Review
This offering from Meng Model arrives in a flip top sturdy cardboard box. Inside the parts are wrapped in bubble wrap, with decals in a plastic bag. An examination of the resin parts reveals no areas of concern. The decals are thin, with good colour and the visors are provided in a separate bubble wrap bag.
This release from Meng has been released for the McLaren MP4/4 1988 meaning that the figure represents Ayrton Senna or Alain Prost. Due to 1988 being the last year of turbo charged cars and that some cars had already switched across - restriction were made to the height of the racing cars. This change enables us to identify the driver that this figure would represent. The figure is in a reclined pose, which identifies the driver as Ayrton Senna. Alain Prost having a more upright seated position. The details on the racing outfit is very well replicated, with the material bunched up where the harness locks the driver in. The level of detail on the outfit is truly well replicated. A single moulding point is present, which is at the ankles where the feet will be attached so clean up of the figure will be an easy proposition. This high level of detail also extends into the arms, boots, hands and helmet. All of these parts have a positive locator which again aides the modeller, with only the arms being more difficult to clean due to the pour connector being on the shoulder of the arm and extending onto the connector surface which due to not being a flat area will require a case of continually removing portions from the pour connector and checking fit rather than a simple cut it off flat.
There are 2 very deep grooves moving from the waist to the shoulders for the harness detail in this area to sit into. What I will say to you is, be exceptionally careful about which way around you put them, as they will fit on either side of the figure but only one way round is correct and will make the top alignment of the strap go to the correct area of the car. Two helmets are provided in the set, and they are of different designs so make sure that you choose the correct helmet for Ayrton Senna as it is my opinion he is the only person that would be sitting in the car in the position provided. A disappointing aspect of this release are the visors provided for the helmet - As neither is clear and will require a lot of polishing, and even then I am not sure if you will get a clear result. Two face portions are provided which appear identical to me and do have the fire retardant balaclava replicated as painting will be an easier task than if moulded as part of the helmet. I am especially pleased with the instruction sheet as the level of detail on painting the model is especially good.
Conclusion
This offering from Meng is of a very high quality. I like the effort put into the detailing of the figures outfit and despite the figure pose only being appropriate for Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost has also been covered and if I am honest I suspect that very few will know that the pose is incorrect for the car, if placing Prost in it. I am disappointed with the visors as the clarity is very poor and the figure is also quite pricey.