Meng vs. Italeri

[PTR]

How does Meng's Mclaren MP4/4 compare to Italeri's Mclaren MP4/2c?

[Icon_Modeler]

Apples to Oranges!! I suspect that there will be no comparison. You can not really expect to compare a 40+ year old kit to something that has just been released can you??

[indycals]

Yep. I don't even need to see them to know which will be better.

[Chinamalc]

Hi PTR,

The Italeri MP4/2C is a re-release of the Protar kit and was originally released around 1987, the overall shape of the kit is good, however the wheels and tyres are too big in diameter, but replacements are available from Jamesb(!) on this forum. The detail of the powertrain and radiators is a bit 'soft' and the turbos are particularly not very well represented.
Having said that it is the only available 1/12 kit of this car and people like Sean Carter have made a great model of it.

The Meng kit is newly tooled (2023) so in theory has all the advantages of modern tooling and research. However its a bit early to say how accurate it is, as no one has done a critical review of it yet.

Hope this helps.

Malc.

[Sennafan]

I think what will be more interesting is how much people will spend upgrading the Meng kit and will that be less than a MFH kit

[stubeck]

I think what will be more interesting is how much people will spend upgrading the Meng kit and will that be less than a MFH kit

I don't think many will spend more than a MFH kit because they'll already have bought that one if they wanted to. These 1/12 kits didn't come out of no where, but its been a long time since we had a new plastic 1/12 kit of an F1 car. I'm planning to buy some accurate decals and do some scratch building, but otherwise I won't be doing anything crazy with the car for example.

[scaleautofactory]

Size comparison mp4/2c and mp4/4

[leafs004]

I think what will be more interesting is how much people will spend upgrading the Meng kit and will that be less than a MFH kit

I don't think many will spend more than a MFH kit because they'll already have bought that one if they wanted to. These 1/12 kits didn't come out of no where, but its been a long time since we had a new plastic 1/12 kit of an F1 car. I'm planning to buy some accurate decals and do some scratch building, but otherwise I won't be doing anything crazy with the car for example.

I have too many in my collection to go crazy detail. This one will likely get a few hoses and not much else. The fw14b is getting full treatment, and maybe the 641, but beyond that, few cars will get more than a few pieces of detailing. Otherwise I have no hope of getting through my collection.

[Corpsegrinder]

Being in China I am buying the Meng McLaren MP4/4 soon, and will send pictures if anybody's interested.
For someone like me who isn't a maniac about super detailing the mechanical parts of a kit but more into the overall look and shape of those 80's cars, it's a perfect choice, especially price-wise. Over here the Meng MP4/4 price is USD 97/EUR 87, add 10 euro for the tobacco ads decals and maybe some after market details on the engine (if available), there's plenty of room before hitting the € 450 mark by MFH.

[tifosi157]

based on fat frog's build video, the main cowling fit seem to be horrible. anyone worried about that? the part seems to be dstorted & may not be an easy fix, at least at my skill level.
don't mind some lack of details but fit issue is something I'd be concerned about.