17th
July
2009
Since Amalgam announced their 2009 Formula One subjects, we’ve had loads of requests for a 1:4 Brawn 2009 steering wheel, as it wasn’t included in the original offering. However, we are pleased to say that Amalgam have now confirmed a 1:4 Brawn 2009 steering wheel (AML930), as handled by Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello.
We also received a new release today, in the form of the Spark/Prodrive collaboration 2009 Aston Martin LMP1 Le Mans showcar (SPK2009LM), which is a limited edition of 4,000 pieces worldwide.
Finally today, check out our latest ‘Offer of the week’, where until 9am next Friday (24th July), all in-stock road cars will have 10% off. Simply enter the promotional code ROAD10 into the offer code box on the basket page, and hit the yellow validate button.
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
16th
July
2009
Today Sun Star announced a few new subjects in 1:18 scale, and one in 1:12 scale as well.
The 1:12 replica will be of the 1949 Volkswagen Beetle cabriolet, in red and black (SS5211).
From 1:18 there will be two modern rally subjects, and one classic one.
The two modern cars continue Sun Star’s love affair with the Ford Focus WRC. Both are 2008 examples, which are Francois Duval’s third place car from Rally Germany (SS3943), and Barry Clark’s version from Rally GB (SS3944).
The classic car will be Sun Star’s next Audi Quattro, Harald Demuth’s car from San Remo in 1982 (SS4196).
posted in Diecast, Other Cars |
15th
July
2009
Today we finally received our delivery of luxury display cases, that we have imported from Japan ourselves. If you want to really show off something from your collection, then look no further!
The most popular version has been the ‘extra large’ case (RC01). It is the largest display case we have ever marketed, and is the only one we have ever come across that can house Rossi figures sat atop their respective bikes! It can also fit two 1:12 cars.
Then we have two 1:12 motorbike display cases, one with a wooden base (RC02), which is best for displaying classic subjects, and one with a carbon fibre effect base (RC03), which is more appropriate for modern racing bikes.
For 1:18 cars we again have cases with wooden (RC04) and carbon fibre effect (RC05) bases. These can also fit three 1:12 bikes alongside each other if you so wish.
Finally, there is the 1:12 car display case with a wooden base (RC06), which can also house two 1:18 replicas.
We also received a new 1:18 release from CMC today, in the form of the plain red Ferrari Sharknose (CMC078). I have to admit that I thought that no-one would be interested in this given its release after the three racing versions, but I am very pleasantly surprised at the number that we had pre-sold. It seems that some people collect every CMC release whatever the subject, so enamoured are they with the levels of detail in their models. And why not!
posted in Uncategorized |
14th
July
2009
I told you not to expect much of a result from Raikkonen at the Nurburgring! Anyway, the big diecast news from that race was of course the special Nurburgring edition of Minichamps’ 1:43 Sebastian Vettel 2009 Red Bull showcar. It is a limited edition of just 1,000 pieces worldwide, compared to the 3,240 of the ‘standard’ release (DC29415P), which we hope to see released shortly. You can see the Nurburgring special in the third image.
We have acquired 12 examples of the Vettel Nurburgring special, but we’re not ones for putting things up at speculative prices on Ebay! So we’re going to operate a sort of lottery; when the standard Vettel showcar arrives, we are going to randomly add the 12 Nurburgring specials in with the delivery, so that a dozen lucky customers of ours will receive the more limited one instead, and not pay a penny extra for the privilege! You will have as much chance of ‘winning’ whether you pre-ordered months ago or only yesterday!
We received the new Minichamps delivery today, with the pre-sold out 1:12 Casey Stoner 2006 riding (PO60127) and 2007 celebration (PO70227) figures on it, as well as the very limited 1:43 Le Mans edition specials, of cars that have competed at the race. The highlights of these were definitely the McLaren F1 GTRs, which look absolutely stunning.
The other new release today was of the next 1:16 tractor from Universal Hobbies, one of our most popular ever, the Ford 7000 with cab (J2798).
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
13th
July
2009
First things first. Congratulations go to Mark Webber for securing his first Grand Prix win. I honestly can’t remember the last time a driver won a Grand Prix despite hitting TWO cars before the first corner, as well as suffering a drive-through penalty. Great stuff!
While we’re on the subject of Red Bull, Minichamps sent us some advanced samples of what we can expect to see released over the next month. We got a big surprise in the form of a 1:43 showcar, it was that of Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull (DC29415P). That’s the strongest indication that it is very, very close!
To follow on from the 1:43 Top Gear collection which Minichamps confirmed on Friday, they sent us the first releases in another of their latest road car collections; Linea Giallo (or Yellow Line to you and me). All the replicas featured will be limited to 2,009 pieces, and like with last year’s ‘White Line’ collection, they are quite a sight when they are all together. The five we received were the new Mercedes SL (P037530), the Porsche 911 (P066420), the BMW M3 coupe (P026320Y), the Porsche Cayman S (P065620) and finally the Jaguar XK cabriolet (P130530).
Last thing today was the most memorable thing today, as the 1:18 Jenson Button Honda RA106 first win (DC2612H) finally arrived with us. The standing figure is rather impressive, and so is the limited edition number, at just 2,792 pieces. Get yours while they last!
posted in Due Dates, Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
13th
July
2009
Welcome to the eighty second Leigh’s Diary Vidcast, which takes a bit of a ‘Miami Vice’ theme, except that it’s cold and we’re in Surrey instead! This is to commemorate the release of Mattel’s 1:18 model of the Ferrari Testarossa from the Miami Vice TV show. We look at new Pagani and Lamborghini models from Mondo Motors and we also get trapped by lots of display cases. Petter Solberg’s 2009 Citroen Xsara is also in the studio. New releases are provided by Mattel, Minichamps, Mondo and Sun Star.
Keep the comments rolling in. You’ll need quicktime installed to view the video on this post.
Leighs Diary Vidcast Episode 82 [10:00m]:
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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 Ferrari Testarossa White Miami Vice - Mattel Elite
1/18 Ferrari Enzo Red Charlies Angels 2 - Mattel Elite
1/18 Pagani Zonda F 2005 Grey - Mondo Motors
1/18 Pagani Zonda F 2005 White - Mondo Motors
1/18 Pagani Zonda F 2005 Orange - Mondo Motors
1/18 Lamborghini Estoque 2008 - Mondo Motors
1/12 Honda RC212V 2007 #1 N. Hayden - Minichamps
1/43 Williams FW11B F1 World Champion 1987 #6 N. Piquet - Minichamps
1/43 Porsche RS Spyder 1st Sebring 12hr 2008 #7 - Minichamps
1/43 BMW 6 Series Cabriolet 2006 Silver - Minichamps
1/43 Brawn Showcar 2009 #23 R. Barrichello - Minichamps
1/43 Renault Showcar 2009 #8 - Minichamps
1/43 Renault Showcar 2009 #7 - Minichamps
1/18 Citroen Xsara WRC 3rd Cyprus Rally 2009 #11 P. Solberg - Sun Star
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 |
10th
July
2009
Exactly what it says in the title really! Minichamps announced a new 1:43 Top Gear Power Lap range, in which six cars have been confirmed so far. They are the Porsche 911 GT3 (P436200), the Porsche Carrera GT (P436260), the McLaren Mercedes SLR (P433300), the Ford GT (P438420), the Aston Martin DBS (P431376) and the Lamborghini Gallardo (P431030).
Each replica will be limited to just 2,009 pieces and each will come complete with a 1:43 standing figure of who else but The Stig! Top work Minichamps!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars |
9th
July
2009
Today there were new Norev 1:18 announcements and new Spark 1:43 announcements.
For road cars, Norev confirmed the futuristic Citroen GT from the 2008 Paris Motor Show (NV181610), and from Formula One, they announced Nelson Piquet Jnr’s 2009 Renault R29 (DC2908NV). Let’s see if they go ahead and manufacture it this year, after cancelling the Brazilian’s 1:18 Renault last year!
Another interesting 1:18 replica from Norev will be the 2009 Le Mans LMP2 class winning Porsche RS Spyder (NV187537). They also announced their own 1:18 model of this year’s overall winning Peugeot 908 (NV184800), which of course was already confirmed by Minichamps a couple of weeks ago (PG091209).
Meanwhile, Spark announced some 1:43 Le Mans replicas from 2009, maybe stung into action by IXO confirming their own subjects on Monday.
I was expecting the entire field to be covered, as we have become used to from Spark in recent seasons, but instead just 20 replicas were confirmed, so just under half the entry.
Of course, the victorious Peugeot 908 has been announced as part of their Le Mans Winners collection (SPA43L009), as well as the LMP2 class winning Porsche RS Spyder (SPK1957), and the GT1 class winning Corvette C6R (SPK1528).
The one area where Spark have really marked themselves out from IXO with their Le Mans offerings is with their Porsche licence, so it has done both RS Spyders from LMP2 and all five 997 GT3 RSRs from the GT2 class.
I’m out of the office tomorrow and on Monday, as I go to my next Formula One race of the year, the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. On the last two occasions I’ve been to that circuit Raikkonen has failed to finish, so don’t bank on the Finn scoring a good result this time round, even before you consider that he doesn’t exactly have the most competitive car at his disposal this season!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
8th
July
2009
It was the turn of Minichamps and Mondo Motors to send us new deliveries today.
From Minichamps, we received the next subject in their 1:43 World Champions collection, Nelson Piquet’s 1987 Williams FW11 (P870006WC), as well as the next 1:12 2007 Honda RC212V, Nicky Hayden’s (PO71069). I won’t point out how we have received it ahead of Hayden’s 2006 Moto GP Championship winning Honda RC211V (PO61069)!
We also received the next three 1:43 2009 Formula One showcars; the two Renaults of Fernando Alonso (DC29407P) and Nelson Piquet Jnr (DC29408P), and the Brawn of Rubens Barrichello (DC29423P). The latter is a sell-out on release with the importer, and is a limited edition of just 1,152 pieces.
Mondo Motors surprised us with their delivery of not one, not two, but three colourways of their 1:18 Pagani Zonda F! I was expecting it in grey (MD50092G) and white (MD50092W), but not in orange as well (MD50092O)!
The other new release from them was of Lamborghini’s new four door car, the Estoque (MD50095).
The last bit of news is about our next issue of ‘Diecast Monthly’. It’s not due to hit your doormats until this weekend, but it can be viewed online as of now! Click here to get to it, then just turn the pages!
posted in Uncategorized |
