Last winter, I visited the Tamiya show room in Tokyo with a high school friend. Inside, Honda’s historic first F1 machine was on display. My friend, a lifelong racing enthusiast, knew all about this car and eagerly shared its historical significance and engineering brilliantness. Listening to someone talk passionately about what they love is always a genuine joy. So when it came time to pick a kit to bring home, choosing this car was the only natural choice.
Later that evening, sitting at a local izakaya with the iconic blue-and-red Tamiya logo bag beside us, a stranger came over to strike up a conversation about it. That does not happen often in a country of politeness that is Japan. Another fond memory attached to this build.
The car is the Honda RA272. The actual car is painted white with the red Japanese “Rising Sun” emblem. But since the kit’s plastic was already white, that left no room for me to enjoy the painting process. So, I took full creative freedom. After all, a race car just begs to be red, doesn’t it?
I still remember the thrill of using my airbrush to blow that vivid red onto the plain white plastic. What was supposed to be a quick build ended up taking quite a while, but I finally finished it the other day.
Back in 1965, Honda—then known primarily as a motorcycle manufacturer—used its bike technology to line up 12 tiny, ultra-high-revving pistons to fit F1’s 1.5-liter engine limit. Higher revs meant incredible top-end horsepower. However, in an era before electronic controls, keeping all 12 cylinders operating in perfect harmony must have been a tightrope walk akin to tuning a fine piano. And with little to no torque at lower revs, driving it required immense skill.
Seeing a team from a defeated post-war Japan win in an F1 championship dominated by European stalwarts was a massive statement. It proved to the world that “Made in Japan” didn’t mean cheap & inferior. Just imagine the pride this must have brought to Honda engineers. It’s said that Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda, wept when news of this first victory reached Japan. This car’s triumph became a milestone in establishing Honda as a legitimate automobile manufacturer.
To showcase this incredible engine, the kit includes a clear engine cover option, which I chose to leave unpainted in tribute to that legendary V12.
The model makes it really easy to see that the car is literally just a cockpit slapped right in front of an engine, and not much more.
That in turn makes me realize just how much tech goes into designing modern F1 cars. I’d love to build one of those next, though I hear modern aerodynamic designs are so closely guarded that getting licensing for current cars is quite a challenge! Bummer.
Touching a piece of Japanese post-war history and feeling the pride of those early engineers while building something with your own hands… Ah, the joy of model building!