I thought instead of just reading posts regarding Iwaver quality, I would test it out some of it for myself. Besides, people take your opinion more seriously when you have direct experience
I managed to pick up 3 bodies "new in box" on ebay for cheap, well cheaper than the what the Toy East price would be shipped. (I will wait to buy rtr's and other parts from the Mini-ZRacer.com shop) These will end up being test cars for painting and outdoor/newbie basher bodies. This should give you an idea of where i'm headed ![]()
First off, the price for these is a custom painter's dream! They are MUCH cheaper than even the kyosho unpainted bodies. So long as you like some of the original Kyosho body styles you'll be very happy and will remain very busy.![]()
Now down to business... It's clear the quality is not as nice as Kyosho Autoscales. I don't own any of these bodies as Kyosho Autoscales so I will not be able to comment on the copy quality in terms of the decals and decal placement. It does appear that they are painted on, see this image rather than being actual decals. I will assume this was the case for the original Kyosho Autoscales as well.
It's also clear they are without the newly trademarked "GLOSSCOAT" that Kyosho is using. There is a noticable lack of shine, see this image. This will be a huge benifit to custom painters as it will be MUCH easier to strip and prep for repainting. I think I've come to be spoiled though with Kyosho's GLOSSCOAT.
The details and parts appear to all be in the correct spaces and with the exception of the Skyline body, see this image, they all came with all the parts still intact or present. You will notice that they DO NOT come with dummy or display chassis's as Kyosho's do, see this image. I'm sure this is one of the contributing factors to the cheaper price however when you don't have any chassis's to immediately install them on, they have nothing to sit on.
It's easy to see where some of the quality is lacking as in small painting lines not being clean on tail lights, see this image. This is the case with the DT2 CLK as well which goes to show it's not a random laps in quality monitoring. I noticed the headlight lens were not aligned all together either, see this image. This could be the case with the Kyosho version as well adn it doesn't bother me at all. It is always interesting to see how details were cheated in the original Kyosho run as is still true with these bodies. For instance, the headlight lens's for the Skyline are actually deacls covered by plastic lens's rather than chromed plastic covered by plastic lens's, see this image.
The plastic itself seems about the same as other early Kyosho Autoscales, namely my Toyoyta Vitz and Altezza. I choose the CLK bodeis because they seem to hold up well and the Skyline, well, who doesn't want a Knight Kids black Skyline![]()
I did notice the body clips are rather short, even when compared to the Vits and Altezza bodies, see this image. This might just be something specific to the body stlye. You will also notice the screws for the spoiler are VERY tiny. not the same size as my Kyosho Vodafone CLK or other Autoscales have, see this image. They ar tiny and silver in color.
Overall, I am very happy with the purchase, minus the missing lens cover on the Skyline. I now have to take off the other one just so it doesn't look funny. For the price these will be selling for and currently are, they are practically a steal. For anyone contemplating doing some custom paint work, i HIGHLY advise you to start off with one of these. While i do not think these are exact in terms of quality in regards to the Kyosho releases, they are very close and very good for the money. I will have to get back to reveiew the fit on Kyosho MR-01 Chassis's. Time is not something I have alot of these days with 2 young kids![]()
Please visit my Iwaver album for the rest of the pictures for this review.
