Leigh’s Diecast Diary

Today we received this week’s new Minichamps delivery. The highlight is the re-release of the 1:12 Triumph Speed Twin (P133700). I was very surprised to see that it is already sold out with the Minichamps UK importer, as that doesn’t often happen with re-releases. So, this will be our one and only shipment of the re-released Speed Twin if you missed out first time around.

You can click here to see the latest Minichamps releases.

There was also a new announcement today from Kyosho, in the form of the 1:18 Ferrari F40 Lightweight in black (KY8414BK). As with the recently released Ferrari 250 GTOs it will be from Kyosho’s ‘high end’ range, including detailed features such as photo-etched pedals, updated steering wheel, opening fuel filler cap, wheel centre lock pins, new metal Ferrari badges, engine wiring, textured exhaust pipes and new oil coolers. Kyosho’s Ferraris may be considerably more expensive than its other 1:18 replicas, with that amount of extra detail the higher price is justified.

Today we received the news that the 1:12 Valentino Rossi 2009 Estoril Yamaha YZR-M1 (PO93096) is already pre-sold out with the Minichamps UK importer.

This has happened even more quickly with this replica than it did with the Rossi Barcelona 2008 Yamaha (DCL2008), which implies that the limited edition quantity, at most, will be equal to the 5,999 limited edition of the Barcelona bike.

We still have a few remaining unsold from our allocation of the Estoril bike but if you don’t want to miss out, as several people have done with the Barcelona replica, then you should place your pre-order soon.

We didn’t receive any new replicas today, so I will use today’s entry to alert you to the fact that our first delivery of the Minichamps 1:43 Michael Schumacher 2010 Mercedes showcar (DC210403P) is already almost sold out.

We will receive our second (and final) delivery in about four weeks, but if you don’t want to have to wait that long to receive your example, you should order soon.

We’ve clearly been spoilt with so many diecast deliveries in the last couple of days, as today we received nothing new through the door! We have seen a lot of new models released this week though, so can’t complain too much.

There was a new announcement today though, from Sun Star, in the form of Fabio Babini’s 1:18 Subaru Impreza WRC from the 2009 Monza Rally (SS4482). Sun Star has to win the award for maximum number of releases from a single tooling!

Today we received four new replicas from Norev; two in 1:18 and two in 1:43.

In 1:18 we received Martin Tomczyk’s 2008 DTM Audi A4 (NV188327), and the Porsche 911 Targa 4S in black (NV187558).

In 1:43 we received the Peugeot RCZ (NV473860) and the Peugeot 5008 (NV473852), both in white.

We had an embarrassment of riches today with new diecast deliveries coming through the door!

Minichamps stole the show with the 1:43 Michael Schumacher 2010 Mercedes showcar (DC210403P), and the restocks of the 1:18 Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna Williams FW14 ‘taxi’ from the 1991 British Grand Prix (PG911805). By the way, the rumours were true about the Schumacher showcar being #41 in the Minichamps Michael Schumacher collection.

We also received three 1:43 Tyrrell P34 releases from TrueScale Miniatures. These are Jody Scheckter’s 1976 Swedish Grand Prix winning car (TSM10439), Patrick Depailler’s second place car from the 1977 Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport (TSM104311), and the two car set commemorating Tyrrell’s 1-2 in the 1976 Swedish Grand Prix (TSM104310). All three releases look stunning, and the latter is a limited edition of just 500 pieces worldwide.

Finally there was Kyosho, releasing the 1:18 #20 Ferrari 250 GTO from the 1963 Le Mans 24 Hours (KY8434B). You can click here to see the other 1:18 Kyosho replicas that we received today.

Today we received a sample of Minichamps’ pre-sold out 1:12 Valentino Rossi 2008 Barcelona Yamaha YZR-M1 (DCL2008), complete with packaging, and we can confirm that the limited edition is only 5,999.

This is far and away the lowest limited edition we have ever seen for a Rossi race bike, so it’s no wonder that it was a pre-sell out some three months before its release. We are still expecting to see this replica on 5th July, by the way.

IXO also announced some new 1:43 replicas today. You can click here to see them all.

Highlights are two Colin McRae cars, which are his winning Subaru Legacy from the 1991 Manx Rally (RAC215), and his winning Subaru Legacy from the 1993 New Zealand Rally (RAC216).

There is also a new announcement in IXO’s 1:43 Le Mans winners collection, which is the 1970 Porsche 917K of Hans Hermann and Richard Attwood (LM1970).

Today we received our first new AUTOart delivery in a few weeks. You can click here to see everything that was on it.

Highlights are the #23 Nissan R390 GT1 from the 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours (AA89776), the Porsche 924 Carrera GT in red (AA78003), and the Lancia Fulvia in red with the stripe across the top of it (AA74703).

Mattel celebrated my 29th birthday today by sending us a new delivery (although, in fairness, I doubt the event of my birthday ranks very highly in Mattel’s delivery schedule concerns)!

An interesting new 1:18 release was the Ferrari 250 LM in red (HW9900), and in 1:43 we saw two 1967 Ferrari 330 P4s from Le Mans (HW9957) and Daytona (HW9958).

In 1:43 there was also the Lamborghini LP640 which was released in three colourways; grey (HW4883), orange (HW4884) and yellow (HW9942).

Right, where’s my cake?!

There were no new diecast deliveries today, but we did receive a sample of an exciting forthcoming 1:18 replica, which is Model Icons’ Jaguar Mk.II in green (MI201002).

The Jaguar Mk.II has easily been our most popular roadgoing subject of 2010, and we hope to receive the first colourway, red (MI201001) towards the end of the summer.

This green sample is a lot more weighty than the early samples that we saw on show at Nuremberg in February, so quality is clearly not going to be an issue once we see it go into production. We can’t wait!