I prefer the cars to have figures and film stills on the dioramas. These latest ones have been plain, using the same plinths and bases and zero 007-ness. Its all dragging on and getting boring. Not worth the money anymore. But as a collector I feel I need to go on. Grrr!
That's exactly what Fabbri want! And that's precisely why I cancelled the subscription - I don't want to be a pawn in the hands of a greedy corporation. From now on I decide what is part of my Bond collection!
And despite Mr D calling the Austin London Taxi "boring" it is one model that I definitely want!
Just to defend D110, the taxi being referred to as 'boring' relates to an earlier discussion where some proposed releases were judged as such by a number of contributors, not necessarily him. I'll be avoiding the taxi simply because I see the things every day in the UK and certainly don't want a 'mini-me' version inside my house as well! Give me Astons and Yank-tanks any day.
I understand, MCF. However, aren't those taxis becoming more and more rare as they are beign replaced by the new models? If so, when nostalgia hits a few years from now, you may regret not getting the Austin!
This was in reference to extra models. What I'm driving at, unfortunately, is that Ixo likes to be the only company onboard and does things its own way. Hope that clarifies things, if not making them any better in reality.
Just to defend D110, the taxi being referred to as 'boring' relates to an earlier discussion where some proposed releases were judged as such by a number of contributors, not necessarily him.
Thanks MCF. That's exactly what I mean. I myself will be buying the Austin FX4. But frankly, I don't see it selling too well in the UK. I know a few people will get on me, but I think they should have made the UAZ-31512 4x4 from GE instead. Heck, it played a HUGE role, got loads of screen time, and Ixo has the moulds (they're about to release their TENTH variant of it...). With that said, however, I will almost certainly NOT be buying the Morris Minor 1000. Still, that's really only two cars I can think of that I imagine will be marketing flops, not counting the horrendous T-Bird. The rest?
112. When word got out the Mercedes-Benz 220 (W115) really was right-hand drive, the price went through the roof. I imagine this is due to a combination of factors: the lack of a truly classic M-B in RHD with this car filling the void, the higher quality of the model itself, people normally uninterested in Bond buying this one because it's a RHD Merc, and the M-B collectors the world over deciding a while ago that a RHD Mercedes-Benz was something that was neglected. If popular demand from former Soviet bloc collectors spawned two GAZ-M21N Volga sedans in right-hand drive from Neo, can you imagine the much larger M-B collecting bunch's satisfaction at a RHD Merc?
113. Ixo's mould for the VAZ-2106 was generally seen as a bit late for the USSR (1988-1990) and disappointed some collectors, but here, that "defect" actually works to their advantage. These were, if you stripped the paint off, likely once Soviet Leningrad Militsia GAI, albeit late Soviet Militsia GAI. Real St. Petersburg Militsia GAI cars were used and that early 1990's market, at least in terms of truly detailed models, has been grossly neglected in favor of late 1990's Russian Militsia DPS cars (despite the not-very-detailed, similarly painted Bauer VAZ-2106's being gobbled up). Since we know what the mould's going to look like, is it any wonder this one's a worldbeater in eBay presales already?
114. The Mercedes-Benz 450SEL (W116) used in FYEO was a 1973 model...i.e. from the first year of production. There was a lot of disappointment expressed when this car was eschewed in favor of the 280SE in Ixo's M-B partwork. You have a very common color for this car, too, and a very attractive one (it sells better than any other Minichamps color). With the scramble to buy the Minichamps 450SEL in silver-gray, it drove the price up to ludicrously high levels and many people couldn't afford them. However, if Ixo plays its cards right with this M-B (and with Mercs, they usually do), I think you'll see this one again appeal to the Mercedes-Benz collectors. You'll also see it appeal to the subsection of the M-B guys who are Code 3'ers...frankly, I'm expecting all kinds of mixing and matching with the 280SE that's already out there to get a 280SEL, a 450SE, and I can't imagine someone NOT trying a 450SEL 6.9 (especially).
115. I don't think the Austin FX4 Taxi will sell in Britain. If Ixo makes one heck of a model, it may do well in overseas markets, but it won't have the universal appeal of the prior three models.
116. Austin A55 Cambridge Taxi. This should sell well, especially judging by how well loose Austin A55 Cambridges were selling from the La Route Bleue partwork. Since the Cambridge was a common British police car and British taxi, I don't expect this one just to appeal to the taxi people, but to Code 3'ers converting the car into a police car or British taxi.
117. The Mercedes-Benz 220S is built on the W180 II chassis that, like the long-wheelbase W116, seems to be popular with M-B collectors, many of whom (yours truly included) were disappointed when they didn't see this car in Ixo's M-B partwork. Since Ixo DID make up for it with the bodywork on the "Adenauer" limousine that was a favorite in the partwork, I can see them very easily transitioning from that car to this one. It will be a new mould and I'd be shocked if Ixo...who, as I said, really handles their M-B's well...drops the ball here. Plus you have a VERY significant Bond chase car that, regardless of having figures or not, chased the DB5, so you have that crossover as well.
118. The 1965 Lincoln Contintental Lehmann-Peterson Executive Limousine. My prediction is that this won't be a recycled '67 Continental except in one area. You'll see a new grille, new roof, redone body, redone trim and small parts, and recycled base from the '67 Continental. If they do that, especially given the car's roof, I have a feeling it will do well. Also, you'd be surprised, but most of the East Bloc modelists have been very receptive to this. You may be scratching your head at that, but the EXACT SAME MODEL in the exact same color was sent to ZIL in either late 1965 or early 1966 so they could fine-tune the ZIL-114 limo using this car. I already plan on Code 3'ing this one with NAMI "Proba" license plates, as do a few friends of mine.
119. The Lada Niva, due to its unrealistic paint scheme, is probably going to be the poorest-selling of the East Bloc cars. On the other hand, you have to understand that the East Bloc hobbyists LOVE East Bloc cars that appear in films, pretty much no matter how realistic they are (google "Welling Super Box" if you want to know what I mean). I also have friends that plan on using this as either a Code 3 item due to the mirrors, fog lights, and bumper or, alternately, as a stand-in for a Soviet Ministry of Atomic Energy vehicle.
120. The VAZ-2105 Lada Zhiguli was already done in a different color in USSR AvtoLegende, where it was received EXTREMELY well. From what I'm gathering, the only alterations to the mould will be to the interior and the only other alterations period will be the body color and license plates. With accurate Czechoslovakian license plates (the people I talk to also look at IMCDB), I'm getting the feeling that this one may be a BIG seller. It's a true cult car in the former Soviet Union and I can see this one right up there with the ZIL-117; possibly more.
121. The Mercedes-Benz 200D W115 is likely going to be the poorest-selling Mercedes-Benz model. I say this because it's NOT in a very popular color. Ixo will have to work to sell this one, though the M-B diesel nuts will buy it in droves, if nobody else. The W115 is a well-liked car that's only really gotten two very good conventional models (from Spark and Ixo), so that may save it, but I believe the color will hurt sales.
122. The Scaldia-Volga M24 "Second Series" is going to be eaten up by the East Bloc guys for a number of reasons. First, it's a Second Series car. You won't have to buy an Ist model and subsequently wreck it if you're aiming to build a regular, GAZ-24 "Second Series", since all you need to do is decal on "Volga" in Cyrillic on the fenders, spray over the trunk lid, and put a third decal there (plus replacing the license plates). Alternately, you could decal over the plates with Belgian ones and just go for a Scaldia-Volga M24 Sedan (which, believe it or not, is a common modification). Or you could keep the car the way it is. I have friends that plan on doing ALL THREE. With a familiar mould and a known quantity, I predict this one will sell quite well.
123. Dodge M43 Ambulance. Even sans laser (which I'm guessing is likely), I can imagine every Korean War, Vietnam, and even WWII hobbyist in 1/43 I know buying multiples of these.
124. Plymouth Savoy Taxi. Considering people are literally so desperate for this car that I'm seeing Code 3's of the old Dinky Toys Plymouth Plaza (same car, different trim level), I'm expecting not only Istanbul taxis, but also taxis from all over the US and Canada, police cars, and plain sedans. I'm also guessing this probably has the most Code 3 value of anything that's going to be offered. I expect this one to to be an enormous seller.
125. Chevrolet Bel Air 4-door Sedan. To begin with, I can't see this being released as anything but a Louisiana State Police car. Considering we've essentially gotten a sneak peak at what this will look like in terms of everything fore of the A-pillar with the Chevy Imapala Custom Coupe, I can't see how this DOESN'T sell, especially if they're going for a police car. Again, you'll see multiple police cars, taxis, and plain sedans all Code 3'd from this, plus the colorful livery of the early 1970's Louisiana State Police is desirable among police car collectors. It won't be the powerhouse seller the Savoy will be, but I imagine it will be very strong in the US.
126. Dodge Ram Pickup. This one is already in demand due to the 1/43 manufacturers getting complacement and basically not building anything other than El Caminos and Rancheros in terms of pickups outside the years 1938-1955. But one manufacturer...Neo...released a red 1968 Ford F-100 Pickup that became a phenomenon. You can only get it off eBay as far as I know and all the hobby shops have sold out, even the overpriced ones. People...especially model railroaders...are STARVING for a mid-1960's-mid-1980's pickup and the Ram fills the bill. I'll eat my hat if this doesn't sell.
127. 1961 Chevrolet 1-Ton Pickup. This was actually a rare truck when it was produced (1960-1961, with the latter saying "Chevrolet" on the grille), with Chevy's 1-Ton Panel and GMC's 30-Series being much more common. Regardless, I could see this being used as a highly acceptable substitute for a GMC 30-Series if Code 3'ed with American plates and blank doors. The dual exhaust stacks should also endear it to pretty much anyone. And of course, it's FAR from a boring Bond model.
128. Morris Minor 1000 Convertible. I don't see this selling too well in the UK and frankly have no idea why it's on the list other than perhaps "let's join every other 1/43 manufacturer by making a Morris Minor!".
129. Ford Ranch Wagon. This is the PERFECT stablemate to the Country Squire and while not the same model year, it's still from the 1959-1964 "generation" before the ugly, squared-off styling came along. The Ranch Wagon was the Country Squire's "little brother" in 1961; it had two doors and was Fairlane-based while the Country Squire was four-door and was Galaxie-based. I don't think it'll get quite the reaction the Country Squire and its lovely "vinylwood" panels got, but make no mistake: this is gonna be right up there with the East Bloc cars, the Savoy, and the Ram pickup if well modeled.
130. Wales & Edwards Rangemaster Milk Float. Out of sheer "weird" factor, I can't see this NOT selling. To say nothing of its extremely memorable role in TLD and being one of the three most "Bond-Centric" vehicles planned (the others being the Merc 220S and the Chevrolet 1-Ton Pickup).
Are there two "boring" cars here to the marketplace? I would say yes, there are. But the rest? They'll find buyers and, at the very least to the marketplace, will be anything but boring.
I said I would order the Austin FX4, but I would also love any UAZ too! In fact, I have a 1/24 UAZ Hunter, and even though it's not exactly a Bond movie car, it's one of my favourites. I was lucky to snatch it cheap from Russia, now if you see them they fetch $40 + postage...
I understand, MCF. However, aren't those taxis becoming more and more rare as they are beign replaced by the new models?
Yes, you're right, the newer TX4 type taxi seems to be more and more widespread in the UK now, so I would imagine the old FX4s are being put out to pasture.
If so, when nostalgia hits a few years from now, you may regret not getting the Austin!
LOL! You know, I had the JBCC on order at a newsagent until the Tuk-Tuk appeared, when I thought 'uh-oh, Fabbri are taking the p**s' and stopped it to become a cherry picker instead. The stupid thing is that I've bought the majority of the series anyway - quite a few of the ones I decided I definitely didn't want I've subsequently warmed to and picked up. Thanks to D110's interest in Eastern Bloc, I even bought the little Goldeneye ZAZ. Whether the same thing will happen with the FX4 I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if I don't end up being a 'completeist' and biting the bullet!
This was in reference to extra models. What I'm driving at, unfortunately, is that Ixo likes to be the only company onboard and does things its own way. Hope that clarifies things, if not making them any better in reality.
I've been running my own small company for over 20 years, and have never been able to tell my customers how they should run their businesses, let alone who they can or can't employ as suppliers. If you are correct, Ixo and Fabbri/EM seem to have a few very strange 'servant and master' issues that need to be addressed!
Great rundown on the remaining schedule D110. Of them all, the Plymouth Savoy Taxi intrigues me the most, - simply because I wonder how many people this side of the pond realise what a classic 50's 'chrome'n'fins' machine it is. I can't wait to see what the reaction will be when it appears, I'm sure anybody who appreciates 'Americana' will love it.
I also totally agree on the Morris Minor, I think it will get the coldest (world-wide) reception of all of the extension models. I suspect most people who really like this car will probably already have the very good Vanguards version. If Ixo have a lick of sense they'd be better off dropping it and modelling the Mark 1 Ford Escort from OHMSS instead. It's more Bond-relevant and the real car is one of the most sought after classics in the UK right now. So if Ixo introduced it into their regular ranges, different street versions and multi-liveried racing versions would probably be popular with die-cast and car enthusiasts alike.
Thanks to D110's interest in Eastern Bloc, I even bought the little Goldeneye ZAZ.
Well, now all I need to do is convince you to get a USSR AvtoLegende VAZ-2121 Lada Niva, since it's the same model and color as the one featured in the traffic circle in St. Petersburg in GE... ) But seriously, I'm quite honored! The Zaporozhets was a national joke, but couldn't really be expressed overtly as such during its production period. A lot of the Russians and even Ukrainians I know did NOT like GE due to the "all Russians hate Cossacks" stereotype. But man, everytime the ZAZ-965A came on screen (the tank chase was also well-liked since it had a bunch of Russian Army and St. Petersburg Militsia helping out), it was like a different movie was being shown. When Joe Don Baker hit the engine with a sledgehammer and it started, my friend said there was out and out APPLAUSE in the theater! "If [Leonid] Gaidai [famous Soviet comedy writer/director] could have done that, he would have."
I've been running my own small company for over 20 years, and have never been able to tell my customers how they should run their businesses, let alone who they can or can't employ as suppliers. If you are correct, Ixo and Fabbri/EM seem to have a few very strange 'servant and master' issues that need to be addressed!
Welcome to the "wonderful" world of Ixo whenever they're put in with another company. The speculation is that they've already pulled out of Nash Avtoprom (which isn't even a partwork!) because they didn't like how Hongwell was doing things, they pulled out of the French Cars partwork when they felt U.H. was getting too many models, they've made it so Atlas Editions basically CAN'T use another company for their WWII partwork...I could go on. It's not so much that Ixo officially cannot work with another company (I frankly doubt it's in their contract) so much as the nightmare that is working with Ixo.
Truthfully, I don't think Ixo is TELLING Fabbri/EM what it can and cannot do, but Fabbri/EM doubtless knows of the aforementioned series and partworks. They basically don't want to antagonize Ixo, lest they risk even worse slow-downs, infighting, and Ixo basically threatening to pack up and go home (with the moulds that Fabbri/EM signed over to them...). I'm convinced that the multi-month delays you saw from Ixo's first few models were from sparring with UH until Ixo got to the run the partwork the way THEY saw fit.
Great rundown on the remaining schedule D110. Of them all, the Plymouth Savoy Taxi intrigues me the most, - simply because I wonder how many people this side of the pond realise what a classic 50's 'chrome'n'fins' machine it is. I can't wait to see what the reaction will be when it appears, I'm sure anybody who appreciates 'Americana' will love it.
Thanks very much! I completely agree on the Savoy...to the average Britisher, I would imagine it would be the stereotypical "Yank Tank". It was the lowest grade trim, but you still had chrome.
"If Ixo have a lick of sense they'd be better off dropping it and modelling the Mark 1 Ford Escort from OHMSS instead."
I agree here, especially since it would be such a good seller in-country. You'd also get a good base for Ixo Rally by making one. Another two alternatives would be the GE UAZ-31512 or LTK Lincoln Mk. VII Coupe (a well-liked car for the mid-1980's, which is a woefully underrepresented market as-is). I agree...scrap the Minor in favor of one of these three. I don't think the FX4 should be scrapped necessarily, but I just don't see it doing all that great in the UK.
The Bond Car Collection Fabri, is quite good, although it is true that if every month manufacture two new models, never end, in Spain are impossible to find and get to me a friend of mine.
I leave you some pictures of my collection, I hope you like
Wow! Thanks MCF! Difficult to tell with a photo that small, but it looks like they really hit a homerun. Check out the detail on the wheels; I wasn't even expecting that! We also see the correct markings in the correct colors, plus a second side mirror to indicate circa 1990-1991 manufacture! -{ -{ -{ :007) :007) :007)
I have to admit I think this looks like a pretty cool addition to the collection. This is what I meant in a previous post about gems in the collection which there will certainly be more of. The damaged aston (which i had to replace) and the blunderbird are in my opinion the two most boring issues so anything released was almost guaranteed to be better. Never thought I would welcome a 'lada type car ' over an aston.
From what I can see, compared to the movie cars, it has only ONE very fixable innaccuracy: the windshield wipers should be black, not silver. Now, if you buy the USSR AvtoLegende car, that has black wiper blades and if you swapped them, it would still be accurate for 1987 production on the AvtoLegende car. Alternately, you could just remove the blades and then spray them with black paint.
I have to admit I think this looks like a pretty cool addition to the collection. This is what I meant in a previous post about gems in the collection which there will certainly be more of. The damaged aston (which i had to replace) and the blunderbird are in my opinion the two most boring issues so anything released was almost guaranteed to be better. Never thought I would welcome a 'lada type car ' over an aston.
I think the problem here is overcoming the (British) perception of 'Lada type cars' being something to make fun of and deride, as against appreciating their importance as 'bad guy' vehicles in the Bond movies. Like you, I would never have imagined myself wanting a model like this, but I will be buying this because I reckon it's a highly relevant 'gap filler' in the collection, just as the extension blurb said on the tin. And you're right, it does look cool.
Has the diorama been removed for photographic purposes or can't Ixo even be bothered to include one now?
I grabbed this pic off an e-Bay listing, which is probably the first of many, so hopefully we might see better/clearer photos cropping up on e-Bay in the next few days. It looks like the base is one of the ultra clean 'road surfaces' (in other words plain plastic). The background card seems to be there but very faint in the photo for some reason. If you look carefully, there appears to be another identical vehicle shown alongside the model, in front of a peach coloured building frontage with white framed windows. Unfortunately I think this 'rudimentary' presentation is really all that we can expect from now on, unless Fabbri/EM book a company like UH to (possibly) give us the Skyfall models.
Well, my attempt at a ‘code3’ version of issue 110 ‘The damaged QOS DBS’ is now complete and I thought I’d share the results and methods with anyone here who might be interested – otherwise 'switch off' now! Click on pics to enlarge:
I bought an extra copy of the DBS, plus another copy of 63, the QOS Alfa, then firstly swapped the bases and backgrounds. The Alfa looks great in the tunnel setting, but I haven’t gotten as far as adding figures in that one yet. I also bought a ‘sacrificial’ die-cast toy car from a charity shop to experiment on before doing anything I might regret to the DBS.
After taking the DBS apart, I started with the glass, mapping out the bullet marks on masking tape applied to the upper surface of the front and back screens. Next I drilled ‘pock marks’ into the marked surfaces (not all the way through) using a hand held drill (a modelling tool like a pen that grips a thin drill bit, 0.5mm or so) After removing the tape, I turned the car over and coated the rear and one side glass with a mix of green enamel and varnish to create the green ‘tinge’ the shattered glass appears to have. Once it dried I scratched lots and lots of fine criss-crossing squiggly lines into the rear and side glass on the underside, using a sharp compass point held in the manual drill grip, this seemed to create a passable ‘crazing’ effect. The front screen hasn’t shattered in the same way, so I scratched short star lines radiating out from the pock marks, again on the underside, plus a couple of longer crack lines.
Moving on to the bodywork, firstly I rubbed off the grey ‘splatter’ already present on the car using T-Cut. Then, using a combination of small modelling metal files and a cordless drill with a ‘very slow’ setting, I started creating the denting to the rear wings over the wheel arches and behind one rear light (after popping the plastic light out). This was the most time consuming part and where experimenting on the ‘sacrificial’ toy was really useful. The real car’s carbon fibre front wing has a hole in the top left from one of the chase impacts, I replicated this by drilling a hole through the model’s wing, then shaping it with a thin square shaped metal file. The damaged areas were then painted to match the rest of the body using gunmetal enamel, over-coated with gloss varnish.
The ‘splatter’ I created by ‘dry-brushing’ areas with white enamel matt paint, either neat or diluted with thinners, using photos of the real car displayed on my PC monitor for reference. For this I have old fine paint brushes cut right down to just a few millimetres long, perfect for ‘stippling’ effects. The great thing about using matt enamel is that if you get it wrong you can wipe it off with thinner and start again. The windscreen wiper effect was done by masking off with tape cut to blank off the sweep areas, then ‘stippling’ around the tape before peeling it off, leaving nice clean glass.
The DC figure is the passenger from the 34 TND Range Rover, this issue's figures are good because they have most of their legs below the knee unlike many of the other vehicle figures. I thought about just using the driver figure, then thought it would be cool to show ‘DC’ driving and holding an auto-rifle, albeit not the right one. I (very!) carefully cut the figure’s hand from the gun barrel using a scalpel, then super-glued his gun arm to his chest. The remaining arm and hand reaches the steering wheel perfectly. The figure was repainted using a combo of Games Workshop and Revell acrylics which seemed to work fine (thanks for the advice on that one, guys!). One moan here, the Revell paints have ‘gloss, silk or matt’ printed in a font so damn small you need a microscope to see it. So it wasn’t until I’d actually painted the figure, I realised that some of the paint mix was silk, resulting in his suit looking more glossy than I wanted. Oh well. The figure is loose in the car so I can repaint it with matt at a later date if I feel like it.
Finally the base caption was created using Word ‘Paint’ text application – Arial Bold reversed out of black and printed out until it appeared about the right size. The font isn’t exact but the nearest I could find. The quarry background was scanned in and I ‘shopped’ out the DBS, then printed out on decent photo paper, cut out, and placed loose over the original.
The car should be going down the slope rather than up it, but then you wouldn’t see the best side of it, so I’m using a bit of artistic licence here. Bond is on his way back out of the quarry – that bit was missing from the final movie cut(!) Hope you guys like it.
Has the diorama been removed for photographic purposes or can't Ixo even be bothered to include one now?
I think it's mostly as MovieCarFan said, although you probably have an even more extensive diorama insert than what's been guessed at because the top of the car was photographed from a poor angle (you can in fact barely see the top of the car, which would obviously be much more prominent than than anything on the diorama).
I think the problem here is overcoming the (British) perception of 'Lada type cars' being something to make fun of and deride, as against appreciating their importance as 'bad guy' vehicles in the Bond movies.
Interesting how that plays out in 1/43 scale. In the US, pretty much any Soviet or East Bloc vehicle is viewed as either a "baddie"* or alternately, "a model I can stick on the back of my layout to get a credible, full-size four-door sedan or smaller but American looking truck" (think the Volga 21, especially, but also the Volga 24 and Volga 3102 for the former and the ZIS-150/ZIL-164 and GAZ-51 for the latter). The Cold War was viewed differently here, I guess. I know some of the German collectors view East Bloc stuff as "Ostalgie" ("East Nostalgia"), in both the former East Germany and former West Germany, so that's another kettle of fish, too. I know in the Netherlands and Belgium, I have a few collectors who view the older Volga and the older Moskvitch as domestic cars due to Scaldia-Volga. Lot of different opinions out there! But I think to any country...yeah, this one looks cool!
*Think the KGB favorite GAZ-13 Chayka or a black Volga, especially, with military vehicles like the GAZ-69 and UAZ-469B also getting bought up because of that. The pre-WWII Soviet cars, since so many were license-built Fords, actually show up on a number of American dioramas.
Unfortunately I think this 'rudimentary' presentation is really all that we can expect from now on, unless Fabbri/EM book a company like UH to (possibly) give us the Skyfall models.
Depends. UH may be capable of getting better dioramas, but the ongoing exclusivity agreement between Daniel Craig and one figurine company will seriously complicate things regarding figures.
Well, my attempt at a ‘code3’ version of issue 110 ‘The damaged QOS DBS’ is now complete and I thought I’d share the results and methods with anyone here who might be interested – otherwise 'switch off' now! Click on pics to enlarge:
I bought an extra copy of the DBS, plus another copy of 63, the QOS Alfa, then firstly swapped the bases and backgrounds. The Alfa looks great in the tunnel setting, but I haven’t gotten as far as adding figures in that one yet. I also bought a ‘sacrificial’ die-cast toy car from a charity shop to experiment on before doing anything I might regret to the DBS.
After taking the DBS apart, I started with the glass, mapping out the bullet marks on masking tape applied to the upper surface of the front and back screens. Next I drilled ‘pock marks’ into the marked surfaces (not all the way through) using a hand held drill (a modelling tool like a pen that grips a thin drill bit, 0.5mm or so) After removing the tape, I turned the car over and coated the rear and one side glass with a mix of green enamel and varnish to create the green ‘tinge’ the shattered glass appears to have. Once it dried I scratched lots and lots of fine criss-crossing squiggly lines into the rear and side glass on the underside, using a sharp compass point held in the manual drill grip, this seemed to create a passable ‘crazing’ effect. The front screen hasn’t shattered in the same way, so I scratched short star lines radiating out from the pock marks, again on the underside, plus a couple of longer crack lines.
Moving on to the bodywork, firstly I rubbed off the grey ‘splatter’ already present on the car using T-Cut. Then, using a combination of small modelling metal files and a cordless drill with a ‘very slow’ setting, I started creating the denting to the rear wings over the wheel arches and behind one rear light (after popping the plastic light out). This was the most time consuming part and where experimenting on the ‘sacrificial’ toy was really useful. The real car’s carbon fibre front wing has a hole in the top left from one of the chase impacts, I replicated this by drilling a hole through the model’s wing, then shaping it with a thin square shaped metal file. The damaged areas were then painted to match the rest of the body using gunmetal enamel, over-coated with gloss varnish.
The ‘splatter’ I created by ‘dry-brushing’ areas with white enamel matt paint, either neat or diluted with thinners, using photos of the real car displayed on my PC monitor for reference. For this I have old fine paint brushes cut right down to just a few millimetres long, perfect for ‘stippling’ effects. The great thing about using matt enamel is that if you get it wrong you can wipe it off with thinner and start again. The windscreen wiper effect was done by masking off with tape cut to blank off the sweep areas, then ‘stippling’ around the tape before peeling it off, leaving nice clean glass.
The DC figure is the passenger from the 34 TND Range Rover, this issue's figures are good because they have most of their legs below the knee unlike many of the other vehicle figures. I thought about just using the driver figure, then thought it would be cool to show ‘DC’ driving and holding an auto-rifle, albeit not the right one. I (very!) carefully cut the figure’s hand from the gun barrel using a scalpel, then super-glued his gun arm to his chest. The remaining arm and hand reaches the steering wheel perfectly. The figure was repainted using a combo of Games Workshop and Revell acrylics which seemed to work fine (thanks for the advice on that one, guys!). One moan here, the Revell paints have ‘gloss, silk or matt’ printed in a font so damn small you need a microscope to see it. So it wasn’t until I’d actually painted the figure, I realised that some of the paint mix was silk, resulting in his suit looking more glossy than I wanted. Oh well. The figure is loose in the car so I can repaint it with matt at a later date if I feel like it.
Finally the base caption was created using Word ‘Paint’ text application – Arial Bold reversed out of black and printed out until it appeared about the right size. The font isn’t exact but the nearest I could find. The quarry background was scanned in and I ‘shopped’ out the DBS, then printed out on decent photo paper, cut out, and placed loose over the original.
The car should be going down the slope rather than up it, but then you wouldn’t see the best side of it, so I’m using a bit of artistic licence here. Bond is on his way back out of the quarry – that bit was missing from the final movie cut(!) Hope you guys like it.
MovieCarFan, I LOVE that Code 3!!!!! I mean it! That is a MASTERPIECE! I have just one question...
"and a cordless drill with a ‘very slow’ setting, I started creating the denting to the rear wings over the wheel arches and behind one rear light"
Approximately how many RPM's for the "very slow" setting? Just a ballpark idea, since I have a few models made of the same material I'd like to do this with.
I have to admit I think this looks like a pretty cool addition to the collection. This is what I meant in a previous post about gems in the collection which there will certainly be more of. The damaged aston (which i had to replace) and the blunderbird are in my opinion the two most boring issues so anything released was almost guaranteed to be better. Never thought I would welcome a 'lada type car ' over an aston.
I think the problem here is overcoming the (British) perception of 'Lada type cars' being something to make fun of and deride, as against appreciating their importance as 'bad guy' vehicles in the Bond movies. Like you, I would never have imagined myself wanting a model like this, but I will be buying this because I reckon it's a highly relevant 'gap filler' in the collection, just as the extension blurb said on the tin. And you're right, it does look cool.
Yes definitely, i still remember our local FSO dealer in the eighties offering a free caravan with any FSO purchase , the FSO was bad enough but can you imagine the caravan.....anyway this issue is for me what the collection is all about the odd and the obscure. More of the same please GEFAbbri.
The Morris Minor is another waisted issue , why , why , why. There are probably 100 other cars I would prefer before seeing this in the collection. Please replace GEFabbri
"the FSO was bad enough but can you imagine the caravan"
Ah, the Polonez and the 125P. Were they literally rusting on the showroom floor? I had a friend right out of high school who wanted an FSO 125P Estate simply because he couldn't afford much else (he wanted a wagon simply because his father had a tool and die business). He picked out a red one, opened up the door, and there were these huge spots of rust!!! He practically ran out the door!
MovieCarFan, I can only say "WOW"! What a difference - just by adding a driver figure. Great work, and like Diecast007 said, if you are planning to make more of these ...
Regarding the VAZ: This looks like a real gem. The first thing I noticed was the wheels before I even read Dalko's post. The wheels and the whole car look so realistic. I like this much more than the Mercedes 220. I didn't comment on the Merc as it seemed I was the only one who doesn't like it. Part of this is because the wheels look flat and are too large in the side view. And that it was not very memorable in the film (and that I have seen these as taxis for a whole decade and think they are the most boring Mercedes ever).
The VAZ is the exact opposite: A memorable scene from GE, and a very good representation of the car with superb wheels and details. Looking very much forward to this one.
I also agree with MCF on the Escort Mk I. I was looking for photos of the LTK tanker when I found this cool ice race diorama on a German forum. I think the builder used Vanguards Escorts.
Thank you all very much for your kind comments. I feel quite humbled. Seriously. Obviously other contributors did pretty much the same work to the first QOS DBS (issue 58) which involved far more skill in chopping out the door etc, so I think full credit should go to those guys. I absolutely LOVE the orchestration and photography of the QOS car chase, I also love Astons, Alfas and Italy, so it was near as dammit a perfect chase scene for me, hence the interest in 'enhancing' this model.
Winnie - Apart from setting up the Alfa properly in the tunnel scene, I've gotten hold of a Del Prado Merc 180 in black which I'm currently working on as a 'Bad Guy' pursuit car from Goldfinger. As far as we know, Ixo's Merc will be Oddjob's grey number, so I think the 180 with figures will be worth doing. Back to the Alfa, does anybody know what machine gun the bad guy uses? Its belt fed ammo looks like 7.62 calibre - if it is, in reality the rounds would have torn the DBS to shreds!
D110 - Here's a pic of the tools I used: (click to enlarge)
There's a home-made stippling brush, three small metal files (my son uses these for 'Warhammer' type metal figures) and a 'pen' clamp for holding micro drills and a compass point. The cordless drill I used has a variable speed setting that runs from still to fast depending on how much you pull the trigger, like a Scalextric control. I varied this on how confident I felt and angled the drill bit around like a grinder to 'dish' the dent shapes, but I would guess the slowest runs were about 60rpm?? I was amazed at how tough die cast metal is, I was expecting it to be soft like aluminium, but it was nearer to like working with steel!
If anybody fancies doing something like this - swapping the DBS with the Alfa, I can email the photo-shopped background (and extra captions) if you want to PM me. Unfortunately I don't think I can post the background publicly because of artists' copyright issues. The Alfa's new background (tunnel setting)simply shows another Alfa, so IMHO works left as it is. Rainier's right, I think the added figure makes a huge difference to the DBS so I can give a more detailed rundown on how I created the figure if anybody wants. Great OHMSS ice race diorama pic too, come on Ixo, get modelling that Mark One Ford Escort - bin the Morris Minor idea!
I bought a black FX4 model a while back in model shop, discounted to only £5. It's the Ixo car, and it's quite good. The model itself should hold no terror for anyone; it's a pretty good model of the taxi - interestingly, the FX4 is very little modelled in 1:43. Lots of toys are out there, but few proper models. Apart from the Ixo, the only one I've seen is a fairly pricey white metal model.
but I would guess the slowest runs were about 60rpm??
I'll try running that on a toy or two with my cordless drill and see what happens. I'm currently trying to make a Dacia 1100/Lada 1500 crash and don't want to screw up! Thanks very much!
interestingly, the FX4 is very little modelled in 1:43
At least not modeled in huge numbers in 1/43 well. Hence why I'm ultimately going to buy the car, even though it may get negative reaction in the UK. The Minor is just flat out not a good idea.
Any one of the Lincoln Mk. VII, UAZ-31512, or Ford Escort Mk. I would be a fine substitute for the Minor. The Lincoln was memorable to me because it seemed to be so antithetical to Dalton's character. The UAZ-31512? Well, aside from having huge fleets driving all over the place in GE, you also get the similar (but different engine) UAZ-469B getting a significant role in TWINE as Renard mows down everyone at the Kazakh missile site while sitting in the back of one (to say nothing of the half dozen or so just parked at the base). And the North Korean one getting tons of screen time in the opening of DAD. To put it one way, it out-Yellow Moke'd the Yellow Moke! Every current Bond villian seems to have several lying around.
Regarding the Mercedes-Benz W114 and W115, I would disagree regarding the real car as being the most boring Mercedes, Rainier Wolfcastle, but that's just me (before you ask me what mine is: the post-update W124's with 4-bangers, but it's all taste). As for the wheels, they may be slightly oversized, but they're certainly not flat. I will defend the car in that area. However, I'd also like to thank you for finding that awesome diorama!
I bought a black FX4 model a while back in model shop, discounted to only £5. It's the Ixo car, and it's quite good. The model itself should hold no terror for anyone; it's a pretty good model of the taxi - interestingly, the FX4 is very little modelled in 1:43. Lots of toys are out there, but few proper models. Apart from the Ixo, the only one I've seen is a fairly pricey white metal model.
Definitely going to cherry-pick this one! Will probably be one of the highlights of the whole collection. If it had a nice diorama, it could easily be in the top three, but I don't think it's going to happen.
I bought a black FX4 model a while back in model shop, discounted to only £5. It's the Ixo car, and it's quite good. The model itself should hold no terror for anyone; it's a pretty good model of the taxi - interestingly, the FX4 is very little modelled in 1:43. Lots of toys are out there, but few proper models. Apart from the Ixo, the only one I've seen is a fairly pricey white metal model.
Definitely going to cherry-pick this one! Will probably be one of the highlights of the whole collection. If it had a nice diorama, it could easily be in the top three, but I don't think it's going to happen.
Well, it could have a very colourful backdrop of riot-torn 2011 London streets on fire
Seriously though, it sounds like it could do very well saleswise outside the UK, which might actually have been the marketing boys reasoning behind it. I think the tea lady added the Morris Minor to their list when they weren't looking though.
I bought a black FX4 model a while back in model shop, discounted to only £5. It's the Ixo car, and it's quite good. The model itself should hold no terror for anyone; it's a pretty good model of the taxi - interestingly, the FX4 is very little modelled in 1:43. Lots of toys are out there, but few proper models. Apart from the Ixo, the only one I've seen is a fairly pricey white metal model.
Definitely going to cherry-pick this one! Will probably be one of the highlights of the whole collection. If it had a nice diorama, it could easily be in the top three, but I don't think it's going to happen.
Well, it could have a very colourful backdrop of riot-torn 2011 London streets on fire
Seriously though, it sounds like it could do very well saleswise outside the UK, which might actually have been the marketing boys reasoning behind it. I think the tea lady added the Morris Minor to their list when they weren't looking though.
What a brillian idea!!! May have to create a London riot diorama - would be very unique!
Comments
Just to defend D110, the taxi being referred to as 'boring' relates to an earlier discussion where some proposed releases were judged as such by a number of contributors, not necessarily him. I'll be avoiding the taxi simply because I see the things every day in the UK and certainly don't want a 'mini-me' version inside my house as well! Give me Astons and Yank-tanks any day.
This was in reference to extra models. What I'm driving at, unfortunately, is that Ixo likes to be the only company onboard and does things its own way. Hope that clarifies things, if not making them any better in reality.
Thanks MCF. That's exactly what I mean. I myself will be buying the Austin FX4. But frankly, I don't see it selling too well in the UK. I know a few people will get on me, but I think they should have made the UAZ-31512 4x4 from GE instead. Heck, it played a HUGE role, got loads of screen time, and Ixo has the moulds (they're about to release their TENTH variant of it...). With that said, however, I will almost certainly NOT be buying the Morris Minor 1000. Still, that's really only two cars I can think of that I imagine will be marketing flops, not counting the horrendous T-Bird. The rest?
112. When word got out the Mercedes-Benz 220 (W115) really was right-hand drive, the price went through the roof. I imagine this is due to a combination of factors: the lack of a truly classic M-B in RHD with this car filling the void, the higher quality of the model itself, people normally uninterested in Bond buying this one because it's a RHD Merc, and the M-B collectors the world over deciding a while ago that a RHD Mercedes-Benz was something that was neglected. If popular demand from former Soviet bloc collectors spawned two GAZ-M21N Volga sedans in right-hand drive from Neo, can you imagine the much larger M-B collecting bunch's satisfaction at a RHD Merc?
113. Ixo's mould for the VAZ-2106 was generally seen as a bit late for the USSR (1988-1990) and disappointed some collectors, but here, that "defect" actually works to their advantage. These were, if you stripped the paint off, likely once Soviet Leningrad Militsia GAI, albeit late Soviet Militsia GAI. Real St. Petersburg Militsia GAI cars were used and that early 1990's market, at least in terms of truly detailed models, has been grossly neglected in favor of late 1990's Russian Militsia DPS cars (despite the not-very-detailed, similarly painted Bauer VAZ-2106's being gobbled up). Since we know what the mould's going to look like, is it any wonder this one's a worldbeater in eBay presales already?
114. The Mercedes-Benz 450SEL (W116) used in FYEO was a 1973 model...i.e. from the first year of production. There was a lot of disappointment expressed when this car was eschewed in favor of the 280SE in Ixo's M-B partwork. You have a very common color for this car, too, and a very attractive one (it sells better than any other Minichamps color). With the scramble to buy the Minichamps 450SEL in silver-gray, it drove the price up to ludicrously high levels and many people couldn't afford them. However, if Ixo plays its cards right with this M-B (and with Mercs, they usually do), I think you'll see this one again appeal to the Mercedes-Benz collectors. You'll also see it appeal to the subsection of the M-B guys who are Code 3'ers...frankly, I'm expecting all kinds of mixing and matching with the 280SE that's already out there to get a 280SEL, a 450SE, and I can't imagine someone NOT trying a 450SEL 6.9 (especially).
115. I don't think the Austin FX4 Taxi will sell in Britain. If Ixo makes one heck of a model, it may do well in overseas markets, but it won't have the universal appeal of the prior three models.
116. Austin A55 Cambridge Taxi. This should sell well, especially judging by how well loose Austin A55 Cambridges were selling from the La Route Bleue partwork. Since the Cambridge was a common British police car and British taxi, I don't expect this one just to appeal to the taxi people, but to Code 3'ers converting the car into a police car or British taxi.
117. The Mercedes-Benz 220S is built on the W180 II chassis that, like the long-wheelbase W116, seems to be popular with M-B collectors, many of whom (yours truly included) were disappointed when they didn't see this car in Ixo's M-B partwork. Since Ixo DID make up for it with the bodywork on the "Adenauer" limousine that was a favorite in the partwork, I can see them very easily transitioning from that car to this one. It will be a new mould and I'd be shocked if Ixo...who, as I said, really handles their M-B's well...drops the ball here. Plus you have a VERY significant Bond chase car that, regardless of having figures or not, chased the DB5, so you have that crossover as well.
118. The 1965 Lincoln Contintental Lehmann-Peterson Executive Limousine. My prediction is that this won't be a recycled '67 Continental except in one area. You'll see a new grille, new roof, redone body, redone trim and small parts, and recycled base from the '67 Continental. If they do that, especially given the car's roof, I have a feeling it will do well. Also, you'd be surprised, but most of the East Bloc modelists have been very receptive to this. You may be scratching your head at that, but the EXACT SAME MODEL in the exact same color was sent to ZIL in either late 1965 or early 1966 so they could fine-tune the ZIL-114 limo using this car. I already plan on Code 3'ing this one with NAMI "Proba" license plates, as do a few friends of mine.
119. The Lada Niva, due to its unrealistic paint scheme, is probably going to be the poorest-selling of the East Bloc cars. On the other hand, you have to understand that the East Bloc hobbyists LOVE East Bloc cars that appear in films, pretty much no matter how realistic they are (google "Welling Super Box" if you want to know what I mean). I also have friends that plan on using this as either a Code 3 item due to the mirrors, fog lights, and bumper or, alternately, as a stand-in for a Soviet Ministry of Atomic Energy vehicle.
120. The VAZ-2105 Lada Zhiguli was already done in a different color in USSR AvtoLegende, where it was received EXTREMELY well. From what I'm gathering, the only alterations to the mould will be to the interior and the only other alterations period will be the body color and license plates. With accurate Czechoslovakian license plates (the people I talk to also look at IMCDB), I'm getting the feeling that this one may be a BIG seller. It's a true cult car in the former Soviet Union and I can see this one right up there with the ZIL-117; possibly more.
121. The Mercedes-Benz 200D W115 is likely going to be the poorest-selling Mercedes-Benz model. I say this because it's NOT in a very popular color. Ixo will have to work to sell this one, though the M-B diesel nuts will buy it in droves, if nobody else. The W115 is a well-liked car that's only really gotten two very good conventional models (from Spark and Ixo), so that may save it, but I believe the color will hurt sales.
122. The Scaldia-Volga M24 "Second Series" is going to be eaten up by the East Bloc guys for a number of reasons. First, it's a Second Series car. You won't have to buy an Ist model and subsequently wreck it if you're aiming to build a regular, GAZ-24 "Second Series", since all you need to do is decal on "Volga" in Cyrillic on the fenders, spray over the trunk lid, and put a third decal there (plus replacing the license plates). Alternately, you could decal over the plates with Belgian ones and just go for a Scaldia-Volga M24 Sedan (which, believe it or not, is a common modification). Or you could keep the car the way it is. I have friends that plan on doing ALL THREE. With a familiar mould and a known quantity, I predict this one will sell quite well.
123. Dodge M43 Ambulance. Even sans laser (which I'm guessing is likely), I can imagine every Korean War, Vietnam, and even WWII hobbyist in 1/43 I know buying multiples of these.
124. Plymouth Savoy Taxi. Considering people are literally so desperate for this car that I'm seeing Code 3's of the old Dinky Toys Plymouth Plaza (same car, different trim level), I'm expecting not only Istanbul taxis, but also taxis from all over the US and Canada, police cars, and plain sedans. I'm also guessing this probably has the most Code 3 value of anything that's going to be offered. I expect this one to to be an enormous seller.
125. Chevrolet Bel Air 4-door Sedan. To begin with, I can't see this being released as anything but a Louisiana State Police car. Considering we've essentially gotten a sneak peak at what this will look like in terms of everything fore of the A-pillar with the Chevy Imapala Custom Coupe, I can't see how this DOESN'T sell, especially if they're going for a police car. Again, you'll see multiple police cars, taxis, and plain sedans all Code 3'd from this, plus the colorful livery of the early 1970's Louisiana State Police is desirable among police car collectors. It won't be the powerhouse seller the Savoy will be, but I imagine it will be very strong in the US.
126. Dodge Ram Pickup. This one is already in demand due to the 1/43 manufacturers getting complacement and basically not building anything other than El Caminos and Rancheros in terms of pickups outside the years 1938-1955. But one manufacturer...Neo...released a red 1968 Ford F-100 Pickup that became a phenomenon. You can only get it off eBay as far as I know and all the hobby shops have sold out, even the overpriced ones. People...especially model railroaders...are STARVING for a mid-1960's-mid-1980's pickup and the Ram fills the bill. I'll eat my hat if this doesn't sell.
127. 1961 Chevrolet 1-Ton Pickup. This was actually a rare truck when it was produced (1960-1961, with the latter saying "Chevrolet" on the grille), with Chevy's 1-Ton Panel and GMC's 30-Series being much more common. Regardless, I could see this being used as a highly acceptable substitute for a GMC 30-Series if Code 3'ed with American plates and blank doors. The dual exhaust stacks should also endear it to pretty much anyone. And of course, it's FAR from a boring Bond model.
128. Morris Minor 1000 Convertible. I don't see this selling too well in the UK and frankly have no idea why it's on the list other than perhaps "let's join every other 1/43 manufacturer by making a Morris Minor!".
129. Ford Ranch Wagon. This is the PERFECT stablemate to the Country Squire and while not the same model year, it's still from the 1959-1964 "generation" before the ugly, squared-off styling came along. The Ranch Wagon was the Country Squire's "little brother" in 1961; it had two doors and was Fairlane-based while the Country Squire was four-door and was Galaxie-based. I don't think it'll get quite the reaction the Country Squire and its lovely "vinylwood" panels got, but make no mistake: this is gonna be right up there with the East Bloc cars, the Savoy, and the Ram pickup if well modeled.
130. Wales & Edwards Rangemaster Milk Float. Out of sheer "weird" factor, I can't see this NOT selling. To say nothing of its extremely memorable role in TLD and being one of the three most "Bond-Centric" vehicles planned (the others being the Merc 220S and the Chevrolet 1-Ton Pickup).
Are there two "boring" cars here to the marketplace? I would say yes, there are. But the rest? They'll find buyers and, at the very least to the marketplace, will be anything but boring.
LOL! You know, I had the JBCC on order at a newsagent until the Tuk-Tuk appeared, when I thought 'uh-oh, Fabbri are taking the p**s' and stopped it to become a cherry picker instead. The stupid thing is that I've bought the majority of the series anyway - quite a few of the ones I decided I definitely didn't want I've subsequently warmed to and picked up. Thanks to D110's interest in Eastern Bloc, I even bought the little Goldeneye ZAZ. Whether the same thing will happen with the FX4 I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if I don't end up being a 'completeist' and biting the bullet!
Great rundown on the remaining schedule D110. Of them all, the Plymouth Savoy Taxi intrigues me the most, - simply because I wonder how many people this side of the pond realise what a classic 50's 'chrome'n'fins' machine it is. I can't wait to see what the reaction will be when it appears, I'm sure anybody who appreciates 'Americana' will love it.
I also totally agree on the Morris Minor, I think it will get the coldest (world-wide) reception of all of the extension models. I suspect most people who really like this car will probably already have the very good Vanguards version. If Ixo have a lick of sense they'd be better off dropping it and modelling the Mark 1 Ford Escort from OHMSS instead. It's more Bond-relevant and the real car is one of the most sought after classics in the UK right now. So if Ixo introduced it into their regular ranges, different street versions and multi-liveried racing versions would probably be popular with die-cast and car enthusiasts alike.
Well, now all I need to do is convince you to get a USSR AvtoLegende VAZ-2121 Lada Niva, since it's the same model and color as the one featured in the traffic circle in St. Petersburg in GE...
Welcome to the "wonderful" world of Ixo whenever they're put in with another company. The speculation is that they've already pulled out of Nash Avtoprom (which isn't even a partwork!) because they didn't like how Hongwell was doing things, they pulled out of the French Cars partwork when they felt U.H. was getting too many models, they've made it so Atlas Editions basically CAN'T use another company for their WWII partwork...I could go on. It's not so much that Ixo officially cannot work with another company (I frankly doubt it's in their contract) so much as the nightmare that is working with Ixo.
Truthfully, I don't think Ixo is TELLING Fabbri/EM what it can and cannot do, but Fabbri/EM doubtless knows of the aforementioned series and partworks. They basically don't want to antagonize Ixo, lest they risk even worse slow-downs, infighting, and Ixo basically threatening to pack up and go home (with the moulds that Fabbri/EM signed over to them...). I'm convinced that the multi-month delays you saw from Ixo's first few models were from sparring with UH until Ixo got to the run the partwork the way THEY saw fit.
Thanks very much! I completely agree on the Savoy...to the average Britisher, I would imagine it would be the stereotypical "Yank Tank". It was the lowest grade trim, but you still had chrome.
"If Ixo have a lick of sense they'd be better off dropping it and modelling the Mark 1 Ford Escort from OHMSS instead."
I agree here, especially since it would be such a good seller in-country. You'd also get a good base for Ixo Rally by making one. Another two alternatives would be the GE UAZ-31512 or LTK Lincoln Mk. VII Coupe (a well-liked car for the mid-1980's, which is a woefully underrepresented market as-is). I agree...scrap the Minor in favor of one of these three. I don't think the FX4 should be scrapped necessarily, but I just don't see it doing all that great in the UK.
I leave you some pictures of my collection, I hope you like
Enjoy!
I think the problem here is overcoming the (British) perception of 'Lada type cars' being something to make fun of and deride, as against appreciating their importance as 'bad guy' vehicles in the Bond movies. Like you, I would never have imagined myself wanting a model like this, but I will be buying this because I reckon it's a highly relevant 'gap filler' in the collection, just as the extension blurb said on the tin. And you're right, it does look cool.
I grabbed this pic off an e-Bay listing, which is probably the first of many, so hopefully we might see better/clearer photos cropping up on e-Bay in the next few days. It looks like the base is one of the ultra clean 'road surfaces' (in other words plain plastic). The background card seems to be there but very faint in the photo for some reason. If you look carefully, there appears to be another identical vehicle shown alongside the model, in front of a peach coloured building frontage with white framed windows. Unfortunately I think this 'rudimentary' presentation is really all that we can expect from now on, unless Fabbri/EM book a company like UH to (possibly) give us the Skyfall models.
I bought an extra copy of the DBS, plus another copy of 63, the QOS Alfa, then firstly swapped the bases and backgrounds. The Alfa looks great in the tunnel setting, but I haven’t gotten as far as adding figures in that one yet. I also bought a ‘sacrificial’ die-cast toy car from a charity shop to experiment on before doing anything I might regret to the DBS.
After taking the DBS apart, I started with the glass, mapping out the bullet marks on masking tape applied to the upper surface of the front and back screens. Next I drilled ‘pock marks’ into the marked surfaces (not all the way through) using a hand held drill (a modelling tool like a pen that grips a thin drill bit, 0.5mm or so) After removing the tape, I turned the car over and coated the rear and one side glass with a mix of green enamel and varnish to create the green ‘tinge’ the shattered glass appears to have. Once it dried I scratched lots and lots of fine criss-crossing squiggly lines into the rear and side glass on the underside, using a sharp compass point held in the manual drill grip, this seemed to create a passable ‘crazing’ effect. The front screen hasn’t shattered in the same way, so I scratched short star lines radiating out from the pock marks, again on the underside, plus a couple of longer crack lines.
Moving on to the bodywork, firstly I rubbed off the grey ‘splatter’ already present on the car using T-Cut. Then, using a combination of small modelling metal files and a cordless drill with a ‘very slow’ setting, I started creating the denting to the rear wings over the wheel arches and behind one rear light (after popping the plastic light out). This was the most time consuming part and where experimenting on the ‘sacrificial’ toy was really useful. The real car’s carbon fibre front wing has a hole in the top left from one of the chase impacts, I replicated this by drilling a hole through the model’s wing, then shaping it with a thin square shaped metal file. The damaged areas were then painted to match the rest of the body using gunmetal enamel, over-coated with gloss varnish.
The ‘splatter’ I created by ‘dry-brushing’ areas with white enamel matt paint, either neat or diluted with thinners, using photos of the real car displayed on my PC monitor for reference. For this I have old fine paint brushes cut right down to just a few millimetres long, perfect for ‘stippling’ effects. The great thing about using matt enamel is that if you get it wrong you can wipe it off with thinner and start again. The windscreen wiper effect was done by masking off with tape cut to blank off the sweep areas, then ‘stippling’ around the tape before peeling it off, leaving nice clean glass.
The DC figure is the passenger from the 34 TND Range Rover, this issue's figures are good because they have most of their legs below the knee unlike many of the other vehicle figures. I thought about just using the driver figure, then thought it would be cool to show ‘DC’ driving and holding an auto-rifle, albeit not the right one. I (very!) carefully cut the figure’s hand from the gun barrel using a scalpel, then super-glued his gun arm to his chest. The remaining arm and hand reaches the steering wheel perfectly. The figure was repainted using a combo of Games Workshop and Revell acrylics which seemed to work fine (thanks for the advice on that one, guys!). One moan here, the Revell paints have ‘gloss, silk or matt’ printed in a font so damn small you need a microscope to see it. So it wasn’t until I’d actually painted the figure, I realised that some of the paint mix was silk, resulting in his suit looking more glossy than I wanted. Oh well. The figure is loose in the car so I can repaint it with matt at a later date if I feel like it.
Finally the base caption was created using Word ‘Paint’ text application – Arial Bold reversed out of black and printed out until it appeared about the right size. The font isn’t exact but the nearest I could find. The quarry background was scanned in and I ‘shopped’ out the DBS, then printed out on decent photo paper, cut out, and placed loose over the original.
The car should be going down the slope rather than up it, but then you wouldn’t see the best side of it, so I’m using a bit of artistic licence here. Bond is on his way back out of the quarry – that bit was missing from the final movie cut(!) Hope you guys like it.
I think it's mostly as MovieCarFan said, although you probably have an even more extensive diorama insert than what's been guessed at because the top of the car was photographed from a poor angle (you can in fact barely see the top of the car, which would obviously be much more prominent than than anything on the diorama).
Interesting how that plays out in 1/43 scale. In the US, pretty much any Soviet or East Bloc vehicle is viewed as either a "baddie"* or alternately, "a model I can stick on the back of my layout to get a credible, full-size four-door sedan or smaller but American looking truck" (think the Volga 21, especially, but also the Volga 24 and Volga 3102 for the former and the ZIS-150/ZIL-164 and GAZ-51 for the latter). The Cold War was viewed differently here, I guess. I know some of the German collectors view East Bloc stuff as "Ostalgie" ("East Nostalgia"), in both the former East Germany and former West Germany, so that's another kettle of fish, too. I know in the Netherlands and Belgium, I have a few collectors who view the older Volga and the older Moskvitch as domestic cars due to Scaldia-Volga. Lot of different opinions out there! But I think to any country...yeah, this one looks cool!
*Think the KGB favorite GAZ-13 Chayka or a black Volga, especially, with military vehicles like the GAZ-69 and UAZ-469B also getting bought up because of that. The pre-WWII Soviet cars, since so many were license-built Fords, actually show up on a number of American dioramas.
Depends. UH may be capable of getting better dioramas, but the ongoing exclusivity agreement between Daniel Craig and one figurine company will seriously complicate things regarding figures.
BRILLIANT ! Fancy doing another one ?
"and a cordless drill with a ‘very slow’ setting, I started creating the denting to the rear wings over the wheel arches and behind one rear light"
Approximately how many RPM's for the "very slow" setting? Just a ballpark idea, since I have a few models made of the same material I'd like to do this with.
Yes definitely, i still remember our local FSO dealer in the eighties offering a free caravan with any FSO purchase , the FSO was bad enough but can you imagine the caravan.....anyway this issue is for me what the collection is all about the odd and the obscure. More of the same please GEFAbbri.
The Morris Minor is another waisted issue , why , why , why. There are probably 100 other cars I would prefer before seeing this in the collection. Please replace GEFabbri
Ah, the Polonez and the 125P. Were they literally rusting on the showroom floor? I had a friend right out of high school who wanted an FSO 125P Estate simply because he couldn't afford much else (he wanted a wagon simply because his father had a tool and die business). He picked out a red one, opened up the door, and there were these huge spots of rust!!! He practically ran out the door!
Regarding the VAZ: This looks like a real gem. The first thing I noticed was the wheels before I even read Dalko's post. The wheels and the whole car look so realistic. I like this much more than the Mercedes 220. I didn't comment on the Merc as it seemed I was the only one who doesn't like it. Part of this is because the wheels look flat and are too large in the side view. And that it was not very memorable in the film (and that I have seen these as taxis for a whole decade and think they are the most boring Mercedes ever).
The VAZ is the exact opposite: A memorable scene from GE, and a very good representation of the car with superb wheels and details. Looking very much forward to this one.
I also agree with MCF on the Escort Mk I. I was looking for photos of the LTK tanker when I found this cool ice race diorama on a German forum. I think the builder used Vanguards Escorts.
More pictures can be found here:
http://www.razyboard.com/system/morethread-007-modellauto-collection-jamesbond-270-4715086-1700.html
(and his LTK tanker is on the preceding page)
Winnie - Apart from setting up the Alfa properly in the tunnel scene, I've gotten hold of a Del Prado Merc 180 in black which I'm currently working on as a 'Bad Guy' pursuit car from Goldfinger. As far as we know, Ixo's Merc will be Oddjob's grey number, so I think the 180 with figures will be worth doing. Back to the Alfa, does anybody know what machine gun the bad guy uses? Its belt fed ammo looks like 7.62 calibre - if it is, in reality the rounds would have torn the DBS to shreds!
D110 - Here's a pic of the tools I used: (click to enlarge)
There's a home-made stippling brush, three small metal files (my son uses these for 'Warhammer' type metal figures) and a 'pen' clamp for holding micro drills and a compass point. The cordless drill I used has a variable speed setting that runs from still to fast depending on how much you pull the trigger, like a Scalextric control. I varied this on how confident I felt and angled the drill bit around like a grinder to 'dish' the dent shapes, but I would guess the slowest runs were about 60rpm?? I was amazed at how tough die cast metal is, I was expecting it to be soft like aluminium, but it was nearer to like working with steel!
If anybody fancies doing something like this - swapping the DBS with the Alfa, I can email the photo-shopped background (and extra captions) if you want to PM me. Unfortunately I don't think I can post the background publicly because of artists' copyright issues. The Alfa's new background (tunnel setting)simply shows another Alfa, so IMHO works left as it is. Rainier's right, I think the added figure makes a huge difference to the DBS so I can give a more detailed rundown on how I created the figure if anybody wants. Great OHMSS ice race diorama pic too, come on Ixo, get modelling that Mark One Ford Escort - bin the Morris Minor idea!
I bought a black FX4 model a while back in model shop, discounted to only £5. It's the Ixo car, and it's quite good. The model itself should hold no terror for anyone; it's a pretty good model of the taxi - interestingly, the FX4 is very little modelled in 1:43. Lots of toys are out there, but few proper models. Apart from the Ixo, the only one I've seen is a fairly pricey white metal model.
I'll try running that on a toy or two with my cordless drill and see what happens. I'm currently trying to make a Dacia 1100/Lada 1500 crash and don't want to screw up! Thanks very much!
At least not modeled in huge numbers in 1/43 well. Hence why I'm ultimately going to buy the car, even though it may get negative reaction in the UK. The Minor is just flat out not a good idea.
Any one of the Lincoln Mk. VII, UAZ-31512, or Ford Escort Mk. I would be a fine substitute for the Minor. The Lincoln was memorable to me because it seemed to be so antithetical to Dalton's character. The UAZ-31512? Well, aside from having huge fleets driving all over the place in GE, you also get the similar (but different engine) UAZ-469B getting a significant role in TWINE as Renard mows down everyone at the Kazakh missile site while sitting in the back of one (to say nothing of the half dozen or so just parked at the base). And the North Korean one getting tons of screen time in the opening of DAD. To put it one way, it out-Yellow Moke'd the Yellow Moke! Every current Bond villian seems to have several lying around.
Regarding the Mercedes-Benz W114 and W115, I would disagree regarding the real car as being the most boring Mercedes, Rainier Wolfcastle, but that's just me (before you ask me what mine is: the post-update W124's with 4-bangers, but it's all taste). As for the wheels, they may be slightly oversized, but they're certainly not flat. I will defend the car in that area. However, I'd also like to thank you for finding that awesome diorama!
Definitely going to cherry-pick this one! Will probably be one of the highlights of the whole collection. If it had a nice diorama, it could easily be in the top three, but I don't think it's going to happen.
Well, it could have a very colourful backdrop of riot-torn 2011 London streets on fire
Seriously though, it sounds like it could do very well saleswise outside the UK, which might actually have been the marketing boys reasoning behind it. I think the tea lady added the Morris Minor to their list when they weren't looking though.
What a brillian idea!!! May have to create a London riot diorama - would be very unique!