Leigh’s Diecast Diary

Today we finally received what so many of you have been waiting for for so long, the 1:43 Jenson Button First Win special from the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix (DC26412H)! It comes with race-specific aero pieces and a separate standing driver figure, and is limited to 7,344 pieces worldwide. This is the one and only shipment of this replica, so once we have fulfilled our pre-orders, that is the only stock we will have left. Once that’s gone, that’s it!

Meanwhile, Yat Ming announced two of the best value for money replicas I have ever seen. They are both 1:43 scale, and are of the ‘Eleanor’ Shelby GT500E from ‘Gone In Sixty Seconds’ (YM43202), and Steve McQueen’s famous Ford Mustang GT from ‘Bullitt’ (YM43207). It’s not a typo, they really are just £14.99 each!

IXO announced four new 1:43 rally replicas today. The highlight is Sebastien Loeb’s 2009 Citroen C4 from the Cyprus Rally, with its revised paint job (RAM354). Yes, of course he won it!

Also announced were Sebastien Ogier’s 2009 Monte Carlo winning Peugeot 207 (RAM353), and two cars from Monte Carlo 2008; Henning Solberg’s Ford Focus (RAM305) and Conrad Rautenbach’s Citroen Xsara (RAM310).

We received the new Minichamps and Spark delivery today, and it’s fair to say it’s been a quieter week from the former!

Their highlight is Christian Albers’ 1:43 2008 DTM Audi (P089621), although, like all of our Minichamps 2008 DTM cars, it is sold out to pre-orders.

Spark had some good 1:43 subjects on the delivery such as Derek Warwick’s 1991 Jaguar XJR15 (SPK771), and the Caparo T1 in black (SPK639).

The next Minichamps delivery will be much more exciting, as it will at long last have the Jenson Button 1:43 ‘First Win special’ (DC26412H) from the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix on it!

Welcome to the seventy forth Leigh’s Diary Vidcast. IXO, Minichamps, SMTS and Spark provide the new diecast models this week and we also catch some footage from the Grand Prix Legends warehouse sale.

Keep the comments rolling in. You’ll need quicktime installed to view the video on this post.

 

 Leighs Diary Vidcast Episode 74 [5:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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The replicas featured on this weeks podcast are;

1/43 Ferrari F92A French Grand Prix 1992 #27 J. Alesi - IXO
1/43 Bentley Sport 3.0L 1st Le Mans 1927 #3 Davis/Benjafield - IXO
1/43 Ford Focus WRC 1st Monza Rally 2006 #46 V. Rossi - IXO
1/43 Lotus 49 1st Dutch Grand Prix 1967 #5 J. Clark - SMTS
1/43 Lotus 49 1st South African Grand Prix 1968 #4 J. Clark - SMTS
1/43 BMW 320Si WTCC 2007 #1 A. Priaulx - Minichamps
1/43 BMW 320Si WTCC 2007 #2 J. Muller - Minichamps (SOLD OUT)
1/43 BMW 320Si WTCC 2007 #3 A. Farfus - Minichamps
1/43 BMW 320Si WTCC 2007 #4 A. Zanardi - Minichamps
1/43 Alfa Romeo Spider Edizione 2008 White - Minichamps
1/43 Mercedes 500E 1990 Metallic Black - Minichamps (SOLD OUT)
1/43 Audi TT 2006 Metallic Dark Blue - Minichamps (SOLD OUT)
1/43 BMW M3 2008 Black - Minichamps
1/43 Mercedes 300SE Lang Black - Minichamps (SOLD OUT)
1/43 Citroen C4 WRC Monte Carlo Rally 2008 #2 D. Sordo - IXO (SOLD OUT)
1/43 Toyota Celica GT4 Corsica Rally 1991 #15 M. Duez - IXO
1/43 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII Rally Of New Zealand 2005 #32 X. Pons - IXO
1/43 Subaru Impreza WRC 2nd Rally Of Greece 2008 #5 P. Solberg - IXO (SOLD OUT)
1/43 Ford Focus WRC Monte Carlo Rally 2008 #4 J-M. Latvala - IXO
1/43 Mercedes SL500 1990 White - IXO
1/43 Ford Taunus 1981 Metallic Green - IXO (SOLD OUT)
1/43 Talbot Matra Murena 1981 Metallic Green - IXO
1/43 Renault 25 Pse 1 1986 Metallic Bordeaux - IXO
1/43 Dauer 962 1st Le Mans 1994 #36 - Spark
1/43 Porsche 962C Le Mans 1989 #14 - Spark
1/43 Porsche 962C Le Mans 1990 #10 - Spark
1/43 Porsche 911 Turbo S 1st Zhuhai 1994 - #86 - Spark
1/43 Porsche 961 Presentation 1986 - Spark
1/12 Ducati Desmosedici GP7 2007 #67 L. Capirossi - Minichamps

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Today Jason returned from his Australian travels to bring in our very first Casey Stoner signed 1:12 Minichamps bikes. These are his 2007 Moto GP Championship winning Ducati Desmosedici (PO70027S), and also his first bike in the top class, his 2006 Honda RC211V (PO61027S). We have less than 30 pieces remaining of each after fulfilling our pre-orders, so don’t leave it too long if you haven’t yet got yours!

We also received the new Minichamps release schedule today, which was a bit of a surprise as there is still a week to run on the previous one! Once again, the bike subjects overshadow the four-wheel releases.

The week beginning 11th May is a little quiet, the highlight being the 1:43 1973 Le Mans winning Matra of Henri Pescarolo and Gerard Larrouse (P731111).

The following week we will see one of the longest waiting replicas of all time, the 1:18 1998 McLaren MP4-98T two-seater (PG981878)! There will also be the two 1:12 2007 Moto GP Honda RC212Vs of Toni Elias (PO71024) and Marco Melandri (PO71033).

The week after that, beginning 25th May, we see a real ‘biggie’, James Toseland’s 1:12 2007 World Superbike Championship winning Honda Fireblade (PO71252). This is also available signed of course (PO71252S), and we hope to be able to meet up with James to complete the signing soon after we receive the replica.

The last week of the schedule sees a ‘really big biggie’ released, when we will at last see Valentino Rossi’s 2007 Yamaha YZR-M1 from Assen (PO73096)! The number of pre-orders we have for that, our warehouse staff better make sure they have three Weetabix for breakfast before coming in to get all those shipped out!

After three days of trawling through our warehouse, going through all the damages, discounting our end-of-line replicas, and finding models that weren’t even on our system(!), our diecast warehouse sale is finally ready to rumble at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning! I hope to see you there! Right now I’m knackered, so I’m going to get an early night in preparation for tomorrow!

Today Minichamps announced the Chinese Grand Prix Red Bull ‘First Win’ specials. As expected, there will be 1:18 and 1:43 cars for both Sebastian Vettel (DC2915C and DC29415C) and Mark Webber (DC2914C and DC29414C), along with a 1:43 two-car set (DC29415C2). We can also offer the 1:18 Vettel car signed (DC2915CS).

Also announced, which we were not expecting, were ‘standard’ 1:18 replicas of the Red Bull RB5s of Webber (DC2914) and Vettel (DC2915), and the Toro Rosso STR4s of Sebastien Bourdais (DC2911) and Sebastien Buemi (DC2912).

I’ve spent all of today in our warehouse, going through box after box of damages, pricing models up for Saturday’s diecast warehouse sale!

On the back of the success of their first 1:18 Bugatti Royale, Bauer have now confirmed another three variants of it. There will be one in red (BA002) and one in beige (BA003), and one of the separate chassis as well (BA004). However, the prices have gone up substantially; the bodyshell cars will be £444.99, while the chassis will be £309.99.

Today we received two new 1:43 white metal replicas from SMTS. Both are Jim Clark Lotus 49s. The first is of his famous win in the 1967 Dutch Grand Prix (SMTS077). The second is of his last ever Formula One victory, in the 1968 South African Grand Prix (SMTS078), which was held on New Year’s Day!

By the way, we have just started a new thread on our forum, about sealed bodyshell replicas versus replicas with opening parts. A couple of the diecast manufacturers have asked us to start it so they can see what the consensus of collectors’ opinions is. You can click here to join the debate!

Another Grand Prix, another team’s first win and a 1-2 finish to boot! What are the odds on Toyota getting a 1-2 in Bahrain?! As ever, as soon as anything is confirmed in the way of Red Bull Chinese Grand Prix specials, they will be on the website, mentioned in the diary, Twittered…..in fact, there will be no way you can miss them!

We received the new Minichamps delivery today. It had all four 1:43 2007 WTCC BMW 320Sis on it, headlined by that year’s champion Andy Priaulx (P072601). The order cars were for Jorg Muller (P072602), Augusto Farfus (P072603) and Alex Zanardi (P072604).

There was also the next 1:12 2007 Moto GP bike, Loris Capirossi’s Ducati Desmosedici (PO70065).

Spark and IXO also released the next subjects in their respective 1:43 Le Mans Winners collections; Spark gave us the 1994 Dauer Porsche 962 of Baldi, Dalmas and Haywood (SPA43L094), while IXO delivered the 1927 Bentley Sport of Davis and Benjafield (LM1927).