Pics of your models, please!
Discussion
fatboy69 said:
Apparently it is identical in every way, including the way the box opens, to the original release.
I'm not so sure about the box. I got this as a kid soon after it was released and I don't remember Corgi using plastic in their packaging at that time. I recollect the box being like the one in this image. 
p.s. I assume your car is gold not silver, can't quite tell in your photo
Edited by RichB on Wednesday 4th February 21:16
Mine is silver - just checked!!
The plastic packaging is around the ejector seat & passenger that is poking out of the roof of the car.
There is even plastic packaging under the car as well. All in the name of health & safety I assume.
Looks a good model however I have no intention of taking it out the box as allmof the models in my collection remain in their box.
The plastic packaging is around the ejector seat & passenger that is poking out of the roof of the car.
There is even plastic packaging under the car as well. All in the name of health & safety I assume.
Looks a good model however I have no intention of taking it out the box as allmof the models in my collection remain in their box.
RichB said:
h well accurate if not original. 
Incidentally the story goes that Corgi geared up to launch the model to coincide with the film and just assumed the DB5 would be gold. I don't think the silver ones came out for a year or so.
Back in 1997, Ed Stuart had a show on Radio 2. Every afternoon there was a quiz. One of the questions was: 'What car famously appeared in the James Bond film Goldfinger?'Incidentally the story goes that Corgi geared up to launch the model to coincide with the film and just assumed the DB5 would be gold. I don't think the silver ones came out for a year or so.
The caller got the answer wrong, and Ed Stuart explained: 'Yes, the Aston Martin DB5 - remember, the gold one?'
I immediately (sad b
d) emailed Radio 2 and explained that Ed was wrong - the DB5 in Goldfinger was actually silver.Ed Stuart got quite incensed over this and made a great point on the radio about what a buffoon ol' Mopar440 was. He even went as far as contacting Aston Martin.
'We have contacted Aston Martin over this question about whether James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 was GOLD or,as Mopar440 suggests, SILVER?
'Well, I can report that Aston Martin have confirmed that the car in the movie Goldfinger was GOLD!
'So who is correct? Mopar440 or ASTON MARTIN?'
He sounded very smug with this revelation. However, about an hour later, he announced very quietly, 'We've had a number of calls on on this subject, and it seems Mopar440 was correct after all. The Aston Martin DB5 was silver...' Then he slunk off...
They've been a bit cheeky. The 261 never came in silver, as the silver paint they initially used looked just like the base metal, so the model didn't appear to have been painted, so they used the gold. The silver version was the slightly larger 270, but it never came in that packaging (neither did the 261 for that matter, as Rich says) plus it had extra features, such as red plastic extendable spinners on the rear wheels. Neither of which is an accurate Aston though (taking the obvious bits out of the equation). The rear end is not DB5, but DB4. Corgi already had a DB4 in their range so had the dies and in order to get the toy out in time, they mixed and matched a bit, thus the DB5/DB4 mix. It really was the toy that arguably saved Corgi though.
There are also differences between the same 261 models. Such was demand that a new set of dies was created that had differences in the front & rear lights, grill, a small circle under the headlights, side vents, the rear boot line is square as the other is rounded, plus the rear part of the roof on one is thicker.
There was a further, later silver example, the 271, which had chrome effect plastic wheels.
There are also differences between the same 261 models. Such was demand that a new set of dies was created that had differences in the front & rear lights, grill, a small circle under the headlights, side vents, the rear boot line is square as the other is rounded, plus the rear part of the roof on one is thicker.
There was a further, later silver example, the 271, which had chrome effect plastic wheels.
Red Firecracker said:
Corgi already had a DB4 in their range so had the dies and in order to get the toy out in time, they mixed and matched a bit, thus the DB5/DB4 mix.
So the model following reality! The first car used by the film production team was actually a late-production DB4 Series V, in reality a a DB5 prototype! Incidentally it was initially dark red probably Dubonnet Red but sprayed Silver Birch for the film. Hence almost every Aston Martin since is silver 
The Corgi appeared just before Thunderball, the second film with the Aston, rather than the first, Goldfinger. Corgi withdrew the DB4 to retool it into the DB5, but missed a bit, although they sold nearly 3 million of them in the first year.
Absolutely hateful models to restore though, I've a drawer full of the bits.
Absolutely hateful models to restore though, I've a drawer full of the bits.
Edited by Red Firecracker on Thursday 5th February 11:32
Red Firecracker said:
The Corgi appeared just before Thunderball, the second film with the Aston, rather than the first, Goldfinger..
In which case they had no excuse for getting the colour wrong! But in which case I probably had the Bond Aston for Christmas 1965. Must confess my memory fades because I was only 9. I had a very "modern" mum because she took my brother and I to see all the Bond films, indeed I saw Dr No and From Russia with Love as a double header and our local Odeon. I can't imagine the films were U but she took us anyway because my dad didn't want to go! I also remember gazing at the Gold DB5 in the window of my local toy shop as I walked home from school. RichB said:
n which case they had no excuse for getting the colour wrong! But in which case I probably had the Bond Aston for Christmas 1965. Must confess my memory fades because I was only 9. I had a very "modern" mum because she took my brother and I to see all the Bond films, indeed I saw Dr No and From Russia with Love as a double header and our local Odeon. I can't imagine the films were U but she took us anyway because my dad didn't want to go! I also remember gazing at the Gold DB5 in the window of my local toy shop as I walked home from school.
They didn't get it wrong per se, they tried silver but it just looked unfinished/unpainted, due to what one suspects were the limitations with the silver paint at the time so went for gold. They were probably under quite tight timescales to get them in the shops (October '65) ready for/prior to the Thunderball release and it's quite a complex model, so colour was maybe not at the top of the list to fix.Red Firecracker said:
I guess it all comes down to who you talk to 
(still a hateful model though!)
Brilliant PR for Aston though. I got mine in about 1969, and it's been my ambition to own an Aston ever since. Not a DB5 because a friend owns one and his tales have put me off (and I can't afford one obviously), but some sort of Aston, one day.(still a hateful model though!)
Not a Cygnet.
2013BRM said:
does anyone remember a plastic kit of the James Bond DB? can't seem to find any hint of it now
Yep, I remember it, I built it too. It was quite large (or at least it seemed it to me back then). I remember the ejector seat worked and I think it was motorised. Edited by RichB on Thursday 5th February 22:47
Seems Airfix went for metallic green;
To get back in the spirit of the thread though, here's one of my Corgi DB4 model restorations (de-bumpered and re-wheeled with Bond Aston wheels);
Corgi 218 Aston Martin DB4 by Red Firecracker, on Flickr
To get back in the spirit of the thread though, here's one of my Corgi DB4 model restorations (de-bumpered and re-wheeled with Bond Aston wheels);
Corgi 218 Aston Martin DB4 by Red Firecracker, on FlickrGassing Station | Scale Models | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff