In this series I will showcase DLM cars ranging within the 1/64 and smaller. My first one is the famous Honda Odyssey by Hot wheels.
So this casting has been the buzz around every blog and forums on die cast. When I first saw the artwork I was really impressed on how the Odyssey looked. The tampos stand out pretty well and doesn’t look overwhelming.
Could be also this artwork was actually based on an actual Honda City Turbo from the 80's according to Japanese Nostalgic car website. In fact Tamiya (a Japanese brand plastic model kit maker) made a 1/10 scale of that car as a radio control stunt vehicle.
According to an info found in the Lamley Group this was designed by Jun Imai based on his own Honda Odyssey and if I may add may have found inspiration on the said Honda City Turbo.
Now let’s take a look at the Hot wheels model.
The window is tinted black and part of my suspicion if I’m correct is to mask the color of the interior due to it possibly being part of the bumper and having the same color. I have not seen one that was disassembled so I cannot be certain of this. The base is made of plastic.
One thing the model was a let down compare to the artwork is the front lights have the same color as the grill. It would have been nice to add paint on the headlights or use semi clear plastic. Same with the rear lights as well.
I’m also not sure about how I like the choice of wheels and color as there’s barely any contrast between the tires and wheels. Real Riders would probably add a nice touch to it.
I did not expect a huge portion of the roof to be part of the window assembly. I would rather have a full metal roof but this idea still looks nice due to being able to partly see the interior above. Here I am speculating on why Mattel implemented it this way is possibly due to cost cutting by using less metal so they can maintain the $1.00 price tag.
Even with some disappointments, I think the van still looks terrific.