OEM Siku

I went to a departmental store today and something caught my eye.

Porsche 911 with ugly red headlights, suffers from some quality fumble on the paint. When I bought it, the left door wasn't shut tight and they just spray straight on it without checking thus resulting some exposed bare metal.

Bugatti Veyron which doesn't open doors but it really tempt me to open them with those deep cut lines. In fact, they moved a little but no hinges at all.

Audi R8. Quality good from far and really far from good when viewed up close. Anyway, can't expect much when you are paying peanuts.

Did Siku made a Skyline GTR? I can't really recall. Or it's spun out of a Real Toy? All the cars in this set are pull back cars. Not a surprise as the wheels look very much of a pull back.

Answer revealed. Made by Jin Sheng Hao (who the hell is that????). The scale of 1/64 definately is a mistake here because Siku are 1/55 to my knowledge. See that line of smaller words, "To be highly praised and appreciated by customers". They are telling me to appraise the toys highly and demand me to appreciate these toys whoever buys them? All right, I know what they are trying to make out here but the testimony seems it was self acclaimed. I kind of find this quite amusing and interesting so I bought it.

Lastly, this set of OEM Sikus are made in a place where I don't even know where. Well, at least they are not made in China.

Tomica Dandy LPG Tanker

A friend gave up some of his collection and asked if I am willing to take over this truck.

I have been hoping to own this truck for a very long time so I agreed almost immediately. Very glad to take over from him and sure it will go to a good home.

Option Singapore

I couldn't resist the illustration on the cover so I bought the 1st edition of Option Singapore yesterday. It could the the last copy I will buy too. Not really my cup of tea. Anyway, just to inform you guys if you are interested to get a copy.

Basically full of fast and mod cars pictures. I don't drive a fast car or drive fast so these cars are too fast for me to appreciate. Just curious what is the content but couldn't really browse through since it is shrink wrapped. Will wait another few days for August issue of Best Car (Another Japanese car mag).

Series #1 - Tomica Yellow Black Box

Have you ever think if the cars we collect are built according to their suggested scale? I do care if they did inform us its scale. For cars made by Zylmex, Playart or Mandarin, there isn't any scale indicated but they can be forgiven for the charm they exude. Not so for Hotwheels, sorry. Initially I started off with 12 Tomica including Dump Truck & commercial vehicles but I couldn't gather much information on their actual dimensions. Well, I have some reference books on 70s and 80s Japanese cars so I am able to continue on the cars. From 8 cars, I narrow down to 1 compact car, 1 sports coupe and 1 luxury flagship car of Toyota.

This little project is just a little fun so do not take it too seriously. I am just curious to find out if the dimensions are close to the actual ones. There will be definately errors in this test, human error (that's me) and accuracy of measuring equipment used. The digital gauge which I am using needs no calibration and it's not worth it. The calibration cost will kill me and it's more economical to buy new. This China made digital gauge shouldn't be too far off since we are not going into microns. A difference of 2% should be acceptable. I will leave the height out as it is quite tedious to take that measurement. If the length is within that 2%, I would say it's perfect. The width is a challenge at times as you do not know the reference point to measure.

Nissan Fairlady 240ZG, Scale: 1/60

Real Dimensions: 4305mm x 1690mm x 1285mm

Measured Dimensions: 72.34mm x 28.24mm

Blown-Up Dimensions: 4340mm x 1694mm

Percentage Difference: L (+0.81%), W (+0.24%)

Verdict: That's very close to the real thing!

Toyota Century, Scale: 1/66

Real Dimensions: 5120mm x 1890mm x 1450mm

Measured Dimensions: 75.35mm x 28.06mm

Blown-Up Dimensions: 4973mm x 1852mm

Percentage Difference: L (-2.87%), W(-2.01%)

Verdict: Should have been 1/68 instead

Datsun Cherry X-1, Scale: 1/58

Real Dimensions: 3610mm x 1470mm x 1380mm

Measured Dimensions: 62.30mm x 26.84mm

Blown-Up Dimensions: 3613mm x 1557mm

Percentage Difference: L (+0.08%), W(+5.92%)

Verdict: Might have taken wrong refernce point on width

China Edition Tomica

Tomica CN-01 Toyota Camry

Tomica CN-03 Mitsubishi Lanevo X

Tomica CN-06 Nissan Fairlady Z

Tomica CN-05 Nissan Fairlady Z

I do not understand is why there is a China edition Tomica. First of all, I hardly heard of any Chinese people collecting Tomica nor seen a toy car collector from China. China is rank almost last in my blog viewership and so is other blog I came across. Maybe my blog is not that well known. Secondly, why would parents want to spend more on a toy car for their children when there are so many unlicensed toys in China. Tomica costs much more in China than in Singapore. Takara Tomy should make Singapore edition Tomica instead starting from our Crown Comfort taxi. Who else besides Japan and Hong Kong uses Crown or Cedric for their taxi? It's us, Singapore! After that, they can work with some of our taxi operators who uses Honda Airwave, Freed, Fit, Toyota Axio, Estima, Camry and Prius.

How does the China version fare against the regular release? I can only agree that the Camry is a good effort. How often do you find a Camry in this size? It's also the first Camry by Tomica although the Camry name exist for almost 30 years.

What went right for the CN Tomica? Definately the size of the car. Don't you find that the current Tomica have put on some weight? They look fatter and rounder now and some of them look Majorette or even close to Siku size. If you don't agree, I guessed that you came to know Tomica when they are made in China and not Japan. Since the Tomica Nissan Juke, Tomica has been shrinking the size to what they used to be, a good sign for me. The CN version is right on track in the size department.

What went wrong for the CN Tomica? Almost everything except the size. The first thing newer Tomica collectors point out will be the lack of detailing in the front and rear of the CN version. I beg to differ. That is actually the least important. If the casting is really well made, you don't have to depend on decals. Looking at the 70s and 80s Tomica, which model has depend on that to identify itself for easy recognition? Although the CN version managed to shrink itself back to normal, the lines of these CN looks weird, so are the proportions especially the blue Lanevo. The paint used looked like they were done by Hotwheels. The worst of the lot is the white Fairlady, the white looked like the car was dipped into Nippon paint. The Chinese characters "跑车" means sports car. I don't that think nobody will really accent their Fairlady with that. The worst nightmare of these CN Tomica: They wobble when they are pushed. This is something I have never seen in a Tomica.

What I expect to see in future Tomica. Can you please improve on the axle if you are reading this? The Tomica since when they are made in China doesn't have the bouncy suspension like they used to have. The suspension of Tomica today are so firm that they bounce so artificially. I believe the axle used today is much thicker than those 30 years ago. It could be due to Tomica wanted to prevent wheels being easily bent like the Japanese ones or the material used in Japan and China is totally different.

Caltex Station & Food Mart

Caltex released a Tomica size Petrol Kiosk Town Set so I have to get it since I am using Caltex for years.

Back of the Caltex Station box.

Also Available are these......

Ok, bought one of these only... a little regret though.


It's really a toy, a Realtoy to be specific.