Shite in Miniature II

[ETCHY]

On ‎9‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 8:30 AM, sierraman said:

Moar useless phacts! It came as part of the First Issue Container Port along with a plastic version of the railway shunter.

Christ, Container Port ! I'd forgotten all about that I had that as a kid !

[Datsuncog]

 

[sierraman]

Bought this lot today, the Rover SD1 a particular scarcity as it still had the tailgate window fitted. The MB68 Cosmobile in Avocado was part of the aforementioned Adventure 2000 range. 

[vulgalour]

Projects currently in the works.  I found an amazing metallic pink that I tried out on one of my Pontiacs, I wish there were more shades of this particular type of metallic, it's a perfect metalflake style finish for this scale straight out of a rattlecan.  I also tried out a turquoise on the other Pontiac which will be getting a white roof.  Annoyingly, the paint on the turquoise one was not as hard as I thought when I turned it over to paint the underside, which pulled a big chunk of paint off the freshly painted roof after painting the inside so I'm not risking masking it until at least tomorrow now, when I'll be redoing the roof.  Interior on the pink one will probably be done in silver, while the turquoise one will likely go black or white.

Since I couldn't go further on those until the paint has hardened enough for them to be handled, I got the Landrover project in primer.  Once the primer was ready for top coat I picked up the board it was on, somehow fumbled it, and basically threw it behind some furniture where it could land in a pile of fluff.  Got to leave that one to dry now so I can rectify the fluff and crash damage.

Rather than risk further catastrophe, I've put everything away for tonight.

[Amishtat]

What's the name/maker of that pink? 

[vulgalour]

Wilkinsons!

[Datsuncog]

Bit late (as ever), but here's some pics of my Matchbox MB30 1963 Cadillac Hearse, as mentioned a page or two back...

It really is a nice casting, with just enough detail picked out in silver to give it a realistic look. It looks really well in white and silver too - didn't know it had appeared in so many different versions.

Base seems to suggest a 2006 date. I ended up buying quite a few from the range around this time - Matchbox appeared to be going through one of their more realistic patches, producing nice models of more unusual cars like the Citroen DS and Volvo P1800S, as well as plain-painted VW Campers and Mini vans. I'll try to dig out the few I have left.

Those wheels appeared on many of the 'retro' releases around this time, and I reckon they really suit it.

And as for 'the hand from the coffin'....

Hard to get a decent pic through the side window (and I think the interior moulding is a little bit warped on my example), but you can just about see this little joke from the Mattel designers...

According to Matchbox.Fandom.com, this model was based on the real-life Cadillac hearse owned by Mattel's VP of Wheels at the time. Which is kinda cool.

https://matchbox.fandom.com/wiki/1963_Cadillac_Hearse

Interesting to learn that cultural disapproval caused Matchbox to convert the casting into an ambulance (some with fairly naff graphics) - I know I would have loved this as a toy when I was little, simply because I was drawn towards unusual vehicles. There was a church right beside my primary school, so there were often hearses near the school gates (Granadas, for the most part, sometimes Daimlers). A toy version would have been ace.

Having said that, I also remember a bit of a kerfuffle whenever a funeral home was planned near to another local primary school, with protestors claiming that, somehow, it would be 'harmful' to their kids as they 'wouldn't understand'.

I think what the parents meant was that they felt uncomfortable having to explain something which is pretty damn fundamental and rather inescapable, and so projected their own fears and unease about death onto their offspring.

Kids understand way more than they're given credit for.

Funny how all the myriad playsets involving zombies, mummies and vampires isn't put in the same category...

Undead = ok

Dead = not ok

Well, ok then.

[155V6]

If you were to take the Hearse apart,you would find there is engine detail too ?

[Datsuncog]

^^^ That's even more impressive! Yup, I noticed your banger racer version - I wonder if there was an intention to make the bonnet open, which was nixed late-on in the development?

Funny, it was only when I was recently looking at some of the deluxe Matchbox imports that I found myself wondering when they stopped putting opening features on their regular mainline models.

Anyone know?

(This is going to provide me with the justification I need to buy the 2001-on Charlie Mack encyclopaedia, isn't it?)

[sierraman]

About early 2000’s, I think it was when they made the scale a bit smaller as well. How much do the ‘opening doors’ ones sell for? I know the regular ones at about £1.25 or thereabouts 

[Datsuncog]

Those Road Trip series are priced at £6.25 each, which seems a little steep (they're on the pegs in the 'optimistic' model shop in Smithfield).

Plus the owner tends to write the prices on the back in permanent marker, which strikes me as a bit of a stupid thing to do when you're supposedly in the collectables trade.

He has quite a few eighties Corgi and Matchbox in window boxes, plus things like recent Vanguards at £30 a pop, all with Sharpie scrawlings on the packaging. Puts me off a bit.

[sierraman]

Six quid! Fucking hell. 

[DoctorRetro]

Latest charity shop haul. 

Note the Hot Rod with adjustable rear suspension! 

 

Love the Discovery! 

 

[Split_Pin]

Back in the day six quid got you a 1/43 Gama model from a proper model shop or a 1/24 Bburago with some change for 2 or more smaller cars!

[Split_Pin]

2 minutes ago, TheDoctor said:

Latest charity shop haul. 

Note the Hot Rod with adjustable rear suspension! 

 

Love the Discovery! 

 

Jack-ups you call those, I have a very ropey Dodge pickup from that range. Good find!

[Datsuncog]

3 minutes ago, TheDoctor said:

Latest charity shop haul. 

Love the Discovery! 

That really is a nice casting. A set of decent wheels on that, and that'll be tidy.

 

Speaking of wheels...

Quote

That Galaxy seems to have the rims off my Forester.

Not the tyres, just the rims.

[DoctorRetro]

Galaxy wheels are gopping. Set about them with a marker straight away, no photo I'm afraid. 

Discovery is in good condition too, if anyone wants it, give me a shout. 

 

[C1am]

On 9/5/2019 at 2:27 PM, egg said:

Picked this Pickford's van a while back, needed a rear door, so I got one...

Then I decided to turn it into a Beales Bealeson replica, a special edition from the period, and got some decals. Finished it today...

I picked up a job lot of vintage matchbooks today, and look what I found.

[quicksilver]

6 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

That really is a nice casting. A set of decent wheels on that, and that'll be tidy.

 

Like this you mean? I picked this one up from a 20p market tat box a few years ago, stuck some different wheels on and being 1/72 scale it goes nicely with the various Cararama Land/Range Rovers.

Land Rover Discovery by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

[Datsuncog]

^^^ Yup, exactly like that!

Good going; decent wheels really do make or break a model, and that looks spot on now.

Tell me, can you buy wheel sets like that separately from anywhere, or is it always a case of sacrificing a duplicate something-else?

Just curious!

[quicksilver]

10 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Bit late (as ever), but here's some pics of my Matchbox MB30 1963 Cadillac Hearse, as mentioned a page or two back...

It really is a nice casting, with just enough detail picked out in silver to give it a realistic look. It looks really well in white and silver too - didn't know it had appeared in so many different versions.

Base seems to suggest a 2006 date. I ended up buying quite a few from the range around this time - Matchbox appeared to be going through one of their more realistic patches, producing nice models of more unusual cars like the Citroen DS and Volvo P1800S, as well as plain-painted VW Campers and Mini vans. I'll try to dig out the few I have left.

Those wheels appeared on many of the 'retro' releases around this time, and I reckon they really suit it.

And as for 'the hand from the coffin'....

Hard to get a decent pic through the side window (and I think the interior moulding is a little bit warped on my example), but you can just about see this little joke from the Mattel designers...

According to Matchbox.Fandom.com, this model was based on the real-life Cadillac hearse owned by Mattel's VP of Wheels at the time. Which is kinda cool.

https://matchbox.fandom.com/wiki/1963_Cadillac_Hearse

Interesting to learn that cultural disapproval caused Matchbox to convert the casting into an ambulance (some with fairly naff graphics) - I know I would have loved this as a toy when I was little, simply because I was drawn towards unusual vehicles. There was a church right beside my primary school, so there were often hearses near the school gates (Granadas, for the most part, sometimes Daimlers). A toy version would have been ace.

Having said that, I also remember a bit of a kerfuffle whenever a funeral home was planned near to another local primary school, with protestors claiming that, somehow, it would be 'harmful' to their kids as they 'wouldn't understand'.

I think what the parents meant was that they felt uncomfortable having to explain something which is pretty damn fundamental and rather inescapable, and so projected their own fears and unease about death onto their offspring.

Kids understand way more than they're given credit for.

Funny how all the myriad playsets involving zombies, mummies and vampires isn't put in the same category...

Undead = ok

Dead = not ok

Well, ok then.

I don't get the stigma around hearses either. I don't find them morbid at all as no one has ever died in a hearse and the passengers are already dead and boxed up when they enter the vehicle, yet driving a hearse is likely to get you labelled as a Goth or some kind of necrophiliac. Ambulances on the other hand have no such stigma and a lot of people will happily live in a converted ambulance where it's far more likely that some unfortunate soul passed away or leaked vital bodily fluids all over the interior.

[Split_Pin]

33 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

^^^ Yup, exactly like that!

Good going; decent wheels really do make or break a model, and that looks spot on now.

Tell me, can you buy wheel sets like that separately from anywhere, or is it always a case of sacrificing a duplicate something-else?

Just curious!

Monobloc wheels on Instagram do some lovely sets for Hotwheels/MB sized cars but I don't think they are that cheap. Avoid people at all costs who specifically break models and sell the parts on FB groups and such like. Greedy bastards the lot of them.

As you say, sacrificing a model is really the only way. I did just that to a nearly new Minichamps 1/43 E46 M3 for a Corsa project. It then lay in a box for 12 years before 155V6 of this forum supplied me with some lovely BMW wheels from an E36 touring car, together with axles. The M3 looks great now!

[155V6]

51 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

^^^ Yup, exactly like that!

Good going; decent wheels really do make or break a model, and that looks spot on now.

Tell me, can you buy wheel sets like that separately from anywhere, or is it always a case of sacrificing a duplicate something-else?

Just curious!

You can get sets of 1/64 alloys from eBay,the cheapest ones are under £4.00 & come from China.They are mostly for drift/racing cars though.There don't seem to be many for 1/43 cars ☹

[bunglebus]

On 9/10/2019 at 3:00 PM, TheDoctor said:

Latest charity shop haul. 

Note the Hot Rod with adjustable rear suspension! 

 

 

Some nice blackwalls there, especially the Thunderbird - I have the 34 Ford, one of the first Hot Wheels I ever got as a kid. It's part of the Hi-Rakers series which feature that rear axle.

[bunglebus]

Got the tanker sorted out - the donor was just too corroded to polish...

 

20190911_123010 by RS, on Flickr

 

...so I painted it - top half chrome effect, bottom straight silver. Found out while dismantling it there are hoses that pull out too.

I'm convinced mine started life as a tipper, as there has never been a rivet to hold the rear body in place.

 

20190911_131806 by RS, on Flickr

[bunglebus]

Bit the bullet and bought three MB that only seem to be available in the USA - Hi Ho Silver version of the Volks-Dragon;

 

20190911_110700 by RS, on Flickr

 

And Hot Chocolate/Big Blue versions of the Dragon Wheels;

 

20190911_110637 by RS, on Flickr

 

20190911_110538 by RS, on Flickr

[egg]

Finished my taxi now, it's ok..

Before

After, kept the damaged screen for cost reasons! It will go to charidee now.

[bunglebus]

Corgi Chevrolet Experimental car - seats pull up with the roof which is rather cool

 

20190911_110332 by RS, on Flickr

20190911_110340 by RS, on Flickr

 

Corgi Porsche/Audi - permanent marker is coming off slowly using meths

 

20190911_110301 by RS, on Flickr

 

Corgi Land Rover

 

20190911_110209 by RS, on Flickr

 

Corgi Pininfarina with terrible repaint

 

20190911_110145 by RS, on Flickr

 

Best of the bunch - Corgi Mazda pickup;

 

20190911_110121 by RS, on Flickr

20190911_110116 by RS, on Flickr

20190911_110104 by RS, on Flickr

20190911_110047 by RS, on Flickr

[sierraman]

5 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Bit the bullet and bought three MB that only seem to be available in the USA - Hi Ho Silver version of the Volks-Dragon;

 

20190911_110700 by RS, on Flickr

 

And Hot Chocolate/Big Blue versions of the Dragon Wheels;

 

20190911_110637 by RS, on Flickr

 

20190911_110538 by RS, on Flickr

Had absolutely zero luck finding these in U.K., as you say I think they were USA only. Roman Numerals I think they were? 

[bunglebus]

Tomica FX4;

 

20190911_105852 by RS, on Flickr

20190911_105915 by RS, on Flickr