NEWS PAGE

09-22-01

The biggest Zoid news since the early 80's has just hit American shores!! Now at Toys R Us stores everywhere, American release Zoids!! 16 different models will eventually be available, but 8 have already been spotted around the country. Most are the same colors as the Japanese new releases with the exception of Zaber Fang. Here's a pic of 3 of the smaller windups:

12-09-00

For anyone that's a fan of the wacky cars on my site, there are fantastic developments afoot! First the long rumored diecast caricatures called "Muscle Machines" are finally out!! Check it out, here's a shot of all 6 cars. The middle car is a limited run bare metal car with white plastic parts, it was a freebie from Fullgrid.com for making us wait so long to get these babies!

Here's a closeup of one of these super detailed little cars. Believe it or not, these are 1/64. They're detailed really well. The paint was a bit dull when I removed them from the package, so I waxed them and used Windex to remove the fingerprints from the chrome.

Update- I've had a few days to look these babies over, they are outstanding in every way. The wheels are 2 piece, the inner is a darker color giving the wheels a more dimensional appearance. The undercarriages are detailed and painted, the chrome exhaust goes all the way to the engine block underneath! There are numerous applied chrome pieces including bumpers, fog lights, engine parts, wheels, exhaust. Tampos are nicely done. The ultimate detail is: the engines do not merely sit on top of the hood, they are recessed into the hood! Awesome! I can't stress enough how incredibly detailed these are for a 1/64 scale car.

A word of caution: there was an early release of these in 5 packs that were of much lesser quality. They halted production and reworked the cars into the wonders you see here, but the 5 packs are still available in stores. They may become collector items some day, but please note that they aren't as nice as the later run.

There will also be some 1/18 scale issues, for more info and pics, go to Fullgrid.com.

Cool news part 2- Revell-Monogram is reissuing 4 of the original Monogram Snap Draggin kits in the 1st quarter of '01!! Unreal! To top it off, they're in the original flamed style boxes. Here's the Roarin' Rail:

And here's the Street Screamer:

The other 2 Snap Draggin releases will be the Hemi Semi and the Super Taxi. Wahoo!!

Lastly I leave you with this tidbit- Polar Lights has recently been circulating the following artwork at shows. Can it be that they now have the rights to produce the MPC Zingers? I'm sure they wouldn't be flashing the name around if they hadn't already purchased the rights. The question is how far will they go with this? I posted some questions on the Polar Lights bulletin board that went totally unanswered by the employees. Hmmmm.

There are also some rumors that there will be some new releases of the Polar Lights Snap Draggins, but it is unclear whether these will be new designs or reissues of the old designs. They are rumored to have prepainted metallic colored bodies. More info to follow when I get it!