"There may only be four corners here, but you still need brakes!!"
This is something special to me; I pretty much never expected to be able to actually get one one day. I first saw it about 10 years ago when I was an undergrad who knows nothing better. One of those "if I had money for it" kits. It showed up from nowhere on a Yahoo auction recently, and the price was okay (kind of), so I pulled the trigger. What you see in the picture below is a transkit that converts Tamiya's 1/12 McLaren M23 into the same car that was used in the 1976 Formula One season, starting at the 1976 Spanish GP.
Unlike the original Tamiya kit, which reproduces the elegant Yardley version of the M23, Chevron Model's transkit helps create the famous champion car once driven by the British James Hunt. There is no doubt that this car has become even more popular in recent years thanks to the movie Rush.
The kit comes in a fairly hard cardboard box the same size as a typical Tamiya model. Boxart is also fairly simple; a black-and-white sketch tells you what to expect inside. I got it around 19000 Japanese yen, not too bad!
It seems (at least from their website) that Chevron has shifted their focus on making bodyshells and accessories for RC cars now. Their other long-lost 1/12 transkits include this one I got, M23 1976 for 1974; Ferrari 312T2 for 312T, and P34 1977 for 1976. Maybe one day, I'll be able to get the other two as well. Who knows, eh? (Japanese letters above mean approximately "Sold out, not an RC car; Re-released in 2006 and now sold out, please note this is not an RC car).
Here is the kit you want to use with Chevron's transkit. The Marlboro version M23 can also be used as the donor kit. I got this Yardley M23 in 2016 when it was re-released with some photo-etched upgrades and it was as cheap as the recently re-released Lotus Type 78 and Renault RE20!
Instructions are printed with very good quality.
Unlike the near-impossible-to-find MFH/E.JAN M23 1976 transkit, Chevron provided two sheets of vacuum-formed parts to recreate the bodywork of Hunt's car.
I am particularly interested in the new airbox McLaren started to use after the ban on high airboxes (Yep, I am a big fan of the Ligier JS5).
What's more interesting here is the assembly of this airbox. Chevron decided to divide this airbox into 4 parts - as you can see in the above picture - so much work! One must be very careful with cutting and trimming the vacuum-formed parts before gluing them together. Some putty might also needed in the process to eliminate gaps. Scary!
There's always a solution to a problem! I was able to get a 3-D printed airbox for the 1976 car from Arizona racing models. I was able to contact the owner, Mac, who was extremely kind and let me purchase a set. The quality of this airbox is very good, just some minor sanding needed. Getting the work much easier with the airbox!
Resin parts do not come with a large number, and the quality of the resin is very high. The rear wing is pretty heavy!
Metal parts! Not as luxurious as the MFH/E.JAN kit, but a considerable amount of white metal parts can be found in Chevron's offer. A complete set of the seatbelt is also included.
On the left side is a sheet of the seatbelt manufacturer markings from a 1/12 MFH seatbelt set. Quality-control, MFH, quality-control. The printing quality is off. The marking stickers I found from Chevron's kit are larger in size, and the printing quality is also much better.
Decal sheets remain fine out of the box. Three versions of the car can be reproduced: the British, the German, and the Canadian.
There is also a photo of the completed model included in the box. Defintely the retro Japanese photo filter feel, very cool. Tabu/Studio27 and Decalpool also offer a complete set of decals for this car in 1/12 scale, which I will buy in the future when working on this kit.
There are also templates for scratch-making front and rear wing end plates.
A vacuum-formed clear part is included to recreate the windshield.
That's all from the kit - some mechanical parts are excluded, unfortunately - such as the oil coolers; however, Chevron did teach you how to make them in the instructions. According to them, you can even use P34's oil coolers. Fun!
In 2007, Mr. Mario Covalski from Modeler Site published an extremely detailed tutorial on building this kit. For its quality content, I did not regret buying.
Overall, this is a kit that I missed purchasing 10 years ago, but now it has finally joined my inventory. Although... I would, with no doubt, place the MFH/E.JAN kit over this if I had options. Now I can quit thinking about getting the 1976 champion car in the 1/12 scale, another dream has come true. Yeah! WAIT, WAIT, WAIT... maybe the EIDAIGRIP 1/8 M23 1976...
Photo Credit: Reddit, r/formula1.
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