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Datsuncog

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Datsuncog last won the day on February 23

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    Rusty cars; vinyl records; small-batch beers; writing; graphic novels; cats; photography. Amongst other things.

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  1. Happened to be over at the Sainsbury's branch at Holywood Exchange this evening, and darn it if they don't have a significantly better selection of diecast than the lousy Carrick store: Matchbox 5-packs were on the shelves, and plenty of them, though no single mainlines. Still, two packs for £15 isn't a bad price - I was a bit tempted by the Autobahn pack with the brown Mercedes estate and pale blue BMW 2002, but couldn't see another set I particularly liked. Majorette too - first time I've seen these 60th Anniversary releases in real life. At £6 they're fairly pricey, but then they do come with a tin. Anyone urgently needing any of these? Plenty of all four were on the shelf... and I may be carrying out a bit of a dawn raid on potential diecast suppliers across the Greater Belfast area tomorrow morning soooo... We'll see what happens.
  2. Fear not, today's not completely absent of small vehicles. This landed the other day: Yup, the slightly delayed February release from Corgi Model Club - it's the #490 Volkswagen Breakdown Truck. This is one I've been looking forward to for a while - in fact, the next few months are all models I've been looking forward to for a while. And this one is very appealingly rendered. It's basically a reworking of the #431 VW Pick-Up released in March 1964, which saw a metal winch unit, plastic towhook and moulded toolbox fixed to the standard unit in August 1966, to form part of the Gift Set 37 - Lotus Racing Team, featuring the newly converted VW T1, two Lotus Elans (one with detachable chassis), a Lotus Climax racing car, and a trailer. As well as being included in a few other Gift Sets, the VW recovery van was then released as a standalone model in December 1966, and had a fairly long spell in the line-up, surviving well into the Whizzwheels era with its last outing in the 1972 Corgi catalogue. It came in a few different colours; this is the mustardy-yellow version with no stickers. The tools and spares section is rather fetching, and quite cleverly done using a chromed insert covered over by a red top section with cutouts and an integral lid (a similar technique would be used on the Pennyburn Workmen's Trailer). Mind you, the plastic could be a bit fragile when exposed to determined kiddie curiosity, and most of the examples I've seen are missing at least the toolbox lid, if not the entire cover moulding - like my original example, in an alternative white 'Corgi Breakdown' colourway. Also highly unlikely to be found with all but the most untouched of original examples are the two small tyres, which fit into a moulded slot in the back and can be easily removed and quickly lost. All in all, a most wonderful package. The winch mechanism is quite cleverly done, with a spring inside the barrel to maintain tension when the hook's in operation, so you slide the tyre along and turn it to either pay out some winch line or take up the slack, and then it springs back and holds the line in position against some cast-in teeth once you release it. Or at least, that's the theory. While my original example still works nicely, the reproduction seems to have missed getting its spring fitted at the factory - so the mechanism just slides up and down and the hook drops down to the ground, unless you manually move it to engage the teeth and then don't touch it again. Annoying, but not the end of the world. Base is fairly true to the original, with the 'pick up' lettering erased for this version, and of course 'Made in China' now prominent. One other change is that VW now seem to insist on their logo being added to licenced products. The front of the box details all the special features, to help sway indecisive kiddies. I still love the packaging on these, even if the card is much shinier than the originals. As ever, a little collectable card is included. It shames me to admit just how much I enjoy putting this little cardboard square away in its special little tin once a month. Clearly, I'm an easily-amused sort of person. The model for March (which I doubt I'll see until April, most likely) is the Austin A60 Driving School Car, which I happen to have a lot of time for - so eagerly anticipating that too. Other forthcoming issues for 2024 include the Rover P6 with Golden Jacks wheels (oh yes); the Chrysler Imperial with golf clubs in the boot; the London-Sydney Rally Hillman Hunter (more Golden Jacks); the ski club version of the Citroen DS Safari, and the Oldsmobile Toronado (Golden Jacks version also? Not sure yet). I'm a bit less thrilled about another Bond Aston, or indeed another very slightly different version of the Thames Walls Ice Cream Van (this time without the chimes), but I guess it's good that I have the option to just skip these releases as they arise. Even if it does kinda nip at my completionist tendencies - I've missed out on the 'Lazy Bones' Corvette (for some reason I don't like it), the Fire Chief version of the Chevrolet Impala (too much like the previous taxi version) and the reissued 'Saint' Volvo P1800S with the non-faux-aged sticker on the bonnet and the correct Paramount licencing information on the box (which CMC apparently neglected to gain permission for the first time round). But every time I get some discount code sent to me, I find myself looking at them... Ah well. I should just enjoy what I have!
  3. Yeah, it's a dwarf variety that we've had in a pot for about ten years - bit late this time, it normally it starts to flower around early February and is the first thing in the garden to come into bloom. Daffodils, crocuses, muscari, camelia and even a snakehead fritillary have appeared before it this year, but it's getting there...
  4. Not gone... just taking a break!
  5. Decided to give the market a bit of a break this morning, for multiple reasons. But at least the rain has stopped. And even if the Tree of Tat remains bare still, there are other things a-growing. So... maybe a promise of better times to come. Happy Friday, kids.
  6. You could be right - and I'm now wondering if it's even worth heading over tomorrow, as Market Blokey won't be there: Decent of him to give me a heads-up, anyway - don't really envy him, like. Not sure if a 6.20 start can be justified in the morning, as I dunno if I much fancy travelling in just to balefully stare at Sheila's ludicrously overpriced £5 diecast with apparently literal shit all over one of them. Meh. I'll see how I feel.
  7. And decisions were made. I know. What am I even doing with my life?The Park & Play Garage was one I've been trying to find for a while - it's a cracking big set. Not wildly cheap at £27, and that's apparently a reduced price, but it's no cheaper anywhere online that I could find; and hey, I'd sooner support an independent business than give Jeff Bezos more of my hard-earned. He don't need it. The Helicopter Rescue set wasn't one I was as mad keen on, but at £14 it was also a good bit less than I've seen it anywhere else. More toy-like, it's true, but still - this is one of the first Action Drivers releases from 2020, so I suspect it'll become harder to track down before long. I haven't opened either of them yet - it's something to look forward to. And there was more... The Chevette drag racer came from the same toy shop; I had the opportunity to buy this several times last year, for a good bit less in Home Bargains, but for some reason I baulked. Time to make good on that. And I didn't really have time to swing by Poundland on my way out, but I did anyway - and lo, there were recent-case mainlines on a couple of pegs. Not many, and some I had seen already - a couple of green Mk1 Golfs, a lot of green '33 Ford coupes, a solitary blue '70 Ranchero - but the Ford Interceptor Utility and Toyota Hilux were worth bagging in exchange for some loose coins in my pocket, I felt. So I did. And with that, it was definitely time to run. What I'm going to do with these is anyone's guess, but I feel kinda giddy and excited by them - and, leaving aside whether that's age-appropriate, isn't that meant to be what toys are all about? I didn't buy the Canyon Adventure playset - not today, anyway. I previously saw this set in TK Maxx just before Christmas last year for £22, and I wouldn't say that I won't, at some stage. But I kinda like the architectural sets, for preference. Similarly, I didn't bother with the Bus Station as I already have it - at only £4.99 from Home Bargains last summer. Although mine turned out to have incorrect pieces in the box, so the roadway bits won't fit together. You gets what you pays for, maybe. More to come on these, doubtless!
  8. Carried out another lunchtime raid today, in my ever-widening quest to slake my apparently insatiable thirst for Matchbox. Tesco, B&M, Poundstretcher, Smyths and The Entertainer seems to have given up entirely on stocking any new Matchbox mainlines these days; Sainsbury's and Asda never stocked them locally to the best of my knowledge, and stores like Morrisons or One Below simply don't operate here. So really it's a choice of either Poundland or the few-and-far-between local independent toy shops to try to find any late-2023/ early 2024 mainlines, with the indies sometimes also carrying lines like Moving Parts, Convoys, Skybusters, Working Rigs, Collectors Editions and my current weird obsession, the Action Drivers play sets. No, I don't know why either. Having exhausted the eight or so branches of Poundland in my general vicinity, and stripped the sole surviving Stewart Miller branches of anything worth having, it was time to go further afield. So today took me over the Craigantlet Hills to Toytown, in Ards Shopping Centre. There's been a toy shop here for years. I can recall coming here fairly often with my grandparents when I was little, but I'm sure I haven't been near it in thirty years now. It's also moved a little bit further down the shopping mall from where it used to be, but it's otherwise broadly familiar. Strangely underlit, which didn't make for good pics, but still familiar. Running the usual gauntlet of those irritating Fart Ninja things brought me down to the back of the store, and oh yes - paydirt. Orange paydirt. DING DING DING Okay, so the mainlines aren't very new - or indeed very cheap, at £2.30 a go, but they were there. And quite a lot of them, too. Mostly short card, but also some long card and a couple of Power Grab boxed models too (just the Nissan Terrano in silver and the Polaris RAZR left in that format, for £2). Also a couple of Collector Series with an olde-tyme Lesney style box - just a few examples of the TR6 and a Camaro left, for a hefty £9. Some 'National Flag' not-really-premiums were reduced from £4 to £2.75, but they were mostly featuring those legends of French motoring, the Fiat 500 and Jeep Renegade. I flicked through the pegs to see if there were any more VW T3 crew cabs or red Mk1 Golfs, but there weren't. Moving Parts were also priced at £4 a go, and the vast majority of the models offered were that metallic red 1980s Buick convertible and the yellow version of the Nissan X-Terra, with a few of the 1940s delivery van sprinkled through. Convoys sets were mostly the International tanker with Mustang, and the fire ladder with an ambulance (I think), plus the Tesla truck and a Tesla something-or-other lurking right at the back. Not too awful for £7, but that wasn't why I was here... There were a fair few Skybusters on the pegs, but I regret to confess I didn't really look at those. But further on down, we had... Aha. Now we're sucking diesel. Quite a few Mattel playsets and other, large-format toys. Including, to my inexplicable delight, some Action Drivers sets I have on my 'want' list. Some 5-packs too, though steep enough at £11.50. Quite a few familiar looking castings in that one. And even more sets on the shelves opposite, though mainly racing track bits. Mostly they weren't super cheap - some claimed to be reduced, but they were still the same sort of price they're listed for at various online retailers. A few were quite a bit more expensive, but hey. Plenty of Hot Wheels mainlines, but pretty much all were 2023 releases. Towards the top of the price range at £2.30 a throw. Some Hot Wheels premiums and special releases were also kicking about, but none which could dissuade me from my quest. Time was not on my side, regrettably, so I wasn't able to dilly-dally for too long. Decisions had to be made...
  9. Well, I had to look... Bugger, currently sold out. But that's a very handsome model!
  10. Yup, my example's red. Pity about the scratching to the paint on the roof, as it's otherwise quite clean. Never seen a jewel-headlamp version - but, that doesn't mean they're not out there!
  11. Oh, brilliant! I'm absolutely positive this is the same guy. The use of UHU glue, the random words across the top of the screen, the 'spotlights' made from buttons and earrings... I'm gonna have to hoke out all the pics I have of this craftsmanship, aren't I?
  12. Huh, so Selfridges is still packing the same 2023 HW mainlines as Poundland and Tesco - ah well. I notice there's no prices on the shelves or pegs - did you catch how much they're looking for the bog-standard stuff? Just out of interest...
  13. Just following on from yesterday's little packaging-opening party, I thought I'd document how I get models out of their blister packs. I like to open up any models I acquire and handle them, not just keep them pristine and unopened. No judgement on anyone who chooses differently; that's just me. But I also like the packaging, as I feel that's all part of the toy's appeal too. I love the artwork, and for older models it plays a big part in the nostalgia factor. Late 1970s and early 1980s Lesney artwork styles bring back strong memories of staring at toyshop display cases, trying to decide what to spend my pocket money on. I've only a couple of boxed Lesney from this era, but I'd like to find more. Ideally, I wish Matchbox would make their oddly named 'Power Grab' boxes as their standard mainline packaging, as I find them so much easier to open and store. And hey, maybe if there's a continuing drift towards reducing plastic in packaging, it could happen - I note that the 2023 power grab boxes came with tissue paper liners to protect the model inside, while older releases had clear plastic bags doing the job. Meanwhile, the 2024 Moving Parts range (like Bunglebus' newly arrived VW Type 3 fastback upthread) boasts both recycled metal in the models, and 100% biodegradable paper-foam packaging. However, this packaging has drawn some criticism online from collectors who've found that it doesn't seem to protect the models from damage, or paint rubbing while in transit. So we'll see. But anyway. For now, most Mattel mainline releases come in plastic and cardboard blister packs - and removing the model without trashing the packaging is something of a challenge for me, since I like to keep both. I've tried and failed to emulate YouTube videos which use acetone as a solvent to dissolve the blister adhesive - and consumer-grade paint thinners also seems too weak to do the job, though I understand Wilco-branded stuff was good, if sadly unobtainable in Norn Iron. So, what's my favoured technique? I've a little plastic tool apparently designed for use with modelling clay. It's thin and angled at one end, and just slips easily between the card and the plastic blister in the middle, where there's generally a gap or dimple in the plastic. See-sawing it backwards and forwards as I go cuts through each side of the printed paper on the backing neatly, preventing tearing. I generally just go up as far as the top of the blister side, so as to leave a 'hinge' connecting the blister to the back. Then the same for the other side, and out it comes. Of course there's some tearing along the glued surfaces - but when the blister's lowered back down again, it's really not noticeable. So I can mess around with the lil' Honda, display it for a bit, and then ultimately put it away again in the original packaging without it looking too shit. I don't glue them shut again or anything - it'll never be MINT UNOPENED and I don't intend to pass them off as such, but that's not why I collect these; I just do it because it's fun, not for the resale value. We all know where that ends up, anyway. Incidentally, I've noticed that a few Matchbox come with a bit of stiff clear plastic behind the model - the Bronco Sport had this yesterday, as does the Lamborghini LM002. I'm assuming this is to avoid paint loss from rubbing - though I dunno why some models have it, but not others? So yeah - there's some I might open straight away, and others I'll maybe put away for a while, then come back and open them when I feel like it. I'm unlikely to run out of them anytime soon...
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