Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

This one's been on my wish list for a long time - Tomica bay window bus

Also finally tracked down the Dinky Inch Pincher dragster - just needs a couple of tyres

[DoctorRetro]

@Tenmil Socket, I want loads from those pics, will have a proper look tomorrow. Too tired now.. 

[DoctorRetro]

Sod it, here goes. 

1st pic: Parcleforce and Tizer vans

2nd pic: Merc 190, Rover 800, Fiat X19 and Holiday Inn van

3rd pic: Toyota Supra kit and white station wagon bottom right

 

Please let me know the damage and I'll decide I I can afford all. ?

[MarvinsMom]

how much for the matchbox kingsized race car transporter in pic 1 please?

ta x

[Lord Sterling]

Can I have the white Ford Transit van in pic 1 please added to my collection.

[Spottedlaurel]

Chevelle is coming along:

1:25 Revell Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:25 Revell Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

1:25 Revell Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Doubt I'll finish it this weekend, but should be on for completion by the end of June, which'll make six finished kits in six months (admittedly some being started a long time ago). Already planning the next one....

[eddyramrod]

Chevelle is looking very VERY nice!

[flat4alfa]

12 hours ago, bunglebus said:

This one's been on my wish list for a long time - Tomica bay window bus

Interesting extra roof equipment on that one.  What sort of money did that fetch as I was looking to cash-in on mine, but didn’t want to give it away (cock-up the auction)

[bunglebus]

2 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Interesting extra roof equipment on that one.  What sort of money did that fetch as I was looking to cash-in on mine, but didn’t want to give it away (cock-up the auction)

I spotted it hiding in a job lot - not seen your colour combination before

[flat4alfa]

21 hours ago, Tenmil Socket said:

How about £5 for both plus postage?

I’ve fished-out the one I have already have and in hindsight should let others have the chance sorry (meaning I’ve spent too much this month)

[flat4alfa]

Got so much now, I forget what I have!  Must catalogue...

Prime example here: I already have have the Plymouth...  so I have two now.  Wally.  Anyone have the same 50th Anniversary release  Mustang or Cougar unwanted, for swappage?

[bunglebus]

Talking of having two of things - as a result of bidding on several lots, I have a second, better Matchbox Mustang

And a really tidy Dinky not-a-Chevette

[Jon]

Here's another auction I, er, bagged:

 

What the flip was I doing, concerning myself with such tut? I wondered that too, once won...

 

Initial outlook wasn't good. I mean, I'd forgotten such terrible Micro Machine imitators existed but this isn't the kind of nostalgia worth paying for. If it were, I'd be looking to net a set of those Reader's Digest vintage cars next.

 

I was ready to be all stylishly incredulous of these little buggers but in actual fact, they're magnetic and so could potentially add a little charm to my fridge door. 

 

Nope, no interest to me, other than that they're apparently made by Hot Wheels, so may be of interest to others. Not going well so far, is it?

 

Some Kinder Egg toys here - I remember the vintage ones foreground. Background fodder for documenting purposes only, again. 

 

Getting better. These are earlier Kinder toys and I remember building both and actually playing with them, some time back in the 1980's/early 90's. Much more toy-like than the ones above and the orange car has a friction flywheel effort, which propels it a few inches along a suitable surface.  I actually like these.

 

I'm thinking this one might be from before my choccy egg snaffling days but I do appreciate the detail.

 

The rear end is far less yellowed. All in all, charming. Porsche 935, if I'm not mistaken.

 

The photos in the listing weren't great due to the scale of the subjects but I managed to identify the light blue effort as an International Harvester Scout, due to the rear side 'window' shape. Turns out these are Tootsietoy Jampac models - basically, small cast models, marketed in sets from the 1970's onwards. I do actually have a couple of other earlier, similarly small Tootsietoys, bought this time last year in Colorado.

 Interestingly enough, I've yet to see another image online of the IH Scout yet, though my searching has hardly been exhausting, admittedly. Anyway, according to Wikipedia, Tootsietoy are still pressing out cars at a rate of 40 million a year, which frankly doesn't sound true.

 

Here's where things began to get a bit more interesting. This is slightly more detailed than a Tootsietoy (not saying much!) but I still can't identify what actual car this should be. Any ideas? 

 

Likewise, I'm unsure of the model here - maybe a Porsche? Looking at the wheel cap styling, I was guessing these were made in the 1970's.

 

This Jeep has the honour of being the only one I picked up with all four wheel caps intact. I mean, it's crudely built to a price but what better way to emulate a WWII era Jeep?!

 

But THIS was the main reason I was bidding! Like I say, the images weren't great but I managed to identify this as a Citroen Chapron Le Dandy. I don't collect this scale and I don't actively collect Citroens in particular but I was intrigued by the choice of this casting.

 

Again, I can't really fault the detail here, for something so small and cheap - there's even tiny little chevrons on the boot lid. This got me wondering whether it may be a scaled down version of a Corgi Le Dandy, which would point it to being a product of a Hong Kong die caster, as per @Datsuncog's previous research and explanation of such things.

 

Turns out the the DS casting was unusual enough to allow me to identify these as Playart Mini models. I somehow seemed to have evolved a liking for Playarts and have collected a handful as a result. I find their choice of castings quite bewildering and the history of them on-line isn't prolific, which only adds to the air of mystery.

 

Then there was this. I was also able to spot this as a thing of interest but again, had no idea who would've made it.

 

Turns out that it's a Pocket Tomica, which is seemingly a series of small plastic models that can be bought at random from vending machines, at 200 yen (£1.50) a pop.

 

Here's a Micro Machine Porsche 356 Spyder, for scale. This didn't come from this auction but was nestling under a rear seat of my Visa GTi when I bought it.

 

Anyway, here they all are - quite literally, a mixed bag. Most are worthless but enough of them piqued my interest to spend a couple of hours taking photos, internet searching and learning more about obscure, cheaply manufactured and largely forgotten die casts. It seems that the Playart Le Dandy isn't often seen in that colour, so if I were so inclined, I could likely palm it off to someone somewhere and recoup my £4 investment. 

Can't say fairer than that, eh?

 

[flat4alfa]

Keep the Le Dandy!

(Then I can buy it next month)

[Tenmil Socket]

16 hours ago, TheDoctor said:

Sod it, here goes. 

1st pic: Parcleforce and Tizer vans

2nd pic: Merc 190, Rover 800, Fiat X19 and Holiday Inn van

3rd pic: Toyota Supra kit and white station wagon bottom right

 

Please let me know the damage and I'll decide I I can afford all. ?

Parcel force sold I’m afraid. The white station wagon is sold to @flat4alfa pending confirmation.

@TheDoctor the remainder I will pm you?

[flat4alfa]

Doctor Pandamonium can have the wagon, fine with me

He must do another jig though

[stuboy]

As it's my birthday missus bought me this 1/18 norev 

[bunglebus]

16 minutes ago, stuboy said:

As it's my birthday

You share it with my car FWIW, 20/06/1998

[Datsuncog]

7 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Got so much now, I forget what I have! Must catalogue...

I've realised I'm gonna have to start a spreadsheet to work out what I have, and where it is... keep finding stuff I thought I got rid of, and then not finding stuff I thought I'd kept... and the duplicates, obviously. So many duplicates...

[Datsuncog]

4 hours ago, Jon said:

Anyway, here they all are - quite literally, a mixed bag. Most are worthless but enough of them piqued my interest to spend a couple of hours taking photos, internet searching and learning more about obscure, cheaply manufactured and largely forgotten die casts.

Lovin' that mixed bag - and exactly the same reasons given as for my own tat-hunting expeditions.

Never heard of the Playart Minis or Pocket Tomica, so that's an entertaining and educational post altogether - cheers!

[flat4alfa]

On 5/18/2020 at 7:19 AM, Spottedlaurel said:

Those Porsche 917s must have been fearsome things. I built the Matchbox 1:32 kit very poorly when I was young, none of that one survives.

Superfast Hi-Tailer presumably inspired by the 917 and others:

Forgotten I had these two

Matchbox Hi-Tailer.  Anyone have the ‘Martini’ livery one?  Came only in a set with SuperKings Race Transporter, which I have and the car is missing

Corgi Junior Can-Am Racer with the daft ‘Growler’ mechanism

[Amishtat]

Making the most of a nice quiet Sunday morning to play with toy cars on the patio.. I originally came out here to repair the bargain DAF transporter and then got sidetracked. There's been a good bit of 1:36 Corgi love on here recently so what better time to have a closer look at the SD1 which is heading to the Doctor in the near future. I never had one of these as a child, or for that matter before Wednesday morning, and I don't really know why, it's quite a lovely thing. 

[Amishtat]

And while we're here, a closer look at the Polo. My childhood example is around somewhere, it's a cream one and I think the wheels are different to this one. Picked up just because I hadn't seen this colour. 

[Split_Pin]

They added a front scoop and a small rear Luo spoiler to later versions of that Polo, I used to have one. I always preferred the standard version like yours though as I'd never seen a kitted one on the road.

Also, early ones had a sticker for a grille I think whereas later ones had the details cast on.

[junkyarddog]

I quite like the Tomica VW Microbus too,

Was lucky enough to find these ones.

Smoll Eddy isn't overly enthusiastic about them.

"Fuckin' dubbers M8"

[Bren]

16 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Forgotten I had these two

Matchbox Hi-Tailer.  Anyone have the ‘Martini’ livery one?  Came only in a set with SuperKings Race Transporter, which I have and the car is missing

Corgi Junior Can-Am Racer with the daft ‘Growler’ mechanism

Growler. Fnarr Fnarr.....

[junkyarddog]

Just to annoy smoll Eddy,here are some more.....

"Oh do piss off M8"

[sierraman]

The kids are playing in the soil today at home with the cars, that takes me back. Used to build scrapyards in between the plants with the cars out of my scrap box, used to be obsessed with scrapyards, I had a couple of Superkings Scammells a recovery wagons. A kid on our street had loads of military matchboxes and Corgis so we’d have battles in between the marigolds in the border at his house. Jumpers for Goalposts. 

[Amishtat]

I'll have to rummage my old one out, I've seen it in the last year so it can't be too far away. My Auntie Liz had a cream Polo that shape when I was very young so despite not really being a VW man I do have a soft spot for these. The transporter cleaned up quite nicely under the circumstances but unbelievably I haven't any glue and really cba to go out. Looks like it's been trodden on at some point, there's a twist evident in the top deck and one of the two rear supports was bent, the other broken. It'll glue up well enough to display somewhere although I don't think I've got much appropriate to put on it. Pictured roughly arseholed together and with my only King Size, picked up last year from the same boot sale. 

[Amishtat]

Last bit of Corgi action before dinner, another boot sale find from last year that I'd forgotten about until last week. My childhood one was bright yellow with I think chrome effect stickers but my memory may be at fault there.