ACME’s “Tom’s Garage” ’32 Ford five window is on deck, and we thought we’d share these photos of the pre-production piece that Mat and the ACME boys sent along. As you can see, the model’s got more of that classic old rod’s DNA, done with a new upper body and a classic scalloped paint job atop smoked-out Hallys and wide whites. The black and red scheme looks perfect (how do these guys keep coming up with these killer custom paint jobs?), as does the low-key level of chrome and the tamped-on pinstriping. Under the hood is the stalwart flathead Ford with a pair of Stromberg 97s; go back for a carpeted cabin with all the right stuff from dash to back wall, and a carpeted trunk below a deck lid wearing “TOMS 32″ plates.

From the in-the-weeds nose to the dual  exhausts poking out under the rear, this one’s got “classic rod” written all over it – and it’s reason enough to join the “Tom’s Garage” premium club at ACME. Count us in.

ACME Trading Company

Gallery > ACME "Tom's Garage" 1932 Ford

Die Cast X - The Ultimate Diecast Magazine

There a lot of letters attached to the track-ready version of Mercerdes-Benz’s  6.3-liter, mega-buck SLS, and to that jumble, Minichamps has added another three: ABS. As in plastic. That’s the material that the German maker has used for the sealed body shell of this latest model of the triumphant Teuton, seen here in its debut form wearing “AMG” and “Facebook” livery.

We’ll get right to it: in this white, the model is a stunner, mostly because the sealed plastic body sells the proportions of the racer from its gulping front end to its Cessna-sized rear wing. Add in the crisply cast and satin-toned comp wheels and fat (but no-name) rubber, and you have a package that can stare down all but the hairiest models in any race collection. The add-on decos are decals – high quality transfers that hug the casting well (apparently not the case in some early versions of another variant in red – but the factory has said they’re making amends, and we believe them).

The interior detail is great, and not all that hard to see, thanks to good glazing; take a wander around the car, and other neat notes, like the lensing front and rear, and the photoetched struts for the big wing, make the model a study in beauty and aggression, as told by a manufacturer always looking to leap forward with their scale model offerings.

Our verdict? Great stuff. Though the plastic hasn’t the resolution of resin, it’s a whole lot crisper, not to mention less expensive, than a comparable diecast tool would be. Curbside models are becoming more and more popular among race car collectors. If ABS – long a staple in smaller scales – proves itself yet another way for new models to appear, we’re all for it. We’ll be watching.

Carville Models

Gallery > Minichamps 1:18 Mercedes SLS GT3

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Back when car design was a hands-on process, in the good old days before CGI and hyper-real “in the tube” rendering,  car stylists were faced with a reality: what looked good on the drawing board didn’t always look so great in the light of day, or in any particular color. So, most car makers had a staff of on-site artists whose sole purpose was to sculpt large-scale, tabletop models of in-process designs. These scale sculptures would be painstakingly detailed if they were close to approval; other, less detailed bucks would be used to evaluate the way colors and paints played on a car’s overall shape – all the better to impress the corporate “suits” who would have to sign off on the designs before larger clays, full-sized mock-ups, hard parts or pigments could be commissioned for production.

Like that time-intensive procedure, most of those models have been lost to the ages. But a new craftsman has emerged, and he’s offering very limited releases of some of the most important automotive design studies ever. Samuel Sandifer  is the fellow’s name, and despite his advanced age, he’s not only procured the license to replicate these cars in hand-laid fiberglass – he’s the one who lifted the patterns for the reproductions from actual, nearly-priceless design and color study models.

Hey, we’ll admit it. We’re a nostalgic bunch, and that makes this series of truly huge models one of the coolest ideas we’ve seen in a while. The cars are cool, too: everything from a ’51 Ford to the swoopy, space-aged Charger III, to FoMoCo’s stillborn “Cavalier” design study are on deck. That last piece shows just how connoisseur-grade this lineup gets – it’s a half-model of the kind that used to hang in studios for color checking and profile styling. If that doesn’t trip your wire, the casting of a Studebaker race car, complete with helmeted driver, should. Less externally detailed, but true to the color study it was lifted from, is a Packard, available in two tine maroon or blue, both with silver poly topsides.

The models have a timeless quality to them, despite the fact that the “youngest” of the bunch hails from the late ‘seventies, and from what we can see in these factory photos, Samuel Sandifer has done something really remarkable here – given collectors a glimpse into the creative process of car design. This homage to the days of rolled-up white shirt sleeves and  tucked-in ties makes for bits of history that they can put at the center of their collections.

We couldn’t help imagining Harley Earl, Edsel Ford, Arkus Duntov, or any number of giants of design grinning from ear to ear whilst gazing down at the pieces, and for that, we tip our hat. Contact JM Modelautos – the exclusive representative for the “Sandifer Design and Color Studies” line – for info. We’d like to think that the giants would approve.

JM Modelautos

Gallery > Design and Color Studies Line

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Die Cast X - The Ultimate Diecast Magazine

What’s that? You missed the April 28 “Cup of Joe”? No problem – if you didn’t catch all the action on Sunday morning, you can still see it here.  It went off without a hitch. ACME’s 1:18 1932 Ford five-window coupe was featured, as were a pair of IndyCars from Replicarz. We also looked at CSM’s out-of-production 1913 Buick 25. Then Joe and Frank looked into some new 1:43 from NEO, Brooklin, and Premium X, as well as 1:64 cars from M2, and some first shot samples from new player Spinmaster.

Remember – you can click the “Latest Videos” to watch the episode – or any of teh episodes of teh show – from the beginning.

Enjoy!

Die Cast X - The Ultimate Diecast Magazine

February 17, Cup O’ Joe featured world-exclusive looks at the very same models that were on display at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in the Minichamps booth – the outstanding 1:18 Lincoln Futura, LaSalle II Roadster, and Edsel Ford Speedster from the brand-new “American Dream Cars” collection. The resincast models are big, beautiful, and save for a few tweaks, ready to go into production.

Then we took a look at another show car – GreenLight’s long-awaited 1:18 1974 Mustang II King Cobra, a sample that we were literally handed on the show floor at the New York Toy Fair. This one’s got a lot of collectors excited – and rightfully so. But wait! There’s more! Maisto has sent along a pair of their 1:18 “Sons of Anarchy” Harley Davidsons – the only hand samples of the bikes in the world.

Like 1:64? You’re in for a treat: we had M2 Machines’ Foose lineup – all of the first release – ready to roll. The cars are killer, the lineup is wild, and they’re all here for you to see.

Die Cast X - The Ultimate Diecast Magazine

If you’ve never heard of model maker “ESVAL”, welcome to the club. But don’t be too hard on yourself. The company is a brand-new player in the burgeoning 1:43 market, and this group of factory photos – dusty though they may be – show a lot of promise from this spanking-new line of resincasts.

The subject matter is cool, too – 1941 and ’42 Packard limos, done in red, white, blue and black, wearing what seems to be a hatful of photoetched and hard-plated plastic detail bits. We scoured the photos, and from what we see – not yet having had a sample on hand (yes, we’re working on it through Judy Kirkpatrick, whose “JMModelautos” will be selling the cars) – the paint and build is right up there with the better models currently on the market. Some older Mercedes Landaulets will be joining the fold, soon, as well.

We’ll keep you updated and on top of any developments; in the meantime, drop Judy a line to see what the latest news is. Old Packards are sweet, and this line looks it’s a winner.

JMModelautos

Gallery > ESVAL 1:43

Die Cast X - The Ultimate Diecast Magazine

This show was jammed! Auto World sent along the latest 1:18 Funny Cars – the “Jungle Jim” Camaro (a first for this mold set), and the Shirley Muldowney “Bounty Huntress”. We also have a look at Greenlight’s 1:18 “Mecum Auction” Hemi Challenger convertible, then we kick back with some neat 1:43 from Brooklin, IXO, and Hot Wheels Elite. Like scale racing? More Auto World cars are on deck, and we’ve got some great stuff from Carrera, too!
We had the chat open for you to join in, and Frank and Joe are on deck to answer your questions, LIVE. In between the models, we talked about our recent visit to Wayne Carini’s “F-40 Motorsports” shop in Connecticut (where Wayne shoots his Velocity Channel TV show, Chasing Classic Cars), and we also gaveg away Die Cast X window clings and a 1:18 Auto World ’67 Mustang Shelby GT500 in the Cup O’ Joe Trivia Contest.
It’s the most fun you can have in your pajamas – DON’T MISS IT!

Die Cast X - The Ultimate Diecast Magazine

You can stretch a bit to attach it to the name “Conrad”, but for the most part, “Corrado” is one of those exotic sounding handles that suggest a romantic back story… but basically mean nothing. Unless you’re a car guy. In that case, the word brings up a picture of one of Volkswagen’s greatest driver’s cars, especially in its hairy-chested, supercharged G60 form.

Introduced in 1990 here in the States, the Corrado didn’t take long to make itself known as more than a Golf on PEDs; the automotive press fairly fawned over the car, and some went so far as to call the Corrado an almost certain classic in the making. It drove fast, and rode hard, and had a wedgy, mildly blunted look that wore well on the eyes.

It still does – if you can spot one. Attrition is a tough thing to beat, and a lot of the cars have shuffled off the streets into the great beyond. Finding a good example isn’t easy these days – unless you’re tuned in to OTTOmobile’s release schedule, in which case you can park this new resincast 1:18 of the trippy Teuton on your desk.

OTTO makes some very impressive model cars, and this one’s sharp casting and utterly perfect  ”Bordeaux Red Poly” paint give the image an almost eerie level of realism on display; since the shut lines are cast in, the model’s stance, on correct alloy-look wheels, is perfect. So are the lenses at the front – deep, clear, and highly reflective, they join their multi-faceted counterparts at the car’s rear to make the VW look road ready.

Inside the car, all of the details you could wish for are on tap, and visible, thanks to the butyrate glazing. From the wrinkles cast into the door panel trim to the tiny red release buttons in the seat belt catches, it’s all here.  What’s lacking is any deep chassis detail. That’s the norm for this maker (and most resincasters, in general), with only a stylized suspension, and a painted exhaust system, set in place to give the car a correct profile on the shelf.

Overall, this is a great model car from one of the real stars of Euro-casting. We’ll be featuring more and more of OTTO’s products in the coming months, so stay tuned.

OTTO Models

Gallery > OTTO VW Corrado

Die Cast X - The Ultimate Diecast Magazine

Much as UK-based Brooklin have made themselves (not just a little ironically) the kings of classic American-themed model cars in 1:43, Asian model manufacturing giant Sun Star has made themselves the reigning rulers of the 1:18/1:12 mid-scale classics roost by choosing great subject matter and doing it really well.

We have this outstanding new 1959 Dodge Custom Royal convertible slated for the Summer 2013 issue of Die Cast X, but when something comes along and delivers the goods this well, it’s hard to resist a little advance coverage. And hey… we were doing the happy dance over this one. And that counts for something, doesn’t it?

The ’59 Dodge was a couple of steps removed, stylistically, from the clean, sweeping designs of Virgil Exner’s ’57 Chrysler cars, and more than a little gorp was starting to appear on the lineup by ’59. Chalk that up to a need to make yearly changes, of course – and the fact that “Ex” had suffered a debilitating heart attack soon after he’d penned those groundbreaking 1957 machines, and wasn’t able to further the designs for the “Forward Look”sequels.

Whoa – we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Better save the juicy bits for that issue. But in the meanwhile,  cruise these images of Sun Star’s latest ‘fifties bomb. We’ll have the car on the next episode of “Cup O’ Joe”, on February 3rd, so feel free to  join us and comment. We’ll be easy to spot – we’ll be dancing.

Sun Star Models

Gallery > Sun Star 1959 Dodge Convertible

Die Cast X - The Ultimate Diecast Magazine

Superlatives sometimes fall short. That’s the case with this latest venture from that old stalwart, Minichamps, as they introduce a new line-within-a-line of immaculate 1:18 resins. The line is the “Mullin Automotive Museum Collection” – which debuted in 1:43 a few weeks back – and the subset of images is the 1:18 variants of those same cars, of which this 1938 Hispano-Suiza H6C Dubonnet “Xenia” is the first to emerge.

We’ll have to pull back from doing a full review here, and let the pictures try and speak to the model’s beauty and impressive display. We will tell you this – it is a heavy, exquisitely finished piece, from a numbered edition of 1,002; the paint is incredible, and the interior detailing is thorough and complete. We’ll have a full review in the Summer 2013 issue of DCX;  in the meantime, drink this Dubonnet in.

Carville Models

Gallery > Minichamps Mullin Xenia 1:18

Die Cast X - The Ultimate Diecast Magazine