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Saturday, January 20, 2018

Copied Porsche 910... Did Playart copy Corgi, or vice versa?

It sounds patently obvious to say that diecast cars are models of real cars...  ...Yet it is not actually always true.  In some cases, they are actually models of OTHER model cars.

I've seen it with Maisto flagrantly (and poorly) copying Matchbox' Audi Quattro.  And in this post, I show a fascinating example of Playart copying Corgi's casting (although I suppose that there is a chance that Corgi copied Playart casing).



There are several companies who produced models of this car, the most well known of which is the (red) model by Lesney's Matchbox.  That one actually looks very different (particularly in size, its easily the largest of the five) from the other models.  I also have a Dynawheels model (in brown), a Zylmex model (in blue, #910), a Playart model (in blue) and a Corgi Junior/Husky model (in yellow - a "Rockets" version with extra speedy wheels/axles).  Missing from my photos is a Speedy model that I spent an hour fruitlessly tearing apart my Matchbox collection trying to find.  Regardless, the last four are very similar in appearance and size, particularly the final two.  And upon closer examination, it turns out that the final two are actually copies of each other, with similar casting lines, choice of detail, etc. Examining the base and especially the opening engine compartment shows a very similar choice of detail.



In fact, the only two questions are 1.  Who did the copying...   Was it the second tier Playart copying toy giant Corgi, or was it the greater scandal of Corgi cribbing a design from no-name Playart, and 2.  Why bother?  Could it really have been that much harder to create an "original copy" of the real car?

P.S.  I suppose that as long as I'm showing 5 distinct (or is it 4?) models, I should at least pick a winner...  Who modeled the 910 best? 

Although I'm a big Lesney Matchbox fan, its easy to assign the Matchbox in 5th place.  Its a little too big, and just looks different from the others. 

The next 4 are closer in comparison, all nice and worthwhile models in their own right, even though several come from brands that aren't typically collected. 

In fourth place I assign the Zylmex, while its very nice - it just doesn't have the opening back hatch or the quality wheels of its competitors. 

The final three are in almost a dead heat.  But the Corgi's stance/wheels sets the model a little too high, giving it a 3rd place finish. 

Between the final two, the DynaWheels is missing the opening hatch of the Playart (and the Corgi), but the metal roof gives it an advantage over the all plastic roof of the Corgi and PlayArt.  The wheels also are slightly nicer.  Overall, its enough to put the DynaWheels in first place, ahead of the Playart. 

And of course the biggest irony is that the copy-cat Playart took 2nd place, beating out the copied Corgi...!

Thanks for reading! 

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Tomica Premium - the next big thing in diecast!

Regular readers of my blog know that I am a big Tomica fan.  They also know that I am NOT a big Tomica Limited Vintage fan - models, while highly detailed, tend to be slightly smaller scale - enough so they don't merge well with basic Tomica models, and in my opinion are not worth the hefty price tags.

Enter Tomica Premium!

Over the last 2 months I purchased about 15-20 Tomica Premium cars, and am THRILLED with the scale, quality, detailing, etc.  Many have opening doors.  Rather than talking in depth about each model, I thought I'd just release a bunch of photos of my Premium collection.

Note to readers, I was PARTICULARLY impressed by the Supra, the R32 Skyline (in 3 colors/slight model changes), the 300ZX, the S2000 and the 1970s Porsche 911.  The least favorites (though all are nice) are the Celica All-Trac (odd wheels and no opening doors), the Miura (the lift-up rear is cool - but the front end is a bit more bug-eyed than accurate), the FD (3rd gen) RX7 in blue (I just don't like the customized look) and the 2 WRXs.

Note also that the FC (second gen) RX7 in white is a really nice model - but is technically part of the "Dream" collection, as is the 240SX/Silvia.


Overall, I'm highly recommending this new series from Tomica.  Price points are pretty reasonable given the quality - expect to pay about $5-6 from an internet shop like HobbyLinkJapan (again - a strong recommendation for HLJ!).

Enjoy the pictures!




























Note - the yellow/green 911 is a basic Hot Wheels - but it looks nice and is in scale - so I included it in the photo!