Wednesday, December 1, 2010

AUTOart Signature: 1/18 Koenigsegg CCX. #792

Koenigsegg CCX. Thats right.

For anyone who don't know what the CCX is, you are in for a treat. For 11 years, the McLaren F1 has held the title of fastest production car in the world. Then out came Koenigsegg, a Swedish company with the intention to build one of the fastest cars ever made. In 2005, the CCR became the next fastest car in the world. Then Bugatti came out and made the Veyron. Koenigsegg then built this. The CCX. From spec, it is definitely faster than the Veyron, however, it has never had the opportunity for a record run. Next an American company by the name of SCC designed the Ultimate Aero TT. Then Veyron updated to the Super Sport, and to this day, the CCX stands as the third fastest car in the world.

There are many special features in this model. Firstly, it is composed of 294 individual parts. The roof is detachable and able to stow under the hood. The dihedral synchro-helix" actuation doors are replicated exactly, and when the trunk is open you can see the active suspension working in the rear. I'll describe the car as we flip through the pics.

The MSRP of this model is a whopping $204.95 USD. Here are the specs of it on the AUTOart official site:
http://www.autoartmodels.com/web/product/en/1483?antiCache=128180638126478A1783242998F8479387C6303990831

So this was the box that was presented to me after it was unpackaged:
The box is detailed really nicely. It's matt black with silver lettering all over. What was a really nice touch is the Koenigsegg logo is on the ends in a huge shield with some kind of raised glossy ink, so right when you look at the box with the silver AUTOart Signature, you know this model is something special.

Next, I pulled the styrofoam cube out of the box, and the first thing I notice is that the roof piece has its own separate compartment! hardcore. Also, there was a microfiber cloth that was embossed with AA on it. pretty nice touch.

So the first piece I pull out is the roof and the cloth. The cloth isn't that special, just your typical eye glass cleaning fabric however the roof was pretty nice. It gave me a perfect sneak preview at what i was going to see when I cracked open the real block. The roof was polished to an amazing shine, and the glass in the middle was replicated perfectly. After turning it around I realized it was lined as well and the texture/material they used simulated a kind of velvet/rubber. The detail on this is insane.
Next, I cut open the tape holding the two pieces of styrofoam and was pleasantly surprised. This is how it looked:

The model was held to the bottom by 4 screws, so I immediately unscrewed the model out and placed it on the table. The stance is incredible. I think I like looking at it more than my Veyron. I then checked the certificate of authenticity to see what number I had. #792. I then checked the booklet to see what features the model had.

Here I took the car out and here's a pic with the roof beside it.


The next thing I did was attach the roof to make sure it fit right. The roof snapped in perfectly and with no issues that some other people had with theirs.






The hood can be stowed in the interior in the real car, so AUTOart had to redesign this. I heard that it was hell and they scrapped many prototypes before it was wide enough to fit the full roof. Some other owners say theirs are really snug and that to put it in would damage the roof, but it fits perfectly on mine.

One of the special defining features of this model are the way the doors open. In the real Koenigsegg, they designed a new door called the dihedral synchro-helix" actuation system. This system is replicated exactly in the AUTOart version. I heard it takes 4 hinges and 20 screws per door for them to be able to implement this.


Here are some pictures of the interior. It's made pretty well. The Sparco seats are nice, and the numbers and dials on everything is pretty much microscopic. The floor mats have the Koenigsegg emblem embossed on and there's cloth seat belts and photo etched belt buckles. However, I think it could be done better for the price of the model. The thing that's driving me nuts is the mold line on the shift knob that runs down the middle.


Here are some detail shots of the front and rear wheel. The front you can see the carbon lip has been simulated perfectly. Also, all the grills in the front has fine metal mesh. Also, the rims are pretty nice and has the Koenigsegg shield embossed in the center nut. Also, the Koenigsegg metal emblem behind the wheel is a really nice touch.

The rear area is just as impressive. the CCX part is a metal emblem. One of my favorite pieces is the grill covering the intake. Its made out of photo etched metal, and just one of the nicest pieces and replicated exactly to the one in the real car. Also the side skirts have the carbon design on it too.

Here is the back end of the CCX up close. The tail lamps are individual chromed housings with the color inserts of clear red plastic. Even the clear one has a perfectly cut plastic "diamond" that is inserted into this chrome housing. The mid section is chrome painted and the paint is a semi gloss, opposed to the entire car which has a coat of gloss clear, so you know they painted this piece separately. All the vents have photo etched fine metal mesh. Its hard to see in the picture, but in person you can see the massive chromed catalytic converter through the mesh. The exhaust is also a really nice tough. Its composed of two pieces. the outside piece is just sprayed aluminum color, however, the exhaust itself is a milled piece of aluminum. From this angle, it appears theres no exhaust "hole", but from a lower angle you see it travels up into the catalytic converter. The rear diffuser also has mesh within it, so we can see the butt end of the transmission. It has a carbon fiber texture as well.

Here's an Engine shot. I don't even know where to start. It'd just take forever.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Mighty Muggs: Iron Man MK6 SDCC Exclusive

I'm huge on Mighty Muggs, so you knew this was coming.

The SDCC Mighty Muggs Exclusive Iron Man Mark 6.
He's pretty similar to the Toys R Us Exclusive, but every SDCC Marvel one in the last few years have had a special feature.

This ones:
His visor flips up to reveal Tony Starks face. Pretty cool eh?

The packaging is awesome. Entirely gold foil. Couldn't have asked for more.
And i like how on one corner the art has his visor opened, but the other corner its closed. And its nice that the top has Tony Starks face instead of reproducing the one from the toys r us exclusive.

Picked him up at the Edmonton Pop Culture Fair on Sunday. Also picked up Prowl the Transformers SDCC Exclusive Mugg. I'll get pics up sometime this week...if assignments aren't too heavy.

Paid: $30

Here's some pics.




Sunday, November 21, 2010

Hasbro: Marvel 3.75" Thor: Ages of Thunder SDCC Exclusive

So. If you were in Edmonton today. It was pretty damn cold.

But that doesn't matter. Why? because today was Edmonton's Pop Culture Fair at the Alberta Aviation Museum.

Anyways, I was pretty excited, because since I have been busy working on the last year of my degree, assignments sure have been hell, so it was nice to go and just look at toys, and pick up something good.

This year it was hosted by a guy i know as John, who has a booth almost every year, and might I say did an exceptional job hosting it. The selection of items was excellent, and the entire place just had a pretty good vibe. Anyways, I didn't end up picking up as much as I wanted to, but I did pick this guy up.

The packaging is really nice. Exceptionally nice for a 3.75" figure. He comes in a card board sleeve, where Thor's outline has been embossed in, and he's extra thick compared to the 3.75" on the shelves.

I don't know what else to say. It just looked sweet, and its an SDCC Exclusive. So combination of that encouraged me to pick it up for the price of $25.

Here's some pics you craving for:








Also, Ernest picked up 4 DC Universe Classic figures and finally completed his Atom Smasher BAF, so in honor of that, I've posted pictures of Superman Red and Blue, who do not come with parts to make Atom Smasher, but look pretty hype:

Thursday, November 18, 2010

AUTOart Design: 1/1 Scale Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Shift Knob

So, I took my Lamborghini Obsession to another level.

This is a 1/1 Lamborghini Murcielago Shifter made by AutoART. The knob itself is made of machined hand polished billet aluminum. The shifter gate is made out of brushed aluminum and milled out of solid steel. Its all mounted on a stainless steel base plate with Automobili Lamborghini embossed on the base plate.

Gorgeous eh?
Sits on the living room table. Simply a beautiful piece of art.
Enjoy the pics below, this item is definitely a rare find.

AUTOart MSRP: $89.95 USD.
(but i didn't pay this)
AUTOart Link





Saturday, September 25, 2010

Marvel/Disguise 2009 Mjolnir - Hammer of Thor Prop Replica

Alright, So the story goes that my good friend Mander who works at Quantum Comics ordered this Mjolnir Prop Replica a year or so back and when it comes in, its suppose to look very metal/stone like. Very nice, and shaded. And realistic:


Well. It didn't. It comes in looking like this:


It looks very shiny. and very cheap. You can tell its cheesy plastic the second you look at it. For about 50-60 bucks. It is a major disappointment. So my good friend Mander gave me a call and I booked it down there immediately.
So, being the "skilled customizer" that I am, I gave it a shot! Clearly I could not bear to see Mjolnir look like this!



So the first step was automotive primer. Had to get rid of that awful shine, and make sure the world would never witness it again!



Next step was Color Tool Primer, to make sure the next coat would stick down real good

Then i used Color Tool's super silver to make it appear as if it is aluminum, or brushed metal. Then I applied Valspar's Gun Metal to certain carefully selected corners, angles and sides to give it the worn and forged look I wanted to achieve.


Final Result:

I had finished, and presented it to Mander within 3 Days. I then had to take a picture of where one of its final homes will be:

Within Quantum Comics.



So if you wanna check it out, because I know you do, then hop over to Quantum Comics. It wasn't forged by Gods, and it wasn't milled from a single block of aluminum by Side Show Collectibles, but its for sure the only one in the world!

By the way, I had this sucker in my hand the whole time, so damn right I was worthy to wield the Hammer of Thor!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Maisto 1:18: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

So here it is. the brand new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG.
Was released only a month and a bit ago, and i bought it from a Maisto direct store in hong Kong.

I bought this in Hong Kong 1 week after it was released. Was a huge pain to pack this guy all up into the luggage and make sure it wouldn't break or scratch, but it was worth it since i knew it'd cost way too much to ship it here online, and that it wouldn't be available here for maybe a year.

I paid about $30 bucks for him after converting over.

The body work is good, and the paint seems like it was layed on a lot better than the few recent Maisto models i've purchased.

The interior was definitely a huge improvement for Maisto, most of the time their garbage. The interior had lots of detail and it was actually red and black (unlike my SLR which is grey plastic).

The wheels are molded superbly and the brake and grill details are a great touch. The only disappointment is when you open the hood and see that the engine is a flat pressed piece of plastic. Its like this in the SLR too, but it looks much shittier in this, since the front of the car is bulging, so you expect to see a beast in there when you open up the hood.

Overall, its a great model for the living room table as long as your looking at the front most of the time. (i still hate the back end of the SLS, and its not even close to growing on me).

Anyways, enjoy the pictures.












Friday, May 7, 2010

Mighty Muggs: Iron Man 2: Iron Man Mark VI & War Machine

Alrite, So today, I went to the 12:00 a.m. showing of Iron Man in IMAX at the scotia bank theatre in wem, so course I got some limited edition Muggs to go with it.

These guys are getting pretty common. When i bought them, I was told the Iron Man Mark VI had only 4 sent per store, and that War Machines were really hard to find. So I scooped up all 4 at the local Toys R Us. Unfortunately for me, they restocked a ton of these guys, so their still in stores for i think $16.99. War Machine however, is still ultra rare, so if you find one, either pick it up, or pick it up, and i'll pay you back. Here's some pics. Since i had 4 Iron Man's i took one outta box. I still have 3 boxed, so no one panic and go. HOLY SHIT YOU TOOK IT OUTTA THE BOX!!

Enjoy the pics.

Oh yeah, and go check out Iron Man 2. So Freakin Entertaining. No major plot/character developement. But damn entertaining.