Shite in Miniature II

[Burnside]

2 hours ago, auld_ALS said:

I've bought enough models this month even though I'm not really supposed to be.

Next paid around August 23rd, I'll take the Omega if you still have it?

No problem, I'm guilty of the same thing! Just drop me a pm when your ready. 

[sierraman]

10 hours ago, 155V6 said:

 

Matchbox & Majorette both made cars with sirens & lights

 

Yeah I think the Majorettes were called Sonic Flashers. I have a few of the Matchbox ones, I think they comprised of the Ford Supervan, XR4i and the Mercedes 500SEC. 

[155V6]

3 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Yeah I think the Majorettes were called Sonic Flashers. I have a few of the Matchbox ones, I think they comprised of the Ford Supervan, XR4i and the Mercedes 500SEC. 

That sounds about right,I've got 2 of the Police XR4i's.I think one even still works ?

[Tenmil Socket]

5 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Yeah I think the Majorettes were called Sonic Flashers. I have a few of the Matchbox ones, I think they comprised of the Ford Supervan, XR4i and the Mercedes 500SEC. 

Pictures please...

[sierraman]

I’d have to look through them. The XR4i was ‘airport security’ in yellow. 

[Split_Pin]

Does anybody remember the Matchbox Specials where you turned a key in the back to 'lock' it (turns out pretty much anything works) and if you picked it up an alarm went off any the lights flashed? My son and I have one each, an F40.

[sierraman]

Yes they’re called ‘alarm cars’ both in the format of the F40 and the 959. Specials were the racing themed 1/36 scale models. Turbo Specials were the above but with a pull back motor and rubber tyres. Useless fact for you there. What about Graffic Traffics remember those?

[Burnside]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

Yes they’re called ‘alarm cars’ both in the format of the F40 and the 959. Specials were the racing themed 1/36 scale models. Turbo Specials were the above but with a pull back motor and rubber tyres. Useless fact for you there. What about Graffic Traffics remember those?

Remember me and my Brother getting the Graffic Traffics as a kid from Woolworths. I had the VW Transporter Ambulance. Came with at least a Blue + Black perment marker pens and a sticker set. Safe to say it wasn't my best work! 

[Split_Pin]

Got my brother's 2 in the loft. The RS200 is still scribbled but I repainted the Transit back into white some years ago.

[bunglebus]

Ok here's the good stuff from the job lots

 

20190805_162635 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_162642 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_162658 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_162003 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_161933 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_161942 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_161911 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_161915 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_161848 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_161741 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_161729 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_161704 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_161659 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_161631 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_161557 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_161532 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_161500 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_161155 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_160818 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_160833 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_160827 by RS, on Flickr

[bunglebus]

Also found this in Asda

 

20190806_143222 by RS, on Flickr

[sierraman]

27 minutes ago, auld_ALS said:

Got my brother's 2 in the loft. The RS200 is still scribbled but I repainted the Transit back into white some years ago.

Sadly I scribbled on mine as well this rendering them worthless. Still have the pens somewhere, quite good for labelling wiring as they’re waterproof. 

[sierraman]

What about Roadblasters? A sort of dystopian mad max range where the my had plastic armaments fitted to standard models. Full range is in the 1985 catalogue including the Gauntlet set which I seem to remember we had a broken one at primary school for rainy days. 

[barrett]

'Brian's Ford Escort' is one of the least sexy phrases I've ever read

[155V6]

A couple of Matchbox cars I dug out after the ones mentioned today

[matt79]

Does anyone remember the Matchbox Lightning Wheels series, from the late 80's - early 90's?

The models had printed 'refelctions' on the windows & wheels & were finished in vaious garish bright pastel colours that were in fashion in the late 80's - early 90's. Each model came with a storage tube that had a tech spec printed sheet on the side.

I had the Nissan 300ZX model (not mine in the pic), indeed I might still have it somewhere! There was a series of models, I dont know what the others were though.

 

[Sausage5000]

Yes, this was the one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq2hFx0ksfA

[Split_Pin]

3 hours ago, 155V6 said:

A couple of Matchbox cars I dug out after the ones mentioned today

That looks like an as yet un-Graffixed Volvo there!

[155V6]

29 minutes ago, auld_ALS said:

That looks like an as yet un-Graffixed Volvo there!

I bought it a few years back as I'd not seen one before,I've not seen another one since ?

[sierraman]

The lightning series was round about 92/93 round the point Tyco took over. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

no i didn't buy moar leyland chod

 

[bunglebus]

14 hours ago, barrett said:

'Brian's Ford Escort' is one of the least sexy phrases I've ever read

I'm sure my mate Brian who has a basement full of Mk1 Mexicos as well as early 911s etc would disagree!

[Tenmil Socket]

9 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

no i didn't buy moar leyland chod

 

Much wantage!

[bunglebus]

Another Adventure 2000 has arrived

 

20190807_115919 by RS, on Flickr

 

Jag XJS turned up...

 

20190807_115950 by RS, on Flickr

 

With the XJC I really wanted!

 

20190807_120006 by RS, on Flickr

 

These are nice - Matchbox Racing Specials. Especially like the "Stock Car" which looks like a Chevy Nova to me;

 

20190807_120056 by RS, on Flickr

20190807_120119 by RS, on Flickr

20190807_120133 by RS, on Flickr

 

Lastly some Majorette

 

20190807_120158 by RS, on Flickr

20190807_120225 by RS, on Flickr

20190807_120254 by RS, on Flickr

 

Saved the worst for last - look at the state of this Escort cab - couldn't they have made a plastic roof?

 

20190807_120318 by RS, on Flickr

20190807_120325 by RS, on Flickr

20190807_120329 by RS, on Flickr

 

 

[C1am]

I've 3 vans with identical castings. The yellow one is a Corgi Juniors U.S. van, the other two have "Made in Great Britain" on the base in the same place as the yellow van, but no other markings. Does anyone know who made the other two?

[sheffcortinacentre]

The stockcar 111. Looks like a chevelle from the rear side window.

[Datsuncog]

6 hours ago, C1am said:

I've 3 vans with identical castings. The yellow one is a Corgi Juniors U.S. van, the other two have "Made in Great Britain" on the base in the same place as the yellow van, but no other markings. Does anyone know who made the other two?

I'm fairly sure all three are made by Corgi - at some point in the mid 1980s, some of their older 1970s models seem to have had the Corgi Juniors lettering removed from the base moulds. I had some Jaguar XJS and Aston DB6 versions with no lettering, and others that did. No idea why, mind. Some of them may have been promos, though.

I also had a few more recent 1980s castings (like the Vauxhall Nova and Mk3 Transit) where, on some, the make and model had been removed - but it was intact on otherwise identical versions.

Also always thought it weird that the larger 1/35 scale version of your vans said 'Chevrolet Van' on the base - while the smaller Juniors just went with 'U.S. Van'.

[Datsuncog]

On 8/6/2019 at 10:22 PM, 155V6 said:

I bought it a few years back as I'd not seen one before,I've not seen another one since ?

Albino Volvos tend not to survive in the wild. Well rescued!

[Datsuncog]

On ‎8‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 10:40 PM, Sausage5000 said:

Does anyone remember a Matchbox series of cars that had weird 'hologramatic' wheels, that where reflective and shiny?

I'm 99% sure they were Matchbox, and they came out late 80's. The car I had may have been a Renault concept (spider?), but I can't find any information anywhere or anything related to any Matchbox cars in the 80's having these wheels.

If you can get your hands on a 1988 Matchbox Catalogue, it gives the complete Superfast Lasers range of 30 different models...

Some of them also came in different colourways - for example, I had the LW-8 Corvette in a pleasantly naff shade of metallic brown.

In keeping with the Matchbox era under Universal Toys ownership, themed playsets were also launched to provide gift solutions for adults, and to drive additional sales of the individually-packaged cars pitched at pocket-money prices.

Interesting to see that Universal Toys not only revived the Superfast name for this range, but also put the early 1970s Superfast Track System and launcher back into production for the LW-200 'Laser 2000 Race Set' (with bonus added 'space monster', because hey, why not??) . I'm not entirely sure one car constitutes a race, either.

My brother owned the LW-100 Big Bang Launcher blaster thing (which came with basically a miniature till receipt roll, which you stretched across the path of the plunger to make a not-very-big 'bang' upon deployment), and now I look at it, we had a fair number of toys from the range between us - there's ten in the catalogue pages which we had in the toybox.

Weird thing is, I don't remember buying or requesting any of them - they must have all been gifts or summat. Although the laser wheels were pretty eyecatching, I was the kind of boring literal child who tended towards realism if possible...

I can only assume the range never really took off as hoped, since it seems to have disappeared by the time the 1990 catalogue was published.

Quote

I remember it as my bullshitting friend claimed to have a millionaire uncle who owned one of these cars in real life, and it even had the zany mirror wheels.

Bullshitter friends with supposed millionaire uncles are the best entertainment you can have, in retrospect.

I remember a kid at school called Duane who swore to me his 'millionaire uncle' had a Trans-Am like the one out of Smokey and The Bandit, only it was also a stretch limo a hundred feet long, and it was tuned so it could do 500mph.

And, naturally, he'd driven it - despite being only nine.

When challenged on the feasibility of this claim on practical, legal and engineering grounds, he would only admit that this feat had been carried out on his uncle's private runway.

A quick LinkedIn search indicates he now works as a manager for a lettings agency.

Kinda figures...

[egg]

Yes they are unloved. Yes, the rear axle is a little bent. But £4 posted? That's crazy. Had to have it.