1:24 Photo-etched vehicle detail sets by Riemu Design

[richellis]

Photo-etched vehicle detail sets

Riemu Design

A new company supplying some nice photo-etch detail sheets for cars in 1:24/25 scale has sent over some samples from there HQ in Finland.
Riemu Designs is a small company that work in Graphic design, and hot-rod art but as a modeller he has spotted a gap in the market and has released 9 small photo-etch sets to add detail to your vehicle builds.

I have received 3 etched sheets aimed to detail the interior of a build, the sheets are very well done, and the detail and etching is first class.

The first set is seat belt details, this includes etched hangers to glue on the door pillar of you model, and some etched buckles. You will need to source some thin fabric for the belt material; black ribbon is popularly used here. The buckle clip is also included and requires 3 parts to be laminated carefully to give a scale width. I think these would be best in an open top car to show this extra detail.

There is a set of 4 etched floor mats; they have an etched grid Patten that to me looks like the rubber style mats found in cars. The etch is very fine and once a coat of primer is sprayed on, and a rubber colour top coat they will look very nice. The front mats are left and right handed, and the extra thick heal pad is only etched on the left front mat so if you are picky wouldn’t suit a right hand drive car

Lastly for the cabin of your car is a generic detail set, including allot of fine details including an ignition cover, and a key to pop in to simulate key in the ignition, a couple of sun visors are also included and mimic the style seen in lots of cars with a central cut out for the rear view mirror on the screen. Window winder handles for old school cars, and some internal door handle trims are also found on the sheet along with Chrome dial surrounds, and a nicely detailed radio. A nice set, again I’d recommend for a cabriolet of these details will be lost, or even open a door on your build!

The following 6 sets cover the outside of your model and under the bonnet as engine accessories and upgrades.

The first set is some custom air intakes. These are the popular pancake style chrome intakes that sit on top of many custom engines. These are multi part details, including the top and bottom dish and an etched band to simulate the material between, there are 3 different top dish designs, and 3 different filter patterns to choose from. Each filter is topped with an etched wing nut for extra detail. A small instruction sheet is included to assist you building these parts.

While you have the bonnet open you will need to check the fluids! Now you can detail the washer bottle, oil and coolant bottles under your 1:24/5 bonnet with some nice etched caps and covers! They have very fine detail etched on the caps that mirror what you will see under your car bonnet. There is also a dipstick handle to pop on your engine. Lastly, there are a couple of fuel filler caps, these are race style caps that are often seen on modified cars.

This sheet has 4 etched SF plates. These are country identification tags for when driving on a foreign country. These are older style tags, when they were available as pressed metal parts, not stickers as seen now. These would suit an older car on Finnish plates.

Now we have a nice set of driving club badges, the sort seen a few years back on the radiator grill, or attached to the front of a car to signify your membership of a motoring club, these are rarely seen now but are collectable in the 1:1 world, with car restorers and modifiers. You get a set of 10 different badges. Most interesting to UK readers would be the RAC crest and that will look great on the front of a classic British sports car!

Next set we will look at is some photo etched wind screen wipers, you have enough to do 8 wipers, or 4 cars worth. Each wiper is made up of 3 parts, 2 make up the arm with the bottom needing bending, the bends are marked by engraved lines in the photo-etch. The last part is the blade, and the detail is very fine and will add an extra dimension to a neglected area on allot of models.

Lastly is a nice set to suit the Hasegawa VW splitty kit, this is the popular Safari opening windows for the front of the bus, this option is often seen on show vans and campers. There is a nice chrome trim that frames the clear windscreen part, two tabs need bending back 90^o and then attaches to the support arms that are fixed to the front of the van. I have tried these parts against the new Revell VW kit, and the fit isn’t great, but the etched sheet is perfect against the Hasegawa kit.
I will pop some more detailed findings and photos at a later date when I use this set in a build.

Some nice sets for the vehicle modeller, and these will add some great details to vehicle builds.
I recommend these sets!
Riemu Designs does have a web site that is biased towards his art and builds, but it’s in Finnish! You can contact him via his e-mail on the home page, or via the ever popular Facebook, search for
The Art of Scale Modeling by Eero Kumanto

[Nick Belbin]

Nice review, Rich,

But I think you've got your left and right mixed up on the rubber mat heel pad - it looks like it's on the right to me!!

This might be a trick of the light - are some of the half-etches off centre?

Nick

[richellis]

[Black Knight]

No. Rich, you are correct. The pad is on the right of the etch frame but that mat is for the left, see the curve on top left for the wheel arch?

[richellis]

Yep, of course they are the wrong way on the sprue. See Im not going mad!

[Nick Belbin]

My mistake! I was thinking of gearbox tunnel . . .

Nick