To be honest the next model wasn’t on my radar. A few reasons; exclusive models, and limited runs that are way too expensive for what they deliver. And second, what would the Ferrari gods say, we’ve taken the sanctity of the Ferrari Enzo and added a little spice or some may say rice. After further review I took the chance on expanding my primary collection of supercars; with v12 engine and 700 horsepower I think the GEMBALLA/Ferrari Enzo MIG-U1 by GT Spirit hits the mark. No?
The GEMBALLA MIG-U1 is a blend of Ferrari Enzo and the Russian MIG-25 aircraft fighter. Some will call it over the top, and I would agree. Out of the box you’ll notice the unique colour of the exterior paint. Not sure if we have a Matte White finish or Matte finish with Grey/Green under tonnes. What ever the blend is it looks great set against the Black/carbon fibre accents bits that surround every corner, line and edge of the car.
If you’re interested in acquiring this model this is the colour to get. The MIG-U1 is a limited edition of 5, all of which were created with this particular exterior theme.
Being a resin and sealed example affords some impressive shutlines and panel gaps, but we all know this is a given for sealed models. Overall lines of the model are extremely good. The short coming from a lower end resin piece is lack of perforated metal grilles. There are none to note on this example from GT Spirit.
All of the exterior badging is found here too. There is also a photo-etched metal fuel-filler cap on the driver side. GT Spirit even went as far as getting the ‘GEMBALLA MIG-U1’ script on the side of the rear wing.
There is much to the front end design over the stock Ferrari Enzo. GT Spirit’s example is clean and to the point. The misses are what should be noted as carbon fibre was just painted Black – definitely a cost cutting measure. Also the Orange reflector is the headlight are not found. If one is skilled in modifying and applying carbon fibre decals this model surely deserves the update!
The rear execution is once again clean. Where is lets you down is the lack of perforated grilles; the 1:1 is littered with them. None are found on the GT Spirit example. Also again we have a lack of carbon fibre detail; items here are painted Black instead.
It is a rare site to see any motor detail on any models from GT Spirit, as we all know they are based on sealed examples. Well with the GEMBALLA MIG-U1 we can see through the rear glass. Note the mesh perimeter cooling is integrated into the plastic/glass with decal.
Inside you don’t see much, though Red intakes are present along with GEMBALLA badging too. What is not found is any sign of the suspension components, specifically the large dual coil-overs in the rear.
Much has been said about the ride height. Well in my opinion it is spot on. Where the model lacks is the proper offset on the front wheels. There is also an issue with the design of the rims, in my opinion a slightly more aggressive concave angle would be preferred. Not saying the package is bad, it just isn’t true to form.
Lastly the position of the front caliper is slightly too high. The rear is a bit more of mystery with the application. Seems the caliper is integrated as part of the rotor instead of being placed on top. Overall thickness is off too. Not sure what happened here.
Inside the cockpit the model is fully featured with Black and Red accents bits. All areas are addressed and mirror the original well. Thumbs up to GT Spirit on valiant effort for the textured work on the Red interior items. Also fully integrated fabric seat-belt harness in present with script in the upper seat section. On the flip side no flocking is found on the base of the cockpit.
First, hats off of to GT Spirit for once again introducing something in scale outside of the box. Overall the model is solid, not perfect but a true solid effort. This is definitely one of those niche pieces, maybe one that would be better served as a fully opening example. The worst part of the model is the lack of carbon fibre detail attention. If you can live with this or have the skills to update this might be the piece for you. Enjoy the pics!
There’s actually only one GEMBALLA MIG-U1 in existence. They planned 25 but then Mr Gemballa died and they just made one in white and the rest was cancelled.
Got my model yesterday, have to say I’m very happy with it.
Thanks for the info. Taken from the GEMBALLA website “built around the Ferrari Enzo in a strictly limited edition of five cars.”
If you want to pay around 400 us dollar there is another option from a brand called
Timothy&Pierre Model. It has all the detales missing on the GT Spirit car
In different colors to
I own the versus model and it’s fantastic, but prices are sky high nowadays, so it’s nice there’s a cheaper alternative. Wish there was a diecast version model though…
Actually there are quite few mysteries/inaccuracy in the review. There are more than one Mig-U1 cars out there. Taking a really close look at pictures on the internet shows that. The review is pretty much splitting hairs and if we do that, then we need to note that no Enzo had carpet in it. So I really don’t get “the flip side” of missing flocking. Also the Mig-U1 has adjustable suspension to clear speed bumps. In some videos of the 1:1 the car has the ride height of an SUV, while on others it is slammed to the ground. Therefore the model’s ride height is accurate no matter what. The offset is also accurate to some pictures of the 1:1 and too far out (too negative) compared to others. Again a feature suggesting there are more than one of them in 1:1. There is also a very high def video on youtube with some closeups, where it is obvious all the black panels are painted flat black and have no carbon fiber finish. Yet there are pictures of a car that has obviously carbon fiber finish on the black bits. This again makes the model accurate in that regard.
What was not mentioned in the review is the color that the model comes in, which is definitely not accurate to any MIG-U1 out there, no matter how many were ever made. The real car is white. I can’t quite make out if it is plain white matt or it is the pearl bianco fuji matt, but it definitely is not the light greenish-bluish grey the model comes in. Or at least mine did, which I was really pissed about.
The three main shortcomings of the model, if not the only three are:
1. The inaccurate color (which must be touched up in the pictures here)
2. The silver brake rotors (all Enzos had carbon brakes)
3. The windows with its printed detail – window frames, grilles etc.
@LUCKY13: you are partially wrong. Yes, there are more than one MIG-U1. However they all have carbon fibre finish on all black areas. They are not always visible, depending on angles between camera, car and the source of light. Just check “Gemballa MIG-U1 (one of one) – incl. startup & drive off – based on Enzo Ferrari” on Youtube. On 0:22 there are no carbon fibres on car with licence plate “E 1700”. But on 0:25 fibres are visible on exactly the same car in the places where they were not present 3 seconds before. Same applies to car with “F 17” license plates visible on other videos. Most probably they way they were processed causes this, unlike on other cars, were processing was done in such way to emphasize carbon fibres visibility.