This model was years in the making but the boys are High Performance Diecast have finally released the production version of their promised 1:18 metal and opening McLaren 765LT! Two colour options are available, they include Grey and Blue, each of which is limited to 600 pieces.
Product# HPD18001 / HPD18002
I don’t know what took so long, especially to only have 2 colors available out of the 6 expected. But I’ll give them credit. It looks as promised. All the interior textures as well as specific 2 tone accents for each color and patterns. Looks like a must have
No diecast collector of the month for June ?
To be honest, we forgot! Been working on website back end maintenance, hasn’t been going well…
Thank you, but … no, thank you for now, unless a review proves better. Some of that diecast effort does not look “high performance” at all. Mind the panel gaps ! And on the turquoise one the paint was literally dripping underneath the rear end’s McLaren script.
I see what you mean. There are alot of gaps. Almost seems as though they used too many separate parts. Maybe if should have combined some panels in to one mould with a panel line. That would decrease the amount of noticeable gaps. The paint does look a bit thick. But I’m still impressed with all the patterns replicated in the seats while not sacrificing the alcantara effect just to do it. I was kinda disappointed with BBR when I got my diecast Maserati mc20 and found out the seat and door patterns were just a decal. There also appears to be some texture replicated in the engine bay. And the various sizes and shapes and angles of the mclarens mesh ventilation looks accurately produced
By the way Karsten that isn’t a drop of paint hanging under the rear mclaren badging. It’s the mount for the rear backup camera just over the license plate.
To me this looks really promising. Maybe the other colors will come later.
I wonder, if this model will make it to Europe. I contacted them long time ago but didn’t get any response…
I messaged them on Facebook and they said they don’t have anyone in the UK selling them at the moment.
Tempted by it as it looks great in chicane grey and I can’t see anyone else releasing one (and I don’t like the GT Spirit) but the shipping costs are huge.
They have 4 more colors coming eventually but who knows when they will be available. The best options haven’t been completed yet in my opinion. There’s orange with orange accents on the interior, a deep metallic red, a dark metallic purple, and metallic lime green with a carbon fiber front bonnet
Questionable effort. Most boring two colours they could have picked. Massive panel gaps, and rear ride height is 4×4 territory
The rear ride height does look a touch high. A lot of the models on their website are LCD so I wonder if that’s who is actually manufacturing these? Their 600LT has a similar problem, and I sort of regret buying it as the AutoArt looks much better. If AA had announced this already I’d be waiting but there’s no sign of it yet and McLaren have already facelifted the 720S it’s based on as the 750S…
I really like the lcd mclaren. They did a better job on the interior and the taillights than autoart in my opinion. But no high performance diecast is not lcd. High performance diecast is actually an American model manufacturer. They popped up like almost 10 years ago or so with pre production sample photos of a diecast fully opening koenigsegg Agera R I’m pretty sure. It looked real promising. Definitely gave the impression it was going to be a better effort than Autoarts releases with the flimsy door mechanism and the awful parts molded to look like carbon fiber. But they suddenly scrapped it and disappeared… until recently. I guess they are making another effort to establish themselves in this ndustry
LCD did a better job in some areas but on the important stuff – the way it actually looks on a shelf – the AA looks miles better. It’s sharper and has a more accurate stance.
And I know HPD are American but they look more like a retailer rather than a manufacturer, at least from their website. Open to being corrected of course but I’d put money on them subcontracting the design/manufacture of their models in the same way that (I believe) Minichamps make BBR’s F1 Ferraris, or Sum’s make models for other manufacturers than Almost Real. Designing and especially manufacturing takes a significant amount of specialised skills and equipment.
I understand, you might be right. I just feel like those skills and equipment, and most importantly finances, might be the reason they failed on their first attempt to produce a model. And also may be the reason this model has released just colors about 2 years later than planned. The other colors expected arrival dates are too spread out. Especially for fairly low production of each color. LCD models should be capable of more efficient manufacturing if that’s who’s making it. For the longest time HPD had nothing on there website. I think they needed something to put themselves out there while this model kept being delayed. They have more than just LCD products. I saw Facebook feed from them to I think motorhelix trying to collaborate on some tooling for a model which brands do often to safe money. I could be wrong, I just if LCD or anyone established was making their model that information would be out there by now. No one besides diecast society and HPD themselves had any information at all about it. It wasn’t on ebay for pre-sale… no other distributors in the world advertised it or sold pre-orders. Like everyone was just waiting to see if they were going to actually come through this time… just my take on it.
I wish HPD would do the Koenigsegg Agera R like they said they would in 1/18 Diecast
you can see from that that the mold is already out of date… those gaps in the panels are terrible
even Solido’s models look high-end compared to that
At first, I was not impressed neither by this scale model nor by its grey color.
Then I saw a very nice and detailed review of it by Diecast Den on YouTube.
With deeper inspection, I seemed to clearly notice LCD Models’ roots in this scale model. Its light blue color (very similar to LCD Models’ McLaren 600LT) looks more interesting to me (than grey), and 765LT itself is more interesting than 600LT – with its shape and a lot of perforated grilles.
Talking about the perforated grilles, you can find perforated grilles even in the big cave behind the doors. These grilles can be seen only when the doors are open, otherwise they are hidden – and, still, they are perforated!
I was using a flashlight to see what’s behind the perforated grilles. Mostly there are dark plastic, but in some places (e.g. in the rear end) one may see just empty space and then dark plastic.
Talking about the exhausts, in reality they do have some depth, so they are not that flat as it seems on the photos. Also, the engine details in the bottom are not that flat as well, they are within a recess.
The suspension is working for the front and rear wheels, even though the front wheels have shorter way of suspension.
Also, the engine actually has two removable covers, thus allowing direct access to the part of the engine under the inner cover.
To sum up, I believe it is a better (at least, more interesting and similarly refined) model than the LCD’s 600LT, and probably the best scale model of a modern McLaren up to date.
I’d be glad to see a scale model of a modern 4-seat Porsche 911 with this level of details and accuracy in this exact or very similar light blue color!