Tonight I’m going to showcase one of my favorite castings of all. The Red Baron
This is the original redline released back in 1970. It turns out the Red Baron was originally built as a kit designed by Tom Daniels. I saw one of these built in an antique shop a couple weeks back...I really should have grabbed it...
Super cool! Well the kit was so popular that a guy wet and built a real-life version of it.
Pretty darn good job...
Well with the popularity at the time, Hot Wheels jumped in and made their version of the Red Baron, you can see some differences:
The helmet is a little different and the HW Version has bumpers/mud guards.
Also a fun fact, apparently Hot Wheels threw in a copy of their 1:64 Red Baron into the Monogram Red Baron kits since Mattel owned Monogram for a short stint.
Anywho, the Red Baron has seen many iterations over the years and I have come to have 3 of them. Here’s the other two:
Here’s the HW Classics series 4 version with a metal button like the old school version
Here is the neo-classics version which seems to pay homage to the original HW version the most.
All 3 together!
Over time I’ll work on getting more versions... I think I will hunt down the Boulevard version next...
Also fun fact, Tom Daniels also designed the Paddy Wagon, among other iconic late ‘60s and ‘70s car designs.
