Leigh’s Diecast Diary

A fair bit from both the office and Nuremberg to cover today.

Firstly in Guildford, the latest delivery from AUTOart showed up. On it was the next colourway for the 1:18 Koenigsegg CCX, silver (AA79003). Two A1GP cars from Teams China (AA18101) and Germany (AA18103) also appeared, along with two more colourways of the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4, white (AA74587) and metallic orange (AA74593).

News from the first day of action at Nuremberg was on the Minichamps stand, where Leigh and co spotted the 1:12 Rossi Catalunya bike from 2008 (DCL2008). The accompanying 1:12 riding figure was also on show (PO80086). To finish off Rossi was his 1:12 2009 Yamaha YZR-M1 (PO93046), but one more addition to the bike scene was Kevin Schwantz’s 1993 World Championship-winning Suzuki RGV 500 (P932034), which we will be having signed by Mr Schwantz (P932034S) once we receive them.

Ayrton Senna’s Ralt RT3 from Macau 1983 is there as well in 1:18 (AS833). Another car seen on the Minichamps stand was a full-scale replica of Michael Schumacher’s 2010 Mercedes MGP W01……wonder what the size of the box is for that!

 Photos from Nuremberg will arrive tomorrow!

The Minichamps new 2010 announcements are now available to view and pre-order from our website!

Unsurprisingly, there is another whole host of new Valentino Rossi releases. I’m particularly excited by the two figure and two rider set of Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo which will recreate their battle from the last lap at Barcelona in 2009 (PO94699). There will also be ten new 1:8 Rossi helmets and eight new 1:12 Rossi figures, including ‘double figures’ where he had passengers dressed up as a chicken and an angel on victory laps!

Minichamps has also announced a very exciting 1:12 classic bike in the form of the Vincent Black Lightning ‘Rollie Free’ (P134650), complete with stretched out riding figure! Also announced are 1:12 figures for Giacomo Agostini (P700001F) and Lawrence of Arabia (P321350), as well as a mammoth 1:6 replica of Lawrence’s Brough Superior SS100 (PG135500)!

For 1:18 road cars, Minichamps has confirmed the 2010 Aston Martin DBS in grey (PG137920), the 2010 Bentley Mulsanne in black (PG139900), and the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport in graphite and grey (PG110830). There is also an interesting 1:18 subject in the original 1948 Land Rover, with the famous HUE 166 registration plates (PG168900). Universal Hobbies announced this about five years ago before then cancelling it about three years ago! The exciting new 1:12 road car subject is the McLaren F1 in orange (PH133131).

In 1:43 there will be seven new cars in the Top Gear Collection, and a new release in the Ayrton Senna Racing Car Collection, which will be #36 by my reckoning, the Toleman TG183B from his very first Formula One start in the 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix (AS036).

Finally, Minichamps has announced some new subjects in its 1:18 and 1:43 Formula One World Champion collections. In 1:18 there will be Nigel Mansell’s 1992 Williams FW14B (PG920005WC), and in 1:43 there will be Jackie Stewart’s 1973 Tyrrell 006 (P730005WC).

I wonder if any of these will be on show at Nuremberg!