FORD GALAXIE COP CAR FROM THE JAMES BOND MOVIE ‘DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER’

JAMES BOND is the movie industry’s longest running franchise, with the 25th movie due for release in 2021. And now Round-2 has a license to produce kits of Bond movie subjects, using the AMT brand. 

FAREWELL TO SPECIAL-EFFECTS MODEL MAKER BILL PEARSON

WE ARE VERY sad to learn of the death of professional model maker Bill Pearson.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE: CHEVROLET FLOWER TRUCK CONVERSION

FOLLOWING RECENT JAMES BOND articles, here’s a piece on converting two kits into one of 007’s more unusual forms of transport.

MORE MODELS FROM SINGAPORE

MORE INTERESTING STUFF from Peter Chiang with these entries from his Hobby Bounties mini-Airfix James Bond competition 2019. The cars are all in 1:32 scale, the James Bond Aston Martin (above) being fitted with an ejection-seat cutout in the roof, and much else besides.

BOND IN MINIATURE - IN SINGAPORE

SOME INTERESTING PIX HAVE ARRIVED from our man in Singapore, Peter Chiang, of Hobby Bounties. The classic 1:12 scale Airfix Bentley is boxed here in 007 guise.

AHOY THERE! HIGHLY DETAILED 1:72 SCALE LUXO-YACHT FROM REVELL

THIS STATE OF THE ART LUXURY YACHT kit is released by Revell in the model aircraft-standard 1:72 scale.

JAMES BOND ASTON MARTIN DB5 GOES UP AGAINST OTHER GREAT TOYS

THE 007 JAMES BOND-MOBILE featured recently made us look up the best known of all 007 cars, the Aston Martin DB5.

1:24 SCALE TAMIYA MAZDA MX-5 BECOMES A 007-MOBILE

THIS 1:24 SCALE TAMIYA KIT REPRODUCES the world’s most popular two-seat sports car. The kit also opens the door to making a possible James Bond car. 

JAMES BOND LOTUS CAR-SUBMARINE TO 1:24 SCALE FROM FUJIMI

“TRY NOT TO DAMAGE IT, 007…” That famous phrase from ‘Q’ in James Bond movies applied in spades to the famed Aston Martin DB5. But it also related to another Bondmobile, the Lotus Esprit S1 that served double-duty as a submarine in the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me.

“THE NAME’S BOND... OR CORGI… OR SCALEXTRIC.” 007 AT HORNBY HOBBIES

TO WRAP UP THE LONDON TOY FAIR we returned to the Hornby stand, though not to Airfix this time, but to two other names in the Hornby stable, also involving a third.

JAMES BOND CAR - TWO FORD THUNDERBIRDS COMPARED, FABBRI DIECAST AND REVELL PLASTIC KIT

Fabbri have produced a whole range of 1:43 scale diecast vehicles in the long-running partwork series, 'The James Bond Car Collection.' Among them is a Ford Thunderbird, which I've matched here today with a somewhat larger 1:25 scale Revell kit.

JAMES BOND ASTON MARTIN AND JAPANESE WARSHIP: EAGLEMOSS HAVE THEM COVERED AS PARTWORK COLLECTIBLES

The partwork publishers are hard at it with model products these days, and we’ll doubtless be seeing a bunch of new items launched after Christmas. Meantime, here are a pair of ready-built models to inspect, coming piggy-backed with collectible magazine-style publications.

INCOMING - ‘SKYFALL’ JAMES BOND HELICOPTER FROM ITALERI

SMN REPORT

Here’s a well-timed kit release, a movie tie-in that’s bang up to the minute. It’s a variation on Italeri’s existing AW-101 kit to 1:72 scale, modded slightly to represent the triple-engined beast shown in the latest James Bond movie Skyfall.

MORE MODELS TO ENJOY...

A Baker's Dozen for you today, with subjects ranging from the gorgeous Imai Thunderbirds kit above, to Belgium's Tin Tin, the suave super-spy James Bond, and the British sci-fi hero Dan Dare - and of course, Dan's Venusian nemesis, the melon-headed Mekon, nastiest alien super-villain to strut the spaceways...

“THE NAME’S MARTIN, ASTON MARTIN...”

Mat Irvine reports
It was a pleasant surprise when Tamiya announced that its latest 1:24 scale sports car kit would be the Aston Martin DBS. It should also be said that although the kit has not been issued ‘from a James Bond movie’ per se, given that the car’s first appearance was several months before its official 2007 launch in the Bond film Casino Royale the opening comments in  the instructions can hardly avoid making this point.

Tamiya DBS details
The kit is classic Tamiya and, although a complete V-12 engine is not provided, everything that’s normally visible inside the engine bay is there. You are not going to miss the lower section of the engine anyway, as the underside is hidden by the floor pan. Elsewhere in the kit, Tamiya provides full suspension, huge chrome-plated wheels, and low-profile tyres. All wheels revolve on the now-standard nylon bushes and the front pair steer.

Only a left-hand drive interior is supplied (which is fine for the Bond car), though you can choose full manual or Touchtronic automatic, with various optional parts and decals. Either way, you get photo-etched parts for the appropriate foot pedals. Photo-etching is also supplied for the lower grille mesh, while the classic Aston Martin shape upper grille is on a chrome-plated runner.

Decal selection
You get waterslide decals for some of the grilles, instruments, under-bonnet labels and AM badges, and ‘metal transfers’, which are self-adhesive, for  the Aston Martin logo on the engine block and glass for the rear-view mirrors.

Intriguingly, although Casino Royale is the movie mentioned, the Tamiya car more closely represents the DBS in Quantum of Solace - well, the licence plate (with a bit of judicial re-jigging) is correct anyway! However, whether you want to add criminal damage and remove the driver's door is up to you!

The pictures show, top to bottom:
1  The box-top is to Tamiya’s usual design style, and very handsome it is, too.
2  Box-side illustrations show the car in Titanium Silver, perhaps a nod towards the Goldfinger DB5?
3, 4  The top section of the engine block is moulded as one piece with the inner wheel arches.
5  Photo-etched and chrome plated parts.
6  Quantum of Solace DBS looking somewhat worse for wear, and minus a door.

The kit was supplied by Tamiya’s UK importer, The Hobby Company here.

If you like Bond in general, there’s a selection of stuff to enjoy here.

To find out more about the real thing, visit Aston Martin here.

Quantum of Solace picture courtesy the Strangways movie blog here.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING - AND THE POST WON’T COST YOU A THING

Here’s one for UK visitors only: an ends-on-November-30 offer from Corgi. It’s for free post and packing on anything you order. It’s something of a tempter, especially if you’re already thinking about placing an order.

Corgi’s online shop is full of interesting diecast goodies - the 1:50 scale truck range continues to be a success story, as does the 1:36 scale James Bond series. These are attractively packaged in book-style boxes, with the Pierce Brosnan set a nicely crafted vehicle duo. This one packs the Aston-Martin Vanquish and Jaguar XKR which featured in the movie Die Another Day, one of the best of the newer Bond movies in SMN’s opinion. Not that you have to agree of course - we all have our faves!

The set packs a nice addition, a set of four movie posters: Die Another Day, GoldenEye, The World is Not Enough and Tomorrow Never Dies. All boxes are individually numbered.

The pictures show, top to bottom:
1 Corgi 1:50 scale trucks.
2 Pierce Brosnan 1:36 scale Bond set.

Have a look at the Corgi online shop here.

And there’s a host of James Bond items here.

CORGI NEW WEBSITE GOES LIVE

Corgi’s new website is definitely worth a visit, as it sports a much improved, cleaner look. There are lots of goodies to look at (and you can register for the catalogue if you wish) but our present fave is the long-standing Corgi Little Nellie autogyro single-seater, from the 1967 James Bond movie You Only Live Twice.

Corgi’s autogyro is to 1:36 scale, twice the size of good old fashioned 1:72. For model makers, in particular military fans, 1:36 is of course right next door to the standard 1:35 scale, which means that you could militarize this autogyro, to feature in a diorama with any of the thousands of model fighting vehicles and figures on the market.

Little Nellie already has guns, rockets and missiles, so a camo paint job is all she really needs. The Bond pilot figure will need changing though. A simple repaint would be OK, but a new figure wearing combat gear and a heads-up helmet would really do the trick.

Incidentally, Little Nellie was flown in the movie by its British designer, Ken Wallis, who is a renowned champion for the autogyro concept, and who holds many international records.

The pictures above show:
1 Screenshot of the new Corgi site.
2 Little Nellie, available direct.

Visit the new Corgi site here.

Visit Amazon where Little Nellie is also available, here.

BOND BEAUTIES FROM CORGI, FABBRI

The popularity of James Bond cars - particularly Aston Martins and BMWs - just never goes away. So here we are with Corgi’s latest releases, a 1:36 scale BMW Z8, and a 1:43 Aston Martin DB5. They are both OK, and would look fine in any James Bond collection.

However, it’s fair to say that neither Corgi offering breaks the barriers of diecast modelling - unlike the really rather good 007 James Bond Care Collection mini dioramas, published in partwork form by the Italian company Fabbri. The series started off quite some time ago, with the more well-known Bond vehicles, but Fabbri seems intent on featuring everything that’s ever been in a single frame of film - it’s currently past the 65th fortnightly issue and still going strong! But that’s not a criticism in any way - for completists, every one must be a step on the road to model nirvana.

The pictures here show (top to bottom) Corgi BMW Z8, Corgi DB5, Fabbri BMW Z8, and Fabbri Jaguar XK. The Corgi models are available from retail and online outlets. For Fabbri models, you need to buy a subscription.

You can visit Corgi here, and Fabbri here.