31st
December
2008
Just before the end of 2008 Mattel managed to sneak in its 1:18 replica of the latest Ferrari, the California in red (HW2042).
And so that’s it for the first full year of Leigh’s Diary! I hope that you all found it informative (as opposed to the fevered rantings of an embittered Kimi Raikkonen fan!), and continue to keep up with the diecast news through 2009. At the moment the new Minichamps subjects are scheduled to be launched on 5th February.
Happy New Year!
posted in Due Dates, Diecast, Other Cars |
30th
December
2008
As you would expect, it’s pretty quiet in the days between Christmas and New Year in the old diecast industry!
We have had one new release today though; Mattel’s 1:43 replica of the Lamborghini Reventon (HW5582). So it was worth logging onto Leighsdiary.com today!
posted in Uncategorized |
29th
December
2008
Today Minichamps confirmed their January 2009 releases.
The second week of 2009 sees several 2008 F1 cars released. In 1:18 scale there will be Nick Heidfeld’s BMW F1.08 (DC2803) and Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren MP4/23 (DC2823), while in 1:43 we will see Rubens Barrichello’s Honda RA108 (DC28417) and Giancarlo Fisichella’s Force India VJM01 (DC28421).
The following week we will see Robert Kubica’s 1:18 BMW F1.08 (DC2804), leaving Adrian Sutil’s 1:43 Force India VJM01 (DC28420) as the only ‘standard’ 2008 F1 car still to be released. Kubica’s BMW is close to being a sell-out on release though, so don’t think it will be plentifully available once it hits these shores!
The third week of the schedule (the fourth week of January) sees the nest Valentino Rossi 1:12 bike released, his 2001 Honda RC211V summer test bike (PO17946). We will also see the 1:43 two car Quantum Of Solace set of the Aston Martin DBS and Alfa Romeo 159 (P121300).
For the last week of the schedule we will see the next 1:18 Bentley, the Azure in Metallic Blue (PG139501), and the next 1:8 Valentino Rossi helmet, his colourful lid from Phillip Island 2007 (PO70896).
All in all, a pretty good start to the year for new diecast releases!
posted in Due Dates, Diecast, Other Cars, Moto GP, Formula 1 |
24th
December
2008
There’s no diecast news to speak of today, but I’d just like to say Happy Christmas to all the Leigh’s Diary readers and forum members out there. May all your presents be 1:18, 1:12 or 1:43 scale!
posted in Uncategorized |
23rd
December
2008
Today we launched our exclusive 1:43 Michael Schumacher ‘Seven World Championships’ presentation, which we have alluded to a couple of times before. It is the only presentation to commemorate all seven of his Formula One World Championships, with two Benetton and five Ferrari replicas (DCL007).
The five Ferrari replicas are from Mattel, and the two Benetton replicas are the Minichamps re-releases. When Minichamps re-release Michael’s 1994 Benetton, we will be in a position to despatch. We just hope that’s not too far away!
In the centre of the weighted carbon fibre effect base will sit a plaque detailing Michael’s career statistics. If you opt for the signed version (DCL007S), the presentation will be supplied with a different plaque, signed by Schumacher himself.
In all only 77 pieces will be created, so it is extremely limited. A perspex cover will also be provided.
Our last diecast delivery of the year was from SMTS; Jim Clark’s last ever racing car, his Lotus 48 from the Hockenheim Formula 2 race in 1968 (SMTS222).
Finally, Red Line confirmed some new 1:43 subjects today. They were the new Ferrari F430 Scuderia Spider 16M in red (RL187) and yellow (RL186), and Felipe Massa’s Ferrari F2008 from this year’s Brazilian Grand Prix (RL180), complete with shark fin engine cover. Where was Raikkonen’s example, may I ask?!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
22nd
December
2008
Three diecast manufacturers took it in turns to give us an exciting new release each today.
First up was Minichamps, with their 1:43 replica of Jenson Button’s 2008 Honda RA108 (DC28416), just squeezing it in in time for Christmas. I’m still impressed with the rate that Minichamps have got their 1:43 F1 cars out this year; it’s the end of the year and we are only waiting for three ‘standard’ cars; Barrichello’s Honda and the two Force Indias.
Then Solido released their next great value 1:18 replica of the Aston Martin DBR9 (SL118001). It is the #59 car from the Modena team as raced by Fittipaldi, Garcia and Menten at Le Mans in 2007.
Finally, CMC dropped off the balance of our order for the 1:18 Phil Hill Ferrari Sharknose from the 1961 Belgian Grand Prix (CMC070), so all pre-orders have now been fulfilled and it is now available from stock. The amount we have left over is tiny however, so if you don’t order tonight you will probably have to wait for our next delivery in the New Year!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
19th
December
2008
We had a surprise delivery from AUTOart today, when we weren’t expecting to see anything else from them until 2009!
The most exciting new releases were the first two colourways of the Nissan GTR R35, silver (AA77386) and white (AA77387). There was also the white Lotus Europa S (AA75368) and the black Lamborghini Diablo 6.0 (AA74528).
And, from motorsport, we received two 1:18 Sebastien Loeb 2008 Citroen C4 WRCs; his ‘red’ car from Monte Carlo (AA80838), and his Red Bull car from Corsica (AA80839).
Meanwhile, from IXO, we received their three car 1:43 Le Mans Aston set (IXO4), comprising of the winning 1951 DBR1 and the two GT1 winning DBR9s from 2007 and 2008. It is a limited edition of just 500 pieces, considerably less than the 1500 it was originally announced as.
posted in Diecast, Other Cars |
18th
December
2008
There were no new diecast deliveries today, but we did receive our office copies of our rebranded Diecast Legends catalogue for January 2009!
It is more in the style of a magazine now (although, obviously, we do try and sell some models in it!), and is entitled ‘Diecast Monthly’, nice and simple! It also has January 2009 on the cover, to highlight that there will be an ‘issue’ released every month. It will hit your doormats between Christmas and New Year, so you won’t have to look far to spend your Christmas money!
We also came across some old Minichamps models recently, from a good ten years ago, which are now on our eBay site. They end on Sunday afternoon, but you might like to take a look now to see if there is anything you might be interested in! You can click here to view what we have to offer.
posted in Uncategorized |
17th
December
2008
We received the new Minichamps delivery today. It had the next two 1:43 2008 Formula One cars on it, Sebastian Vettel’s Toro Rosso STR3 (DC28415) and Kazuki Nakajima’s Williams FW30 (DC28408). This first shipment of Vettel’s car has sold out on release though, and I’m not sure there will be another.
We are also now going to see Jenson Button’s Honda RA108 (DC28416) in time for Christmas, but the two Honda showcars of Button (DC28416P) and Barrichello (DC28417P) have been cancelled.
If you did miss out on Vettel though, Minichamps did confirm a 1:43 First Win special (DC28415M) from Monza today. There will also be a First Win special for Kubica from Canada (DC28404C) too. Poor Heikki must be feeling a bit left out!
Also released was the Queen’s 1:18 State Limousine (PG139700), and the sexy Boss liveried Porsche 956L from Le Mans 1983 (PG836918).
posted in Uncategorized |
