MiniChamps Panasonic Toyota TF102

This is a 1/18 scale of an F1 car for Panasonic Toyota F1 Team produced by MiniChamps and in the model number is TF102.

This model is quite expensive and yet fragile and surely not something that you will give to kids (unless of coz if you are rich).

The local price here is about SGD 150.00, some shop sell at SGD 140.00 and some other sell it for SGD 160.00 (and yes, no body bought it yet till now)...

For me, this F1 car is all about those nice decals. I probably love Panasonic brand a lot and yes Toyota is our global Japanese superstar in the automobile industry so it is a good combination.

I am a Ferrari fan when Michael Schumacher was there (and also due to the red and yellow color) but when Toyota joined F1 I do support them as well, though there are plenty of disappointment surrounding their short lived F1 career... I somehow still like Toyota as my 2nd team after Ferrari.

The Toyota TF102 was the car with which the Toyota team competed in the 2002 Formula One season, the team's inaugural Championship campaign. The car reflected the results of a year's testing in 2001 with the TF101, and was designed primarily by Gustav Brunner and Dago Rohrer. As with the TF101, it was piloted during the season by Mika Salo and Allan McNish.

Nonetheless, this is it...

The box;




Out of the box;









All the decals are truly accurate according to the actual TF102. I really love to see those decals, especially the "Panasonic"









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Avex was Japan's leading dance record company during the nineties, and continues producing and recording some of Japan's most famous J-pop singers such as Japan's highest selling female musician, Ayumi Hamasaki. Avex Trax also provides theme music soundtracks to many anime and a few video games.

I guess you know Initial D anime? That anime is produced by Avex.

Magneti Marelli S.p.A. is an Italian company which deals with development and manufacturing of systems, modules and high-technology components for the automotive industry.

Wella is a German company, and one of the world’s leading cosmetics suppliers. Founded in 1880 by Franz Stroher, with its headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, the company is represented in over 150 countries. It directly owns three business divisions - Professional, Consumer, Cosmetics and Fragrances. All of them are exclusively dedicated to the cosmetics area.

Procter & Gamble acquired a controlling interest in Wella AG, giving Procter and Gamble a major presence in the fast growing professional hair care segment.

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AOL Time Warner - very complicated story.... Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is the one of the world's largest entertainment conglomerate, as well as one of the world's largest media conglomerate, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City.

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The driver's helmet and uniform is nicely detailed...




And the steering wheel also looks like the real one amid the smaller scale...





From this view we can see all those small buttons and switches as it is available in the actual steering wheel...





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Panasonic Corporation (パナソニック株式会社, Panasonikku Kabushiki-gaisha) (TYO: 6752 NYSE: PC), formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (松下電器産業株式会社, Matsushita Denki Sangyō Kabushiki-gaisha), is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Japan. Its main business is in electronics manufacturing and it produces products under a variety of names including Panasonic and Technics.

Since its founding in 1918, it grew to become the largest Japanese electronics producer. In addition to electronics, Panasonic offers non-electronic products and services such as home renovation services. Panasonic was ranked the 89th-largest company in the world in 2009 by the Forbes Global 2000 and is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders.






On this top part is where they usually put that camera so that we can see the "driver's view" or some sort when we watched F1 on TV....









Side by side with my 1/18 scale Honda S2000 from Maisto...




Overall this is a true 1/18 scale Panasonic Toyota Racing team car with great decals and detailing all over it and perhaps my only complains on it is that certain parts is indeed quite fragile so you really need to be careful with it.

It is unclear and maybe also unlikely we will see Toyota again in F1 - well at least not in the next 5 years (though I would still hope that they will comeback someday) and thus this 1/18 scale die cast model can bring some memories to those days when I can see Toyota in F1 on TV.





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