I
previously built the Kyosho Fantom EP in white and minty green.
Historically, the original Fantom EP came out in 1983 and the Ext
version followed in 1985. The Fantom was re-released in 2020 and
the
Ext in 2022. The primary difference in the Ext is the addition of
front and rear sprung
suspension. That wasn't enough to convince me to buy it
though. Too similar. Then in 2023 they came out with a gold
version to celebrate their 60th anniversary. Compared to the
standard Ext, this has been upgraded a ball differential, an upgraded
threaded damper, and lots of gold bling. That put an end to my
resistance. I'll discuss more of the changes in
detail in my build journal. I can't comment on the impact any of
the changes have on the performance of the model because it's too pretty
to drive.I never really intended to drive this model. I don't have many places I can run a pan car, and I figured the regular Fantom was enough and I'd leave this one pristine on the shelf. Because of that, I decided to deviate from box art. The picture at the left shows the gold painted body livery intended for this model. Although I think it looks very nice, it hides all that wonderful gold aluminum anodize which is kind of the point of seeing this model on the shelf. With that in mind, I decided to leave the body clear but still put on all the stickers. This strikes a nice balance between showing the livery of the car while also highlighting everything going on beneath the skin. I think it looks wonderful. Incidentally, this is not the same body as the regular Fantom. That one is known as the BW Spider and this one the CRC-II. While it is very similar in shape and appearance, it is about 5mm shorter with a slightly different spoiler angle in the back and a different engine cover shape behind the driver.
 Page 1: Assembly |
 Page 2: Final Photos |