We have a look at three new models/colours upcoming from team AUTOart. The first from Nissan is a rare Signature series car in 1:18 scale and also a rare full diecast metal exterior shell, it is the Nissan R390 GT1 Lemans 1998 in White. It is a limited edition piece of 500 worldwide. She will be joined by a Black version and alternative livery piece. Suggested retail $389CND.
Two more models include the stunning 1:18 Lamborghini Huracan Performante in exterior colour Giallo Inti/Pearl Effect Yellow. And last we have the 1:12 Signature McLaren P1 in Volcano Red. Suggested retail $569CND.
Product# 89877 / 79155 / 12243
That Nissan looks gorgeous! Fingers-crossed AUTOart will keep metal alive, even if it is only for the Signature Series.
On the one hand I am excited for the R390, but then I saw the price… I mean seriously? Isn’t this just the old R390 mold (which you could get für 150-200€) recycled and slightly updated (hence why it’s diecast).
The same thing already bothered me with the upcoming Skyline Super Silhouette model.
Anyone know the ETA on the race livery on the R390? I have been waiting on it for years.
Finally I’m having the 1:18 Nissan R390 GT1 (in black) in my arms. The details are amazing, especially the motor & suspension details. This only model can ashame today’s composite line with its simplified engine details, exactly as stated here:
https://diecastsociety.com/autoart-then-now/
However, this Nissan is not all good. I’ve noticed that the doors’ telescoping struts are connected to the thin plastic juts. It is exactly the same situation as in AutoArt’s McLaren F1 where the thin plastic jut is used as a part of the engine cover and a telescoping strut is connected to that jut. And that plastic jut had cracked one day on my 1:18 model and, according to our forum, there was at least one another collector who faced the very same breakage.
That returns me to my question related to this thin plastic jut in the 1:18 Maclaren F1: how stupid one must be to use a fragile plastic as a part of a moving mechanism?
Now, having the same situation in the 1:18 Nissan R390 GT1, I can extend this question: is there some permanent stupidity of AutoArt’s engineers that makes them to use thin fragile plastic details as parts of moving mechanisms? Shouldn’t it be obvious that this will lead to breakage?
On a positive note, Nissan R390 GT1 has very interesting curved windows, and as AutoArt uses transparent plastic for windows, all of the windows keep their form and fit perfectly. I especially like the side windows with their curved base and also curved bottom-to-top line. This very differs from resin models where thin films are used for windows and these films are regularly unglued and/or become wavy. So a question: is there some permanent stupidity of resin models’ engineers that makes them to use these thin films instead of plastic, thus leading to all of these problems with unglueing and waving?