1:18 Looksmart Ferrari J50 Review

Welcome to my review of the 1:18 Looksmart Ferrari J50 in French Racing Blue! If you don’t fancy reading the whole background of the real car, feel free to click here and skip straight to the model itself.

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During a special celebration held at the National Art Centre in Tokyo to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Ferrari in Japan on 13th December 2016, the Ferrari J50 was unveiled to the world. Just 10 examples of this car will exist – each one being fully bespoke and tailored to the owner’s specifications. Estimated to cost their lucky owners in the region of €2.5 – €3 million, only Ferrari’s one-off Special Projects cars are rarer.

The Ferrari J50 is a two seat mid-engined roadster that is based on the 488 Spider, but uses an uprated 681bhp version of the critically acclaimed 3.9 litre turbocharged V8 engine (which won the 2016 International Engine of the Year Award). Gone is the Spider’s folding roof, replaced with a pair of carbon fibre targa panels. Coupled with that wraparound visor-style front window, the look is certainly super sleek!

With an all-new body tailored specifically to the Japanese market, this futuristic and quite radical design approach was “led by the desire to create a very low-slung roadster, encapsulating intrinsic Ferrari values of nimbleness and agility” (Ferrari J50 Press Release). The car is defined by two strong lines on the side – the slanted top edge of the window, which feeds into the windscreen and the lower, steeply-raked black swage line that starts from the nose and tails off in the air intake behind the doors. The latter design cue has definitely been inspired by legends such as the 288 GTO, F40 and F50.

Moving round to the rear and you can see how “the engine is framed by a transparent polycarbonate cover which is intricately shaped to provide a visual extension of the two separate roll hoops protecting the heads of driver and passenger”. The four tail light design serves to widen the rear of the car and the “rear diffuser features an extractor shape inspired by jet engine afterburners, giving the car a powerful stance” (Ferrari J50 Press Release).

The launch specification shown here is a unique shade of triple layer red, with a red on black leather and Alcantara interior. No Ferrari would look complete without a red paint option, but in my opinion there are better colours that customers have chosen.

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The review…

Looksmart Models are no strangers to producing Ferrari scale models and here they are again with a 1:18 scale replica of this special edition J50. A member of the MR Group and a sister brand to MR Collection Models the MR Group is an Official Supplier of Ferrari and this 1:18 Looksmart Ferrari J50 is, of course, a Ferrari Official Licensed Product. You will regularly find their models on display at Ferrari premieres and of course in Ferrari stores worldwide!

Looksmart have replicated the Ferrari J50 in 1:18 scale in six rather unique colour combinations – I’m certain there will be at least one to suit each collector’s tastes!

• LS18_016A – Body colour finished in Rosso TRS shiny with Silver shiny wheels, Rosso Corsa brake calipers and Carbonium shiny wing mirrors.
• LS18_016B – Body colour finished in Bianco Liana shiny with Canna di Fucile Matte wheels, Rosso Corsa brake calipers and Carbonium shiny wing mirrors.
• LS18_016C – Body colour finished in French Racing Blue shiny with gold shiny wheels, black shiny brake calipers and Carbonium shiny wing mirrors.
• LS18_016D – Body colour finished in Pure Metal Silver shiny with silver shiny wheels, Rosso Corsa brake calipers and Carbonium shiny wing mirrors. This model also features the Italian flag on the side of the front splitter.
• LS18_016E – Body colour finished in Giallo Tristrato shiny with silver shiny wheels, Giallo Modena brake calipers and Carbonium shiny wing mirrors.
• LS18_016F – Body colour finished in Nero Daytona shiny plus a white line on the side skirts with Grigio Corsa matte wheels, silver brake calipers and Carbonium shiny wing mirrors.

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MR Group very kindly sent me one of their 1:18 Looksmart Ferrari J50 models to review and gave me the option to choose a preferred colour. I immediately knew I had to go for the French Racing Blue with gold wheels! It is so far off the typical red/black/yellow Ferrari models that seem to make up most people’s collections (including my own), so I thought the blue and gold combination would be suitably out there. I certainly wasn’t disappointed when I opened the box up for the first time! Suggested RRP for these models is 290EUR, but a quick search on the main European model retailers shows a price in the region of 250-265EUR.

So how do Looksmart’s efforts pan out? This is not my first model from MR Group. I’ve been fortunate enough to review their MR Collection 1:18 Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta and Looksmart 1:43 Ferrari Portofino and both were nice efforts – I was particularly surprised at how much detail they managed to pack into a 1:43 model and their LaFerrari Aperta showcased some new materials and features, so those two reviews are well worth a read if you haven’t done so already! Perhaps more importantly, how do their efforts stack up against the competition from the more expensive 1:18 Ferrari J50 from rival BBR? Let’s dive in and find out!

The 1:18 Looksmart Ferrari J50 is presented in their typical Ferrari packaging – a red two section box with the Ferrari and Looksmart logos on, plus a sticker on the side designating the model within. You’ll also find a Ferrari Official Product sticker with a holographic Prancing Horse logo on reminding you that you’re getting the real deal!

Slide off the upper section, drop the front flap and you’ll be presented with the model sitting on a blue leather effect base with an acrylic cover to protect it on top. The combination of the French Racing Blue and gold wheels with the blue and yellow interior immediately strikes you as a thing of beauty! This thing is jaw-droppingly pretty and I knew that I had chosen the right spec. To my own eyes, the blue and gold are a bit darker than what Looksmart’s promo pictures may suggest. This particular colour seems very difficult to capture 100% honestly as the naked eye would see it, so do bear that in mind before you order. Personally, I don’t think you will complain if you had your heart set on the French Racing Blue variant either way – it is simply stunning to behold!

Lift off the silky smooth acrylic display cover and you get hit up the nostrils with that typical whiff of paint and glue from the model – nothing has changed from my review of the MR Collection 1:18 Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta and I still enjoy that “new model” smell two years on! I’m curious to know who else enjoys this olfactory sensation too or am I the only weird one out there? This is our first proper look at the French Racing Blue paintjob with the gold wheels in all its glory. The colour is quite hard to capture and looks different depending on the level and type of light. As I said earlier, I absolutely love it! Would you have chosen this colour too? So far I can’t see a bad angle on the model and you can definitely see the styling evolution from this J50 to the recently announced Ferrari F8 Tributo and SF90 Stradale.

Being limited to just ten examples in the whole world (and all initially sold to Japanese buyers) it hasn’t been too easy to find close up pictures of the real car, never mind to match the French Racing Blue we have for review here! However, I stumbled upon a little article in The Official Ferrari Magazine which featured a couple of pictures and a video on this exact specification, so here are a few pictures of the real car to compare and contrast with our 1:18 Looksmart Ferrari J50.

Zooming in immediately to the badges around the model, firstly starting with the Prancing Horse badge on the front. Looksmart have created a recess in the body moulding to place a proper badge in there, but opted to use a simple decal instead. The quality of the decal itself is perfectly fine, but it would have been nice to see the same sort of proper solid badge I know they have used on the MR Collection Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta I’ve reviewed. It would seem that BBR has used a solid badge on theirs. In person, it is definitely not a game-changer though.

The Cavallino shields on the sides ahead of the doors are again decals. The cut lines are top notch and the quality and colour reproduction is really good. Of course it would have been nice to see proper solid badges like BBR has provided on their model, but Looksmart’s effort here is still great – just look how that yellow pops!

The Ferrari script sitting atop the carbon rear wing and Prancing Horse below are both made out of photoetched metal. You’ll also notice the LED brake light with individual LED bulbs clearly defined within which is a nice detail. The resin cast rear grilles do a half decent job replicating the mesh ones found on the real car, but I am always disappointed to find fake mesh effect on any higher cost model car – this one being no exception. This is not the only example on the model which we will see as the review progresses.

The front end on the J50 signals quite the departure from the current crop of Ferraris, such as the 488 Pista and GTC4 Lusso. The headlights especially are mere slits in the slim nose with that giant radiator grille below. You’ll be glad to know this is real perforated mesh and makes the front of the model look sleek and mean. Why couldn’t they do the same on the rear?!?! Those aero flicks either side of the central carbon section of the lip spoiler look really cool too! Speaking of carbon, it is well applied and nice and glossy. It even extends to the two air channels on the bonnet, although my particular example could have benefited from the carbon decal being applied right to the very edges of said air channels.

The headlights themselves are well replicated featuring the indicator strips embedded into that black swage line reminiscent of the Ferrari 288 GTO. Sorry if it is a bit difficult to see the headlight detail, the plastic lens covers offer up a bit too much glare and reflection.

Moving around to the rear of the model and we again see how unique the design of the J50 is compared to other Ferraris that have come before it. The quad tail light design widening the car visually under a high-downforce wing profile. From this distance, the resin cast mesh effect doesn’t look too bad and I think on the shelf collectors will struggle to notice it unless they are actively looking for it. I’m not excusing Looksmart’s lack of detail, however! The rear diffuser features an extractor shape inspired by jet engine afterburners, giving the car a powerful stance.

Those quad tail lights have a real sense of depth to them and the light shines through them to give off a super realistic look. The twin exhaust system housed in those glossy carbon pods also looks great. They’re hollow enough to look convincing and even have those indentations around the circumference of the tips. Sadly the resin cast mesh effect is present here as well and I’d say that’s the only feature that let’s the rear down.

The large rear wing is also covered in glossy carbon fibre. The finish and application are done superbly here as well, with the weave being consistent throughout. There are two mesh grilles on either side of the transparent engine cover that are resin cast yet again. BBR has done these in proper mesh, mind.

The carbon fibre extends to the rollover hoops behind the driver and passenger seats as well. I’m definitely impressed with the application here because, as you can see, the shape of them are quite complex – well done, Looksmart! Did you notice the little holes towards the outer edges of the windscreen surround? They’re for the roof panel to slot into. Looksmart probably didn’t need to add this very minor addition to the mould, but it is often small details like this that can make a big impact. Any additional detail is always welcome in my opinion!

The 3.9 litre V8 engine sits beneath a transparent engine cover that mimics the polycarbonate cover of the 1:1 car faithfully and is intricately shaped to provide a visual extension of the aforementioned separate roll hoops. There is a pleasingly decent depth to the engine bay, with various low down parts and hoses replicated. The Ferrari stamping on the oil filler cap as well as the traditional silver Ferrari script on the engine plenum ensure you know exactly who makes the beating heart of this ultra-limited edition car. As good as it is, Looksmart’s version does give some points away in the engine department to BBR’s own effort – there is no carbon fibre in the engine bay at all here, plus the eight silver bolts on the black part of the plenum are missing altogether. BBR replicates both of these points well.

It is disappointing yet again to see the resin cast mesh in the air intakes aft of the doors – such a shame!

I think Looksmart have pretty much nailed the stance of their J50 with it looking far better than the high riding BBR version. The 20 inch forged rims created specifically for this special limited edition model look fabulous, especially in this lovely metallic gold colour. Looksmart have truly done a stellar job on their whole wheel setup, let down only by the lack of tyre branding. BBR don’t have any on theirs either, but it still beggars belief that 250EUR and upwards models don’t have this key feature and it is one of the reasons why I love AUTOart’s models so much – wheels maketh the model! The wheel nuts, calipers, brake discs and calipers with Ferrari script are all replicated really well. Special mention must go to the chromed air valves that appear to have been genuinely placed inside the rim, rather than just being part of the rim mould itself – this reallt adds to the realism. The bolts on the dark grey central section of the discs also look truly authentic. Overall, a remarkable effort on the wheels from the Looksmart team! I must also point out that Looksmart have included the orange side indicator which seems to be missing from BBR’s model.

With this being a sealed resin model, obviously nothing opens and when I buy sealed models I will always try and buy the open top version where available, because what is the point in having a model where you can’t at least enjoy the interior?! The J50 does have a pair of removable roof panels and luckily Looksmart chose to replicate the car with the roof off and the interior fully on show. And my, what a pretty decent interior this is! Starting with the driver’s area, the steering wheel and dials are very impressive. The application of carbon fibre on all those contours of the wheel, door cards and around the air vents is not to be sniffed at and kudos must be given to those guys in the factories applying all these decals by hand. I’m not fully convinced on the scale of the carbon weave, however. The buttons around the wheel are well defined, but we’re still missing the proper mesh for the speaker grilles in the doors. The yellow accents and striping around the dashboard and seats matches nicely with that on the seats as we’ll soon see. I think only DNA Collectibles could have done a better job with those silver knobs in the driver’s zone.

The climate controls look pretty good, with even the tiniest numbers and graphics legible. However, when you compare them to the real car below the definition of the buttons themselves could certainly be better. I would have also liked to have seen the yellow contrast stitching replicated throughout.

Yet more finely applied carbon fibre is present on the central tunnel. You’ve got a few buttons for selecting the reverse/auto/launch functions as well as the hazard lights, plus the window buttons below. There does appear to be a Ferrari script missing on that black mound next to the window switches, however. It is a shame to see the three gear buttons have not been given the same love as the rest in the cockpit. You even have some cupholders for that 1:18 scale can of Red Bull!

Even more bits of carbon fibre around the passenger area of the cockpit. I really like the multi-layered and multi-textured layout of the passenger zone. The mix of black, blue and carbon looks good with the air vents, glovebox latch and J50 graphic all particularly worthy of note. I have seen pictures of the J50 with the Passenger Display system fitted where that carbon fibre strip is above the glovebox, but I’m unsure if that was a standard fit item or not. There is also some wrinkling of the carbon decal beneath the air vent, which is unfortunate on my example.

Finally we come to the seats. I really like the yellow accents that match the rest of the pinstriping around the cabin. The blue seats themselves go well with the French Racing Blue exterior and serve to tie the whole spec of the car together perfectly. I’m still glad I chose this colour combination. Make sure you take a look at the carbon fibre door cards and the seat belt receivers complete with red buttons. Again, it is all the small details that add up to make a larger impact on the collector.

Thankfully we have real fabric seatbelts with photoetched buckles. Looksmart could teach AUTOart a lesson or two on this front because they seem to think it is OK to use plastic seatbelts for some reason. The carbon fibre on the windscreen surround is again completed almost beyond reproach. Last but not least, the yellow Cavallino on the headrests top off an overall great looking interior.

So what did you think of this 1:18 Looksmart Ferrari J50? Did you even know the real car existed, with it being so rare? Looksmart Models have been gradually increasing their prices over the last few years. In most instances, there is usually no correlation between price increase and model quality and details. That is not the case here – the quality of this model is really very good! The biggest letdown for me has been the use of resin cast “mesh” on a lot of the model instead of the proper perforated stuff they’ve used on the front grille. It really is a shame and I hope they’ll improve on this in the future. Other than that I don’t really have any other glaring negative things to point out which I would usually use to tell you to avoid buying this model.

But what about BBR’s model? No review would be complete without checking it out against the competition and at the moment it is just Looksmart and BBR as the only two players in town. The key differences, both positive and negative are:

• BBR’s model sits higher, whereas the Looksmart version has a much better stance.
• BBR has pumped in some much better detail into the engine bay – the use of carbon fibre, photoetched clips on the piping and the eight metal bolts on the plenum serve to elevate the engine detail to another level over the Looksmart one.
• BBR seems to have added extra venting holes around the exhausts that don’t seem to be there on the real car.
• The BBR version has more perforated mesh around the car – behind the doors, between engine bay and wing. This is a key differentiator for me.
• BBR has fancier packaging with a carbon fibre base and limited edition plaque. I don’t believe the Looksmart version is made in limited numbers if you care about that sort of thing.
• BBR missed out some small key features that Looksmart did include – door locks and side indicators below the Ferrari shields. Plus Looksmart’s tail lights are a far better representation than BBR’s, no doubt about it.
• The climate control buttons are better on BBR’s version.

If you only have 265EUR or so to spend, the Looksmart Ferrari J50 is a no brainer. If you can afford the BBR version which seems to be retailing for around the 400EUR mark at the moment, are you getting enough over the Looksmart version for that extra 135EUR? Only you can truly decide that.

Other reviews by Looksmart Models:

• 1:43 Looksmart Ferrari Portofino Review

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References

• https://auto.ferrari.com/en_EN/news-events/news/world-premiere-ferrari-j50/
• https://magazine.ferrari.com/en/cars/2018/05/31/news/ferrari_j50_50_years_ferrari_japan-41853/