Matchbox SRT Viper - Code 3

The Mattel design team have made some very controversial decisions for the 2012 Matchbox range. They have delivered a selection of garish designs and odd generic models which have not proved popular in the adult collector community. One hopes that their core audience - kids who play with these cars - are happy, and that sales have boomed as a result. 

One casting that suffered spectacularly from this design decision was the Dodge Viper. I decided to 'improve' the Matchbox teams colour choice, by stripping the garish tampo, and detailing the car. This is a fairly light Code 3 of this car, with glass and wheels untouched. 

I used nail polish remover and some earwax remover buds to remove the tampos. This took some time and as i decided to keep the SRT signage, i had to be extra careful. I did rub a little too hard and too long at one point and removed some of the pearl white paint in one area. it was carefully touched up and cant be seen now. 

With the main garish blue tampo removed, I used a silver paint pen to detail the exhaust, door mirrors and headlights. Red paint on a fine brush was applied to the brake lights and the brake light above the rear windscreen. Below the rear brake lights I used the silver paint pen to highlight the reflector part of the brake light array and the numberplate area. I went over the external edge of the rear lower spoiler with a white paint pen. 

A black paint pen was used to fill in the vent above the main bumper, the grilles in the bonnet and the four radiator holes in the main front bumper. There is also an air vent just above the windscreen on the roof which also had a touch of black paint arrived. 

In this view you can see where the silver paint pen was also used on the fuel filler caps on the rear deck. White paint was used on the front spoiler, but has come up gray. I may strip that paint off, but it was the only element of this minor Code 3 job I am unhappy with. The underlying pearl white paint is very attractive. 

If you are unhappy with the main design theme on this years matchbox range, I recommend you apply my approach to your favoured casting. Check back here for my take on the VW Amarok. 

Fun Ho! 44 Bulldozer repair using Matchbox 8d parts

I was looking at my Fun Ho! fleet in preparation for the April Canberra Model Vehicle Collectors Club meeting - the theme for that evening will be 'state of origin'. I will be taking all my Fun Ho! along - as they are all of NZ origin.

I would like to take the Fun Ho! bulldozer along - but it lacked treads. What to do?

Knowing that many Fun Ho! castings are close copies of Lesney castings, I had a quick flick through Warmans 'Matchbox Field Guide' and sure enough - it's almost identical to the Matchbox regular wheel 8d bulldozer. The main and significant difference being that the Fun Ho! has a lifting bucket at the front.

Matchbox tractor 8d (ebay ad photo)

Fun Ho 44 (photo from the Toy Cabin)

The castings are so similar except that Fun Ho! 44 has a few alterations, that allow it to be used as a bull dozer with a flat blade, and a lifting bucket. My main concern was - would the Matchbox tracks fit the fun Ho!?

I asked on the Matchbox Collectors Community Hall forums for replacement parts suppliers - and received a few pointers. I went with 'RecoverToy' located in Australia. They were able to supply a set of tracks to fit the Matchbox 8d. 

When they arrived - I fitted them - and they were perfect. They aren't black, like the ones in the photo above - but they fit, and suit the playworn dozer. RecoverToy also threw in a sheet of decals with my order - which was a pleasant surprise. I am very happy with the result. 

Motormax now stocked in Kmart and Target

With the decline of the Matchbox brand, other diecast brands are filling the niche of the non-Hot Wheels 3 inch diecast car segment. Motormax are a brand that have produced cars for 'house labels' in Australian department stores for some time. Target has carried Motormax 5 packs under the Tough Stuff label for at least the last two years, and now Kmart are carrying Motormax cars in their own housebrand. 

Fairly plain packaging for the Kmart range of Motormax

I've never understood the 'colour changer' car concept - but it must be popular as they keep selling them!

The internal packaging of the Kmart range is identical to the Motormax 5 packs that Target carries, what is different is the outer cardboard slip. Even the range of cars is the same. 

Kmart are also carrying Motormax cars singly. At one dollar, they offer very good value for money. There are only ten cars in the single boxed range. 

It appears that the Motormax singles and 5 packs at Kmart are replacing the Maisto 'Fresh Metal' range at Kmart. There has been no new Maisto stock for some time, and the peg space is gradually receding. Matchbox has had their peg space at Kmart reduced to zero!

Motormax are a brand that have been around for only a few years, but the history of the companies that precede them is long. They started as Zylmex or Z-Toys back in the 1970's sending three inch castings to the world from Hong Kong, then became Red Box and are now Motormax. Not only do they produce cars under their own name in several scales and price points, they also produce cars that appear under other makers names such as these house brand cars and more recently in Australia - the DDA EH Holdens in 1:64 scale. 

What is the quality like ? Lets have a look at a 5 pack. I bought this 5 pack from K-Mart specifically for the black Mercedes SLS, so if anyone wants the other 4 - drop me an email and we can work something out! 

 BMW Z8

 Mercedes SLS

 Lamborghini 

 BMW

Porsche 

To the rating:

Normally I would review each car - but this time I will apply the rating to the 5 pack. The cars have uniformly excellent paint, with accurately applied tampo painting for logos, tail and headlights and some grilles. The interiors are attractive for the scale, and the clear glass is a pleasant surprise in this price point. Some of the wheels on the cars look very toylike, with overlarge rims and small tyres, others look very good. At roughly a dollar each (a little more at Target) they are very good value for money and even if they are meant for kids to play with, some of these castings do deserve a home in the adult collectors collection.

Motormax 3 inch diecast cars - 5 pack (Tough Stuff - Target house brand)

Quality  8

Design    7

Colours   7

X-factor  6

Rating: 28/40

Licence to collect Matchbox (in the 70's...)

Excuse me Sir you seem  be carrying an unusually large number of transitional and Superfasts - can I see your licence please?

Very good, carry on...

Motor Max - mutated Holden ute

When is an homage an insult ? Perhaps when its an imitation that looks like it just doesn't quite carry it off. Thats the feeling I get when I look at the Motor Max utility. It has to be a Holden ute - but it just looks weird.

 The Motor Max ute

5 strange cars for $5 - where I first saw the strange ute

I first saw the Motor Max ute when I was in Toys'r'Us looking for diecast. Normally I dont even look at the rows of Fastlane cars. They are generic and designed for kids to flog to death. They are dirt cheap as well.  But the strange ute caught my eye. What was it ? I initially thought it might have been a Chev SSR. Was it a copy of the Matchbox Holden Ute ?

 Big 'M' in the grille. Bizarre headlight styling. 

I bit the bullet and forked out my $5 for the five car set and extracted the Motor Max ute. It was very light for a diecast, and the glass fitted very poorly, no interior either. The paint was pretty good though, and a nice colour too. Wheels are very over the top. 

 The base is surprisingly detailed

When you place it next to a Matchbox HSV utility the differences are obvious. While the general styling is the same, the Motor max ute is larger and more 'compressed'. It's as if the designers stretched it out and then pressed it back in with the body 'rising'. I dont even know what scale it could be - it is in the three inch category, but who knows. 

It is clear that it is not a copy or replica of the Matchbox, Motor Max have actually created their own casting. For general kid play use, this car will be fine. For an adult collector, I'd say it will be overlooked or collected as an oddity. You couldn't really place it in a Holden collection, and it looks nothing like the Falcon utility.

See also:
Matchbox Holden HSV Utility
Hot Wheels Ford Falcon FG V8 Supercar
Revolution Models Holden Torana GTR-X in white
Capital Diecast Garage Australian diecast forums - become a member today!

Matchbox - Toyota Land Cruiser

The 1968 Toyota Land Cruiser has been in the Matchbox lineup since 2009, and I recently reviewed the Lesney Edition version of this casting from the 2011 Lesney Edition range. In this post, I am looking at the regular edition from the 2011 Matchbox line. 

The 2011 regular edition is in an appealing dark metallic blue. The white roof which has been seen on all Matchbox Toyota Land Cruisers, is on this version. The paint is uniformly excellent, with no overspray or flaws. 

The tampo printing has been generously applied to the grille, the headlights and front indicators. The rear has no tampo printing at all, rear taillights are in the blue body colour.  

The casting is a very accurate representation of the short wheelbase Toyota Land Cruiser, and is still a very popular 4WD in Australia. Most Australian versions have a bull bar at the front, but this version is a regular factory version, although the wheels are a bit larger than they would have been in 1968. 

The interior is fairly basic, through the slightly tinted window glass you can see distinct front and rear seats and a crude dashboard. This car has a plastic base and it is unremarkable with little detail, apart from leaf springs and two differentials, indicating it is a 4WD vehicle. The front and rear bumpers are part of the plastic base. 

The packaging is an attractive but simple blister card, featuring the car on the card itself. This 2011 packaging is about to be replaced with a rather more garish packaging,as Matchbox heads back to a 'Hero City' era. 

This car is an attractive little diecast, which at around two dollars is amazingly good value. It has no real flaws, apart from a lack of tampo printing on the rear, but it is quite generous at the front. A quick lick of the paintbrush could quickly add the detail missing, if you so desired. 

Coming soon - Lesney Edition and Regular series '68 Toyota Land Cruiser - comparison. 

The ratings:

Matchbox  1968 Toyota Land Cruiser 

Quality   8

Design    7

Colours   8

X-factor  7

Rating: 30/40

See also:

Capital Diecast Garage Aussie Diecast Forum *NEW*

Lesney Edition Toyota Land Cruiser

Lesney Edition v regular series Matchbox Toyota Land Cruiser (soon)

Lesney Edition - Toyota '68 Land Cruiser

Matchbox/Mattel have announced that there will be no more Lesney Edition Matchbox cars in 2012. For the last few years mattel have released a limited range of cars using the Lesney Edition branding. The Lesney Edition cars are the same castings as used in the regular Matchbox range with the following differences. 

• They came in a blister pack with a small cardboard box, emulating the pre-blister card era. 
• The cars had metal bases and metal bodies, unlike the metal body and plastic base cars of today. 
• The Lesney editions had full tampo print detailing of headlights, taillights, numberplates etc. 

These  cars have been keenly sought after by collectors of Matchbox cars ,and even retailing at around three times the price of a regular Matchbox model, the majority of the range has been a sales success. 

I thought that it would be a good idea to look at a Lesney Edition casting and compare it to the same car from the regular range. In this post I look at the Toyota Land Cruiser in its Lesney Edition guise. In the next post I will look at the regular edition Toyota Land Cruiser. In the final of this series, I will compare the two cars. 

The 1968 Toyota Land Cruiser has been seen in many model versions. The Matchbox contribution to its model heritage first appeared in 2009, in a yellow version, with a white roof. It has made nine appearances since then, including this Lesney Edition. At approximately 1:58 scale, it is a nice looking casting that fits nicely into Matchbox's range. 

The Lesney Edition has a metallic green paint job, with white roof and silver checker plate lower sides painted on.

The wheels are a standard Matchbox wheel type, and the same wheel as used in the 2009 regular series Matchbox Toyota Land Cruiser.

Tampo painting has been used well, picking out headlights, grille, TOYOTA grille badge, taillights, numberplates and door handles. Matchbox even paint their name on the sides.

The smokey glass looks good, and matches the light brown interior, which isn't too detailed. You can make out seats in the front and back.

The car looks very good. it is an accurate model of the fullsize car, and has the right stance. The wheels are too modern and wide for a genuine 1968 car, but this is a toy, and it may also be a customised version of the 1968 car, so the paint and wheels may reflect a more modernised version. 

The metal base is not overly detailed, but does show the leaf suspension and differentials for the front and back, and model identification.

The Lesney Edition blisterpack is very different to the regular series blisterpack, and carries an old style logo, and a separate cardboard box for the model. It is an attractive package.

At three times the regular cost of a Matchbox car, you get a cardboard box, a metal base and extra tampo printing. it is a steep premium to pay on top of a matchbox regular series model, but has been well received. When assessing this model, I do take this into account.

The rating:

Matchbox Lesney Edition 1968 Toyota Land Cruiser 

Quality   7

Design    7

Colours   7

X-factor  6

Rating: 27/40

See also:

The Capital Diecast Garage Aussie Diecast Forum *NEW*

Hot Wheels '77 Dodge Custom van - black with Flames!

Matchbox '68 Toyota Land Cruiser (soon)

Lesney Edition versus regular series Matchbox '68 Toyota Land Cruiser (soon)