Mid 90's to Late 90's China bases and nickel plated axles

LeagueofSpeed Wednesday, 4/4/2018

Here is a list of Collectors #'s from the 90's with the China Bases and a pretty decent shot at the car having Nickel Platted Axels...my VW Golf Collector # 474 definitely has them because I took that car apart for the Mini Motor Nationals because the front axel was slightly bent and I'm 99.9% sure my Hot Bird (Gold) Collector # 469 has them as well...here is a checklist for the RLD Communities convenience.

#'s-455, 461, 463, 468, 469, 471, 472, 473, 474, 477, 478, 479, 483, 484, 498, 499, 507, 599, 602, 603, 610, 618, 623, 625, 653, 702, 715, 744, 774 and 820.

...some castings were excluded due to a non-favorable racing casting.

Hope this helps....we are learning and finding some cool nuances while prepping for The Quest for Speed.

Peace and Happy Hunting-League of Speed .


Discussion

I have the Ramp Truck  (green one) that is one of the China castings I didn't list above and it has 3 axels, so it will be drilled and the axels inspected in the name of research.



  • These appear to be nickel platted...Late 90's China Casting — LeagueofSpeed
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1_of_many 7/16/18

hi there LeagueofSpeed,

just got into hunting fast (un-noticed) regular HW.. and thx for the list.. but need to confirm a few things:

1. how did you tell which axle are nickel platted?

2. 618 are listed but i found that it is malaysia's chevy stocker.. perhaps it should've been 616 (china's '80's corvette) cmiiw..

thanks for sharing..

The only way to truly tell is to drill the rivets...not every mid to late 90's China casting have nickel platted axels...in my educated guess...I'd say 70% do have them...you can also examine the visible axel hub against a modern mainline using a light and magnifying glass...then compare it with a FTE or Color Shifter axel hub...the nickel plating has a noticeable shine to it compared to a mainline axel...Happy Hunting.

A Collector # isn't country of origin specific...the black one is Malaysia and here is the China casting 


  • The Malaysia Stocker also has 7 spoke wheels opposed to the 5 spoke from China — LeagueofSpeed
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NDeavers80 12/8/18

I think I found another for your list


  • The XR4TI is one of the cars that have made it into the 16 cars in the Pantheon of Speed in the Quest for Speed...very much looked over casting — LeagueofSpeed
  • Going to be my dcr rally car — NDeavers80
  • I owned a merkur xr4ti i miss that car — NDeavers80
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1_of_many 5/9/19

LOL.. just finished hunting down those in list.. the last addition was #603...

but.. considering how long it took to complete, i think these will just go on the wall..

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Mattman213 11/28/19

Ok you might be able to add #'s 367 96 FE Chevy 1500, #457 Pontiac Banshee and #657 98 FE Panoz GTR-1 to the list.

Went through what I have left from my collection when I was younger and dug these out along with a Hot Bird, Velocitor and 98 FE Iroc Firebird.  All have shinier axles than any of my other brand new main lines from what I can see between the chassis and back of the wheel.  Only way to 100% confirm would be to pull them apart but I'm not going there unless I decide to mod one.  I can also say that my 2000+ China base cars all have dull axles using same inspection.  Glad I found this thread, very fun!  OH and I also found a Gold Medal Speed F40 in the package while looking.  Forgot I ever had that guy!

Matt


  • Awesome to hear...the factory in China just put them together...they most likely had no idea whether it was a straight mainline axel or a nickel plated axel...it is however what makes the China built cars so much fun to hunt — LeagueofSpeed
  • I have a China base Panoz GTR-1. If that thing has nickel plated axels they aren't helping to make it any quicker! — WorpeX
  • Same here LOL — Mattman213
  • Just picked up a fairly massive haul of late 90's cars and found about 15 or so China based cars including some tow trucks, fantasty castings and so off roaders. Ive found 3 do far that DIDNT have nickle plated axles. Many of them are going into the donor pile for sure. — Mattman213

Picked up a few of the nickel plated axels from the Color Shifters 

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