Fujimi Fiat Barchetta

[galaxyg]

Background:

It's summer so it felt like the right time to tackle another open-top car - this time Fujimi's Fiat Barchetta, a simple kit for a simple car with a nice line in Italian flair and style. Shame it's front wheel drive. I've seen a few examples built on the internet but it's relative obscurity as both a car and a kit also appealed to me.

 

Pros:

Looks correct to the real thing. Easy to put together and little cleanup required beyond a few seam lines. Comes with both a soft-top and a hard-top roof, along with the default option of open-top. The interior has been designed to make painting the bodywork-colour parts somewhat easier.

 

Cons:

The in-box wheels are about the most boring choice from all the wheels the real car ever came with. The dashboard is a little flat compared to the real thing and the chassis is somewhat simple, with only a few parts. No engine, typical for kits from Fujimi (and others). Windscreen fit isn't perfect.

 

Verdict:

If ever a kit proved that simple is not necessarily bad, this is it. Despite a low parts count it has exactly everything it needs to easily build a very nice reproduction of a Fiat Barchetta.

 

Build notes:

Built over one week in June 2025. Painted with Halfords M3-680 paint (memorable name eh?) and clear coated with Mr Hobby Premium Top Coat Gloss. I swapped the kit wheels for those from a Fujimi Toyota Altezza which fitted perfectly with no alterations needed, added some seatbelts, retainers and interior carpets, and used Italian number plates from a Revell kit. Also included in the kit but not in my photos is another transparent part, the wind breaker behind the driver and passenger. I felt it spoiled the lines when the roof is down.

 

[SnøMotion]

Absolutely cracking build! The colour and the wheel choice are spot on, and everything else is to you usual high standard

(Although, I do have to confess to rather liking the standard steelies  )

 

Martin

[Anteater]

Interesting, and you've captured it well, looks very prototypical. Don't often see one of these built but I wonder if Fiat or Fujimi made the most? 

 

It's strange that the Barchetta was modelled but the 1990s Fiat Coupe never was...? 

[malpaso]

Lovely build.  I always thought the Barchetta was a good looking car.  It did its role as a boulevardiere, and far more attractive than some of the other competitors of the day, MGF or M100 Elan and so on.

[psdavidson]

That's a real beauty

[Jbourne124]

The metallic blue really suits the shape of this car well, much better then yellow or red. Great job once again!

[erix700]

Beautiful !
You picked a great color for the body and I love that you pictured the Barchetta with both hard top and soft top and topless.

 

In the original release, Fujimi included factory alloy wheels in the hard top kit and the steel wheels in the soft top release, so I am a bit surprised that they did include the hard top, but not the alloy wheels.
OTOH the Altezza wheels you fitted suit the car perfectly, so no big deal in the end.

 

Did you know that Aoshima has a License Plate Maker on its website that can be used to create your own custom plates for DIY printing ? Currently its only option is for Italian plates:   
https://aoshima-car.com/index.php?dispatch=pages.view&page_id=101

 

[johnlambert]

Great choice of body and interior colour, which is set off perfectly by your wheel upgrade. The finish looks flawless.

[Spottedlaurel]

Very nice! The colour choice and it being metallic/mica/pearl suits it really well, and the alternative wheels are perfect for it.

[Davi]

That is a very nice and clean build and a great matching interior with a beautiful body color. Nice that you can make several 'options' with the roof! Good pictures also as always!

[RossFMJ]

That's a lovely tidy build and well photographed too. I remember these coming out and thinking they were a really, really nice looking little car.

[Windy37]

Another top build.

I reckon your getting the hang of this kit building thing . 

Gary 

[Marco F.]

If FIAT had used your pics for their promotion this car would have been much more successful.

Congratulations for this fine model 

Marco F 

[dbostream]

Beautiful build, looks a lot better than the car on the box.

[Giorgio N]

Having owned a Barchetta for many years, I'm glad to see the Fujimi model built to this level, great job!

My only doubt is on the wheels.. not because they look bad, they look great! All Barchetta wheels however had 4 bolt hubs

[Toftdale]

Only one question,  what took you so long? .  Another stunner in less time than it takes me to decide on a colour scheme - Andy 

[johnlambert]

On 09/07/2025 at 16:37, Giorgio N said:

Having owned a Barchetta for many years, I'm glad to see the Fujimi model built to this level, great job!

My only doubt is on the wheels.. not because they look bad, they look great! All Barchetta wheels however had 4 bolt hubs

 

Well spotted.

[CrazyCrank]

You've built this model with a master's hand. The paintwork and varnish are remarkable 👍