An Open Letter to Reel Rides
Saturday, April 28. 2007
NOTE: I posted this in the Reel Rides discussion forum, but wanted to repeat it here as well.
To: Reel Rides VIP
Re: Suggestions for Improvement
I just picked up the 1/24 versions of the Dazed & Confused Chevy Pickup and Tommy Boy GTX, and had a couple of suggestions that could help tremendously with future releases:
1) Accuracy: Since these are supposed to represent specific cars, the detail work can go a long way. For example, the Dazed & Confused truck has the wrong trim (full Cheyenne trim instead of the lower trim only), the wrong wheels (late-model Chevy wheels instead of slotted mags), and white lettered tires (should be blackwalls). The Tommy Boy GTX has a chrome fuel cap (should be flush-mounted and body colored), the wrong wheels (should be Cragars instead of stock GTX wheels), the rocker & fender trim is wrong (there should be no arch trim, solid rocker trim, and fender bullets), and the tail panel is formed & painted incorrectly (the lights & center panel should be taller, and the center panel should be black with chrome lettering instead of the other way around).
2) Quality Control: My Dazed & Confused truck was missing one rear side marker and the other fell off as soon as I got it out of the box, there were fingerprints in the paint and chrome, and none of the trim was on straight. The Tommy Boy GTX's hood sits on top of the fenders instead of between them, there are more fingerprints in the paint & chrome, the passengers' wiper is installed wrong, chrome is missing from both vent window frames and the rear bumper, the drivers' vent window is in crooked, and the edge of the passengers' door is malformed.
I was really looking forward to getting these, and I still think there's a lot of potential here: the casting quality is very good (the fit issues all seem to be specific to the assembly), and there is some very good detail work here - especially with the interiors and body contours. But at $18.87 + tax, there are just too many issues here to overlook. I hope to see some of these addressed in future waves; I'm still looking forward to them, but after seeing these first hand my optimism is a bit more cautious. Look for full reviews of both cars to be posted in the diecast review section shortly.
To: Reel Rides VIP
Re: Suggestions for Improvement
I just picked up the 1/24 versions of the Dazed & Confused Chevy Pickup and Tommy Boy GTX, and had a couple of suggestions that could help tremendously with future releases:
1) Accuracy: Since these are supposed to represent specific cars, the detail work can go a long way. For example, the Dazed & Confused truck has the wrong trim (full Cheyenne trim instead of the lower trim only), the wrong wheels (late-model Chevy wheels instead of slotted mags), and white lettered tires (should be blackwalls). The Tommy Boy GTX has a chrome fuel cap (should be flush-mounted and body colored), the wrong wheels (should be Cragars instead of stock GTX wheels), the rocker & fender trim is wrong (there should be no arch trim, solid rocker trim, and fender bullets), and the tail panel is formed & painted incorrectly (the lights & center panel should be taller, and the center panel should be black with chrome lettering instead of the other way around).
2) Quality Control: My Dazed & Confused truck was missing one rear side marker and the other fell off as soon as I got it out of the box, there were fingerprints in the paint and chrome, and none of the trim was on straight. The Tommy Boy GTX's hood sits on top of the fenders instead of between them, there are more fingerprints in the paint & chrome, the passengers' wiper is installed wrong, chrome is missing from both vent window frames and the rear bumper, the drivers' vent window is in crooked, and the edge of the passengers' door is malformed.
I was really looking forward to getting these, and I still think there's a lot of potential here: the casting quality is very good (the fit issues all seem to be specific to the assembly), and there is some very good detail work here - especially with the interiors and body contours. But at $18.87 + tax, there are just too many issues here to overlook. I hope to see some of these addressed in future waves; I'm still looking forward to them, but after seeing these first hand my optimism is a bit more cautious. Look for full reviews of both cars to be posted in the diecast review section shortly.
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