Hot Wheel's 1963 Studebaker Champ

This model just caught my eye the other day.

I am not a massive fan of older US cars from the early 60's, but this model looked rather fetching.

It does remind me of a XR6 or VE SS Ute for some reason, even though it is nowhere near as modern. Lines are very clean, and this would not look out of place on the road today. I do love the 'Goodyear' labelling the tyres.

A very tidy little model.

A view on the Matchbox 1-75 range for 2012........

I was looking for a logo for the "revised" logo for the 1-75 range to be launched next year, when I came across this article written by Brad Collins (who also follows this blog).

It was written in July just after the MCCH Shindig in US&A that seems to be only reserved for those in US&A (heaven forbid the thought of Mark Curtis et al trying to organise summat in Europe - that would mean leaving America and we can't have that can we....)

the article gives a good summary of the direction Mattel are choosing to take for 2012, and at the end Brad sums it up very nicely. It would be interesting to read any comments on the change of direction here - without the beady policing that is now incumbent on the MCCH, so feel free to post what you really feel about this topic.

Last weekend there was a diecast convention held in Albuquerque New Mexico (USA) and the attendees of this gathering were fortunate enough to hear directly from Mattel, Inc. about their plans for the future of the Matchbox brand of diecast vehicles. The main point of the presentation was regarding the positioning of the Matchbox brand between Mattels other two major vehicle brands, Hot Wheels and Cars or Cars 2. So from this point of view it was clear the team at Mattel needed to create a brand new marketing focus so that the Matchbox diecast toys brand would stand out from the Cars and Hot Wheels brands, they hope that by making the planned changes that Matchbox will be granted a much larger share of shelf space in the big box stores and to create an identity for Matchbox that will make it stand apart from their other brands and hopefully fulfil a niche that Hot Wheels and Cars are not currently filling.

The new marketing focus has changed from Real, Action and Adventure to Unstoppable vehicles for heroic adventure and this new focus is to be carried right through all products within the Matchbox brand it was said that Hot Wheels will focus on racing, edgy vehicles, hot rods, custom vehicles and the Cars brand will obviously concentrate on the character from the Disney Cars movie franchise, Matchbox will attempt to fill the void of heroic adventure vehicles.

The other change is an increase in the basic line, from 2012 the 1-75 line that had been increased to 1-100 will increase again to become a 1-120 line, although this will only be in the core USA releases, the ROW markets will most likely not see an increase, the 120 vehicles will then be split into 12 different sub categories each with 10 models in it, the sub categories will be:

• - Airport
• - Arctic
• - Beach
• - Big City
• - Construction
• - Desert
• - Highway
• - Island
• - Jungle
• - Mountain
• - National Parks
• - Old Town

The increase in models in the core line will see some models like the VW Caddy dropped from the core line as it doesn’t fit with the new marketing idea, although it may appear in 5 packs and the re-introduction of some older castings such as boats and motorcycles. There will be a large selection of fire and police vehicles as well as farm equipment and 4x4s such as those listed below:

• - 1952 Seagrave Fire Truck
• - 1956 Buick Century Police
• - 2011 Ford Explorer Interceptor
• - 2011 Dodge Charger Police Car (with roof lights!)
• - Ford F-350 Superlift Brush Fire Truck
• - 4x4 Ambulance (non licensed)
• - Oshkosh M-ATV (combat vehicle currently used by US forces)
• - BMW R1200 RT-8 Police Motorcycle
• - Treaded Tipper Truck (non licensed)
• - New Lift Truck (non licensed)
• - Vintage Tractor (non licensed)
• - Farm Spreader (non licensed)
• - Cab over Tow Truck (non licensed)
• - Garbage Truck (non licensed)
• - 4 Wheel ATV (non licensed)
• - Jeep Wrangler Superlift
• - 4 Treaded 4x4 (non licensed)
• - 2 Treaded Snow Vehicle (non licensed)
• - 4x4 Sports Car

The other major change to the brand is the Matchbox logo itself, after reverting back to the original logo some years ago, it will now be changed as shown in the picture to drop the lozenge look but it will retain the same font as before.

It has also been mentioned that we can expect to see some older casting, retooled into something new released in the new future, the example give was the old MB058 Faun Dump Truck that was retooled into a crane a few years back, will be retooled again into a construction water truck. There will also be new wheel designs added although there are no images at this point so we just have to wait to see what they look like.

Real Working Rigs will continue in 2012 and these also will fit the new look, there will be mining vehicles, 4x4 vehicles and more, mostly non licensed vehicles to help keep the costs down and the Skybusters range will be much the same, a lot of new castings but mainly generic non licensed aircraft.

So what does all this mean for the future of Matchbox, well I guess in reality only time will tell, but I certainly think that most of the changes are not a good thing, when you combine this information with that of the previous report or two from Mattel, then overall it seems that the future direction seems to be about generic castings, with hideous paint work and lots of plastic. I don’t think that bodes well for the future of Matchbox diecast, but then with the difficulty we all seem to be having in obtaining new models due to the distribution issues Mattel have, will we even notice.

This article was published on Tuesday, 26. July 2011.

Last foray into Norev.....

It has been bugging me for a while about the QC issues that I have been experiencing with the 1/64 Norev's that I have got recently. I mean they are not really pocket money toys - you could say that they are a premo product. In fact, whilst at the Citroen stand at the Geneva Motor show last Friday, there were hundreds of the buggers on sale for €4 each at 1/64 scale, and a handful of 1/43's as well - not enough classics for me to actually part with my cash (where are are classic CX's, BX's and XM's?? I don't want the new C5!!)

It was with a bit of reluctance that I picked up a five pack Emergency gift set. I am really not sure if these models are meant to be played with - again they look far too detailed to be let loose in the hands of little people, and car crashed to kingdom come.

So, let's have a look at them then. As with all of them, they have the famous Norev tramline suspension - bouncy bouncy at first, but I think the fun will be taken out when the wires get bent....

The first model is a Gendarmarie Citroen C4 - this is the second casting that I have of this model, and as far as I am concerned 'job done' - a good casting I think, and especially like the way that the boddy looks a little jacked up. I don't know but looks like it gives the impression that is it really fast. So i like this one.

Next we have the Peugoet 308 in Police livery. No opening parts on this one, but again, as fairly nice casting. Like most of these 1/64 models I really do love the accuracy of the wheels, and with this model it is no different with those 308 wheels. Lovely. HOWEVER. There is a down side. As this is meant to be a toy, you would expect the zoom zoom factor to be in order yet when doing zoom-zoom on a flat surface, you simply end up with locked up wheels, and the car doing a handbrake turn. Different story on carpet.....but a negative.

The Citroen C5 Estate is also a decent little casting. Again, no opening parts and suffers from the handbrake syndrome that the 308 does as well. But as a casting, I think it would diplay well.

The Citroen Jumper tipper is one of those castings that I call brilliantly flawed. As can be seen from the pictures, the front bumper looks like it is about to be ripped off, but the irony is here is that I actually quite like it like that - shows the working class roots. So I let that pass. Like the others, I love the wheels which are very accurate and the model is in good proportion. The Tipper part let's it down. Although it works without issue, when putting the model back in the packaging, the rear tail flap snapped in half. FFS!!! Couldn't believe it, and was well narked....

It is possible to super glue it back, which I did, returned back to the packaging, and it promptly snapped in half again. Bugger and arse. Not happy.

Finally, with have the Renault Kangoo - a cute little van with a working sliding door. A good, honest little casting, with nowt really wrong with it.

So there we have it. The last Norev castings I will be getting for some time. This lot are not a bad lot, but as noted above, there are some major flaws with them. As a consumer, I have a right to be demanding and therefore expect the QC standards to be far higher than they are. At a lower price point HW and MB, you will necver have these problems, and even with the over-priced Superfast /Lesney MB editions you would never see these QC issues. So, would I buy any more again?

Only for the reason that you cannot get these castings in MB guise (as Mattel are simply not interesting in getting a license for modern French castings, and concentrate on those US&A models that the MCCH Mafia insist they produce.....). But has a value toy to play with, these are too pricey for the likes of little people. I think that Norev should pay a little more attention to the quality of the models and elevate them to Tomica LV status, and then you will really have a winner. I am glad that I have these castings, but at the same, feel slightly miffed that these are beautifully flawed.

Vanguards 1/43 Ford Escort MkII

Now this is more like it. I have been critical of Hornby for some time now with the poor attention to detail to certain Vanguard models. The MGB is a prime example how they it it very wrong, yet with the 309GTi casting they got this spot on.

I am quite pleased with this particular casting. The badging of the car is correct and how I remember the MkII Escort. The body is well cast and the 'piece de resistance' is how Hornby have got the wheel casting right.

I was very hesitant when I looked at the pre-pro - it looked bloody awful and I really thought Hornby had f**ked it right up. I have to remember that pre-pro's are not normally how the model will turn out, but it is swings and roundabouts. The MGB and MkIV Cortina castings looked superb in pre pro, but in reality they were a total let down.

This casting bodes very well for he MkII RS Mexico version due for release this year.

It is pleasing to see Corgi/Hornby take the trouble for this one. I don't want them to rest on their laurels and will expect pretty much the same for future castings.