Lesney #75b - Ferrari Berlinetta Superfast

Hey folks, time for another installment of my favorite casting. I want all  the hard to find variations, but can't afford to pay for them! So I have to make them. So I decided to take a beat up Superfast version I had, and a recent copy of another standard green wire wheeled car and swap bases.

I hope "Mike" doesn't mind me restoring his car...

Here they are taken apart. I have to say, it felt really strange taking apart a minty Lesney. 

A typical problem with transitionals, the suspension piece was broken and causing the wheels to sit wrong. 

Not to mention bent axles!!

Red body is in the paint stripper, who knows what it'll turn into. 

Chassis in place, awaiting its new wheels.

Straightened axles, along with the repaired front suspension.

All finished!! I was originally planning on refinishing the wheels, but I think the distressed chrome makes it look more authentic. Slightly used, but still nice. 

And before you accuse me of making it to resell as the real thing, take a look at these JB weld globs where the rivets were... If you're fooled by that, you deserve to have your money taken haha. 

Hope you all like it!

"Postflight Briefing" - Finds for the Week January 10th, 2015

Pretty slim pickins this week... Nothing new to be found in stores whatsoever. Even Walmart, who religiously stocks new Hot Wheels, and seemingly nothing else, has been lacking. Three stores I visited had the new Star Wars cars, but nothing grabbed me. So all my finds this week are from the Internet...

First up, is a lot of 2 Lesneys I picked up on ebay for a very reasonable price. About $5 shipped!  

I've been after a disc wheel Ferrari for ages. Not that they're particularly hard to find, it's really a common variation. I just always seem to come a minute late and a dollar short... It's not in the best shape, but I'm glad to finally have one! Still looking for a nicer example though.

Next, is a car from a series I've been slowly collecting for a few years now, the 1997 Gold Series 75 Challenge. I only have 10 or 12 of the 75 cars, but I don't buy them all that often. They're easy to find, only a few rare ones. However, people tend to want very large amount of money for them, so I only buy them online when I can get them for $4 to $5 shipped, which isn't easy.  

This one is the Ford Ambulance, which is a very nice casting, from a great era of Matchbox. I love the mid to late 1990s models, they were just so well done and realistic. Maybe I am wearing my rose tinted glasses when it comes to them, it was my childhood after all...

Thirdly, I picked up these two from one of the various diecast groups on Facebook (which you should click on this link and like LA's Diecast). 

These were Zamac models, exclusive to Toys R Us back in 2004. Very similar to the Walmart-exclusive models we have today, they're identical to the regular mainline cars, just without paint. I was a fairly young collector in '04, but I remember these being much harder to find than the new Zamacs are now. I never found one in the store. But these are two castings that I have a nice collection of, and I had to jump on them when they were listed for the reasonable price of 2 for $5. 

And lastly, we come to a model that regular readers of this blog will probably recognize very well, the Lesney Ferrari Berlinetta. I'm genuinely addicted to this casting, and can't resist bidding when I see a cheap one on ebay. I was the only bidder on this very nice example, and it came in at around $4 shipped. Not bad!!

That's all I found this week. Check back next Saturday evening to see if the week brings any more interesting finds!

Lesney #32b-Jaguar E Type Restoration 4

Hey everybody! I've got one more custom to share with you, and then I'm all caught up with projects to share unfortunately. The cold is really setting in here... I love winter but dang does it put a damper on the diecast fun! Oh well. That being the case, you'll be seeing some changes going on around here. The blog will be shifting a bit from focusing on customs and restorations, to diecast as a whole. I'll be featuring more of my favorites from my collection, and who knows what else! Hopefully you enjoyed my "Postflight Briefing" column. For those that don't know, I'm a pilot, and go by "MBXPilot" on many of the forums. So I may sneak in an aviation reference or two from time to time.

Anyways, onto the pictures! I love Jaguars, and the Lesney E Type is no different. This is my 4th custom E Type, and definitely one of my favorites. I got it looking like this, 2 wheels and all...

A pretty sad sight indeed...

But with a set or rear wheels, and a coat of the same paint as my most recent Ferrari restoration, it was looking sharp in no time!!

Hope you like it! Leave a comment if you do!

"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!

Remember to like LA's Diecast on Facebook

Lesney #75b-Ferrari Berlinetta #4

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that 2015 is a wonderful year for each and every one of you. It's been a little slow around here lately, but I do have one more car to share with you. It's another example of my all time favorite diecast car, Lesney's Ferrari Lusso. I've talked before about how much I love this car, and I was all too happy to add another beater to the collection recently.

That chassis is gross!!

Here it is now after a little lick of paint and some cleaning. 

You can see the next write-up lurking in the background there...

Silver on black is an excellent color combo for this car, and here are some of the other custom 75b's I've done...

#1 - #2 - #3

And a little family photo. I need to shoot an updated one. I have 10 or 12 of these now.