There aren’t many cars that have defined the Porsche brand more than the Porsche 911. Although the GT3 RS (992) version is vastly different and much more capable than its predecessors, the basic design and styling of its roots are still evident. The rear-mounted flat-six engine now produces 525 HP. Extensive use of carbon fiber and lightweight design give the RS outstanding performance.
Given its popularity, it’s unsurprising that the 911 has been well-represented in model kit form. Fujimi has covered most of the early models in their highly-detailed “Enthusiast” kit series and Tamiya has kitted a few, but until now, modern versions of the car have been lacking. Well, Porsche fans, your wait is over with the release of the Tamiya 1/24 scale Porsche 911 GT3 RS (992) plastic model kit! This all-new kit is what we’ve come to expect from Tamiya — exquisitely molded parts, excellent detail, and superb fit. Decals give you four color options for the GT3 RS badging and carbon fiber for the hood, roof, and wing.
The chassis is fairly basic yet well-detailed. The mostly flat floor pan has all the aero bits of the real car expertly recreated. Most of the other suspension parts are molded separately making detail painting simpler. The front wheels are posable and the brake calipers and rotors are separate so the rotors turn with the wheels.
The interior floor is marred by some light-but-visible ejector-pin marks. To cover this, I painted the semigloss black areas first, masked them off, and airbrushed flat black areas with straight Mr. Surfacer 1500 Black from about 10 inches away producing a slight texture that helped hide the marks. Porsche’s website, www.porsche.com, provides good shots of interior details. The part breakdown of the kit ensures that there isn’t a lot of masking necessary.
Decals are provided for the instrument panel, steering wheel, seat and door inserts, and speaker grills, but they require a touch of solvent to settle.
The body’s engineering makes painting and assembly a breeze. The most intricate part is probably the taillight panel, but the four-step process is clearly defined in the instructions. After primer, paint, clear coat, and sanding to remove a couple of dust bunnies, I attached the remaining parts. Ample mounting tabs on the clear parts minimize the risk of gluing mishaps. The only slightly fiddly process of the entire build was putting the rear wing together.
Tamiya continues to be at the pinnacle of model kit design with the Tamiya 1/24 scale Porsche 911 GT3 RS (992) plastic model kit. The attention to detail, how the parts assemble, and even how they’re attached to the sprues make the kit an undeniable pleasure to build. Tamiya hit another home run with this one!