Tonkin's NEW 1/87 scale Peterbilt 389 & Kenworth W900

Tonkin now has both the Peterbilt 389 and Kenworth W900 in HO Scale! We are expecting 8 Petes and 5 KW to arrive at our warehouse within the next two weeks. They are pre-selling quickly, so be sure to get your order placed so you can get these first releases.
Here are just a couple of pictures - pretty good for 1/87 scale!

You can see all 13 online at http://www.3000toys.com/

Peterbilt 389

Kenworth W900

Memorial Day SALE with FREE SHIPPING

Now through Tuesday, May 27th, receive FREE SHIPPING - details at www.3000toys.com
Plus, hundreds of items now on SALE!

Meet the Staff: Tasha

Tasha has been a part of the 3000toys family since the business was started, considering that she's the oldest daughter of the owners, Darin and Katharine. She has worked in shipping and receiving off and on for about 5 years and has recently joined us in the office . After school is out everyday, she walks in into the office, so quiet that she's practically unnoticed until someone says "Hey Tasha! When did you get here?"

Tasha has been a great help to me personally, as well as David and Bill I'm sure, since she became a Product Manager Assistant in February. (You'll meet David and Bill soon enough....)

About Tasha: She is 15 years old and enjoys her friendships. She loves music, particularly playing piano. Although she is quiet, her favorite thing about working with 3000toys is her "great coworkers," and we enjoy her too. Her favorite product is Norscot 55199, shown here:

I asked her why she likes this particular model, and she guesses that she just likes excavators.

All of us in the office are looking forward to working more with Tasha in the future. Join us next week for another edition of "Meet the Staff."

CFI's last model truck - CFI was bought by Con-Way last summer

"Truck collectors are usually pretty savvy about changes in the real trucking industry and most are aware that Con-Way assumed total ownership of Joplin, Missouri based CFI last year. CFI had been a prominent trucking business since 1951 and Con-Way has indicated that they will be continuing to enhance that truckload presence throughout North America. At the request of several loyal CFI fans, Con-Way agreed to allow the production of one more diecast replica of the last design used by CFI. We were pleased that Tonkin Replicas was charged with this important responsibility and equally pleased that Joplin, Missouri diecast dealer, b2bReplicas.com, was chosen to handle the distribution of the last company authorized model." - Rick Williams, Tonkin Replicas

There were just 300 of these precision models produced, and as of the writing of this blog, nearly half were already gone (even though they just arrived yesterday!) Here are some pictures from www.3000toys.com of this historic model:

Liebherr Hangs the Moon

I was emailed this picture and thought I would post it here for all of you crane lovers out there.

Meet Patrick

First, I must apologize for my absence of late. I feel like my head has been stuffed with cotton for that last 2 weeks. Anyway.....

This is Patrick, our primary customer service representative. He wouldn't let me take a new picture of him so this is from a few years ago. His is likely the first voice you will hear when you call the 3000toys' phone line. His voice is bright and shiny.

Patrick has been serving with 3000toys for about 5 years and is very partial to our farm toys, especially the older tractors. He answers our phones with his bright attitude, always happy to serve. He also serves you by email, or at least sends your email to the appropriate person, to get you answers quick and clear. He processes your orders and ensures that there are no snags along the way.

He has also been very helpful in keeping our office here standing strong. He was a prominent figure while constructing our new office on the property, and he always seemed to be smiling while hammering away.

Patrick makes weekly trips to the local Post Office, sending out our international orders and others that do not go by UPS. He has a good relationship with the clerks there (we hope) and always offers to bring the rest of us food and drink on his way back. It is delightful.

About Patrick: He is 43 years old and is the 13th child out of 14. He is very involved with his church, especially in the choir and men's ministry. He is married to a beautiful lady, and they have a 17-year-old girl together. He enjoys his many friendships because of his infectious pleasant personality.

He especially enjoys talking to people from all over the world on the phone here at 3000toys. At this very moment he is speaking to a customer in Ireland. Patrick really enjoys reaching out to people and meeting their needs.

I hope you've enjoyed this segment of "Meet the Staff." Join us here next week as we double it up, and you will be meeting Tasha, a new addition to the office, and Kent from shipping. Have a great weekend!

Motorart Volvo, Eligor and SIKU Claas Photos by Chuck Davenport

These impressive photos of Eligor, MotorArt, and SIKU models were done by Chuck Davenport and were in this month's issue of Hobby Merchandizer magazine.



Photos used with permission.

Chuck Davenport is an incredibly creative artist and is also great writer. He has the monthly "Die Cast Report" in Hobby Merchandiser. In addition, he is retired from the USAF and currently a middle school science teacher by day. Man of many hats, I'd say!

Caterpillar Peterbilt & Kenworth Lowboy Trucks are Coming

Norscot CATERPILLAR lowboy trucks without loads are coming!
Excited about the CAT Pete and KW lowboys hauling the impressive Cat equipment? BUT, you already own the piece on the lowboy? We have the solution: the same great CAT trucks, but without the load! Scheduled to be here "Sept/Oct" (perfect timing to be added to your Christmas wishlist), they're ready to haul your favorite construction model.

Just like the models with the loads, these beauties sport the CAT logo on the doors of the tractors (adding the perfect touch). Due to the licensing associated with the CAT name, these trucks cost just a bit more than the plain Pete and KW models but are still very affordable. Here are a couple of great pics below (Pete in yellow and KW in black).

NORSCOT - 55207-S Pete & 55208-S Kenworth - 1/50

Visit www.3000toys.com for the entire Norscot line: Norscot at 3000toys

Just Arrived

Here's a brief rundown on what just came in this week:
Be sure to sign up for our weekly newsletter at http://www.3000toys.com/maillist.html to get complete updates, announcements, and specials.
TWO new Norscot pieces just arrived including the long-awaited CAT D9T:

1:87 scale, cool...
Lots of new Maisto cars; the colors on these are fantastic! Here's just ONE....
1970 Chevrolet Nova SS in 1/24
Great new construction models from NZG including 3 new Terex items.
New-Ray has come out with some nice construction and truck models recently. Here are the ones from this week:
1/18 Remote Control Volvo BL71 Backhoe (#87913)


TWO new 1/43 scale KW W900 Construction Trucks with construction equipment on Stepdeck Trailers (15273 & 15283)
and more new New-ray at http://www.3000toys.com/ .....

Greenlight and Johnny Lightning NEW FULL Case Opportunities ... plus much more at http://www.3000toys.com/

Big Brutus

I liked the monster on yesterday's post so much that I thought I'd do something similar, maybe every day this week. Today feature is close to home, right over the Kansas-Missouri border, in West Mineral Kansas. This, my friends, is Big Brutus.




Most people in this area know who Big Brutus is. When I first heard about this after moving from a large urban area, I thought the popularity of this guy was just a sign of how rural this area is. But really, it is pretty cool. Now that I have kids, I can't wait to take my 3 year old this summer to see it. Here are some interesting facts, from none other than Wikipedia:

Big Brutus is the nickname of the Bucyrus-Erie model 1850B electric shovel, which was the second largest of its type in operation in the 1960s and 1970s. It is 160 feet high and weighs 11 million pounds. The bucket holds 90 cubic yards or 150 tons. Maximum speed is .22 MPH. It cost $6.5 million in 1962. It is currently on display at West Mineral, Kansas, and can be seen from miles away. Big Brutus, while not the largest electric shovel ever built, is the largest electric shovel still in existence. The Captain, at 28 million pounds, was the largest shovel and one of the two largest land-based mobile machines ever built. It was scrapped in 1992.

And this is from the official tourist website:

• Bucyrus Erie model 1850B
• second largest electric shovel in the world
• 16 stories tall (160 feet)
• weight 11 million pounds
• boom 150 feet long
• dipper capacity 90 cu. yds (by heaping, 150 tons
  — enough to fill three railroad cars.)
• maximum speed .22 MPH
• cost $6.5 million (in 1962)

This area has a lot of mining history some of it is quite interesting, and sometimes seedy. There are remnants of that history everywhere, from the chat piles to the names of the roads, to monuments like Big Brutus. If you ever take a road trip to see some Americana, come out to see Big Brutus. He's a pretty cool guy.

If you like this little baby, then check our our dragline [and other similar] mining models. They are some of my favorite construction models, because they look so unique. Here's some link to a few:

Schield Bantam C-35 Backhoe
Menck M90 Oldtimer Antique Excavator Dragline Crane
Bucyrus: Making the Earth Move for 125 Years
O and K Dragline

I'll leave you with a few more pictures, from kansastravel.org.

M2 Machines #1 Release almost GONE - #3 just announced

M2Machines has been incredibly well-received - and with good reason. For anyone who has not picked up and personally held one of these extremely-detailed 1/64 models, there is no way to really describe all of the minute, expertly-crafted details these little pieces possess - they even have headlight lenses! For those of you who may have missed out on the launch of this brand-new company's product line, there are still a few left of the very first release - but they won't be around much longer! The #2 release was just received last week, and the #3 release was added to the site this week with an estimated release date of "Early June." A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a few beauties to behold.....

Meet the 3000toys Staff!

I will be starting a series this week, to be posted every Friday until September, called "Meet the Staff." I will be interviewing each person on our staff here, including Katharine and Darin, the owners. We will be presenting our favorite products that maybe you didn't even know existed, and maybe you will learn something fun about us. I hope it will be enjoyable for everyone involved. This week we will meet Kent, who is our Senior Warehouse Technician. Come back Friday and we'll have a chat with him!

Strange Construction Equipment

In trying to figure out what this blog really needs, I've been attempting to come up with some strage, outlandish, or rare vehicles. I've searched the net, and the best I could find came from an obvious place. Dark Roasted Blend is one of my favorite sites. It was there that I found this monster from their list of Biggest (and Hungriest) Machines:

Giant Bucket Wheel Excavator
It would be cool to carry a model of this thing here at 3000toys. But I can't figure out what scale it would have to be to even fit it in a shipping container. This thing is really impressive. It apparently takes about 5 years to put together, so once assembled it must be driven from point to point, likely destroying much of what gets in its way. It's the largest mobile machine on earth. It is about 2.5 football fields in length, and more than half a mile tall, weighing in at 45,500 tons.

Optimism regarding the Hornby Corgi Buyout

Corgi's Sales Manager just called; everything sounds GOOD!

For starters, a month-by-month production schedule is to be created next week. For those of you who have been waiting on new Corgi items, this is incredible news! It's been quite some time since Corgi has released any new products - everything had simply been designated as "delayed". To actually have production moving forward and an actual release schedule again will be worth celebrating!

From everyone I've talked to and everything I've read, Hornby is very good at turning companies around. In addition, Hornby plans to invest quite a bit of money in marketing the Corgi brand. While we will have to see what actually happens, at this point, we are cautiously optimistic about Hornby's involvement with the Corgi Classics line.

Join Us!

We love our blog here so much and we hope to see some action and feedback, especially after the acquisition of Corgi by Hornby (see below). We want to be friends with you and form some connections, so join us at MySpace too! I hope to see you there. We'll be best of friends.

CORGI purchased by Hornby

We were called by our X-Corgi sales rep last week letting us know that papers were signed on Thursday making the deal final for Corgi's purchase by Hornby. At this time it is unknown what exact changes this will bring except that production is expected to resume and "everything" that is in the 2008 catalog is supposed to be produced under the new ownership (most of you probably noticed that new releases were put on hold for the past few months). We will be updating our blog with more information as it becomes available. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this article from today's edition of London's newspaper The Sun:

The Sun, London, UK - Monday, May 5, 2008

Corgi's Hornby new play thing
MODEL train maker HORNBY has bought toy car company CORGI for £7.5million.













Spy-cast models ... 2006 Corgi toys of James Bond Aston Martins

Hornby — which also owns Scalextric — will plough £750,000 a year into broadening the appeal of Corgi to youngsters. It has long been a favourite among older male collectors.
Chief executive Frank Martin said: “It fits perfectly into our portfolio of famous hobby brands.” He expects to increase Corgi’s sales from £6.5million to at least £10million by 2011.

Kung Fu Panda collectibles from Mattel

Kung Fu Panda items have just arrived from Mattel.

This DreamWorks Animation release is slated for June 6th, and you can see a trailer at
http://www.kungfupanda.com/

Voices include Jack Black, Jackie Chan & Dustin Hoffman.







Brief plot synopsis: "Po the Panda is the laziest animals in all of the Valley of Peace, but unwittingly becomes the chosen one when enemies threaten their way of life."