March - May 2003 Archive
29-May-2003 A couple of new Minichamps models including two James Bond Lotus Esprit's have appeared on eBay. In the absence of a part number on the boxes these appear to be early or pre-production models. Check out the full story Here!
26-May-2003 Here's a glimpse of the new Minichamps Porsche 996 Cabriolet in 1/43 scale - the model is currently for sale on eBay and we suspect that it has come direct from the production line in China. If you want to read the full story Click Here!
25-May-2003 An interesting find if you are a BMW collector - this royal blue BMW Z4 'Sale Away' model is currently for sale on eBay at the moment and is limited to 3,620 pieces. It is not available to the general public and was given away to BMW employees as part of the BMW After Sales Cup 2002 - each model is individually numbered.
Our Dutch reporter attended the Aachen swapmeet yesterday and found out some interesting information relating to the 93 Gode Damon Hill model. He was chatting to one of the dealers who just happened to mention that in the past he had worked at Gode - it seems they actually ran out of the Hill Gode models so they began to substitute them with the standard boxed models and shipped them with a certificate. He also mentioned that the Onyx Tyrrells in Minichamps boxes were in fact genuine.
24-May-2003 Some more information on that rare Silver Sauber find we featured yesterday - the model was made by Max Models and comes in an acrylic box measuring 17 x 9 x 8.5 centimetres and was a corporate Christmas gift from Castrol to it's business customers in 1989.
And the news from Motorsport Products we have been waiting for - Minichamps will produce a Jordan EJ13 Fisichella First Win Brazilian GP model in both 1/43 and 1/18 scale complete with rain tyres, product number 030111a due October 2003. Also a Kimi Raikkonen McLaren MP 4/17 First Win Malaysian GP model in both scales will be due November 2003 product number 034326.
23-May-2003 According to reports the Canadian GP Event Car planned for this year has been scrapped however the USGP version is still going ahead. Also the McLaren Australian GP cars are rumoured to be very difficult to come by when they are released.
Here is something I certainly haven't seen before - it's a solid silver Sauber C9 Castrol promotional model ! We are not sure however if it has been produced by Max Models - if anyone has any further information on this item then we will be pleased to hear from you.
17-May-2003 Some news just in for Alfa Romeo fans ! Minichamps have released two Alfa Romeos especially for the Italian market - the first is a 155 Q4 Turbo 4 x 4 in silver limited to 1,008 pieces (433 120405) and the second a 155 Twin Spark again in silver but with gold wheels and a rear spoiler, also limited to 1,008 pieces (433 120406). Both of these models are available direct from Alpimodel.
15-May-2003 Here's one courtesy of my old friend Ivo Beuken - it's the Kimi Raikkonen McLaren Schuco Promotional model, no prizes for spotting the deliberate mistake.
If you haven't visited Ivo's website before then you should - if a Minichamps model doesn't appear on his database then it doesn't exist !
14-May-2003 The Sauber Petronas Fanshop are now listing a Sauber C21 pitstop diorama limited to 1,000 pieces - it's a bit pricey to say the least, around £98 with current exchange rates (136.50 Euros)
According to reports only 36 examples of the John Guest Daytona Porsche have entered the UK so if you didn't pre-order it from your regular dealer you will have to look overseas from one of the many internet dealers. I am always surprised by some of these low numbers and honestly can't believe there are not more than 36 people in the UK who don't collect racing Porsches, Daytona models or both !
12-May-2003 News of some further Minichamps model releases has just reached us - just check these out !
12H Sebring
P031338 Audi R8 Pirro/Lehto/Johannsson - Team Champion
P031391 Infineon Audi R8 Biela/Werner/Peter - Team Joest
P031397 Bentley EXP Speed 8 Kristensen/Smith/Capello - Team Bentley
P031398 Bentley EXP Speed 8 Herbert/Brabham/Blundell - Team Bentley
P031399 Audi R8 Salo/Kane/McCarthy - Team Audi Sport UK
P036933 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Pumpelly/Lally/Ivankovich - 'Hazardous Sports'
P036961 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Donaldson/Hayden/Fiksen - 'Ecurie Ecosse'
Daytona 250
P036907 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Lacey/Wilkins - Team Doncaster Racing
P036981 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Martini/Wagner - Team G&W Motorsports
Nextel GP of Miami
Helmets
PH030019 Helmet Jos Verstappen 2003 Scale 1.2
PZ030019 Helmet Jos Verstappen 2003 Scale 1.8
All the above items are slated for quarter 3 & 4.
11-May-2003 If you ever needed a contender for 'fake of the week' then here is it is. It's a Jos Verstappen MP 4/8 McLaren Test Car - appearing on eBay at the moment (where else??). I must say the quality of these computer printers is getting better and better.
I attended the Donington Park swapmeet today which was a huge disappointment. It was especially annoying to see a number of models selling at 3 for £20 especially when they were £29.99 each last year ! This 'dumping' has been going on far too long and I can't understand why in this day and age Minichamps in Aachen don't sell direct to the retailers - it cuts out the middle man and makes everyone happy.
10-May-2003 According to the latest Biante email it seems Minichamps will be producing both the Bentleys and the Audis from Sebring 2003. One model they won't be producing however will be the Renault launch car, something we suspected would happen in view of the fact that these are covered by another manufacturer.
It's amazing how in the space of a few weeks that the price of a model can dramatically rise or fall. Just a few weeks back the Orange McLaren F1 GTR was commanding prices in excess of £300 on eBay, now they are changing hands for just under £100 ! It seems that some people are just too eager to put their hands in their pockets in order to part with their hard earned cash. We've seen similar situations before with other models however some collectors never seem to learn and go jumping in feet first rather than using their heads. Another lesson learnt ? I doubt it and I predict history will repeat itself again in the not too distant future when the next 'must have' model hits the shops.
07-May-2003 As you would expect the demand for Mark Webber models in Australia is huge, therefore it's hardly surprising that the Minichamps 1:43 Minardi PS 02 model has already sold out and it was only released late last week ! The pain is apparently greater for those who didn't pre-order it from their local retailer due to the fact that there are rumours that the 'Webber First Point' model has been cancelled so the PS 02 will be the only example of his drive for 2002
The new Porsche 911 GT3 dealer edition in 1:43 has just been released - to check out a sneak preview and for details of a source for the item then Click Here !
01-May-2003 As we all know it only takes a comment or posting on a particular diecast website or message board to have a drastic effect on the secondary market prices of certain models, well in this case the recently released Japanese Minichamps book has had a similar effect on a couple of items in recent weeks.
The first is the pink Model Farhzeug Porsche RSR which is limited to 1,000 pieces. This item was similar to the Orange McLaren F1 GTR in so much as it was available only to the lucky winners of a lottery conducted by the magazine. Up until a few weeks ago you could pick them up quite easily for around £24 however since its feature in the book they are now changing hands for up to £60, not a bad return in a short space of time.
At the moment there is an auction running on eBay for a red Ferrari F50 roadcar which was another model taking pride of place in the book however this one is currently at a whopping $101 US ! The moral of the story here is not to part with anything until you know its true value - even if you don't normally purchase models from eBay it can pay to check out a few auctions to find out what's in demand and flavour of the month.
30-April-2003 I'm conscious of the fact that I haven't posted an update for a few days now and thought you may be wondering why ! Well the simple answer is there hasn't been anything to report so if any of you loyal readers have any news, rumours or confessions then please email me. In the meantime whilst we wait for something to happen you can be having a look at this new website which is dedicated to our favourite brand of 1/43 Formula One models. Click Here!
21-April-2003
CHARITY RAFFLE !
Here is your big chance to own the elusive Orange McLaren F1 GTR prototype at a fraction of the eBay price and also help charity at the same time. A small registered charity (Reptile Rescue & Education Charity # SC027541) are holding a lottery in aid of charity with some of those hard to find and expensive models as prizes.
Here's how it works
The charity will supply the models to be raffled over the net and these will be run every three months or so. Each lottery will be limited to a realistic number of entries (unlike some of the current offerings) - you can even have input into the models selected as prizes ! The first one up will be the infamous McLaren F1 GTR Prototype and Minichamps book (Japanese only release). This first lottery will be limited to 100 entries. What will it cost ?? For UK residents a donation of £5 per entry, European or Worldwide entries 10 Euros or $10 US.
Heres what to do
Email the charity at reptile_rescue1998@yahoo.co.uk to register your entry.
You will receive an email confirming your entry and payment options. Cash, cheque or Paypal (Non UK only) Or notification of the closure of the lottery.
When your donation is received you will be issued a random number from 1 - 100, the first donation will receive #1, the second #2, so on and so forth.
As soon as the full number of entries are received, Jean Alesi the ex-F1 driver will draw the winning number from a hat. Details of the winning number will be listed along with the winners details on the Minichamps Collectors GB website.
The item will be delivered by insured mail to the winner within 5 days of the draw being made.
Why this charity ?
It's simple these guys are all collectors in their own right just like you and know the hassle it can be to get that elusive model. Unlike almost all other charities, this charity does NOT pay any of its volunteers anything (not even expenses) - all the money raised goes directly into the feeding, rehabilitation and rehoming program. Although donations are gratefully accepted we would rather support the charity by also helping others i.e. giving away models as prizes.
Full details of the charity are available upon request from reptile_rescue1998@yahoo.co.uk So get your cheque books our or send in your cash and lets get the ball rolling.
Please note that the Minichamps Collectors GB website are purely providing webspace in order to publicise this lottery and will at no time have any influence on the judges decision or have access to the names, email addresses or numbers allocated to the individuals purchasing tickets. All queries should be directed to reptile_rescue1998@yahoo.co.uk
19-April-2003 Just when you thought you had collected all the Toyota F1 variations from last year up pops another ! This 'sticker tuned' item was apparently a gift from 'Sachs' and comes complete with a 'Sachs' sticker on the insert - has anyone else seen one of these before ??
18-April-2003 During a slow week in diecastland we can always rely on eBay to come up trumps with a few snippets of news and this last week has been no different. One item which I have never seen before is this Mercedes boxed McLaren MP 4/12 Mika Hakkinen 'Black Star' version.
As we all know the MP 4/12 in a Mercedes box is a difficult item to come by at the best of times and the 'Black Star' even harder but this combination has never surfaced before. Now in no way am I inferring that this model is a fake, far from it - what I suspect is that the seller has perhaps on this occasion stuck a 'Black Star' in the promo box in order to maximise it's selling potential and with prices reaching new heights who can blame him ??
17-April-2003 A model we featured back in early February 2002 has suddenly started to make a regular reappearance on German eBay. The item in question is the AG Software sponsored Porsche 911 GT3 #23 Sascha Maasssn 2001 Supercup car limited to 1,000 pieces - one auction has just finished at a mighty 307 Euros !
With May just a few weeks away the second of the 'Orange F1 GTR' auctions isn't far off. Now we all know that this model has caused a stir and in view of the number on eBay at the moment the big question is will the release of the second batch mean a fall in prices ? I personally think not - it's not the number of models out there that makes it difficult to obtain its the way in which it's been marketed which makes it all the more difficult to obtain.
12-April-2003 Well all I can say is things are certainly looking up - my Sauber 10th Anniversary set has finally arrived at long last ! It seems the fault lies totally with the Royal Mail and not Sauber, apparently the parcel has been sitting in my local sorting office for three weeks but nobody there wanted to take responsibility for telling me ! Now I'm always the first to admit that I'm wrong and this morning I've fired off an email to Sauber apologising for all the inconvenience, the item was even well packaged !
If I was to sit here until next weekend I'd still be unable to come up with a list of superlatives long enough to describe it - it really is that good, so for those F1 fans out there who haven't got one yet then you don't know what your missing.
In light of the FIA's decision to award last weekends race to Giancarlo Fisichella what odds will you give me on Minichamps producing a 'First Win' model ?? As PMA have regained the licence to produce Jordan I sincerely hope they now back track and release the earlier Jordan cars as individual items complete with driver figures.
10-April-2003 The Toyota TF 103 launch car featured a few days back will be available in the UK from Motorsport Products with effect from the 15 April priced at £25.00. Now from what I've heard on the grapevine it seems Toyota will be releasing a similar number of promotional models again this season as they did last - lets hope there aren't as many variations this time.
Well the saga of my missing Sauber Anniversary set continues ! As you can probably recall after encountering a few 'teething troubles' with their website I finally managed to place an order on the 20 February (2003 that is!) Now despite a couple of emails over the last week I'm still awaiting a reply.
I have been reliably informed by a friend who was lucky enough to receive his order that on the reverse of the set is 'Edition 1' which to me would indicate some more sets in the pipeline. Now for Sauber's sake I sincerely hope they get their act together next time round as this experience certainly doesn't instill confidence.
08-April-2003 It looks as though a new season of collecting has just begun folks - just arrived and spotted on German eBay this Toyota TF103 Launch Car !
06-April-2003 First a candy pink BMW Z8, now an insipid pink Porsche Carrera GT ! Now before you knock it this baby has just sold on eBay for a whopping 300 Euros - it seems they were handed out as prizes in a model magazine lottery and only a handful exist.
Whilst on the subject of every Minichamp collectors favourite auction site one model which is commanding a high price at the moment is the Nurnburg Toyfair promo Mercedes cars. If you didn't already know the only way to get one of these items at the show was if you were lucky enough to have an audience with Paul Lang himself so as you can appreciate they are going to be a little thin on the ground.
If you are missing any McLaren WEST models from your collection then this could be your last chance to obtain them, one collector has decided to sell his entire collection on eBay. Click Here!
05-April-2003 Once upon a time in the land of cuckoo clocks there was a shop selling models, unfortunately ordering from them wasn't a fairy tale - I originally placed my order for the Sauber Anniversary two car set with their on-line shop at the beginning of February and despite this I am still awaiting for my parcel to arrive !! It seems that I am not the only person who has experienced problems and the whole Sauber shopping experience isn't a happy one I'm afraid to say and here's why.
Once on the Sauber 'on-line shop' you are required to set up an account if you wish to order items from them - this I did however at the point where I tendered my credit card details the site then kicked into 'German' mode, this despite me picking the 'English' option. After a week or two a waiting for a package to arrive I checked my credit card account to discover nothing had been debited so I checked on the status of my order however there was no trace of the account I had previously set up. At this point I took the decision to reorder however despite my best attempts the site refused to play ball and offer any English option so I called in the cavalry, my Belgian pal who is a dab hand with the native German tongue who kindly placed a second order after setting up my account again, this was on the 20 February.
Now despite this and several emails to Sauber the said item still hasn't appeared and after chatting to a friend last night I'm not convinced it will. It seems their whole set up is a shambles and here are some of the problems others have encountered
If anyone else is having problems then I would like to hear from you.
Well the Japanese orange McLaren F1 GTR eBay auctions are certainly gathering momentum, the first one reached a massive £315 !
31-March-2003 We all shoot ourselves in the foot from time to time and I'm no different, in this case I'm referring to my last update in relation to those McLaren F1 GTR models. I've literally just come off the telephone and when I was told this piece of information my bottom jaw nearly hit the floor.
It seems that a total of 40,000 (yes that's forty thousand) of the Japanese Minichamps books have been sold so far so you don't have to be mathematical challenged to work out your chances of gaining a winning ticket and actually obtaining a model are much slimmer than first thought.
28-March-2003 As expected the orange McLaren F1 GTR Prototype 'Japanese Lottery' models have already started to pop up on eBay. Now before you all start to panic and place ridiculous bids just take stock and remember what happened with those M-Creative models last year - for the first few months the things went for stupid money only for the price fall when the stampede died down just like I predicted. Even now there are hundreds of the things unsold and gathering dust on dealers shelves.
I would be very surprised indeed if there are in excess of 1,500 McLaren F1 GTR collectors in the world so it all boils down to supply and demand and there are more than enough to go round - the more people that bid on these eBay auctions means the higher the price will go resulting in the people with the surplus stock gaining the upper hand. So if I was you I'd bide my time and wait for things to die down a little first. Just to prove my point whilst one auction is awaiting its first bid of in excess of $100 the models are on sale in Japan for Yen 7,800 Click Here!
23-March-2003 It was off to a toy fair at Donington Park today for me however as the NEC hosted a large event last week it meant that the number of collectors and dealers attending was well down on normal.
If you remember some time back I predicted that the Ford RS200 rally car would become a highly collectable item - well I spotted one for sale today for £200 so well done those of you who took my advice and picked it up at standard price. The stars of the show today were a couple of Hakkinen and Coulthard Schuco Promotional McLaren's. In light of todays Malaysian GP result several dealers reported that collectors were snapping up Alonso models like there was no tomorrow.
We all know that the ban on tobacco advertising marked the end of the WEST McLaren Team Editions, however it does not necessarily mean an end to the team editions ! According to my source McLaren are considering producing the Team Edition inserts with the standard Minichamp 'Kimi' & 'David' logo'd models however no final decision has been made at this stage.
As you can imagine I receive lots of emails via the website from collectors around the world and this week was no exception, however what made this one different was the interesting collecting theme - 1/43 Minichamps special promotional models. Click Here! to view Kota's collection
20-March-2003 Well the latest auction on that promotional offering from Schuco which we featured a few days back (the Kimi Raikonnen model) finished at a whopping 352 Euros !
I received an email from an eagle eyed collector this week who had just taken delivery of the Japanese Minichamps Book and apparently on page 135 is featured the Qantas Michael Schumacher F310/2 with the 'low nose' which as we know is a fake - Oops !
16-March-2003 As you may recall a few weeks ago I reported that Schuco were in the process of producing a Kimi Raikkonen promotional model - well it appears that they are already out if this item from German eBay is anything to go by.
14-March-2003 Unfortunately Minichamps have removed the 1:43 presentation models for the Jaguar F1 team from their schedule and will go straight into making the race cars.
Some good news for Porsche collectors though, there will be a new 1/43 scale Porsche dealer edition history set available from September to commemorate the launch of the Carrera GT. This set will contain a 911 from the 1970's, the 959 from the 1980's, and 911 GT from the 1990's and of course the Carrera GT. The precise colour and exact specifications of the models are not known at this stage ately I do not know the colours of exact specs of the models as yet.
That Schuco McLaren MP 4/15 Mika Hakkinen model we featured last week reached a whopping £260 on eBay !10-March-2003 As I had a little spare time on my hands this weekend (due mainly to the inclement weather in the UK !) I thought it was time to go through my collection with a fine tooth comb for signs of the dreaded 'decal peel'. I was quite lucky that out of a rather large collection only one model had succumbed to the disease but unluckily for me it just happened to be one of my favourite items, namely the BMW M1 1000 Km Nurburgring.
Now I'd like to point out that I'm no model maker by any stretch of the imagination but I've had excellent results re-applying decals in the past with a combination of a small model makers paintbrush, decal fixing solution and my secret weapon - the wife's hairdryer ! On numerous occasions I have picked up models complete with peeling decals at toy fairs quite cheaply and used the magic combination once back home, viola good as new.
In the case of the BMW M1 lets say the results weren't as expected - everything went fine up until I applied a little heat from the hairdryer then disaster, the paintwork on the car began to 'bubble' as you can see from the picture below. Another lesson learnt especially as it's cost me another £35 in order to replace it !
05-March-2003 We reached a milestone yesterday with our 100,000th hit ! Thank you for your support over the last 18 months.
If you are looking for another source of the Japanese Minichamps book then you can purchase them from the following at a cost of £25 plus £3.15 postage and packing F1modelcollector@blueyonder.co.uk - the books come without the postcards however it seems this is of little value anyway in light of information posted in our last update.
The Dutch Verstappen fake factory is still rolling out the models, this one is the latest to appear on eBay.
03-March-2003 In light of the amount of interest caused by the Orange McLaren F1 GTR roadcar I feel I should clarify a few points for you. As you know the model can only be obtained via a 'lottery' system if you have purchased the Japanese book titled 'Minichamps World' - even if you are one of the lucky winners the model still has to be shipped to an address inside Japan (sound familiar ??)
I know for a fact that there are some collectors out there who have purchased multiple copies of the book and are submitting multiple 'lottery tickets' in order to obtain the maximum number of models possible to sell on at a profit - no doubt to the highest bidder on eBay.
Another Schuco promotional model has appeared on eBay - this time it's the Mika MP 4/15 version.
01-March-2003 One McLaren collector has contacted me in relation to the Japanese released Minichamps book which he received today, in particular the section referring to the orange F1 GTR roadcar. As you can see from the illustration below it seems there may well be three variations of this model, the standard test car together with the red wheeled and black wheeled roadcars.
