31st
March
2009
Today we received the new Minichamps schedule, which covers the next five weeks. And there’s a real belter on the last week of it!
First things first though; next week we will see Casey Stoner’s 1:12 2007 Moto GP championship winning Ducati Desmosedici (PO70027).
The following week we will see the two 1:12 2007 Tech 3 Moto GP Yamahas of Makoto Tamada (PO73006) and Sylvain Guintoli (PO73050).
The middle week of the schedule, for the week beginning 19th April, we will see Loris Capirossi’s 1:12 2007 Ducati (PO70065), and the four 1:43 2007 WTCC BMWs of Andy Priaulx (P072601), Jorg Muller (P072602), Augusto Farfus (P072603), and Alessandro Zanardi (P072604).
Things go a bit quiet for the fourth week of the schedule, in anticipation for the first week of May, when we will finally see the 1:43 Jenson Button First Win special, from the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix (DC26412H)! That will only be three months short of three years since it was originally announced! We also hope to see the 1:18 version (DC2612H) follow shortly in June.
We will also see Roberto Rolfo’s 1:12 2007 Honda Fireblade (PO71244) released in the first week of May. I was going to say that James Toseland’s example (PO71252) should follow shortly, but then remembered that on the 27th February 2008 we saw Dani Pedrosa’s 2006 Honda RC211V released (PO61026), and over a year later are still waiting to see his team-mate Nicky Hayden (PO61069)! So I’m not making any assumptions on that!
We now know the specifics of the Minichamps price rise that will take effect on Thursday. Their 1:12 classic bikes will be going up to £79.99, and their 1:12 Rossi bikes will be going up to £54.99.
On four wheels, all road cars will be coming in at £26.99 and all race cars at £34.99. Most 1:18 replicas will be going up by £5 each.
So, order any in-stock Minichamps replica from us by Thursday and you will beat this latest price increase. We are also offering all in-stock Minichamps replicas with free postage until Thursday morning. Just type MINPNP into the offer code box and hit validate to take advantage of it (please note that if you add non-in-stock Minichamps items to the basket then you will be charged postage on those).
posted in Due Dates, Diecast, Other Cars, Moto GP, Formula 1 |
30th
March
2009
Let me start by saying that as soon as we hear anything about Brawn GP Formula One replicas, we will have the information on our website! Can you guess what the majority of queries we have received today have been about?!
It was a great race yesterday (Finnish driven Ferraris hitting walls notwithstanding!), and it looks like we have a very competitive season ahead of us.
There’s a cancellation and a few new announcements to report today.
The cancellation is unfortunately Solido’s 1:18 replica of the new-shape Subaru Impreza WRC (SL118030), as that had proven quite popular amongst all our rally collectors. Maybe the lack of a works team is the reason for that one, although I’m sure we would have sold a good number of say a Marcus Gronholm 2009 Rally Portugal version.
The new announcements were from Minichamps. The most exciting one is definitely Bruno Senna’s 1:43 2009 Mercedes DTM test car (P093800). The other new subjects were the two 2008 Honda RC212Vs of Randy de Puniet (PO81015) and Shinya Nakano (PO81056). It would be good to see Andrea Dovizioso replicated too, as he has built up quite a following in Moto GP.
posted in Due Dates, Diecast, Other Cars, Moto GP, Formula 1 |
30th
March
2009
Welcome to the seventy first Leigh’s Diary Vidcast. The Diecast Dogs introduce Michael Madsen’s Cadillac from Reservoir Dogs, Blake Farringdon makes a return for the Diecast Legends Model Of The Month, and the team offer their predictions for the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. New releases this week are from Jada, Mattel and Minichamps. Keep the comments rolling in. You’ll need quicktime installed to view the video on this post.
Leighs Diary Vidcast Episode 71 [5:54m]:
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You can also view this podcast on youtube by clicking here
The replicas featured on this weeks podcast are;
1/18 Cadillac Coup De Ville Reservoir Dogs - Jada
1/18 Ferrari F2008 1st Spanish Grand Prix 2008 #1 K. Raikkonen - Mattel
1/18 Ferrari F2008 1st Turkish Grand Prix 2008 #2 F. Massa - Mattel (SOLD OUT)
1/43 Ferrari 553 F1 1st Spanish Grand Prix 1954 #38 M. Hawthorn - Mattel Elite
1/43 Ferrari 412TB 1st German Grand Prix 1994 #28 G. Berger - Mattel Elite
1/18 Peugeot 908 HDI FAP Le Mans 2007 #7 Gene/Minassian/Villeneuve - Minichamps
1/18 Audi TT Cabriolet 2006 Blue - Minichamps
1/43 Ford Escort MkII RS1800 DRM 1976 #33 A. Hahne - Minichamps
1/43 BMW Z8 1999 Grey/Cream - Minichamps
1/18 Bugatti Royale Coupe De Ville 1937 - Bauer
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.
posted in Podcast, Due Dates, Diecast, Other Cars, Moto GP, Formula 1 |
27th
March
2009
I really shouldn’t have got up at 1:30 this morning to watch the F1 free practice from Melbourne. At least, I should have had the foresight to book the day off beforehand! And there’s no way that anyone would believe that I was ‘ill’ on the Friday of the first Formula One race weekend of the season!
Anyway, fortunately things haven’t been too hectic here today, so I’ve been able to get some kip in between my Twittering!
Oxford Diecast announced a handful of new subjects today. I imagine the most popular new announcement will be the Queen Mother’s Daimler DS420 (OXF017). You can click here to see the rest of Oxford’s new announcements.
Everyone enjoy the Australian Grand Prix, and here’s to a season of great racing, with just the one diffuser illegality court case!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
26th
March
2009
Today we received Mattel’s two 1:18 Ferrari F2008 specials, one for Kimi Raikkonen from the Spanish Grand Prix (DC2801B), and one for Felipe Massa from the Turkish Grand Prix (DC2802T). The Raikkonen special is limited to 3,333 pieces, the Massa one to 3,000. Just to confirm, the Massa special is a sell-out to pre-orders.
We also received Jada’s 1:18 replica of the Reservoir Dogs Cadillac, complete with Mr.Blonde figure, as played by Michael Madsen (JA91421).
The last bit of news today is an advance image from AUTOart, of the second colourway of their Lamborghini Espada, in blue (AA74502).
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
25th
March
2009
Just when you thought the price rises were all over, we had one from Mattel today. It mainly affects the subjects that were announced in 2008 that have not been released yet. For example, the Raikkonen 1:18 2008 Spanish Grand Prix special (DC2801B) will now cost £89.99.
There were also a couple of quirky new replicas announced by Spark. Both are of the famous Le Mans Dunlop bridge, one in 1:43 (SPA43A001), and one in 1:87 (SPA87A001).
posted in Diecast, Formula 1 |
24th
March
2009
Today seemed to be Cancellation Day! Mattel cancelled their 1:18 Gianni Agnelli Ferrari 166MM (HW9916), Norev cancelled their Nelson Piquet Renault R28s in 1:18 (DC2806) and 1:43 (DC28406NV), and Minichamps cancelled their 1:43 David Piper 1970 Porsche 917K (P706759)!
We also heard that there will be no new Minichamps delivery at all next week, and hopefully will have the release schedule for the four weeks after that by the end of this week.
We did have this week’s Minichamps delivery though, headlined by the #7 Peugeot 908 from the 2007 Le Mans 24 Hours (PG071207). In 1:43 we received Armin Hahne’s 1976 DRM Ford Escort (P768433).
We also had to do some product code swapping after the FIA helpfully switched round Kimi Raikkonen’s, Felipe Massa’s, Sebastien Buemi’s and Sebastien Bourdais’ race numbers on the eve of the new F1 season! If, for example, you have pre-ordered a Felipe Massa 1:18 Ferrari F60, you will still get one, but the code will have changed!
posted in Diecast, Formula 1 |
23rd
March
2009
Fortunately Mattel sent us a couple of 1:43 samples today, otherwise I would be really struggling to think of something to write in today’s entry!
They are two of their forthcoming 1:43 Formula One Ferraris; Mike Hawthorn’s winning 553 from the 1954 Spanish Grand Prix (HW5586), and Gerhard Berger’s winning 412 T1 from the 1994 German Grand Prix (HW5583). This should mean that we will see them released shortly.
posted in Due Dates, Diecast, Formula 1 |
20th
March
2009
Today it was confirmed that we will see Mattel’s 1:18 Kimi Raikkonen Spanish Grand Prix special (DC2801B) and Felipe Massa Turkish Grand Prix special (DC2802T) next week. Surprisingly, the Massa special is already a sell-out to pre-orders, probably a legacy of Massa not starting last season as strongly as Raikkonen did.
Meanwhile, Norev announced a new 1:18 replica, in the form of the 2009 Peugeot 908 presentation car (NV184796).
Finally, I can confirm that this year’s GPL diecast warehouse sale will take place on Saturday 25th April. We will once again be slashing prices on end of line diecast to be rid of them forever, and there will be our now famous section of damaged models and good models with damaged boxes.
Every customer on the day will also receive a free 1:72 rally car, and there will be free tea and coffee available, plus cakes available to buy in aid of a Romanian orphan charity that one of our members of staff is supporting.
Hope to see you there!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
