The Ferrari 312T was considered one of the more beautiful F1 cars to come out of the Italian team’s workshops.

You can purchase the Hasegawa 1/20 Ferrari 312T 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix Winner HERE

Netting an impressive 27 races with it’s flat 12 engine which produced roughly 510 horsepower. The T in the name stood for ‘transverse’ as this was the way it was mounted. Drivers such as Clay Regazzoni, Niki Lauda, Carlos Reutermann, Villeneuve, and Scheckter have all driven models of the 312T series of F1 cars making it a rather famous machine. Hasegawa has replicated the 312T from the 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix with true dedication to producing world class kitsets.

The Kitset

The kitset is moulded in red, grey, chrome, and black with windows, and brake cooling moulded in clear plastic. Decals supplied are very high quality, albeit very thin and they do not have any bordering on them which is great. Optional decals for the choice of Niki Lauda or Clay Regazzoni are included. The 1976 race was won by Lauda thus this build will be based on the winning machine.

Engine and Suspension

The Ferraris were running flat 12 engines making 510BHP. The engine replicated by Hasegawa was great to build. The main block consisted of 7 pieces and when put together it was very difficult to make out the joins. Moulding of this kit was fantastic from the beginning.

Additional engine wiring was added to the build (not included) and the optional ‘trays’ which sit under the air intake trumpets were left off this particular build, as they were an optional part.

Exhausts were a pleasure to put together. Each one consisted of only two pieces and were much less time consuming than their Tamiya counterparts.

The completed engine ready to be connected up to the monocoque.

Bodywork & cockpit

The tub and chassis consists of two pieces and was relatively simple to construct.

Suspension connected up to the monocoque with front brakes and air cooling ducts.

Cockpit

The cockpit is clean yet nicely detailed. Pedals, seat, gear shifter and instrument display are the base for the cockpit. The harness included in the kitset detailed up very easily and does not detract from the final result.

Bodywork

Once the 312 has it’s body work applied most of the detailed engine disappears under the cowling. Front and rear wings are moulded in white plastic and chrome-plated as they were on the original cars.

With the kitset complete it looks far from a Ferrari F1 car, although once the decals are applied it looks less like a candy cane and more like the famous GP winning machine.

Decals





Decals are good solid colours, and the red does not show through once applied. The pin striping is difficult although if applied with plenty of water they can be moved into place easily. The pin striping is in long sections, therefor I cut it into smaller pieces and this made them much easier to work with.

The white decals around the base of the cowling are also a little tricky although decal solution to soften them up moulds them around the odd shapes with ease.

Finished product and overall impression

The tall rear cowling which was synonymous with the 70’s era of F1 makes this a great showpiece for any mantle.

The kitset can easily be displayed with it’s cowling off in order to show off the detailed engine and cockpit area.

As the first Hasegawa kitset I have built for a number of years, I was very surprised with the fantastic fitment of the kit from start to finish. Bodywork despite being 8 pieces; fits like a dream. Hasegawa easily rivals the quality of it’s other 1/20 scale companies and keeps detail while maintaining simplicity.

It is an easy kit to add detail to, and depending on how far you wish to go with detailing, the sky is the limit. One kitset I highly recommend picking up to accompany your other 1/20 builds.

You can purchase the Hasegawa 1/20 Ferrari 312T 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix Winner HERE