Back in April, I blogged about Classic Carlectables’ 2012 Bathurst cars, including the two ‘retro’ racers from FPR and 888 (click HERE to view).
Well, the two Apex FG Falcons arrived a while back, so a direct comparison can now be made.
Put simply, the Apex version is clearly the winner… and it would want to be at about 30% more expensive; RRP is a hefty $70(!).
Apex’s DJR ‘Tru-Blu’ Norton tribute car, which only appeared on the Sunday at last year’s Bathurst 1000The model was based on the initial ‘presentation’ version, in which case the wheels should be a much shinier alloy finishBut then on race day it appeared like thisApex’s 2nd placed Bottle-O Falcon in dark metallic green. Metallic paint is always an issue in miniature, but the Apex factory has done a pretty good job on this one (better than what my photo is showing)While these models are far superior to the Classics version, they’re not perfect. They have a really good stance on the display plinth, but when unscrewed for display in the model cabinet, I found they have fat lugs cast into the base plate (visible under the model in the pic above). This means some of the wheels don’t actually touch the ground. A bit of grinding will fix the problem, but it would be good if this was addressed for future releases – perhaps the lugs should be built into the plinth (rather than the model), or have removable spacers like Spark use?The two Apex models with their Classics buddies ~ The 2012 Bathurst “Retro Scheme” Collection ~
Production figures for these ‘one off’ resin race versions are:
Moffat/Davison ‘Tru-Blu – 840 pieces
Reynolds/Canto ‘Bottle-O’ – 720 pieces
wixy500 rating (out of 5):
Collectability – 4.3 (unique one-off Bathurst cars with lowish production numbers – but neither won, and they weren’t driven by a ‘legend’)
