The Matchbox Jurassic World line. Did anyone actually pay much attention to it? I know I didn’t. It contains a few okay castings like the V16 Desert Thunder, but for the most part they are not that exciting. That is, until I realized that the Jurassic World line also contains a Toyota FJ40!
I very recently reignited my warm feelings for that car and casting, thanks in some part to our good friend Tinfoil Hat (now with more tinfoil). His UTE!! and Troopie based on that casting have been phenomenal.
Last week I had a decent hawl at TRU, which contained two of these Jurassic FJs. Overall a cool livery, but something about them was off. Then I realized it. They retooled the casting! This may not be a big deal to most, but let’s go over the differences anyway, from top to bottom. On the left, the new Jurassic World FJ, on the right, my half-finished repaint old tooling FJ.
It’s Sunday night, what else do you have going on?
Body
The old FJ casting contains the body, front fascia, fenders, and grille. As you can see, in the new casting the grille and fenders have been removed. This may open up possibilities to potentially install a working hood. Verdict: not too bad.
Window
Unchanged! The color is slightly less tinted than the gold painted one that this one started life out as, but shape-wise it was left alone.
Interior
There is a major difference here between new and old. The fenders that were chopped off the body are now attached to the interior. In addition, as plastics expert Tinfoil Hat tells me, it’s probably ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) now, where it previously was PP (polypropylene). This doesn’t mean much to most, again, but combined with the fact that the base is now PP, Tinfoil Hat’s genius chassis strengthening and axle securing method won’t work anymore. [Read more about his method below. I have used it to great effect, so count me among the convinced!] Tinfoil Hat’s comments: “Now with black guards it doesn’t look right. At least it’s probably ABS so paint will stick to it well. It was a great cast.” Emphasis mine.
Base
The base is not too different, the only real cosmetic difference being that two little ridges on the sides have been removed. Chemically, however, the differences are major. With the switch of the interior to ABS, the base is now PP, which, again, makes Tinfoil’s ABS cement method impossible, but also affects the degree of detail, caught by Tinfoil’s keep eye: “It just looks like it’s not formed as sharply as the black base. Corners are more rounded and generally less crisp looking.”
If anything, this casting, along with Tinfoil’s insights and guidance, taught me a lot about plastics, so there’s that. I am sad, though, that this new retooled FJ just doesn’t look as good as the old FJ. And unfortunately it seems to be a permanent change, as I spied a shot of another edition of the casting on Lamley’s Instagram feed recently. I wonder what the reason for the change is. Is it cheaper in material cost because less ZAMAC is used? Or is it easier on assembly equipment? I have no idea. If anyone has any insights into the situation let me know.
Now go enjoy the rest of your Sunday! See you all tomorrow.
I’m out!
New body, old interior, new base. Something’s missing here...