ManiacalTyrant

Link.

Recognize these pictures, perchance?

-  mwyc; What do volleyball-playing guys like…?! says: (10:24:34 PM)

omfg

-  mwyc; What do volleyball-playing guys like…?! says: (10:24:37 PM)

D<

ManiacalTyrant/Calvin says: (10:24:56 PM)

?

-  mwyc; What do volleyball-playing guys like…?! says: (10:25:06 PM)

My dad joined Facebook

-  mwyc; What do volleyball-playing guys like…?! says: (10:25:07 PM)

wtf

ManiacalTyrant/Calvin says: (10:25:14 PM)

LINK NAO

ManiacalTyrant/Calvin says: (10:25:18 PM)

NAAAAAO

The Hotwheels Elite 599 model in 1:18 scale is actually surprisingly good. When you think Hot Wheels, you probably think cheap, American, little diecast toys with tracksets, right? Their 1:18 models have never been much good, but they secured the exclusive rights to most modern Ferrari cars. Their new ‘Elite’ line is supposed to be of higher quality, with better details, paint, and casting. 

To be honest, I was surprised when I inspected the model. It was on-par with models from AUTOart and Kyosho, which was amazing. My only gripe is that the wheels are too small. I measured it, and it’s about 1 scale inch off. So, it deserved some good photos, which I did. I try to have a different backdrop and ‘theme’ for each of my models, and I felt the Ferrari needed some ‘showroom’ feel to it, so I used the top of my piano and some black/ purple bristolboard as background. Under proper lighting conditions, I felt I nailed the look. Didn’t I?

Tis’ what I’ve been doing for the past day or two:

Only 28 days left on Photoshop CS4 Trial Version. Must make moar.

For some reason, I haven’t been using tags with my posts. Ever. In the beginning, I was just like ‘screw it’. Some time later, I was looking at everyone’s blog and everyone else had them, and I almost started using them. Then, I just said ‘screw it’ again. I wonder why. Am I too lazy to do this? Or is it too tedious? Maybe there are already too many un-tagged posts on this blog.

Yeah, I’ll go with that.

(PS. That’s the picture I originally used to make the little avatar/ banner thing I’ve been using since forever.)

Look, the butt-ugly 370Z is going on sale soon. Nissan recently released information on their new sports car, stating that prices will start $29,930 US. No doubt they’re going to advertise the car in the ‘under $30,000′ category. Sneaky Japanese Nissan manufacturers.

Fully loaded models will probably be in the $40,000 range.

Volkswagon is apparently going to join the ‘Smart’ car foray with it’s new entry, the Up! Family Car. I’m not joking. This is its name. Seriously. The Up! Family Car. Since ‘Smart’ cars need to be small, safe, and fuel efficient, the Up! Family Car is supposed to use a 2 cylinder turbodiesel engine.

Since the Up! Family Car’s main competitor is the Smart Fortwo, I’m guessing it will try to beat the Fortwo diesel’s world’s-best fuel economy rating (2.2L/ 100km, or 71 mpg). Also, what the heck is with the name? It’s definitely not big enough for one to look ‘up’ at, and it’s definitely not a ‘family’ car, unless you’re a dwarf. No offense to those people with weird diseases.

On the plus side, at least the car’s aesthetically pleasing.

After numerous teasers and whatnot, the new 2010 Mustang was finally unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show. This is basically a revision of the popular 2005 model (which was based on the 1969 model). So it’s basically a revision of a revival of a muscle car. And if that’s not the best damn setup for a new car, I don’t know what is!

And due to the massive success of the 2005 Mustang, Chevy and Dodge have also joined in on the retro bandwagon with their ‘new’ Challengers and Camaros.

The front end of the car is obviously inspired by the 2005 model. While there is some good in this, the wheelbase is a little too high, the lights a little too thin, and the ‘space’ between the intake holes and the lights a little too pronounced. The rims are also a little too big. There’s just this general feeling of bulkiness. Besides these little nitpicks I hope Ford will eventually fix, it looks nice.

Moving on to the rear, it looks like they shrunk the spoiler quite a bit. I love the new rear lights though. Very retro.

From looks alone, this looks like basically the same V8 that Ford has been using on the old model (correct me if I’m wrong). Which means it has around 300 HP. Niiice.

The real thing of the couch I posted earlier.

And the 917/30, it’s 1000-1500 HP brother.

And speaking of the Porsche 917/30, it’s one of the models that Exoto makes. At one point (it’s retired now), Exoto made a limited edition set (out of 1974, the year the 917 ran) with the Mark Donohue 917 and a spare ‘rolling chassis’. Basically, it’s 2 Exoto 917′s, one with the outer body parts, one just the chassis. 

Digging up my old Road and Track magazines, there was an article in the December 2002 for a special offer, selling either the Chaparral 2E set (same deal as the 917), or the 917/30 itself, both for $189.95. 

That was the first time I’ve ever heard of Exoto. Ironically, 7 years later, I own both the 2E and the 917/30 now. I bought the 2E during the Phil Hill promotion, and the 917 from Exoto Tifosi at outlet prices. Sadly, I missed out on what I now realized as a great deal. The Chaparral set now costs $398.95 (almost double price), and the Porsche 917/30 gift set, now retired, costs $1498.95. That’s almost 10 times as expensive as it was back in 2001. 

That’s just the way things work now, isn’t it? Back then, I was like, ‘man, that’s some expensive crap there’, and now I’m like ‘WHY IN GOD’S NAME DIDN’T I GET IT THEN?!’. 

(Sadface)

It’s amazing what a little perspective can do with a 12” model.