"CAIPO" The Best O-Scale Die Cast $5 will buy! (Also a Kinsmart Kennworth.)

January 23, 2021

"CAIPO" The Best O-Scale Die Cast $5 will buy! (Also a Kinsmart Kennworth.)

I'm becoming more picky about the cars on my Christmas layout. Plasticville buildings and 0-27 railcars do not hyper-realism make, but I still like the autos to look good. So, I'm slowly replacing some of the over-sized or poor-quality cars on the layout with better ones.

In the quest for such vehicles on a budget. I stumbled on the very nice CAIPO line of 1/43 die cast on Ali Express. These three arrived this weekend.

They look like oversized boxed Tomica cars. Like Tomica cars, they are both Box-Scale (made to fit the box size) and labeled with their actual scale. Each non-taped (easier to resuse) box is almost as small as the car, making make them easy to pack up for compact, scratch-less storage.

Like most toys on Ali they are offered at a variety of prices but it was easy to find plenty of examples for $4.99 with free shipping. The search terms "CAIPO Alloy" or "CAIPO Die Cast" should bring them up.

First up is this #25, a Jeep Wrangler

At 100mm long it is exactly the marked 1/42 scale. All three of these were spot-on for their labeled scale.

Especially glad to find this one as my son had an open topped Blue Wrangler on the layout that at 1/32 was comically large. This will be a nice replacement and even better it has a top done up for the winter.

The separate brake light above the tire is a nice touch.

Then #84, this sweet 1/43 Toyota Camry.

Inlike many cheap die-cast, all these cars have nice, model-specific wheels with a muted metallic finish.

Good front details.

As with most pull-back-action sedans there is a large piece of luggage molded in the back to hide the motor. I actually appreciate pull-back motors in some situations now because you can have a car on an upward slant without it rolling backwards.

Lastly, #54 a nice 1/52 Ford Transit.

A 1/52 vehicle might seem an odd choice for someone being picky regarding size, but I've deliberately made many of my larger trucks and vehicles undersized so they don't dwarf the undersized Plasticville buildings.

Nice execution of the Ford emblem and grill trim.

I was planning on painting over the swooshes, but in-person I don't mind them. This is a nice addition to the town as I drive a "Transit Connect" the mini version of this full-size van.

The whole batch.

I am very pleased with these. The detail and quality meets or exceeds anything similar I've seen at the price point. Definitely a big step up from the $3 Menards "Denver DieCast" and "BBurago" vehicles carried by Dollar General. They are as good or better than the often-oversized $8 Kinsmart vehicles carried by most every Pharmacy and Hobby Shop in America.

There are also a huge range of vehicles available and (unlike menards $3 vehicles) they are licensed models. Below is what appears to be this year and last year's brochures for the collection Hopefully it will assist anyone searching for particular vehicles. The selection is euro and luxury heavy but still a good number of "everyday" drivers.

This Year's Brochure.

Last Year's Brochure?

Lastly, a 1/60'ish Kinsmart Semi I picked up at Target for $6. I'm not sure if I will use it on the layout but it's got some good detail (needs sleeper windows though) and would look good in the background.