Finally! I received a few models and as soon as I’m done with shooting, research, writing and editing, I’ll post the reviews 😎😎😎.
New reviews coming!
Category: Miscellaneous
W-143 is 6 years old!
On June 14th, W-143 celebrated our sixth anniversary! Boy, time flies… I still remember the beginning, with me struggling to understand how to make a blog. I wasn’t certain of how it should look or what kind of “features” a 1:43 model blog should have. Not that I know all that now, but what I was/am certain about is what kind of content I wanted to present. Just like what it says on top of the page, W-143 is all about the models, with reviews and a little bit of info on the real deals. And that’s what I will continue offering 🍻.
Top 5 – 2024
Oh well, there goes 2024… You know the the expression “time flies”? I’m certain you already heard it. However, trust me, it only acquires meaning after you reach a certain age. And yes, I’m already over that age. The year came and went and here am I writing a new Top 5 list. The year of 2024 was a bit rough, with few new models. Specially in terms of Le Mans cars. It started out slow, totally stopped by mid-year and only got going in the second semester. There were months that I didn’t get a single new model…🙄 Even so, as of this writing, the W-143 Garage is at 560 models. It was a slim year, however good enough to make the Top 5 Models of 2024 list (in chronological order):
1️⃣ First things first: even to me it sounds a bit weird to post a van in a Top 5 list. Nonetheless, Ixo did a heckuva job on the model and it looks FANTASTIC with my Quattro S1 E2 towed behind. As I said before, a shame Ixo doesn’t also make Le Mans’ service vehicles.
2️⃣ This one is easy to justify: GRAIL MODEL, period. The Delta is one of my all-time favorite cars, and a rally version, from Spark? Puh-leeze, just take my money.
3️⃣ Another rally car? And a Toyota 🤨?!? As I’m certain you noticed by now, I’m always complaining about dull liveries. Yeah, those bland, flavorless and boring red-white-black-silver corporate affairs that big manufacturers insist for their cars. And here you have a works car from Toyota (yes, TOYOTA!) with a cool off-the-wall livery. Awesome!
4️⃣ Rexy: a Porsche painted as a green T-Rex racing at La Sarthe. The coolest Le Mans livery of all times? If not, in my humble opinion certainly one of the Top 5. No doubt, like the Pink Pig or the Calder BMW, one of the greatest.
5️⃣ This one is also very easy to explain: the first Porsche that won at Le Mans. With the 356 Gmünd Coupe, Porsche began it’s long relation with La Sarthe. And finally, in the second semester of 2024 Spark released their version of the car. Another case of take-my-money.
Happy New Year!!!
Gone is 2024, and here comes 2025! I sincerely hope you all have a fantastic 2025, with lots of health and accomplishments!
Cheers!!! 😁
Shop Tour 2024 2.0
The last update I posted was in the beginning of the year, and as expected, my shop grows 😎. So, what’s new? I think that the biggest news is that I bought a circular hand saw. From Bosch, it’s a GKS 18v-57: 18v and with a 165 mm blade. Not the biggest of blades but for my needs perfect, and with a custom track guide that I made, just awesome. Though I was salivating for a circular hand saw for some years, I have to say it was not my best acquisition this year. That would be the GDR 12v-110 impact wrench. Also from Bosch, 12v and small, and yet let me tell you: I should have bought one years ago. One of those tools that you really don’t need, but once you have one, you don’t know how could you have lived without it. Damn how it simplifies and speed up a LOT of jobs!
Moreover, I also got a small auxiliary work bench (Worx WX01), since my 40+ years old Black & Decker one was kind of tired (and a bit crooked 😁). Besides that, more clamps, an anvil (made from a train track section!), new wall signs, a new drill set and other small stuff. Oh, and I almost forgot: with the GKS 18v-57 I made a couple of stools. In fact, one of them I made specifically for the shop. With wheels, now I can role around the shop with my butt firmly seated 😂. All in all, a productive year for my little shop.
Merry Christmas, guys!
Hope everybody has a great Christmas, full of joy and surrounded by loved ones! And of course, new models!
🎅🤶
Race report: my time at the 6 Hours of São Paulo 2024
It took a while, yet I finally finished my race report. There were a lot of photos to edit, which unfortunately, most were too crappy to use. In my humble opinion, cell phones are made to make phone calls, not great photos 😣. Either I’m right or too old to learn otherwise, the fact is that I need a reflex camera to make decent shots. Nonetheless, I managed a few (half) decent ones, and they are now ready to show. I also did a write-up on our whole experience, without being too boring (or trying to, at least). So if you wanna see some photos of the race or read about how it felt like, click HERE.
Shop tour!
Been a while since I posted an update about how my small shop is shaping up. The big news is that I finally (!) bought a router 🤩! From Makita and battery-operated (18v), the DRT50Z is a very decent piece of kit. I also bought a set of bits from Bosch, which I think will cover most of my needs. However, these bits are 1/4″, and Makita ships the DRT50Z with two collets, in 6 and 8 mm sizes 🙄. Therefore, I had to order a 1/4″ (6,35 mm) collet, that arrived today. This afternoon I tried it out on some scraps of wood and the end result looked great.
Can’t say I have any specific job for a palm router right now, yet I’m looking forward to making wood chips fly 😁.
And how is Forza Motorsports doing?
Well, Turn10 fixed most (all?) of the stability issues. Therefore, currently it’s totally playable without you wanting to throw the XBox out the window. There still are some “missing” features, like no damage in single player – if you flip (!!) the car nothing breaks 🙄. Frustrating, if you want more realism. Graphics are still sketchy in some parts, and the livery editor is the same neolithic thing of 10 years ago. Yet, worse of all, is if you setup a race session with multiple cars, sometimes a few cars are rendered like a chassis base with four wheels with the pilot sitting inside 😣. Totally ridiculous.
With all that, and specially having EA WRC at hand, I’m not playing much. The game is (now) essentially OK, however I got so pissed at it in the beginning that currently I can’t be bothered about it 😕.
Top 5 – 2023
Another year gone, my hair is whiter, my back complains more and it’s time for the Top 5 models of the year. The 2023 collecting year was pretty good, and I got some VERY nice models. And at the time of this writing, the W-143 Garage now consists of 531 models 😯. I guess that the biggest news is that I officially added a Rally Wing to the W-143 Garage. I can’t say that now I’m a “rally collector”, because I won’t buy a lot of stuff. However I will try to get some specific models that speak to my heart. So, to list them in chronological order, here are my Top 5 Models of 2023:
1️⃣ The 1992 905 is a Le Mans winner (= must buy) that eluded me for a few years. One of those models that are hard to find for no obvious reasons – it looks the same as the 1993 winner 🤔. Nonetheless, I finally got one!
2️⃣ Ooooh, a Looksmart. Considered to be one of the top premium brands in 1:43, I was dying to see what it offered. A beautiful model of a class-winning car, however just Spark-good at 150% Spark’s price. Very nice, but too expensive.
3️⃣ When Minichamps wants to, they make a killer Silberpfeil. In this case, Bernd Rosemeyer’s Typ Lucca. Just when I thought I wouldn’t get any more Silberpfeile, Minichamps comes out with this gem.
4️⃣ The Breadvan. Didn’t even finish one Le Mans race, yet it represents a few guys that got fed up with Old Man Enzo’s wife 🤣. Only in Italy… Comedy aside, the model is g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s, possibly THE nicest I have.
5️⃣ Of course I had to put a rally car in this list. I got some nicer models this year, no doubt (Mini, Quattro, etc). However, the “Safari Delta” made the list because it was the first Ixo rally car I bought. And I was thoroughly impressed by what they can offer at a very low price.