Tamiya

1/24 Aston Martin DBS

Kit Number: 24316

Reviewed by  Mike Hoekstra, IPMS# 46528

MSRP: $71.00 Website: www.tamiyausa.com The name is Bond. We all know that the Aston Martin has become synonymous with the legendary super spy James Bond. Tamiya has now graciously offered us the DBS in kit form. As stated in the instruction sheet, the latest offering in the Aston Martin lineup, the DBS, made its debut in Casino Royale. Upon first inspection, the kit is very straight-forward. The moldings are all clean without any sign of flash. The kit contents include a photoetch fret, metal transfers, decal sheet, window masks, and seven sprue trees molded in clear, chrome, metallic black, black, gray, and silver. Beginning with the front brakes, the front steering assembly went together flawlessly. The engine replication is very simplistic. A block, an intake and a radiator hose piece make up the engine's top-side display. The metal transfers and decals bring the engine to life. Researching the actual car shows the same amount of minimal details. It is nice to see Tamiya putting more detail in to a street car rather than leaving it as a curbside. A fully detailed engine would really be nice, but the lower chassis pan would hide most of the work and detail anyway. The metal transfers are really well done, but I found they had trouble adhering to the flat white paint on the intake. Nothing too major, with a little added pressure from the flat end of an X-Acto knife, they held tight. Moving on to the chassis pan, a bit of masking is required for three parts. The front portion is semi-gloss black while the rest is gloss aluminum, with the right & left sides being the body color. Molded -in detail of the bottom of the car is the steering rack and exhaust headers off of the motor. Again, I'd like to see a full detail engine but detail painting adds life to the undercarriage. The exhaust is cleanly molded and required minimal effort to remove the mold lines. The rear suspension is also cleanly molded and, once painted, is well detailed. The only bit if trouble I encountered was with the secondary set of brake shoes. They were a bit oversized for the placement, but a slight bit of trimming took care of the issue. Decals bring added detail to the semi-gloss brake shoe. Most of the detail of the rear suspension is then hidden beneath a chassis plate. Final assembly of the chassis comes with the wheels & tires - two narrow front and two wide rear. Tamiya has also thankfully seen fit to mold extra center caps in to the sprue. Without them, I'd still be looking for the one I lost. Now that there's a rolling chassis, I moved on to the interior. The interior is very well done, with options to build either the Touchtronic or manual transmission. I opted for the manual transmission. Researching the actual car revealed a lot of textures and colors. I painted everything gray per the instructions then added flocking to the floor, middle section of the two side door panels, and center of the seats to replicate the cloth portions of the vehicle. Included with the kit are photoetch details for the rear portion of the interior, and foot pedals. Tamiya has really done a good job replicating the dash detail on the DBS. Taking the time to detail paint the dash really pays off to complete the picture. Completing the interior are decals replicating the gauge cluster, speakers in the doors and center console. Upon completing the interior, a quick dry fit revealed some concerning gaps between the base of the windows and interior. Looking at the masking for the windows revealed that these gaps should likely be hidden after they're in place and they were. Moving on to the body, the beautiful fit of the kit continues. One small hitch came from the installation of the tail lights. A bit of trimming was required to get them to snap in to place. Once there, they fit flush with the rear of the body section. The tail light backing plates and inserts fit perfectly and also flush with the body and tail light lenses. A separate piece finishes off the back of the spoiler/hatch. Completing the rear of the car is your choice of Japanese or European plate. I elected to use the European plate. Moving forward, two spoiler pieces, and three photoetch pieces adorn the inside of the front air dam, and a separate mounting piece for the screw that will secure the body and chassis in place is installed. Attaching the air dam to the front of the body was painless and lined up beautifully. The chrome grille also went right in to place completing the signature look of the DBS. The instructions again give you the choice of a license plate for the front, but I omitted it to keep the sporty look of the front end intact. Continuing on, the front headlamp lenses snapped in to place and fit flush with the body. Minimal glue was required to hold them in place. Decals are included to give the internal lamp surrounds the striped look as on the 1:1 car. They're rather tedious to put on, and once the part is glued in place the decal showed minimally. Also at this point in the instructions, the masking, painting, and decaling of the under-hood detail is done on the body portion. After the headlamp assemblies are in place, the assembly of the rear diffuser is next. Two more photoetch pieces fill the inside of the vent slots and a pair of red tail lights are attached to the outside. Two separate parts are attached to the body, and then the diffuser assembly is connected to the rear of the car and mated with the other two. This took a couple tries but isn't difficult and the fit was good. Both the chassis and body complete, it's time for final assembly. The exhaust headers fit right in place within the diffuser, and everything lined up very nicely. One minor detail to note, the rear wheels sit slightly forward in the wheel well and are not perfectly centered. The screw holds the front in place very well, but a bead of glue is also necessary to keep the keep the body and chassis from floating apart from one another. The rear view mirrors and side trim pieces fit in place very well to complete the body. The hood is one piece with four photoetch vents to complete the look. Tamiya also gives you optional parts to display the hood in the open position. Decals and metal transfers finish it all off. On a whole, this kit is a home run and suitable for any modeler, beginner to experienced. I'd like to thank Tamiya for supplying the kit for review, as well as being so kind to offer up such a great new tool in the Aston Martin DBS in their automotive line up. If you're primary interest is building autos, this is a must-have.