Diecast Review: 1/24 scale Welly Diecasting 1960 Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider

Beautiful lines that capture the 1/1 subject's elegant body style, more reminiscent of an Iso Rivolta or a Lancia than of an Alfa Romeo, befitting its role in the 1960s sports car market

Front-end details are spot-on, "googly eyes" produced by light mounting lugs are less present

Beautiful front-end design, slightly spoiled by bonnet (hood) and lower-body air intakes being tampos instead of cast-in details. Side lights are especially well-done.

Other than odd bumper angle, rear end is well-done.

Mouth-watering side elevation, hubcap, wheel, Carrozzeria Touring badge and trim are well-done, but bumper could stand a better placement.

Rear deck is beautiful and well-executed, down to the folded and booted convertible top, top boot snaps, twin petrol fillers and small mystery trim piece.

Altogether executed well, even the "two-crush-two" seating typical of Touring and Vignale sporty cars in the 60s is perfect.

Interior is outstanding, but came from the factory a bit dusty. Gauges, switchgear, steering wheel, seating and dashboard are well-executed, even an ashtray is included.

Industry-leading detail in the dash and center tunnel. Even the quirky grab handle & cantilevered rear-view mirror are well-done, and a legible gold Alfa logo is visible on the steering wheel.

This casting is not recommended in red, especially with the top up, white suits its luxo-sport genre nicely and the nonremovable up-top may obscure the wealth of interior detail. Build quality/fit & finish is a 6 out of 10 (bad door gaps on passenger door, came out of the box very dusty, bad rear-bumper fit, and I had to use Testor's model glue to permanently attach all 4 hubcaps, but solidly built otherwise), detail is an 8.5 out of 10 (chassis is minimalistic, engine is literally two colors with little color and part detail, and the boot does not open, but it is great for a $15-20 price range casting), visual impact is 10 out of 10 and subject matter is a 10 out of 10, since no scale subjects of the 2600 Spider beyond a Protar 1/24 model kit from 1993 or so and a handful of cottage-industry 1/43s existed until Welly cast this up in late 2012. A 1/18 version was planned, but cancelled in the end.

Conclusion: Highly recommended.

Buy your own here at Diecast Models Wholesale, you will not regret it.

Diecast Car Review: Corgi "Kojak" 1970s Buick Regal (1999 issue)

   

This casting was a 1999 partial retool of a classic 1970s Corgi casting, with added details, and manufactured for collectors. It originally retailed for $36.99, but has been on markdown status at my local hobby store, Eugene Toy & Hobby, for at least two years and was purchased on January 9, 2013 for $18.59. 

Onto the review... proportions are nearly spot-on except for a highly arched roof with no rear vent windows. Tampo details and cast-in details are as much as one could want, save for no detail to the bumper guard rubber and no detail on the stamped rear taillight trim. There is also no glass in the left rear door. But it is a retool of a 1970s Corgi toy car, not a Franklin Mint or other high-end collector diecast, so that is excusable. 8/10.

Interior leaves a lot to be desired, but again... par for the course on 1970s Corgis. The seat and seat upholstery designs are reasonably accurate, the cast-in door panels on the opening front doors are accurate, but the dashboard is quite crude, the steering wheel the typical 70s Corgi four-spoke black plastic piece, and no door panel detail at all for the rear seat area. 6/10.

Fit and finish are first-class and are everything expected of a Corgi diecast. 10/10.

The less said about the included hand-painted white-metal figure of Detective Theo Kojak, the better. Homies minifigures are well-suited to this scale of Malaise Era American diecast and are fairly easy to find (I bought a huge bag of them for 99 cents at Goodwill just before Christmas 2012)

All in all, a decent little casting, and just about the only medium-scale casting of a Colonnade-body GM car available, but be prepared to pay big money for one online, these are not normally available in stores over 10 years after they were issued. 

One-Off Oddball: 1966 Chevrolet Corvair Limousine

This car, originally built and stretched by 3 feet in the 1980s, is offered by someone who is trying to clear out their projects. It appears to need side glass, interior work, a paint job, a vinyl top and some body work, the seller appears to be a Corvair enthusiast, and offers to complete the restoration for a new owner at the cost of time and materials. The car runs and drives, but needs the restoration completed.

Accessories for completing the interior can be found here, for a more modern look, or can be found on eBay if one desires a vintage look, and find it here for $1600 in Post Falls, Idaho (go here if ad disappears)