Italeri 1/24 Fiat 500 2007
By Tommy VanNess
The Car
The Fiat company made the Fiat 500 in Italy between 1957 and 1975. This 2007 version is a new release by the Fiat company and commemorates the 50th anniversary. It is a car designed for city use and has updated styling with flashes of the classic version of the post-war model. Most versions of the car have an inline 4-cylinder engine and average power ratings are in the 93hp range. There were many engine versions of the Fiat 500 you could get in 2007. Since then there have been turbo versions, diesel versions and even a fully electric version of the 500. But first impressions are of the Italian styling that is so different than American cars and makes it stand out.
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The Kit
Italeri presents this kit in 1/24 scale. It is a curbside build which means there will be no engine detail. First impressions of the kit are very good. The box art is a picture of the actual car in motion, likely in the Italian countryside. The side pictures are of the assembled kit and explanations of the car are printed in both English and Italian. The plastic feels rigid, strong and it looks to be highly detailed with very minimal flash or mold lines.
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The body, bumpers, dash and seats are molded in white. The interior tub, door panels, undercarriage and suspension parts are molded in black. There are two chrome trees for the wheels, headlights, mirrors and exhaust parts. I do want to mention that the chrome trees are slightly different. The wheels are on their own tree and have a dull-coated plating on them, which gives the wheels the aluminum look as opposed to the shiny chrome you see on the exhaust and headlight. This is a great way to accurately represent the wheels and I am very impressed that Italeri has done this. Great job, Italeri!
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The clear parts tree has the headlight and tail light lenses as well as a one-piece unit that has the windshield, side windows and rear window. The windows were molded with details that allow you paint the frit. (the frit is the black boarder around windows in cars, I had to look it up) The tires are molded individually and look very good. The tread looks a little aggressive but will likely be toned down with some sanding. The sidewall detail is phenomenal showing that they are Pirelli Cinturato tires size 215/50 VR15. The lettering isn't to scale, but it's amazing that Italeri has this level of detail displayed.
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The decal sheet has 17 decals on it, is well detailed and has four different European plate versions: Italian, German, French and Spanish. Again, well done Italeri! As if there wasn't enough to like about this kit, not only are the instructions very well done and easy to follow, when you arrive at the decal instructions, you will be greeted by color images! This is a first for me in building models. The color images look great, give the actual paint codes from Tamiya and accurately represent the actual car.
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Conclusion
I am excited to build this kit. I am extremely impressed by its detail and can't wait to dig into this one. It has been a long time since I have built an Italeri kit. I am ready to ditch the current model on the desk and get going on this one after getting a good look at it.
I want to see what else Italeri has to offer and go out and buy a few more of their kits. Overall, the kit looks great, detail looks amazing and I can't wait to build this one and have it on the shelf for display. I would like to thank Model Rectifier Corporation for the review sample. Happy modelling everybody.
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