5 Alarm

 Take the engine off of a military tank and supercharge it to power this fantastic Hot Wheels fire engine!

Name: 5 Alarm
Debut series: 2009 New Models
Produced year: 2009

Designed: Kevin Cao

5 Alarm

The story behind: The 5 Alarm was designed by Kevin Cao for the 2009 New Models Series. Cao thought it would be cool to take the engine off of a military tank and supercharge it to power this fantastic Hot Wheels fire engine!

With a turbine tank engine, side exhaust, and safety tools on top, this fire truck was made for fast response on and off the job.

The looks:  As previously mentioned, 5 Alarm is a firetruck with a lot of power, the turbine that seats on top helps the water (yes with little imagination we say water) to be pumped in any occasion, even in the most daunting emergencies. This particular model interests me a lot since it doesn't go wild about the additions made, so it doesn't look over the top, on the contrary all the additions look organic. 

First time I saw this model I went crazy, the model I acquire is from 2010 so it utilizes red and yellow color that combines perfectly giving it a "fiery" look. Most of the model has a lot of curves and corners so because of this, 80% is plastic, along with the ladder. Only the chassis is metal.

2010 & 2014

Recently I acquire another one (since is one of my favorites) and again the lack of quality for 2014 models is very evident, the ladder in the second one is the wrong size (something which bugged me and I had to fix it with duck tape) , so this makes me wonder whether is worth to buy new models of older designs.

Overall the firetruck 5 Alarm is a very solid addition that makes a lot of sense when it comes to reality, kudos for this one that didn't go over the top to impress.

Rating: ****

The red & Blue

Tread Air

In the end it all comes down to either love it or hate it with its massive ground-air tread!

Tread Air

Name: Tread Air
Debut Series: 2009  New Models
Produced Year: 2009
Designer: Mark Jones

The Story behind: This hot wheel car resembles the retired Treadator. The difference is that this one has 3 wheels and has a single tread running through the middle. Like Treadator, this one is a cross between a jet and a tank. To be quite honest this car originally didnt excite me, the idea of having a tread below the body of a jet its just, well weird. After 2011 it escaped my radar until this week where I found it in a 5 pack. 

5 Pack Road Rockets

The looks:  It is very nice and detailed as usual the body work is completely die cast while the sides and the tread are plastic, Below this 3 small wheels are attached to make the hot wheel roll. It is a descent car and in terms of quality is ok, more for the casual collector I would say. In the end it all comes down to either love it or hate it with its massive ground-air tread!




Rating: ****

I was trying to flight without leaving the ground...