One of the calling cards in scale at the moment is the Ford Mustang GT. It seems everyone is jumping on the replica bandwagon if they can obtain the proper licensing. We have seen models from GT Spirit and AUTOart in the last year or so, but what about those budget-friendly offerings on the market today? Two that come to mind are Solido and Maisto, each in 1:18 scale. Each offers diecast metal with access, along with an attractive price tag… We have the Solido example to share with you today.
As for the model, great effort by Solido to capture the overall design and shape of the 2020 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 Fast Track. Our example is shown in White with attractive Blue racing stripes on top and side. The paint is decent, though Blue stripping does provide a somewhat rough texture/look on close inspection.
Comparing the exterior of the model to competitor Maisto, Solido does win on a few elements, the first is the rear tips. Maisto offers up a toy-like representation, while Solido is unquestionably more refined, something observed on higher-priced models. The wheels on the Solido are also covered in carbon decal that helps in the overall definition between the two models – they also executed the rear parking brake in the rear. Nothing found on the Maisto side.
It is not a landside win for Solido, clearly not! Where Maisto rips by in 4th gear is their ability to implement a true 360 full access example. Solido is actually sealed from the motor and rear trunk side. However, once inside Solido’s interior seems to creep ahead, overall refinement is there, and they also seem to use the correct dash based on the Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 Fast Track – Maisto on the other hand does not.
Depending on which side of the pond you reside on the pricing for each example does differ. Let’s just say for sake of augment each comes in under $50 US. Though, as we also know if we live in North America Maisto can be obtained through Costco locations for $20 CND or less. In the end, you need to decide what is more important to you, within this playground is overall refinement better or full access? Enjoy the pics!
I find it “funny”, but actually it’s sad, that Solido can provide carbon fiber details such as the wheels and wing, yet its sister brand GT Spirit, costing 3x as much, paints those same parts in black and calls it a day.
It truly makes one think how something small is embraced by one and not the other. We seen both items in the flesh, GT Spirit does cost more but it does excel almost everywhere on the polish. The question is then is that enough polish to justify the price?
And from a personal side, I went one step further, as I value full access models. I choose the AUTOart in the end. Is that worth the piece? It’s subjective…
My point goes not only for the GT500, but in general. I’ve noticed how in the past year or so, GT Spirit has given up completely on putting carbon decals on their models, no matter how much or little there is on the real car. They can do it if they want, my clk GTR has carbon parts, but then you have cars that should be full carbon painted in satin black (Speedkore Charger), or cars with carbon parts that they decide to just paint black, such as diffusers and cannards, for example the Corvette C8, the Ford GT MKII, the Audi RS6 DTM….
We cannot speak on what drives decisions behind each brand’s decision process on the basic elements that drive a complete model. Could be cost-cutting measures, CF would definitely add an additional layer of labour. In the end, vote with your wallet!
Biggest problem is that, since you have to preorder the GT Spirit BEFORE you can even see pictures of them, you never know until it’s too late wether the model has CF or not, or if it’s faithfull to the real car. But if you don’t take the risk, you don’t get to buy it later. I wanted the RS6 dtm. I expected for it to have CF since it already needs to have applied the rest of the decoration. I paid it. LATER I saw that, indeed, they left the CF behind. On the other hand, I bought RWB Akiba also before even knowing if they would use a newer mold in order to make it faithful, or if the deco would be applied correctly or cheapened out, because again they only provided the picture of the real car. And actually they nailed it, the model is “perfect”.