Leigh’s Diecast Diary

Another day, another Sun Star delivery!

Today we received their two new 1:18 1982 Audi Quattro rally cars, of Malcolm Wilson (SS4192) and Franz Witmann (SS4191). Also on the delivery were the bronze (SS4976) and blue (SS4977) colourways of the 1:18 Ford Escort Mk.III, and the next 1:24 Bedford OB Coach, in the Southdown livery (SS5007).

SMTS released a new replica too, in Stirling Moss’s 1:43 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato that he raced in the 1961 Goodwood TT (SMTS196).

Meanwhile, Minichamps provided us with a few sample images of models that we hope to see in the near future; Valentino Rossi’s 1:8 2001 (PO10846) and 2007 Phillip Island (PO70896) helmets, and Andy Priaulx’s 1:43 2006 BMW 320Si (P062601) that he used to take his second WTCC title.

Today we received the new 1:18 Ford Focus WRCs from Sun Star. These are the ones that have come through at the ‘old’ retail price of £29.99, so will probably sell out quite quickly before the other versions become available, which will be at the ‘new’ retail price of £39.99.

Today’s releases were Marcus Gronholm’s winning car from Sweden (SS3920), Mikko Hirvonen’s winning car from Norway (SS3921), and the two Monte Carlo cars of Matt Wilson (SS3918), and Henning Solberg (SS3919).

Today it was Spark’s turn to give us a new delivery. Probably our biggest seller from it was Stirling Moss’s 1:43 1960 Lotus 19, that he used to win the Karlskoga sportscar race (SPK259). Another popular subject was the 1:43 TVR Cerbera Speed 12 in metallic red (SPK233).

Meanwhile, from Le Mans there were two new 1:43 subjects; the #61 Sauber Mercedes from 1986 (SPK1259), and the #5 Jaguar XJR8 from 1987 (SPK759).

Today’s entry is a quickie as I’m out of the office this afternoon at a meeting with one of our suppliers.

We received Trofeu’s 1:43 two car Ford Capri set from the 1971 Nurburgring Six Hours (TR2391). The cars featured are the #12 pole position car of Stomellen and Soler-Roig, and the winning #14 car of Glemser and Marko. It is a limited edition of just 404 pieces worldwide.

We also received this week’s Minichamps delivery. The headliner was the next 1:8 Valentino Rossi helmet (they’re coming thick and fast now!), his 2007 pre-season testing version, in black with the sword down the front (PO79046).

Today we received a couple of new 1:43 replicas from SMTS, of two very famous cars in Formula One history.

The first is of Stirling Moss’s Lotus 18 that he used to brilliantly win the 1960 Monaco Grand Prix (SMTS075), managing to hold off the trio of much faster Ferrari Sharknoses of Hill, Ginther and von Trips for the entire race. We will also shortly be offering this replica signed by Moss (SMTS075S).

The second replica is of the great Jim Clark’s very first Grand Prix car; the Lotus 18 that he raced in the 1960 Dutch Grand Prix (SMTS076). SMTS will be making pretty much all of Clark’s cars over the coming months, and few will be more significant than this.

We also received a new signed replica today; Sun Star’s 1:24 model of the last ever Routemaster, signed by its driver Winston Briscoe (SS2914S).

Finally today, Norev informed us of a few cancellations to its forthcoming 1:18 releases. The ‘Wrooom’ Fiat 500 snow race cars of Felipe Massa (NV187734), Luca Badoer (NV187735), and Marc Gene (NV187736), will now not be made.

Welcome to the forty-first Leigh’s Diary Vidcast, reviewing all the new diecast replicas that were released last week. As we managed to upload and finish it all early this week, we thought we would treat you by showing it a couple of days earlier!

As always, I’ve listed the products below that have been featured in this week’s vidcast. Keep the comments rolling in. You’ll need quicktime installed to view the video on this post.

 

 Leighs Diary Vidcast Episode 41 [5:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Leighs Diary Vidcast Episode 41 [5:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

These are the products featured on this week’s podcast:

1/12 Honda NSR500 Test Bike 2000 V. Rossi - Minichamps
1/8 AGV Rossi Helmet - Mugello 2007 - Minichamps
1/12 Yamaha YZR500 1979 #1 K. Roberts - Minichamps
1/12 Signed Ducati 999 F06 2006 #21 T. Bayliss - Minichamps
1/43 Williams FW14 1991 #5 N. Mansell - Minichamps
1/43 Super Aguri SA07 2007 #22 T. Sato - Minichamps
1/43 Super Aguri SA07 2007 #23 A. Davidson - Minichamps
1/43 BMW Showcar 2008 N. Heidfeld - Minichamps
1/43 BMW Showcar 2008 R. Kubica - Minichamps (SOLD OUT)
1/43 Jaguar XJR15 1990 Orange - Spark
1/43 TVR Grantura Mk 3 1962 Red - Spark
1/43 Porsche 911s 2nd Monte Carlo Rally 1972 #4 - Spark
1/43 Ferrari 250 GTO 2nd Le Mans 1963 #22 J. Blaton/G. Van Ophem - Red Line
1/18 Ferrari F430 1st Silverstone Challenge 2007 #28 B. Senna - Mattel Elite
1/18 Ferrari F2002 1st French Grand Prix 2002 #1 M. Schumacher - Mattel Elite
1/18 Lamborghini Gallardo Cesam Black - Norev
1/18 Volkswagen Golf GTi 2004 Black - Norev
1/18 Porsche 911 GT2 2007 Red - Norev
1/50 Renault Magnum AE500 Cabin Red - Universal Hobbies
1/50 Renault Magnum Curtainsider Haig - Universal Hobbies
1/18 Ferrari 512BB 1976 Red - Kyosho

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.

Today there was a bit of excitement as we received the Minichamps 2008 ‘Edition 2’ catalogue, which is a small 24 page ’update’ to the mammoth tome published at the beginning of the year.

We were very surprised to see two brand new 1:12 Valentino Rossi figure that haven’t even been officially announced yet, as well as sample images of some of the other figures.

The first new figure replicates one of the most famous moments in Rossi’s career. It is called ‘The Kiss’, and is from the South Africa Moto GP in 2004, when Vale won his very first race with Yamaha (PO40246). On the slowing down lap he got down on his knees and kissed the front of his new YZR-M1. It is that pose that the figure replicates, so it is bound to be immensely popular.

 The second new figure is of Rossi riding his 2002 Honda RC211V sidesaddle with both arms in the air (PO20146), as he did when he crossed the line to win the British Grand Prix at Donington Park that year..

The most exciting sample image was of the 1999 Aprilia riding figure (P990146). It’s of Rossi with his knee down, so he actually looks like he’s taking a corner on his 250cc bike!

The 1997 riding figure (P970146), which we will see in a couple of weeks, is similarly imaginative, as it comes complete with the blue ‘Superfumi’ cape that Valentino wore on the slowing down lap after one of his victories that year.

There were also two ‘live’ photos in the catalogue, so giving us a hint as to what two more forthcoming Rossi figures will look like. It looks like the 2003 Valencia riding figure (PO30186) will be in a burnout pose and the 2007 Assen riding figure (PO70166) will be of Valentino stood up on the footpegs as he was on the slowing down lap following his victory in the race.

I never fail to be impressed with Minichamps’ imagination when it comes to their Rossi figures. They could have just gone for one mould and then decorated each one differently so that it would be correct for each bike. Instead, they have chosen to really capture the personality of Rossi by replicating some of the most famous moments from his career. Credit where it’s due!

It’s Sun Star modern rally news today. We were provided with sample images of some of their forthcoming 1:18 2007 Ford Focus WRC replicas; Matt Wilson (SS3918) and Henning Solberg (SS3919) from Monte Carlo, Marcus Gronholm from Sweden (SS3920), and Mikko Hirvonen from Norway (SS3921). We hope to see these in September

They also announced six new 1:18 replicas. The first two are the old-shape Subaru Impreza that was used in the first half of this season. They will be Petter Solberg from Monte Carlo (SS4395), and Chris Atkinson from Argentina (SS4396).

There will also be another four 2007 Ford Focus subjects. These will be Jari-Matti Latvala from Ireland (SS3926), and three cars from the Rally GB; Hirvonen (SS3927), Gronholm (SS3928), and Wilson (SS3929). The Gronholm version will be particularly popular as it was of his course his last ever WRC car. 

Today Spark announced their entire 1:43 2008 Le Mans line-up. It’s certainly a comprehensive range; in fact, the only cars that I think are missing are the two Porsche RS Spyders and the Murcielago. As ever, the Ferraris will be released under Spark’s luxury Red Line brand.

The most popular cars will probably be the winning Audi R10 of McNish, Biela and Capello (SPA43L008), the second place Peugeot 908 of Villeneuve, Minassian and Gene (SPK1279), and the GT1 winning Aston Martin DBR9 of Turner, Brabham and Garcia (SPK1214). The winning Audi will be a couple of pounds more expensive than the other subjects, as it will be released in Spark’s new Le Mans Winners Collection.

To see the entire Spark 2008 Le Mans listing you can click here.

The Minichamps delivery had arrived while I was away at the dramatic Hungarian Grand Prix, headlined by two new Valentino Rossi releases; his 1:12 2000 Honda NSR 500 testbike (PO06186), and the delayed 1:8 helmet from Mugello 2007 (PO70876).

There were also several 1:43 Formula One subjects; Nigel Mansell’s 1991 Williams FW14 (P910005), the 2007 Super Aguri SA07s of Takuma Sato (DC27422) and Anthony Davidson (DC27423), and the 2008 BMW showcars of Nick Heidfeld (DC28403P) and Robert Kubica (DC28404P). The Kubica version was already sold out to pre-orders before it arrived however.

There’s also some Mattel news today. We received Bruno Senna’s 1:18 car from his guest appearance in the Silverstone round of the Ferrari F430 Challenge in 2007 (HW2068), and were also given some sample images of some forthcoming 1:18 subjects.

These were the Ferrari F2008s of Kimi Raikkonen (DC2801) and Felipe Massa (DC2802), and the new Ferrari road car, the California (HW2042). Hopefully this means that we will see them in the next couple of months.