Leigh’s Diecast Diary

Today, IXO announced over a dozen new 1:43 replicas.

Most of them were from the world of rallying, and Ford featured prominently; Jari-Matti Latvala’s 2010 Rally of Finland winning Ford Focus WRC (RAM447), the 2009 Ford Fiesta S2000 test car of Matthew and Malcolm Wilson (RAM443) and the 2011 Ford Fiesta RS WRC test car of Jari-Matti Latvala (RAM462) were all stand out subjects.

Other highlights included Bryan Bouffier’s 2011 Monte Carlo Rally winning Peugeot 207 S2000 (RAM481) and a 2011 Le Mans car that Spark didn’t announce: the #26 Oreca 03 Nissan (LMM215) of Soheil Ayari, Franck Mailleux and Lucas Ordonez that finished second in the LMP2 class.

Click here to check out the rest of IXO’s new announcements.

Today we received a new consignment of replicas from AUTOart, as well as some exciting news about the Rossi figure that is due next week.

There are just four 1:18 replicas on this delivery, the highlight of which is undoubtedly the 20th Anniversary Edition 1991 Le Mans winning Mazda 787B (AA89141). It’s a little late, as the 20th Anniversary of the car’s victory at La Sarthe was last year. Anyway, the replica comes with its own display case, and is limited to 2,000 pieces worldwide.

We also received three road car replicas: the 1:18 Lamborghini Reventon in matt white (AA74594) and the 1:18 Ford Mustang GT in blue (AA72912) and red (AA72913).

Minichamps sent us sample images of its forthcoming 1:12 Rossi riding figure from 2008 (PO80146). But what’s really exciting is that these images show that the figure is specifically from the 2008 Misano Moto GP, complete with ‘My House’ helmet design. We think this makes this figure a lot more desirable! We should also mention that it is limited to 2,999 pieces worldwide.

Today both Sun Star and Greenlight Collectibles announced some interesting new subjects.

The most exciting announcement of the day was easily Sun Star’s 1:18 Ari Vatanen 1993 Subaru Impreza from the 1000 Lakes Rally (SS5501). This was the Impreza’s debut rally, and Vatanen took it to an impressive second place finish.

Sun Star also announced Enrique Garcia Ojeda’s Peugeot 207 S2000 from the 2007 Rally Du Valais (SS5433).

Greenlight collectibles sent us details of two new subjects from the world of TV and film: the 1:18 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T from the NCIS TV series (GL12845) and the 1:18 1964 Ford Galaxie from the 2012 movie Men In Black III (GL12850).

Also today, Premium ClassiXXs released the 1:12 1954 Mercedes 300 SL in black (PRE10501).

Today we received several new replicas from Spark, as well as some new announcements from MR.

Despite the presence of Pedro de la Rosa’s 2011 Sauber C30 from the Canadian Grand Prix (DC211417C), and the Tyrrell 007 that was driven to second by Jody Scheckter in the 1975 Belgian Grand Prix (SPK1645), it was three road car replicas that were the star of this Spark delivery.

We received the 1980 Lotus Elite S2 in black (SPK2213), the New Lancia Stratos in black (SPK2799) and the 1983 Porsche 935 ’street’ in red (SPK2093), which was owned by Mansour Ojjeh.

Click here to see the rest of Spark’s new releases.

MR announced four more subjects today: the 1:18 2012 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse in carbon blue (MR04B), the 1:18 2012 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse in Jet Grey (MR04A), the 1:18 2012 Ferrari F12 Berlinetta in Rosso Berlinetta  (MR07A) and the 1:18 2012 Ferrari F12 Berlinetta in Alluminio (MR07B).

The big news from today is that we are now going to be offering MR Collection replicas here at Diecast Legends.

MR are from Italy and, like BBR, their models represent the pinnacle of model collecting.

The brand’s latest announcement comes in the form of the menacing 1:18 2012 Lamborghini Aventador J in metallic red (MR08A), which was on display at this year’s Geneva Motor Show.

Today, Oxford announced the 1:43 Toyota Hilux that wouldn’t die (OXF050) from the Top Gear TV show.

Nissan claimed the Hilux was virtually indestructible, so Jeremy Clarkson decided to put it to the test! After driving it into walls and trees around Bristol, they left it on the beach for the tide to come in and submerge it, later recovering it from its overturned position in the mud.

Then they dropped it from a crane, drove it through a wooden building, dropped a caravan on it, smashed it with a wrecking ball, set it on fire inside and out, and left it on top of a 23 storey building which was imploded. Incredibly, the hardy Hilux started every time!

Oxford announced a further six subjects today. Click here to take a look.

Today we received new announcements from both Norev and Top Model.

We’ll start with the Italian brand Top Model. Their 1:18 figures have been selling extremely well recently, and they have added five more world champions to their ever growing range: the 1:18 1979 Jody Scheckter Ferrari figure (TM21), the 1:18 1992 Nigel Mansell Williams figure (TM22), the 1:18 Mika Hakkinen 1998/99 McLaren figure (TM23), the 1:18 2007 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari figure (TM24) and the 1:18 Sebastian Vettel 2010 Red Bull figure (TM25).

Norev announced 16 new subjects today, in both 1:43 and 1:18 scale. In the smaller scale, our favourites were the 1962 Daimler SP250 in black (NV270101) and the 2012 Peugeot RCZ Racing Cup (NV473866).

But the most exciting announcements came in 1:18 with the 1978 BMW M1 in orange (NV183222), the #22 Aston Martin LMP1 that Vanina Ickx, Bas Leinders, and Maxime Martin drove at Le Mans last year (NV182763), and the Sebastien Loeb 2011 Citroen DS3 WRC from the Rally GB (NV181557).

Click here to see the rest of Norev’s new announcements.

Today Minichamps released their 1:18 replica of the 1948 Land Rover HUE 166 (PG168900).

Other interesting road car releases on the Minichamps delivery include the 1:43 2011 Ford Focus ST in metallic black (P081000), the 1:43 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 in black and the 1:43 1982 Maserati Kyalami in black (P123960).

In other news, Pierre-Henri Raphanel will be signing the Minichamps 1:18 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (PG110840S). The Frenchman took the Super Sport to a new Production Land Speed Record of 267 mph at VW’s Ehra Lessien proving ground in 2010. His signature will make this model very special indeed!

We’ve got an absolute bargain for all you diecast collectors out there, a big bargain at that!

We can now offer Minichamps’ 1:12 McLaren F1 in orange (PH133131), and 1:12 McLaren F1 in blue (PH133130), for the incredibly low price of just £174.99. That’s a whopping £125 off the £299.99 retail price. You’ll be getting a lot of diecast for your dollar, that’s for sure.

Be quick though, as at this price they won’t be on our shelves for long!

We received one new release today from SMTS: the 1:43 Team Lotus Ford Thames 400 E Pick-up (SMTS309).

Today we received our first BBR delivery since we started featuring the high-end Italian company’s products again, and it included a stunner in the form of the 1:18 #90 Ferrari F430 GT2 from the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours, in the white and blue colours of the Farnbacher team, but with the green door of the Krohn team after their own was damaged beyond repair! It is also very realistically race aged as well (BBR1840C), and is a limited edition of just 30 examples worldwide. We were only able to acquire two pieces!

Also on this delivery was the Sultan of Brunei’s Ferrari F40 in 1:43 (BBR336), which is a limited edition of only 144 pieces worldwide.

Minichamps also provided us with their latest release schedule, which has a few gems featured on it.

In the week beginning 16th April we will receive the 1:12 Valentino Rossi 2008 riding figure (PO80146), along with Lewis Hamilton’s 1:43 2011 Chinese Grand Prix winning McLaren MP4/26 (DC211403C) and Sebastian Vettel’s 1:43 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix winning Red Bull RB7 (DC211401M). I’ll be getting an example of the latter as part of my ‘models from races I’ve been to’ collection!

There’s not much to write home about from the week beginning 23rd April, but the following week will see the release of Sebastian Vettel’s 1:43 2011 Turkish Grand Prix winning Red Bull RB7 (DC211401T), and the 1:43 Lamborghini Reventon Roadster in matt grey (P103960).

You can click here to see everything featured on the latest Minichamps release schedule.

By the way, there has been an exciting addition to next week’s Minichamps delivery in the form of Michael Schumacher’s 1:43 2011 Mercedes MGP W02 (DC211407).