Malibu International Volvo VT880 Semi Tractor HO Scale

[CCT70]

Though I'd rather have a vasectomy without anesthesia than to go to Wal-Mart (Gawd, I HATE that place!), I made the most of my trip last week since I needed travel items for a business trip earlier this week, and made a pass down the die cast car aisle. I never get my hopes up too much, as it seems the Stockton Wal-Mart rarely gets anything new, and the shelves were almost BARE this week, I suppose due to the fact that Christmas was just a couple of weeks ago. I almost didn’t bother, but I did hold on to the slim hope that they did in fact have one of the newly announced Volvo VT880 Tractors in HO. I got lucky, one left. Follows is my review of this truck, one that I have wanted for a long time:

Store: Wal-Mart (Stockton, California)
Price: $3.47
Quantity: 1 (Only one they had, otherwise, I’d have bought them all!)
Color: Chocolate Brown (Yuk, this guy is getting repainted!)

~Rating~ (on scale of one to ten)

Detail: 9
Paint: 6
Durability: 9
Wheels: 10
Chrome quality: 10
Value for the price: 10

Overall total: 54/60 (90%) A-

Folks, these are nice models. I realize that they are not 100% accurate at times, I know earlier Malibu truck offerings were pretty generic grill wise, however, that was likely due to licensing issues. Their International Eagle was the only branded tractor out of the first run, though their others were obvious in their body lines that they were supposed to be Freightliner Columbia’s, Kenworth W-900’s and Peterbilt 379’s. The Pete was cool, as with a Trucks N’ Stuff Pete grill replacing the original, it was pretty dead on then. The KW just looked like a truck with an aftermarket grill and I just didn’t go for the Columbia (not that I don’t like Freightliners) since there wasn’t much you could do with the toy like front of that particular one. This Volvo though, IS licensed, and now they also have licensing from Pacaar (parent company of Peterbilt and Kenworth) and are offering all of this lines models as licensed, accurate models. This Volvo has a great looking accurate grill. The medallion in the center of the grill is obvious, and the wheels, though *I* think they are UGLY, are VERY accurate and nicely done. The large side mirrors are accurate as well, though they are molded in black plastic, rather than the body color which they should be. The fifth wheel is too tall and is easily replaced with one from Herpa. The lines on this model are accurate as well, however, the paint is WAY too thick and it almost totally obscures the lines of the truck. The chrome on the various pieces is nicely done as well. The tires are real rubber and look a little too low profile to me, but I plan to replace my Volvo wheels with Alcoa’s from Herpa.

For $3.47 this little truck is a GREAT value. Another couple of bucks worth of parts and you have a VERY nice model for a fraction of the price of other models, and best of all, you don’t have to find a hobby shop or order online and pay inflated prices to get a model of this caliber. I am very happy with my fleet of Malibu tractors and they look and function great with my Herpa/Promotex, Trucks N’ Stuff, Walthers, Athearn etc. trailers. I plan to repaint this one Black or Dark Blue with racing graphics and add it to a scratchbuilt racing transporter “on it’s way to Sears Point Raceway” due to the location of my railroad.

[rogerw]

very nice looking

[cntown]

That's a great deal for diecast .I wish we had those up here in Canada,lucky if you find 1/87 stuff in Wal-mart here,usually just some cars(domestic and some imports).I was in Florida during the summer and loaded up on 1/87 stuff to bring back for the layout.