I recently bought this Maisto Highway Haulers scale model. It doesn’t have a specific name, but I’m calling it a car carrier.
Maisto Highway Haulers car carrier
Tag: maisto
Maisto 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air
I bought this Maisto 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air because I’ve lately developed a fondness for 1950’s American cars and because its quality is quite good considering its low price. Its scale is not indicated but it seems to be around 1:64.
At around 90 Philippine pesos (currently US$ 1.80), this scale model is a good buy. The metallic yellow orange body is made of metal; the rest of the car is made of plastic. The glossy black upper part of the body (the boot, the roof, and the windows) is a single piece of plastic. The signs of quality are the silver accents on the front, the sides, and the hood; the colored Chevrolet emblems at the front and the rear; the front and rear bumpers that are separate pieces of plastic; and the engraved number 12011 at the underside of the car.
The wheels have a pretty cheap feel, and the look of the car would have been better if the black color was matte instead of glossy. But at this low price, I’m not complaining.
2001 Dodge Super 8 Hemi Concept
I normally don’t buy Maisto Fresh Metal scale models because of their rough details, but I had to buy this 2001 Dodge Super 8 Hemi Concept because it is a car that I never see other toy companies make. (Hotwheels did a mainline version of it in 2005, but it was a Drop Tops version.)
I recently bought this at a 10% discount. Instead of the usual price of around 90 pesos, I got it for around 81 pesos (currently around US$ 1.66).
Maisto Fresh Metal Forces 3.0
When I started seriously collecting scale models (a.k.a. toy cars) around 18 years ago, there were practically no scale model military vehicles for sale. But there have been quite a few in the past few years, although these tended to be of low quality and made of plastic. A few years ago I had some luck and was able to buy some nice quality military vehicles. Today was the first time I saw these Maisto Fresh Metal Forces vehicles.
There were two kinds for sale: The 3.0 series (around 3 inches in length) cost around 100 pesos each, and the 4.5 series (around 4.5 inches in length) cost around 300 pesos each. These two tanks that I bought had “traditional camouflage” paint and are from the 3.0 series, the other tanks from the 4.5 series that were on sale had “snow camo” paint.
More Maisto: Fresh Metal
I previously blogged about some Maisto: Fresh Metal models that I have.
Since then, I’ve gotten a few more: a dark blue Rosewood (the earlier one was light brownish-yellow) and a Knuckle Dragger. I like that they are in window boxes; it allows me to inspect them more closely without destroying the package. The one on the left is an Octo-Blitzer. If you look at the Maisto catalog, you will see that Maisto is making some effort to create some weird-looking vehicles. Of these, I like Skool Bust, Skooter, and Octo-Blitzer (and perhaps the SpeedDawg; I haven’t seen one of these yet). The others are just too ugly (they’re so ugly that they’re ugly).
Maisto Volkswagen Beetles
I just bought two Maisto Volkswagen Beetles. These usually sell for around 80 pesos each, but there was a 10% discount on the day I bought them. Both are made in China and have metallic paint, black plastic windows, metal bodies, and plastic bases.
School buses
Aside from collecting weird-looking vehicles, my wife and I also like to collect scale models of school buses. A recent addition is the Siku US School Bus #1319 shown on the left which I bought in Rustan’s in Alabang for around 180 pesos.
Shown above are some Maisto school buses. (I mentioned the one on the left in a previous post.)
The Matchbox GMC School Bus shown above left is really beautiful. It and the Hot Wheels School Bus shown above right come in many variations.
We currently have three versions of the Hot Wheels Surfin’ School Bus. We bought the one above without a card. It seems to be a 2005 Red Lines Series collector number 96 made in Malaysia. The pictures in the cards below show the ridiculously small lone door.
Maisto: Fresh metal
(Originally posted at http://joelnoche.multiply.com/journal/item/70/Maisto-Fresh-metal on September 9, 2011 2:11 AM)
One company that I think collectors of diecast scale models should watch out for is Maisto. I’m particularly interested in their Fresh Metal line because their cars here are cheaper than comparable Hot Wheels (right now, 80 pesos versus 100 pesos) and, because the ones locally available are in window boxes, I can play with them without destroying the packaging.
The ones I have so far are Skool Bust, Skooter, Leadslinger, Whiplash, and Rosewood (shown above, from left to right).
Joel Reyes Noche 