Call it the Bentley Monster. I was just about to make a quick report of the new Mini GT Bentley Continental from Bentley Shop, with 2 exclusives colors, and then wanted to compare them to other Bentley, then other colors, and then shoot them, and then bring big Kyosho’s in the party, and then shoot them all, and it all ended up with around 50 photos to keep.
And I loved it ! I am fond of Bentley cars, and I think owning a pretty nice variety of what exists at 1/64 scale, at least on a premium miniature point of view.
So it started like this :
To get to this :
In this post, I propose to make an overview of what is actually existing in Bentley in 1:64 scale. As much as I have it.
To start the engine, let’s go racing. It is one the most missing things many of us are currently facing (I’m writing these lines in May 2020, history will tell, sadly), so let’s have a little pleasure with the Bentley Continental GT3.
GT3 is a master category of racing cars, governed by FIA rules (International Federation of Automobile) involving mass production cars and engines specificity.
The Bentley Continental GT3 was born in 2012, and few people imagined a big luxury coupe of 5 meters long and almost 2 tons would end up in a GT3 car. But it did, thank God, as it is in my opinion one of the most beautiful cars of the line-up.
If you want a little bit of history, please check this website : Bentley Continental GT3.
The first manufacturer that has done a Bentley Continental GT3 in 1:64 scale was Kyosho, and I really remember myself hesitating buying a whole set just to get the GT3.
The set looked like this:
This particular set really brought me into Kyosho collecting. I ended up buying almost each car of the set, starting of course with the Bentley GT3 (for €28, which was all things considered a decent price compared to today eBay listings), and the big limos we will have a look further. And yes, that’s with a bit of remorse I did not buy cab versions (Continental and particularly the Azure). I don’t like cabs strangely.
Still today, this Bentley GT3 is one my favorite Kyosho in the collection. As you expect from a Kyosho car, nice details are present, but no brake disks or calipers, but a very impressive brilliant beige paint, really making the model. I adore it.
Years later, Spark offered a new tooling in 1:64 scale, my beloved Bentley Continental GT3, with a TON of liveries. From Macau to SPA 24H to Nürburgring, it was time to add 9 friends to the old Kyosho.
Spark version is very very close to the Kyosho (ie absence of disks and calipers), and overall I’ve always thought they were almost identical in terms of positive and negative aspects. The most notable thing is that the Spark version is far more affordable (around €12-€15), and more easy to find.
And if you’re a GT3 racing fan, specially a Macau fan, you can add at least 3 versions into your collection.
The origin of this big beast is obviously the standard Bentley Continental GT. Chronologically, I believe this Minichamps 1:64 was first to market, maybe from the 2010’s. A very well done minicar, very serious and with high paint quality, and this brown interior where you can see the details of the seats. I regret that the windows are full opened (breaking the line) and like all Minichamps 1:64, I think the models were great but soulless. It is maybe the reason why it didn’t have a great success at the time. Who knows.
Then from the Kyosho Bentley collection, another Bentley Continental GT came into the game, this time a Supersports version (more powerful engine mostly) and bigger wheels.
I have the mat black one with red seats (online Karuwaza version special), and the white one just in the background. I like it very much, but I am very concerned by the paint quality. Please be careful, as I observe some paint bubbles on this model.
This makes a good transition to the new Bentley Continental, freshly replicated by Mini GT. As you can see, the new version is so much bigger, so much wider. The grille is twice bigger than the original.
While my Kyosho is in a kind of beige / cream color, the Mini GT is sold to be Ice Grey. It is an exclusive color to the Bentley Shop, with the Orange Flame one (the Sequin Blue is also available but not exclusive in my opinion as it is already in the main line). You also get an exclusive Bentley box, with a nice classic design.
I jumped at this chance to get this new Mini GT tooling, as I did not have one, and was able to add 3 in a row with 2 exclusives colors. The price is correct (£12), and shipping to Europe too (less than £5). I might add that Mini GT distribution being hazardous and announcements big flops, I did not hesitate a second. And I really advice you to do the same before it is sold out.
That’s it for the Continental GT (other colors do exist from Kyosho, and a cab version, but I don’t have them). Before we move to the big boats, I want to show you a big coupe boat, as a perfect transition model between luxury coupe and big limo cars.
It is the 2006 Bentley Brooklands, by Minichamps.
As always, it is a little gloomy but quite unique. I have never seen such a big coupe car at this scale (except maybe those very new big Rolls Royce from China I should have a look at). The most interesting thing is that they managed to replicate the Bentley logo on the hood. Grill is also very well done, as well as the chrome wheels. For once, the bottom with exhaust of the car is replicated too. A very interesting car you can still find quite easily on eBay. Go for it.
So now, on to the big boats. Ah, the big boats. Thanks again to Kyosho, you can add big British limos in your collection, and that is rad. You may don’t like it, I’ll get it. But if you love British cars, and love some diversity in your collection, you cannot ignore big Bentley.
Here are 2 Mulsanne with the white Minichamps Brooklands.
You may notice that the big Mulsanne on the top of the box is plain gray, while the bottom one is a 2 tones gray. This is where Kyosho insanity arrives.They also did another collection called “Kyosho originals” for this Bentley collection, with exclusive colors. Let me explain. Kyosho cars used to be sold in blind card boxes as an entire collection (or set) of cars, like the picture on the top of this post. I believe they were sold through general stores in Japan and hobby dealers could order them.
Kyosho also sold diecast cars through another channel, I mean other stores in Japan, with the line called “Kyosho original”. Cars were sold in a larger base plate, in an acrylic box, were supposed to be more detailed (for many cars I did not see any differences), were costly but had exclusive colors. Most of the time, it was meant to be pure business, like Lamborghini collections, but sometimes, you really got value for your money.
Bentley Kyosho Original is part of them. Man, the recolors were amazing, and on the top of that were these amazing bi-color limos for Mulsanne and Flying Spur. I ordered as many as I could at the time, and I don’t regret it a minute. They are my favorite Kyosho by far.
This particular gold Bentley Flying Spur is definitely one of the 10 cars I would bring on a desert island.
Continuing our luxury overview brings us to the Bentley Arnage, a big late 90’s early 00’s limo, looking very much like a Silver Seraph Rolls Royce.
Kyosho did replicate the “T” version, meaning the most powerfull Bentley at the time.
The black version up there is from the Original series, alongside with the amazing British green one (my favorite). The cream and silver one are from the main line.
As a conclusion for the Bentley Kyosho collection overview, here are some views of the Bentley Turbo R, a limo from mid 80’s to mid 90’s. Not my favorite of the lot, but nicely done, and once again quite unique at this scale.
This Bentley Turbo R is not the oldest Bentley in my collection, and to be complete, we must finish by having a look at this amazing Bentley 6 1/2 litre of 1929, made by YoW Modellini Japan, representing cars from the Mille Miglia (thanks to my friend Bertrand for showing me these!).
They can be found on eBay, and are pretty amazing replicas of cars you may not see elsewhere. I do own this Bentley and a 1952 Osca MT4, as I considered these 2 the most nicely done.
I particularly love the wood interior. Amazing piece.
This 1929 Bentley is definitely the oldest car in my collection. This new Bentley Continental is on the contrary one of the most recent, and both illustrate the joy of collecting.
As a Bentley and car collector, I love to have a look at other less premium brands, like Majorette (they did a very good replica of the Continental GT V8 S) that I’m still collecting for at least a new tooling of each. I also stock a Bentley from Matchbox as I really enjoyed the brown color and tan interior. Matchbox being very close to the HW version, I did not keep a HW version.
Here is a final bonus illustration of the joy of collecting. The hobby made me collect Spark models at every scale (1:64, 1:43 and 1:18 sometimes), and you can see here the guilty pleasure of putting the same model from the same manufacturer in 2 different scales. As I often say, different scale, same pleasure. In addition, it is a Macau related thing.
So, this Bentley monster is now over, as well as this Bentley 1:64 car overview I hope you liked to read. Above all, I hope you to add some Bentley in your collection, as they are worth it. Thank you for your time, and see you soon on the Lamleygroup blog. Cheers.
