Studio27 1/24 Subaru Impreza WRC Portugal Transkit

By Tony Paton

Subaru unveiled its' new year 2000 Impreza at the Rally of Portugal. It was an impressive debut as Richard Burns finished in 1st place. Unfortunately his team mate Kankkunen retired. This transkit by the Japanese company Studio27 gives you the opportunity to create this car in either the Portugal or Catalunya rally by using the Tamiya 1999 Impreza kit as a base.

This mixed media kit contains white metal parts, photo etch and decals to help you achieve this. There are 9 metal parts that are for the new front spoiler, wing, bonnet scoops, radiator and exhaust. There is no flash on these parts and no preparation apart from sanding and priming is needed. The photo etched parts are what you would usually expect from S27, the usual mesh grills, brakes, pins, latches, wipers, badges, mirrors, pedals and number plates are included. The decals are of ok quality and are all there without the need to use the kit decals. The instructions are in Japanese but gladly for the first time I've seen, they have provided an English translation sheet which helps with the PE parts. Photos are provided to show where all the white metal parts go and it all looks straightforward. The decal placement sheet is in colour and is easy to follow.

I have already used this kit and the body conversion is very easy. The only problem is to get the bonnet scoops in the right position. Numerous sanding and dry fits were needed to get this right. The front spoiler and rear wing were a breeze to convert. I used CA glue to hold the metal to the plastic.

The same couldn't be said about the decals, these are the main problems I encountered:

1) Most of the Pirelli decals for the front (above the turn indicators on the front & on the quarter panel) are bad. The extended "P" is too thin and too light. Better to use the kit decals for this. Also the badge is missing off the side ones even though there is carrier film!!

2) The instructions don't give any mention to the "www.swrt.com" decals that are included on the sheet. These go on the doors and roof air scoop. These are also very dull in colour but the original Tamiya sheet doesn't have these.

3) The instructions get one of the numbers wrong. On the back just below the wing there is a "Prodrive" decal, the instructions tell you to put one of the decals mentioned in 2) above.

4) There is no red "STI" for the front grill, which was present on the car in Portugal. So I suggest either colouring in one of Tamiya's white STI decal or leave it white (I think it would look silly that way.).

Apart from these the decal sheet is still great quality especially for the side Subaru star decal.

I would recommend this transkit as a great introduction into the world of transforming stock kits using white metal.