The afterthought of CMS Subaru STI Impreza Collection

I imported a full set 1/64 CMS Subaru Impreza STI Collection from Japan yesterday and it is a long story. When I first read about this collection in a Japan online shop, I gave a loud groan and hit my head on my desk. Subaru again? No Porsche, no Honda? Did CMS read my blog entry?I told myself, "Give CMS the benefit of the doubt, the photographs of the STI Impreza could be beautiful."

After seeing the first 14 pictures, I groaned again because they are nice but not special. I was thinking to myself, "14 down and 2 to go; then I can kiss this set goodbye.". Then, CMS threw me a curveball. The 15th and 16th model cars in the collection are STI Impreza GRB Blue Mica and GRB Pearl Black, nice change and two bright spots in the collection.

I ordered a set because of the GRB and I was ready to eat the other 14 model cars for dinner if they have no takers. The GRB model cars do not disappoint, they are excellent work: brilliant metallic paint and fine interior details.

This experience tells me one thing: CMS throws in few good cars with average ones and expects vendors to pay for them. The good cars sell for good price but we are stuck with the bad ones.

CMS employs the same practice with the new Subaru WRC set (June, 2009). Of the 15 cars, at least 12 are old cars along with Impreza WRC 2007 Mexico and Impreza WRC 2008 Japan.

This is a scary trend and I pray it will stop someday.

Kyosho Porsche ver. 3 Part 2

I got my Kyosho Porsche ver. 3 full set (30 pieces) on Tuesday evening. Technically, it is not a full set because the secret car, 911 GT3 RS Silver, is not there. For consolation, the quality of 911 GT3 RS Orange, Green and Black is so good that I would not trade any of them for the secret car. Well, I just have to keep my eye on the secret car in Japan and get it for a fair price.

The mistery of 911 Turbo is also revealed; the two 911 Turbo series in ver. 3 are 911 Turbo (964) and 911 Turbo (996) respectively. My favourite 911 Turbo (964) is the metaillic red one, cannot get my eye off it; the color and the shine complement each other incredibly well.



I also find 356A Speedster Ivory and 911R Ivory a pleasant surprise. Thank goodness, Kyosho does not paint 356A Speedster and 911R with the same white color of 911SC. I am not fond of 911SC white because it looks dirty even when it is brand new.

In overall, the car choices are excellent, we have classic cars (356A Speedster and 914), contemporary cars (911 Turbo (996) and Cayman S) and race cars (911 GT1 and 936). On the scale of 1 to 10, this is a perfect 10.