After
an excellent weekend at the Phillip Island Classic back
in March, it was home to pack for the trip to Europe.
We had decided to fly Emirates and break the journey into
three sections. Melbourne – Singapore, Singapore
– Dubai, Dubai – London but it’s still
a horrible flight and I have to admit Emirates were not
the best airline I have been with.
We
met some old friends and made some new ones as we traveled
around the UK and France. We have also secured several
new projects for the future.
We
first met a really good friend, Roger Dutemple of Axel’R,
and he took us to see Jean at Interdecal who print our
decals and produces some of the photo etching. While in
the south of France we visited Barry Lester of Auto Replicas
fame. Then off to Paris by TGV to see Pascal Martin of
Jemmpy, whose English is only slightly better than my
French, but we managed to sort out several future Bathurst
models.
From
Paris we flew back to the UK and visited GPM, then down
south to Marsh & Formula Models and with their assistance
we will be able to produce some sports & F5000 models
in the future. We also visited K&R Replicas and have
future projects arranged with them. While in the UK we
had lunch with Brian and Rachel Harvey who are now retired
and living in Wales.
A
short stopover in Dubai on the way home and, after a very
hectic month, it’s back to work for a rest. Listed
below are a few models we hope to make with our partners
in the future. There is no time scale at the moment, just
ideas.
*
Australian GP MG P type, Ferrari 625 and Formula 5000
cars
*
Bathurst BMW M3, Rover SD1, Volvo 240T, Mitsubishi Starion
We
also have a few ideas for our own kits, like Ralt RT4’s
from the early 80’s Aus GP and from Bathurst Alfa
Romeo’s, Toyota Corolla’s, Nissan R32’s
Unfortunately
there will be a delay with the VK Commodore. This may
have to be a pre-painted kit to get the red area correct
as getting decals to conform over all the angles is proving
to be impossible.
When
we were at Interdecal we collected the decals for the
B&H RS500 so we are just waiting for the photo etching
now.
Can
you help
We
have to put on hold a couple of the Australian Grand Prix
Legend models until we can find more detailed photos,
so here’s a request for images of Aus/NZ cars, not
just race winners. If you have images of any car that
was raced in Australia or New Zealand please contact
us. To make models, we need as much reference material
as possible. We are most interested in Aus GP pre F1,
so anything from 1928 to mid 80’s Colour would be
very useful but B&W would be perfectly acceptable.
Also Bathurst/PI 1960 to 1996 or Tasman series 1963 to
1976
Other
news
A
new range of built models from Marsh Models/Model Assemblies.
Called Deco Art these will be cars from 1920/30’s
built in white metal. First release is a Delage D8-120s
Aerosport. This first release looks great and sits nicely
along with the Heco range of 20/30’s models.
We
can now offer the HPI range of 1/43 scale high detail
die cast models. Price from $65 for their standard models
& from $85 for the ones with lift off engine covers/full
engine detail, for more info check out HPI
Racing
There
are some very interesting race car transporters and support
vehicles around theses days. This is the Scuderia Lancia
one used on the Carrera Panamericana 1953 by ABC Brianza.
As
you may be aware there has been a lot of noise over the
recent e-bay Australia decision to limit payment to just
Paypal. We feel this restrictive practice is totally
unreasonable. While you may think this is good for you
as a buyer, consider that Paypal charges 4% on total sales
(including shipping) that is on top of 5.5% seller’s
fee and the loading fees. The only way a seller can recoup
these cost is to add them to the shipping charges which
means you as a buyer could be paying anything up to 30%
more than necessary for an item.
Beware
you should not be paying more than AU$5 postage or AU$7.50
registered for a kit within Australia, anything more is
seller’s adding charges to cover the e-bay/Paypal
fee’s. This could well make goods dearer on e-bay
than buying direct from the retailer.
