Leigh’s Diecast Diary

Today we received our latest exclusive signed replica into stock, which is Minichamps’ 1:18 2009 Le Mans winning Peugeot 908, signed by all three drivers David Brabham, Alex Wurz and Marc Gene (PG091209S). Out of the limited edition of 100 pieces, we only have 23 left after fulfilling all our pre-orders.

We also received full details of everything that will be on the next AUTOart container at the end of the month, along with the 1:18 Koenigsegg CCX in orange (AA79001). Other highlights are the Steve McQueen and Peter Revson Porsche 908/2 from Sebring in 1970 (AA87072), Walter Rohrl’s Audi Quattro from the 1984 San Remo Rally (AA88405), and the Alfa Romeo Montreal in dark brown (AA70173). You can click here to see everything on the next AUTOart delivery.

Today’s diecast news is all about Mattel. First off, they announced the fifth and final subject in their ‘Elite In Music’ collection, which is Seal’s Ferrari F430 Spider (HW6928).

We also received some new Mattel releases, including the 1:18 Super Elite Ferrari California in red (HW2079), the 1:18 Ferrari Challenge Stradale in a lovely dark blue (HW9892), and the 1:43 Ecosse racing Ferrari F430 GT2 (HW9951). You can click here to see all of Mattel’s latest releases.

There’s plenty to cover today, starting with the good news that we will finally see AUTOart’s 1:18 Koenigsegg CCX in orange (AA79001) at the end of the month! It’s only been three and a half years since we started taking pre-orders!

We also received a new delivery from Minichamps. This included their second 1:43 2010 Formula One showcar, which is Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes (DC210404P). Surprisingly this is almost an instant sell-out on release; in fact, we only have three remaining after fulfilling our pre-orders!

Spark released a new 1:43 replica today too, which is Innes Ireland’s Lotus 25 from the 1965 Belgian Grand Prix (SPK1620).

Going back to Minichamps, they advised us of a cancellation today, which is unfortunately their 1:12 Troy Bayliss 2008 Ducati 1098 (PO80221). This is a great shame as we had taken a vast amount of pre-orders on it, and know that there were a lot of people out there looking forward to its release.

Finally today, Minichamps and Mattel have both advised us of a set of price rises which will kick in on 1st August. The reasons given have been more currency fluctuations and rising Chinese labour and production costs. All of the new prices have now been uploaded onto our website. We obviously won’t increase the price of any replicas that have already been released and are in stock until we need to order restocks in at the higher prices.

Today Norev confirmed that its forthcoming 1:18 Ford Capri (NV182712), which is due to arrive with us in the next couple of weeks, will be a limited edition of just 1,002 pieces. This will be the right hand drive version which will be exclusive to the UK.

We also had a new release today from Mondo Motors, in the form of their 1:18 Pagani Zonda Cinque (MD50094). This is another exciting 1:18 subject that is exclusive to them.

The last piece of diecast news today is that Minichamps have announced a whole host of 1:43 cars from the 2010 Nurburgring 24 Hours, which will be released in their ‘Evolution’ resin series. You can click here to see them all.

The big news today was that Norev finally announced the 1:18 DTM car that everyone wants, which is Timo Scheider’s 2009 championship winning Audi A4 (NV188331). This will please many of our customers as we have received loads of requests to have this car replicated in 1:18. Rumour has it that Timo’s 2008 championship winner was actually replicated in 1:18 by Norev, but that it was a European Audi dealer edition only affair. At least the 2009 version will be available to everyone!

We also received some sample AUTOart images today of a couple of their forthcoming 1:18 replicas, which are the 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera in red (AA78011), and the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-2 Balboni in orange (AA74633).

It seems as soon as Leigh Hobden goes on holiday everything kicks off! And while I’ve been here slaving away here at GPL Towers, Leigh is soaking up the sun at Silverstone. Anyway, today has been busy; we’ve had several new 1:43 announcements from Norev and new releases form Kyosho, TrueScale Miniatures and Mattel.

TrueScale Miniatures can do no wrong at the moment. After receiving the fantastic P34 test car, we now have in stock two 1:43 Coca-Cola branded Porsche 935s. The packaging looks brilliant decked out in red and white, with the Coca-Cola logo taking pride of place. TrueScale are certainly putting their license to good use! The two cars in question are the 1980 Porsche 935 K3 from Daytona (TSM10431). This was driven by Bob Akin, Roy Woods and Bobby Rahal. There is also the 935 K3 from 1981 (TSM10432). This car came home second at Daytona driven by Bob Akin, Craig Siebert and Derek Bell.

Norev has announced over 30 new 1:43s today. There are several interesting subjects including the 1957 AC Ace (NV270351), Stig Blomqvist’s Nissan Pulsar from the 1991 RAC Rally (NV0076) and Rene Arnoux’s Renault RS11 from Dijon (NV518946).

Click here to see all of Norev’s 1:43 announcements.

Finally Kyosho’s silver 1:18 Audi R8 Spyder (KY9217S) is here, just in time for summer. We also took delivery of their 1:18 Lamborghini Miura P400S (KY8312P) in a very bright orange. Mattel sent us two Ferrari 430 GT2 cars in 1:43. There is the Italian GT championship winning car (HW9552) and the F430 GT2 raced by Scuderia Ecosse (HW9951).

To end this weeks post I would like to remind you of the offer currently running on our website, and at the British GP this weekend.

Online use the code MANSELL at the basket, or whisper the word Mansell to any of our staff at Silverstone, and they will give you 10% off F1 merchandise. Diecast is not included I am afraid, but it will work for the caps and tees of your favourite F1 team.

If F1 is not your bag and you are more into your bikes, do not forget we have free shipping and free returns on all of our motorcycle protective wear. Remember to check out the latest ranges from Halvarssons on our site.

Today we received a new Spark delivery, and Norev announced several new 1:18 subjects.

The Spark delivery contained Rene Arnoux’s Renault RS11 (SPK1705), which he famously drove at the 1979 French Grand prix at Dijon, coming home in third after a titanic battle with Gilles Villeneuve. Anyway, if any diecast manufacturers are reading this, an Arnoux Renault and Villeneuve Ferrari would make an awesome two car set!

Click here to see the rest of the Spark releases.

Bizarre’s 1:43 of Jeff Allen’s record breaking Triumph Bonneville “Devil’s Arrow” from 1955 (BZ0502), also came in.

Norev announced a nice selection of new 1:18 models. The most interesting of which is the Renault 5 GT Turbo driven by Jean Ragnotti in the 1990 Rally of Corsica (NV185202). Other highlights include the 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo (NV187621), and Martin Tomczyk’s 2010 DTM Audi (NV188330).

Today was an historic day at GPL Towers as we received TrueScale Miniatures’ first 1:18 Formula One car; Jody Scheckter’s 1976 Tyrrell P34 six-wheeler from the International Trophy at Silverstone in 1976 (TSM10184)!

It is limited to just 3,000 pieces worldwide, and comes with a credit card sized certificate detailing the individual number in the limited edition. There is also a plinth provided to put alongside the model in your display!

The car is presented with its unique tall airbox, rear wing and two rear wheels removed, which are obviously included elsewhere in the packaging. There is an instruction sheet detailing how to use the wrench and wheel nuts (which are provided) to attach the rear wheels to the chassis.

The paintwork and all the mechanical detail around the engine is extremely impressive, as are other little details like the seatbelts and the steering wheel that turns all four front wheels! Everyone in the office who has seen it has been extremely impressed.

Minichamps also announced a new 1:43 F1 special today, which is Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso STR5 from the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix (DC210416C). It commemorates the first time he led a Grand Prix, and will include the one-off helmet design that he had in that race.

Minichamps has also announced a re-release of one of its 1:43 Formula One World Champion Collection cars, which is Keke Rosberg’s 1982 Williams FW08 (P820106).

Finally today, a couple of our eagle-eye customers noticed that we hadn’t put 360 degree shots of the CMC 1:18 Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe (CMC076) on our website, having received the sample of it a couple of weeks ago. This has now been rectified!

This will be the last entry of the week written by me (Matt, my assistant, will step in again tomorrow and on Friday) as I’m off to Silverstone tomorrow to help finish setting up our vending tent at Silverstone for this weekend’s British Grand Prix. You will be able to find us between the Schumacher and Mercedes vending stands, just behind the Woodcote grandstands in the F1 Village. As at Goodwood last weekend, use the password ‘Mansell’ to get 10% off your purchases with us!

Today we received the new Minichamps delivery, which included the exciting 1:18 Formula One replicas that we received samples of yesterday!

So, that’s the Michael Schumacher 2010 Mercedes showcar (DC21003P), the Sebastian Vettel 2009 Chinese Grand Prix Red Bull RB5 (DC2915C), and the Mark Webber 2009 Chinese Grand Prix Red Bull RB5 (DC2914C). It won’t be long before the Red Bull cars sell out, given how low the limited edition numbers are, at just 3,324 and 1,104 pieces respectively.

We also received the Amalgam 1:12 2010 McLaren MP4/25 nosecones today, of Jenson Button (AML1004) and Lewis Hamilton (AML1005).

Other than that, we’ve been busy preparing for vending at the British Grand Prix this weekend. Coming off of vending at Goodwood last weekend, July has been quite a hectic month for us so far!

Today we received the latest set of samples from Minichamps of models we expect to see from them in the next few weeks.

These included the 1:18 Red Bull 2009 Chinese Grand Prix specials of Sebastian Vettel (DC2915C) and Mark Webber (DC2914C), which are due to be released very soon. We can confirm that the Vettel car will be a limited edition of 3,324 pieces, while the Webber version is limited to a mere 1,104. That one won’t last long!

We also received samples of the 1:18 Michael Schumacher 2010 Mercedes showcar (DC21003P), and the 1:43 Nico Rosberg 2010 Mercedes showcar (DC210404P). As with the Red Bulls, we expect the 1:18 Schumacher very soon.

I was expecting the 1:43 Rosberg showcar to come on Minichamps’ standard black and white inlay, but it came on a similar inlay to the Schumacher version. So, it is a silver inlay with young Nico’s signature at the front right and a portrait photo on the back left. We will have to wait for the first non-Mercedes 1:43 showcar release to see if Minichamps is going to present all of its showcars like this, or just the Mercedes ones.

Finally, thanks to everyone who came to our stand at Goodwood over the weekend; it’s always nice to meet our customers and forum members. Sorry if I was looking a bit bleary-eyed by the end of Sunday; three 5am starts in a row were beginning to catch up with me by then!