Aoshima 1/24 '80 Hilux New Old School Pickup
By John D. Dutze
SUBJECT:
This model depicts a short bed Toyota Truck with custom features. The model is of a 1995 Toyota cruising pickup that has a myriad of custom parts. These parts include American billet wheels with Toyota Proxes FZ4 Tires, a custom steering wheel, '92-'97 U.S. 2WD bumper, '89-'91 U.S. Grill, U.S. 4x4 fenders, tail lights and bed. This model has many details that only a true custom fabricator would recognize and MAY have been originally customized by the HOT COMPANY. The HOT COMPANY is a custom shop located in Okazaki-City, Japan and has been there since 1976. Aoshima listed special thanks to HOT COMPANY and Truck Trends Magazine on the front of the model box.
MODEL PARTS:
This model kit contains roughly 90 parts, plus decals and instructions. The model is made of styrene plastic and is molded in red, white, black, and chrome. The model sprue/trees are of excellent quality and I found no flash at all: great job, Aoshima!
The model parts are engraved beautifully and are very crisp. The details should easily show through a couple coats of paint without losing much detail. There are a minimal number of injection marks on the base of the model. The marks that will show are on the underside of the model where the chassis frame is located. Four marks will be showing at the four corners of the base of the drivers cab. There are a few other injection marks on the base in the same vicinity as the other injection marks, but they will be hidden when the chassis and drivetrain system are put into place. There are also some injection marks that will be visible in the truck bed's side panels when being viewed through the rear canopy. You could do a couple of things for this, sand them or tint the windows. There is also a need for a light sanding on the outside top of the pick up bed's canopy, due to ghost images showing through because of the rear window's support bracket engraving on the underside of the canopy. The truck cab and canopy have slight seam lines that, however, are very minimal.
This model is a curbside and it has an injected half engine built into the chassis framework. The cab of the truck does not have an opening hood or doors but the tailgate and canopy window are designed to open. When the models's finished the chassis of the truck will protrude through the bed of the pick up but this may be how these trucks are modified in real life. Or perhaps Aoshima needed to keep the truck as low profile as possible and this is the simplest way.
With additional work, the modeler can alter the surrounding protrusion area of the pick up bed to suit their ideas. The possibilities for additional modifications are endless on this model kit. The canopy is very thin and I received mine with a visible hairline crack. Caution should be taken when rubbing out your finish on this part.
The truck has a few neat engineering features that really give this model great detail. The first is the opening tailgate and rear window. The other features allow you to adjust the vehicle's lean, and adjust it's height and front wheel camber. I'm not 100% sure but it also seems that the front wheels are poseable.
The model comes with optional parts including a pair of grills, one with the Toyota logo and one without.
The tires are very nice and they have directional positioning that should be followed. The tires are made out of rubber and go together well with the Billet style chrome plated wheels.
The clear parts are very nice and have a good scale appearance. The windows are very nice with visor and reading lights detail. The cab glass has an opening where a sunroof could easily be incorporated without risking breakage of the windshield because it's already opened in this area. Also, the detailing of the headlights, side marking lights and turn signal lenses for both front and back is engraved very nicely.
The chrome on the model is absolutely outstanding. It is very smooth, very bright and it shows excellent detail. The decals are excellent with beautiful features and exquisite detail with vibrant colors. The sheet includes optional license plates and windshield maskings.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
There is a reason why we model build and a kit as detailed and engineered this well is one of those reasons. The kit overall is beautiful and well thought out. One great feature of this kit is that all of the part trees are individually wrapped. The detail is outstanding and the features are amazing.
However, the few flaws in this kit are as follows: The model instructions can be a little vague in some areas. It is a curbside model without engine detail. The interior panels are a lackmuchdetail and the interior is right hand drive only. The body parts are molded in red and it is hard to know why when the interior parts are molded in white. I just wonder why Aoshima didn't make the body parts from white plastic for a painless paint outing if we choose to paint the truck another color other than red or orange.
I give this kit a 9.5 out of 10 because of the reasons listed in the Final Thoughts section. I would like to thank Dragon USA for providing the reviewed model sample.