One Valhalla of a new CORGI model collection

Welcome to our latest edition of CORGI Die-cast Diaries, your fortnightly blog review bringing collectors all the news, updates and topical stories from the captivating world of CORGI die-cast model collecting.

It’s been a big week for the CORGI team and our worldwide army of collectors, as last Wednesday saw us release details of our first new range launch of the new year, models which we expect to be available between January and April this year. As ever, we’ve tried hard to include something for every collector taste, so whether your interest be in collecting models of cars, aeroplanes, or machines from the world of popular culture, we think our new model range will have wide appeal.

It will come as no surprise whatsoever to learn that with this being the case, our first post range release edition of Die-cast Diaries is going to be bringing you an overview of all the new model announcements, as we feature some of the models which will be tempting us all over the coming weeks and months. As part of our introduction, we will also be embedding the range launch video hosted by our Head of Marketing David Mather into this edition, just to allow those collectors who have yet to inspect the range to have easy access to his now traditional introduction.

So, without further ado, who’s in the mood to look at a spectacular selection of new CORGI models? Though we say so ourselves, it’s one Valhalla of a collection!

Happy New models, love from CORGI

A New Year must mean a new collection of CORGI model announcements for us all to admire.

Easing our way into any new year can often be a challenging time for many. With our minds still clinging on to the enjoyment of the festive period, and all those new resolutions looming large at the front of our new diaries, we can often head into January with some trepidation, particularly as pay day still seems to be so far away. 

With that usually being the case, the CORGI team always try to go that extra mile in helping to soften the impact of those new year blues, by releasing our latest selection of models, collectable items we intend to have available over the period which will see us finally heading into Spring. If nothing else, our first range launch of the year provides collectors with an interesting distraction during the trauma of returning to work and normality, but that being said, we obviously strive to ensure that we create a range which has models possessing wide collector appeal, as we continue to uphold the traditions of this fantastic brand.

Over the Christmas period, we were left in no doubt as to the success of the year just past, as our warehouse was looking rather bare, with many of the latest model releases all having found new homes over the previous few months. That being the case, we really do need the new models announced in our January to April range to start trickling through, just so we can start adding new stock items to our depleted website availability.

So, which of our new models are already looking like they’ve found favour with the loyal CORGI collector audience?

It will come as absolutely no surprise to DCD regulars to learn that a new model tooling announcement linked to Britain’s most famous Secret Service Agent is already proving to have a licence to thrill, and when that model is a die-cast representation of a stunning Aston Martin supercar, that really is a recipe for collectable success.

Although it may be some time before we see Bond returning to cinemas in a new 007 adventure, the James Bond links and anniversaries just keep on coming, and our range of models have become a popular way of marking these. 2026 will mark the 20th anniversary of Daniel Craig ascending to the Bond throne in Casino Royale, but we should also be seeing the release of a major new video game ‘First Light’ during the coming year. The game offers players the opportunity to take on the role of a young Bond as he rises to the challenges posed by the 00 programme, with the prospect of using one of the most exciting cars to have ever been made available to our beloved super-agent, the stunning Aston Martin Valhalla.

This newly tooled model project is already capturing the imagination of the collector world, and is destined to continue the incredible die-cast association between CORGI and the many vehicles to be linked with 007 and his adventures.

A Double 0 agent needs the fastest, most dynamic, and the most striking car when they are on duty. Meet the Aston Martin Valhalla. A hybrid twin-turbo V8 with over 1000 horsepower and a few tactical modifications from Q Branch that you won’t find in the brochure. To drive this, Bond will first have to ‘Earn the Number’.

This beautiful new model is available for pre-order now, and is expected to be available during the summer, but you can expect to be seeing much more of this major new addition to the range in forthcoming editions of DCD.

Once again, Vanguards collectors can look forward to another release period where their beloved model range has benefitted from significant new tooling investment, and the ability to chart the ongoing development of several of these projects. In our range launch video, David provides confirmation that one of the most requested model subjects has finally made it into production, and we look forward to bringing you all the development details behind our new Ford GT40 Mk.I model in the weeks to come.

He also confirmed a couple of interesting project collaborations with leading motor museums throughout 2026, with the initial release from our new Range Rover tooling marking the first vehicle to come off the production line, a car which is now part of the British Motor Museum collection.

As the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust’s vehicle collection was growing in the early 1990s, ahead of their 1993 move to what is now the British Motor Museum at Gaydon, it was realised that they lacked an early Range Rover, and 153H was tracked down. In late 1991, a deal was struck with Lochen to acquire this historically important car, which by this time was in a poor state.

It was restored to its original ‘launch’ specification in 2006 by the Museum, and has since featured in anniversary displays, as well as TV programmes and magazine articles.

The County Classics Motor Museum at Taunton is Britain’s newest motor museum, and a delightful place to visit, cited in a historic old department store that’s now crammed full of interesting exhibits. With everything immaculately presented, the museum offers a unique journey through time, showcasing an exquisite collection of classic vehicles, a perfect day out for visitors of all ages. The staff and volunteers invite everyone to come and share in their passion for the timeless beauty of classic automobiles, and how could we possibly refuse an invitation like that.

Making our own die-cast tribute to this exciting new motoring heritage museum, we are introducing the Hillman Avenger Tiger Mk.II in Sundance Yellow to the range, a vehicle which is on display at the museum, and one which is owned by the museum’s proprietor.

She was purchased by enthusiast Pat Hawkins in 2016, who embarked on a project to recommission it, removing the engine so it could be refreshed, repainting the engine bay while it was accessible. He also fitted a new clutch and re-chromed the front bumpers.

Pat had worked in the motor trade all his life, and kept this Avenger in his personal collection because it is such a rare and original example, which has still only covered 31,453 miles. In November 2023, he created the County Classics Car Museum in the centre of Taunton, a museum which was opened by well-known TV personality Richard Hammond. The Avenger Tiger II was driven to the museum to be one of the many exhibits, and has since proven to be one of its most popular cars.

Taking a slightly more contemporary stance on the subject of popular motoring, not all the new Vanguards models announced this week have yet ascended to ‘classic’ status, with one in particular being a real bruiser of a release. For a vehicle with the rugged, no nonsense reputation forged by the Ford Ranger Raptor, it will come as absolutely no surprise whatsoever to learn that our 1/43rd scale die-cast Vanguards tribute to it is the heaviest of all our Vanguards models – quite fitting really.

Our latest impending release makes this imposing vehicle appear all the more sinister, as it’s finished in Conquer Grey and really does look like it means business.

With so many new models to tell you about in our new January to April 2026 range, we think this is an appropriate juncture for us to take a little blog review break, and allow all those who have yet to watch David’s range launch video to catch up on all the latest release news.

Take flight with Aviation Archive

One of the more popular toolings within our Aviation Archive inventory, the 1/72nd scale de Havilland Mosquito has recently undergone something of a tooling ‘finessing’ update. Please be aware, this image features a pre-production sample model with some known decoration errors.

This year marks the 28th year of the Aviation Archive model range successfully immortalising some of the most interesting and important aircraft the world has ever seen as scale die-cast models, and we have a busy year of new releases ahead of us. With our latest 1/48th scale English Electric Lightning F.6 and Great War Bristol F2B Fighter gaining rave collector reviews following their release just prior to the Christmas holidays, we have much to look forward to during 2026, with new and modified tooling all set to grace the range.

In his range introduction video, David announced a number of exciting new project partnerships we have in place, initially drawing our attention to those with the Commemorative Air Force in the US, and The People’s Mosquito here in the UK. He also made us aware of a couple of new tooling projects which are already underway, although they aren’t yet advanced enough to be taking their place in a range launch event – never mind, all good things come to those who wait!

The new tooling projects he did confirm were the Lockheed Hudson in 1/72nd scale, and a major new tooling project to allow the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.V in all its various incarnations to join the range as a completely new, standalone tooling project in the same scale. This significant undertaking will also allow us to introduce models featuring early variants of the Supermarine Seafire into the range, the first time these naval variants of the Spitfire have been available as a quality collectable die-cast model.

Clearly, we’re really excited at this prospect, and can’t wait to bring you development details here in DCD, as this tooling advances towards initial release.

The Mosquito now sports some additional detail which will only serve to further enhance its reputation.

Returning to the subject of the de Havilland Mosquito for a moment, our 1/72nd scale model of this war-winning aircraft has been a headline tooling in the Aviation Archive range since the first model was released way back in 2001, and even though the latest releases from this tooling proved to be as popular as ever, finding new collector homes in quick order, we felt that this classic tooling, whilst still impressive, was in need of a little TLC, in order to maintain collector range expectations. 

That being the case, last year, we embarked on a project to refine the Mosquito tooling considerably, not only making the nose mounted machine guns more accurate, but also opening up the weapons bay allowing the guns and ammunition to be viewed, and when in bomber configuration, to see the bombs hung in position. We’ve successfully managed to breathe new life into this magnificent model tooling and look forward to showing you the fruits of our Mosquito labours as this latest model nears release.

The images we have available for range launch show the Mosquito flown by John Randall Daniel ‘Bob’ Braham, as he mounted devastating intruder operations into enemy occupied Europe, a man who would become Britain’s most decorated Fighter Command airman during his operational career. He was also thought to have accounted for no fewer than four of the Luftwaffe’s leading nightfighter aces, as he attempted to support Bomber Command operations through his own night intruder efforts.

The Mosquito sample model arrived a little earlier than we were expecting, and we do have some decoration issues to address before this model can advance to production, however, we already know that this is destined for great things when it comes to the annals of Aviation Archive releases, and we can’t wait to bring you pictures of the next, updated sample model.

The Mosquito images featured above show development images of the tooling modification work undertaken on this model tooling, and even though we still have work to do, clearly show why we’re so excited to have the first release from this updated tooling in the range. 2026 is going to be a significant year for the Mosquito in die-cast.

Nocturnal raiders

The tooling modification additions to the Aviation Archive range don’t end with the Mosquito though, and we’re delighted to be welcoming the highly regarded Dornier Do17 back into the range, but in a configuration which wasn’t possible prior to the addition of a little tooling tweak. The Z-5 variant of the Do17 was optimised for operations over large expanses of open water, either in searching for, and attacking Allied shipping, or mounting bombing raids against land targets which lay across the water.

These aircraft benefitted from the addition of flotation tank blisters, ingenious safety features which were intended to inflate should the aircraft be forced to put down on water, allowing the aircraft to sit on the surface of the water for a much longer period of time, and certainly long enough to allow the crew to make good their escape. This would usually allow them to inflate their life rafts, having them on the water and ready to use, but also allowing them to stay with the stricken aircraft for longer than usual, as it was now less likely to quickly slip beneath the waves.

This simple modification saved the lives of many a Luftwaffe bomber crew, although if they were forced to ditch at sea, the race was still on to rescue them, as both friendly and enemy rescue teams would be rushing to get to the airmen first, with potentially very different outcomes for them on who managed to arrive on the scene first.

A classic Aviation Archive tooling which has been out of the range for some time, this impending release is an absolute cracker, as it replicates an aircraft which was optimised for nocturnal intruder operations over Britain, with its usually blue undersides having received a liberal application of black paint overspray. Very different to any of the releases which have gone before it, we are certain that this beautiful model is going to find favour with our dedicated Aviation Archive collectors, and those with an interest in Luftwaffe air operations of the Second World War.

Beware the dark, this nocturnal Hornisse might be lurking.

When it comes to new Luftwaffe tooling additions to the Aviation Archive range, few could claim to have had the impact that the recently release Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse did with the collector community, a model which flew out of our warehouse faster than the real thing. Indeed, if he hadn’t managed to requisition some models destined for another market, this first Me 410 would have been sold out in just two weeks.

Thankfully, for those who were unable to add one of those first models to their collections, we’re not going to have to wait too long for the second model to be released and as far as aircraft presentation goes, this one could hardly be more different from the model which preceded it.

Again, falling squarely into the ‘night intruder’ category, this release represents an A-1 variant of the Hornisse, one engaged in nocturnal sorties to spread devastation and confusion across Britain, usually operating as individual aircraft looking for targets of opportunity. This aircraft has also been specially prepared to undertake these harassing missions at night, with its black undersides and the majority of its fuselage giving this aircraft an incredibly sinister appearance.

The pilot of this aircraft, Lt Rudolf Abrahamczik, was one of the most talented strike pilots in the Luftwaffe, having also served for a time as a fighter pilot. With approaching 250 bombing sorties to his name during the Second World War, he would end the conflict flying the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet, amassing 69 missions in a blitz bomber role.

Having already had the opportunity to inspect a sample model produced in this livery, I can confirm that collections of Luftwaffe aircraft are about to be joined by a pair of real beauties, as this nocturnal pairing are about to gain plenty of admirers.

As always, DCD will endeavour to keep our readers fully updated with all the latest development information, as our latest collection of models advance towards their respective release dates.

A new year of exciting CORGI developments

As confirmed in our range launch video, with some major licencing and anniversary developments now in place across our Pop Culture ranges, and new models coming on stream across all our main ranges, it’s going to be a busy year for us here at CORGI and we hope you will share in all these developments by checking in with us on Die-cast Diaries every fortnight. We will be steadfast in our mission to make sure that our readers are always the first to hear about all the latest developments, confident in the knowledge that all this information is coming straight from the horse’s mouth, in a die-cast manner of speaking.

One of the most exciting projects we have to look forward to this year will be our 70th Anniversary celebrations, news of which we brought you in the previous edition of DCD. In addition to unveiling or classy new logo, we have plenty of activities planned in support of our birthday throughout the year, with a determination to make this year a significant one in the annals of CORGI and our Die-cast Diaries blog.

For now though, and as we’re still in range launch week, that’s where we’re going to leave it, in the hope that if you haven’t done so already, that you’ll now head off to watch our latest January to April range launch video – we’ve a lot of new stuff for you to see and hear about.

STOP PRESS – Before we sign off for this latest edition, could we remind you to also make sure you download your pdf edition of the latest CORGI catalogue before switching your computer off this weekend, as we know these digital versions are now becoming even more popular than the printed version. We’re all collectors at heart and that now includes our growing collection of digital CORGI catalogues.

That’s all we have for you in this Range Launch week, but we’ll be back as usual in two weeks’ time with another selection of the latest CORGI die-cast model updates and exclusives for your delectation. As ever, you could always drop us a line if you felt moved to do so, to comment on anything blog, collecting or CORGI model related, or even perhaps to suggest a topic you might like to see the team cover in a future edition. As always, our diecastdiaries@corgi.co.uk address is the one to use.

If you can’t wait for the next blog, you will find plenty of CORGI model collecting discussions taking place on our official social media channels, access to which can be obtained by clicking on the respective links at the foot of the CORGI website homepage. 

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Thank you for continuing to support your CORGI Die-cast Diaries blog. Our next edition is scheduled for publication on Friday 30th January, when we look forward to seeing you all back here then.

Thank you so much for your continued support.

The CORGI Team