danthecapriman

14 minutes ago, andrew e said:

Didn't @danthecapriman have a huge Tyco matchbox?

That big Chevy Suburban fire department one? 
I can’t find a pic of it now, but @Datsuncog got it for me from the market. It’s a bloody lovely model. Can’t remember how much it was now?

Edit; found it!

52 minutes ago, egg said:

One of my faves from the original 1-75 - along with perhaps the Removals van, Vauxhall Cresta, Morris Minor etc.

I don’t think I’ve ever had one of those little trucks with the crane still attached before. There can’t be many around that are complete still I wouldn’t have thought.

Those old 1 - 75’s do have a real charm about them somehow. They’re lovely little toys. 
The Cresta is a nice one too, I think mines in that copper two tone colour.

Last few days has seen a bit more done to various models.

FG recovery truck has been converted to rhd. Quite easy to do on this one, just a bit of messing around to get the steering column out of the floor on the other side. Just need to sand that big lump of moulding flash off the instrument cluster!

  
Lada Riva got painted in authentic Lada Adriatic blue!

  
Which strangely dried overnight darker!? I wish it’d have stayed the lighter colour.

Sierra estate is now in Ceramic blue. It looks brighter on the photo than it really is, but I hope the grey trims etc help tone it down a bit! 
Im pretty sure this shade must have faded quite a lot with age, as it seems to have a slightly purple-ish tinge to it on real cars. But I suppose the paint is going on 40 odd years old on them now!

 
Dodge RAM pickup is being put back together. 
I did the bumpers in molotow pen chrome and the grill unit in silver paint as that’s normally in that duller painted plastic silver on real ones. Cab back wall is painted too. I’ve had to paint the inside of that black as it’s made from clear plastic and you get lots of light bleed through it if the suns on it.

 
Dinky Volvo has had its wheels refitted and new tyres. Wheels are Dinky Transit wheels.

Ford F100 is about ready for being put back together. Hard to photograph this and get the metallic sparkling from it but you can just about see it in places. 
I had to paint the cab twice! Had it sat on the side while I was painting the Sierra, shook the can of blue to mix it and the nozzle must have been on loose and a jet of the blue paint and propellant shot out and landed directly on the F100 cab side! Being fresh paint it melted and went funny. I was mighty pissed off I can tell you. Lots of words that rhyme with ‘duck, ducking and hunt’ were said…

 
Converted a few interiors to rhd too ready to refit.

 
And stripped one of those cheapy DelPrado mk1 Capri’s which came from some collection or another. 
These aren’t actually too bad with the old paint gone. Originally they’re in a horrible gun metal grey colour. Why they picked that colour for these is anyone’s guess as it really doesn’t show off a Capri’s shape at all. A Capri wants bright blues, greens, reds, yellow etc etc not dull boring dark grey! 
I think with a bit of extra detailing and a better colour paint job it’ll look just fine!

No prizes for guessing what colour this one will be getting! 
A clue is: I conveniently already have a can of it…

9 minutes ago, Jon said:

This one?

Currently for sale here (but not cheap!):

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354917947701

Came as part of the Corgitronics Leyland truck set, which IIRC had a couple of interchangeable covers for the rear trailer and a clicker thing, to make it turn, or something.

Certainly, I remember playing with the mat and truck (both my older brother's), with Yorkie liveried box on the back and although the clicker still existed, it was long defunct.

No it wasn’t that one. I’ve never seen that one either though.

Mine was like a little town with buildings and car parks etc etc.

5 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

I'm a generation older than you Dan: I had printed cardboard sections that I could put together to make a road layout, with fold-up shop fronts to line the streets thus created.

I remember making my own extensions by drawing and colouring in bits of cardboard and paper to make it even bigger. 
They probably looked like absolute shit of course, but it enabled me to fill the room eventually with little roadways!

When I was little I had road mat for my toy cars.

It wasn’t one of those new fandangled ones though made out of carpet or whatever, it was like a thick polythene sheet with the roads and buildings all printed onto it. 
Obviously it disintegrated many years ago but I’ve never seen one since, or even a picture of one. No idea who even made it.

Anyone else seen or remember them?

1 hour ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Good shout on the hidden screw. I have seen these also hidden under petrol tanks, but when I looked at the base of the 1275GT it was fairly obvious. I had already noted that the rear number plate comes through the casting like the Vanguards Mk1 Mini, thus pointing towards a front fixing.

That sump looked different to the rest. Also note Licenced to BMW cast into the base, but no reference to Corgi or Hornby..

A quick poke with a small screw driver and there we have it, one little crosshead.

A quick undo and the car is in bits.

The dash is riveted to the body, not a problem as that will be staying put and does not need any recolouring.

The floor and interior lack a couple of details, the biggest being there is no tunnel down the centre, the other being that the centre panels on the seats are textured on the real car. The GT had this as a kind of upgrade, where as the Clubman had non-textured centre panels. 

 

I must admit, I thought the hidden screws were a nice little touch by Corgi. Does it really matter? Not really. But it’s a nicely thought out design I think. And good to see they bothered to do it.

When you open the Vanguards up they’re exactly the same inside as the partwork and IXO cars. Very simply put together.

1 hour ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

The man from DPD knocked on the door today...

with a package from Hornby.

Two Black Tulip 1275GTs. I could no longer resist.

I have number 741...

and number 753. So nowt exciting there.

Both look OK and free from defects, and a first the front looks better than the previous releases.

The back lights still look too long though.

Paint finish and details look good, but at £36 they are expensive when compared to a resin cast from the likes of Spark or NEO

Those headlamps look rubbish.

Why did I buy two I hear you ask? Well there are some details about this car that are wrong. Who ever restored the car that it is based on has not gone for an original specification. Black Tulip cars only came with a Geranium (red) or Ochre (orange yellow) interior with red or yellow side stripes respectively. Silver sid estripes and a black interior are wrong.

So I will be pulling one apart to make a correct spec car out of one. There are no screws in the base so it looks like either the grille or the front bumper hold the model together.

I like the speaker grille on the rear shelf.

I'm thinking it is the dark colour which has helped teh model to look better, but there is still room for improvement.

 

Very nice!

When you take it apart, some Vanguards models have screws underneath but they’re sometimes hidden well! 
I did a mk1 Escort recently and the chassis screws were hidden under clip in parts of the undercarriage. One was under the fuel tank! Sometimes it’s hard to see but there’s usually a line around the part that comes off (gently prise off with screwdriver). On the Escort it was quite a good fit so I missed it the first time I looked.

Got the Lada filler rubbed down, primed and wet flatted off.

Rubbed the filler down on the Sierra estate too. The roof was easy and went well but the front bumper was a pain in the arse. I got it very close to perfect then the front edge chipped! 
I think the filler Im using is going funny. It’s dregs in the bottom of a tin and I think it’s started to dry out and not mixing well. 
After a second coat it seems fine.

Ive given it a good wash off in soapy water since the pic and it’s looking good enough to prime now. 

28 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

Happy Birthday @bunglebus!

Happy B Day!

Here’s a quick roundup of stuff ‘on the bench*’ at the moment for those interested.

The first Sierra I did is being detailed. Bumpers etc are being done in British Rail Executive dark grey! Seems to work quite well as a grey plastic bumper sort of colour.

  
Sierra estate. Front end cured well and it seems to have stuck well. 
I’ve reinforced the joint underneath with some chemical metal putty just to be sure. 
I’ve filed down the joint to get rid of any slight difference in height then sprayed several coats of primer over the join, rubbing it down in between each coat to use the primer as filler in the line of the joint. Normal filler just wasn’t fine enough to do the job. 
 The front bumper and holes in the roof (from the roof bars) have been filled and need sanding back. The roof also had cast roof ribs on under the roof bars so these have been filed down smooth as a low spec car should be.


 

 
I’ve had a Ford F100 short bed in bits for ages, so finally decided what to do with it! 
Metallic black paint job, and the light bar taken off the Dodge RAM pickup used on this. It’s loosely mocked up here while the paint hardens off.

 
Dodge RAM pickup is dry and had a quick polish up.

Battered Vanguards Escort mk1 has been stripped and re sprayed in its new colour. 
This is a Mexico free zone so it’s been done in a nice period correct colour for a normal everyday style mk1… as almost all of them were!

 
And a new project started…

A Lada Riva estate! 
Was a Belarus cop car. I’ll fill the holes in the roof and do it as a standard estate version. 
These are a really nice casting. Buffed up well with the wire brush!

 
The others - trucks I was doing etc, are sat waiting finishing off too but I like to get a good few on the go at a time instead of just one or two.

*bench - by bench I mean, a big cardboard box!

The talk recently about BMW’s was timely.

Ive never seen this one in this part of the world before. Only place I could get one was from South America! 
Very nice model of an E21 though. Great colour too, very ‘of its time!’

Issue number 113 if anyone’s interested. I need a complete list of all these as I still think there’s a good number I’ve never seen before.

8 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

Slightly raised eyebrows from the Mrs when I got home, two packages landed today.

First was a mini-haul from @danthecapriman. I'm secretly pleased with my self-restraint this time. Not being pissed this time round possibly helped as well...

These Husky Commer walkthroughs are cute little things, Ive seen a few on here and wanted one for a while. I loved the real vans as a kid as well, there were a few working the streets in our area back in the day as mobile shops (ex mobile libraries), and fish & chip vans.

The Corgi VW hot rod was one of my favourite toys when I was a kid, but for years I never even knew there was a standard Beetle by them too. This one is a nice clean example.

As is this Datsun 260Z, same colour as the one I had.

Another one I was completely unaware of  until fairly recently. As a kid I had the Superkings A series U-Haul Luton van, but never came across this in the toy shops. I should be able to form a couple of tow hooks from some of the flexible wire we use to bundle up bandsaw blades at work. Replace the hooks and re-silver the wheels, and it should be reet.

This Golf is almost box fresh save for a couple of small chips.

My original one had barely a scrap of paint on, and no roof rack by the time I finally parted with it. I shall most likely treat this one to some repro surfboards.

Always wanted one of these big Corgi Capris. This one's pretty good, it's all there, glazing is good and the tip up seat backs and steering wheel are still present. Not sure what to do with it yet, as my resto/modding skills are practically non-existent, but I do fancy this in LeMans green or Purple Velvet or something. 

This one is the highlight for me. Ice cream vans are a bit of a secret obsession of mine, and at the price Dan was asking for this, I had to grab it. 

It's far better than I was expecting. Tyres are all present and are in great condition, and it sits well on its suspension. Glazing is decent and should clean up well, I think there's a sliding window missing from this side, but it's the serving side anyway, so I'm not too fussed there. The server even still twirls away inside,

This one will get a repaint soon, I'm looking forward to getting on with it.  My intentions are to not restore it to shiny original Mr Softee spec, but as a 2nd or 3rd owner independently operated vehicle, like the slightly down at heel vans that were around in the '70s.

Thanks again to Dan for more bargains and another cracking sale.

Glad you like em!

Get that Capri stripped and painted!! 
Got to start somewhere… besides, it’s not that hard to do and you can’t really ruin anything. If it goes wrong just strip it again and start over!

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

Dilemma or what? I’ve had the gloss superfast wheeled one for 30 years plus, it’s well and truly fucked apart from the shell. Should I use it to make one good one with this regular wheels one? 

I would if I were you. The regular wheels are nicer than superfast’s imho.

If you’ve had the other one so long, it’s not like your destroying it, just fixing it.

Must admit, I love the E30 Bimmer. I love the E21 before it even more. They’re such nice cars to drive and really solidly built too. Imho they’re the best of BMW.

I had an E36 too which was the polar opposite imho. Absolute shit compared to the E30.

I used to occasionally work on an A reg 320 that had a ridiculous amount of mileage on it. Lovely car still though, and the only way you knew it was a mega miler was the state of the drivers seat. It was still tight as a drum to drive.

Glue on the Sierra estate has cured. I’ll leave it another day before starting to mess with it though. Last thing I want is snap the nose off!

 
Did some spraying while I was in the shed! 
Bond partwork first gen Dodge RAM pickup. These come in white originally so I stripped this one, primed, wet flatted and now paint. 
The plastic grill unit is painted white on the 007 version but I’ll do mine in chrome with the Molotow pen after. 
Weirdly, the cab back is a separate piece, done in plastic rather than part of the metal casting, so I’ll mask that up (window!) later and spray it while the truck itself dries.

Did some wheel swaps. 
Capri 2.8i lost its pepperpots to the Cortina mk4 (beige car). So I took a set of steel dartboard style wheels from a Cortina mk5 and used them on the Capri. This Capri will eventually become a low spec car in different colour. 
Then the Cortina mk5 received the Ghia alloys that came off the mk4. The chrome finish is a bit crap so I’ll paint them silver. Ill repaint the mk5 at some point too.

  
Dinky Volvo estate has been sat around while I dithered over what wheels to use on it. 
This one came with a set of very old spun style wheels that didn’t really suit it, after someone painted it red. 
I’ve finally found some wheels for it I’m happy with! 
Dinky Transit wheels leftover from a spares van. Correct 5 stud hubs too! Just need some tyres for it.

6 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

@danthecapriman we defo had those wheels in the UK on the last version MkIV XR3i with the this rear spoiler as well

@bunglebus what is this fabulous colour?

Talking of colour, I've used BLMC Tara Green on my Corgi Camaro and rather strangely it was on the shelf in the local Halfords! The Firebird is Ford Vision Blue

I'll also be able to use Tara Green when I find another Dinky Mini Clubman to model the one I owned. If anyone has one I could have plz PM me.

I stripped off a Bburago 900 Turbo the other day, I think it really captures the look well, but the casting had this sytange lump on the rear quarter

and another on the bonnet, neither showed before hand as it was covered in race decals

I have finally finished the black 1275GT model of the one I owned. I spent ages making the number plates in the correct Serck font.

I was in two minds about putting the nudge bars on it as it kind of tips it from a toy into a "scale model" which isn't what I want

I suppose Dinky could have put details like that on and made it more robust than I can

I didn't cut the sunroof out, it's a sticker a bit like some model Volvos (Kingsize?) have.

I think the best thing about the whole thing is the 1275Gt stripes on the side!

I didn't try to replicate the wheels, just refinished the original Dinky ones

Here's a couple of pics of the real car, with me in France

and Mrs Concern in Germany

I forgot to show that I did paint the interior to represent the stripey deck chair style seats.

Sorry, I was meaning the Sierra alloy wheels on the last page. 
The Escort in my pic, has the standard sports alloys our ones got, but I posted it referring to production dates. In Europe our Escort was at the mk5 by 1992. In South America they were still making the mk4 like that model. 

Love the Mini btw! Nowt wrong with a scale model! 
The two Camaro’s look superb too, great colour choices.

That Saab looks odd with those lumps. It doesn’t look like zinc pest or corrosion though, more like a slight casting flaw? File it down and ignore it. I found some similar marks on a few of my newer 1:43’s.

I’m not sure we got that style alloy over here then!?

I know the South American Fords were a bit different in their production run to ours. The Sierra mk1 was built some time after ours became the mk2. And the Escorts were similar, their mk4 Escort went on longer than ours.

Maybe they had their own items like alloys and bits of trim we didn’t get? I certainly can’t recall that style alloy here.

Also, what type alloy are these?

These are from the estate originally but not really suitable for a low spec estate. I think they are Sierra Ghia wheels but what else used them?

Made a start on the Sierra estate today.

First thing to do was the usual strip down, then get the old paint off.

After a good wash in soapy water and a scrub with cream cleaner, it was time to mark up where to make the cuts on the front ends. 
Once happy, razor saw slicin’ time! 
Got the cut just behind the bonnet front corners but missed the chassis mounting pillar, which is ideal!

 
Some Evostick impact Contact adhesive seemed the best choice for a strong joint so a skim of that went on both parts then line up and stick.

I’ll have to leave it to cure for 24hrs now, but it looks fine so far. 
Once it’s dry I’ll dress it back in a few places with a file, then give the joint a skim of filler then rub down. 
Then I’ll have to fill the dip in the centre of the bumper flush, as per the red hatchback I did before to get rid of the extra cooling vent slot European cars didn’t have.

Then paint, to become something like…

Pic from Flickr.

I was going to use the base model steel wheels from the hatchback car for this, but I really do love those vented hub caps. I do have some, but they’re the Ghia trims with three vents not two. What do you think?

Leftovers!

21 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I gave myself a wee project over the last few days.

Some years ago I bought a Road Signature dealer model of my Saab 9-3 Convertible.

Its on par with a Hongwell of the period, perhaps a little better on the paint and tampo printed details. However the wheels really let it down, especially the ridiculous 4x4 tyres.

So I replaced the wheels with a set from a rough Minichamps E36 Coupe, together with a touch of lowering on the ride height.  However the interior was the wrong colour to match my car and it always bugged me. Mine is beige with black trim.

I recently found I still had a supply of beige paint which I had used on a Revell 1/24 Ferrari 512TR interior way back in 2015. It was still usable so I took the model apart again and painted it up.

I gave up with model kits because my hand was no longer steady enough to paint straight lines however it might have coincided with the heart palpitations I was having at the time. Anyway, I was nervous as you can see that some of the interior colour is actually part of the metal shell for some strange reason and a straight line was required. I figured masking tape would just bleed so I had a go freehand and you can see above it worked pretty well. Perhaps the old, slightly thicker paint helped!

I also painted the top of the dash, centre console together with the interior armrests in matt black. More freehand which went surprisingly OK.

All back together.

Here is the 1/1 version for comparison:

I stopped short of adding any more details such as the silver parts as I thought it would look crude in such a small scale and I'd mess it all up.

Obviously the wheels aren't correct but I think they look quite good as they are. Trying to paint them silver would clog the spokes up I reckon, which is not a good look.

That looks fantastic. Really nice job👍

22 minutes ago, AndyW201 said:

That is superb! Very Onslow...

I did similar a few years back, when a Vanguards Escort fell off a shelf and got pretty badly damaged,

So it got an underseal tidemark all round, metallic brown front wings, (courtesy of a touch up kit from one of my old 190Es!), various giffer scrapes/gouges and a black rear arch replacement panel on one side,

Just how I remember a lot of them circa 1988, and it got added to the other Vanguards Hidden Treasures cars as they never did a weathered MK1, surprisingly.

That’s fantastic! I’m surprised, as you say, Vanguards didn’t do a battered Escort.

Funnily enough Ive just filled and sanded the roof on this one today. 
It’ll not be in banger condition though.

I dug a few partwork Sierra’s out today. All from the Argentina collection.

Mk1 Ghia estate with South American spec front end/US spec big front bumper. 
Mk1 Ghia hatchback. 
Mk1 L hatchback.

You can see that big horrible US spec bumper here!

  
So the yellow L spec car is actually a damaged one. The screen pillar has been hit by something and bent it in forcing the glazing to pop out. 
Since I’ve got a few of these Sierra’s I’m going to use the damaged yellow car as a donor. I’ll chop off the nasty US front end from the estate then chop off the L front end from the yellow car in the same place. Fill the bumper top so it’s flush as per euro Sierra’s then attach the two together, to give me a European spec Sierra estate in a low trim level. 
The roof bars will be removed too. Then a repaint into Ford ceramic blue.

That’s the plan anyway!

Here’s another little project I’ve been working on!

Based on the 007 partwork Ford Taunus.

Now a Cortina mk4 in 90’s old banger state. 
 

Stripped to bare metal, re sprayed beige. Odd panels re sprayed to look like they’ve been replaced from scrap cars. Chrome window trims all done in silver. 
Wheels from a Capri 2.8i, 7jx13 pepperpot alloys, added as these things were at the time! 
The Capri they came from will become a basic spec Capri so a wheel swap seemed obvious.

Just needs dirtying up next with some black patches on the sills as welding repairs from MOT’s, maybe some primer splodges here and there and some rusty bits. 
Side trims need doing in black too. Then swap the dash around to make it rhd.

Love that Minor! 
I’ve painted one of the silver 70 year ones in blue pretty similar. Possibly a shade or two darker.

I guess that blue is a multipack only colour?

I used to occasionally work on an Astra 3 door estate, mk2, in that nice pale metallic green they did. I can’t even remember what reg it was. 
One of the guys I used to work with at the time used to love them too because he’d use them as a van. Which I suppose they are really! The Astramax van with windows instead of panels. But most of them hadn’t had as hard a life as the vans had!