Die Cast reviews and comparissons

The fit and finish on the black one is immaculate which results in hard to remove fingerprints on its flat surface. I did not remove mine before taking the pictures to demonstrate this, but it should be a warning to anyone who buys the model, before they handle it.
I just got my red model (Thank you Ritta @ Cavallino) this week and alto its paint is just as immaculate as the black one, its hood did not fit quite right. It seems it was bent just slightly too much, so it made it stick out a little right on the top of the fender arches. Most people would have returned the model but carefully pushing on top of it wile it is laying on a flat surface, took care of the problem. I hope I am the only one who had such a problem.
The interior is detailed very well and it does not leave anything to be desired. I am sure that someone would ask for carbon fiber decals, but THAT'S being picky. The seat and harnesses are made well enough to wow any model builder and so is the steering wheel with its own attachment wires. The complicated roll cage is faithfully reproduced and the little antennae on the bare aluminum floor under the rear window puts the finishing touch. All the electronic boxes and their cables and wiring are present on the passenger side of the cockpit. There is even all the nozzles for the fire retardant system. The trunk is also full of more detail than I care to describe
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I have never seen in person an 575GTC under the hood but it looks like the engine is well reproduced and there is enough detail. The carbon fiber, which seems to be everywhere in the engine bay is pretty convincing even without the use of decals. The only thing that kinda bothers me is that the entire engine block piece is silver. The belts are visible but not black and then if you look at the floor, correctly painted silver to simulate insulation, you will see two black screw heads sticking out on each side. To use someone else's expression "it is like the mole on Cindy Crawford"-- doesn't bother me at all.
If you pay close attention you would also find out that on the both models the left and right rear view mirror on the doors are different shape and size. Little details like this is what separates Kyosho from the overpriced crap coming out of Mattel.
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The wheels and tires are spot on. The brakes consist of photoetched discs, which rotate with the wheels and well detailed gold calipers with the proper red Brembo markings. What pisses me off is that after all this detail there is no detail on the tires. No decals or engraving - a problem consistent on all Kyosho models, including their 1:12 scale.
For those of you who are thinking >well, which one should I get< consider this. This is where the similarities between the two end.
The two models have completely different noses, with different wings on them. The rear wings have different shape and size and they are also attached at a different angle. The diffusers under the rear are also different. The rear fenders are also different as on the red car they are smooth and on the black one they are "open" to accept bunch of heat dispensing fins.
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In my opinion, this is the best model Kyosho has produced so far. Many here are going to bring the F40, but this is based just on their affection for the real thing. I can't wait for their 250 GTO, as I believe that it would dethrone this model.
All in all for $100 this the best there ever was from any company.
If you really want a complete collection you should get both. As far as I can tell from pictures there is absolutely no difference between the yellow one and the red. Also from pictures of future releases the black one would be identical to the race versions.

 

OK, here it comes by popular demand
We are going to look at 3 different Ferrari 348s from 3 different manufacturers. I promise not to call any of them or their parts crap as it may hurt some boys and girls' feelings.
So here we have a 348 Spider by Mira. 348tb by Burrago and 348ts by Maysto. All of them 1:18.
My personal OPINION is that the best one is the Bburago very closely followed by the Maysto and the Mira is a distant 3rd.
The Mira is slightly longer than the other two and the rear sits higher than the other two. The biggest short fall of the Mira is that it is missing the opening in the quarter panels under the rest of the slots.
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If you compare the wheels and tires on all 3 of them you would find the Bburago having the best tires, the Maysto the best wheels and the Mira are just bad, espetially the tires, which seems to be an issue on all of their models. Bburago's wheels would have been the best if it wasn't for the whole in the middle. It would have been nice if the Maysto wheels had emblems in the centers.
All 3 models have no brakes of any sort, which reflects the modelmaking of the era.
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If you look at the front ends The Bburago wins hands down. The grill is well made and the lights are spot on. The only issue is that the chrome cavallino is a bit large.
The Mira's model lights have a nice attempt at ahving the frames around them but is well overdone resulting in the lights looking way too small. The grill is nice and the cavallino looks the right size
The Maysto has the worst headlights of the bunch and so is the poor excuse for the grill.
If you move up to the wipers again the Bburago wins as its wipers are correct in size, shape and have nice detail.
The Mira's are just some thin way too small generic wipers and the Maysto's are just a terrible plastic things.

When you open the front in the trunk of the maysto you find just a spare tire. Not very accurate.
In the Bburago you would find the most detail and it is the most accurate. It has a nice tool case with tools inside. If you want them looking realistic it needs cutting and some detail painting.
The Mira has a really nice set of luggage but very generic detail which is overall inaccurate.
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P.S. When looking at the fronts one can also notice that Bburago's model needs the intakes on the inside of the lights painted flat black wile the Mira's model is lacking them all together. The Maysto is hopeless.
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Next we go to the interior. Here the Bburago and Mayso come equal if the maysto is not even better.
The Bburago I have has some paint applied to it (that is how I got it) And the Maysto is full of dust (also received this way). Sorry for that, I'll fix it some day.
Anyway, what I like the best about Bburago models is, that they have aton of detail and are very accurate in their moldings, but they come in solid colors. If you want all this the details to show you need to do some painting yourself. Originally on the Bburago'd 348 the floor is all gray but it comes with nice Ferrari mats molded in it. The seats are very nice and are molded in an ingenious one piece molding that includes both seats and the center console. Nice pedals, steering wheel and great dash that even has the vents nicely molded. Main thing is that the door panels are the only ones from the bunch that are accurate size.
On both the Mira and Maysto the door panels are small and out of scale. The maysto's interior otherwise is spot on with the exception of the silly seatbelts that are just four red stripes on each seat. Something remotely resembling a 4-point-harness, but not quite there.
The Bburago also comes with nice seatbelts but they are missing on my model (which will be corrected).
The Mira also has seatbelts but they are the only accurate (in size and shape) thing in the whole interior. Seats are very generic, missing any backs and out of scale. The center console is barely resembling the one in the 1:1 348 and has a mysterious wood pattern sticker the whole length of it. The pedals look like from a 70s Cadillac.
Also the convertible top cover on the back is nothing like on the real car.
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If we go to the rear the Bburago come again on top. On this model there has been some paint added to the engine bay which goes to show my previous point.
The Burago's engine is the only one in correct size. I am not sure what color it originally came but it is correct in shape and size and has very nice detailing. The Mira's engine looks like a V6 and the Maisto one is more like the size of an 8liter V12. Also there is detail what so ever on the Mira model's undercarriage. (I think they forecast the flat closed floors of todays Ferraris ). The Maysto has the worst taillight treatment and Bburago , again the best Maysto's exhaust tips are molded shut. They look like knobs.
The rear hoods are going in the same order. The Bburago has the vents open and is very accurate in shape. The Maysto is also accurate but is a solid molding. The Mira hood has open vents but is out of wack.
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As seen from the pictures Bburago had their game best sorted. Look at the thickness of the roof on the Bburago compared to the Maysto and the quality of the rear window. Also how much sharper the detail is on the Bburago's lower black part at the rear.
On the Bburago and the Mira the side mirrors are metal part of the door. On the Maysto (not visible on the pics) the mirrors are plastic and so are the "fins" in the doors. This results in them being slightly different shade of red than the painted metal surfaces.
On the Bburago the door inserts are also plastic but are a perfect color match woth the rest of the car. The best door is on the Mira's model as it is all metal and one piece.
At the end the Bburago wins hands down. The reason why I said the Maysto comes close second is because I am taking in accaount the fact that the Ferrari 348 was only their 4th model ever, whether Bburago had tons of experience. I think the only models Maysto made before that were a Mercedes cabrio, Porsche 911 roadster (excellent model) and a Lamborghini Diablo (at teh time the only other company who made a Diablo was BBurago and it was better)
I should add that Mira has opening headlights on their 348 and Maysto has "working shocks" which I personally find somewhat annoying.
Hope this review helps any one. If someone has a request for a model to be reviewed or compared, please let me know.
Next would be the much debated Joueff 330P3/4