1:43 Hot Wheels - new this summer!

Very nice in all scales but the 1/43's look wonderful ! It's a great addition for them and at a really affordable price.

Karl, do you think that Greenlight or IXO would be behind these molds considering it might be competition for them ? Or is a royalty paid and it's quite worth it for those companies to partner with Mattel/Hot Wheels ?

@mikedetorrice Good question - I think Mattel would want to limit their R&D investment as well as tooling costs to gamble again on 1/43rd.  Might be some competition to Greenlight but they are going the movie/TV tie-in route for their 1/43rds.   Ixo's model is to sell their own line as well as make versions for many of the part works, which are not popular in the US (except for the American cars that John K is videoing),  So Ixo could easily wan to recoup their tooling costs by partnering with Mattel.

I don't currently have any of the cars in 1/43 so someone will have to do a face-to-face, if the same Ixo/Greenlight/etc casting can be found!  I'll be on the lookout!

All good points, Karl. They look good and we shall see !

This looks very interesting. They're coming in at a price point very near the DeAgostini models and look to be more accurately detailed. 

I have to say I was very surprised  - bewildered, even - to read people's first reaction to these models as being as good as, or better than, existing Ixo or Greenlight models or the De Agostini American Cars series.

I think they look just awful. There is a thickness and clumsiness (not to say crudeness) about the body lines and details that makes them look as if they have been directly scaled up from simple little 1:76 castings. Yes, the illustrations on the blister packs look great, but the actual models . . . ?

The video suggests that these are ready to go on sale, but even if the specimens shown are hand-painted prototypes, the basic body lines and details, shut-lines, etc. look very coarse and heavy-handed. Not remotely a match for the sharp looks and fine detailing on the best of the DeAgostini or Greenlight models that have been admired on the forum in recent times.

If I hadn't seen the video I'd have assumed these were blown-up images of cheap little 1:76 models. Or rather, "toys".

Unless I am proved wrong by the finished product (maybe someone will post specimens here in due course) I will steer well clear of these.

@graeme-ogg, I guess we'll have to wait until we have a few in hand. To my eye, the DeAgostini models have some very bright spots and can be amazing values for the money. But some are not quite worth the asking price. I'm always surprised that each box comes with one or two truly excellent models and others that are sub-par.

It is usually always better to make a generally negative judgement when one actually has the model in hand. Someone then can make a more valid conclusion based on having a real model and not depend on internet or on-line photographs on a computer or phone. Photos of pre-pros, demos, etc., can be risky, especially when drawing negative conclusions.

But there's one undeniable advantage for us in the USA - they will be at Target. So, no shipping cost! Taxes, well, that's another story.

Yes, I know, Mike, you keep saying that, and it's true that pre-production photos may not always be up to the finished standard. But you can look at good, clear photos of a particular model online or on the forums and see that it is a good crisp casting with decent detail, while another model looks relatively clunky. For the moment I have to stick with my first impression that these 1:43 Hot Wheels look like chunky little 1:64 models that have been simply scaled up without any subsequent "sharpening" or detail refinement.

MAR online have just posted some 1:64 models by an outfit called Mini GT and quite frankly their little Lambo looks sharper and better detailed than the 1:43 Hot Wheels effort.

I'll be happy to wait and see photos of finished specimens of the Hot Wheels cars, or to read reviews by someone here who has bought them - but I wouldn't be happy forking out good money for them just to find I was right all along. That's an expensive way of making a final judgment on a particular model!

Graeme, I think it is just that some people will draw final (usually negative) conclusions based solely on a photograph they have seen on-line. There are lots of ways that can go wrong ranging from eyes, computer, monitor, color temperature, room for viewing images, pre-production, camera/lens used, etc, etc. It is just that some people/collectors will not acknowledge variables and will refuse to publicly change a view. The variables can go all directions but they usually tend to be negatives ones that some might go with or believe.

From the video, the Lambo and the ZO6 Corvette ARE production items. The others are prototypes. One thing I noticed in the video is that the Corvette had weak paint at the doorlines, giving a darker tinge there. But, as stated, the proof will be in the physical pudding.

Posted by: @mikedetorrice

Graeme, I think it is just that some people will draw final (usually negative) conclusions based solely on a photograph they have seen on-line. There are lots of ways that can go wrong ranging from eyes, computer, monitor, color temperature, room for viewing images, pre-production, camera/lens used, etc, etc. It is just that some people/collectors will not acknowledge variables and will refuse to publicly change a view. The variables can go all directions but they usually tend to be negatives ones that some might go with or believe.

Right. Just to continue our interesting discussion, I'm not sure if online photos are any more likely to create negative impressions than positive ones. Manufacturers or sellers may post pictures of a mediocre model taken from the most flattering angle, in the best possible light, and we suckers might be tempted just as easily as we might be put off unnecessarily by a bad photo.

Trouble is, there are far fewer model shops than there used to be - certainly in this part of the world -  and collector swapmeets may be few and far between, or a long way away, so unless you are lucky enough to have an acquaintance nearby who owns a particular model, you have to buy on the basis of online pics, which are potentially deceptive in either a positive or a negative way. So if we really can't trust our judgement on the basis of those pics, we'd never buy anything! I think the answer is to look at a whole lot of those pics, not just one. Regardless of variations in lenses, monitors, lighting or whatever, if the model looks OK in most of them, it probably is probably OK. And if it looks a bit "off" in a number of shots (like some of Neo's bananas) we should trust our negative judgement.

In this case, mine was negative but I'm prepared to change my opinion if different and maybe better images emerge. We shall see.

@graeme-ogg Graeme brings up a good point: that we do not have enough face-to-face contacts anymore to judge how a model looks (hobby stores or swap meets/ toy shows).  That's why Forum 3 is so valuable (or one reason it is) - for us to talk about and show the models so others can decide to search them out or not.

Graeme/Mike/Harv - thanks for the back and forth comments.  It's fun to read and ponder all you comments.

Ona personal note, no matter how bad the HW new  1/43rds are, I will get a few (or all of them), just because they will be such rare beasts - 1/43 for sale at US commercial outlets by a US company!  😲