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705 Posts
First off apologies for not posting any pics, but having a part time job as a photographer means that i'm a bit loathe to pick up the camera on my day off!
In the space of two days i've picked up 4 minichamps mclarens in 1:18.... hamiltons first test mp4-21 2006, the regular mp4-22 from 2007, alonso's mp4-22 from the same year and the brazil edition of hamiltons mp4-23 2008. The first 3 were all on offer, the only one I paid full price for was the 2008 edition.
When I unpacked them, I noticed that the 2007 hamilton model had a couple of slight nicks in the paintwork around the fuel filler cap. it's not a big deal considering it was half price, but still
. It seems like these chrome finish models especially with their complex aero are prone to defects....i picked up the alonso model today and had time to go through a whole stack of them to pick out a good one. Of the ones I went through I would say about 1 in 4 had a blemish of some sort on it, and one even had a detached lower front suspension wishbone. Having just opened my alonso car, I've noticed the pitot tube has fallen off the front. It goes back on quite easily, but thats not really the point. All of which makes me think that ordering one of these online would be a bit risky, so buyer beware.
Also, about 10 years ago minichamps were about £40 for a 1:18 in the uk. Now they have just jumped from about £55 to £69.99 (this being the amount I paid for the '08 hamilton brazil car). I can understand the extra cost associated with creating a model with 50 million aero parts on it,the '08 mclaren is quite intricate. What I don't understand is that this will be the standard price for '09 cars, which isn't justified in my view, as the cars have gone back to being quite 'clean' again.
So, has anybody else had issues with chrome mclarens, or have any views on the changed pricing structure?
In the space of two days i've picked up 4 minichamps mclarens in 1:18.... hamiltons first test mp4-21 2006, the regular mp4-22 from 2007, alonso's mp4-22 from the same year and the brazil edition of hamiltons mp4-23 2008. The first 3 were all on offer, the only one I paid full price for was the 2008 edition.
When I unpacked them, I noticed that the 2007 hamilton model had a couple of slight nicks in the paintwork around the fuel filler cap. it's not a big deal considering it was half price, but still
. It seems like these chrome finish models especially with their complex aero are prone to defects....i picked up the alonso model today and had time to go through a whole stack of them to pick out a good one. Of the ones I went through I would say about 1 in 4 had a blemish of some sort on it, and one even had a detached lower front suspension wishbone. Having just opened my alonso car, I've noticed the pitot tube has fallen off the front. It goes back on quite easily, but thats not really the point. All of which makes me think that ordering one of these online would be a bit risky, so buyer beware.Also, about 10 years ago minichamps were about £40 for a 1:18 in the uk. Now they have just jumped from about £55 to £69.99 (this being the amount I paid for the '08 hamilton brazil car). I can understand the extra cost associated with creating a model with 50 million aero parts on it,the '08 mclaren is quite intricate. What I don't understand is that this will be the standard price for '09 cars, which isn't justified in my view, as the cars have gone back to being quite 'clean' again.
So, has anybody else had issues with chrome mclarens, or have any views on the changed pricing structure?
