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RC2 1:18th Aston Martin Vanquish Review
4th May 2005
James Bond 007 Aston Martin DB5 Corgi Die-Cast CAR Casino Royale TY95303. AU $14.35 + shipping. Kyosho 1/12 Scale Diecast 08603S Aston Martin V12 Vanquish 007 James Bond. Nikko 1/16 Scale RC Radio Control James Bond 007 Aston Martin Vanquish. Corgi 1/36 Scale Model USS00011 - Aston Martin DB5 - Bond. Ronnie Corbett refers to Peter Lorre, who played LeChiffre in Climax!: Casino Royale (1954).
'Die Another Day' saw James Bond reunited with an AstonMartin after a three film stint with BMW. The 55 million dollardelay secured Bond in a Ford owned brand for the next few films.The first in 2002 saw 007 behind the wheel of a new Aston Martin- the V12 Vanquish.
Above: The 1:18th scale Aston MartinVanquish by RC2 |
| Exterior The metallic gun metal grey finish is flawless across themetal body. Two plastic components are an off colour - therear bumper and front grill bumper surround. This is alsotrue of the removable roof section that fits tightly. The chrome fins over the engine vents are well secured.All the additional detailing has been created out of plasticwith a chrome finish, window seals, wipers, aril and wingmirrors. Both wing mirrors are made out of a soft malleableplastic/rubber and detailed on top, including reflectivestickers. Two intake vents on the bonnet (hood) are punched throughthe metal, and they are textured and slide to allow themachine guns to pop out. |
All four tires are thinner, and the car's ride is higher as inthe film, due to the car being updated for driving on the ice.The brakes have a lightly stamped Aston Martin logo which addsa nice touch.
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RC2 1:18th Aston Martin Vanquish Review
4th May 2005
James Bond 007 Aston Martin DB5 Corgi Die-Cast CAR Casino Royale TY95303. AU $14.35 + shipping. Kyosho 1/12 Scale Diecast 08603S Aston Martin V12 Vanquish 007 James Bond. Nikko 1/16 Scale RC Radio Control James Bond 007 Aston Martin Vanquish. Corgi 1/36 Scale Model USS00011 - Aston Martin DB5 - Bond. Ronnie Corbett refers to Peter Lorre, who played LeChiffre in Climax!: Casino Royale (1954).
'Die Another Day' saw James Bond reunited with an AstonMartin after a three film stint with BMW. The 55 million dollardelay secured Bond in a Ford owned brand for the next few films.The first in 2002 saw 007 behind the wheel of a new Aston Martin- the V12 Vanquish.
Above: The 1:18th scale Aston MartinVanquish by RC2 |
| Exterior The metallic gun metal grey finish is flawless across themetal body. Two plastic components are an off colour - therear bumper and front grill bumper surround. This is alsotrue of the removable roof section that fits tightly. The chrome fins over the engine vents are well secured.All the additional detailing has been created out of plasticwith a chrome finish, window seals, wipers, aril and wingmirrors. Both wing mirrors are made out of a soft malleableplastic/rubber and detailed on top, including reflectivestickers. Two intake vents on the bonnet (hood) are punched throughthe metal, and they are textured and slide to allow themachine guns to pop out. |
All four tires are thinner, and the car's ride is higher as inthe film, due to the car being updated for driving on the ice.The brakes have a lightly stamped Aston Martin logo which addsa nice touch.
The taillights are clear with lots of characteristic detailing.This is also true of the headlights, which are made up of clearplastic and an inlay. The petrol cap is finished in chrome andinlayed into the metal body. The rear window has radiator linesand internal brake light. The under carriage of the car has afloor pan as seen in the film. The tail pipes of the exhaust systemproduce from the rear.
Interior
The trunk its finished in a black flat plastic, and a fireextinguisher can be found modelled into the detailing of the boot.All four seats are formed out of hard plastic with clean detailing.Both rear seats have soft seatbelts that have been stretched overthem. Clean modelling and silver detailing can be found on theinner panels on the doors and along side each of the rear seats.
Ejector seat button is very fiddly to activate. Once the chairhas been fired it launches a centimetre, and when resetting thechair you must ensure the spring is correctly positioned. Smallgold plaques are on the sills for both doors, the drivers sidealso features the hand break. The dashboard has three dials canwhich appear to be finely detailed stickers. A silver centre consolehas also received detailing in the form of sticker and red paint.
Detailing on the engine is average, with small name badges stampedin the correct place. Made up of several components , it formsan accurate representation at this scale. Finished in chrome andblack, you need to open the bonnet (hood) to open
the engine air intakes and pull the machine guns out.
Above: The packaging displays allof the Vanquish special features. |
Packaging
Clean collector friendly packaging the box has windows on fourfaces. A small montage of clips of the car is show on the frontand side faces. The rear face gives pictorial details of the gadgetsand a little information on the car. There are no instructionsexplaining how to work any of the gadgets or documentation onthe car and its famous role in 'Die Another Day'. Evenif included on the Q-CD it would have been a welcome addition.
The car comes taped up and screwed to a hard plastic base. Theplastic base fights snugly into the box and only allows the flapsto be closed in a securing order. There is no tape seal on theexternals of the box which ensures your don't damage itwhen removing the car.
Gadgets
- Retractable front grille panels to expose rockets and machineguns –activated by a small switches on the underside ofthe car. Once deployed the rockets appear from behind the lowercentral grill.
- Sliding intake covers – move these from under the bonnet(hood) which will allow the,
- Retractable guns that pop through the intake openings –these little guns fit through the intakes and rotate to givedifferent angles of fire.
- Passenger ejector seat – remove the roof first, andactivate. Its not powerful enough to launch the chair out ofthe roof, however is one of the better feature of the car. Replacingthe chair is fiddly, watch out for the spring.
- Working front steering – with a little effort the stiffsteering wheel can be turned thus moving turn the front tires.
- Independent suspension – all four wheels have a littlespringy given in them for the extra level of realism.
Q-Card
With RC2's second attempt at this new business card size CD-ROM,it features 2 wallpapers, an interactive gallery of stills anda 360 degree view of the car with images of the cars gadgets.The quality of the presentation and images are still poor, requiringa re-think.
| Overall If RC2 improve the Q-CD and continue this standard of qualitythroughout their Bond range with all extras, it will bea pleasant change to see the James Bond license being usedto a high standard. |
MI6 Rating
Rc Casino Royale Bar
Other Models
Joyride Entertainment (part of the RC2 group) secured the JamesBond license in 2004 and plan to release twelve cars over thetwo years. The range will visit a mixture of famous cars fromthe 20 film canon. The models are expected to retail at £34.99in the UK, and $39.99 in the USA (prices may vary). Updated releasedates are estimates and are subject to change. RC2 had a proposedBond 21 car for a 2005, but due to the film being moved to 2006its unclear what will happen. Expect a further six cars to beannounced in the near future.
