The hardest product to design is when you are dealing with a vehicle that hasn't been released, as you have nothing to look at accept for the CAD. Now some would say having the CAD makes it a lot easier and at larger scales I would agree, but as you come down to smaller scales having the CAD is challenging. Often we get the CAD of the actual vehicle, but there are confidentiality clauses so we have to be so careful. I have to try and capture the shape but at a smaller scale, the interface of components and how they 'connect' also becomes an issue. Sometimes I just look at a model vehicle design and know it looks wrong (visual), but trying to explain why (logical) is not always as easy. If you had lots of images of the real thing then just taking a few pictures would make it so easy.

The Jaguar F Pace fell into this category (code 76JFP) , but we got there eventually. Having the CAD shape agreed, we are now left with the delicacies of the split lines on the slides of the mould, which causes further debate. The four slides come together and at that point there is a 'witness line', have a look at any Oxford Diecast vehicle and see if you can see where they are. Some are invisible, others aren't and it can be often to do with the way the paint is formulated - the pigments. Some flow, other don't and are flat - they are often the worst - in my experience yellows and greens.

This is something for Oxford to decide and it can be a problem when you deliver a painted sample to the brand owner for approval - with a witness mark where the slides meet. I first encountered the problem in the mid-eighties with a Volvo no matter what i did to the mould after a few thousand shots - the witness line would re-appear.

• What' s that line there ?
• Why did you do it like
• I wouldn't have done it that way

Many can be so wise in hindsight. Fortunately the Jaguar F Pace is a beautiful looking car and creating this model vehicle was challenging, but worth all the effort.

   

These are the pre-production samples of the 76JFP001 in Ultimate Black

This is the second release in white the 76JFP002 - pre-productions sample.

So the 76JFP002 will release some time in April.

I find it amusing to hear other companies talking about Design Cells, there is a story of why we created this - but it will wait for another time.....

See what went wrong - the simple things sent to test us.

76JFP001 Design Cell - (Incorrectly coded as 76JXP001) grrr.......

 

 

For years I had this vision of seeing a line of Triumph TR's on a plinth, my mind works in 1's, 3's, 5's,7's and 10's.  

 

 

Back in 1961 you could have picked up one of these beauties for £1,000, which seems a snip at the price for a car that could hit 110mph. Over 40,000 were built - I just dream of the day that we could have cars like this rolling of the production lines in the UK - who knows.

So I am pleased that the first of the Oxford Diecast TR's, the TR4 (76TR4001) will be releasing next week.

The Oxford Construction range was announced in the last year. This means that there will be a build up of products in this category over the coming years. We started with Komatsu - the 76KOM001 Short Boom PC340 and the 76KOM002 Long Boom Komatsu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

76KOM001 Short Boom Komatsu Already Released

  

76KOM002 Long Boom Komatsu Already Released

 

In April 2017 we have the following 1:76 models arriving:

          

76LAN2016 Series II Land Rover LWB                         76FT027 Ford Transit SWB

Also in development are the very interesting Excavators which are in various levels of tooling. The 1st two being the modern JCB 3CX Eco Backhoe Loader and the earlier JCB Major Loader Mk1 Excavator. Shots are off the mould and modifications have been made to deal with weight distribution when lifting arms are extended.

             

763CX001 JCB 3CX Eco Backhoe        76ML1001 JCB Major Loader Mk1 Excavator

In January 2017 we announced the additional 1:76 scale excavator.

76JS220 JCB JS220 Major Loader Mk1 Excavator.

We also announced at the same time we advised that we also had in tooling the JCB 531 70 Loadall

76LDL001 JCB 531 70 Loadall

I can also confirm that both of these above two items are well ahead with 1st shots off the moulds that appeared in March 2017.

The last item in the range is the Mercedes Actros Semi Low Loader JCB

 

 

 

76MB010 Mercedes Actros Semi Low Loader JCB

Why do we have two different colour canvases on the 1:43rd scale Land Rover Series 1?

It is because we went to Gaydon to colour match the canvas of HUE 166, which we thought was an excellent idea. However it was 2007 and we did colour match the canvas, but 2008 was the 60th anniversary of Land Rover and guess what someone decided to replace the canvas. We had matched to the weathered canvas, but the new restored canvas (which took place after our visit) was a different shade. We launched the LAN180001 with the faded canvas and the LAN180001P with the darker canvas, but only because I had already made the wrong colour canvas at the factory(or the right colour depending on your position).

The 76LAN180001, the smaller version is one of the most popular Land Rovers we have released in our diecast vehicle range, as it was the 1st Land Rover it has special place in history.

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