[Comparison] Matchbox Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren

Not much to show off here. 2017 marked the returned of Mercedes, and they started it off with another SLR McLaren. It looked so similar to the first one that came out back in 2009 as far as photographic memory serves, so let's see if Mattel has made any changes since:





Oh. The new one doesn't have the blinker tampo.

Aside from the blinkers, the plate number, it seem the casting itself is the same. The new one is a grey silver whereas the old is a blueish silver. There's always the anomaly with some of the other tampos for being applied poorly, but I suppose it's worth mentioning the brake light tampos are a different shade of red, the bottom red lights on the back are with less detail in the new, and the "SLR" badge may actually be a different font altogether. But again, with Mattel's declining product quality, these could indeed be a case of bad tampo application. Who knows.

That's it. *shrugs*

[Diecast] Falken Cuda & Evasive S2000. Oh, and Sikus!

I capitalized on Toys "R" Us' occasional 5 for $5 sale the other day and stocked up on Truenos and R34s for future customs. As I suspected, they didn't have anything new for me. I made a brief trip to Walmart on the way home and didn't find any new singles, but I decided to browse the 10 packs. Found several I was interested in. There was even one with a Continental TH, but I wasn't ready to pay $17 for that and only 2 other cars in the box. So I settled with one that had 2 cars I really wanted, 4 other recolours and 1 duplicate. I also took a trip to Mastermind Toys and discovered they carried stuff I never seen elsewhere: Sikus! We'll begin with those.

I would lower the ride height on this Bugatti Veyron, but that would require more digging than I'd like to do.

 

I'm considering a paintjob because lime is pretty ridiculous for a Mercedes, let alone an SLR McLaren.

 

I blacklisted the '66 Chevy Nova a while back, and I almost regret selling the few I had. Once I saw the zamac Nova, I couldn't resist anymore. I love the nose and tail length combo. It has a sporty look, and the lowered stance gives off an aggressive vibe. The black stripes are bold and the hard-cornered rectilinear shape means business.

Onto the 10 pack.

 Willy Gasser. Surprised I never had one in my collection. Could've just blacklisted it, but now that I have it, I may as well keep it.

 My biggest excuse for buying this was this. I could've just waited, but there was other reasons why I spent the $18.

 

 And this Satin Red Fangula was one of them. I never seen this as a single at all last year. Had to get it.

 

 Alternate Falken Cuda: this was the other big incentive.

 2012 mystery model Yur So Fast. It's not the prettiest and I've seen it in in other 10-packs before, but always skipped it because I wasn't big on the colour scheme. But hey, if I could get this along with the others, then why not?

The "Exclusive" recolour: '64 Chevelle SS. Turns out this Chevelle is one of my favourite boxy cars too. Exclusive too? Sure I'll get it!

On a side not, I think I've lost sense of composing the photos after a while. I noticed this while I was cropping and touching up on photoshop that the cars were starting to get placed way too far left in relation to the plaque. I know this because in the very first photo I took at this angle, I drew guides on the .psd template and I would simply line up the plaque to those lines and the arrangement would remain fairly consistent with each new photo I take. The plaque would be centered to the canvas, but as you can see now I can't do that without cutting the car off the frame. I'm going to have to remember to move the cars in closer to the text and make sure the wheel axles intersect with the bottom edge of the plaque's contour line.