to the rear upright. I thought I’d be clever and add the upper part of the duct first, so I could properly de-seam it. This was a mistake because it wouldn’t fit through the upper control arm. I had to clip one end of the arm free to bend it out of the way enough to get the duct through. The seam probably wouldn’t be seen anyway.
Turbos, intercoolers, and all the related parts complete the chassis assembly. Pretty much everything is there except for the engine itself! Why didn’t Hasegawa just go that extra 10% and add the engine?
The body breakdown surely means future variations are in the works. Separate side panels and plugs for various vents and ducts, along with three different tow hooks for the front, are dead giveaways.
I deviated from the instructions by adding the side panels and body plugs so they could be properly filled and sanded before painting. It makes parts C1, C2, C16, and C17 slightly more difficult to install, but they will fit.
I followed a couple of coats of white Tamiya primer to check seams with Tamiya Pure White (No. TS-26). For the blue, I used a nearly 1:1 mix of Tamiya French Blue (No. TS-10 ) and Brilliant Blue (No. TS-44), but I probably should have gone just a little bit lighter. A sheet of die-cut masks is provided for the windows, but the paper that Hasegawa used to make it was too stiff and wouldn’t conform to the curves. I recommend using them as templates to make your own masks.
The decals worked pretty well, but they are really thin. You’ve been warned!
Coverage is good for most of the decals, but, as a precaution, I used some plain white decal paper to double up the number of placards, which was probably a good thing. Next time, I’ll mask them off.
The new Hasegawa 1/24 scale Minolta Toyota 91C-V plastic model kit is definitely a step up from the earlier series of kits in every way. Even though it’s more complex than previous iterations and incredibly detailed, construction remains trouble-free. I may not recommend it for a beginner, but someone with a few kits under their belt should have no problems. I am super excited to see new kits of these types of cars and can’t wait to see what other versions Hasegawa has in the works!