Hot and Cold Wheels

My recent trip to Cyprus found a couple of new Hot Wheels models that had not appeared in the UK. The first, ‘Flippin Fast’ was a double sided racer capable of turning over and still running, by virtue of  an extra deep wheelbase.

The second was a colour variation of an existing model - the ‘Dream Machine’. This model is from the Colour Shifters range and features a special thermosensitive finish, which will change colour when exposed to very cold temperatures. Naturally, it was hard to test the effect in 40* heat, but the Hot Wheels wiki shows the before and after colours, showing a deep olive green for the transform.

Colour Shifters are about twice as expensive as standard castings and as I am not a huge fan of the hideous colour scheme, I was initially reluctant to spend €7 for a car which I already have three other versions of. However, I found a much more reasonably priced one, for €3 in a large discount store in Paphos.

The standard casting reflects the original Mattel tin toy version and comes in red, lime and turquoise finishes. The tin version had a gloss black one, but so far there’s been no sign of this.
 

Back home and a trip to Tesco for the big shop brought home a standard range model in the form of the ‘West Coast Flyer’. This deco streamlined steam engine has been released several times before and is presumably a filler model to make up the numbers. It came originally with front and rear wheels molded in dull silver, which, compared to the central moulding in bright chrome, lost the steam engine effect and looked more like a carnival float.

A few licks of the chrome paint pen brought the wheels up to par and the whole chassis now looks like a complete engine.

The Wiki suggests the 2024 release also comes in black, which would be a much better finish than the cheap looking  cream colour. I’ll be on the lookout for it in the near future.