Update on models available in your cities

[vaas2000]

Ok, as promised here's the weekend update from Bangalore:

Sapphire Toys: (richmond road)
I was the second customer to walk in as soon as they opened they had same 1 :18 Buragos as model art (Fiat Abarth, Alfa romeo 8c, Nissan Gtr, Reventon, peugeot sports car- don't know model and a BMW suv -only two doors open ) but no new 1: 18 maistos apart from mustang 2010 convertible. They have Lambo Lp640, White Hummer H2 in 1:18s. They have only 4 signature 1:18 models and all costing 3k and upwards. Lots of 1:24 Signature vintage fireengines!and also old classics in this scale.
They had new 1:24 maistos but none looked worth picking up, Spent lot of time looking at things there as i was totally free till noon They had Welly pull back 1:36 cars, Welly Banshees but no 1:24 or 1:18 cars, i checked the distributor address on one of those and it's the same that's listed in wellys website. Back to inventory, they have tons of matchbox and hotwheels (new collection) Also no new 1:12 bikes, lots of 1:18 Burago and maisto bikes. No harleys though
It was nice to see Buragos in all scales there Sorry no pics as they had just opened and the owner was in a bad mood giving it to the employees, didn't feel like asking if i could take a pic.

Reliance Time out (cunningham road)
They have received new lot of 1:24 maistos, but again none worth picking up. Looks like maisto is least bothered about detailing in this scale. No 1:18s apart from 3 Jeep rubicons brush fireunit version.
Regarding the Signature 1:18 Silver arrow, it was still lying around with same 15% discount. Apart from that 2 1:24 Vintage cars of signature too were lying around with 15% discount. They also had a Hummer HX Rc (1:18 maisto gold colour) with 15% discount. Nothing else worth while, no bikes

Landmark (Forum mall)
No new 1:18s, only 2 banged up maistos of this scale (corvette) and around 4 Buragos banged up again (buggatis) few 1:24 Buragos and lots of 1:24 Street tuners burago cars, all with loud jarring graphics, yuck, not my taste. No new bikes apart from regular 1:12 and 1:18 maisto bikes, they used to stock Newray 1:12 bikes earlier, now they don't have a single piece

Modelart (forum mall)
Nothing new, same status as last week. Just to satisfy my curiousity, i asked them the rates for the autoart miura, Mustang mach1 and the other mustang which were on display, they quoted Rs 4995! for mustangs and something similar for the lambo. They even had a huge Rc chopper (the flying types ) which they were demonstrating, that was almost 8k!

So that's the update, now the question is, why did i say that iam officially bankrupt earlier?

[vaas2000]

Hmm looks like everyone had a busy weekend, no replies in this thread. As I had mentioned that am officially bankrupt last weekend because of few impulsive purchase last weekend. I ended up buying 2 1:18 cars that you guys had suggested/guessed last week and 2 1:24 Vintage cars for discount. Can you guys guess which ones? Both the cars are present in the below pictures:

[winstoncds]

Vasanth, I really hope you got the Fiat Abarth. Its the sweetest among the lot there. The Nissan R35 looks fabulous in red. Another car I would have brought in a jiffy even though I don't fancy the 1:1 that much compared the to the R34. (This is because you have been impulse buying.) The blue Corvette is a must have by any standard. It is a marvelous model. The wheel detail on it is amongst Maisto's best. A superb example of what Maisto is capable of if they put their heart into it. Alfa Romeo. I guess after looking at Kv's pics of the red Alfa, you wouldn't need to be convinced about it anymore.

[karansharma8783]

As Winston said, the blue Maisto Corvette Stingray is a must have for any Corvette fan. I must thank you Vasanth again for posting these pics so that I could get to know the Stingray is available here. I finally ordered the Stingray today, having paid Modelart through online banking. Now waiting for it to arrive!!!! Man, this would be a real fresher after some disappointing acquirements like the Burago Miura.

[winstoncds]

Karan, there are some bad eggs in everyone's basket some time or another. Luckily, this egg will not ruin your collection. We only grow wiser and our honest feedback here should help other collectors to know what to get and probably what to avoid. When SMC achieves greater heights, we might even influence the model makers to make models to our level of satisfaction and expectations. That is the ultimate aim.

[vaas2000]

Diablo Wrote:Vasanth, I really hope you got the Fiat Abarth. Its the sweetest among the lot there. The Nissan R35 looks fabulous in red. Another car I would have brought in a jiffy even though I don't fancy the 1:1 that much compared the to the R34. (This is because you have been impulse buying.) The blue Corvette is a must have by any standard. It is a marvelous model. The wheel detail on it is amongst Maisto's best. A superb example of what Maisto is capable of if they put their heart into it. Alfa Romeo. I guess after looking at Kv's pics of the red Alfa, you wouldn't need to be convinced about it anymore.

Nopes, the abarth didn't come home, not a big fan of small cars. I already bought the nissan (pearl white) last weekend. The blue corvette is of UT and not of maisto i think, i will prolly pick it up next time

karansharma8783 Wrote:As Winston said, the blue Maisto Corvette Stingray is a must have for any Corvette fan. I must thank you Vasanth again for posting these pics so that I could get to know the Stingray is available here. I finally ordered the Stingray today, having paid Modelart through online banking. Now waiting for it to arrive!!!! Man, this would be a real fresher after some disappointing acquirements like the Burago Miura.

Congrats karan! Hope you receive the corvette soon! Do post some stunning pics of her once you get her.

Ok about the cars that i bought, i picked up the Red Alfa Romeo 8c finally! (thanks KV for the pics ) it costed Rs 1495 (thankfully lesser than 18xx) The car is really a looker, the paint quality and shine is awesome, will post pics soon. Picked this up from sapphire toys.

Next, i picked up the red mustang 2010 convertible, mustang instincts kicked in when i saw it again at model art, all other cars kind of disappeared from my view for a moment , it was like seeing your crush and i had to have this one. Can live with interiors, the front look is killer look

Picked up two vintage signature 1:24 models at 15% off at reliance time out, these were the only two models in this scale there and heck am not complaining! apart from these two 1:18 silver arrow was still there with same discount, hope it stays there for few more months till i can get my hands on it. Will post details about these two by tomorrow.

[gtmaniac]

Wow.. the escort cosworth is still there.

The X5 actually looks ok in real. Pity only 2 doors open.

[kvsk4]

Vas, good to hear that you finally bought the Alfa Romeo 8C. Diablo is the best person to describe it- “that car looks liquid....like the mercury man from Terminator 2”.

Well, you should have held the Abarth in your hands and viewed it closely. Dont take it as a small car. This one is a combination of beauty, power and innocence. I think I need to steal few more photos and post on SMC + Winston’s description = your mind will be made up soon. Don’t miss it man.

And please do post pics of the 1:24 vintage Signatures and their price as well.
Enjoy your possessions…….

[vaas2000]

gtmaniac Wrote:Wow.. the escort cosworth is still there.

The X5 actually looks ok in real. Pity only 2 doors open.

Escort is a UT model, the rear boot doesn't open though Yeah, the X5 looks really good (burago) but only 2 doors open so didn't buy it.

kvsk4 Wrote:Vas, good to hear that you finally bought the Alfa Romeo 8C. Diablo is the best person to describe it- “that car looks liquid....like the mercury man from Terminator 2”.

Well, you should have held the Abarth in your hands and viewed it closely. Dont take it as a small car. This one is a combination of beauty, power and innocence. I think I need to steal few more photos and post on SMC + Winston’s description = your mind will be made up soon. Don’t miss it man.

And please do post pics of the 1:24 vintage Signatures and their price as well.
Enjoy your possessions…….

You are the man! Made me buy a car that i didn't know much about by posting really delicious pics of it, like pics of a babe in her bikini I did take a closer look at abarth, the problem was it had red seats (like the hx concept) it was looking very plasticy because of that coloured seats It isn't on high priority list now, am getting motivated towards the blue stingray and escort as both are UT models and cost less. Lets see what happens, i have to auction myself if i have to buy any more scalemodels now

Regarding the 1:24 signature models i bought the following:
1934 Aston Martin Lemans team car - Blue coloured beauty
1923 Ford Model TT stake bed truck - with lots of barrels at it's back
Mpr was Rs 600 and Rs 700 i got 15% discount so i paid Rs 1096/- for both of these. Pics will come up soon

[winstoncds]

The Corvette Stingray is a Maisto and you should get it home, budget or not. They don't make stuff like that anymore in Maisto factories. Get the Ford Escort and put it on ebay.com. You should definitely get more than what you paid for if you decide to put sell it. The Escort is landmark car and with the Cosworth engine, it could outrun some really fast cars out there. Think of it as the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo5 equivalent.
Congrats on the Aston and Ford. The Aston is definitely a beauty. It is also quite odd that they raced the car in blue colr apart from the traditional BRG. They also raced the Astons in red hoping that red would bring them more luck like it did on their rival Italian cars.