(NEW YORK, NY, February 18, 2003)Star Wars die-cast vehicles have been a favorite amongst collectors for years. From vintage holy grails like Kenner’s highly sought after TIE Bomber to Galoob’s collection in the nineties, die-cast has always been popular for those wanting their smaller scale ships in durable and detailed alloy combined with high-impact plastics for display and play. This summer, Code 3 Collectibles, through a sub-license agreement with Hasbro and Lucasfilm, will produce a first ever series of high end die-cast models inspired by the fantastic ships of the Star Wars Saga.
“Lucasfilm came into our showroom a couple of years ago at Toy Fair and saw the Code 3 Fire and Rescue Line and was impressed with the level of detail, quality, and accuracy,” said Code 3 Product Development Manager Audrey Wells, “ That’s really how discussions began with producing die-cast vehicles based on the movie along with the Skywalker Ranch Fire Truck.”
The Woodland Hills, California company, best known for their extensive line of Fire and Rescue collectibles and their new Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Collection, released last October a collectible replica of The Skywalker Ranch Fire Brigade Engine Co. 1589. The amazingly detailed 1/32 scale replica of the actual fire truck serving the Lucasfilm Northern California compound is proudly displayed at Code 3’s showroom in Toy Fair 2003. Limited to only 7,500 pieces, the collectible is available for purchase directly at www.code3.net or by calling toll free 888-635-2333.The price is $209.96 along with an option for a 4 payment plan as well as special price for Code 3 Club members. Code 3 brought a photographer to the Ranch for a day to capture every detail and minutiae of the truck from all angles. They also worked with Pierce, the fire engine's manufacturer, in ensuring they had all the right specs and paint chips to match the color. The result is an exact mini replica of No. 1589 with no detail spared right down to the helmets and hoses. The Skywalker Ranch Fire Truck comes with a cool silver acrylic stand and a Skywalker Ranch Fire Brigade patch adorned with a familiar looking hamburger shaped ship in the logo.
With the amount of devotion given to the Skywalker Ranch Fire Truck, you can bet the same commitment will be made to their forthcoming Star Wars die-cast offering. Code 3 has already completed their trip to the Lucasfilm Archives to get all the material they need for the limited edition line, which is set to debut in August, and will be available through Code 3 and select specialty retailers.
In what scale will the ships be? “Each ship will be a different scale,” answered Wells, “What we’re doing is building to a size and pricepoint so that they’ll all be a similar size. They will be scaled, but each ship will have a different final scale.” The vehicles will be based on both Original Trilogy and Prequels and will come with their own display base. Code 3 is also currently looking into options for special display cases. The final pricepoint for the vehicles have yet to be set.
Because Code 3 sublicenses through Hasbro, the master toy license holder for Star Wars, they carry a multi-year agreement with the vehicles for this particular market segment, so we can look forward to a healthy amount of offerings from the company. With 2002 seeing successful launches of new collectible concepts from licensees like Master Replicas and Gentle Giant Studios, we can expect Code 3’s line of die-cast Star Wars vehicles to be the new “gotta have” Star Wars collectibles in ’03. Look for more exciting news from Galactic Hunter as the company plans to unveil the line at San Diego Comic Con this summer!
