Leigh’s Diecast Diary

Luckily I was working today, as yesterday evening Minichamps announced a UK market exclusive 1:12 Nicky Hayden 2009 Ducati from the Laguna Seca Moto GP, where he had a special American flag inspired paint job.

The big news though is that it is limited to just 609 pieces, which we are sure is the smallest limited edition ever for a Minichamps race bike. The infamous Spencer and Doohan test bikes were limited to just 504 each, and were pre-sold out within two days of putting them on our website.

This will probably be sold out with the Minichamps UK importer within an hour of them opening for business on Monday. I just wanted to let diary readers know immediately so you can get your pre-orders in safely and be at the front of the queue when it is released.

We are offering this Nicky Hayden 2009 Laguna Seca Ducati Desmosedici unsigned (PO90169) and signed (PO90169S).

We are having to limit customers to two each of these replicas because supply is going to be so tight, but if you are that way inclined you could get away with ordering two unsigned and two signed if you wish!

And by the way, we have now sold out of the Minichamps 1:12 Valentino Rossi 2007 Valencia paddock bike (PO73176)!

Today we had so many new deliveries, you could barely move in our warehouse!

Minichamps were up first, with the hottest selling Valentino Rossi release in years, his 1:12 2007 Valencia paddock bike (PO73176). As we now only have very tiny numbers remaining, it can no longer be ordered through our website, but you can still phone us on 0844 887 8888 to secure yours. If you’re very quick!

Also released were two new 1:12 Valentino Rossi figures, the 1998 Aprilia riding version which comes complete with a wheelie stand (P980056), and the 2003 knee down riding figure from Valencia with the Austin Powers livery (PO30186).

Finally on the Minichamps delivery there was Sebastian Vettel’s 1:43 2009 Red Bull RB5 (DC29415). Interestingly, this is listed as ‘sold out’ on Minichamps’ website, so I don’t know how much longer this is going to be available.

This was closely followed by the new Mattel delivery, which had Kimi Raikkonen’s 1:18 2009 Ferrari F60 (DC2904) and Felipe Massa’s 1:43 2009 Ferrari F60 (DC29403) on it.

Then we had the 1:6 Ayrton Senna statue from the 1993 Japanese Grand Prix (AS1993F), and on the last delivery of the day, from AUTOart, we finally received the 1:18 Koenigsegg CCX in black (AA79002)! It looks fantastic, especially with the doors opening as they do on the real car!

Kyosho were very busy today, announcing several new subjects that we should see in early 2010.

The most exciting replicas are the 1:18 1959 Morris Mini Minors, including the first ever production Mini in white (KY8105W). The other colourway is red (KY8105R).

Kyosho also announced two new 1:18 Le Mans Ferrari 250 GTO cars. They are both from the 1963 running of the race, and are of the #25 car that finished fourth (KY8434A), and the #20 car (KY8434B).

Finally in 1:18, Kyosho have also announced two colourways of the Audi R8 V10; metallic black (KY9216BK), and silver (KY9216S).

There were also some new 1:43 announcements from Kyosho, in the form of three Nissan R390 GT1s from the 1998 Le Mans 24 Hours. These are the #30 (KY03421A), #31 (KY03421B) and #32 (KY03421C) cars.

In terms of new releases, Amalgam today released their latest 2009 Formula One nosecone replica, of the BMW F1.09 (AML927). As with the Brawn version (AML924), the race number is too high up the car to feature on the nosecone replica, so you can happily buy it regardless of whether you are a Robert Kubica or a Nick Heidfeld fan!

The last bit of news today is that we’ve had a day’s delay on AUTOart’s long-awaited 1:18 Koenigsegg CCX in black (AA79002), so we will now see that tomorrow instead.

The exciting news today was that we had the limited edition number confirmed for the Minichamps 1:12 Valentino Rossi 2007 Valencia paddock bike (PO73176). It is only 3,999 pieces!

This is easily the smallest confirmed limited edition there has ever been for a Minichamps Rossi bike. How ironic that a replica of a motorbike that Valentino didn’t actually ride will probably turn out to be one of the most sought after in the Minichamps Rossi collection!

The replica is due with us on Friday. We only have a tiny number left of our allocation before we will be sold out. Make haste!

Today we received a new 1:43 Stirling Moss white metal replica from SMTS, his Maserati 250F that he drove to victory in the 1956 Monaco Grand Prix (SMTS090).

We also received images of Minichamps’ 1:43 replica of Sebastian Vettel’s 2009 Red Bull RB5 (DC29415), which is due with us in the next week or so.

Another more imminent arrival is AUTOart’s 1:18 Koenigsegg CCX in black (AA79002), which we now hope to see in our warehouse on Thursday! Can’t wait!

Today we received the new Minichamps delivery, and it was one of the most exciting ones we have seen from them in a while.

First up is the new 1:12 Valentino Rossi riding figure, from Phillip Island in 2007 (PO70196). It is a limited edition of just 2,599 pieces, and is an instant sell-out with the Minichamps UK importer, so it won’t be around for long.

Then from Formula One we have the two 1:18 1978 Lotus 79s, of Mario Andretti (PG780005) and Ronnie Peterson (PG780006). The Andretti version will also be available signed (PG780005S) in a few weeks.

Then in 1:43 there are the first three subjects in Minichamps’ Top Gear collection, all with standing Stig figures; the Porsche 911 GT3 RS (P436200), the Porsche Carrera GT (P436260), and the Ford GT (P438420).

Finally today, we have had news that Minichamps’ forthcoming Brawn replicas will be extremely limited, and will be instant sell-outs with the UK importer when they are released across December and January.

Apparently the same thing has happened with them as with the Rossi 2007 Valencia paddock bike (PO73176), where everyone estimated quite low predicted sales figures when they were first announced, only to see demand soar subsequently. The Brawns have caught everyone out because at the start of the year no-one imagined that they would actually go on to win both championships!

There was also the confusion over the ‘late season’ cars, which put people off ordering them, which then turned out to be generic 2009 cars, and have today been confirmed as specifically from the British Grand Prix. For Jenson’s 1:18 car (DC2922), the limited edition has been confirmed as less than 4,000 pieces, while supply will also be short on the 1:43 version (DC29422) as well.

We understand that the 1:18 Jenson Button Australian GP special (DC2922A) will be limited to just 4,146 pieces, so this one will also sell out very quickly. As for all the 1:43 cars (click here to see all of Minichamps’ Brawn replicas), we don’t have any limited edition numbers on these yet, but we believe the story will be the same again.

Therefore, you should really pre-order soon to ensure that you get what you want!

Welcome to the Diecast Legends Podcast, which brings you the latest releases in the world of diecast models. The first Ferrari 2009 Formula One replica makes an appearance this week, along with other new releases from Mattel, Minichamps, Spark and Sun Star.

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

 

 Diecast Legends Podcast - 26/10/2009 [6:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (181)

You can also view this podcast on youtube by clicking here

The replicas featured on this weeks podcast are;

1/18 Ferrari F60 2009 #3 F. Massa - Mattel Elite
1/18 Ferrari 550 Barchetta 2000 Black - Mattel Elite
1/18 BMW M3 GTR 2001 Orange - Minichamps
1/18 Opel GT/J 1971 White - Minichamps
1/43 Bentley Continental Supersports 2009 Metallic Light Grey - Minichamps
1/43 Ford Model T 1914 Black - Minichamps
1/43 Ford Escort Cosworth 1992 Grey - Minichamps
1/43 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet 2008 Brown - Minichamps
1/43 Ford Ka Quantum Of Solace James Bond Collection - Minichamps
1/43 BRM P57 Monaco Grand Prix 1963 #5 R. Ginther - Spark
1/43 Matra Simca MS670B 1st Le Mans 1973 #11 - Spark
1/43 Peugeot 205 T16 Monte Carlo Rally 1985 #8 B. Saby - Spark
1/43 9FF GT9 2008 Blue - Spark
1/43 Mini Wagon 1960 Green - Spark
1/43 Porsche 356A Carrera 1600GS Cabriolet Beige - Spark
1/12 Morris Minor Traveller 1956 Dark Green - Sun Star
1/12 Volkswagen Beetle Saloon 1949 Black - Sun Star
1/12 Volkswagen Kombi 1957 Woodstock - Sun Star
1/18 Citroen Xsara WRC 2nd Rally Of Germany 2007 #6 F. Duval - Sun Star
1/18 Citroen Xsara WRC 3rd Cyprus Rally 2009 #11 P. Solberg - Sun Star
1/18 Ford Escort MkII 1st Acropolis Rally 1980 #10 A. Vatanen - Sun Star
1/18 Ford Escort RS1600i 1984 Sunburst Red - 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 the podcast. Please feel free to leave any comments on what you thought of it or anything you would like us to feature in future shows below.

Today we received Universal Hobbies’ latest 1:16 tractor, the Ford County 654 (J2826).

We were also quite surprised to discover that we have no less than 250 replicas currently in stock where we only have one example remaining of each before they are sold out!

So, to try and clear some warehouse space, our latest offer of the week is 10% off all these ‘last chance saloon’ replicas. Simpy type LCSTEN into the promotional code box at the basket page. You can click here to see them all, and in the event that two people buy the same item, we will operate a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Happy hunting!

Today it’s pretty much all Formula One diecast news from me!

To start off, Mattel released their first 2009 Ferrari Formula One replica, which is Felipe Massa’s 1:18 Ferrari F60 (DC2903). Also due in the next couple of weeks are Felipe’s car in 1:43 (DC29403), and Kimi Raikkonen’s 2009 Ferrari F60, in 1:43 first (DC29404), and then in 1:18 (DC2904).

I will also attempt to clear up the bit of confusion surrounding Minichamps’ Brawn GP replicas, but you will have to concentrate before reading the following!

After the Australian Grand Prix, Minichamps announced Australian GP specials for both drivers and ‘late season’ versions as well, as they assumed, like everyone else, that Brawn would land a title sponsor later in the year and that the look of their cars would change quite significantly.

However, as you know, Brawn has remained with a similar paint scheme for the whole of 2009, with the odd minor sponsor change here and there for one-off races.

On the eve of the Brazilian Grand Prix, we noticed that Minichamps had changed the description of the ‘late season’ cars on their website to generic 2009 replicas. These are still ‘late season’ cars in a sense, as Minichamps has confirmed a number of specials from the opening few races of this season, and the generic 2009 replicas will ‘follow’ those.

We have now stopped offering the ‘late season’ replicas, and have replaced them with standard 2009 cars instead. If you have ordered a ‘late season’ replica from us, you will be supplied with the generic 2009 version, which is effectively the same thing anyway!

The Australia specials and the generic 2009 cars will all be released within a few weeks of each other between the end of November and the end of January, so you won’t ‘miss out’ if you have one or other on order with us.

In 1:43 scale, we will see Jenson’s generic 2009 car first (DC29422), which will be borderline late November/early December. The Australia special (DC29422A) will follow in mid-December.

In 1:18, it will be the other way round, with Jenson’s Australia car (DC2922A) coming first in the very first week of 2010. The generic 2009 car (DC2922) will then follow in the middle of January.

The other release date we have had, by the way, is early December for Valentino Rossi’s 1:12 2008 Yamaha YZR-M1 (PO83046).

These timings are the latest information we have at the moment. As an aside, Sebastian Vettel’s 1:43 2009 Red Bull RB5 (DC29415) is due with us in just a couple of weeks! I’m quite surprised to see this when we’re still waiting on 2009 showcars from McLaren, Toro Rosso and Force India!

On Monday it was Sun Star, yesterday it was Minichamps, and today it was Spark’s turn to give us a new delivery!

Highlights (all 1:43) are Bruno Saby’s Peugeot 205 T16 from the 1985 Monte Carlo Rally (SPK1269), Richie Ginther’s BRM P57 from the 1963 Monaco Grand Prix (SPK1629), the RUF 9FF GT9 in blue (SPK737), and Spark’s latest Le Mans winner, the 1973 Matra MS670B of Henri Pescarolo and Gerard Larrouse (SPA43L073).

And, after two years of seeing samples at Nuremberg, AUTOart finally confirmed their first two 1:18 A1 GP cars today. These are the promotional car from 2006 (AA18102), and the Team China car (AA18101). Hopefully other teams will be confirmed in due course.