A Special that didn't make it!

Here's a Hot Wheels RLC Corvette that didn't make it stellar. The contemporary '14 Corvette Stringray in metallic blue.

It has almost everything going for itself, but the collector community managed to collectively reject it because it doesn't have a metallic roof.

With just 3000 numbers produced, this is a model that captures all of the features of it's 1:1 counter-part excluding the wheel arches, which has been hotwheelified.

Though it is a stand alone release, I do feel this is a piece that is worthy to be collected just for it's beautiful metallic blue paint and that constrasting red rims.

Metallic top or not, the amount of details that has been tampoed sure makes this a model that is a must-have for collectors who are after detailing.

Feel free to post your comments below if you disagree with me. I would love to discuss this model further in depth.

PS: I also need some suggestions about what kind of backrground theme that I could adopt for this blog. Do suggest!

How do you keep track of your collection?

I have been wondering about this for quite a while, and have asked some of collectors with whom I talk to. How do you effectively and efficiently keep track of my collection?

I would love to find out ways that are easy and quick that you people have been using to keep track of your collection. Let me share the way I have kept track of my collection so far. I enter each models details on to an excel sheet along with details such as card condition, car condition and also the price I paid for buying it.

So far this process has been painstakingly slow and tedious. Even though there are online solutions that offer to let you keep track of your collection, it just is not convenient enough to the extent that I would like it to be.

I have put together a questionnaire which I think would help us collectors to understand the mistakes that we are doing in our hobby. Please follow this link and give your answers. I have enabled results sharing, which will let you see what others have posted as well.

Do post your comments below to let me know if anything in my questionnaire can be improved!

Mazda 767B - Tomica Limited Vintage

After getting my hands on my very first TLV, I have to say that I am impressed and disappointed at the same time.

Being a hard core Hot Wheels collector so far, I have become accustomed to almost all of the castings to be sturdy and heavy. But this car, the Mazda 767B 1991 Le Mans model has stumped me. Not only it is extremely light weight, but the spoiler on the rear flexes!

I do love the detailing and the paint quality of the build of this TLV, but there is a lot left to be desired in terms of sturdy construction. I do wish to build up my TLV collection from now on.

So do let me know what are the holy grail pieces of TLV in the comments below!

P.S: I do think that Tomica can copy the display box style from Hot Wheels RLC. It will much more easier to handle the car and also look awesome when displayed.

Beware of Kuretake from Malaysia!!

I just came across this video and it is of paramount importance that collectors across the world learn about it. These guys Kuretake are very shady. Stay away from them even if it means waiting for a long time to get your case of Hot Wheels! Please watch this video to learn about their fraudster ways.

Mazda 787B

I am not sure about how many people are interested in JDM cars, but this Mazda 787B 1991 Le Mans Winner's Car is a definitely a must have!

I think this is one of the most perfect execution of a car at 1:64 scale. I just couldn't resist posting about this one.

Gasser that fell short....

There has been a lot of hype surrounding the '55 Chevy Gasser, but is the 17th Nationals Gasser really worth it? Or is it just another hype wagon that falls short?

The RLC exclusive gasser has become the most sought after gasser that people are ready to splurge their money up on. And it is not without good reason.

- It has one of the best card art in the history of Hot Wheels.

- The spectraflame paint brings out the character and makes it look gorgeous.

- The decals are ofcourse the usual affair. 

- It has 2 variants. An orange tint top and a pink tint top.

To sum up, RLC gasser is the reference model/level for any car model that can claim to have the must have collector value.

The Nationals Gasser, though the new kid on the block can be described that is,
- It has just a generic 'Nationals' card art
- I would call this paint as enamel at best.
- The decals are similar to RLC gasser and there is one that mentions 'Pittsburgh, PA'.
- There doesn't seem to be any variations so far.

To sum up, Nationals gasser is a plain jane gasser that does not 1-up the RLC gasser in any way.

Some of the facts that I was able to gather by interacting with people who attended the Nationals were that the red gasser was already sold at an inflated price tag of 200$ right during the Nationals events. That is some serious price inflation right on the day of release!! - apart from evilBay.

It is obvious that many collectors who missed out on the Pink Gasser would want to get their hands on one of these, but surely over paying for a model that does not live up to it's previous benchmark is just throwing money out of the window.

Hot Wheels Kroger Exclusive

Here are Kroger exclusive models that are available now!

The Newest JDM Mazda RX7!

Hot Wheels Dream Team has showcased the recently announced RX7 on it's Instagram account.

Telling that the car looks beautiful would be an understatement.

🔼▶️🔽◀️🔼▶️🔽◀️ #hotwheelsdreamteam #FD #RX7

A post shared by HW Diecast Design Team (@hotwheelsdreamteam) on Apr 12, 2017 at 8:22am PDT

The best feature of this model is the wheels. Both front and back stay true to the 1:1 proportions, which will draw every JDM fan's attention.

Take Off!

The focus of this blog is to create as much awareness as it would be possible by words about die-cast model collections.

So lets start with some trivia and facts. Do you know the most common word any toddler would learn after the words 'Mom' and 'Dad'?

The word is 'Car'.

Not surprising, is it?

Let's get a few facts straight about my blog. I am a small time die-cast collector. I started collecting only very recently from about the end of 2015. So I am far from knowledgeable to be able to claim that I am a 'die-cast collector'.

So what would you get from reading my blog? I became passionate about collecting die-cast models that I thought to share my experiences through a blog! So my blogs would be all about the journey of collecting die-cast models, and you get to learn about it along with me.

Since I am just starting out on my journey in die-cast collection, I would be heavily borrowing images from other bloggers who have dedicated facilities to shoot photos with their high end DSLR cameras. I will also give the credit to their work.

What better start could I do than talk about some of the most phenomenal collector pieces that history of die-cast collecting has ever witnessed?

First is the Gasser craze!

This single model, '55 Chevy Gasser in pink, is responsible to have started off the Gasser Craze! It became the corner stone for an explosion of sorts for the whole die-cast community to take notice and start yearning to get this in their hands.

Personally, it is one of my most favorite casting and color. What do you think of it? And what variation have you got? Do leave your comment.

Lastly, the JDM craze!

I do not have much knowledge about the JDM craze and how it started. So I will leave it you, the reader, to teach me about it.

I selected the Honda S2000 to talk about just because of this awesome wheels. The regular variation doesn't do justice to the sleekness of this car.

I do want to note here that there is a much sleeker and more beautiful version of this same car. The dinner car in 30th Convention with Ryu Asada. I personally think that the dinner car is presented in a far better way than any other versions of this car.

I also understand that JDM can't be represented by just this S2k. So do leave your comment about what you think best represents the JDM as a whole.

Photo Credits: Lamley Group

The Chase!

It is a well known fact around the world that kids love to play with toys, but what if these kids never outgrow their addiction for toy cars?!

Toy car collectors are born!!

Yeahhh, you probably have heard of them. They probably made you wonder 'WTF! Grown adults collecting toy cars?!'

The world is filled with weird people, so why look down up on a person's passion for cars of a smaller scale?

Check out the car below and comment your guess of what is the scale of it. Let's see if you can guess correct.

Finished commenting? Good!

Let's start talking about the Indian mindset towards die-cast collecting and the Indian die-cast collectors scene in the upcoming blogs.

Cheers!