Jawa is one brand that makes cool retro motorcycles, which has fans following just like Royal Enfield and Harley Davidson. I being looking for a decent Jawa Yezdi scale model in 1:12 scale for some time but couldn’t find one, so decide to pick the nearest scale with decent detailing and this 1:18 scale model was finalised. Maisto made fewer different versions of this Jawa and this “The Brave and The Bold” version felt closer to heart and has good details to boost.
This is actually a homage to our armed forces and I was drive by the paint finish and contrasting black bodywork. This Jawa comes in a fancy camel shade box, which works perfectly with this cool bike’s body work. The box has very subtle graphics and massive window, that gives us beautiful profile view even without taking the motorbike out.
The righ and left side of the package has very limited graphics and Jawa Motorcycle website details. The retailer put a sticker with price and barcode. This was priced at INR.1099/-, which is decent taking into consideration our toy scene and import restriction.
This package is all Jawa… Jawa… Jawa and only one Maisto logo in all of the package. Yeah only the bottom of the box has Maisto’s logo where all the legal information goes. I don’t have that many 1:18 motorcycle so I cannot compare this to other Maisto scale models.
The unboxing is relatively straight forward as any other motorcycle scale model. You pull the side tab, pull the entire skeleton out and viola… the motorcycle is out and freedom finally. The inner skeleton like structure holds this Jawa in place and you won’t have any problem taking it out.
The entire box is made of cardboard and acrylic sheet, the inner layer has a plastic base which is surrounded by a background sheet. The background has a bold “Jawa Yezdi” badge and also “The Brave And The Bold” graphics. The base is made of grey plastic, which has a piano finish gives this bike a premium feel.
This Jawa scale model is secured by a single screw and the base is made of sturdy plastic with a Jawa badge in it. Though secured by a single screw, the feel is just good. The base also has a grooving for reinstalling background, which sits quite firm even after multiple attempts.
The only limitation of this base that it is custom made for this bike and if you want to reuse there is very less possiblility, otherwise it is perfect. But I don’t use base in my display to give a real motorcycle feel in my display, so for me this is not a big deal. This base also help the maintain the shape of the box in transit.
This Jawa Yezdi is a great motorcycle and my Dad used to own one when I was a kid and I still remember sitting on its tank and tear through the city traffic with my dad… But me being a sports bike fan, I love and ride Kawasaki Ninja daily to office and that is great for me. But the Nostalgia that this bike give is just unreal.
This Jawa Yezdi in this special shade is a cool bike and I saw all the other shade before picking this and that says it all. I have few Royal Enfield in 1:12 scale and the “Desert Storm” edition is my favourite. This Jawa Yezdi has very sleek frontend with black surrounds just like the real bike and even the headlamps are kind of real.
The profile is where most smaller scale model look realistic and this Jawa Yezdi is no exception. I like the engine casing in all black and airlines are finished in chrome, which gives a very good contrast to otherwise boring engine. The spoke rims with chrome finish is really cool but not scale accurate. All other parts play a perfect symphony as per my initial review.
Rearend is extremely sexy and classy in every way… The twin exhaust, sleek tail lamps and turn signals on that fender is a sweet sight. The handlebar and mirrors mounted on them also looks good from the rear than front. There are some fine details, like the reflector, Jawa badged licence plate and even the tire tread pattern is quite nice.
This Jawa Yezdi is not a very heavy 1:18 scale model weighing at over 38gms but not a very light one as well. This is mostly due to its plastic heavy construction. Very limited parts are made of diecast metal contributing to sleeker design also lighter build. I can live with this limitation, do let me know your views by dropping a comment.
Before we wrap this first look, lets do some size comparison… This being a Jawa Yezdi in dedicated armed forces, I picked my 1:18 Maisto Humvee in sand shade and a GI Joe figure. For me the size looks ok with the Humvee and to be noted, neither of this is scale accurate but not that big of an issue for me. For the first look, this performed quite well and I am impressed! Lets wait for the full review, which is already in production so hold on for that to come down to a final conclusion. Till then… Ciao.
