Shite in Miniature II

[sierraman]

Think I’ve only got the silver with a red base one which I think is a later release. 

[bunglebus]

That's the 1st or 2nd release - yours should have mismatched wheels

[sierraman]

2 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

That's the 1st or 2nd release - yours should have mismatched wheels

It’s in the loft somewhere, I’ll have to check. 

[flat4alfa]

I've got a thing about the CAMBUSTER and its brother, BAZOOKA.  All I had as a lad was the blue and red 1:64ish ones - BIG BANGER and PIE EYED PIPER.

Now I'm a bigger boy:  WLTM

 

[ETCHY]

16 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

Spotted this terrible model, sorry toy, Triumph 2000 in a junk shop in Lewes the other day..

 

Oh wow I had that it was cool (well it was when I was 5). Toys were great then!

[flat4alfa]

Something in the back of my mind told me there were later issues around BANGER and PIPER.  Crikey, isn't the Interwebbs handy these days: in seconds I found this reference:

http://mbx-u.com/models-detail-ver-listing.php?model=SF0097

Then realised I wished I hadn't, because I'm not going to sleep tonight worrying about whether I can manage to collect them all before I depart this soil.  Arghhhh.

[bunglebus]

Yep I'd love to get my hand on them too. I had the 1:64 Cosmic Blues in blue and in white as a kid

 

Great link!

[flat4alfa]

15 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Isn't as good as my existing one - but has different glass, so of course I have to keep both...

20190923_101514 by Rich Secker, on Flickr

Decals here:

https://blacksquaredecals.co.uk/index.php?_route_=Matchbox-K43a-Cambuster

[bunglebus]

Just bought some off them for my custom Dragon Wheels - very good they are too.

[bunglebus]

Who's ready for MB 83? I managed to keep the scans pretty straight this time, but cropping them on Flickr takes forever - might see if I can use Paint to crop them before uploading

 

Matchbox 1983 001 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 002 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 003 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 004 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 005 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 006 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 007 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 008 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 009 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 010 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 011 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 012 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 013 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 014 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 015 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 016 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 017 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 018 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 019 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 020 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 021 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 022 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 023 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 024 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 1983 025 by RS, on Flickr

[sierraman]

Fair few in there that weren’t produced in the same colours. I don’t think they did the updated version of the Superkings fire tender either. 

[Amishtat]

That's the first catalogue I can remember having! 

[bunglebus]

I guess 83 was right in the midst of bankruptcy and takeover - wouldn't be surprised if a few proposed colours and models didn't make it into production. I love the Pepsi truck!

[bunglebus]

Right, a bit of arsing around with the scanner settings and I seem to have resolved the cropping problem - should speed through these now so here's 83-84

 

Matchbox 83-84 001 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 002 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 003 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 004 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 005 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 006 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 007 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 008 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 009 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 010 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 011 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 012 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 013 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 014 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 015 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 016 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 017 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 018 by RS, on Flickr

Matchbox 83-84 019 by RS, on Flickr

 

I had that lorry carry case.

 

Really fed up of seeing MOY - going to buy the Cord or something and make a mad custom out of it to get me over it

 

That "Tyrone Malone"Kenworth doesn't seem to have been released looking like that - wheels are very unusual?! Found a pic of it as a slot car though;

 

[sierraman]

Any interest in this at £5.50 posted? It’s not recent and features quite a bit of ‘Days Gone By’ but also quite a lot of the 1-75 and Superkings range. I’ve already got the other Charlie Mack books so it’s duplicated information for me. The price guide is utterly useless unless you live in 1992 and spend only dollars. But it’s a reference at any rate...

[Split_Pin]

Good heavens Rich thanks for sharing these. I always thought my parents weren't that keen on my car obsession as a kid but on seeing the 83 and 84 catalogues I realise I was wrong. I have owned most of the 1-75 range and although I swapped a lot of them in the late 80s/early 90s for shite, I recall them so well. Thanks mum and dad! Oh and Granny too!

[sierraman]

So I’m told my first Matchbox Superkings was a Silver/Blue Mercedes 190E 2.5. My dad was always into cars, he’d always guide me towards the saloon car stuff, we’d holiday in France and look for the saloon cars in Majorette like the Alfa 75, Safrane, Volvo 740 etc.  In fact thinking back when I was about 5 I had the Superkings Volvo 240, the VW Golf with the petrol station, 750il BMW etc. So many of my memories as a kid are buying cars, getting the catalogues, asking my parents for stuff for Xmas that was probably a right fucking pain in the arse to source ‘I want the Mercedes Benz but I’ve seen the (German only) issue that’s in the brochure’ 

[sheffcortinacentre]

Being the Cortina nut I notice in the 83 catalogue that mb 55 is now the Sierra XR4i ,but in the 83/84 one the the MK4 Cortina is back as mb55 with the Sierra XR4i is back to a forthcoming release?

[sierraman]

The Cortina lasted into the late 80’s as the rigid door twin pack. 

[FakeConcern]

Sorry to interupt the fantastic Matchbox catalogue scans, but I'd like some help identifying a couple of models on an old greetings card (!) As part of a strange seaside/holiday themed collection (don't ask) Mrs Concern has the card below and quite a few of the models featured on it. She's decided she'd like to collect all of them and there's a few I don't know..

Hot rod

Caravan

2CV Corgi

Caravan Matchbox 57 (have)

Nash Rambler Station wagon Dinky 173

London bus x4 Matchbox No5

Caravan Dinky 190 (have)

Armstrong Siddley Spot-On (?)

Caravan Dinky 190

Cortina Estate Corgi 491 (have)

Caravan Dinky188

E Type Jaguar Coupe Dinky 131

Standard Atlas Dinky 295 (have)

Ford Thunderbird Convertible Corgi 215

Caravan Corgi 490 (have)

 So I don't know what the hot rod at the top is or the little caravan below it. Also the car I labelled as an Armstrong Siddley Saphire (I have one of these somewhere too) is actually something else, I think it could be a Spot On model due to the raised door appatures, but the suicide rear doors (handle position) is wrong. Any ideas and am I wrong on any of the others?

I know that trying to identify models from a painting not quite to scale is a bit tricky, but still what do you think?

[sheffcortinacentre]

I think it's probably a hot wheels & a siku caravan.

[sierraman]

The caravan is a Matchbox Eccles caravan. 

[eddyramrod]

The Armstrong Siddeley is a Dinky Studebaker, in the 1956-0n two-tone paint.  Before 1956 they were issued in single colours, this was usually pale green.  It should be pretty widely available if you aren't fussy about colour.

[bunglebus]

10 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

Sorry to interupt the fantastic Matchbox catalogue scans, but I'd like some help identifying a couple of models on an old greetings card (!) As part of a strange seaside/holiday themed collection (don't ask) Mrs Concern has the card below and quite a few of the models featured on it. She's decided she'd like to collect all of them and there's a few I don't know..

Hot rod

 

 So I don't know what the hot rod at the top is 

Possibly. Almost looks like the artist's imagination had a hand here, although the others look like very accurate representations.

[Datsuncog]

On ‎9‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 8:27 AM, Datsuncog said:

Out of interest, is the 1983/84 catalogue a UK catalogue, or one printed up for an overseas territory like Australia? And is it a Lesney-era publication?

 

14 hours ago, bunglebus said:

so here's 83-84

Cheers for those! Seems that it's a Universal-era publication for Australian territories, going by the inclusion of Mr. David Leeman of Sydney and his collection, plus the valuations given for first-release Moko Lesneys in dollars (presumably AUD).

Interesting to see that Universal were quick to recognise the duality of their market appeal, to both kids (as shown by the cover) and also adult collectors (on the first two pages).

Strange in a way that the Australian catalogue also only lists a handful of Superkings, advising "we have only illustrated some of the models available in the range" and advising enthusiasts to check in-store - possibly there was a state of flux and uncertainty about what would be carried over and what would be discontinued in the larger range? As mentioned, the K-9 Fire Tender appears in the UK booklet, but doesn't seem to have been manufactured post-Lesney.

Physically shipping the tooling in 1983 from London to Macau and then restarting production must have been a logistical nightmare, so I can understand why they may have hedged their bets.

From a quick comparison, I don't think there's any major difference between the models in this catalogue and the 1983 UK catalogue, other than timeline colour variations - with the UK cat showing newer versions: e.g. the MB1 Dodge Challenger is shown in new yellow and black 'Toyman' format for the UK, but still in orange 'Revvin' Rebel' decor for the Australian market.

Also, as Sierraman points out, the MB55 Cortina is still shown as a current model in Australia with the Sierra XR4i forthcoming in the 83-84 booklet, whereas in the UK the Sierra already occupied the MB55 slot. A few others still show models that last appeared in the UK 1982 cat too, and had been phased out. It's maybe possible that unsold old stock was allocated to the Australian market to clear?

The MB65 Airport Coach in red Quantas livery, rather than blue with BA stickers, is the only obvious Aussie-specific variation. I understand that at the tail end of the Lesney era, a few Japanese market models appeared in the Australian catalogue which were never offered in the UK (such as the Mitsubishi Galant Eterna) , but it seems these had been discontinued by '83.

Also noteworthy is that the 'new release' version of the old MB60 Holden Ute is called the 'Ruff Truck' in the Aus publication, but the 'Ruff Trek' in the UK cat (and which ultimately appeared on the base).

        

Last-minute change of name, or did someone just mishear it over the phone?

[FakeConcern]

11 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

I think it's probably a hot wheels & a siku caravan.

Probably, but which ones?

11 hours ago, sierraman said:

The caravan is a Matchbox Eccles caravan. 

The Eccles is one we have, I meant the one at the top just under the yellow hot rod and above 2cv.

2 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

The Armstrong Siddeley is a Dinky Studebaker, in the 1956-0n two-tone paint.  Before 1956 they were issued in single colours, this was usually pale green.  It should be pretty widely available if you aren't fussy about colour.

Thanks for that! I thought I did well to identify the Nash & T-Bird, but that was really tricky!  I never really collected Yank cars when I was a kid as I always liked the cars I saw around so only had stuff such as Mustangs and Camaros. I usually get the models from boot fairs these days, but I may have to keep a look out on ebay (already seen there are quite a few)

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Possibly. Almost looks like the artist's imagination had a hand here, although the others look like very accurate representations.

That looks like it to me, but what is it?

 

Thank you everyone who has taken the time to look at this so far...

[egg]

New Norev arrival, Pug 201. Good nick apart from a gluey wheel and a tad of warpage. Model launched in 1967.

 

[Split_Pin]

I had the Quantas bus in blue and then red livery - was the latter an Australia - only release?

[155V6]

I've always been curious about the small Matchbox Range Rover,I've always known it as Police Patrol,maybe due to licensing?.The model has flat sides without the swage line that the real car has.However,the Paris-Dakar version in the 1983 catalogue is labelled as Range Rover,my version at home has Police Patrol on the bottom still.

[Datsuncog]

41 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

The Eccles is one we have, I meant the one at the top just under the yellow hot rod and above 2cv.

Looks like a HO scale Wiking model to me!