GPMdiecast's 2024: Biggest Disappointments Award

Hello dear LaLDers! It is almost the end of the year again, so I will close the 2024 with some lists. This one, however, will be more like a Bottom list than a Top list. Why is that so? Because not everything is happy, but I am sharing gladly my sad moments too, knowing that someone out there shares the same shame and disappointment I had.

This Bottomlist will contain my Disappointments of the Year: everything that happened with my collection, the collecting business, the hobby itself. Bad and Sad moments really, but I want to throw this list out as a start, to get rid of the toxins and finishing the year with warm thoughts, happy and elevated moments and great feelings towards the next year. With that said, start the list!

#1: A lot of damaged items during shipping

This year I wasn't very lucky with purchasing, and the shipments that arrived. I had a lot of damaged goods received, which started to push me to the decision that I give up using eBay for purchasing these goods. Still, it is hard to not checking what are the new auctions from time to time, but starting from next year I will delete all my eBay users and concentrate only on toyfairs, markets etc.

Autocult TVR Tasmin

My first Autocult model was this, and already arrived like it was blasted inside the box. Most of these more expensive models has a strange solution in the packaging: they put a rubber piece, or more dangerously, some spring coil between the model and the base, around the screws. This allows some kind of pre-tention between the car and the base, probably they are using it so the tires on the wheels won't flatten. The problem is, that these rubber or spring pieces store force when they are tentioning it. And this force can act, once some external impact happen. So if the box that the model is in, have some sudden hit, like someone drops it, or just shakes too much, this pre-tention force find its way to the weakest point. It seems like usually this weak point is the car's plastic chassis. And so, it literraly explodes inside the display.

I tried to glue all the pieces together, so at least I am able to store it, but I need to carry around extra carefully. I was shaking when I saw this piece in a 1000 pieces.

Spark Alfa Romeo 6C 3000 CM

The exact same thing happened with this Alfa, which was on my wishlist for a very long time. I was able to buy it in a reasonable price, so I was very happy - until the package arrived. From the outside, the box looked unharmed, but when I shaked it a little, I heard the pieces inside rattling and I knew instantly that something bad happened. This model was also put together with spring coils around the screws, and the car' chassis was also the weak point, as it was shattered through within the display. As it has the original plastic wrap around it, it was proven for me that the model was untouched by the seller, which pointed towards a manufacturing error.

Since the chassis is also the part which contains the seats and other smaller parts, these were also heavily damaged during shipping. I tried to save it as much as possible, but of course, I cannot glue my heart after this.

Esval Delahaye 135M Henri Chapron

Smaller damage, but still buggers me. This is my first Esval model, a Delahaye which I wanted for a long time. The rear bumer was broken off, and I couldn't find a piece which actually holds it. I will fix it later on but currently waiting for repair.

HPi Porsche 911 GT1

This was actually my fault, in the way that even in the model's description it said that the left door mirror is missing. I only noticed it when it was arrived. I couldn't replace it on my own, but I need desperatly to fix it somehow, as the model itself is an extraordinary piece anyway.

1/48 Planes

This year, I expanded my scope a little bit towards new areas: warplanes. I only wanted to buy them as some kind of diorama accessories. Still, none of the planes arrived here in one piece. This Aircobra suffered the most severe damage, actually broken in two pieces. But all the other planes were some parts broken off.

Neo Scale Chevy Corvette Corvair

This one wasn't damaged during shipping, it was already an error in the factory. I don't know how visible it is in the pictures, but it has orange peel paint almost the entire chassis. It looks like a snake currently shedding. The wrinkles covers a large area so the whole model looks kinda ugly, which is a shame considering it is a rare beast and I hoped for a better condition. This wasn't visible on the item's pictures and wasn't mentioned in the description, so I was flabbergasted.

AutoART Chevrolet XP 755

Another broken off parts, this time the first two wheels of this otherwise beautiful Chevrolet concept car. Super glue was one of my best friend this year...

Schuco Porsche 911S & Metro Alfa Romeo 6C

This is my latest package. The alfa has a broken front fender and a lot of paint chipping around the chassis. The Porsche miraculously lost both of its door handles. Both of them was in their original box and in the item description and photos they were both mint condition. I don't know what happened, but this was the final straw.

Minichamps Auto Union 1000S

More common things with some loose cars during this year, is some broken off side mirrors, missing windshield wipers or missing front or rear lights. This Auto Union is one example, which is a shame, as it was a long awaited one (which one isn't? :D )

Neo Scale Aston Martin

This sight was the first heartattack this year. I bought this as a second attempt (there was some payment issues with the first one), so I was kinda happy that it will finally arrives. Just to see the front bumper and one of the headlights broken off during shipping. This is a delicate piece so glueing back these parts were kind of a hard job, and they can still come off anytime. It is exceptionally heartbreaking to see these otherwise expensive cars broken in their boxes.

#2: Damaged cars during moving

This year, I moved to another country, which meant that we need to move my whole collection. My dear girlfriend was kind enough to bubble wrap each piece one by one, by hand, spending almost an entire day with this process, for which I was very grateful. Still, shipping 400+ delicate modelcars through 1500+ km, it is very much possible that some of the models won't survive in one piece. Which was really happened, after checking the damages, 20-22 model was on the list which needed some repair. Considering the 400+ models this is still 5% of the items, and most of them could be easily fixed (mainly mirrors and antennas were broken off).

#3: Prices aren't that low as I thought

Earlier last year I wrote an article about why I changed the scope of my collection. Well, it turned out that 1/43 aren't as cheap as I thought :D. Still i think the highest price I paid for a model was 55€, with shipping. But it is far more than an 1/64 for sure. On the other hand I should still mention that for example the bankrupty of Ebbro made some great deals, and 12€/ piece price of course I needed to buy 10+ models. :D Ebbro not just went bankrupt, it also made me bankrupt too.

#4: Few toycar markets in my area

In Hungary, there were around 2-3 toycar markets each month. Although it was organised mainly in Budapest, I know there were other markets around the country. Here in Belgium, there are also some markets - but quite occasionally. The biggest market I currently know is actually in the Netherlands - NAMAC, but it is organised every 2-3 months. Also, most of these toycar markets has a huge table price, and you need to pay a ticket even when you are just a visitor.

#5: Less time for photographing outside

This one was on me actually, but I tried to bring some pieces with me everytime we went somewhere. A lot of new areas to discover and going around for sure, but Belgium and its surroundings are not very photographing-friendly. I mean, it is dark most of the times, 80% of the times it is raining. Not very helpful for practicing outdoor photography.

Hope you liked that list. What are your biggest disappointments this year? Please let me know in the comments, and wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year fellas!

Thank you for reading! Cheers!