The Honda NSX, marketed in North America as the Acura NSX, is a two-seater, mid-engined coupe sports car manufactured by Honda.

The origins of the NSX trace back to 1984, with the HP-X (Honda Pininfarina eXperimental) concept, which was a mid-engine 3.0 L V6 engine rear wheel drive sports car. Honda committed to the project, with the intention of meeting or exceeding the performance of the then V8 engine Ferrari range, while offering reliability and a lower price point. The concept thus evolved and had its name changed to NS-X, which stood for "New", "Sportscar" "eXperimental", although the production model was launched as the NSX.

Gordon Murray, the designer of the McLaren F1 supercar, stated that he used the NSX as the inspiration for the F1 after test driving many high performance cars and finding the NSX chassis performed the best. Murray stated that the design was "monumental" to sportscar design. He found that the car could easily have handled more power and attempted to convince Honda to develop a more powerful engine, but they declined. This resulted in Murray developing the F1 with a BMW engine, but he was so fond of the NSX that he bought one for personal use and drove it for 75,000 kilometres (46,602.8 mi). Murray stated that the NSX was "dear to his heart".

This particular kit represents the car raced in the 1998 Japanese GT Championship.

This is a typical Tamiya car kit in that the engineering appears to be well thought out. It is not a curbside with a full sideways mounted V6 and a complete suspension. In fact you spend the first part of the build assembling the engine and rear suspension. This is then mounted onto the lower pan followed by the much simpler front suspension. When all those bits are attached, the wheels/tires are mounted. The kit provides what appears to be dry transfers for the Bridgestone Potenza tires. Wheels are prepainted aluminum, which is a nice touch.

Construction then moves to the interior which has a full roll cage. The interior is a tub so no need to assemble it from multiple panels. This is then attached to the floor pan. Construction then moves to the body. This area is a bit complex thanks to all the little spoilers and various flares that festoon modern racers. The windows fit to the inside of the body and Tamiya provides masks for those. You will need to paint the outer edges of these black. Note that the rear window is hinged to gain access to all that work you put into the engine. Last bits are some clear lenses along with the spoiler and the lower diffuser.

Instructions use Tamiya paints and since it is all white, there won't be much in the way of complex painting required. One should look over the instructions well so that the body can be painted as complete prior to installation of the windows and other clear bits. The complete decal sheet is for the box art car and is quite nicely done.

I don't build many cars, but those Tamiya offerings I have done have alwas fit well and been a pleasure to construct. This one should be no different. This kit is no longer in their catalog and the kit seems to be fairly desirable as secondary market prices are high, ranging in the $75-285.00 range. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_NSX

August 2023

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