1:20 Tyrrell 023 - Grade Up Parts (for Tamiya Kits)

Tyrrell 023 – a set of additional parts, Studio27 1:20

This is an additional parts set (grade up parts) from the Japanese maker Studio27 in 1:20 scale. It is NOT a model and not a kit. The set is intended to improve the Tamiya plastic kit of the Tyrrell 023 Formula 1 car – you have to have the kit or buy it separately. The point is to replace coarse plastic details with ones that cannot be molded in plastic.

The real subject

The Tyrrell 023 is the single-seater with which the Tyrrell team contested the 1995 season of Formula 1. It was powered by a Yamaha V10 and driven by Ukyo Katayama and Mika Salo. The context is appealing precisely because it is honest: Tyrrell was a legendary British team that in the seventies worked its way to the very top of Formula 1 – Jackie Stewart won the world championship in its cars. By the middle of the nineties, though, the team was living on its reputation, struggling with a limited budget and fighting to survive in the field. The Tyrrell 023 is therefore a car from the end of one great era: a piece of history that needs all the more care to make a perfect model.

Why the set is worth it and what it involves

Injection-molded plastic cannot do a truly thin edge or a real grille – what looks like a mesh on the part is in fact only a suggested engraving. Photo-etched sheet, by contrast, is as thin as the real material in scale and the difference is immediately visible at an exhibition. On a Formula 1 car that holds doubly: the car is completely exposed, no bodywork will cover mistakes and the viewer sees every belt, every buckle and the routing of every hose. Let us be honest about the work itself, though: photo-etched sheet has to be bent (an etch bender helps, or a razor blade and tweezers), it is glued with cyanoacrylate glue rather than plastic cement, and on a number of parts the original plastic detail has to be sanded away first – which is an irreversible step. Do not take it on without tweezers, a magnifier and patience.

Who the set is for

• Owners of the corresponding Tamiya 1:20 kit who want to take the model further
• Fans of Formula 1 in the nineties and of the Tyrrell team
• More experienced modelers who have already worked with photo-etched parts
• Builders of competition and exhibition models, where detail at close quarters decides

This is an additional set of parts, not a model. The basic kit, the glue, the paints and the tools are not included in the package, unless stated otherwise. We recommend an etch bender and cyanoacrylate glue.