20th
October
2008
After all the excitement at the prospect of an early back-to-back Moto GP and F1 Grand Prix on Sunday morning, I have to say I felt short changed at the level of entertainment they provided! So, Hamilton is now much closer to the world championship, and at least Raikkonen didn’t have to give up a race win to support Massa’s title bid.
Today Sun Star provided us with sample images of their last four 1:18 2007 Ford Focus WRC replicas. These are Latvala’s car from Rally Ireland (SS3926), and Gronholm (SS3928), Hirvonen (SS3927) and Wilson (SS3929) from Rally GB. These are all due at the beginning of December.
We also had a new 1:43 delivery from NEO, headlined by three new classic Jaguars. These were the XJ Sovereign in red (NEO43146), the Mk.VII in green (NEO43140), and the Mk.IX in grey (NEO43142). There were also some USA edition Porsches and a couple of BMWs, all of which can be viewed in our ‘New Releases’ section.
posted in Due Dates, Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
17th
October
2008
We received the new Minichamps delivery today, after filming the milestone fiftieth episode of the Leigh’s Diary webcast in the morning! I can’t believe we’ve racked up that many episodes already. As ever, it will be available to view on Monday.
The Minichamps delivery had their next two 1:43 2008 Formula One cars on it; Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren MP4/23 (DC28422), and Jarno Trulli’s Toyota TF108 (DC28411).
There was also Michael Schumacher’s Benetton B191B from the early part of the 1992 season, in both 1:18 (PG920119) and 1:43 (P920119) scale.
Also in 1:18 scale was the Ford Sierra RS500 that won the Spa 24 Hours in 1989 (PG898001), and the massive 1950 Mercedes Shell tanker (PG031071).
Don’t forget to set your alarms for three hours of motorsport action on Sunday morning! The Malaysia Moto GP at 7am, which should finish just before the Chinese Grand Prix starts at 8am. How cool is that?! I wonder if I will be talking about a newly crowned Formula One champion come Monday……
posted in Podcast, Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
16th
October
2008
Today Amalgam confirmed a new car manufacturer that will receive its superb 1:8 replica treatment. The marque in question is Bugatti, and the first replicas are of the special Hermes edition of the Bugatti Veyron (as if it wasn’t special enough already!), and the Bugatti Grand Sport, a car that hasn’t been replicated in any scale so far. You can see them in our Amalgam Bugatti section.
AUTOart also announced a new replica today, one that is a little less likely to break the bank (or at least those that haven’t broken already), of the 1:18 Citroen C4 WRC in plain red (AA80736).
posted in Diecast, Other Cars |
15th
October
2008
AUTOart today confirmed that they have cancelled their two 1:18 replicas of the Ford GTX1, in orange (AA73026), and red (AA73027). This is a shame as we had already taken a large number of pre-orders for both colourways, so that means that many collectors are going to be disappointed. It also means that you can ignore page 13 when you receive our new roadgoing diecast catalogue!
In other news, we had new releases from Universal Hobbies, Mattel and Solido today.
Universal Hobbies released their second 1:12 Honda RC30 replica, Joey Dunlop’s 1988 Isle of Man version (UH88031), and their latest 1:50 lorry, the Wilson McCurdy Scania R (J5647).
Fellow French diecast manufacturer Solido released their 1:18 replica of Bob Wollek’s 1973 Alpine Renault (SL118000), while Mattel released their 1:18 model of the Ferrari 250 GTO of Blaton and van Ophem from Le Mans in 1963 (HW2070).
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Moto GP |
14th
October
2008
It was IXO’s turn today to provide us with a new delivery. First up were two new subjects from their 1:43 Le Mans Winners Collection, the 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C of Sommer and Nuvolari (LM1933), and the 1959 Aston Martin DBR1 of Shelby and Salvadori (LM1959).
There were also the three 1:43 Aston Martin DBR9 ‘flip lid box’ showcar presentations from Le Mans 2008. These were the single car Gulf 009 release (IXO1), the Gulf 007 and 009 twin car set (IXO2), and the 2008 Gulf and 2007 ‘green’ (I couldn’t think of a better adjective!) twin car set (IXO3).
Solido also released their first new 1:18 replica in a while, in the form of the brightly liveried 2007 Renault Clio Sport RS Cup car of Jean-Pierre Bournot (SL118009).
We also heard that we will see Minichamps’ next two 1:43 2008 F1 race cars in the next week or so, Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren MP4/23 (DC28422), and Jarno Trulli’s Toyota TF108 (DC28411). At this rate they’ll get most of their 1:43 2008 F1 grid out by Christmas!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
13th
October
2008
Today we received the new Minichamps delivery, headlined by the most outrageous 1:12 Valentino Rossi figure yet released!
It is the 1999 riding version which goes on his Aprilia 250 (P990086), in a ‘knee down, taking the corner’ pose. The bike and figure are supported by the knee slider on the left knee, so there is no stand that comes with it. It looks absolutely fantastic! The bike also needs to be steering to the left slightly for the figure’s hands to fit over the handlebars and brake lever, and in order for it to stay up properly. It is a limited edition of 7,646 pieces.
Also on the delivery was the next 1:12 classic bike, the Triumph Hurricane with the famous exhaust arrangement (P133600), and Marco Melandri’s 1:12 2002 Aprilia 250 (PO20003).
From Formula One, we received Minichamps’ second 1:43 2008 race car, Nelson Piquet Jnr’s Renault R28 (DC28406), and the two Mercedes W196s of Juan Manuel Fangio (P543016) and Karl Kling (P543004) from 1954.
Finally, in 1:18 there was the next in Minichamps’ popular collection of 1:18 racing Ford Sierras. This latest one is Frank Biela’s 1989 DTM example (PG898925).
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Moto GP, Formula 1 |
10th
October
2008
As if we hadn’t had enough new deliveries this week, Sun Star have further spoiled us with another one today!
It included what are probably two of the most significant 1:18 rally car replicas that we have ever offered. The first of these is Colin McRae’s last ever World Rally Championship car, his Citroen Xsara from the 2006 Rally of Turkey, when he deputised for the injured Sebastien Loeb (SS4424).
The second car is of the first ever World Rally Drivers’ Champion, Bjorn Waldegaard’s 1979 Ford Escort (SS4441), from the Acropolis Rally, which the Swede won on his way to the title.
There were also several new announcements today. Universal Hobbies announced a 1:16 replica of the first ever JCB excavator, the Majorloader (J2711), which is bound to be extremely popular.
Mondo Motors, who were first out of the blocks with their 1:18 replica of the Lamborghini Reventon, are now also the first to announce 1:18 replicas of the Fiat 500 Abarth, which we expect to see shortly. It will be available from them in white (MD50087W), red (MD50087R), and black (MD50087B).
Finally, Shelby Collectibles announced a 1:18 replica of the Knight Rider ‘2.0’ car from the American TV movie (DC501). KITT is no longer a Pontiac, he (it?) is now a Ford Mustang GT 500KR!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars |
9th
October
2008
Today it was Norev’s turn to drop a new 1:18 delivery on our doorsteps.
The headliner was definitely the 1978 Le Mans winning Alpine Renault A442B of Pironi and Jaussaud (NV185145).
There were also some new road cars, the most popular of which have been the Simca Beaulieu in blue/grey (NV185731) and the Porsche 911 Turbo in white (NV187504).
Talking of road cars, we have just supplied our latest diecast catalogue to the printers, which is our first one completely dedicated to roadgoing subjects. This should hit your doormats in just over a week’s time.
posted in Diecast, Other Cars |
