16th
December
2008
Minichamps have just confirmed 1:18 and 1:43 specials of Lewis Hamilton’s championship winning McLaren MP4/23 from the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix.
It will include the specific aerodynamic package that Lewis’s McLaren ran with in that race, notably including the ‘horns’ mounted on the nosecone. We also hope that it will have the wet tyres that Lewis finished the race with.
In 1:18 scale (DC2822B) it will cost £69.99 and in 1:43 scale (DC28422B) it will cost £29.99. Although we do not expect to see these replicas until very late in 2009 at the earliest, remember that if you pre-order before the end of the year then your order will be protected against any future price rises.
posted in Due Dates, Diecast, Formula 1 |
16th
December
2008
Today we received GMP’s highly detailed 1:18 replica of the Ferrari 330 P4 raced by Jackie Stewart and Chris Amon in the 1967 BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch (GMP1967). The front and rear bodywork is removable and there is a tool to keep the rear bodywork hinged open as well.
There were also some more new 1:43 announcements from IXO. The first of these is their next Le Mans 24 Hour winner, the 1928 Bentley Sport of Barnato and Rubin (LM1928).
Then there were several 2008 rally cars, including the Suzuki SX4s of Toni Gardemeister (RAM345) and Per-Gunnar Andersson (RAM346), and the new-shape Subaru Imprezas of Petter Solberg (RAM341) and Chris Atkinson (RAM344). Just a shame that we’re not going to see those cars in the championship next year!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars |
15th
December
2008
There’s news from all over today!
First off, Bauer have increased the price of their massive 1:18 replica of the Bugatti Royale Coupe De Ville (BA001) to £399.99. It was £299.99 when we first offered it, and then went up to £329.99 during the summer before today’s adjustment. So, a massive £100 saving for those of you who pre-ordered it straight away!
On the subject of prices going up, at the end of the year our No Price Rise guarantee will be coming to an end. Unfortunately, price rises have become so great and so frequent that we can no longer afford to continue subsidising them.
In the two years that we have had this guarantee in place, we have passed on savings of almost £250,000 to our customers. Obviously, this has hit our profitability, and as we still want to be trading at the end of next year and beyond, we have had to bring it to an end.
Let me make clear that any orders placed before December 31st 2008 will still be honoured by the No Price Rise guarantee, so they will still be ‘safe’ at the prices that you pre-ordered at. Therefore you have two weeks left to get your pre-orders in and still take advantage of it before it is no longer! Our Double Moneyback Guarantee will still be in place though, so it will still be worthwhile getting your pre-orders in even after 1st January 2009.
In other news today, we have received Minichamps’ 1:12 replica of the Steve McQueen ‘Great Escape’ bike (P133500), and their 1:12 replica of Kenny Roberts’ 1979 Yamaha YZR 500 (P793001S) signed by the three time 500cc World Champion himself.
There was also a new announcement today, from IXO, of Valentino Rossi’s Ford Focus WRC from the 2008 Rally GB (RAM351). That one’s bound to be a hot seller.
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Moto GP |
12th
December
2008
Today we received two of our biggest sellers of 2008. Consequently, our warehouse is firing on all cylinders despatching goodness knows how many parcels!
The first ‘biggie’ is Minichamps’ 1:18 replica of Lewis Hamilton’s 2008 McLaren MP4/23, our best selling 1:18 replica for some time, for obvious reasons. Our first batch of World Championship presentations (D2008) will also be sent out shortly, once they have been made up.
Also through from Minichamps were restocks of their great value 1:18 car (AA90001) and 1:12 bike (PC120011) plastic base display cases, which we have been waiting some time for.
The other hot release was, once again, one of Universal Hobbies’ 1:16 tractors. It shouldn’t be a surprise anymore, that tractors outsell pretty much everything except Hamilton and Rossi, but it still never ceases to amaze me! This latest tractor is the Ford County Super-4 (J2787).
Our warehouse is going to have a busy weekend!
posted in Due Dates, Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
11th
December
2008
We received some 1:18 Kyosho examples today. I’m not sure if this means we will see them in time for Christmas, or if we will have to wait until early next year.
The first sample was of the fourth and last colourway of Kyosho’s Audi R8, red (KY9213R).
The other ‘biggie’ was the next racing variant of the Ferrari 575 GTC. It is the black #17 car that won the Donington Park round of the 2004 FIA GT Championship, in the hands of Karl Wendlinger and Jamie Melo (KY8393C).
Finally, there were the two Ferrari 250 GTOs that finished third at Le Mans in 1962 (KY8432B) and 1963 (KY8432C).
In other news, we supplied our January 2009 diecast catalogue to the printers today. This is scheduled land on your doorstep between Christmas and New Year.
posted in Due Dates, Diecast, Other Cars |
10th
December
2008
Today we received the signed Sebastien Loeb 1:18 Citroen C4 WRC replicas from Solido, which Jason got signed for us at last weekend’s Rally GB.
It was a real bonus that Solido got Loeb’s 2008 replica out just in time for the event, as we were able to get that signed as well as the 2007 replica!
The signed 2008 car (SL118015S) is a limited edition of just 50 examples worldwide. After fulfilling all of our pre-orders on the signed 2007 car (SL150713S), we have just ten pieces remaining. And, just to let you know, we have a mere two examples left of Loeb’s 2006 1:18 Citroen Xsara WRC (SS4419BS), which he signed for us at Rally GB last year.
That now makes it eight years in a row that we have had the World Rally Champion sign a 1:18 replica of his car for us!
We also received a pre-production sample shot from Minichamps today, of Valentino Rossi’s 1:12 2001 Honda RC211V summer test bike (PO17946). Hopefully that means we will see it early in 2009.
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Moto GP |
9th
December
2008
Today we received new deliveries from Minichamps and Spark.
There were two new 1:18 road card from Minichamps, the Bentley Brooklands in black (PG139600) and the Morris Minor Traveller in green (PG1379011).
Also released was the next 1:43 2008 Formula One car, Sebastien Bourdais’ Toro Rosso STR3 (DC28414). In fact, with Sebastian Vettel’s Toro Rosso (DC28415) and Kazuki Nakajima’s Williams (DC28408) both due next week, the only ‘regular’ 1:43 2008 F1 cars we will be waiting for in 2009 will be the two Hondas and the two Force Indias. I would never have believed that at the start of the year!
We also took delivery of the next 1:43 2008 DTM car, Ralf Schumacher’s Mercedes C-Class (P083711).
The highlights from Spark were their first 1:43 Formula One cars, Graham Hill’s 1962 BRM P57 (SPK1625) and Henri Pescarolo’s 1970 Matra MS120 (SPK1601). I was pleasantly surprised to see that they came with driver figures, and that Spark had even gone to the effort of featuring Graham Hill’s moustache on his driving figure!
posted in Due Dates, Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
8th
December
2008
Today we received the first part of Minichamps’ new delivery, which was dominated by Valentino Rossi’s 1:12 2002 Honda RC211V pre-season test bike (PO27946). As has become the norm with Rossi bikes recently, it is a limited edition of 9,999 pieces.
The other release was a re-release that we have been waiting about two years for, the 1:12 Vincent Black Shadow (P134500), so it’s good to have that back on our shelves after all this time.
We also received some 1:43 Mattel samples today. The most exciting one had to be Niki Lauda’s 1:43 1977 Ferrari 312 T2 (HW5581), a Formula One World Champion model that has proven very difficult to get hold of so far! I’m definitely grabbing one of those to fill one of the few gaps left in my F1 Champions collection!
The other 1:43 samples from Mattel were Chris Amon’s 1967 Ferrari 312 (HW5589), the Ferrari FXX Evoluzione (HW5584), and the Lamborghini Reventon (HW5582).
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
