Leigh’s Diecast Diary

Today we received our latest signed replica into stock, which is Carl Fogarty’s 1:12 1990 Isle Of Man TT winning Honda RC30 from Universal Hobbies (UH88032S).

This is the third signed 1:12 Fogarty bike that has been available from us, following on from the now sold out Minichamps 1:12 WSB Ducatis from 1999 and 2000. His Minichamps 1994 (P941202S) and 1995 (P951201S) WSB Ducatis are also available to pre-order from us signed, but we will probably not see those released this year.

The other bit of news today was Mattel confirming their ‘new for 2009’ roadgoing Ferrari replicas. These were announced at the beginning of the year as F142s, but have now been confirmed as the 458 Italia. Red is currently confirmed in 1:18 (HW9893) and 1:43 (HW9953), while a further two colours ‘to be announced’ are available to pre-order in both scales as well, with all six examples due for release in spring 2010.

I’ll give you one guess as to what we had umpteen phone calls and e-mail requests about today! That’s right, Michael Schumacher ‘Comeback’ specials for the 2009 European Grand Prix at Valencia!

I don’t think anything will be announced before the race itself, which annoyingly is still over three weeks away, but I can’t see Mattel or Red Line letting Schumacher’s comeback go by without some sort of model commemorating it. And as soon as anything is confirmed, it will be given pride of place on our website!

We also received the new Spark delivery today. The two highlights are their next two 1:43 classic Formula One cars, Graham Hill’s 1973 Shadow DN1 (SPK1683) and Ivan Capelli’s 1988 Leyton House (SPK1651).

Today Minichamps announced the 2009 DTM Mercedes C-Classes in 1:43 scale. It’s a little odd that they haven’t announced the Audis as well, but hopefully these will be announced later.

Anyway, that’s the cars of current championship leader Gary Paffett (P093910), Bruno Spengler (P093909), Ralf Schumacher (P093904), Paul di Resta (P093903), Mattias Lauda (P093817), Maro Engel (P093816), Susie Stoddart (P093808), and Jamie Green (P093807).

Traditionally Minichamps get their DTM replicas out quite quickly, presumably giving them priority because it is a predominantly German championship, so we could well see all these released by Christmas.

We also received the next 1:12 motorbike replica from WIT’s, which is their Suzuki Katana (WH003). As with the other WIT’s bikes we have offered, we have imported this model into the country ourselves, so you will not find it available from anyone else!

Welcome to the eighty forth Leigh’s Diary Vidcast. With a little help from his Friends, Leigh guides us through another hefty bout of new releases from the diecast world. This week we have a car driven by Pooky (?), the guys play a mean trick on Charlie and we also feature a VERY big bridge…..see for yourself! New releases this week are provided by Minichamps, Solido and Spark.

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

 

 Leighs Diary Vidcast Episode 84 [8:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (263)

You can also view this podcast on youtube by clicking here

The replicas featured on this weeks podcast are;

1/12 MV Agusta F4 Tamburini - Minichamps
1/12 Ducati 900SS 1st Isle Of Man 1978 #12 M. Hailwood - Minichamps
1/43 Porsche 911 Carrera 2008 Linea Giallo - Minichamps
1/43 Mercedes SL 2008 Linea Giallo - Minichamps
1/43 Opel Manta GT/E 1974 Silver - Minichamps
1/2 Ayrton Senna Helmet 1988 - Minichamps
1/18 Alfa Romeo GTA 1300 Junior Jarama 1972 #35 - Minichamps
1/18 Audi R8 2007 Suzuka Grey - Kyosho
1/18 BMW M6 Coupe 2005 White - Kyosho
1/18 Citroen C4 RC 2008 #1 S. Loeb - Solido
1/43 Dunlop Bridge Le Mans - Spark
1/43 Lotus 25 British Grand Prix 1963 #5 T. Taylor - Spark
1/43 Shadow DN1 Spanish Grand Prix 1973 #20 G. Follmer - Spark (SOLD OUT)
1/43 Matra MS120B French Grand Prix 1971 #20 C. Amon - Spark (SOLD OUT)
1/43 Aston Martin LMP1 Showcar 2009 #009 - Spark
1/43 Fiat Jolly Blue - Spark
1/43 Embassy WF01 Le Mans 2008 #45 - Spark

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.

What an exciting Moto GP at Donington Park! I’ve already pre-ordered my Minichamps 1:12 Andrea Dovizioso 2009 Honda RC212V (PO91104)!

Today we received new deliveries from IXO and Norev.

From IXO one of the most popular subjects we have ever seen from them is the 1:43 Austin 7 Royal Mail van (CLC178). Other new 1:43 releases from them are Sebastien Loeb’s winning Citroen C4 WRC from this year’s Cyprus Rally (RAM354), and Sebastien Ogier’s 2009 Monte Carlo winning Peugeot 207 (RAM353).

Meanwhile, we also took delivery of several new 1:18 replicas from Norev. The highlights here are the Renault 5 GT Mk.I in white (NV185200), the #34 Porsche RS Spyder that won the LMP2 class at Le Mans in 2008 (NV187528), and the Citroen DS19 cabriolet in blue (NV181560).

By the way, you can click here for the latest Leigh’s Diary diecast webcast on Youtube, with a Friends style intro this week! We’ve had a few issues with the Quicktime version, which should also be uploaded soon.

With the British Moto GP this weekend at Donington Park, Minichamps picked the perfect day to announce their 2009 1:12 Moto GP subjects!

As with the 2008 grid, all four Yamaha YZR-M1s will be replicated, so that’s Valentino Rossi (PO93046), Jorge Lorenzo (PO93048), James Toseland (PO93052), and Colin Edwards (PO93005).

Then there will be all four Ducati Desmosedicis, of Casey Stoner (PO90027), Nicky Hayden (PO90069), Mika Kallio (PO90036), and Niccolo Canepa (PO90088), and the two Repsol Honda RC212Vs of Dani Pedrosa (PO91103) and Andrea Dovizioso (PO91104).

Kyosho also released one of their most popular 2009 subjects today, the 1:18 green and yellow Prisoner replica Caterham Super 7 (KY8223GY).

I’m not in the office on Monday as I’m going to Donington for the Moto GP and staying up there for another day, but as usual my assistant Sean will fill in for me in the event of any breaking diecast news!

Today Solido released their second 1:18 replica of Sebastien Loeb’s 2008 Citroen C4 WRC (SL118055), after the original version sold out very soon after release. This new model is specifically from the Rally of Corsica.

BBR also announced three new very highly detailed 1:18 replicas of the Ferrari Enzo. These will be matt black with a gloss black stripe (BBR029), red with black wheels (BBR030), and the last Enzo that was produced, the one that was donated to the Vatican (BBR031).

Today we received a Mattel sample of the next subject in their 1:18 Ferrari ‘Stars’ collection. It is by far the most popular release in the series, which is Steve McQueen’s Ferrari 250 Berlinetta (HW9912). This should mean that we will see it released in the very near future.

There are also some new releases from Amalgam to tell you about. Now available are Jenson Button’s 2009 Brawn BGP001, which is specifically his car from the Monaco Grand Prix (AML902), Mario Andretti’s 1978 Lotus 79 (AML910), which unusually for an Amalgam has a removable engine cover, and finally, the massive 1:5 2009 Ferrari F60, for either Felipe Massa (AML931) or Kimi Raikkonen (AML932). These cost a little more than the aforementioned McQueen Ferrari!

It was Spark’s turn today to bless us with a new delivery!

The one item dominating the shipment was the 1:43 Le Mans Dunlop bridge (SPA43A001), measuring a massive 117cm in length! It also usefully comes with a bracket so you can hang it on your wall if you like!

In terms of 1:43 cars to place underneath that bridge, we also received one of our most popular 2008 Le Mans cars, the #45 Zytek WF01 of Hughes, Kane and Foster (SPK1485).

Away from Le Mans, Spark have released a couple more classic Formula One cars too, notably Trevor Taylor’s Lotus 25 from the 1963 British Grand Prix (SPK1611), and Chris Amon’s Matra MS120B from the 1971 French Grand Prix (SPK1603).

We started the week in the best possible way, with the new Minichamps delivery!

It contained two of our best sellers of 2009; the 1:2 Ayrton Senna 1988 helmet (P883212), and Sebastian Vettel’s 2009 Red Bull showcar (DC29415P). Good luck to those of you who have pre-ordered the Vettel car; you may just end up with the more exclusive Nurburgring edition instead!

Also on the delivery were the 1:12 MV Agusta F4 Tamburini (P121700), and a re-release of one of our most popular ever 1:12 Minichamps bikes; Mike Hailwood’s 1978 Ducati 900SS from the Isle of Man TT (P781212).

Bring on the rest of the week if it carries on like today!