5533 - Red Fury

Rating:
Pros: Good parts; not a truck
Cons: Weak alternate model; high price
Contents: 390 pieces
Price: $49.99
Reviewed: 31-Aug-2000
Reviewed by: Gareth Bowler

I recently saw this set on sale at a Kay-Bee, and since I can't seem to find any other Model Team stuff around, I figured I'd pick it up. I wasn't expecting a lot, since I'm not at all a fan of drag racers, but I was pleasantly surprised. There's a wide variety of bricks, and the assembly in some places is really quite clever.

Bricks of note include several curved-top/partial arch type pieces in red and black. The spoiler, which is made of a 6x12 plate, is totally flat except for studs on three edges. There are some decent Technic parts here, but they are all fairly common. The real prize here are the large rubber wheels. It's nice to finally have some large wheels that aren't those hard plastic balloon tires you see on a lot of Space sets -- the ones that slide on hard surfaces rather than rolling. These roll well and in general are a very good approximation of real tires.

The detail on the engines is pretty good. Not great, just good. It's much the same as the engine blocks that adorn many Model Team sets. Behind the engine is the spoiler, which is adjustable. I don't watch enough racing to know if this is realistic or not, but it's a decent feature. Attached at the back are two large, brown mini-fig backpacks. For a while I couldn't figure out what these were supposed to be, but finally it dawned on me that these were supposed to contain the parachutes. I guess I just don't watch enough racing to fully appreciate this model.

The cockpit is a little disappointing. For one thing, there's nowhere for the driver to put his legs. The addition of a gear shift or instrument panel would have been nice. However, the cockpit is really, really small -- just like in real dragsters -- and they probably just ran out of room for the smaller details. All the same, the steering wheel is so close to the steering mechanism, it's a crying shame they didn't connect the two and make the wheel turn the tires instead of the knob on the back. The knob does an adequate job, but it's a bit out of place on a model whose selling point is realism.

The instructions show how to build an alternate model, which appears to be some sort of zamboni or tractor or Tim Burton nightmare car. Not only is it ugly and non-functional, but it's made largely of components from the main model in different arrangements. The engine, the seat, and the air intake all show up more or less intact on the alternate exactly the same as they do on the main model.

Anyway, it's not a bad model and you'll probably appreciate more than I did if you like dragsters. This is a good set for what I paid for it (30 bucks), but seems like a bit of a rip-off at the normal price.