News/Updates 

       

Evel Knievel: 1938 - 2007


Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel, Jr.
October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007


Holiday Auction Update

Next up is one that has come "close" a couple of times in 1/64 diecast, but it never had an official version: Jill's Nomad from Home Improvement



Holiday Auction Update

The next reveal in this year's holiday Auction is the "Mirthmobile" Pacer from Wayne's World:



KITT is a Shelby GT500KR

We got a reveal of KITT from the upcoming Knight Rider TV series by way of Ain't it Cool News and Jalopnik today:



For anyone who remembers Team Knight Rider, this won't be the first time Knight Industries used a Mustang (though Domino was a female drop-top custom in bright red, and KITT here is going to be a Shelby GT500KR in no-nonsense black). According to AICN, KITT will also have some shape-shifting abilities (a la Viper?).

Should be interesting, I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this project.

Holiday Auction Update: Esprit #2

Here's number two of six, the garishly painted Lotus Esprit from the Clint Eastwood/Charlie Sheen classic The Rookie:



2007 Holiday Auction News

It's been quiet around here, but that's because I've been working on this year's holiday auction cars. Yep, plural...six to be exact.

This year will be a bit of a repeat from the 2005 auction of 1/64 TV & movie cars, but with a whole new set of famous vehicles that are otherwise unavailable in 1/64. So keep watching this space, because new cars will be added here throughout the week as we close out November.

First up is James Garner's ride from The Rockford Files:



1/64 Bumblebee Custom on eBay



In the interest of raising some cash for an upcoming project, I've placed my 1/64 Movie Bumblebee custom on eBay. I did this a little while ago, starting around the time I did my 1/24 version, though I never got around to adding it to the site., Still, I thought he turned out pretty well, and the box is a prototype of some possible future projects.

You can bid on him here.

Guest Gallery Update

Modeler Bob has sent in another new model, this time it's a supercharged fire engine that should have no problem getting there in short order. You can see the photos here.

Ghostbusters 2008

OK, so I know this is old news for a lot of people, but I just found out about this today. ZootFly is working on a video game version of Ghostbusters scheduled for 2008, and among the pormotional material for the game has been this image (and a few screenshots) of the Chrysler 300-inspired Ectomobile:



Looks like it's time to hit Big Lots and get another cheap AMT 300 kit.

Transformers Movie News

Two interesting bits of Transformers news today. First, courtesy of HollywoodReporter.com:

"From the outset, GM was thrilled with the starring roles that director Michael Bay orchestrated for four of its vehicles in his summer blockbuster "Transformers" despite some media and blogger criticism that the integrations went too far and basically served as commercials for the carmaker.

"Now with the release of market research data from GM on the impact of its placement in the film, it appears there was indeed little consumer backlash against the integrations, which were widely considered among the highest profile and most significant film roles for an auto manufacturer, or any advertiser, for that matter.

"According to the market research, Autobot Bumblebee, who spent much of the film as a Chevy Camaro, was the film's favorite character, beating out real-life stars Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox and even Autobot leader Optimus Prime. Ninety-four% of moviegoers surveyed rated their opinion of Bumblebee as excellent or very good, compared with 91% for Optimus Prime, 83% for LeBeouf, 82% for Fox and 69% for Jazz, Ratchet and Ironhide -- played by a Pontiac Solstice, a Hummer H2 and a GMC Topkick, respectively, that transform into Autobots."

Read the full article here


...and second, courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes:

"Michael Bay went through the wringer with the fanboys on Transformers. He addressed every concern -- early designs, scripts, remaining faithful to the source material -- and delivered a movie that won over most audiences, grossing nearly $320 million in America alone. But with Transformers 2 in development, Bay isn't taking any more lip service.

"'One thing I do know is I know how to screw them up more,' said Bay. 'We're going to leak a lot of false information all over the place. I now know their game. They're going to get a lot of script treatments that they think are going to be the script. They will never see the script. We've got scripts and treatments written up that we're going to leak. No one's going to know.'"

Read the full article Here


Masterpiece Starscream

Normally I stick to the car-based Transformers, but every so often I have to pick up an "other" character. Starscream definitely fits into that category, as G1 'Screamer was one of the first Transformers I had back in the day (way back before he had canopy braces or copyright information), and I've picked up most all G1-inspired homages since then. I skipped the first release of Masterpiece Starscream because of the bluish color scheme, but his more recent release easily found a place in my collection:



It's a Jungle Out There, Disorder and Confusion Everywhere...

...Oops, wrong Monk.

Anyway, the Star Wars droid customs continue; this time with a touch-up of a Micro Machines B'Omarr Monk.

It seems that for some reason, the B'Omarr Monks are somewhat "up-scaled" in every line of figures. So the Monk that's part of the 3¾" line has a brain larger than most peoples' heads, and the Micro Machines Monk is almost as big as an R1. Fortunately, this means that the MM version fits perfectly with the larger scale figures, and I can just pretend that the other Monk is from a larger species. Since they are based on different versions of the walker (the MM version uses an older, simpler look), it makes the idea of different species work that much better.

HobbyLink Japan is Moving!

HLJ President Scott T. Hards has posted a video message about the near future plans for the company. They will be moving from their current 7,100 square-foot warehouse to a brand new 32,000 square-foot facility complete with new office space. It also sounds like they're doing a pretty major overhaul of some behind-the-scenes work to help them out as time goes on.

As a result of all this, their site will be down briefly Nov. 9-10, and there will be no shipping at all Nov. 10-18 (though they will still be accepting orders as usual). Everything is scheduled to be back online November 19, but odds are that a move this size could cause longer than expected delays.

The video and transcript are available on their site.

Cleanup...

I just got finished going through this weblog, cleaning out the Spam that had slipped past the filters. I didn't realize how much made it through until I started going back through the older entries...but it has now been tken care of, and hopefully some new Spam-prevention will stop it from happening again. So if you're looking for Ambien, Cialis, Ephedra, Fioricet, Phentermine, Tramadol, Ultram, Valium, Viagra, Soma, Xanax, Zoloft, or any type of adult entertainment, you'll have to look elsewhere.

As I was looking through the old entries, though, I realized that this weblog has been online for just over two years now, and that the Diecast Reviews section has been online for just over a year. Doesn't seem like it's been that long already...

And last but not least, the cleanup work prevented me from posting a bit of news that was posted on the HobbyTalk boards a couple of days ago. To celebrate the the Blu-Ray release of Cars, there will be a limited edition "Blu Ray" Dinoco McQueen available through a special offer to people who buy the movie:



Guest Gallery Update

Modeler Bob has sent in some more photos, and a first for the Guest Gallery: an Orange County Chopper. You can see the build, which includes a functional drive belt and working brake handles, here.