Review: Jiepin Mini 4WD: Asurada
Introduction:
More of Mini 4WD model kit review but, not Tamiya nor other Japanese brand. It'll be Jiepin, seemingly another Chinese third part company that produced their own Mini 4WD kit. However, aside being another Tamiya knockoff, I don't know anything about Jiepin as I haven't found their company information but, I think they're fresh company for Mini 4WD. I gotta admit to be called as a knockoff is quite unfitting, since the boxart design is looking pretty luxurious and good quality of paper and print they used. It shows promotional photo/art of Asurada model in frontal angle, unlike Tamiya they put +14 ages for this. Meaning, they could be quite dangerous for children without adult's supervision. But, I think every Mini 4WD products needs adult supervision for children. In this representation; despite being named Asurada, the car is shown using different livery/decal and the sticker/decal was included exactly the same like the one depicted in the boxart. The kit got cockpit that shows the driver driving the car, which once again piqued my interest to get this. And yes, the kit does have driver figurine inside.
Contents
Inside the box, we get 1 bodyshell runner, 1 chassis parts runner, 1 main chassis, 1 cockpit visor, 1 rollers runner, wheelsets, gear set, motor set, sticker and a screwdriver.
Asurada:
Asurada a fictional super Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the anime Future GPX Cyber Formula. It is a highly advanced artificial intelligence that acts as a navigation and racing system for the Sugo team's Cyber Formula cars, also known as the Super Asurada. The Super Asurada, is the name of the car equipped with the Asurada AI, there are multiple versions of the Super Asurada that is; the GSX, 01, and AKF-11. In this conversion, the bodyshell is seemingly based on The Super Asurada AKF-11 (pronounced Double One) model. It is the third Asurada vehicle to be introduced in the franchise and the first to operated by two teams (Sugo Asurada and Sugo Winners). It made it's first appearance in Episode 3 of Future GPX Cyber Formula 11. The actual AKF-11 got different livery compared to what the actual Jiepin's included, it seems like they included different decal to avoid license infringement. Depending on the type AKF-11 used in the series, the car may have different livery as the series progressed but, most of them are only differ in the numberings. AKF-11 features a futuristic yet, dynamic and robotic design of formula one car, it was supposed to have 6 wheels but, since this was designed for Mini 4WD so, having 6 wheels is impossible but, in this review my friend did his best to give the accurate decals from Cyber Formula counterpart instead of using the actual decal. The livery is now very different from what Jiepin's included, originally this Asurada got yellow and red decals on several part of its body and they gave them with their own sponsors logo. But in this review, the car depicts greatly to the actual AKF-11 in the anime where the red and yellow parts is lesser and the sponsors are different as well. The car is still white in overall but, added with metallic blue trims. There's also metallic maroon red color on the twin exhausts pipes, for a knockoff they looked pretty neat and even precise. Loving the details they put on the bodyshell, feels like a legit Tamiya release I gotta say although, I'm not sure about assembling them because it was all my friend who did the full works. But, he said assembling them was fun and safe enough, no fragile parts.
Driver:
The Super Asurada AKF-11, also got driver figurine which is one mold with the main bodyshell but, the cockpit visor is a separate part. The driver shown in here was painted to resemble Hayato Kazami as the driver, he's shown to wear blue suit with white gloves and red helmet. The overall cockpit navigator is painted black and I loved how they're sculpted neatly. The driver figurine looks similar to Cross Spear 01 and 02 drivers.
Super XX Chassis:
The kit uses Super XX Chassis, which is a replica of Tamiya's Super XX Chassis. Super XX was originally released in November 2009 by Tamiya which debuted with the release of Max Breaker Black Special. It is the improved version of the Super X Chassis, sadly I don't have the original Tamiya version of Super XX chassis so I cannot make a comparison photos. The overall chassis is black color, it has the rigid, wide multi-subframe chassis frame. It has the wheelbase of 84 mm and the tread of 70 mm (when equipped with with large-diameter narrow wheels), which makes the chassis more stable on cornering and jumping as well as increases the straight line speed, at the expense of cornering speed. An additional front nose guard can be attached to widen the front bumper as well as provide frontal protection. The center parts and the side-guards were strengthen and in case of the side-guards, additional attachment holes has been added. Instead of the two-hardpoint rear stay, it comes with the newly-designed one-hardpoint rear stay with additional attachment holes. I gotta say, the chassis looking pretty complex somehow but, I'm sure assembling them is still easy to do.
Thoughts:
Honestly, for a knockoff the quality of this toy is pretty solid and I loved how they sculpted the bodyshell very clean and precise, they feel like a genuine Tamiya release. Jiepin did a great job on this one I gotta say, although there're many people shared their positive thoughts and experiences on owning Jiepin, for collectors or Mini 4WD racers. I like everything from this kit and will probably interested to get another if they made another with driver figurine.
Thank youu for reading!😁🙏🏻
Repaint & detail by Archyd
