Ivan's Mercedes Diecast Blogspot
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The hard truth about model deterioration.
I was taking pics today of my models, in an attempt to upgrade my photo albums with mega-pix quality images. I began with the cars that are on open display, the ones that collect dust and airborne dirt and grime. As I inspected them before cleaning them, I noticed how the models have deteriorated; the paint has dulled or blistered on some cars, the plastic chrome finish has faded to a yellowish color on others or developed dark spots. On some models it is as easy as replacing them with new models, but for others, like my UT C Class, or my Anson CLK Convertible, there is no way to replace those unless you are willing to spend some money. And at the moment, I am not. Heck, just today I placed a $184.0 order for four new cars. How can I be thinking about buying cars that I already have. Anyway, after the shock of realizing how quickly my models have deteriorated, some in the span of 2 years, I continued the photoshoot. Here are some of my observations:
- Maisto 190SL in white: The chrome is faded, the plastic has lost its shine. The headlights have yellowed.
- 300SL by BBurago: The black paint has slightly blistered in several areas.
- E Class by Sunstar: The paint has lost gloss, the chrome trim has developed dark stains.
- CL Class by Autoart: he chrome has faded and developed stains. The glass has dulled
- A Class by Maisto: The paint has lost shine. The headlights have yellowed
And so on, I kept seeing basically the same problems in many of the models inspected. I figure in five years from now some of those models will be totally worthless, so I guess I will have to create a model replacement program for those models that can easily be replaced, and a careful maintenance system (whick would include proper storage) for those basically irreplaeceable models. It is the painful truth for us collectors. Models will deteriorate, and it is up to me to find a way to preserve them before they become worthless toys, that not even my kid will have (August 26, 06)
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I was talking with a fellow collector about the hobby and how we justify it and here are some of my thoughts:
It is not fun to collect models if one is going to be thinking about the money. I buy one model every once in a while, without any hurry, without thinking about completing collections. I've been collecting for 16 years now and have never lost the enjoyment, because I have been very careful to maintain a balance. Balance is my favorite word. I establish a budget and stick to it. You will eventually reach the point when models don't come out as fast as you are getting them. But that point should not come in detriment of all the other things that are more important. And one runs the risk of burning out of the hobby. I've seen it happen. Collectors run a buying frenzy for a year or two, then go bust, bore themselves out, lose their wives (Yes!) or find that they have spent a great deal of their irreplaceble time in front of a computer or from dealer to dealer seeking to complete this or that collection. I brought this same subject forward in a message board in the past and I was challenged by several collectors. But its the truth, I've seen it quite a few times for the last 16 years.
I encourage collectors to collect 1:43s as well as 1:18's because, in my case, it has been fun. I've been able to afford it without putting the things that really matter in second place. If a collector is not sure about what he wants to collect, don't even start yet.
Let's say you got a certain model or models, all within the budget you set. Now wait until next month and get something else. By sticking to the budget, you will have the satisfaction of knowing you are in control of the hobby instead of the hobby controlling you. Buying one model every month, in one year, you will have 12 1:43s. in 5 years you will have over 100 1:43s and so on...(August 27, 06)
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MERCEDES-BENZ 300 SLR BY BBURAGO. I just had to have it. It’s a Mercedes-Benz, a Silver Arrow, and made by Bburago in Italy. Since Bburago went into receivership, and then purchased by Maisto in early 2006, the fate of Bburago castings has been a big question mark. One of Bburago’s last hurrahs was its beautiful 1955 300 SLR in Mille Miglia livery. The model was a sign of things to come for Bburago. If they had just been able to pull through the hard times… The improvements in craftsmanship are evident. Unfortunately as of this writing, collectors are wondering if the fabled 300 SLR will ever be produced again. Let’s hope so, despite the certainty that, if Bburago’s castings are brought back to the market, they will not say “Made in Italy”. Hence the main reason why I bought one: I had to have in my collection as many examples of non-Asiatic-made Mercedes model in 1:18 scale, before they disappeared or were no longer affordable to me. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against models made in the orient. On the contrary, I prefer a China-made good model than a European-made bad one. But I’ll call this case an exception. Call me speculator, call me anything you like. But I think this model is special in several ways. I think its very fitting that a Mille Miglia winner was made in Italy by an Italian company. And as such, it had to be part of my collection. Forget the visible casting seams, the 80’s standard cheap look of the engine’s plastic parts, the unmarked tires (versus Maisto’s Continental’s), the paper label plaid seats (versus Maisto’s real cloth), even the scale (slightly larger than 1:18). None of those issues should deter a serious model collector from considering this car. Thankfully, Bburago’s replica of Sir Stirling Moss’ winner was reproduced in authentic Mille Miglia race specifications (like the Maisto 722), and not in the current, street legal form that tours all around the world, which includes bullet turn signals (Shame, shame, shame). Unfortunately, Bburago forgot (?) to paint the headlight wells flat black, instead of silver. Maybe they had to make a compromise, or were required to do so. Nevertheless, collectors can easily remove the headlight “glass” covers and make things right with a little Testor or Tamiya magic and a brush. Another one for my List of Diecast Things to do for a Saturday Morning..... One major issue Bburago was never able to solve with many of its models was its poor quality decals, which peeled off easily. Imagine a model with such complicated decal as a large “722” on which half of the number is on the small (opening) doors, and the other half on the body. Totally hopeless. It’s time to consult my hobbyist friends for decal ideas..... It is an exercise in futility to try to establish which model, the Maisto or the Bburago, is the more valuable of the two. Like everything, it’s all subjective. Both have merits of their own. True, the Maisto has cloth seats, true-to-scale proportions, branded tires, a more realistic-looking engine parts, the list goes on and on. But it is not made in Italy. That means a lot to me for this car in particular. The fact makes the Bb car a unique model, especially now that Bb went bust. The uniqueness I am talking about is not seen with the eyes. It comes from knowing the history of the model and the company that produced it. It represents a Last-Samurai effort of a European diecast car model company to keep its manufacture in Europe. The collector community is only left with Mira and Guiloy. Will Maisto scrap this casting now that it owns Bburago, so that it does not compete against its own “722”? If so, this model could become highly valuable. Will it sell the tooling to another manufacturer? Whatever the answers to those questions are, I’ll hold on tight to my Italian-made "722" (August 28, 2006).
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My previous blog entry sparked a lively conversation about striking differences on the Maisto 300SLR Mille Miglia. It turns out the Maisto model has been produced in two different countries and with different product standards. The early Thailand-made car has original branded tires and real cloth seats. The Taiwan-made car has paper decal stickers in tartan pattern, and unbranded tires. Needless to say, the Thailand-made car is much more valuable. So it you have it, hold on to it. I found that my Targa Fiorio and Uhlenhaut SLRs are also made with cloth and have branded tires.
The model gap keeps closing
2006 has been a very exiting year in terms of models that fill important gaps in our 1:18 scale passenger car collections. Just within 1 year, several companies have announced or released important models from the late 60s and 70s. Sunstar will release the 280SE (W-114/8 hardtop version). We expect it to be a low to mid end vehicle. Minichamps has presented its 300SEL 6.0 in race version (Spa Francorchamps) at the Nuremberg Toy Fair, but surely Minichamps will maximize the investment and offer a street production version of the SEL. AutoArt has dazzled us with their 190 entry sedan in four (4) different versions, a model that fills a very important gap that covers the base-level Mercedes that spans an entire decade. AA also released this year the awesome S550 flagship sedan. Now AA has announced the coming release of the 220D and 280D (chassis 114/115), which were produced by Mercedes-Benz in sedan and coupe forms from 1968 to 1973 (the 220) and from 1971 to 1976 (the 280 coupe). I saw images of these models and they look quite gorgeous of course, being from AutoArt.
Finally, early in the year Revell released the 240D (Chassis W123) (model #R8808b-tan and #8809b-green), which replaced the W-114/115 cars and ran from 1976 to 1986. Revell's 180 Ponton (1953) has been out since 2004 and has recently been released in Police and Fire Department versions.
So, our passenger car model gap is thus reduced to a few models which will be the subject of a future blog entry. It's lunch time...(August 30, 2006).
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SLK
While my AutoArt. Revel and Signature models arrive from the online shop, I took some time to get my three new SLKs out of their boxes for a quick view and comparison. They are made by Maisto (SLK 200), Welly (SLK 350) and Motormax (SLK 55 AMG). First and foremost, I am not going to individually review my SLKs here in the blogpage. If I ever decide to review them, I'll post individual reviews at the right place. Instead and for the moment, I feel I do the diecast community a better service if I refer them to 118Motors.com, where our friend and member Eug has thoroughly reviewed Maisto's SLK. Here's the link:
http://www.118motors.com/MaiSLK200.html
After reading Eug's review, I have a much better perspective for comparison of my three SLKs.
I am glad that all three of my SLKs are different versions. The Maisto is a supercharged 4-cylinder engine, the Welly is an American-market 350 V-6 and the Motormax is an AMG 5.5 V8 pocket rocket. All three combined cost me $50.0 at a local toy store. Not bad. I must say Welly and Motormax have upped their standards quite a lot in recent years, and that is good, considering they are much more locally available than other budget brands like Sunstar, Ricko or Revell.
All three models are acceptable to me. I once considered Welly's SLK to be year 2006's least desirable model. Maybe that was an unfair qualification. Welly's car is actually OK for a budget model. It includes many of the features including soft seats with seatbelts, rich, glossy fair quality paint, modern style door hinges, and even a few details that improve upon the Maisto, such as plastic signal lights on the rearview mirrors and brake light, and the head and tail lights do not have visible attachment posts.
Motorma'x's SLK is the sportiest of the three and as such, the most interesting. I don't know if this model comes in any other color, but mine had to be in silver, of course. Fortunately, Motormax SLK features a workable top, so my model can be displayed in both, top-up, top-down modes. The AMG's body side mouldings are metal and part of the rest of the casting, so if MM ever releases a non-AMG SLK is going to be a totally different casting. MMs model suffer the most in the shutline and general quality department. Even though is well proportioned, along with today's modeling standards, MM has done rather poorly here. Again, I must remind myself it is meant to be a budget model.... I'll post some pictures tomorrow... (1 September, 1006)
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Collector Enthusiasm and Mercedes-Benz Design
I recent years I've become more of a budget model collector, mainly for monetary reasons. Most of the time I refuse to pay more for the shipping than the cost of the actual model itself. But I've made some exceptions, and will make them in the future, especially when the upcoming Autoart W114/115 sedans arrive. It has been an exercise in patience much of the time. I waited almost 2 years before I bought three long-available SLK models (by Maisto, Motormax and Welly), in part because I am not crazy about the latest Mercedes-Benz models, including the latest SLK. And that brings me to my point; one factor that has somewhat hurt my enthusiasm for collecting is that I feel Mercedes-Benz is not going in the right direction as far as car design. Lately, and as a consolation, I've been relishing on the new crop of classic Mercedes releases by Revell, Ricko, Sunstar and now AutoArt. If it wasn't for those, I wonder if I'd still be collecting MB models in 1:18 scale. This is odd, considering that MB has one of the most comprehensive model lineups of the industry. I think MB should restyle most of their current models in cleaner shapes, but with sharper lines. I very much like the latest edgy design trends by BMW and Honda. Notable MB exceptions are the McLaren SLR, SL, CLS and current CL. Outdated shapes like the CLK and E Class really must go. To me they are boring and without personality. The new S Class design is not my cup of tea either. It borrows much from the Maybach and in some angles, reminds me of a Mazda RX-7! It is not in my top 10 priority list and I'll only buy the 1:18 scale model when locally available. I'm hoping the upcoming CL redesign (as If I could afford it anyway!) pays homage to the original sportscoupe. But i feel that a design philosophy shake up has been due at Mercedes-Benz for quite some time.
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