Leigh’s Diecast Diary

Today, we received the new Minichamps delivery schedule.

To be honest, we were a little disappointed with this schedule; there are really only three subjects worth mentioning.

On the week beginning 19th of March, we will take delivery of the 1:8 Valentino Rossi 2003 winter test helmet (PO30899).

Just a week later, in the week beginning 26th of March, we will be receiving the 1:8 2005 Valentino Rossi Mugello helmet (PO50876) and, what is undoubtedly the highlight of the schedule, the 1:12 Valentino Rossi Yamaha YZR-M1 from the 2008 Indianapolis Moto GP (PO83146). The Indy bike comes with dirtied bodywork and wet tyres.

Click here to see all of the items on the new Minichamps release schedule.

Today, we received four new 1:43 Jaguar E-Type Lightweights from SMTS, and a small delivery of Premium ClassiXXs replicas.

From SMTS we received Tommy Atkins’ Lightweight 86 PJ (SMTS264), the E-Type that was used by Phil Scragg as a sprint and hillclimb car (SMTS273), Peter Sutcliffe’s example YVH 210 (SMTS274) and the famous CUT 7 Jag. (SMTS279).

The highlight from the Premium ClassiXXs delivery was an impressive 1:12 replica of the Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera coupe in green (PRE10155); we also received the #8 Porsche 356 Speedster (PRE18033).

Today’s diecast news is heavily AUTOart based!

Firstly, at this week’s London Toy Fair we photographed several 1:18 samples that the company had on show, such as the Bugatti Atlantic, Bugatti Centenaire, Pagani Zonda R, Jaguar XJS, and more! You can click here to see them all.

We were also provided with a sample image of the 1:18 Pagani Zonda R in white with an Italian stripe (AA78262). It looks like we have an exciting few months ahead of us from AUTOart!

Today we received the latest Spark delivery. You can click here to see Spark’s latest releases.

Highlights were the Signature Aston Martin LMP1 from the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours (SPK2559), the Tyrrell F1 team’s Ford Transit van (SPK0276), and Ari Vatanen’s menacing 205 T16 from the 1987 Pikes Peak Rally (SPK1265).

Today we received the new Minichamps schedule, and an exciting new Mattel replica was announced!

For the complete Minichamps schedule you can click here. The first week of it covers the week beginning 22nd March, and we are due to receive two 1:18 2009 Formula One cars, Romain Grosjean’s Renault R29 (DC2908G) and Rubens Barrichello’s Australian Gran Prix Brawn BGP001 (DC2923A).

The following week we will see the first Rossi two figure set, which will be of the Italian and Fonsi Nieto from the victory lap at Le Mans 2008, complete with 90+90 flag (PO80190).

Moving into April (week beginning 4th), the 1:18 #8 Peugeot 908 that finished second at Le Mans in 2009 will be released (PG091208).

Finally, in the last week of the schedule we will see the ‘second version’ of the 1:12 Laverda Jota, without the front fairing (P122501).

The exciting new Mattel announcement was a 1:43 replica of the Ferrari F430 GT3 raced by Valentino Rossi at Vallelunga in 2009 (HW6683).

That’s it for today, and that will be my last blog entry for a week, as I’m off to Bahrain tomorrow for the opening Grand Prix of the 2010 season. The blog will still be maintained in my absence however, so this will still be the place to come for all the diecast news!

Today Minichamps confirmed that the limited edition of its 1:12 Valentino Rossi 2008 Barcelona figure (the one in the Italian football strip leathers) will be just 2,846 (PO80086). As I mentioned before, we only have a few pieces left unsold from the quantity that we are going to receive, so we have removed it from our website to ensure that we do not oversell.

We are still taking phone orders on this figure on our Orderline on 0844 887 8888, but before long we will have reached our limit and not be able to accept any more. Today’s news of how small the limited edition is going to be will only make demand for it higher still, so make haste if you do not want to miss out!

I was busy today working on our 2010 Nuremberg webcast, which is scheduled to go live on our website next Monday (15th February). After the first ‘draft’ though, it is apparent in my narration how I have repeated phrases like ‘Here we are’ and ‘Moving on’! The final script will be a lot more sophisticated!

We heard today that Minichamps’ 2010 catalogue will be available next week (MCCAT10). It celebrates 20 years of Minichamps, with the theme being ‘Pure Passion’. It consists of 248 pages and includes interesting features such as complete 1:43 McLaren Collection and Ayrton Senna Collection listings.

Today we received a ‘mini’ AUTOart delivery, which is hopefully a precursor to their main shipment which is due in this week.

On today’s delivery, the highlight was the 1:18 BMW Z4M Coupe in white (AA80748), which looks really menacing!

We also received the 1:10 BMW F800GS in silver/black (AA10006) and yellow/black (AA10007), and the 1:18 Land Rover Discovery 3 in black (AA74802) and green (AA74803).

We’ve had several queries today as to whether IXO will be replicating Kimi Raikkonen’s Fiat Punto from Rally Finland at the weekend. Considering they have already confirmed his plain white Punto from the comparatively obscure Rally Della Marca (RAM371), I’m sure that it won’t take long for them to also announce his much more dramatically liveried Punto from his debut WRC event.

With the British Moto GP this weekend at Donington Park, Minichamps picked the perfect day to announce their 2009 1:12 Moto GP subjects!

As with the 2008 grid, all four Yamaha YZR-M1s will be replicated, so that’s Valentino Rossi (PO93046), Jorge Lorenzo (PO93048), James Toseland (PO93052), and Colin Edwards (PO93005).

Then there will be all four Ducati Desmosedicis, of Casey Stoner (PO90027), Nicky Hayden (PO90069), Mika Kallio (PO90036), and Niccolo Canepa (PO90088), and the two Repsol Honda RC212Vs of Dani Pedrosa (PO91103) and Andrea Dovizioso (PO91104).

Kyosho also released one of their most popular 2009 subjects today, the 1:18 green and yellow Prisoner replica Caterham Super 7 (KY8223GY).

I’m not in the office on Monday as I’m going to Donington for the Moto GP and staying up there for another day, but as usual my assistant Sean will fill in for me in the event of any breaking diecast news!

It was Spark’s turn today to bless us with a new delivery!

The one item dominating the shipment was the 1:43 Le Mans Dunlop bridge (SPA43A001), measuring a massive 117cm in length! It also usefully comes with a bracket so you can hang it on your wall if you like!

In terms of 1:43 cars to place underneath that bridge, we also received one of our most popular 2008 Le Mans cars, the #45 Zytek WF01 of Hughes, Kane and Foster (SPK1485).

Away from Le Mans, Spark have released a couple more classic Formula One cars too, notably Trevor Taylor’s Lotus 25 from the 1963 British Grand Prix (SPK1611), and Chris Amon’s Matra MS120B from the 1971 French Grand Prix (SPK1603).