ERTL: POLICE CAR FROM DICK TRACY

 

In the film, the police all drive 1937 Ford Standard Fordor Sedans, and in some scenes several of them are shown. The model is correctly finished in two-tone colours with a white upper and black lower half. An accurate police star is printed on the front doors in gold, but the model lacks the lights and sirens of the cars in the film. Although this is the same basic model as Tracy's car, it is made to a smallerscale. Shop here

4 DICKY'S CAR IN PACKAGING

The four models were packaged on individual blister cards. These had a yellow background, with a movie logo in the top right hand side, and a stylised cityscape underneath. Rather strangely, the city scene showed a pair of 1950s era cars! Shop here

ERTL: ITCHY'S CAR FROM DICK TRACY

Itchy is a villain who, as his name suggests, can't stop scratching himself. In the film he drives a big, red 1939 Chevrolet Master Deluxe Sports Sedan. This car appears in two major scenes; when itchy and the psychotic Flattop burst through a garage door in order to bump off a group of rival criminals; and later when they kidnap Tracy and take him to Big Boy's hideout. The model is larger and heavier than the other three, and is closer in size to a Hot Wheels car. This is possibly the only model made of a Chevy Master Sedan.

There were generally pretty nice models, although realism was slightly marred by the movie logo being tampo printed on the car boots (or on the dickey seats of the coupes). Surprising, the most eye-catching car in the film was not modelled...a bright pink Auburn 852 Speedster driven by Madonna's character. Breathless Mahoney. Shop here

ERTL: TRACY'S CAR FROM DICK TRACY

                    

Dick Tracy's Car was a 1936 Ford V8 Deluxe 5-Window Coupe and it was used in serveral scenes in the film. Painted black, it has a black interior, chromed grille and headlights, and the bonnet vents touched in with silver paint-as do the other three models. These two-door coupes were very popular choices for young, single men in the 1930s.Shop here

MOTORMAX 1/43 DODGE - THE USUAL SUSPECTS DIORAMA

A "Reel Rides" Series Diorama by Motormax featuring a scene from the movie The Usual Suspects. Diorama includes a 1:43 scale die-cast replica of the 1983 Dodge Diplomat Salon and movie character figures. Shop here

THE USUAL SUSPECTS

The Usual Suspects is a 1995 American neo-noir film written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer. It stars Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey and Pete Postlethwaite.

The film follows the interrogation of Roger "Verbal" Kint, a small-time con man who is one of only two survivors of a massacre and fire on a ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles. He tells an interrogator a convoluted story about events that led him and four other criminals to the boat, and of a mysterious mob boss known as Keyser Söze who commissioned their work. Using flashback and narration, Kint's story becomes increasingly complex.
The film, shot on a $6 million budget, began as a title taken from a column in Spy magazine called "The Usual Suspects," after one of Claude Rains' most memorable lines in the classic film Casablanca. Singer thought it would make a good title for a film, the poster for which he and McQuarrie had developed as the first visual idea.
The Usual Suspects was shown out of competition at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, and then initially released in a few theaters. It received favorable reviews, and was eventually given a wider release. McQuarrie won an Academy Award for the screenplay and Spacey won the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance.

CORGI 1/43 MINI - ITALIAN JOB DIORAMA

This model represents the classic scene with the Minis bouncing down the steos into the gang's hideway. The mini is known to everyone and the diorama is fine, except for the moulded Mini, which is cringingly bad.Buy it now

MAD MAX 2 - THE ROAD WARRIOR, INTERCEPTOR & ENEMY CAR

This detail diecast model of the Interceptor (Pursuit Special) and Eneemy Car from the 1981 film Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. The models are packaged in an attractive clear top plastic display case. The outer box features the film logo and photos. Shop here

MAD MAX 2

Mad Max 2 (also known as The Road Warrior in the U.S., and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior) is a 1981 Australian post-apocalyptic action film directed by George Miller. The film is the second installment in the Mad Max film series, with Mel Gibson starring as Max Rockatansky. The film's tale of a community of settlers moved to defend themselves against a roving band of marauders follows an archetypal "Western" frontier movie motif, as does Max's role as a hardened man who rediscovers his humanity when he decides to help the settlers.


Mad Max 2 was released on 24 December 1981, and was critically acclaimed. Observers praised the visuals and Gibson's role. Noteworthy elements of the film also include cinematographer Dean Semler's widescreen photography of Australia's vast desert landscapes; the sparing use of dialogue throughout the film; costume designer Norma Moriceau's punk mohawked, leather bondage gear-wearing bikers; and its fast-paced, tightly-edited, and violent battle and chase scenes. The film's comic-book post-apocalyptic/punk style popularized the genre in film and fiction writing. It was also a box office success and received several nominations at the Saturn Award ceremony. Eventually, Mad Max 2 developed into a cult film: fan clubs and "road warrior"-themed activities still occurred into the 2000s. The film was followed by Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome in 1985.

MOTORMAX 1:43 DIE-CAST FORD - ROBOCOP DIORAMA

It's great to see more dioramas involving die-cast vehicles. Following in the footsteps of the classic Johnny Lightning dioramas - Ghostbusters Attack of Mr Stay Puft and Back to The Future Great Scott...Its a Time Machine we've got a new player with Motormax. At 1:43 sized, Motormax uses slightly larger die-cast vehicles to that which Johnny Lightning did who use 1:64 which is the normal Matchbox, Hot Wheels size. 1:43 isn't much bigger though and let's face it, your unlikely to be taking this out of the display packaging anyway so aren't going to have the Ford Taurus police car sitting right next to one of those vehicles anyway.

The diorama is a good one, it does represent the scene but is not 100% looking like a still frame from the movie. In fact the diorama scene never really happened. You've only got one fuel pump bay which the police car is parked like a customer would if they'd just filled up and had gone inside to pay. In the background you've got a shop and a carwash. The figures of Robocop with his arm outstretched and oversized gun in hand is in the right hand side of the diorama and a criminal is in the left side, having surrendered. Of course this isn't what actually happened in the movie. In the movie the criminal who was robbing the station, (Emil who was one of the criminals who killed officer Murphy who became Robocop), never actually surrendered, he fired a machine gun at Robocop while constantly yelling in a panicked voice, "NO! We killed You!" This was after Robocop said his classic Murphy line "Dead or Alive You're Coming With Me!" After unsuccessfully trying to kill Robocop, Emil then tried to escape on a motorbike before the gas station blew up and he crashed into a car. The diorama would have been better if Emil had his machine gun, and the motorbike was maybe standing beside him. But it's just great that there's a Robocop diorama. --James N Simpson  Shop here

ROBOCOP

RoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction-action film directed by Paul Verhoeven. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit, Michigan in the near future, RoboCop centers on a police officer who is brutally murdered and subsequently re-created as a super-human cyborg known as "RoboCop". The film features Peter Weller, Dan O'Herlihy, Kurtwood Smith, Nancy Allen, Miguel Ferrer, and Ronny Cox.


In addition to being an action film, RoboCop includes larger themes regarding the media, resurrection, gentrification, corruption, and human nature. It received positive reviews and cited as one of the best films of 1987; spawning merchandise, two sequels, a television series, two animated TV series, and a television mini-series, video games and two comic book adaptations.