"Postflight Briefing" - Finds for the Week January 3rd, 2015

Happy Saturday everyone! I'm starting a new column here to share my recent diecast finds. I don't find much that interests me in the stores anymore, so my collection mainly grows through ebay and antique shops these days.

Since this is the first column, I'll share several weeks of finds to get it started! I've found some great cars lately, some very valuable additions to my collection. Drop a comment if you see anything you like!

First up is a lot of 3 Superfast transitionals I scored on ebay for about $10 shipped altogether. They're in really nice shape. 

Next is my end of a trade with a friend on one of the diecast forums. All this cool stuff in exchange for a measly HW super treasure hunt!

One of my few big box store purchases, this is a new wheel variation of the good ol Landy. 

This came from ebay as a replacement of a childhood favorite of mine. 

Nice filler of a great casting. I try not to spend more than $5 shipped for anything on ebay, and this one came in just under that amount! Not bad...

This is the recent exotic car 5 pack from Hot Wheels. I rarely go for HW multipacks, but I think this one is pretty cool. 

A San Francisco Police Department Ford Taurus (ahem, sorry.. "Police Interceptor", it's called) from the latest wave of Jada Hero Patrol. 

How about this beautiful Models of Yesteryear Auburn Boat-tail?

And a stunning 1/43 scale Porsche 356 made by Brumm.

I found this cool Majorette Jeep Cherokee in a used bookstore of all places. 

A bonus addition with a cheap ebay lot of Jaguar E Types for customizing. 

My girlfriend found this for me in an antique shop in England! Pretty neat, and a variation I didn't have.

A nice Vauxhall that I didn't have. Only a couple dollars and came with it's box too. 

This nice box came yesterday, January 2nd. Two good condition Regular Wheel variations I didn't have. Less than $5 shipped for the pair!

This came yesterday as well. One of the last Phantastique variations I need. And yes, it's been opened already

Definitely the best find I've ever had.. This is my dad's redline collection from when he was a kid! I found them in an old dresser drawer during Christmas. You'll be getting a closer look at them at some point, don't worry!

And last but not least, I found these two rare Across America cars at an antique shop today for about $2.50 each. They're worth quite a bit more than that haha. To ebay I go...

I hope you all enjoyed this post, and check back next Saturday evening for more finds!

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Project: Matchbox Ferrari 308 GTB

Good afternoon! I wanted to share a quick Saturday afternoon project with you. I didn't actually do this one, but a good friend of mine did. He wanted to give customizing a shot so he picked out something from my workbench and had a go! He went with the Matchbox Ferrari 308 GTB casting. A solid choice. This one had seen better days but was a good restoration candidate.

After an afternoon of painting, here's how it sits now...

I think he did a heck of a job! Any comments would be much appreciated.

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Project Wrap Up: Lesney #75b Ferrari Berlinetta

Good evening folks! I've finally finished this one, the classic Ferrari Lusso. It didn't come out as well as I'd hoped, with the cracked windshield, and the light orangepeel on the paint, but I'm good with it. I absolutely love the color on it, as well as the darker tan interior. What do you think?

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A Closer Look: 2014 Hot Wheels Ferrari 5 Pack

I was finally able to track this one down today. I'm a big Ferrari fan, so the Ferrari 5 Pack every year is a big deal to me! So I thought we'd dive in and take a closer look at the models they selected for this year's pack....

First up is a classic, the F40. This is definitely one of my all time favorite cars, but I think this casting does the car absolutely no justice. Hot Wheels really screwed it up, the Matchbox casting is so much better. But it looks good in yellow. I'm not usually a fan of stripes and such, but these look pretty good on the car. 

Next up is the F430 Scuderia. I'm not a fan of the F430 in real life, but this is a very good casting, it represents the car well. I'm absolutely in love with this color, and I think this is my favorite car of the pack simply because of this gorgeous shade of blue. I don't know about you, but I get REALLY tired of red Ferraris, so it's refreshing to see a different color. 

Now here is a casting we don't see much of, the 612 Scaglietti. A great modern rendition of what I consider to be a "proper" Ferrari: front-mounted V12, rear wheels drive, GT style luxury. Exactly what I would want in a Ferrari. Leave the mid-engine lunacy to Lamborghini. The styling of the 612 was a bit controversial, but I think it has aged nicely. Great color combo on this one as well. White looks good on every car, I've never been able to find proof otherwise!

Next up is the 458 Spider. Not much to say about this model, it's red, and it's a convertible. I like the Y5 wheels on it, I don't think we've seen those released on a 458 yet. Good stuff!

Lastly, we have the Enzo. Seemingly, no Ferrari set would be complete without one. I was never a big fan of this car in real life, it's just plain ugly. But this is a nice model, I like the metallic black and the red accents. It suits the car well. 

That's all for now! I'll be featuring some more Ferraris soon most likely.

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Project Update: Lesney #74b Daimler Bus

Well, things haven't been going too well with this project. It's been on the back burner for a while so I thought I'd work on it a little bit. It was the green variation originally, so I decided to repaint it in the same color. For non-metallic enamel colors, I stick with cheap big box store spray paint. It generally looks pretty close to the original finish of these cars. Here's the result after a few coats of green...

It came out looking pretty decent. I didn't picture the chassis as I had a bit of a mishap with it... I live in a second floor apartment, and do my painting out of the back window. While painting the chassis, it fell off the paint stand and onto some gravel below... Not my finest hour! But I pulled the dirt particles out and I don't think I need to repaint it. A couple more coats of green and I don't think you'll be able to tell. 

The only problem is the shade of green... It's not even close. The cap of the paint can looked pretty accurate, but once I started laying coats down, it's quite a bit darker than the original. Here's a pic of an original #46 in the same color for comparison.

So what do my readers think? Should I leave it alone or try to find a green that's a better match? I like the color, it looks nice. It's just not correct for the model. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Original Project Post

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New Project: Jaguar XJ-S Hot Wheels Restoration

With only one project going right now, the Lesney Daimler Bus, I thought it was time to start another. I'm still trying to find just the exact right paint color for the bus, and hopefully I'll have it done soon. 

This is a car that's been rolling around in my tool box for ages, I just never seem to get around to it. But its time has come! If you haven't been able to tell so far, I'm a big fan of all things British, and Jaguars are no different. I absolutely adore everything about the big cats. The XJ-S never quite lived up to the E-Type it replaced, but it was a great car nonetheless. Maybe not the most reliable thing in the world, but getting to work on time everyday is no fun. What are you, a German?? Anyways, tune in soon to see what's in store for this tired old Brit...

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