Leigh’s Diecast Diary

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).

Today we finally received our delivery of luxury display cases, that we have imported from Japan ourselves. If you want to really show off something from your collection, then look no further!

The most popular version has been the ‘extra large’ case (RC01). It is the largest display case we have ever marketed, and is the only one we have ever come across that can house Rossi figures sat atop their respective bikes! It can also fit two 1:12 cars.

Then we have two 1:12 motorbike display cases, one with a wooden base (RC02), which is best for displaying classic subjects, and one with a carbon fibre effect base (RC03), which is more appropriate for modern racing bikes.

For 1:18 cars we again have cases with wooden (RC04) and carbon fibre effect (RC05) bases. These can also fit three 1:12 bikes alongside each other if you so wish.

Finally, there is the 1:12 car display case with a wooden base (RC06), which can also house two 1:18 replicas.

We also received a new 1:18 release from CMC today, in the form of the plain red Ferrari Sharknose (CMC078). I have to admit that I thought that no-one would be interested in this given its release after the three racing versions, but I am very pleasantly surprised at the number that we had pre-sold. It seems that some people collect every CMC release whatever the subject, so enamoured are they with the levels of detail in their models. And why not!

It was the turn of Minichamps and Mondo Motors to send us new deliveries today.

From Minichamps, we received the next subject in their 1:43 World Champions collection, Nelson Piquet’s 1987 Williams FW11 (P870006WC), as well as the next 1:12 2007 Honda RC212V, Nicky Hayden’s (PO71069). I won’t point out how we have received it ahead of Hayden’s 2006 Moto GP Championship winning Honda RC211V (PO61069)!

We also received the next three 1:43 2009 Formula One showcars; the two Renaults of Fernando Alonso (DC29407P) and Nelson Piquet Jnr (DC29408P), and the Brawn of Rubens Barrichello (DC29423P). The latter is a sell-out on release with the importer, and is a limited edition of just 1,152 pieces.

Mondo Motors surprised us with their delivery of not one, not two, but three colourways of their 1:18 Pagani Zonda F! I was expecting it in grey (MD50092G) and white (MD50092W), but not in orange as well (MD50092O)!

The other new release from them was of Lamborghini’s new four door car, the Estoque (MD50095).

The last bit of news is about our next issue of ‘Diecast Monthly’. It’s not due to hit your doormats until this weekend, but it can be viewed online as of now! Click here to get to it, then just turn the pages!

Unsurprisingly, we had a flood of requests today for Valentino Rossi ‘100th Grand Prix win’ subjects from Minichamps!

I think a figure with ‘100’ flag has to be a given but, considering that Minichamps haven’t even confirmed any ‘standard’ 2009 Moto GP replicas yet, an announcement on this could be some way away yet. It would also be great to see that huge banner replicated which had photos of all of Rossi’s career wins on it, but I’m not sure how practical that would be, because even at 1:12 scale it would probably be over a metre in length!

The best news would be if Rossi was to run a special colour scheme in Laguna Seca this weekend to commemorate his fantastic achievement. He’s due one, as his last special was over a year ago now!

Anyway, in terms of present diecast news, CMC today sent us a pre-production sample of their next 1:18 subject, the Audi 225 Roadster in red/white (CMC075C). In truth, it’s not the most popular CMC replica we have ever marketed, but Audi have commissioned it to celebrate their centenary, so I’m sure they’ll have made it worth CMC’s while! As you would expect, the extremely high levels of detail more than match up to CMC’s previous releases.

It looks like July is going to be a big month for 1:18 sports car collectors!

First off, Mondo Motors will be releasing their (so far) exclusive 1:18 replica of the Lamborghini Estoque (MD50095).

Then, there will be quite a lot from AUTOart at the end of the month (but no, not the Koenigseggs)!

Their new subjects will include the Lamborghini Reventon (AA74591), classic Porsche 911 in blue (AA77913), Lamborghini Espada in red (AA74503), and Lancia Fulvia in red (AA74701) and blue (AA74702).

Long-awaited AUTOart restocks will include the Signature Collection Bugatti Veyron in black/red (AA70906) and black/blue (AA70907), and the Lotus Cortina (AA75331).