LEGO City 4436: Patrol Car

If you shop carefully you can get some bargains on the interweb - especially from Amazon.

This little set was bought for half price (RRP£7.99), so it would have been silly not to have bought it! This is part of the new Forest Police theme that Lego have introduced for 2012.

I am not sure it would have been worth the full price - it was very quick to build (which seems to be the norm these days with Lego), with not that great amount of features.

I don't get why there are no opening doors anymore on these type of models - it's not difficult to do, and like my review of 3179, I am sure that it would add extra play value to the model.

I do now have a real gripe with this one - and really the rest of the Lego City models. Back on the day a car was distinguished by a smaller set of wheels - these filled the wheel arches and were in proportion to the model - set 6634 demonstrates this below:

And then we have the trucks which had what I class as 'chunky' wheels - as per below:



Which all looks good as it distinguishes a large vehicle from a standard car.

But these days, there is one universal wheel set that seems to apply to all vehicles - and to me that is not right. 4436 is a prime example of a car using what could be perceived as truck tyres. The old style wheels are making inroads very slightly in some of the new sets, but I would like Lego to go back to basics on this topic - make a distinction - not a generalisation to save on cost.

A fair model - additional bonus of the gate feature, but nothing to ride home about. I am glad I didn't pay full price.

Hot Wheels Nissan Skyline H/T 2000GT-R

The majority of my scale Skylines are in 1/43 scale and from the R30 onwards.

I am not that keen on the older ones, but I do appreciate that these ones were the basis for Godzilla and all that the R32 conquered.

Hot Wheels do a good job producing classic Nissan's in 1/64 - to be honest I would prefer a Tomica Limited Vintage version, but just don't have the funds to do some wheeling and dealing on eBay.

So for the time being, these castings fill a hole. For a 1/64 scale model at CHF2.70, I think that it has been very well detailed in terms of tampo. Lovely.

Why Matchbox cannot get such models is beyond me. OK, If they can't get the model, why not have the same level of detailing - surely they are all produced from the same factory albeit on the different conveyor belt?

Hot Wheels 2012 Camaro ZL1

I hope that Mattel don't do this one to death - like the Ford Mustang which they have every conceivable version and call it a new casting -

I do like the attention to detail on the bonnet with the decals depicting the ZL1 model - and yet again this one would do well with rear detailing for the lights. I am not sure how much it costs or what is involved but it would really give added value to the model as a collectable and/or play toy.

Hot Wheels Lamborghini Reventon

The Reventón is named for a fighting bull, in line with Lamborghini tradition. The bull, raised by the Don Heriberto Rodríguez family, was best known for killing famed Mexican bullfighter Félix Guzmán in 1943. Reventón means "explosion" or "burst" in Spanish, when used as a noun. Despite the exterior being new, almost all the mechanical elements (including the engine) are sourced directly from the Murciélago LP640.According to the official press release, the Reventón exterior styling was inspired by "the fastest airplanes", and is good for about 221mph.

Yet again I find myself purchasing another HW model that is licensed. As mentioned in a previous blog the only Lambo to date within the Matchbox 1-75 range is the Muira - however, it would be nice to see a Gallardo in there, as that is quite common place (well in Basel they are two-a-penny).

I want to own this model, but I am not blown away with it - if you know what I mean.....it is one of those diecast cars you find in the bottom of a heap of toys, and then think "oh, yes, a Lambo - effort." I do get a bit worried about the rear axle and use of wheels on these kind of cars.....they look thin and a little flimsy, and doesn't give that sense of solid state or presence that the car warrants. Majorette and Tomica are very good at making a car of this stature look and feel like they are king of the road.

Boba Fett's Slave 1 - Lego Star Wars

There are a few Star Wars Lego sets that I do regret not buying at the time. One of them was the Jabba’s Sail Barge and the Sand Crawler from Epsiodes VI and IV respectively.

I also missed out on Slave 1 the first time around as well, but grabbed the opportunity to make amends with this second release of the model. The first set 7144 was made from generic Lego bricks and released in 2000. However, this version is warmly welcomed as part of my Star Wars classic sets that I am collecting at the moment.

Firstly apologies about the pictures - taken in haste!

This model is a vast improvement over the original release under set 6209. Almost akin to teh Kenner/Parker toys original Star Wars release back in the early 1980s. Boba Fett is looking as cool as usual, and I love the way that the side wings are able to rotate when the model is picked up. That for me is great play value and really enhances the set. There is a clever bit to fire "cannons" from the middle of the ship, but in reality, I can easily see these going missing at the hands of a child.

There is not much in the way of items from The Empire Strikes Back around - most of the sets are centred around the battle of Hoth.....and the Cloud City set - which I saw and never bought and has been on eBay for £1499! - has been the closest thing a full TESB set.

I suppose that the first set was a test bed to see what Lego could do in re-creating these models and some 7 years on, the improvement is very evident.