Moments of zen 1.

Sometimes appears a photo, which is like a materialised incarnation of perfection. We will experience for a moment the purity and wholeness for which we are looking for so long time, but maybe we will never reach.

This is what model car collection is all about; we build the 1/100 - 1/8 scale version of the real world. A version, which is more closer to our ideals.

The ModelFreaks team have an inner e-mail circle with the name of Moments of zen - from now on, we would like to share with you these moments.

After the sunset lights of the side streets are on. Maybe the small Honda S800 Coupe is waiting for to roll off the corrugated sheet worksop? Or it has just arrived, to eat some ramen with the owner before going for a ride in the mountains?

Zen moment - source: Kuro Neko's Boso Hanto

Domestic zen: Tomica LV Honda S800 Coupe

The model is very tiny, almost lost in the huge Tomica Limited Vintage box. Palm sized toddler, whose original has one of the first Honda engines, which showed the real capacity of the previously despized Japanese technology.

As I rotate the Honda in my hand, I just feel the calm night with the friendly lights. I can smell the steaming soup, mixed with the smell of the petrol fumes emanating from the engine.

Its a moment of perfection, instant zen out of the box.

Spring greetings

After the depressing gray of winter has shining sunshine greeted the first day of spring. So I have shot  some pictures with two white Porsches, for the proper welcome of March. No other words to waste, just see the pictures:

The two models are scale 1/18; a Welly 911 / 964 Turbo, and a modified Bburago (Made in Italy, of course) 911 / 993 Carrera, made by Modellbau Swiss.

Monday night meditation

I'm unpacking this car once in a year.
Not that I feel ashamed, or didn't like it. Rather I prefer their quiet serenity but I feel some kind of sad nostalgia at the same time. Just like its big brother, my 1/16 Alpine A110, he is also one of the last Mohicans of a bygone age. One last word on a disappearing industrial culture.

Bburago 1/24 Ford Escort RS Cosworth

The bonnet got a huge gap, not close perfectly. The door handles, branding, and the mirrors are only for indicative way there - formatted but not highlighted. The whole car is permeated with a kind of incompleteness. And it is entirely legitimate. I've never stucked the included Repsol stickers onto it, and I will never do it. This Cossie stays in its plain-body form.
As a kid, the Cossie was the first rally car for which I was enthusiastic. Its a little bit strange for a middle-european - better said: Hungarian - kid, but the enthusiasm for the Lada rally cars never reached me. I've learned to respect and love the legendary Lancia Delta much later, maybe around 2000, but the Cossie... Well, yes, it was, as I wanted to be as a kid: cool, strong and winner. The first one never came together, the second maybe and - as an adult I realize this one thing - the only certainty to finalize of winning will be death bed. Or whom you believed, after.

This car is like a teenage love - pointless, ambitious, and a little bit funny, because of its rudeness. Its snippy, just like the world changing dreams of the teenagers. And just as good too. I just smile and recalls that they used to be good dreams, and in my slowly graying head still remained some of them. It might even be too.

Back pack to your carefully preserved box, next to the unopened stickers and your original towel. You and my dreams will stay with me.

One of the last: Made in Italy Bburago

The last ride of winter

There are no other paths of the old abandoned road. The last snowfall of the season, the last option for a good ride. My foot on the gas, centering the road, stretches, 70-80-90, and, after some hesitation, the speed clock's hand flyover. Parallel on the old road, cars  properly lined up, one behind the other rolling toward to their destinations. I've enjoyed the last snowfall, as the water flips the wheels  - as its about to zero degrees Celsius around, so the snow remains not for a long time. Rare opportunity for this, just to go out and driving for the pleasure. And of course to take some pictures.
This is good, stop. While my cooler sizzling, I took out from the box the subject of my photograps. Putting a piece of cardboard under my knees and under the camera, adjusting the lights, press the exposure button and flying into another world. To here:

I didn't liked the 1/18 scale cars. They were to big for my taste, they were just like some technological idols for me. And honestly, I don't like idols. This was in the past. Than I bought a SunStar TVR Tuscan. It was a dissapointment for me. It was cheap - and rubbish. After the Tuscan, I've found this SunStar Impreza - the 660th from the series of 5000 pcs. I didn't removed the car from their package -  just can't do it. Its like you meet with somebody, and you know - she is the right one!
So, I took the car to the place of the photo shots - and the Impreza has comes to life!
It's still imperfect - the backdoors are dangling, the gap between the chassis and the bonnet is big, the headlights are very plastic. But I dont care about them, these are only small dimples on a beautiful face.

The las ride of winter was maybe a pilgrimage. Moments of Zen, some kind of enlightenment for me. The 1/18 cars aren't idols, better altairs of passion for cars. I just need another shelf for these new altairs :)

Angry Birds - Tomica vs. Hot Wheels Edition

Ferkó and I played Gran Turismo 5 several days before. We have compared BMW 2002 Turbo with Nissan Skyline KPGC10 on Cape Ring - a curvy, but also a very fast track. Ferkó has fell in love with the brutal power and sharp suspension of the Beemer; I've rather enjoyed the highly balanced handling of the Hakosuka.
During the races - I was shamefully beaten - we have realized, that the green BMW looks like... a Minion from the Angry birds. Just look at them:

BMW 2002 Turbo from GT5 (Source)

Hot Wheels Minion (Source)

What else could be best Angry Bird, as a red Kenmery from the Tomica Limited breed? And Minion is of course a Hot Wheels 2002.

Small, red, angry: Tomica Limited Nissan Skyline KPGC110 GT-R

Big, green, mean: Hot Wheels BMW 2002

Who is the big one?

Run piggy, run!

The coolest snowplough..

...is coming from Japan. Three-inches long, pull-back awesomeness.
It's an Audi Sport Quattro S1 Pikes Peak race car, made for the japanese Boss Softdrink / Coffe. Enjoy it!

Holographic, supersonic

Out of the dark

It's not as precise just like an 1/64 Kyosho - but hey, it's a Softdrink attachment!

It looks good on the snow

Those wings...

Square butt

The original one - short, catty, fast (Source)

Just like its little japanese cousin

Introduction

Welcome to the ModelFreaks Site!


Before you enter into the blog, I must warn you: collecting model cars as a hobby, looks harmless at first sight, but it isn't. Actually its a very dependant issue. Our group - the writers of ModelFreaks - gathering for a chat week by week. We sit down in a Mall's restaurant, take out the newest acquisitions from the boxes or bags, and start to talk over. The mothers covers their child's eyes, while the fathers are smiling as they see, how we put off our toys onto the desktop.
We are very comprehensive. Some of us prefers the american muscle cars, and manufacturers like Johnny Lightning, M2, Greenlight. Others prefers the japanese beauties: Tomicas, Kyoshos: The smaller, S -or H0-scale cars, like Schuco are also welcomed, just like the heavy AutoArt 1/18 models. Model building and modding are plays with.
It's an addiction - as we joke about after a large bout of shopping. Well, one way to handle this, to talk about it; gentle reader, please see this site as the therapeutic centre of the Anonymus Society of the Model Addicts. Caution! This disease is very contagious!