Cheap 1/43-ish die cast are back! (USA)

[eilif]

Unfortunately this will probably only apply to our USA members, but I was in Menards today and spotted a shelf full of "Denver Die Cast" cars for $2.99 each!  There hasn't been a sub-$3 line of die cast in stores around me since the $2.50 Bburago cars that were in "Family Dollar" stores a couple years ago.

Near as I can tell the cars are the same as those sold in bulk on their website in the O-gauge train section, which has alot of other stuff that 28mm modern gamers might be interested in.
https://www.menards.com/main/home-decor/toys-recreation/o-gauge-train-stuff/c-13318.htm?Spec_ShopByType_facet=Die-Cast
Buying online, they're even cheaper, but you would end up with alot of the same car (albeit in different colors) and/or depending on which assortment, you'd have some vehicles in other scales.  Still, it's not a bad way to go if you don't have a Menards nearby and they'll ship to store for free if your Menards has run out.

They're mostly the usual cheap die cast.  Most have pull-back motors and a few have a battery compartment secured by a screw, but no electronic parts whatsoever. Like the Bburago, many of the lights are plastic bits rather than paint on but the wheels are far more realistic than the Bburago plastic ones.  While being a somewhat inconsistent "box-scale", most say 1/43 on them and they all seem that they would fit pretty well with 28mm figs. of particular note, the VW van seems like it may be closer to 1/48.  Lastly, there is quite a variety of civilian cars.  Crossovers, Sedans, etc.

So far the only negatives I can see is that these are clearly not licensed toys so they have no brand logos even though it's clear they're models of actual cars. Also two of the crossover-style SUV's had axles that were slightly wider than necessary so the wheels move side to side a bit. Should be an easy fix.

All in all, definitely worth $3 a piece and just the thing for filling your modern tabletop, I'm only disappointed that I seem to have missed the VW microbus model.

Here's the stock pic of one of the assortments. I bought one each of most of the models pictured. One color of each car was enough for me.