Leigh’s Diecast Diary

Today we were flat out on the July issue of Diecast Monthly, which will be supplied to the printers tomorrow and so should land on your doormats from next weekend.

This weekend is all about the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and we will have our two vending trailers there as normal, in our usual spot next to the cricket pitch (stand 232). Throughout the event we are going to be running a special offer for anyone who makes a purchase from us; simply say the password ‘Stig’ and you will get a 1:72 rally car absolutely free!

Today we asked IXO if they were thinking of replicating Kimi Raikkonen’s Fiat Punto in 1:43 from this year’s Rally Finland, and got the reply that they will be releasing his car from the Rally Della Marca instead (RAM371)! Obviously, I’ve already pre-ordered mine! I think we will have to wait until after Rally Finland to find out if Raikkonen’s car is going to be modelled from that event.

We also received the new Sun Star delivery, which had two very popular 1:18 Ford subjects on it. These were Russell Brookes’ 1979 Escort from the RAC Rally (SS4443), and the Escort RS1600i in black (SS4995). The Brookes car has already sold out to pre-orders, but we will be receiving restocks shortly.

Today we received the new Minichamps delivery, which had something for everyone on it!

For biking fans, there was Dani Pedrosa’s 1:12 2007 Honda RC212V (PO71026), while for endurance racing enthusiasts there was the 1:18 Peugeot 908 that finished second at Le Mans last year in the hands of Jacques Villeneuve, Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gene (PG081207).

And then, for Formula One fans, there was the next subject in Minichamps’ 1:43 World Champions Collection, Alain Prost’s 1989 McLaren MP4/5 (P890002WC).

To celebrate Valentino Rossi’s 100th Grand Prix win on Sunday, and with the Laguna Seca Moto GP coming up this weekend, we are running a special promotion on a couple of Minichamps replicas that will end next Monday (6th July) at 9am.

Until then we will be offering the Minichamps 1:12 replica of the first of Rossi’s wins in the top class, his 2000 Donington Park Honda NSR 500 which comes complete with celebratory rider figure, at 50% off, so just £29.99 instead of £59.99 (PO06196). We will also be offering 50% off the Rossi 2005 Laguna Seca figure (PO50096), so just £13.49 instead of £26.99 until Monday.

Unsurprisingly, we had a flood of requests today for Valentino Rossi ‘100th Grand Prix win’ subjects from Minichamps!

I think a figure with ‘100’ flag has to be a given but, considering that Minichamps haven’t even confirmed any ‘standard’ 2009 Moto GP replicas yet, an announcement on this could be some way away yet. It would also be great to see that huge banner replicated which had photos of all of Rossi’s career wins on it, but I’m not sure how practical that would be, because even at 1:12 scale it would probably be over a metre in length!

The best news would be if Rossi was to run a special colour scheme in Laguna Seca this weekend to commemorate his fantastic achievement. He’s due one, as his last special was over a year ago now!

Anyway, in terms of present diecast news, CMC today sent us a pre-production sample of their next 1:18 subject, the Audi 225 Roadster in red/white (CMC075C). In truth, it’s not the most popular CMC replica we have ever marketed, but Audi have commissioned it to celebrate their centenary, so I’m sure they’ll have made it worth CMC’s while! As you would expect, the extremely high levels of detail more than match up to CMC’s previous releases.

Welcome to the eighty first Leigh’s Diary Vidcast, the first episode filmed in a brand new studio located in a multi-million-dollar complex in Los Angeles. As much as the webcasts have grown in recent months, Leigh is still all about the diecast…and maybe some Red Bull gear on the side. In the brand-new studio this week, we are brought new releases from AUTOart, Minichamps, Spark and Shelby Collectibles. There’s also an exclusive look at CMC’s Audi 225 Roadster, built to commemorate Audi’s 100th anniversary.

Keep the comments rolling in. You’ll need quicktime installed to view the video on this post.

 

 Leighs Diary Vidcast Episode 81 [6:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (116)

You can also view this podcast on youtube by clicking here

The replicas featured on this weeks podcast are;

1/18 Mercedes C Class DTM 2007 #1 B. Schneider - AUTOart
1/18 Mercedes C Class DTM 2008 #3 B. Spengler - AUTOart
1/18 Mercedes C Class DTM 2007 #6 M. Hakkinen - AUTOart
1/18 BMW Z4 Coupe ADAC Cup 2006 #676 - AUTOart
1/18 Lamborghini Espada Gold - AUTOart
1/12 Suzuki Katana - AUTOart
1/43 McLaren MP4/4 1988 #12 A. Senna - Minichamps
1/43 BMW M3 GTS Nurburgring 24hr 2008 #10 - Minichamps
1/18 McLaren MP4/5 1989 #1 A. Senna - Minichamps
1/43 Ford GT 2006 Orange/Blue - Minichamps
1/43 Mercedes 220S 1956 White/Grey - Minichamps
1/43 Smart Fortwo Cabriolet 2007 Black - Minichamps
1/43 Ford Mondeo 2007 Dark Blue - Minichamps
1/18 Audi R10 1st Le Mans 2008 #2 - Spark
1/43 Sunbeam Speed Record Car 1927 - Bizarre
1/18 Porsche 935 K3 Le Mans 1980 #42 - Truescale Miniatures
1/18 Aston Martin DBR1 1st Le Mans 1959 #5 - Shelby Collectibles
1/18 Audi 225 Roadster 1935 Red/White - CMC

Remember you can subscribe to the podcast by clicking the purple podcast icon at the top right or use this link if you wish to subscribe via itunes.

I hope you enjoyed watching or listening to the podcast. Please feel free to leave any comments on what you thought of it or anything you would like me to feature in future shows below.

It looks like July is going to be a big month for 1:18 sports car collectors!

First off, Mondo Motors will be releasing their (so far) exclusive 1:18 replica of the Lamborghini Estoque (MD50095).

Then, there will be quite a lot from AUTOart at the end of the month (but no, not the Koenigseggs)!

Their new subjects will include the Lamborghini Reventon (AA74591), classic Porsche 911 in blue (AA77913), Lamborghini Espada in red (AA74503), and Lancia Fulvia in red (AA74701) and blue (AA74702).

Long-awaited AUTOart restocks will include the Signature Collection Bugatti Veyron in black/red (AA70906) and black/blue (AA70907), and the Lotus Cortina (AA75331).

We are extremely excited to now be able to offer Minichamps’ 1:18 replica of this year’s Le Mans winning Peugeot 908 signed by its three drivers; David Brabham, Alex Wurz and Marc Gene (PG091209S). This will be the first time that Wurz and Gene have signed a diecast model for us.

Other exciting news today is that we were able to lay our hands on a few examples of two Minichamps 1:12 Rossi figures that had sold out some time ago. These were both instant sell-outs on release, and are the 2004 sitting figure with cap and sunglasses (PO40046), limited to just 1,999 examples, and the 2005 riding figure (PO50146), limited to 2,999 examples.

These are being offered to you loyal Leigh’s Diary readers first, so cannot be bought from our website to ensure that we do not oversell, but you can order over the phone on our usual number 0870 460 3456. They both cost £29.99, which is the price of today’s Rossi figures, but we did buy them in at today’s trade prices, so don’t give us a hard time for widening our profit margins because we’re not!

We were definitely spoilt the last two days with new diecast deliveries, and were punished for that today when nothing new showed up at all!

We did receive some information from Minichamps though, regarding some release dates.

In two weeks we are due to receive their next three 1:43 2009 F1 showcars; Fernando Alonso (DC29407P), Nelson Piquet Jnr (DC29408P), and Rubens Barrichello (DC29423P). As with last year, the Renaults will have the driver number on the packaging instead of the driver name.

Then, later in July we are scheduled to receive the 1:18 Jenson Button ‘First Win Special’ Honda RA106 from the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix (DC2612H), and the 1:43 Robert Kubica ‘First Win Special’ from the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix (DC28404C).

August seems like it is going to be a Sebastian Vettel celebration, with his 1:43 2008 ‘First Win Special’ Toro Rosso STR3 from the Italian Grand Prix (DC28415M) and 2009 Red Bull showcar (DC29415P) both due.

Finally, we currently expect to see the 1:12 Valentino Rossi ‘standard’ 2008 Yamaha YZR-M1 (PO83046) in October. No date has yet been given for his Catalunya special (DCL2008).

We were blessed with more new deliveries today, from no less than Minichamps, Universal Hobbies, Spark, and Truescale Miniatures!

The big release of the day was without doubt the 1:43 Jenson Button 2009 Brawn showcar (DC29422P). We are getting through our stock at a prodigious rate, so don’t think about getting one for too long!

Also new from Minichamps was the next subject in their 1:43 Formula One World Champions collection, Ayrton Senna’s 1988 McLaren MP4/4 (P880012WC).

Universal Hobbies also released one of their big sellers today, their 1:12 replica of Carl Fogarty’s 1990 Isle of Man TT winning Honda RC30 (UH88032).

Meanwhile, Spark released their 1:18 2008 Le Mans winning Audi R10 (SPA18L008), and Truescale Miniatures released their 1:18 replica of the Goji #42 Porsche 935 K3 from Le Mans 1980 (TSM09183).

So, quite a busy day all in all!

Well, at least Raikkonen scored one more point than he did in Turkey! (That’s a total of one, by the way!) Only just though, I was sat at Luffield, and Timo Glock nearly got him there on the last lap!

We received the new AUTOart delivery today, with their long-awaited 1:18 DTM Mercedes C-Class replicas on it. And believe me, it was worth the wait, as they look fantastic! Especially the Mika Hakkinen 2007 version in the carbon fibre livery (AA80732). Also released were Bernd Schneider’s 2007 car (AA80730), and Bruno Spengler’s 2008 example (AA80731).

That wasn’t all though; also released were the 1:18 Lamborghini Espada in gold (AA74504), the 1:18 BMW Z4 from the ADAC Cup (AA80649), and the 1:12 Suzuki Katana (AA12151).

Alas, still no Koenigseggs from AUTOart, and the word is that they won’t be on the July container either. Surely we will see at least one of the colourways released soon?

Another release that was a big deal for me was the first batch of SMTS’s 1:43 white metal model of Jack Brabham’s 1966 Brabham BT19 (SMTS038). This is the ‘missing’ Formula One World Champion, and means that, after 15 years, my 1:43 Formula One World Champions collection is now finally complete! Woohoo!