One of the first things most people look at in a colorful kit is the decals. These decals appear to be made by Interdecal out of France. They are very similar in quality to Cartograf. The colors appear to be a little softer, which to me gives a more scale appearance. Overall the decals are very well done and will look good on the model when complete.
TIDBITS
Inside of the box, there were several small heat sealed bags. One bag contained the wheels/tires and another the vacuum formed "glass." The wheels themselves are machined aluminum rims with white metal inserts. This helps with the dilemma of painting the center section of the wheels. The tires are a soft black resin which seems to be the common thing. The glass is very well done. There are not any flecks or distortions in any of it.
There are two other bags of the smaller details. The photoetch is a simple double etched sheet. There are only minor details included such as the wing ends, instrument bezels, wheel rim, wiper, vents, etc. The other bag contains small jewel like lights for the headlights and taillights. All are prepainted and the clear lenses come with a clear epoxy like substance on the top. These are common on most European made kits and add a nice touch especially if well done like these.
BODY
The body is very crisply molded. There is some flash present on the windows and other openings. The resin is very reminiscent of the type that Fisher Model and Patterns used to use. It appears to be fragile, but as long as the kit isn't dropped it shouldn't be a problem.
The rear of the body shows just how wide these cars were. The rear window was small on these cars and doesn't allow much room to see the engine (see below). The only thing that is not 100% correct is the rear opening in the bonnet. The real thing should be mesh. This was probably done to keep from having to put a lot of engine detail in the kit.
INTERIOR/ENGINE
The basic "tub" includes the bottom portion of the interior, the bottom of the engine, and the entire front end. This is just a place to start with all of the details.
There is a large bag of resin items included with the kit. The doors are separate panels, and there is a separate dash and rear bulkhead. Other items include the radiator, wing, exhaust (only the last half), engine top, intake, various engine pieces (distributor, fuel pump, etc), mirrors, brakes, and an overflow container. All are nicely done.
The engine appears to be based off the Tamiya Testarossa kit. All you can really see of the engine in the kit once it is assembled is the top and clutch housing. The sides are not very visible as there are two resin pieces representing the sides of the engine bay. I'm not sure if the real car had these.
The top of the engine block is simiplified but does include enough detail to convince the on looker of more than what is there.
Here's a close up of the dash. It is simple, but the real thing was, too. Instrument decals are included as are the bezels.
Here's a close up of the brakes. They are fairly good in detail and will do well since they aren't that visible behind the wheels.
CONCLUSIONS
Here is a picture from Island Collectibles of the older LMP kit. As you can see, this is pretty much the same kit. The only few exceptions are of the different resins and some of the white metal pieces are now in resin. The decal layout is also different.
Here is the real car at the 1984 LeMans 24 Hr race. It didn't fair very well, retiring after 65 laps due to a gearbox problem. For those of you who like to see buildups, there was one featured on Automotive Forums not too long ago (Click Here). Overall, I would recommend this kit to anyone that is either a LeMans or a Ferrari fan. The car is unique enough to catch anyone's eye. If you are interested in getting one, you can contact Mr. Melioli at meliolisandro@libero.it.