Innehållsförteckning för May 2025 från Diecast Collector

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RALLY enthusiasts will be keen to hear that Spark had announced its latest batch of 1/43 scale classic rally car models. Among the standout releases is the legendary Martini-liveried Lancia 037, the car that propelled Walter Röhrl to victory in the 1983 Monte Carlo Rally. This model faithfully replicates the iconic machine that triumphed over four-wheel-drive competitors in one of the most historic rally events. This highly anticipated release captures every detail of the legendary Group B rally car, making it a must-have for fans of classic motorsport. In addition to the Lancia 037, Spark’s latest selection also includes a modern rally car: Sébastien Loeb’s 2024 Rally Mont Blanc-winning Alpine A110 GT+. Unlike the classic Lancia, this contemporary rally machine will be available in both 1/43 and a larger 1/18…

French carmaker, Citroën, debuted its Ami One concept car at the Geneva Motor Show, in March 2019. Developed alongside the production version, which was unveiled in Paris the following February, the new Ami (a nod to Citroën’s iconic family car from the 1960s and ’70s) is a two-door, battery-electric quadricycle. Initially aimed squarely at the younger driver, it can be driven in France by anyone over the age of 14 who holds an ‘AM’ licence. Limited to just 45 km/h (28 mph), it wasn’t originally intended for the UK market, but it has proven to be a real hit with a much older age bracket! Designed by Pierre Leclerq, with interior styling by Jean-Arthur Madeleine, its funky body shape is even more remarkable when you realise that the front and…

Once upon a time, the collector of models of British cars was spoilt for choice, not only by the big boys who produced mass produced producers; Somerville, Pathfinder, Crossway, Spa Croft and Lansdowne. Sadly, most of these smaller producers have passed into modelling history, Lansdowne, at the moment, excepted, although with a much reduced output. We needn’t fear however as this corner of the market is now being filled by the likes of Matrix, Neo, Kess and other producers, but this time the material of choice is resin, and unlike their predecessors, the models are made generally in China. Also, the medium chosen, plus the cheaper labour costs, means that highly detailed models are available and at an affordable price. However, because many of the “bread and butter” cars have…

The Rover 3-Litre [P5] and successor 3.5-Litre [P5B] are among the most quintessentially English luxury cars of the 1960s, oozing an aura of traditional craftsmanship and grandeur. With a stern front dominated by a huge shield grille, tall straight sides, large wheels, a large number plate plaque on the boot and a fair scattering of chrome, it made an impressive statement which continued inside with lashings of opulent leather and wood. This legacy was so memorable that BMW - as Rover’s owners in 1999 - invested substantially in trying to recapture these qualities for the showpiece Rover 75 [R40] range, an excellent design which deserved a much better fate than subsequent events allowed. In the mid-1950s Rover was a fascinatingly diverse company. Its only car range was the staid P4…

When Corgi Toys was first launched in 1956, there was competition from other toy makers and manufacturers both here and in Europe. Many of these were producing similar diecast models, and so it was important from the outset that Corgi set itself very high standards in relation to choice and quality. Corgi’s great rival, Dinky Toys, had already been making diecast models for many years so there was much to do to achieve any share of the success. The product designers and those making the decisions were well informed and at the peak of their performance levels by the mid 1960s. It was just as well as the market place was to become smaller during the 1970s and the number of manufacturers was on the increase, all chasing the same…

Six-Wheeled Wagon I have always had a fascination with lorries from childhood and continuing even today. In the early days quite a number of lorries were ex-army but the civilian ones such as Austin, Ford, Foden and Leyland dominated the roads. Most were four-wheel versions and of course there were six and eight-wheel lorries, and most had bonnets before the forward control models arrived during the 1950s. The toy manufacturers produced a varied selection of lorries and military vehicles to keep the young collectors happy. This included Dinky Toys with the 25 series of lorries alongside other models which included a six-wheeled wagon model from the 151 Army series. The Dinky Toys Six Wheeled-Wagon number 151b was introduced in October 1937 and shown in the Meccano Magazine that month with…

YES, folks, I was lucky enough to visit Retromobile in Paris, the high-end classic car season-opener. But rather than just tell you what a wonderful show it is (and it is), with some of the most mouthwatering cars on the planet on show and with many for sale, at equally-eyewatering prices (there were, and they were), and that there was a wonderfully wide selection of models on offer, in all scales materials and prices (yes to all of these), I had the opportunity to check out two versions of the same model, one in its basic form and inexpensive, the other highly modified and detailed, and not so inexpensive. The subject is the 1957 Cadillac Eldorado, Cadillac’s top-line 'personal car', and the basic version is by Solido of France in…

THE FIRST OF FOUR NEW SAAB FIGHTERS BY AVIATION 72 HAS JUST LANDED IN THE UK Saab’s JAS 39 Gripen is a light, single-engined, supersonic, multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace and defence company. The Gripen features a delta wing and canard configuration and fly-by-wire flight controls. In 1979, the Swedish government began development studies for an aircraft to replace the Saab 35 Draken and 37Viggen in the Swedish Air Force. A new design from Saab was selected and developed as the JAS 39. Saab rolled out the first Gripen in 26th April 1987, marking the company’s 50th anniversary, and on 9th December 1988, the first prototype (39101) made its maiden flight. The Swedish Air Force ordered Gripens in three batches and the first serial production aircraft (39102)…

The first of three generations to carry the Scirocco badge was premiered at 1973 Geneva Motor Show. It was the ‘sports model’ of Volkswagen’s ‘new generation’ water-cooled passenger car line-up. Opinions amongst enthusiasts vary of course as to which generation was best but the clean, sharp edged, original design penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign alongside its Golf and Passat stablemates is probably the most enduring. As if to underline its transition from air to water-cooling Volkswagen abandoned a fairly teutonic practice of numerical model designation opting instead for name themes as here with Scirocco the Mediterranean wind that comes off the Sahara. OttOmobile has already released excellent models of the second and third generation Sciroccos and this release now of the first generation is long overdue. In terms of…

In Part 1 of Porsche 935 – The privateers (Diecast Collector, April 2025), we looked at the early cars raced by various teams around the world. We focused on cars developed by Porsche since 1976, when the new Group 5 regulations started for the second division of the world endurance championship. Firstly, Porsche built cars for their own official endurance team to run and only when they considered the 935 reliable enough, they started to build customer cars and sell to privateer teams. A dedicated production line, installed at Porsche’s headquarters in Zuffenhausen, Germany, made all the cars this very specific market demanded, delivering examples ready to race. A racing customer service team took care of all required maintenance, as well as providing any spare part that each team might…

The United States Air Force (USAF) Thunderbirds is a famous display team widely known all over the world for its very close formation precision aerobatics. No wonder then that the team’s various aircraft from across the ages have been modelled in diecast metal. In this article we look at one of the Hobby Master 1/72 scale General Dynamics F-16Cs, which is a recent release to the company’s range. THUNDERBIRDS HISTORY The USAF Thunderbirds were activated on 25 May 1953 as the 3600th Air Demonstration Team at Luke Air Force Base, just west of Phoenix, Arizona. The first team leader was Maj Richard C. Catledge (1953-1954), and the first aircraft type used by the unit was the straight-wing F-84GThunderjet. Because the Thunderjet was a single-seat fighter, a two-seatT-33 Shooting Star served…

No. 58 DAF GIRDER TRUCK Production: 1970-72 Catalogue: 1970-72 Box Styles: G When DAF Girder Truck went on sale as a Superfast version, apart from the obvious change of wheels that had necessitated a new baseplate, the only other change made was that the parts to hold the girders in place laterally were now a one-piece "H" type black plastic unit with vertical stays. The cast in stays had gone leaving a flatbed for the main casting. Early Superfast releases retained the regular wheels body colour of white, as did the box art, but when the colour of the truck changed to metallic lime green, so did the box - this wasn't usually the case when a colour change happened. The girder load was unchanged and still comprised 12 red…

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COLLECTORS and classic motorsport fans have reason to celebrate, as Spark has unveiled an exciting collection of 1/43 scale endurance racing replicas. This new range features iconic cars from legendary circuits, including Daytona, Sebring, Spa, and the Nurburgring, capturing some of the most memorable moments in racing history. Among the standout releases in this collection is the #19 Maserati 450S, the car that secured victory at the 1957 Sebring 12 Hours. Driven by racing legends Juan Manuel Fangio and Jean Behra, the powerful Maserati 450S dominated the gruelling endurance race, finishing two laps ahead of the Maserati 300S piloted by Stirling Moss and Harry Schell. This victory cemented the 450S as one of the most formidable sports cars of its era. You now have the opportunity to own a meticulously…

Artitec’s hand built resin and etched metal Massey Ferguson 830 combine has a weathered or used finish with good-looking decals on both combine sides. The wheels do not turn nor steer and the table is set at the correct height when cutting a standing crop. It has good levels of detailing. On the table the reel has the tines set at the correct angle, individual fingers detailed on the knife and feed auger with flights and tines. Neither reel nor auger turn but the drive lines for both are detailed on the right-hand side of the table. Beside the detailed engine and on the driver’s platform there’s the driver’s seat with matt black cushion, engine control panel, the wheel for setting the table height and a matt black steering wheel.…

Before heading into covering those releases in detail though let’s first delve into a now reoccurring subject theme from AutoCult. One with a fascinating backstory to it and a story of several chapters that underpins the first AutoCult model on the theme right up to the most recent. THE AERO 50 DYNAMIK SODOMKA In 1931 Aero, a Czechoslovakian aeroplane company in Prague, turned its attention to manufacturing automobiles with the introduction a small car named the Aero 10. Shortly afterwards came the Aero 16 and in 1934 its first with front-wheel drive – the Aero 30. The highlight of its car range though came with the Aero 50 launched in 1936 and produced until 1941. With a platform chassis having independent suspension powered by an enlarged two liter, 50 hp,…

Seventy years old and not a wrinkle!”. That’s the verdict of one French motoring journalist on the timeless Citroën DS 19, first seen by admiring crowds at the 1955 Paris Motor Show where it caused such a sensation that 12,000 orders were reportedly placed by the end of the day. The designation ‘DS’ echoes the French word déesse which means ‘goddess’ and this year’s seventieth anniversary was certainly a godsend for the organisers of the famous Paris Retromobile classic car show who not only used a picture of the Citroën in their advertising posters but laid on a spectacular display of surviving examples. Pride of place went to a unique recreation of a 1959 Citroën publicity stunt where the car was shown apparently floating on water, with the wheels replaced…

The year 1979 proved to be an exciting and pivotal year for Ford’s works rally department. It was the final year of using the super successful Mk2 Escort as a ‘works’ rally car but it was also the first year Ford dipped their toes in front wheel drive motorsport by using the then new Fiesta. Two newly homologated Fiestas were entered in the 1979 Monte Carlo Rally in ‘Group 2’ guise, as a trial to see the genuine feasibility of turning the Fiesta into a successful rally car. Group 2 regulations meant that certain modifications were strictly against the rules. So while the engineering team was able to squeeze about 150 bhp from the 1.6-litre engine by fitting two twin-choke Weber carburettors, they had to run the car on the…

Meccano Limited launched Dinky Toys in the 1930s in a world where women had not yet achieved equal opportunities and toys were very clearly divided into those for boys and those for girls. The successful products of Binns Road – Meccano construction sets and Hornby trains – were very much aimed at boys, and the same could be said of most of the toys that bore the Dinky name. Even towards the end of Dinky production in the later seventies, things hadn’t changed all that much. The 1977 catalogue, for example, shows children dressed up in costumes like a spacesuit, police or military uniform to illustrate the appropriate toys, and in each case the models (human, that is!) were boys. In the last few pages, though, it seems that girls…