Car-Nel 64 Skylines

I had never heard of Car-Nel brand before deciding to preorder these two cars.  They weren't hyped or anything, but my expectations were fairly high, based on the price(around $20).  As someone who coveted the Kyosho hakosuka GT-R, but could never afford one from the secondary market(eBay), this one was a must-have.

At the first glance, they were pretty impressive in their super nice boxes.

Unfortunately, once out of the cases, all I could notice was awkward proportions & rough finishes.

Nissan Skyline GT-R KPGC10 Custom Version "Hakosuka"

KPGC110 "Kenmeri"

As a kid, I liked this kenmeri nickname.  I think I mainly saw the name in Japanese manga comics, and also car mags.  Origin of the name, I didn't learn until very recently.  Back when this car was new, Nissan ran a series of ads featuring fictional couple "Ken & Mary" with the Skyline.  I guess it stuck.  "Meri" is shorter & has little bit of engrish, but you can clearly see "kenmeri" from that.

I've always like the rear end of these cars, too.  Mattel/Hot Wheels made a pretty ambitious attempt at it couple years ago, and while I'd happily give them an "A" for effort, tampos often ended up all over the place.  Kyosho minicar version was clean, but it was overly simplified.  Car-Nel rear was too messy with paint spilling over here & there, and in my opinion, there is no excuse for that from a $20 car.  I can only hope for the Tomica Limited Vintage to make these guys look really bad, should they decide to make a kenmeri someday.  I dream of kenmeri police car by TLV.   *sigh*  

Tomica Limited Vintage Neo Nissan GT-R NISMO(LV-N100b) + NISMO N Attack Package(LV-N101a)

I used to think that Kyoshos & TLVs were pretty even, but lately, TLV have come up with some amazing casting, and this GT-R is no exception.

Interested in the Bentley Continental GT3?  

I once read that TLV team puts lot of effort in the paint job, including the 'metallic' look, so they look right.  While the casting's amazing, I think they could go easier on the metal flakes.  Still, for $18 or so, I'm more than happy with the arrival of this car.

Edit:  Added the N Attack Package to this post(darker gray).

For their 10 year anniversary, select few TLVs came with bonus stickers, and this LV-N100b was one of them.  It reads "Tomica Limited Vintage 10 year anniversary".  Very cool.

Value of these casting's risen considerably since their release, and as a collector who own a couple, I am happy about that......  but again, I wish it had better paint job!

Very few Kyoshos.....

I buy very few Kyoshos, but when I do, I buy them from Japan Booster on eBay.  Okay, maybe not all of them, but still quite a few.  Actually, let's start off with the "special" Kyosho I mentioned couple of posts earlier:

Kyosho Beads Nissan Skyline KPGC110 Racing

Lamborghini Countach LP500S

Subaru Legacy Touring Wagon

Kyosho Toyota Crown in hot pink!

Bentley GT3

Skyline Minicar Collection

R30 & R34

R32

Kenmeri & Hakosuka

To be continued.......

CM's Corporation

I wonder how many of you have ever heard of CM's?  CM's Corporation was sort of a best kept secret for the collectors of 1/64 diecast, but for good reason.  For starters, they were more about collectible figurines & robots based on Japanese anime.  Secondly, their diecast cars consisted mostly of rally cars.  Very different approach to the game compared to other Japanese "minicar" makers like Tomica, Kyosho, etc.   

Here are some of their cars from my collection.  I'm sorry I don't have very many, but I hope you enjoy.

**This post was originally created for the Lamley Blog, but lazy me never was able to complete it.  My apologies to John at Lamley.

CM's Fiat 131 Abarth Rally "1978 Portugal"

Andy Truong of the Epic Collage is a fellow collector I know from the mega Gran Turismo website called GTPlanet, and he recently helped me acquire a special Kyosho from Japan, and along with it, some really cool CM's rally cars.  One car in this lot of CM's that totally stole the show, eclipsing even the coveted Kyosho was this Fiat 131 rally.

I have some well detailed 1/64 scale cars in my collection, but this one.........   just wow.  Average CM's look pretty nice, and cars from Tomica Limited Vintage, or Kyosho can be exceptional, but I hold this Fiat even higher than most of those.

Fantastic job by CM's on the lamp lenses.  Bravo.