Editor note: This review was updated with photos of Axel's outstanding model. Axel made interesting scratches, like adding steel wire to the wheels, removing the plastic spokes.

If you are novice in the plastic models matter, or has just devoted to this hobby last few years, the following note will surprise you. We speak about a kit designed 25 years ago, which was discontinued for more than 15 years. For those who like big models, the 1/6 scale is in fact a dream, the details are amazing, but we have to take care, because when the kit is bad, the mold bug and flaws are also amazing.

Twenty-three years ago I built my first Tamiya's kit. I'm talking about the Yamaha YZ250, it's an impressive model that Tamiya reissued last year. Imagine my feeling and emotion 23 years ago, if today I'm still telling you that the kit is stunning.

The YZ250 was one of the first motorcycle that used rear suspension with a single shock absorber, something that today is very common, and it was at that time a very successful Yamaha's model. In fact motocross motorcycles aspect has not changed so much (but its technology has) and when we see this kit box, it doesn't seem that it was a design of more than 25 years old.

The kit The kit has 148 black and white plastic parts, 22 vinyl, 4 rubber and some metal ones.  It has great realism details, as the front damper's rubber protectors that have so particular boot shape. An advice for the novices, the damper boots rubber, melts the plastic after several months, (depending on the atmospheric conditions), to avoid this trouble, you may cover the plastic with several layers of aluminum foil, where the rubber rests.  Although the constructive technology is old, the parts quality and their details are really incredible. The motor with its separately cooling fins, the exhaust pipe, the electric ignition system and the rear suspension, will delight the modeler who decides to build this kit, which has a very clear 23 steps instruction manual, as Tamiya always provides.

A last advice, the wheels with plastic wires are not very realistic, however, if you work with a blade on each plastic wire, removing the mold mark and rounding it, the result will be surprising. Once all wires have been worked (it is not very tedious if the blade is very sharpened) the chrome ring have to be masked and steel color paint applied. On a next note I will show a Harley which I did this detail work on. 

If at any time you thought, what's this kit ?, well here we have introduced it to you, one of the most  beautiful 1/6 scale Tamiya's motorcycles ever manufactured.

The model