Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Advantages of 1/43 collection hobby

I once had a passion for 1/18 models and have collected many that filled up a closet for storage.  I had wanted to have lighted cabinets to display them but the house is just not big enough to have one. That's the disadvantage of collecting 1/18s,  If you want to get them out of their boxes and individual display cases, you can't have more than 4 or 5 on a table. And you can't handle them with sweat on your hands as the acid in them will ruin the paint finish of these models in time. That is why  many hobbyists use gloves when handling 1/18 die-cast models

I have disposed of almost all my 1/18s and resumed my collection of 1/43w, known that modern metal casting technology have improved the detailing in most brands.  I am talking about Ixo, Kyosho, AutoArt, Minichamps, Leo, and Signature.  Some cheaper brands like De Agostino and other upstart China brands have followed suite. Matchbox, now made entirely in China, however, retained the costings of theur British and Macau predecessors and have not really followed international 1/43 scle standards. Detailing remained minimal.

With 1/43s, I can have as many 20 models on my table and feast my eyes handling each one and taking photos.
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I remember my first Matchbox toy, a red Ford Model T gifted to me by my mother when I was just 5 years old in 1964 . They were all made by Lesney in England. I don't know how it came to hit me but my road to a die-cast collection hobby took root with that model. Over the next decade I must have collected over a hundred various Matchbox die-casts, ranging from 1/100 to 1/54 to their large 1/43 to 1/38 models that I stored in 5-6 shoe boxes by the end of that period. Many were lost, ruined or given away to friends who also started their own collection hobbies. Toward the end of 70s, I shifted to Japan-made Tomica which were cheaper and more available. By the early 2000, nearly all of these model have been disposed off, retaining only a few the Models of Yesteryear series. to this day, here are the only ones the remained










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