AutoCult is the latest diecast company to host their Official Archive on hobbyDB. If you’re not familiar with them, that’s okay… you’re probably just as unfamiliar with the cars they model. But once you see what AutoCult does, you’ll be hooked.

Most model car companies play it relatively safe when they decide what automobiles to reproduce in miniature. It’s not a giant leap of faith to recreate a mid 1960s Corvette or a cup winning Formula 1 car and hope collectors will buy a copy. Sure, there’s great risk for the company, but the odds of reward are pretty good.

AutoCult does things pretty much the opposite way. Focusing not just on nearly forgotten, but in some cases, almost never-known cars have been their specialty. One-off prototypes, cars with production numbers limited by odd circumstances, legendary but fictional cars… you name it, AutoCult is interested in reproducing it.

Take their Saab 92H model. Not the Saab 92, a car which you’ve probably at least heard of… the 92H was a special one-off camper bodied version of the car, immortalized in 1/43.

Speaking of campers, how about AutoCult’s 1977 Volkswagen Beetle Minihome concept, a vehicle previously only remembered in the pages of Mechanix Illustrated. Autocult’s releases are organized into numbered series such as Campers (09000), Prototypes (06000), Delivery Vehicles (08000)… you can see the complete list of series on the Archive.

Or speaking of really odd Volkswagens, this VW Kåfer “Wolfsberger Båhnle, a beloved tourist hauler used for sightseeing in Wolfsburg, Germany. Seriously, the question isn’t who would collect these models, it’s who would honestly take a chance on making them? It’s the AutoCult way.

Heck, AutoCult even made a model of a concept so bizarre it only existed as a viral marketing campaign for a creative marketing firm… The Brandpower “911 DS” consisted of the front end of a Porsche 911 and the back of a Citroen DS, presented to the world as if someone had actually built it. Never mind the complications of where the engine would go, some publications were fooled into printing stories about it. Of course AutoCult had to build it.

And seriously, what is this thing? Why, it’s a tribute to the ever lovable Volkswagen Bus and the ever popular but not too slimming delicaty of currywurst. And yes, it’s based on a real vehicle!

Not to say their models are all oddballs… AutoCult’s new 1965 Mercedes-Benz SL-X answers the question of how one could possibly improve the legendarily perfect design of the Gull-wing SL… well, just look at the concept MB cooked up. And you can own it in 1/18 scale.

Models are released on the AutoCult website on a monthly schedule like a magazine. Each one is resin cast and limited to only 333 copies, so everything they do is rare. Consider their annual yearbooks, and other ephemera like the playing cards they offered in 2016, and it’s hard to resist what AutoCult is doing.

Customer involvement comes at a unique level in projects such as their model of the original “people’s car,” or “volkswagen” by German engineer Josef Ganz. In a nutshell, this innovative rear engine concept was shown at the 1933 Berlin Motor Show, but forgotten to history to another similar, more famous Volkswagen. Autocult is actually running an Indiegogo fundraiser to recreate it – not in miniature, but to restore one of the actual 250 or so Ganz cars to its original glory. Neat, huh?

They’re the kind of diecast company we love at hobbyDB, and the kind you’ll love learning about.

The post Unusual, Unique, Even Nonexistent… The AutoCult Official Archive Has Them All appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

Exciting news Hot Wheels fans, we’re partnering with Jim Garbaczewski, publisher of the Hot Wheels Newsletter and Co-Author of Tomart’s Price Guide to Hot Wheels to bring you another amazing resource for your collection. You’ll find the official announcement below –

So I have some exciting news for all those fans of the Tomart Guides who love and miss them. Drumroll, please, because I’m pleased to announce that the Hot Wheels Newsletter is going to be publishing a NEW price guide that covers the period since the last Tomart guide. 

Over the past decade, I’ve continued to work hard logging details of all the latest Hot Wheels releases; model details, photos, colors, variations and, most importantly, pricing information! I’ve been looking for a way to be able to share this with you all in book form for some time, and now, thanks to the folks at hobbyDB who’ve formed a joint venture with me to share the upfront publishing costs, that’s going to become a reality. 

The new HW Newsletter Casting Guide to Hot Wheels will have all the same great images and information you’ve come to expect, and will cover ALL known models released between 2008 and 2017. It’s set to ship in January for $34.99. You can also pre-order it for $24.99 now or $30.99 after the Convention in L.A. in the Hot Wheels Newsletter store, order yours today!

Pre-order Now

We’re super excited to be involved with this project and will keep you all posted with any updates from Jim!

The post Heads up HW Collectors the new HW Newsletter Casting Guide 2008-2017 is here! appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

Ron Ruelle hobbyDB

At hobbyDB, we love automobile related collectibles as much as we love diecast. One of the most popular bits of automobilia is the license plate, which can (or should, at least) be found on every car. And since we’re based in Boulder Colorado, let’s take a look at the history of our state’s license plates, one of the most instantly recognizable designs in the United States.

The earliest license plates were homemade, often using house numbers on leather or wood.

The earliest license plates came within a few years of the first cars as a way to identify one from another, and most importantly, make some money for the state coffers. The very first ones in Colorado came around 1908, and were homemade. The DMV (they probably didn’t call it that yet, or despise it as much as we currently do) would give a number to the motorist, who would then fabricate their own by attaching aluminum house numbers to wood, leather, or whatever material was handy.

By 1912, Colorado was manufacturing the plates, a process that was far more time consuming than it is today. The first designs just said “COLO” in stacked letters on one side and “1912” on the other with a 4-digit number in between. Colors varied for the next few years, but the porcelain construction stayed. Back in those days, by the way, there were no registration stickers to update your validation. You simply got a whole new plate every year, which really isn’t simple at all if you think about it.

By 1916, someone had figured out a process to make the stamped style of plates that still exist to this day. By creating raised and painted letters, it became hard to couterfeit these plates. Colors remained in the traditional range until 1917, when black on pink was the choice.

Another interesting bit of design change was happening around this time as well. Those first stamped plates were about 12 inches wide and 6 inches tall, but the shape would become more horizontal some years, in some cases to accommodate more characters.

Not a Colorado plate, but pretty neat, huh?

By the mid ’20s, the 12×6 rectangle became the standard for most states. Even though the dimensions eventually became a federal requirement, Tennessee decided in the 1940s that the shape could be something fun. For several years, theirs were cut in an approximation of the outline of the Tennessee border. The most noticeable holdout in modern times is the Northwest Territories of Canada, whose plates form the silhouette of a polar bear.

Back to Colorado, however, a state with a rectangular shape like a license plate. The designs swung wildly from one color combination to another: orange on black for 1932, black on orange for 1933, black on yellow for 1934, white on blue for 1936… 1938’s plate starts to look familiar with white on turquoise, but the parade of colors would continue into the late 1950s.

1958 featured one of the first license plates in the nation to include a graphic other than numbers and letters. A silhouette of a skier showed up on the plates, along with the word “Colorful.” And speaking of color, this was the first year for dark green, though paired with light green. 1959 saw the debut of the now familiar green and white (getting closer…) and finally, 1960 defined what a Colorado License Plate should look like. Jagged white mountain peaks with green sky and lettering became the template for most future plates.

The green and white mountains debuted in 1960. The same shapes and colors have been used almost continuously since with some variations…

From 1962 to 1972, Colorado plates would alternate between these two designs. Notice how the mountain shape flips upside down.

The color arrangement was flipped in 1962 (green mountains, white sky) and then… the whole thing was flipped. Using the same stamp, but upside down, 1963 saw the entire border rotated to put a sliver of mountains at the bottom, with the lettering in the sky. The plates would alternate between these two looks yearly until 1972.

1973 and 1974 saw single year designs.

For some reason, 1973 went with a plain design (except for the word “Colorful”), and 1974 tried a busier version of the mountains with “Colorful” wedged in. But each of those designs would only last one year.

To celebrate the Colorado Centennial, 1975-76 used a special light blue and white design with the state’s “76” logo in the middle, sandwiched between different mountains at the top and wavy water at the bottom.

In 1977, the familiar green and white peaks returned for good. Those peaks were sharpened up a bit in 1993, but otherwise, there were no major changes for 24 years. One thing that vanished around that time was a stamped year… from that point on, drivers would adhere date stickers to the plate every year.

In 2000, the mountains switched back to white (reminiscent of the 1960 plates) along with some subtle silver detail, and the plates have remained the same since. Notice that the mountains have also flipped horizontally, left to right from the previous arrangement. Another change was the mountains themselves were flat, no longer stamped in 3D. Even though there are many commemorative and special use plates in use today, they all show the same peaks, in different colors depending on the type.

So what’s the hardest Colorado plate to find? Depends what you want do do with it. Obviously the older, the rarer, and with fewer cars back then, there were fewer plates made to begin with. Colorado has required front and rear plates since the earliest days, except for 1943-46, when only a rear plate was required. Conserving steel for the war effort is the likely explanation. For the first time in state history, drivers were not issued new plates each year, but instead, attached a small metal year plate in the corner over their old designation, one of the earliest instances of multi-year plates.

In answer to the question, if you just want to hang them on your garage wall, obviously the 1943-46 plates are rarest, along with the very oldest examples. But if you want to put correctly dated plates on your vintage car, you would only have to find a single plate for those WWII years. For other years, you have to find a matching set, which might be a lot more difficult.

If you have a history of your state’s license plates hanging in your garage, add the designs to our database!

The post How the Colorado License Plate Evolved Into an Icon appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

GarysCars, for more than a decade the best source for Lego 1:87, Lonestar, Playart, Triang MINIX, Zylmex and other obscure diecast brands

We all have our favorite collectible websites – mine, for example, is GarysCars. The wonderful people who create these sites put huge amounts of time and effort into them, so we wanted to figure out a way that hobbyDB could help them in their mission. Enter the PopUp Marketplace – a new way for site owners to get revenue from their creations quickly and easily.

The hobbyDB PopUp Marketplaces are tailored specifically to the site they PopUp on! They only show items relevant to that site’s audience and they have a simple and convenient guest checkout, so there’s no need to register and buyers can just pay with PayPal or credit card. All the site owner has to do is link to the PopUp Marketplace from wherever they want to, and the fees we earn from the marketplace is shared with them.

Sellers can also offer discount coupons to specific PopUp Marketplaces and buyers can buy from as many sellers as they like at any one time. Lots more features are in the pipeline, but in the meantime why not check it out for yourselves. Here are our first two PopUp Marketplaces:

• Hot Wheels Newsletter (only showing Hot Wheels items)
• PopPriceGuilde (only showing products made by Funko)

We’ve launched five so far, with four more coming next week (you find a complete list of them here).

PopUp Marketplaces are totally personalizable – this one is only showing Superman related items

PopUp Marketplace can be built so that they only show:

• Items from one or more brands only
• Items related to one or more characters or movies
• Items of a certain type such as decoys or posters
• Items of a certain type with additional restrictions (say only Model Cars in 1:18 Scale)

If you know a site that should have one of these PopUp Marketplaces please contact us!

The post Bringing Marketplaces to your favorite Website appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

Over the past few years, we’ve contributed articles to Die CastX magazine for publication on their website and in their quarterly print edition. We hope you enjoy our comparison of two Chevelle-based cars from 1965.

Ron Ruelle hobbyDB

The 1964 Chevelle was a pleasant and sporty mid-sized car, but fell just a bit short of being an exciting ride. Chevrolet quickly fixed that for ’65 with a more aggressive front end and some beefier engine options. For some reason, scale models of both years have been scarce compared to other years.

It only took about 40 years until Lane Exact Detail Replicas came out with a ’65 El Camino …  No one had offered a model of this year Chevelle, Malibu or El Camino before, and Lane offered versions of all of them. They retailed for over $100, a price that brought not only amazing detail, but limited availability of only 1500 copies.

Around the same time, American Muscle released a 1/18 scale Malibu SS model from their Authentics line. This car retailed for around $65, for which the buyer also got some incredible detail.

The exteriors of both cars show excellent fit and finish, including different levels of shine on the grill as needed. Details like the headlights, marker lamps, and door handles are separate bits, carefully installed for extra realism. The El Camino features separately molded chrome trim on the sides and around the bed and windows. Each car also features a radio antenna that can be raised or lowered. As nice as these look so far, you really have to open them up to appreciate the quality of these models. By the way, the doors a realistically hinged, and the Malibu even has a tiny sprung button that holds them shut.

The interior of the El Camino is astonishing. The vinyl seats have a realistic sheen and feature separate seatbelts with detailed buckles. The passenger seat flips forward to reveal the spare tire. Every texture from the metal dash to the roof liner (a detail found on both cars) is well done. You can even see the texture and logos on the “Body by Fisher” kick plates. American Muscle’s interior is also of much higher quality than their regular, particularly the simulated wood steering wheel, flocked carpets, and readable gauges.

The Elco’s engine detail is full of surprises, with some very finely detailed and fragile parts throughout. The radiator cap, which is multicolored, has a small hose running back to the plastic reservoir, which is painted to look like it’s half full of fluid. There’s even a plate where the hood pin latches to the body. Best bit of all might be the tiny replica of the glass GM washer fluid bottle, complete with labels.

The Malibu isn’t too far behind under the hood, with far more separately molded and colored components than you usually find in a model. One detail that really stands out when the hood is up is the photo etched metal grill insert, which lends an incredibly deep bit of detail to the front end. Another thing you might not have noticed: The hood hinges work like the real car, complete with springs.

Speaking of hinges, the hood hinges on the El Camino are the type you usually find on a 1/18 scale model, but the tailgate is another matter. When you lower the gate, there are very thin folding metal straps that drop into place like a real pickup. The Malibu counters that with a trunk complete with houndstooth floormat, spare tire and printed jack instructions.

Underneath, both cars show some innovative detail. The El Camino has quite a few separately colored components instead of the usual single-piece chassis molded in black. The Malibu has some great working features including separately sprung suspension on each wheel and a driveshaft that turns when rolled. Both cars were pioneers in packaging that didn’t require ugly mounting tabs and screw holes, so they deserve a lot of credit here.

The attention to detail makes it hard to choose one of these ’65 Chevies over the other. Maybe get the Malibu for the lower price and grab the Elco because you can’t get one elsewhere. Then marvel at both.

The post These ’65 Chevies Are Better Than The Real Thing! appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

Diecast hunters at Toys R Us may have recently noticed a familiar old brand they haven’t seen in almost two decades. Majorette, which has not been sold in the U.S. since 1999, is making a comeback. “Toys R Us was looking to introduce a diecast line different from what all other mass retailers had,” said Brand Ambassador Andy Goodman. “Knowing the quality and longevity of the brand (it started in 1964) TRU worked with their parent company, Simba-Dickie Group, to strike a partnership to bring the very popular European brand back to U.S. collectors.”

Many new Majorette models include opening doors or engine covers.

During their absence, Majorette made the move from toylike models to more of a collector brand. Their vehicles are in still in the 3-inch range, which is around 1/64. Scales vary for each one, and are still marked on the bottom of each model, a tradition for the brand. But they are now much more accurately proportioned and detailed than what you might remember from your youth.

Majorette’s diecast cars in the 1970s, such as this Mercedes 450 SE, had more toy-like proportions.

“I really think everything was toy like in the 60’s 70’s – not many people were collecting model cars back then,” said Goodman.  “Collectors were becoming a recognizable group with a presence in  ’80s and ’90s, and they wanted realistic replicas of their favorite and dream vehicles. Majorette noticed and began to deliver the accuracy the community was looking for.”

Majorette’s newer models, like this Subaru WRX STI, are more accurately scaled and detailed than their early efforts.

The brand has always been popular in Europe but never made the same impact in the States. Part of the reason was a lack of models based on American marques, which they have addressed lately. For the past several years, the Camaro, Ford F-150 and Mustang have been among their most popular cars. Their stable still includes less common models as the Audi A1, Mercedes G Wagon, and Jaguar F Type as a way to differentiate them from other diecast companies.

The relaunch includes more American marques such as the Ford F-150 and Chevy Camaro.

Collectors should appreciate the value of these models as well. They are designed to retail for around $3.49, but can often be found for even less in some stores. Not bad for models of this kind of quality.

As for upcoming plans, Majorette has signed on as a sponsor for the upcoming Diecast Hall of Fame awards, so attendees can experience their offerings up close. “Majorette also has a great partnership planned for 2018 with Toys R Us,” said Goodman. “You’ll see the launch of the internationally popular Dubai Police Line, their Vintage collection and a special raw collection that’s to debut in the U.S. market first.” Those are some welcome and major developments in the world of diecast.

Did you have a favorite Majorette model when you were a kid? Let us know in the comments!

The post Majorette Moves to Become A Major Player in U.S. Market appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

Today I got an email from Gary’s partner informing me that he passed away a week ago.  About ten years ago, I reached out to Gary to get his advice on how we document model cars in our database. I admire him as he was always willing to help and share his incredible knowledge.  Over the last three years, he added more than 4,000 models to the hobbyDB database and had plans to add 1,000s more.  In fact many diecast collectors will be familiar with Gary’s kitchen table – as his photos have a very distinctive background  –

He also helped built hobbyDB with other subjects that he was interested in such as his home-town Preston or the local bus company Ribble Motor Services.  Beyond that Gary always had great comments on how to improve the way we document model cars and other type of collectibles.

I had on many occasions invited Gary to come see our office in Boulder or meet at one of the conventions like the Matchbox Gathering of Friends in Albuquerque and hoped that we could meet in person. However, as he was fighting an illness that was unfortunately not an option.  I do not even have a photo of him, so I will always remember him by his chosen Avatar on hobbyDB, a Ribble bus  –

For somebody I never met, I do miss Gary and the news of his untimely demise today hit me hard.  The diecast world lost somebody very special yesterday.

Please share an episode or add another comment below if you knew Gary

The post Gary Hirst – I did not meet him and now never will, but he will not be forgotten appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

Ron Ruelle hobbyDB

Aside from Christmas, there’s no holiday that inspires decor, commemoratives, and good ol’ limited edition fun as much as Halloween. As the holiday rapidly approaches, we thought it would be a good time to look at some of our favorite Halloween collectibles.

First of all, a question… is “The Nightmare Before Christmas” a Halloween movie, or a Christmas movie? Or should you just watch it every night for two months straight between both holidays? Regardless, there are so many great characters to base collectibles on. Nearly 25 years after its theatrical release, the Tim Burton stop motion masterpiece has only grown in legend, and more items pop up every year. This sculpture of Zero and his dog house is pretty neat.

Oddly enough, many horror movies have become associated with Halloween, even though the vast majority of them have nothing to do with the holiday. “Ghostbusters,” more comedy than horror actually, has become another favorite movie that embodies the fun of Halloween. There is no shortage of collectibles from the classic 1984 movie (as well as its sequel, the 2016 remake, and the cartoons).

In fact, Halloween has an interesting distinction for fans in that anything gothic, spooky, scary, or macabre fits in. It doesn’t matter if they are officially part of the holiday or not. Heck, you can take any popular characters such as Disney’s Chip ‘n’ Dale,  put them in vampire garb, insert them into a jack-o’-lantern, and presto… instant Halloween collectible!

Snoopy and the Peanuts gang hold a special place in Halloween lore ever since their 1966 animated special introduced the world to Linus and his story of The Great Pumpkin. This 1996 Hallmark Keepsake set includes everything you need for a good time except the Dolly Madison snack cakes.

Skeletons are always a popular Halloween theme, even though they’re everywhere year ’round. (Here’s a fun joke to play on little kids… ask in a scary voice, “Do you know where you can find a skeleton? INSIDE YOUR OWN BODY! Bwahahaha!” Never gets old!) Apparently Kidrobot’s Labbits have skeletons. Slightly less scary is this Hello Kitty skeleton figure from Funko.

Lego has also done minifig skeletons a couple different ways. One version that came with various building sets has a bony, hollow structure, while the other version, sold by itself in blind packs, has a more traditional costume look.

Hearses are used year ’round in the real world, too, but if you park one in front of your house the rest of the year, people look at you kinda funny. But in October? No sweat. There are lots of miniature hearses out there to collect, by the way. Just in case your HOA frowns displaying the real thing. (By the way, Ecto-1, the Ghostbusters’ car, is an ambulance, not a hearse.)

Speaking of driveable collectibles, Hot Wheels has commemorated various holidays over the years with limited edition cars. After Christmas, Halloween is probably the most popular among these series. 2017 is no exception, featuring cars with special skull-themed wheels.

For something even more limited, Liberty Promotions has offered yearly, low production Drag Bus models for Halloween and other holidays, along with Chase versions.

You like zombies? Kentucky Fried Chicken’s recent ad campaign features multiple actors doing off kilter impressions of the Colonel Sanders , making KFC a pop culture phenomenon. Now you can add your own take on the long-deceased company founder and spokescharacter with this Halloween Harland costume. It was available very briefly on the KFC website this before selling out.

Regardless of your age, Halloween is a fun holiday, and there are collectibles of all kinds to enjoy throughout October or year ’round if you dare.

Do you have a favorite Halloween collectible? Tell us about it in the comments and add it to the hobbyDB database if it’s not already there!

The post Halloween Means Thrills! Chills! Collectibles! appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

Ron Ruelle hobbyDB

Superheroes have long been one of the most popular subjects for toys and collectibles, and why not? With a couple of action figures and a lot of imagination, anything is possible. Unfortunately, not everything that’s possible makes sense. Here are some of our, uhhh, favorite head-scratching superhero toys. If you have logical explanations for any of them, let us know in the comments!

Deadpool the Duck – Is he a duck who thinks he’s Deadpool, or a Deadpool who thinks he’s a duck? Lego made an exclusive Duckpool (Deadduck?) minifig for the 2017 San Diego Comic Con, and he has since taken on other forms such as Funko Pops figures. Duckpool. This is really confusing, actually. Just accept it and move on.

Rocket Raccoon vs. Mega Man Figures – Are they friends? Enemies? Frenemies? And what are they doing together since they’re from completely different copyrighted worlds? Well, there’s a new Marvel vs. Capcom video game, which is an extension of the arcade game that dates back to 1996. And the logical reason for that original mashup was, geez… like we said, hard-to-explain. The ‘90s were weirder than you remember.

Guardians of the Galaxy Doritos Bag With Built-in Walkman – Speaking of Rocket and friends, here’s a strange collectible. Few movies use their soundtracks as effectively as the Guardians movies, so it makes sense to offer an old-school cassette player filled with Star-Lord’s greatest hits. It even has lo-fi looking 1980s style headphones attached! Why it comes mounted in a bag of Doritos is anyone’s guess. Still, you know you want one.

Everyone hates the Spider-Mobile. Fans, artists, writers, Spidey himself…

Spider-Mobile/Dead Buggy – As we all know, Spider-Man gets around town pretty easily by slinging webs and swinging from building to building. And sometimes he takes the subway if needed. So what’s with the Spider-Mobile? It’s a dune buggy, which is cool, but doesn’t make a lot of sense in a major metropolitan area with no beach. It is canonical, having made several appearances in comic books, but always as the subject of ridicule. The joke came full circle when Hot Wheels made a must-have San Diego Comic Con exclusive model of it. Then things got even more meta when it was discovered that there was a chase version… If you were lucky, you might have opened the box to discover the Dead Buggy, “vandalized” by Deadpool.

Hulk Copter – Hulk smash. Hulk throw things. Hulk struggle with socially acceptable motor control. So Hulk not good candidate for piloting helicopter. Or any vehicle, for that matter. But especially a helicopter.

Supermobile – If you’re faster than a speeding bullet and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, you don’t need a flying rocket car. Even if it has punching fists in side-mounted cannons. Even if it did actually appear in the comic books. In the time it takes to valet park that thing in Metropolis, Superman could be on the scene of any developing situation. And if he does need a ride, Batman probably owes him a favor, so he can call him. Nonetheless, Corgi made a model of it, a few different variants in fact. And there are some other neat toys if you search for “Superman plane” on hobbyDB.

Aquaman waits for a ride in the Batmobile in “Justice League.”

Aquaman and Flash Cars – Not to keep harping on vehicles that have no reason to exist, but Aquaman doesn’t drive. At least he never seems to in the comics. Like Superman, he can hitch a ride in the Batmobile as needed. In fact, it appears that he does exactly that in the “Justice League” movie. As for Flash, he’s faster than any car will ever be, so the only time he might need one is if he goes to Costco on the weekend. And if he did shop in bulk, he probably would choose something more practical than a Corvette. They are adorable, though. These are part of the Squeely series of vinyl figures from Hallmark, so you can probably expect to see them in ornament form soon.

Thor Scooter – It’s The Mighty Thor. Riding a Vespa. A pink Vespa. This is non-canonical. This should not exist. The basis for this scooter is the Skiddo Scooter from Marx Toys, featuring a really scary looking Army soldier. Seriously, the other version is really weird looking!

Batman and Superman Squirt Guns – These are kind of strange… why would these guys go around spitting water on people? That’s really more of an Aquaman thing. But, hey, whatever. You could design a worse toy. Much, much worse…

Another Batman Squirt Gun – No. NO! A THOUSAND TIMES, NO! This squirt gun is just wrong on so many levels, it’s impossible to count! In case you’re wondering, this does not appear to be an officially licensed toy (Need proof? The miscapitalization of “BatMan” on the label, the fact that he’s flying like Superman on that label, the fact that there is no way someone at DC would be dumb enough to authorize this… would they?) Amazingly enough, there was a similar Popeye version as well.

Got any other oddball superhero toys that we didn’t mention? Hit us up in the comments and add them to our database!

The post 12 Superhero Toys That Are Super Hard To Explain appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

It’s that time of year again where we get to celebrate being thankful. Here at hobbyDB we are grateful that folks like you continue to empower us to build a one of a kind resource for collectors worldwide. To help show our appreciation, we’ve partnered with some of the top sellers on hobbyDB to bring you awesome savings on your favorite diecast items. So skip the lines in the stores, pour some hot cocoa, snuggle up in your favorite comforter, and go shopping from the comfort of your own home. Sale lasts until Monday at 11:59pm PT.

Checkout all Black Friday Diecast Deals

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The post Unlock Awesome Diecast Deals – Up to 65% off at hobbyDB appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

Warning: This article contains a lot of errors. And we’re not sorry.

Looks like they ran out of metal on this Datsun 620 Pickup!

Nathan also collects Chrysler Crossfires in all sizes.

Nathan Lill (aka Maelstrom) isn’t like most Hot Wheels collectors. He isn’t looking for perfection on the pegs. In fact, he’s looking for flaws. “My motto is if it ain’t broke, I’m not buying,” he says. Nathan collects error cars. The stranger the flaw, the better. “I collect all types of errors from mis-packed to unassembled cars. Pretty much any type of error be it a wheel, part, paint or assembly problem can happen to any Hot Wheels car. It is virtually infinite what can be found while looking at each car, so every case or peg full of cars can have something.’

This mis-carded Lexus SC400 is the one that started it all for Nathan. So, is it a car on the wrong card, or a card with the wrong car? 

His collection is filled with imperfection… over thousands of examples in fact. The obsession started in 2000 when he spotted something odd at Target. “First one I found was a Lexus SC400 on a Double Vision #212 card at the local Target. Little did I know that would lead to close to 12,000 more of them.” 

Just a small error sampling… Nathan has several more walls like this.

As for the rest of the Hot Wheels universe, the Maelstrom is the only car where he collects correct versions (Un-errored? Non-Wrong? Not-botched?). The need to pick up other vehicles is mitigated by finding an incorrect version of each one. “One way or another I get most of the cars I want with some type of error,” he says. “I also don’t have the space to keep one of everything, so I no longer get a correct version of the vehicle if I don’t need to.

It’s kind of surprising the extra parts fit in the blister so nicely.

While a lot of errors are subtle (crooked or missing graphics, incorrect card, etc) some are doozies. He once found a Baby Boomer car with an extra stroller buggy (“It’s for twins,” he laughs.) He also grabbed a Chevy Nova with a Mercury Cougar base that really doesn’t fit in shape or theme. “So many to choose from that just look funny, with either too big or too small wheels all around as well.”

This mis-spun Beach Bomb and off kilter button were made for each other.

Production errors are not a new thing. Nathan has acquired several original Redline errors as well. “My favorite is a mis-spun green Beach Bomb,” he said, referring to the assembly rivets not being punched and spun correctly at the base. “Then later on, I came across the matching misprinted button. By far my neatest error pair from that era.” As if finding an original Beach Bomb and button wasn’t hard enough, right?

Something seems to be missing from this Stingray racer.

Rather than revel in the folly of someone’s mistakes, however, Nathan has grown to appreciate Hot Wheels on a whole new level. “These errors made me look more into the processes involved in creating these cars’ he said.“ Considering the billions of cars that Mattel has turned out over the last half century, the number of errors that make it to the pegs is really quite tiny. And the fact that some people dig them on a different level makes it all in good fun. Since there are collectors who value these mistakes, hobbyDB has a way to document your error cars. Find the regular version of the car in our database, then click “Add Variant” and then under “Production Status” choose “Error.” Add images and descriptions, and you’re done!

Mis-aligned graphics can be hard to spot sometimes, like on this ’57 Chevy.

As for the values of Hot Wheels Error Cars, there are many factors. Are they worth more because of the rarity? Or less desirable because collectors want perfect examples? The scarcity of the model and type of mistake can greatly swing the value one way or the other as well.

The Sol-Aire is missing its wheels, the GTO has bonus parts.

“When HotWheelsCollectors.com came on line, I was one of the few error collected that posted there regularly. Soon I became known as the crazy Maelstrom and error collecting guy after all the broken cars. It has stuck ever since.” Even if people think he’s crazy, make no mistake, he’s a serious collector.

Got any favorite error cars in your collection (Hot Wheels or otherwise)? Add them to our database! Find the regular version of the vehilce, then click “Add Variant. Under “Production Status,” choose “Error” and add a description and photos.

The post No Mistake: Hot Wheels Error Cars Can Be Cool Collectibles appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

Today we are very excited to announce that hobbyDB and The Toy Peddler will be officially working together as one. We’ve known Paul (the founder of The Toy Peddler) for more than ten years and over the past 18 months, he’s seen how hobbyDB continues to improve as a resource for diecast collectors. When Paul started The Toy Peddler, he had a mission to create a platform that was better than eBay for both buyers and sellers and we know by combining forces, we will now be able to do this. We bring the tech, and Paul brings 20 years of sales knowhow.

Paul with the late Elliot Handler (the founder of Mattel)

It used to be just George (Paul’s tech guy) and Paul and now we have combined to create a larger team – Alex, Anastasia, Andrew, Chris, Christian, Dayne, John, JP, Mario, Parker, Rob and Paul and George! This is a decision that we are both very excited about as we will now have the resources and larger team to make big moves forward and to do this. We’ll be looking to you for feedback for what would make your life easier when you buy and sell diecast.

100,000 new items for sale coming to hobbyDB!

Please note that both sites will continue to operate individually as we reach out to buyers and sellers to see what improvements are most important to them. No changes will be made to The Toy Peddler until we receive this essential feedback.  

Even more exciting is once we have received your feedback, buyers on The Toy Peddler will gain access to all of hobbyDB’s inventory, doubling the number of items for sale and sellers’ items will eventually be listed on both marketplaces, doubling their exposure to potential customers.

Eventually by combining forces, we’ll be able to utilize the ease of hobbyDB collection management and the power of The Toy Peddler marketplace to create a one of a kind resource for collectors worldwide.

The post hobbyDB and The Toy Peddler Join Forces appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

As part of a fundraising drive for the Helen and Douglas House children’s charity Tony Brandon, Christian Braun and I met Marcel for dinner last Saturday. Apologies from Andrew Adamides (Editor’s Note: that is Baskingshark here on the site), Chris Aston (of Aston Auctions), Hugo Marsh (formerly Christie’s and now SAS) and Tom Hickwell who after paying up in full for the charity all for various reasons could not make the dinner.

The Venue

The dinner took place at Fawsley Hall which is located near Daventry in Northamptonshire.  Fawsley has an interesting history and was a Royal Manor as early as the 7th century. Over the centuries Fawsley was continuously developed in a variety of styles, reflecting each period. Today Fawsley Hall is a Country House Hotel and Spa with facilities to house conferences and is an ideal wedding venue. For anyone wishing to explore Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, Althorp, Warwick Castle and Blenheim or racing at Silverstone Fawsley Hall is ideally located.

Fawsley Hall is the quintessential English Country House

Over a very enjoyable dinner, there were lots of questions for Marcel from ourselves and other members of the Planet Diecast site! To start with, we asked him to name the five top models he’d include in his model range if he was still in the toy car business. Marcel told us that since he doesn’t follow current car models, he’d be pushed to name five but that the range would definitely include a Smart Car because he has one, and a BL Wedge Princess would be number two because he once owned one during his time at Mettoy and found it to be totally reliable (in contrast to the image of most BL products!). Another likely candidate would be a Triumph Herald as he had a memorable journey in one, driving from Daventry to Florence, Italy on a summer holiday with his wife and two young daughters in around 1960. The journey was 1002 miles and Marcel hadn’t booked accommodation in advance but struck it lucky while driving round Florence looking for somewhere to stay. He suddenly found himself outside “The Grand Hotel” and, taking his two young daughters into the reception area, he managed to persuade the reception staff to allow him and his family to stay. Marcel said that a special feature for this model would be a roof rack with two large miniature suit cases strapped on. He didn’t mention whether it would be a coupe like the famous Corgi model!

Mettoy

Marcel went on to tell us more about Mettoy. At its peak, the company employed over 5,000 people. These included 60 tool makers and three people in their Art Department. There were occasions when they outsourced moulds to Germany in the first few years, later, toolmakers were used in Italy. Prototype models were mainly outsourced from Ian Pickering of Southend, Ian was the finest model maker and was responsible for the best prototypes, The Coronation Coach, as shown in the Great Book of Corgi being typical of his fine work. When really stretched Marcel used Gerald Wingrove whose models were outstanding.

The injection moulding machines Mettoy used were designed and made in-house. These machines were always on the forefront of technology and regularly updated. Mettoy did use die-sets made by Die Casting Machine Tools (DCMT). Copper masks were deployed for two-tone models and for applying additional painted detailing such as grilles and bumpers. The Art Department were responsible for producing all art work including catalogues, decals and packaging. However, the decal production was outsourced and the manufacture and printing of the packaging was carried out by Vernon Packaging of Northampton.

Although car manufacturers would supply blueprints of their models, Marcel never used them. He recalled that Studebaker once sent him 1:1 scale plans of their Golden Hawk. They weren’t used for two reasons – one was the lack of space they had to roll out the plans in their office and the second was that they were out of date! Soon after he received the plans, Studebaker had carried out several modifications to the car and Corgi wanted the most up to date version. As was common with manufacturers, they rarely updated the blueprints when they made design changes after the fact.

Instead of using blue prints Marcel preferred to photograph a car. This would result in around 70 images of the vehicle in question, taken from all angles, including the interior and occasionally of the underside of the chassis. Marcel would then develop the films at home that evening and print off all the whole plates  early next morning so that the model designer could start work immediately on producing an accurate body external drawing of the model. These were always drawn at 4 times model size for accuracy but then reduced to twice the model size for the master pattern maker to produce the body pattern. The wood used was lime as it has a very fine grain. Marcel always took along with him the designer who was to produce the accurate body external drawing. This helped to ensure that the designer was fully au fait with the vehicle and would easily recollect the fine features etc. After taking the photographs, they measured the car and made a drawing to scale on graph paper of the side, front and rear elevations as well as a plan view. They also used very large sheets of paper to lay over the main areas of the car and used crayons to rub over the entire curves and shapes. The principle was” just like taking brass rubbings in a church” Marcel told us. He explained that using this method all the details and their relationship with each other was faithfully recorded. These records would then be used by the model makers to prepare scale models for evaluation purposes. Once the go-ahead was given they would then be used by the tool makers in the first step towards model production.

In the Mettoy era, paying royalties to make models of cars was a rarity – Lord Stokes and Ken Tyrell wanted to be paid royalties from Mettoy for certain Corgi Toys, but Marcel refused and managed to get ELF fuels, Tyrrell’s Formula 1 sponsor, to pay Ken the £6,000 he asked for, in return for selling ELF 20,000 Corgi Tyrell in special boxes for them to sell in their filling stations. Indeed, all deals Marcel struck with car, film and TV companies were on a handshake! There was no paperwork involved.

Many of our members asked why the move to 1:36th scale. Marcel took full responsibility for this one! He reasoned that a larger scale would enable finer details and the only additional costing implication would be for materials. Research and development costs incurred were the same whatever the scale. Marcel felt that the larger scale was well suited to the Formula 1 racing cars Corgi were planning at the time. When asked why didn’t he use the more established 1:32nd scale, the same used by Airfix for their plastic car kits and Scalextric for their slot racing system, he replied that he never considered any competitor’s ranges. “We were too busy dealing with what we were doing to look at what other firms were making” he replied.

The discussion then moved to the 1:18th scale Formula 1 racing cars. Marcel said that this decision was based on an historical connection. Back in 1958 Mettoy released a large scale Vanwall Formula 1 car at the same time as the Corgi Toys version was issued. The Vanwall was roughly 1:18th scale and was a special for Marks and Spencer’s. So in 1974 the first 1:18th scale F1 car was released. This was the Lotus ‘John Player Special’ and sold very well in its four year production run. Only one other 1:18th scale model was issued, the Marlboro McLaren. Further models were considered but other projects took over and the demand on time for their development curtailed any future involvement in this scale.

In the early 1970‘s there were plans to produce the Rocket stock cars in the Corgi Toys scale. These would have complimented the dragster range Corgi were currently developing. However, there was no time to proceed with this venture either, as other topics suddenly took priority. Marcel said that this was a typical recurrence. His team was small in number and they were always overstretched. At any one time they would be responsible for around 45 different models at various stages of development. His team of designers were always stretched to the limit and very hard working. They often put in as many as 25 hours overtime per week, this would include Saturdays and Sundays.

The first version of Corgi’s James Bond Aston-Martin DB5 was in Gold as Corgi’s Management felt that they could not just make it in a bare metal color!

Personal recollections at Mettoy

Marcel didn’t enjoy a particularly good working relationship with Howard Fairbairn, his boss at Mettoy. An authoritarian leader, Fairbairn was set on doing things his way and his interpersonal skills could leave a lot to be desired. Marcel once had a personal invitation from the James Bond producers to spend three weeks on their set in Egypt, but wasn’t allowed the time off by Fairburn. The invitation was in recognition of Marcel’s hard work on the Corgi Toys James Bond Lotus Esprit and on previous James Bond models. His consolation was a lovely card from the film signed by most of the cast.

Another personal invite did actually go ahead. One day he received a call from Anthony Bamford, owner of JCB. Neither Anthony nor Marcel could find time for an essential meeting, Anthony therefore suggested a weekend and to meet him at East Midlands Airport and to ensure he brings his passport. On arrival he was taken to Mr Bamford’s private jet and taken off to Le Mans! Again this was in recognition of Marcel’s work on a variety of JCB models and a Ferrari Daytona owned by Mr Bamford that raced at Le Mans. It was a tremendous occasion.

There were plenty of other visits too – Marcel fondly remembers that when he visited the Lamborghini factory, it was spotlessly clean and he felt one could eat dinner off their floor! It was an amazing place and they were treated very well by all staff there. The only other impressive car plant was that of the De Lorean factory in Northern Ireland.

On a different matter Marcel recalls the problems with Spanish toy car companies pirating their models. Suing would have cost lots of money and one could never know what the outcome would be if it did go though the court system. Marcel didn’t think that moulds were offered to any Spanish firm.

One model that Marcel always wanted to make was a camper van with an opening roof with ‘fabric’ sides. The main difficulty here was selecting the material for the sides. Finally, Plastic moulded slats onto fabric material was tried out but it then proved too complicated to be able to fold the material. The folding was important because the roof had to be opened and closed repeatedly in the process of play. Unfortunately, lack of time was against them and the project was shelved.

The Marcel R Van Cleemput Collection

We also asked Marcel about his famous collection. There were, he said, many reasons why Marcel sold it. The main reason was that he was in the process of moving to a small cottage from his large family home of many years. The move took seven weeks and there was no room for Marcel’s Corgi collection. Instead a friend offered to store the 50 boxes in their loft.

Nigel Turner of Turner’s Merry Go Round, in Northampton was using Marcel to design a computerised musical instrument for him and learnt of his collection of Corgi Models.

Nigel wanted to buy the collection and agreed to create a museum at his Merry Go Round complex where the models etc. would be on permanent display as they really belonged to be in Northampton. Marcel sold the collection to him for £ 7,250. This included all the models to the early 1980’s as well as posters, leaflets, over 100 prototypes, master patterns and resins together with a body mould.

Nigel then talked to Allen Levy about a Corgi book, Alan jumped at the chance of a book about Corgi Toys and the rest is history, up to a point. The fact that all the models were now on display made it easy to do all the photography for the book, which took 3 weeks. Nigel then also wanted to buy Bassett-Lowke, the other Northampton based toy legend but would only do so if Marcel agreed to come in as Design and Management consultant. This he agreed to do for 3 months but eventually stayed for 9 months.

Unfortunately, shortly after Marcel stopped working with Nigel the collection was sold onto a collector in Switzerland for £55,000. 10 years later that collector fell on hard times and had to sell up. A German auction house was given the collection to sell and it realised £250,000!  Needless to say that it is a shame that this collection is not available to the public anymore; but maybe some of our members here want to consider creating a Corgi Museum.

Marcel signing Chris Sweetman’s copy of The Great Book of Corgi

All in all, we had a very enjoyable evening and would like to thank Marcel for taking the time to make it possible and for answering all our many questions. Thanks too to Fawsley Hall for providing a wonderful venue!  We raised a total of £860 for the Helen & Douglas House on this occasion with the cost for the dinner being paid for by Planet Diecast and Fawsley Hall.

The post Planet Diecast’s Charity Dinner with Marcel R Van Cleemput appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

Ron Ruelle hobbyDB

We recently introduced you to Nathan Lill, the Master of Mistakes (at least when it comes to Hot Wheels). Lill has a collection of over 12,000 Hot Wheels error cars, all collected since he first spotted one on the pegs in 2000.

But what exactly constitutes an error for something like a diecast car on a blister card? Well, there are all kinds of things that can go wrong, some subtle, some hilariously obvious.  Packaging misadventures, assembly problems, or color and graphics misfires are among the most common. Most errors need to be inside a sealed package to be verifiable, but that’s not always the case. And in a lot of examples, the packaging itself is the actual source of the error.

A lot of Hot Wheels come with intentionally mismatched wheels. This Custom VW is not one of them.

Assembly issues such as mis-spun rivets are hard to fake, so packaging might not be as important in those cases. On the other hand, for really early Hot Wheels, there are some very subtle variations in coloring that were probably unintentional, but could also be attributable to fading or other factors, so who can tell? But for the most part, buyers need to be aware of what to look for.

Here’s a check list of common error types that make it past the QC inspectors. Aside from the issues with wheels, most of these errors can apply to other collectibles such as action figures and vinyl art toys. Some error types are common enough that we have special Subjects on hobby DB just for those!

Misadventures in Packaging

Pretty sure that’s not a ’57 Thunderbird!

• Mismatched car and package (On hobbyDB, these should be listed as a variant of the car, not the blister card. If you get that wrong, hey, mistakes happen.)
• Wrong Shaped Blister (with specific shapes for each car, it’s surprising this doesn’t happen more.)
• Off-Register/Off Kilter Package Printing
• Vehicle Facing Wrong Direction In Blister (Upside down doesn’t sometimes count, as it’s easy for some models to do a barrel roll.)

  Upside down cars may or may not be considered errors. Depends on how much wiggle room is in the blister.

• Mis-Cut Packaging (Unpunched holes don’t really count as errors, but are usually considered more valuable on their own merit)
• Empty Sealed Package (Check carefully in case of the Wonder Woman Invisible Jet.)

Wheel Errors

• Missing Entire Axle and Wheels
• Reversed Wheels
• Unchromed/Unpainted Wheels
• Mismatched Wheels (Hard to spot these days, as some cars intentionally look like that)

With so many wheels, you’re bound to have the wrong wheels in the wrong place sometimes.

• Wrong Size Wheels (Hard to spot sometimes without reference)
• Wrong Wheel Type

Molding Messes

• Incomplete Casting (Not enough material to fill the mold.)
• Excessive Flashing (Too much material in the mold. Not from exposing oneself in the park!)

Assembly Gone Awry

• Wrong Color Body/Interior/Chassis/Window (Disputable, could be a legit variant. A lot of Redlines came with these kinds of differences and are just about impossible to document.)
• Mismatched Parts (Such as a Mustang body on a Camaro chassis. That is unnatural and should not be a thing. List this as the variant with which it shares the most parts)

The baseplate on this K.I.T.T. is backwards. The Hoff must be fuming!

• Backwards/Upside Down Parts (This mostly happens with the chassis)
• Missing components (Engines, interiors, windows, etc.)
• Unspun Rivets
• Mis-spun Rivets

Graphic In Nature

It’s not that difficult to fake some of color and graphics errors, so most of these probably should be in sealed packages to confirm their validity. Make sure your mistakes are real miscues and not shenanigans!

The Python is supposed to have a flat black roof. This one doesn’t, and it looks unmodified, but it’s not in the package. Hmmmm…

• Completely Missing Graphics
• Graphics Missing On One Side, Top, etc.
• Misaligned Graphics

The wheels aren’t the problem here… that’s intentional. But notice how the graphics are “falling off” the car.

• Off-Register Graphics (One color does not line up with the others)
• Misspelled Graphics (Technically, this isn’t an error of production, but a failure to proofread. But if it’s caught and fixed, the wrong version might be pretty valuable.)

Early versions of the Baywatch Rescue Ranger misspelled “First Aid” on the side. It’s a rare “pre-production” error that was eventually fixed. Now The Hoff is really feeling hassled!

Something (But Not Everything) Else

• Missing Accessories (Buttons, sticker sheets, extra parts, collector cards, etc.)
• Incorrect Accessories
• Extra parts

“Mistakes” That Aren’t Really Errors

What me worry? Alfred E. Neuman action figures came in all kinds of messed up alignments.

• Broken parts… Sad when it happens, but it’s not really an error to collectors.
• Casting errors that lasted the entire production run. Hey, a Johnny Lightning White Lightning ’71 Buick Riviera with the wrong grill… That’s gotta be rare, right? Well, only as rare as any other White Lightning. JL made castings for the ’71 and ’71 Rivieras, the only difference being the detail in the grill. For the Classic Gold version, they called it a ’71, but used the ’72 casting. They never corrected it, so even though it’s a goof, it’s the only version.
• Items designed to look incorrectly packaged (Upside down, backwards, etc). This Alfred E. Neuman figure is supposed to be upside down, which matches the spirit of the magazine. Same with the Santa version, who looks like he fell inside the blister. Oh, and Spider-Man, in the image at the top of the page? Yep, that’s on purpose as well!

Do you have any error cars (or action figures) in your collection? Add them to our database as variants of existing items! And if you can think of any other types of errors, hit us up in the comments section!

The post How Many Errors Can You Find In This Article? appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

This article originally appeared on collectorsjournal.com. We are reposting it with gracious permission of the author.

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By Trenton Schipper

2017 saw the anniversaries of some classic (and some newer) video games. Some of these games are a little better known than others. Some of them might not be known at all to newer generations of gamers. My apologies if I leave some of your favorites out, as that was certainly not my intent. However my space is somewhat limited so I’ll touch on some of the bigger names.

North American Ms. Pac-Man arcade cabinet from 1982.

Starting out the year we had the original Ms. Pac-Man arcade game released in 1982 that turned 35. While this game is a little before my time, (I wasn’t born until 8 years later) I have still spent a lot of time playing it. In 2009 Game Informer Magazine did a “Top 200 Games of All Time” with Ms. Pac-Man taking the number 10 spot.

Ms. Pac-Man was actually an early attempt to get more women to play arcade games. It was thought that the non-violence of the game is what attracted women to the original Pac-Man. Even though Pac-Man is one of the highest-grossing American arcade games of all time, Ms. Pac-Man still held her own. The game had 125,000 arcade cabinets and only 5 short years after its release it had brought in over $1.2 billion in quarters. Estimates suggest this is the fourth highest selling arcade game of that time. While not everyone caught on to the Pac-Man craze, many did. It even inspired a Pac-Man themed wedding of a Des Moines, Iowa couple in 1982. Pac-Man even went on to have the first cartoon based on a video game. It was a short lived show with Pac-Man and his wife (with a little bit of a restyle) as well as Pac-Baby, the ghosts and several new characters. It ran on ABC but only ran for two seasons. The original arcade style game can be found on eBay for between $2,000 and $3,000.

It’s been 20 years since the release of Mario Kart 64. While it came out in Japan in December of 1996, its American release date is still considered to be January 1997. This game was the second in the Mario Kart series. Mario Kart 64 also included 4-player support, where Super Mario Kart only allowed for 2. It has since been released on the Nintendo Wii console (January 2007), and on the Nintendo Wii U console (December 2016). Along with Mario Kart 64, the original Super Mario Kart celebrated its 25th anniversary. This game also got a re-release on the Wii console (2009), and the Wii U (2013).

The third installment in the Tekken series, simply named Tekken 3, celebrated its 20th anniversary. Tekken 3 was originally released in arcades in March of 1997, but also got a release on the original PlayStation in 1998, and another release in 2005 as part of Tekken 5’s Arcarde History Mode. Tekken 3 is the second best-selling fighting game of all time with more than 8.5 million copies sold worldwide. Super Smash Bros. Brawl takes the top spot.  It also has the title of fourth best-selling PlayStation game. Tekken 3 was the first game in the series to use the third axis, or simply put, allowed the player to side step.

Wolfenstein 3D Pac-Man level.

Wolfenstein 3D, turned 25 in May. The game was originally built to be fast and violent, unlike most other games of the time. It is widely considered the first game in the first person genre, however this is untrue. However, it is one of the first games to help the first person shooter genre gain popularity. Known to some, Wolfenstein 3D actually contains a level based off of Pac-Man, featuring giant Pac-Man ghosts. Wolfenstein 3D is now able to be played through your internet browser for free, in case anyone reading this is a fan and wants to reminisce. Original copies of this game can be found online for between $45 and $85.

Metal Gear celebrated a milestone, turning an amazing 30 years old. While there are several sequel, and prequel games, this is the anniversary of the original. The main character, Snake, is actually a combination of three people according to the games creator Hideo Kojima. Snake is a mashup of Snake Plissken, played by Kurt Russell, the body of Jean Claude Van-Damme and the face of Christopher Walken. A very impressive lineup indeed. Metal gear was made when 3D games were still a fairly new concept and the levels were originally built out of Legos.

The Legend of Zelda also celebrated its 30-year anniversary this year. Although it has had many games made since then on many difference consoles, the original Zelda was a bestseller for Nintendo, selling over 6.5 million copies. Zelda is now largely considered one of Nintendo’s most popular series. Chronologically speaking, the first Zelda game is one of the last. Zelda is actually left handed in all of the games except one, the Nintendo Wii version of Twilight Princess. This was done because most people are right handed, and the game is based off of the players’ motions. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of The Legend of Zelda as well as the Donkey Kong and Super Mario Brothers franchises, made to game for players to focus on exploration and completion and not just on getting the highest score. This was a relatively new idea in video games at the time. A little known fact is that the late actor Robin Williams named his daughter after Princess Zelda and expressed interest in being the voice of Ganondorf if a film was ever made.

Another 30-year anniversary game is Street Fighter. Like its predecessors, it is also a highly lucrative game franchise for its company, Capcom.  Street Fighter is one of the highest-grossing video game franchises having sold over 40 million software units and is Capcom’s second biggest franchise behind Resident Evil, and is their third best-selling software franchise behind Resident Evil and Monster Hunter.  The original release of Street Fighter machines actually feature pressure sensitive punch pads underneath the buttons, to determine the amount of pressure for light, medium or heavy punches or kicks.  The pads had a tendency to wear our quickly though and most people preferred the strategy of “if I smash the buttons as hard as possible it will be more effective in the game.” Believe it or not, the Street Fighter franchise is actually in the Guinness Book of World Records 8 times. Some of these include “Most Prolific Fighting Game Series,” “Longest Running Fighting Video Game Series” and “Best-Selling Coin-Operated Fighting Game.”

Celebrating its 10-year anniversary is Halo 3 (a personal favorite of mine).  Halo 3 is the third game in the series developed by Bungie.  To date, it has sold in excess of 14.5 million copies, making it the fifth best-selling Xbox 360 game of all time, the best-selling Xbox 360 exclusive title and the best-selling first person shooter aside from the Call of Duty game series.  It was also the best-selling video game of 2007 in the U.S. 

The sound designers of Halo 3 wanted to include as much content as possible, not just in terms of music but also in terms of dialogue.  This led them to record more than 35,000 lines of dialogue for Halo 3. Right along with Halo 3, Halo 4 is celebrating its fifth anniversary. Although titled Halo 4, it is actually the seventh installment in the Halo game series. You can buy either game disc on Xbox 360 for about $10-$20 or you can download it for $19.99.  

Another game to celebrate 25 years is Mortal Kombat. Very similar to the Tekken franchise, Mortal Kombat (yes Kombat with a K) is a fantasy-horror fighting game.  The owners of the rights to the game have changed several times but the franchise remains strong.  Not only is it a video game series but it has also been made into films (both live-action and animated), a TV series, a comic book series, a card game and a live-action tour.  It is considered one of the most successful fighting franchises and has generated over $5 billion in revenue, becoming one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.  Unlike most games, Mortal Kombat was created by just four people in the span of just 10 months.  For the first 6 months, the game had no title as the four designers couldn’t agree on a title that they all liked.  

Celebrating an amazing 45 years is one of the earliest arcade video games, Pong. It didn’t take long for Pong to become a success and was the first commercially successful video game, helping to establish the industry. The original prototype cabinet for Pong was very primitive. It used a black and white TV inside a wooden cabinet. Wires were then soldered to complete the needed circuits.  The coin mechanism was actually taken from a laundromat and used a milk carton inside for the coins to drop into. A few days after the installation of the original Pong prototype a problem arose. What was the problem? The coin mechanism was overflowing with quarters, a problem I’m sure they were glad to have.  

The first Splinter Cell game turned 25 this year. Splinter Cell is a series of award-winning stealth video games, as well as tie-in novels written by Tom Clancy. While some people believe the game is based off of the novels, in fact it is the other way around with the novels being based off of the game, some even making the New York Times bestseller list.  Sam Fisher, the main charter throughout the series, is ranked at number 24 in the Guinness Top 50 Video Game Characters of All Time. This series, as well as the Assassin’s Creed series, are considered to be one of Ubisoft’s main franchises, selling more than 31 million copies. The first Splinter Cell game also won IGN’s Best of 2002: Xbox Game of The Year.  

Next up, celebrating a strong 30 years, is Mega Man.  This game features the robot character and was created by Capcom.  This game was the first in a series that would go on to spawn over 50 games on many various gaming systems.  Mega Man gained such popularity that a soccer themed game was released in the US. Despite the best efforts, it was not a very successful game for the series. The franchise also ran its own animated show.  While it was a somewhat successful show, it only managed 2 seasons, each with 13 episodes before being cancelled.  The soundtrack to Mega Man is still very popular and is one of the most covered soundtracks ever having over 30 cover bands dedicated to them.  

Final Fantasy has come a long way in 30 years.

Rounding out the list is the Final Fantasy series, celebrating 30 years going strong. Like several other games mentioned, Final Fantasy has branched out and launched CGI films, an anime show, a manga show and novels. Having sold over 130 million units, it is one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. The original Final Fantasy game is considered one of the first created first-person shooter video game. The designer of Wolfenstein 3D (see above) credits the programmer of Final Fantasy as being a major inspiration and influence.  Although all of the games in the series are called Final Fantasy with their respective number following, the original very nearly was THE Final Fantasy as the company was failing financially. Although few people in the company believed it would save them, they turned out to be wrong as the original sold over 400,000 copies in Japan alone. The original game was made with a team of just 7 people.  Respectively, 10 years later it took 120 people to make Final Fantasy VII and following that almost 300 people to create Final Fantasy XII.  While most designers of the time based their games off of tabletop games or video game RPGs, the designer of Final Fantasy designed it based off of American football as he had never played either form of the game before. While most games of the time used a first-person shooter or over-the-shoulder view, Final Fantasy uses side-view battles. While not as widely known as the Mega Man soundtrack, in 2004 the United State synchronized swimming team used 2 songs from the Final Fantasy VIII soundtrack. They ended up winning the Bronze medal.  

So there you have it, some of the big video game anniversaries of 2017. Again, if I missed your favorite I apologize as I do have a limited amount of space. If you enjoyed reading this article or would like to see more or similar articles, such as more video game related antique games/anniversaries or even movies and TV shows, please email me at comp@vintonnewspapers.com.

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My name is Trenton Schipper, and i’m 28 years old. I grew up in a very small town of about 800. I started my collection about 2 years ago at an auction where I won a set of 4 Dragon Ball Z action figures still in the box, and it has expanded since then. I also collect military postcards, mostly Operation Enduring Freedom, as my dad is an Afghanistan veteran. This is my first article, and am looking forward to writing more.

The post Many Milestone Video Game Anniversaries Came In 2017 appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

Christian Braun obsesses over collectibles and antiques and toys more than the average person, but in a productive way.

“Antique, Vintage, Classic Batman Clock, Correct Twice a Day. $50.”

Aside from parsing that description to determine that this clock doesn’t run, but will be accurate at 8:58 AM and PM, what does that mean?

Holy Gimcrack!

What about “antique,” “vintage,” and “classic?” As collectors, we see and use these terms often, sometimes interchangeably. What to they mean, exactly? As it turns out, there is no “perfect” definition for these words. But they do hold meaning relative to each other.

Historically (and there’s another word we’ll need to parse), “Antique” has meant objects that are 100 year old or more. “Vintage” has generally meant older than 15 years. So “Classic” must mean… well, it’s complicated.

“Antique” and “Vintage” carry a set time frame, regardless of historic or aesthetic value. “Classic,” on the other hand, just means “it has stood or will stand the test of time,” regardless of age.

And “Historic…” What about that? “Historic” is often used as a positive term, but really means that something was a game changer, a revolution, a show stopper for some reason. And not necessarily for good reasons. The Ford Edsel has to be considered a “historic” car because of its massive failure. And over time, it has also achieved “classic” status. Whether the car is remembered for being good/bad/ugly/beautiful remains debatable. “Classic,” sure. “Historic,” absolutely.

Consider another conundrum. Boulder, Colorado (the scenic home of hobbyDB Headquarters), passed a law several years ago requiring houses over 50 years old to undergo an approval process by a city board if the owners wanted to do extensive renovations. At the time, it made sense, as houses of that age were built in the 1940s or before, many of them having some historic charm and significance. But with the passing of each year, a “50 year old house” was less and less significant architecturally.

The hobbyDB office built in 1968…

…and another 1968 house just down the next road.

Entire suburbs of more or less identical houses of that age just don’t seem to need that same kind of designation and protection. Sliding time frames like this don’t make a lot of sense after a while. The city realized this and altered the designation.

Also, consider what is a “classic” car. Again, in Colorado, it used to be that a driver could get official “Classic” plates for any car over 25 years old. The plates were less expensive and didn’t require modern emissions requirements, a great deal for muscle cars and anything earlier. In 1994, that meant cars from 1969 and older, most of which arguably stand the test of time to be called “classic.” But in 2018, that means a car from 1993.

Nothing against that Mercury Sable wagon, but calling it a “classic” is kind of head scratching.

 So there’s now a set date as the “Classic” designation, to be updated as needed.

A Facebook group called “Vintage Toys” only allows posts regarding 1994 and older collectibles. Why that designation? That doesn’t exactly fit the 15 year rule these days. It likely has to do with the age of the founders and moderators, and toys of that age hit a sweetspot with them emotionally, and later ones do not. If you don’t like it? You can start your own Facebook page.

Some categories or brands have their own distinctions that fill in those gaps between antique and vintage. Comic books, for instance, are generally divided into several ages:

• Golden Age, 1938-1950  (from the debuts of Superman and Batman to the middle of the century)
• Silver Age, Mid 1950s to 1970  (new advances in art, writing, and production values.)
• Bronze Age, 1970-1985  (more serious, mature content and styling)

A few notable things… Why 1938 as the start? That was the time Action Comics (Superman) and Detective Comics (Batman) ushered in the more or less current definition of a “comic book.”

The Granddaddy of all comics.

Also, what about comics released in the last 30 years or so…are they worthless? No, they just need their own designation at some point, often just referred to as the “Modern Age.”

But what about 1951-1955? Turns out there is a gray area between the Golden and Silver ages, so something in that range could be considered to fall in either group depending on your tastes. Also, new self censorship guidelines debuted at this time, transforming the content considerably.

Hot Wheels is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. Original cars sure seem old and rare. But by that definition, they are only halfway to “antique” status. On the other hand, calling them “vintage” seems unfair, which lumps 1968 releases in with 2003 releases.

Luckily, a brand such as Hot Wheels carries its own distinct eras… Redlines (1968-77) and Blackwalls (1977-94) cover the first two historic waves, and the rest can be broken down by various other distinctions such as Mainline or Treasure Hunts.

So back to that Batman clock… it’s from 1974. It’s undeniably cool. It’s not an antique. It’s certainly vintage. It can be reasonably called a classic. Your desire to own it and how much you are willing to pay will depend on a lot of criteria. But golly jeepers, you really should hear it!

The post Antique, Vintage, Classic? Depends On What You’re Collecting appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

Now you have the ability to share your buying and selling experiences with the hobbyDB community! Your feedback will help other customers and sellers make better decisions when purchasing on hobbyDB or any other hobbyDB powered marketplace. Leaving feedback is a breeze – check out the step-by-step instructions below.

Quick Note: We’re currently in data collection mode, so your feedback will only be visible in your buyer/seller dashboard until it goes live on the marketplace next week!

To get started, visit the hobbyDB marketplace

Leave feedback for a Seller – 

1. Make sure you are logged in to your hobbyDB account. If you do not have an account, you will not be able to leave feedback.
   Note: If you place an order using “Guest Checkout”, you will not be able to leave a review, track your package, or automatically add items to your digital collection.
2. Once you receive your item, log in to your buyer dashboard.
3. From your buyer dashboard, click the “View Cart” link in the order that you’d like to leave feedback for.
4. Once you’re redirected to your specific order, click the “Leave Feedback” button on the top right-hand side of the page. 
5. Add your star rating and a message. Star ratings are 1-5 with 1 being “I hated it” and 5 being “I loved it”. Please ensure your message is respectful and constructive. We reserve the right to delete any comments that do not follow these guidelines.
6. Click “Leave Feedback” and you’re all set!
   

Leave feedback for a Buyer – 

1. In order to leave feedback, you will have to be signed in to your hobbyDB seller account.
   Note: If you placed an order using “Guest Checkout”, you will not be able to leave a review for that order.
2. Once your item is delivered, navigate to your seller dashboard.
3. From your seller dashboard, click the “View Cart” link in the order that you’d like to leave feedback for.
4. Once you’re redirected to your specific order, click the “Leave Feedback” button on the top right-hand side of the page.
5. Add your star rating and a message.
   Star ratings are 1-5 with 1 being “I hated it” and 5 being “I loved it”. Please ensure your message is respectful and constructive. We reserve the right to delete any comments that do not follow these guidelines.
6. Click “Leave Feedback”.
7. All done!

If you have any other questions regarding this feature, always feel free to reach out to our support team!

The post Feedback is here! Share your marketplace experiences with other buyers and sellers appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

Ron Ruelle hobbyDB

There comes a time in every collector’s life when you lose track of exactly what you have and where you keep it. “Do I own an Antifreeze Hot Wheels Twin Mill? Or is it Metallic Green? And if so, is it in my library, office, garage, or summer cottage?”

Keeping track of your collectibles inventory is important for a variety of reasons. Maybe you want to trade one of your vinyl caped Jawa action figures. Or you’re thinking about buying a Princess Di Beanie Baby but can’t remember if you have one already. Or perhaps you need to sell one of your hard-earned Australian Open tennis trophies because you’ve fallen on hard times.

Wait, what?

The kangaroo is an unexpected bonus.

In a case we can all relate to, former professional tennis player Boris Becker has run into financial difficulties and plans to sell some of the awards he has won in his impressive career. But he’s apparently having trouble locating some of them. Not just one, but TWO Aussie Open trophies. A trio of Wimbledon awards. An Olympic gold medal. And a few others.

Fun fact: The Wimbledon Gentlemen’s trophy and Ladies’ award (the Venus Rosewater Dish) remain at the All England Lawn Tennis Club after the award ceremony. The winners take home a smaller replica to keep. Or to sell, if circumstances warrant.

It might make sense that he misplaced his first Wimbledon trophy, since he was only 17 when he won it. Can you remember where your high school sophomore spelling bee runner up plaque is?

All kidding aside, hobbyDB offers a great way to track your collection for a variety of reasons.

Locator guide: Not just for items in storage, but it’s easy to misplace something in a large collection on display. On hobbyDB, you can add a note regarding where that item can be found.

Variant and condition notes: You know you have a pink Hot Wheels Beach Bomb, but is it mint on the card, or lightly played with? Or is that the red one you’re thinking of?

Insurance purposes: It’s useful to have proof not only of what you have and where it is, but also what it’s worth.

Estate planning: We hate to say this, but someone else might inherit your collection some day, and hobbyDB is an orderly way to give them a clue to what’s there. Whether they want to keep it, sell it, or donate it, they will be glad to have this information at their fingertips.

When you add an item to the database, you can also add it to your collection.

The process is simple, really. When you add an item to the hobbyDB database, take a moment to also click the “Add to Collection” button. There, you will be able to quickly create notes on the condition (for the item and the packaging), the price you paid, how you acquired it, and where it’s located. You can also add photos of your own item. Finally, you can choose whether to keep all of this information private or make it public. Of course, you can do this with items that are already in the database as well.

You can add notes on how you got it, including “Won in Competition.”

We sincerely hope Mr. Becker locates his trophies and gets back on his feet soon. Congratulations to Roger Federer, who just added another Australian Open trophy to his collection, and to Caroline Wozniacki, who just picked up her first. No matter how many you have, it’s not too late to track your awards collection on hobbyDB.

The post Boris Becker Should Have Documented His Trophies On hobbyDB appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

Thanks for an incredible 2017

Here at hobbyDB, we couldn’t do what we do without the support of our fellow collectors. So thanks for helping to make 2017 such a great year. From more than 100,000 new price points added to our new price guide in December alone, to an entirely new marketplace experience, we’ll keep working hard to bring you a better, all-in-one collectible resource. Here’s a sneak peek of what’s coming to hobbyDB in 2018.

More Data

Data makes the hobbyDB world go round! In 2017 we (and that includes you!) added 80,000 items to the database. Throughout the year we partnered with several organizations to ensure the most accurate and up-to-date information was being added to the database. From customizers such as David Chang (AKA Kustomcity), to publications like Model Auto Review, to diecast brands including AutoCult, Bburago, Brumm, Laudoracing, and  Replicarz, 2017 was a busy year in the data mines!  One of our biggest projects was adding PopPriceGuide, the enormous vinyl art toy database! We even had folks join us to open totally new segments, such as our first 500 decoys!

More Accurate Data

We know that all this data means nothing if it’s inaccurate or incomplete! So we’re putting new tools in place to ensure our database maintains top notch quality. Going forward, the ability to add and edit content on hobbyDB will go only to users who have shown they add quality data. “Probationary” users who are new to the site will still be able to view everything, but will have to be approved before they can make changes.

Pricing Data

hobbyDB’s aim is to be the most accurate, up-to-date go-to destination on the net for collectible prices. We aim to be the premier, one-stop destination for calculating the value of your personal collection. And we plan to do that by gathering our price information from the widest range of data sources possible, with stakeholders updating prices in real time! The project is off to a flying start too, having added more than 100,000 prices alone in December. We’ll be adding values from many sources throughout 2018, starting with 1.9 million price points from our partner site PopPriceGuide. You can read more on our blueprint for the price guide here.

Collection Management Revamp

We know the hobbyDB collection management system needs a little bit of tweaking. You’ve let us know what you want — printable lists, more wish list integration, snazzy ways to group and view your collection, a mobile app — and we’ve listened. We’ll be rolling out a bunch of features to make the hobbyDB collection management tool more powerful and user-friendly than ever before.

More Marketplace Tools

Another goal we have is to become the safest, most secure environment for trading. We’ve all been burned by either an unreliable seller or buyer somewhere on the internet, right? So we’re adding tools to ensure you’re always protected whenever you buy or sell on any hobbyDB powered marketplace. In 2017 we caught and stopped 22 fraud attempts and protected every hobbyDB buyer and seller! In addition to a safer marketplace, we’ll also be adding new ways to buy and sell items, such as our “best offer” feature and the addition of new currencies.

In an effort to make selling even easier for you, we’ve embarked on a journey to integrate with both Shopify and the U.S. Postal Service. Much like Frodo’s quest in Lord of the Rings, the integration will be an epic battle to ensure you get the best experience and rates possible. But in the end…it will all be worth it. (Disclaimer….this is going to be a huge effort, so hang in there with us, and we hope to have it up and running in the second half of the year).

Getting more involved

Last year, we relaunched an improved Diecast Hall of Fame and helped Jim Garbazewski publish the Hot Wheels Newsletter Guide to Hot Wheels.

This year, we have plans to do a much needed revamp to the Toy Collector Hall of Fame, to help publish other long-awaited collector books, and to even organize a collectible related Guinness Book Record (stay tuned for that one). More on our plans here.

Whew! Well that’s it for now, so here’s to an awesome 2018 – be sure to follow the hobbyDB blog and Facebook page to stay in the know over the next year.

The post The Futureeeeee…. What’s Coming to hobbyDB in 2018 appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.

Ron Ruelle hobbyDB

A while ago, we shared a list of unusual Model Car Brands with strange histories. The response we got was terrific, so we did another list. Since then, we’ve dug up enough other odd brands to compile yet another batch of model and toy cars you may have forgotten (if you ever heard of them at all.) All in all, this round of models comes from seven different countries if you’re counting!

Dream Become True

No, that’s not a typo, it’s just clunky translation. This company started as “Dream Become True”, possibly playing off Chinese auto company Build Your Dream. They then changed it to “Dream Becomes True” which is still kinda clunky. Their main offerings are Model Cars in 1/32 and 1/24 scale, which are fairly detailed and include working parts as well as lights and sounds.They also make some pretty basic models of mostly high end exotic cars in 1/64, including about the only model of the Koenigsegg CCX available and, even if the doors don’t open correctly.

Gay Toys

Simple, inexpensive toys molded in color… what could go wrong? The sheer coincidence of the name unfortunately became a headache for the company, (parental objections, etc.) so they didn’t produce many models under this brand. And well, when you try to do a search online for them, well, just make sure you keep “safe search” turned on. Even better, look for them on hobbyDB instead.

Quiralu

Quiralu models were made in France in the 1950s and ’60s and included several microcars. The company and their models went into hibernation for many years until the original molds were resurrected in the late ’90s. They were used again to make a limited number of models with the same body castings but slightly different tinplate base and window glazing. The colors for each generation are often loud and fun.

Radon

The name Radon probably doesn’t have any strange connotations in Russian like it does in other parts of the world. These cars are cold war relics, from a Russian state factory. They are mostly 1:43 scale diecast Soviet vehicles, including marques that aren’t likely to be reproduced in any other country. As a bonus, they do a lot of limos and other service vehicles, which are always neat to look at.

Rextoys

This Portugal based company is best known for their models of 1930s American cars. Detail is simple, but the cars sometimes come with well-known passengers… You can get the Cadillac V16 Convertible with President Franklin D. Roosevelt riding in the back, or, if you prefer, Italian actress Cicciolina. But not together, even though that would be really awesome!

Simba

They Farbwechsel when they Temperaturwechsel! Simba, despite the very elephantine name, was a German company that made mostly models of German marques. Their color change cars were revolutionary at the time, as they were among the first where the color depended on the temperature of the water.

Smelly Speeders

Sure, these look like standard Majorette models. Except they have some odd color combinations, especially the brightly colored tires. And when you open them, well, the reason for the name becomes obvious. Each car was scented in generally favorable aromas such as coconut or strawberry, not unlike those emanating from your car air freshener. Unfortunately, if you find one in the package, there’s a good chance the scent has worn off over the decades.

Tomte-Laerdal

Starting in the 1940s, this company produced primarily models of German cars but also one of an American military Jeep. Bodies were made of a single piece of rubbery plastic in a single color (some look kind of swirly) with a separate clear windshield in some cases. Details were crude at best. Later models mostly eschewed the clear parts for solid molded windows. Based on their Datsun 240Z model, it’s safe to say they were still making these at least into the early 1970s.

Starmada

Starmada is fairly new to the model car business, debuting at the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg in 2009. They offer mostly European marques with a heavy emphasis on Mercedes-Benz. These are sold under the name Brekina in many countries. Two really neat things about them… they make a lot of odd body styles such as limousines and hearses. And if you can believe it from the photos, these cars are 1/87 scale, some of the most detailed cars you can get for an HO railroad.

Victory Industrial Products

Victory Industrial Products or VIP was a small company that began its life during the second world war in a boat house which stood directly alongside Kingston Bridge in Hampton Wick near London. It was founded by two men, Captain William John Warren and Gerald Fenner Burgoyne who set up the company to manufacture small electrical components for the Ministry of Supply. Not quite nanotechnology, but the components were useful for making model trains, 1:20 plastic models and 1:32 slot cars. They were mostly odd, utilitarian cars, but charming in a huge way.

Do you have any favorite odd brands we haven’t covered in these articles yet? Let us know in the comments!

The post More Colorful Model Car Brands You Might Not Have Heard Of appeared first on The hobbyDB Blog.