Model Review - Classic 2002 VX

[Aussiecollector]

New model Review

Manufacturer: CLASSIC HOLDEN
Car: Castrol 2002 Ingall
Price: $37.50 (Biante $45.00)
# Produced: 3000 (Biante lowest 5000 Kmart 2001)
Car Reviewed: No. 1962 of 3000

Weight : 30gms (Biante 60gms)
Height: 33mm (Biante 32mm)
Length: 117mm (Biante116mm)

Body shape overall: Classic car has much
larger appearance than that
of Biante, Mirror appears to
be way out of scale compared to
Biante.
Nose is more forward and arched
on Classic than Biante.
Rear wing is set 3mm higher than
Biante giving car much larger appearance than HRT Skaife

Paint Finish: Red (good) Green (good)
White (poor)

NOTE: White is applied over red and in some spots red has bled through at joins (such as boot body lines). Paint runs were visible at base of rear doors on model reviewed. White paint is also very thick to the point of filling in body lines.
Overall not bad. (Biante no faults sighted on model compared 2001 VX skaife)

Interior detail: Not bad, air duct does not line up
with window vent, the rest
looks good. (Biante VX does not
have same level of detail being 2001 car)

Tyres & Rims: Rims have more detail than
previous and tyres have good used effect. Tyres are much wider on
Perkins than on Biante.

Under floor detail: Classic is painted in all areas giving
semi realistic effect.

Packaging: Excellent, large box with good
quality outer cardboard cover, nice
mirror effect inside plastic box.
Well secured.

Certificate: Not bad.

Overall: HUGE improvement over previous
models, for not much more money.
The scales appear to still be a little
off the mark but hopefully they can
get the slide rule out and correct
this. When the two cars are
placed side by side the Classic
appears much wider and flatter
than the Biante and this will mean
that they will most likely have to be
displayed separately.

Strengths: Different Teams to Biante
Price
Display Value

Weakness: Paint finish
Possibly not to scale

This is just my observations on this new product and I encourage everybody to have a say on what will be an interesting second half of 2002 with all of the pending new releases.

I also have the Seton to review against the OO Motorsport Falcon, on first appearances the Falcon appears to be better than the Commodore but this may be due to the use of only one colour.

Cheers

Glenn

[David]

Not having seen the 2002 Biante cars , its a bit hard to make a comparison, however having seen both Holden and Ford CC's, some observations can be made.

Manufacturer is Classic Carlectables...NOT Classic Holden
Price difference of $7.50 becomes more justifyable the further you look.
Run of 3000 compared to 5000 is totally understandable considering the popularity of the teams and drivers quoted.

Weight. Is CC made of plastic?? Half the weight! Cant be right.
Height and Length someone is 43mm out of scale (1mm x 43 times) and I have seen Biante measuring cars at HRT, Adeliade and Darwin.

Body shape.
CC is way too wide from back door rearwards. Wing is too high by 6 inches. Ride height is too high and front of car is still not correct shape.

Paint,.

The car has has various colours applied in sections and then the other colours have been applied over the top resulting in the colours bleeding thru. Especially between the reds and whites.
Paint thickness is evident everywhere and results from using a large car painting process for smaller scales and this allows paint to run and fill in door and boot joins. Try painting a model with a real car spray gun.

Interior.

Is good. Lack of a window net is a cop out...if its to allow vision, have it folded down like the real car has..don't leave it off. Thats not accurate.
Tubes appear to be a late addition as they are not in the correct place for allowing air in. And it depends on which race as at some they run NO air vents or pipes. Check logo's against air pipes!

Tyre and Rims.

This car should win every race as it is running 14" wide tyres. 9" is legal guys. Rims look better than before.

Under floor.

I saw a picture of Lowndes Commodore upside down on the front of AA mag and the only thing that wasnt black was the fuel tank. Are we painting things pretty colours just to make them look better or to be accurate?

Packaging

Personal preference. I prefer to collect cars, not boxes or plastic stuff stuck on the base of models. If the model isnt what I want, the packaging doesnt make me buy it.

Certificate.

OK. But small.

Overall.

There had to be a huge improvement! And if its 'not for much more money', how come the old ones were costing so much.

The scale IS still wrong (I have also compared a Lowndes with a Seton) and this wont be corrected with a slide rule...its cast now and the only way to correct it is a new mold. They had to be displayed seperately last year and now they do again...have we achieved anything?

Strengths.

I cant see any.
Different teams, but who wants the lesser teams
Cheaper but not accurate
Display but I dont collect boxes
Value...not if its wrong and not a true replica

Weakness

Paint finish
NOT to scale
Wrong brake light
Expecting collectors to cop last years fuel fillers with a print over the top to try and hide it, mirrors 14" long, 2 gallon fuel tank etc etc.

Like they say...We aint fancy, but we're cheap.....Savada money!

[Aussiecollector]

David,
Thanks for pretty much repeating what I said, it was a review not a recommendation, the comaparsions against biante was to highlight the fact that in many ways the Biante is better.

Classic Holden is two words Classic manufacturer and holden as in not a Ford.

The measurements are correct and yes they are possibly wrong.

To say they don't have any first rate teams is wrong, and I doubt that you are a serious collector if this is the best excuse you can use not to buy models. Biante have Team Brock & Betta (are they not mid fielders).

If you love cars and motorsport you will collect them because they are available and they complete the set, better to have a full cabinet rather than one full of three teams.

And the crap about I buy cars not packaging, whats that all about, I made a comment about the packaging as it is part of the overall model.

As I said before this was a review not a recommendation, the threads on this forum were getting boring and no one has done review before.

I give all sorts of models a go, whether I buy another one of the same brand depends on what it looks like in comaparsion to the others. I don't do my comparisons in the store.

Glenn

[drof]

Hi Guys, is it at all possible to finish once and for all, all the Threads that Bag,compare or any other matching of CC's and Biante. I know this is a model forum, but i am sick and tired of all of it. Aussie Collector if the CC's dont match Biante quality dont buy them, are you on a browny points system with Biante were you get discounts for bagging the opposition? I collect both but dont bag any of them because i am happy with any V8 Supercar Model.
I'm pretty sure that all the team at Biante are just as sick of the same old topics rearing there ugly heads time after time. The team at Biante will be quite aware of what the opposition cars are like and will have pulled one apart to make sure that they are one step ahead of the opposition, this is called Business!!
So I think your thread would be of more use on the CC's site so they could take all your observations onboard so that future releases adhere to your High Standard,measurements and paint quality.

Regards

Dave from Kiwiland!!

[V8SS]

Glenn,
Thanks for your review. I enjoyed it and found it very comprehensive. I've seen these new models and even though they may not have reached the detail of Biante, it is a big improvement and as I collect Russell Ingalls cars, I'm happy with the improvement. I'll be interested to hear what you think about the paint quality on the Seton car as from my brief look at it, it looked rather poor in comparison to the Castrol car.
I'm also pleased that Classic are releasing all the other "minor" teams as not everyone supports HRT. I'll be waiting for the Team Kiwi car later in the year.
Looking forward to your next review.

[the_goldie]

Glenn,

Good 'review'. Having seen these models at Parramatta (will the eels win this week????????) I did not look as closely as you obviously have. At first look I thought the Ingall car looked pretty good (except for the tyres), but obviously it has some faults. It is good to see CC making better cars, maybe one day they will get it all to scale.

Are you going to review the new BIANTE models??? Still waiting to see what the 2002 Holdens will be like. The Lowndes car looks good from the pics, but I think you might have a keener eye than myself ;)

cheers.

[Aussiecollector]

Goldie and V8SS finally two guys that have read and understand the Meaning of a Review.

Drof,

Do you read before you type, its a review, "Christ" do I need to type in the meaning of review from the dictionary.

And as I said to David, I collect all models and unlike some of you I buy them, take them home, look at them, if I don't like them I don't buy anymore.

Your Comment;
Aussie Collector if the CC's dont match Biante quality dont buy them, are you on a browny points system with Biante were you get discounts for bagging the opposition? I collect both but dont bag any of them because i am happy with any V8 Supercar Model.

Mate you obviously have not been on this forum before, because I have been giving it to Biante for the last 12 months.

How is this review a bagging. (its a Review)

Please read it carefully before you place your foot in your mouth in future.

As stated previously "Its a review not a recommendation or a bagging" I purchased them and I have looked at them and this is my unbiased subjective review of the models at hand, the comparision (biante in brackets) was used to highlight some of the differences between the two (nothing more nothing less). I could have done a straight up comparison but this would be unfair to Biante as we do not have the 2002 product as yet.

Next time I will place a waiver at the bottom of the review so
e v e r y b o d y c a n r e a d i t.

Common lets make this Forum interesting, reviews are good as we all collect cars and some of us can not buy every car just to review it, I am lucky I can.

To the guys that liked it "Thanks" I may do another one for the Fords on the weekend.

Glenn

[The Judge]

Thank's AC the review was excellent.....though I don't buy CC's, I found the info useful.
Is there any chance you doing some reviews on some other manufacturers, for example Minichamps?

[perry]

AussieCollector, your efforts are appreciated, keep up the good work.

[SWRT]

Well Aussiecollecter,
Will you be doing a comparision between this years CC Steve Johnson 1/43 and Biante Steve Johnson 1/43?????

[Aussiecollector]

With the exception of Drof (i have apologised to drof directly for my comments) and one or two others most seemed to think that a review (suedo) comparison is a good thing as long as it does not degrade into a bagging.

And I assure you that was never my intention I was bored with the forum and thought that a review was something that had not been done before and might go down ok with the other users. A review from anybody will always be subjective as it is one persons view, but I never said don't go and buy CC product because of the things I found I just wanted other collectors to be aware of some of the faults that may be on all 3000 cars. And if it helped somebody to get a better finished car well we have achieved something in the forum.

I look forward to all feedback and in future I will not respond until I have had a coffee and settled down.

Glenn