The Gadget Show’s Toy Fair “Top 5″

Maisto’s Rock Crawler R/C was recently picked as one of The Gadget Show’s Toy Fair “Top 5!” If you haven’t seen it in action yet, just take a look! It’s super fun to race around, climb, crawl, and kick up some dirt!

Bryan Johnson is the Maisto designers’ pick at the Diecast Super Convention

Bryan Johnson was named the Maisto designer’s pick at the Diecast Super Convention in Las Vegas.  Chosen from among all the entrants in the customized die-cast contest, Ralph, Castro and Charles decided that his models were the best. His half-dozen model entries showed great attention to detail, design and craftsmanship. Here’s a photo of Bryan and one of his entries, the Rat Tub. This is a 1/64 car with a wired engine, hand-formed metal bomber seats and beautiful paintwork.

The convention was presented by diecastspace.com

More Marvel Die-cast: Comic Book Page 4, 5

We missed a couple of days,sorry. Here is page 4 and 5 of the Marvel Comic Book Catalog.

Versus – A vehicle good guy and his arch nemesis, packaged together in 1 blister-card. 6 styles to start. All decos unique from the original 25.

the 5 pack, packaged in what we call the Fan Layout. Each 5 Pack will have 1 unique MU vehicle in the package – all of the unique vehicles are packaged above.

DiecastSpace.com Super Convention in Las Vegas

Three of us will be at the Super Convention in Las Vegas this weekend.  There will be some Maisto die-cast in the goody bags for convention attendees.

Here are the posters that Ralph Benitez, Eddie Castro and Charles Hepperle will be signing from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

For information about the convention, go to www.spinyourtires.com

More Marvel Die-cast: Comic Book Page 3

We are going to slow this down for you – drawn out just a little. meant to savor like a fine wine, not consume like hot dogs on the 4th of July. we have a 20 page comic book catalog, designed by jose, which shows the Marvel Die-cast product line for 2010. yesterday, we showed you the cover and introduction. here is page 3.

yeap, we caught the duplication on #19 – **it happens…

Maisto 2010 Catalog: Splash Pages

charlesmaisto has been sharing a bunch of catalog pages for you all to get a quick view of some of the new stuff we are coming out with in 2010. since the catalog is a trade publication only, we thought we would also share some of the splash pages with you so you could get a little more of a feel for what the catalog looks like. the splash page falls in between categories, and is used to intro the next section in the catalog. in a design conscious house such as maisto, the splash page is always an hot issue, and is ultimately decided by the bosses. this year’s design was created by none other than Castro. while under a pretty extreme deadline, Castro went all tracy porter on us and scored big time with this layout. here are a couple of the pages, suitable for framing. we will add a couple more tomorrow…

Ferrari Spotted At Bburago Booth in Nuremberg

Mom always liked Bburago better. How else can you explain the fact that they get a Ferrari 599 in their booth at the Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair in Nuremberg Germany last week? I mean, just cause the Maisto showroom is in a permanent hall on the second floor that does not have an elevator to accommodate a Ferrari, nor a way to get it down the halls, nor a door wide enough to allow entrance, so THEY get the Ferrari? Jeez.

it was a show-stopper, to say the least. car enthusiasts were loving it, and toy enthusiasts were anxious to see the first new range of mass market Ferrari products in the last 10 years, thanks to our new deal with Ferrari that allows us to ship Cars with Playsets.

that clay is the new 458 Italia, which should be ready to ship by April of this year. all of the new Bburago Ferrai Race and Play line will be in 1:43 scale for 2010. 8 models shipping right now, another 4 by the beginning of Q2. it sure looked like a lot more on this Wall of Ferrari, which was helping to protect the real car…

and thanks for asking, but no it was not my car. we just borrowed it for the show.

and one of these days, it would be nice to get the BBurago Blog up and going – til then, we will gladly rent our twin sister of a different mother some space, especially if they are sharing photos of sweet Italian rides.

Freeway Fotos – Back Again

2 things happened:

1 – i was reviewing pics on my bb while waiting for an appointment at the nuremberg toy fair. and,

2 – in reading some comments from our fine readers of the DD, someone asked if freeway fotos was in fact discontinued.

NO WAY! it is definitely one of castros’ and mine favorite features, even if we do risk life to bring it to you. here are a couple more for your viewing pleasure…

ok, not a great picture, but i tracked the car for 10 minutes, so it was going to make it in to the blog 1 way or another.

yeah, i don’t know about you, but i haven’t seen too many teslas on the road. in fact, this would have been my 1 and only. sweet ride, though.

enjoy!

Maisto + Marvel = Diecast Nirvana!!!!

The timing could not be more perfect. A new line of die-cast based on the exciting characters from Marvel. Let’s let the Press Release do the talking:

MAISTO INKS NEW DIE CAST VEHICLE DEAL WITH MARVEL

Fontana, CA. (February, 2010)

Maisto International, a worldwide leader in vehicle replicas in the toy and hobby industries, announced a major licensing arrangement with Marvel Entertainment, LLC to manufacture and distribute die cast toy vehicles featuring Marvel’s popular Super Heroes. The new, worldwide multi-year agreement allows Maisto to produce and market die-cast vehicles and play sets based on Marvel characters and brands including Super Hero Squad, classic Marvel properties, and Marvel Studios’ upcoming feature films, Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, and The Avengers.

“Maisto is a true industry leader with strong retail distribution. The new product assortment will bring our characters to life in a new way and engage both kids and collectors with the quality and exciting play experience our fans have grown to expect with the Marvel brand,” said Paul Gitter, President of Consumer Products for North America, Marvel Entertainment.

The initial product line, which should hit store shelves in May of this year, will feature a wide range of items based on the upcoming movie Iron Man 2. Approximately 30 days later Maisto will introduce products marketed under the Marvel Universe banner. Die cast cars, motorcycles, haulers tour busses and more combine to make up the 2010 product lines.  The products will be available at all channels of retail distribution, including mass market, collector, specialty and toy stores.

“Marvel is clearly the worldwide leader in character based entertainment. Their ever-expanding presence in comic books, movies, and television content is unrivaled, and coupled with our vehicle prowess in the global marketplace makes for an extremely powerful partnership. We could not be more excited about the prospects,” said Rick Berman, Director of International Licensing/Marketing/Design, Maisto International.

The PR goes on to give some background info. But we know you, you need some more details – some real details, some details that are not corporate, not controlled by suits, not spit out by people with “Director” in their titles? Try this, from the intro page to our Comic Book Catalog:

You need more – don’t worry – you will get it in the coming days. For now, it’s enough.

“This is a state of emergency. What do you want me to do – I’m sorry, I’m back”…

More NEW Elite Transport releases

Here are 4 more Transports that will be in the assortments,

the 3 Maisto Flatbed’s with a Dodge Viper, 1959 Chevrolet Impala and a 50 Merc and a Maisto Wrecker with a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.