1/18 Die Cast KITT Coming In December

MischievousJoe · Post by **MischievousJoe** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 12:12 am

jjsocrazy wrote:wtf??? are you serious I have to complain, can someone tell me where to complain this is such crap, honestly

Complain about what? Can you be more specific.

imranbecks · Post by **imranbecks** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 3:29 am

HondaSiR wrote:Guys, I mustered enough strength to open up my ERTL KITT and now I would like to report the following:

When you get your own KITT, DO NOT pull the grappling hook all the way out!!! The winch that it attaches to has some difficulty in reeling the entire length of the string back to the starting point. I only pulled one fourth of the entire length and I had difficulties in retracting it back. That's because when the string is pulled out with force, it actually stretches itself a bit! The winch is designed to turn to a certain amount only (there is a mechanism that retracts the string). There is a tiny circular lever that you can use to help reel the string back but it is very difficult. I would say that this is definitely a design defect.

So I did overpull it!!!!! DARN IT!!!!! Aargh!!!!

Thats just it...a design defect indeed!!! The circular lever is so small, it is impossible to reel the string back easily..... Damn... Shouldn't have pulled it... I thought it wld be able to reel in automatically.... Aargh!!! I'm not even gonna touch KARR's hook.... No way!!

Other than that, the model is still great!!! Except for minor details left out such as the pontiac logo in the center of the bowling ball wheel caps..

But even so, I'm still happy with both the 1:18 KITT and KARR...

HondaSiR wrote:As Imranbecks mentioned earlier, the Knight Rider plate at the back is made out of sticker...and the hue of the blue color is a bit light in my opinion.

And if I'm not mistaken, ERTL/Aoshima got the font of the plates wrong for KITT... The letter "I" is the wrong font type...

jjsocrazy wrote:wtf??? are you serious I have to complain, can someone tell me where to complain this is such crap, honestly

I don't understand what u have against this model.... The model is still great, just minor details left out and a design defect, but it is still a worthy model to get if u are a KR fan..... Trust me...

Skav · Post by **Skav** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 4:18 am

Another option is to take the car apart and see if you can manually pull the grappling hook back in that way.

worth a try.

kywolverine708 · Post by **kywolverine708** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 4:54 am

If the grappling hook effect isn't that important to you just cut it off. You can't really see that it is missing anyways can you???

HondaSiR · Post by **HondaSiR** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 5:19 am

imranbecks wrote:So I did overpull it!!!!! DARN IT!!!!! Aargh!!!!

Thats just it...a design defect indeed!!! The circular lever is so small, it is impossible to reel the string back easily..... Damn... Shouldn't have pulled it... I thought it wld be able to reel in automatically.... Aargh!!! I'm not even gonna touch KARR's hook.... No way!!

I don't think you overpulled it, it was designed to be pulled all the way. But as it is now, it is impossible for it to retract all the way in. Skav may be right, the only way for you to remedy the situation is to disassemble the winch itself. Unfortunately the entire chassis will have to be separated from the body since the winch itself does not have any screws to unfasten. Better wait a while for someone else to try it first, or try to reel it in manually using the micro wheel, bit by tiny bit.

Skav · Post by **Skav** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:54 am

I don't understand this...I received an email today from the site I was purchasing kitt from, anticsonline.co.uk, and they said they are having trouble with getting the supplies in.

In any event, I also called Modelzone up, my local model/die cast car store, and they said they are also having trouble with getting orders in.

So I chose to still pre-order the kitt car with anticsonline.

weird how some have it but most are having trouble with it. :S

DanielB · Post by **DanielB** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 12:06 pm

Yeh, still nothing from the place where I have my order. Sent afew emails out to online dealers today to find out whats happening.

DanielB · Post by **DanielB** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 1:43 pm

Got a reply from modelcarsdirect.co.uk, who state that they are expecting them before the end of the 1st week in December (which would be this week?).

imranbecks · Post by **imranbecks** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 7:58 pm

HondaSiR wrote:
imranbecks wrote:So I did overpull it!!!!! DARN IT!!!!! Aargh!!!!

Thats just it...a design defect indeed!!! The circular lever is so small, it is impossible to reel the string back easily..... Damn... Shouldn't have pulled it... I thought it wld be able to reel in automatically.... Aargh!!! I'm not even gonna touch KARR's hook.... No way!!
I don't think you overpulled it, it was designed to be pulled all the way. But as it is now, it is impossible for it to retract all the way in. Skav may be right, the only way for you to remedy the situation is to disassemble the winch itself. Unfortunately the entire chassis will have to be separated from the body since the winch itself does not have any screws to unfasten. Better wait a while for someone else to try it first, or try to reel it in manually using the micro wheel, bit by tiny bit.

I tried reeling it in manually using the tiny lever, but it can only turn 180 degrees and it stops there with the entire string and the hook still dangling out..

This is how I have tied the hook under the chassis in sort of an innovative way so that it doesn't dangle out while on display

. Pic is not that clear though, but its alright.>>

HondaSiR · Post by **HondaSiR** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 9:26 pm

Imranbecks: The small metal clip/coil that enables the retraction is probably all screwed up. Disassembly is the only solution it seems. As for me, I only pulled out about one and a half inch worth of string but I couldn't retract the final one centimeter of it. I just hung the hook on the winch itself so it won't dangle loose when the car is in display. It is still proving to be a big nuisance indeed.

Let's hope everyone gets to have their model in their hands soon so that we'll have some help. It seems there's some problems in the US regarding the procurement of this item.

Lost Knight · Post by **Lost Knight** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:09 pm

HondaSiR wrote:Let's hope everyone gets to have their model in their hands soon so that we'll have some help. It seems there's some problems in the US regarding the procurement of this item.

I checked Wal-Mart, Toys "R" Us, my local mall, Kay-Bee, and the independent retailers in the mall. Nobody has the damn thing. At this point I'm just going to buy an Ertl because I don't want to wait and I checked out what you guys said about the "black dots" in the middle of the lights on the Aoshima version, and agree Ertl's lights look better. I think what I'll do about the amber fog light situation is just cut small pieces of black electrical tape and cover the lights up if I'm ever able to buy the car. It looks as if I'll have no choice but to place orders for these as of now. There is another mall not too far from me which I will be going to to do some Christmas shopping and I will take a look around but doubt I will have luck. I also want to order Aoshima's K.A.R.R. and some silver paint and paint thinner so I can make some modifications to it to make it more true to the show.

Knight Industries 3000 · Post by **Knight Industries 3000** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 7:00 am

Lost Knight wrote:I checked Wal-Mart, Toys "R" Us, my local mall, Kay-Bee, and the independent retailers in the mall. Nobody has the damn thing.

Sounds like what I did yesterday. I checked a Toys R Us, a Target, a Kmart, and a Meijer. I almost checked Wal-Mart, until I remembered that I despise Wal-Mart, but that's a different story.

imranbecks · Post by **imranbecks** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 7:43 am

Its a pity u guys in the States and the UK have not received the model yet.. What is taking them so long.. Maybe u guys shd try sending an email to ERTL about this problem...

How about those that have ordered the Aoshima models from HLJ? Has it been shipped yet?

DanielB · Post by **DanielB** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 8:04 am

Had another e-mail today from a company I asked, they say they are expecting them "soon", but it might be December before they reach them.

PBH · Post by **PBH** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 8:14 am

Hey guys. Whatever hapened to that Ertl contact? The one who said that orange fog lenses would be gone?

Lost Knight · Post by **Lost Knight** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 9:33 am

Yeah, I was wondering about that Ertl contact myself. It sounds like she might have confused the corrections with the Aoshima version or honestly didn't know every exact detail off the top of her head. Not to mention sometimes things get changed last minute and possibly a decision was made to keep minor differences for the two names before the model premiered. I thought the U.S. would have gotten the model roughly the same time because of the American-based Ertl, but unfortunately this isn't the case.

HondaSiR · Post by **HondaSiR** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 10:04 am

That woman is probably just a spokesperson or a customer service representative. She may not have direct contact with the design team or ERTL's manufacturing plant in China...and thus does not have adequate information at her disposal. At least she politely responded to our queries earlier as best as she could...and most of the irregularities about the model has been corrected.

For instance, remember the pic wherein the front windshield pillars/sidings were colored silver? On my KITT, those sidings are colored flat black now, not gloss black as it should to match the body of the car. My guess is...they already painted it silver at the plant, and at the last minute they decided to color it black (why flat black I don't know). When everyone gets their KITT, you'll know what I mean.

kitt-x · Post by **kitt-x** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 10:46 am

I had pre-orderd a KITT with HLJ, but my order status still says future release. I haven't heard anything from them about the order either.

DanielB · Post by **DanielB** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 12:48 pm

KITT-X, ERTL are making a normal Trans-Am in 2005. You never know, they might make one with a ram air hood!

kitt-x · Post by **kitt-x** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:14 pm

That would be cool, then I could try and modify the two models some how. Thanks for the info!

DanielB · Post by **DanielB** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:48 pm

Are there any other differences on your car?

kitt-x · Post by **kitt-x** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:27 pm

I kept the '91-'92 style ground effects.

corlando52 · Post by **corlando52** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:43 pm

I was waiting for everyone's opinion before I wrote to my Ertl contact again. As I understand it, she is the Products Manager. I want to give her everyone's feedback on KITT. I am surprised that the amber lights stayed after she said it would be corrected. Maybe it would be easier to just cut off the amber ones if they are just stickers, and then it would look like a Season 2 KITT, except for the directional covers. At least they got rid of the white lettering and the Trans Am decals!
IF she answers me, of course I will post it here.

Chris

DanielB · Post by **DanielB** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:49 pm

If what's a sticker? The foglights are plastic pieces, you can clearly see it from photos that have been posted.

PBH · Post by **PBH** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 9:29 pm

corlando52 wrote:I was waiting for everyone's opinion before I wrote to my Ertl contact again. As I understand it, she is the Products Manager. I want to give her everyone's feedback on KITT. I am surprised that the amber lights stayed after she said it would be corrected. Maybe it would be easier to just cut off the amber ones if they are just stickers, and then it would look like a Season 2 KITT, except for the directional covers. At least they got rid of the white lettering and the Trans Am decals!
IF she answers me, of course I will post it here.

Chris

Sounds good. Let us know when/if she answers.

1/18 Die Cast KITT Coming In December

Ertl Contact

Re: Ertl Contact

knight rider: original

knight rider: 2008-2009

team knight rider

other knight rider

news

user contributed

videos

photos

follow us