Hey kids

Just remembered this website - they sell the German Mercedes dealer edition models here in the US.

For the C-class
http://store.yahoo.com/europromo-store/cclass.html

C-coupe comes in:
1/87 silver, magma red and black
1/43 orion blue, silver, red and black (red and black have C7)
1/18 silver and capri blue (capri has C7, automatic)

the Mercedes section (other classes and racecars)
http://store.yahoo.com/europromo-store/forfacprom.html

I'd only recommend this site if the specific European dealer edition is what you want, otherwise you'll pay about half at your local dealer or at another store.

go crazy, BT

 

$20 US for a Busch 1/87 scale C Class model is a RIPOFF!!!! I have two that were bought from a model shop in Germany, which were $5 US each. That is the standard retail price. Even if the cars come in special boxes (Woo-Hoo), the model is the same as the standard one.

In the USA, the easiest place to get any 1/87 (HO) scale model of a C Class (or any other EU car) is from a model railway shop. If there are no good ones near you, you can mail order Busch, Herpa and Wiking 1/87 scale model cars from your local hobby shop through the Walthers model railway catalogue. Any hobby shop worth its salt will have this catalogue and do an order for you. And I guarantee the price will be WELL under $10 US.

 

Mike T. I agree with you on the prices - as a collector of die-cast scale models these models are much more expensive than you would pay for the standard boxed editions. They are however competitive with the prices paid in the US for imported German dealer editions (they can be had for cheaper in Germany but it costs these guys money to import them and pay the tariffs, etc.), so I wouldn't consider this company a ripoff. This post was intended as a reply to another topic where I couldn't post - some of the C230K colors and C7 options are only available only as these dealer editions, I just posted the web-site as a courtesy for those who were interested - but I did state if that if a standard model is desired it could be had for cheaper elsewhere.

Regards, BT

PS: I have about 100 1/18 scale and 250 1/43 scale models so I know a little bit about the hobby.

 

BT,

You're a collector? Do you specialise in Mercedes models or are you into other stuff too?

I'm lucky enough to still have some of the French Dinky Toys (mostly my first love, Peugeots) I had as a kid 30+ years ago. Most of my newer 1/43 cars are Peugeot models, especially nice is the Minichamps 406 Pininfarina Coupé. I would like to buy the 1/1 scale of that car, but it's not possible in Canada

I've got quite a few C-Class models, sedan, wagon but not Coupe, in 1/87 scale. Plus I have a 1/43 Schuco C sedan, which is quite a nice model. BTW, if you want a nice place to show off your Mercedes-Benz HO scale models, buy a German Faller HO scale Mercedes-Benz dealership through the Walthers catalogue at a hobby shop (or from a German mail order model railway supplier such as Müller Versand). The dealership, which includes two buildings, is large enough to put 7 or 8 cars in the showroom, there are motorised turntables for two cars (!) and you could build quite a diorama, even without a model railway layout to use it on. I have one of these Faller sets, but mine is converted to a Peugeot dealer !! It is on French-German railway layout my kids and I built.

I also like Mercedes-Benz Unimogs and have a large number of them in 1/87 scale.

I guess if the colours of the "dealer editions" of the HO models is special that could justify some extra cost, but the Busch models on the website were exactly the same colour as the ones I got for under $5 US each. In any event, no offense; I just wanted to point out the alternatives.

 

Actually, my entire collection is composed almost completely of racing cars (except to celebrate my new baby, three C-Coupes, one in each scale, as well as a 1/18 Mercedes SL500 and a 1/18 McLaren F1). Although as I mentioned its getting a wee bit unmanagable so at this point (with most of them sitting in storage) I have decided that I will only collect McLaren and Mercedes race cars (although so far I haven't been doing a very good job of holding myself to this ). Most of my cronies at the local diecast shop who have been collecting for a long time (I've been collecting about 12 years) generally say it's best to pick a theme and stick with it, before this I pretty much collected any car I thought was cool looking.

A huge part of my collection (about 1/3) is composed of German DTM race cars (about 50 from this series alone), I have so many of these I finally had to make an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of them all. Since I'm obviously a Mercedes fan about 2/3 of the DTM cars I have are Mercedes 190, C-class and CLKs. Most of my collection is F1 but I also collect quite a few LeMans-type sportscars.

I only have a few 1/87 scale cars, the C-coupe, two DTM cars and the Merc Actros hauler from the team of one of the DTM cars - they look pretty cool displayed together.

Of all of these I think my favorite 1/43 is a Minichamps 94 C-class DTM Ludwig championship car (one of 1994 made - comes on a special base from the Mercedes Museum) and in 1/18 my favorite is a 1938 W154 Mercedes Grand Prix car made by CMC, it's a beautiful hand-assembled piece with real wire wheel spokes and grill as well as a cloth seat. I have a nice wooden case it lives in on top of my entertainment center. Here's a picture of one just like it.



Cheers, BT