Hendrick Motorsports Victors The best looking of the bunch are the Hendrick pair of Kyle Larson and William Byron. The HMS liveries from 2021 are good, because they are simple. Over layered and multi-shaded schemes just don't land they way they used to. When you're trying to transpose a livery on a 3200 pound car to something that's no bigger than your thumb, simpler is usually better. 
One of the issues I've been finding with late 2021 Camaros in the 1/64 scale is that the plastic chassis is becoming warped in production. This causes the car body to not necessarily sit flush with the surface it is placed on. I haven't opened the number 5 Las Vegas win car yet, but it certainly has a questionable amount of clearance between the top of the tire and the wheel well. The 24 on the other hand looks superb. Some obvious areas of improvement are visible, but it isn't bad.
Ben Rhodes wins at Daytona... Again, simplicity seems to win out at this scale. The Thorsport truck sporting Bombardier colors looks great. While the truck itself is quite bland, it still looks distinctive. I wish Lionel has a plan to make the window net on these trucks look less chunky in 1/64 scale.   Compare to the 1/1... The biggest issue I can see is the size and position of the Bombardier titles. PPG Rainbow Flyer The 24 car has gotten credit for having some of the best paint schemes for years. The Rainbow Warriors never look bad, it's true. But can someone please give the PPG Paints scheme the credit it's due. Both Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric both have carried these colors and goodness, they are good! I try to be as unbiased as possible, but I really am not a Cindric fan. But I can't ignore how nice this diecast race car looks. I'm sure, if you had one in had, you'd agree! Please trust me when I tell you my photography does NOT do this car any favors.   The only big critiques I have with this car are that the base blue color used on the front half of the car shell is too dark. The other unfortunate bit is that the 'Goodyear' tire logos are way too high above the wheel well. Otherwise, you are looking at some pretty nice execution on a very tricky scheme! Conclusion:
While this is just a portion of the last wave of Gen 6 cars, you can see there is a lot to love. But while focusing on the good features, questions still remain. Lionel has been printing on this Gen 6 chassis for a very long time. Why do they still struggle with details like the placement of 'Goodyear' labels? They are the only show in town right now for 1/64 and 1/24 scale cars. But should collectors enable these inaccuracies? While I understand that these are the standard line of cars and aren't the ones available at race shops and track side haulers, those 'Gold series' versions tend to struggle in these areas as well. I hope in the future that Lionel fully commits to the Gen 7 mould and that the next Wave of race cars 'wows' as much as I'm hoping it does. Lionel has a real opportunity before them. Will they capture it?
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Model ReviewsHere, I will investigate 1/64 scale diecast race cars and the on track impact of each car. Archives
January 2023
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