Aoshima 1/24 1995 Toyota Hi-Lux Short Radical Custom Pickup Kit First Look

By Bill MacKirdy, Front Range Auto Modelers (FRAM)

First Look

Growing up in Southern California in the late 70's and early 80's, I was witness to the center of mini-trucking.  Toyota and Nissan were the most popular makes.  Everywhere one would go, whether to cruise nights, car shows, or the beach, tricked out mini-trucks would be quite prevalent.  Many trends of the show truck world would begin in the mini-truck world before being accepted into the ranks of the classic and fullsize truck worlds.  Some of these trends, such as full body dropping, bed dumping, and wild tribal graphics, came to the show world through mini-truck customizers.

This kit depicts several of those trends.  This kit includes wild graphics, a body dropped suspension and large diameter wheels with rubber band tires. 

Along with that, the generation of Toyota trucks that the 1995 model is a part of is still very popular with mini-truck enthusiasts.  The builder would be well served to thumb through some issues of "Mini-Truckin'" to obtain building inspiration.  The kit provides a great beginning to building a great custom ride.

Here are the basic stats from the Aoshima Models website:

• Scale: 1/24
• Skill Level: 2 (ages 10 and up)
• Glue assembly, paint required
• Molded in white, grey black plus clear, and chrome parts

The kit is molded in white, grey, and black styrene. There are 2 parts trees molded in white, one each in grey and black plus two chrome trees and clear glass. The cab comes in the kit not attached to a tree.  The decals are very nice with flames, license plates and frames, a gauge cluster along with several brand decals.   Vinyl rubber tires are included with nice directional tread.  On the chrome trees, there are a stock and custom grille, 2 different lower front valences, air bag tanks and a custom fuel cell gas tank along with the large diameter custom rims.  The truck bed comes with a cutout for the slammed suspension and the frame comes with a molded in engine.  The suspension can be built to raise and lower (as long as it is not glued in place) or the builder can elect to glue it into a permanent position.  It builds up as a relatively simple curbside model without engine detail.

Two disadvantages of the kit are as follows.  One, the kit cannot be built as a pure stock truck unless the builder scratch builds the cut out in the bed and adds scratch built stock wheels.  Second, the truck can only be build with right hand drive as the kit does not come with a left hand dashboard. Of course, based on the box art I would surmise that most builders would be interested in building a slammed truck.

Looking at the instruction sheet, great care will be required in assembling the suspension so that the suspension can be displayed in different positions.  If the builder chooses to display the truck in one position, then the suspension can be painted and glued. Otherwise, glue and paint needs to be omitted for this portion of the assembly.

Consistent with Japanese quality, the moldings are crisp with little or no flash and mold lines.  Also, the spacing on the trees allows for ease in removing the parts along with most of the attachment points are positioned so as not to damage the part.

This kit is highly recommended!

My sincere thanks to DML for this review sample!