Shite in Miniature II

[Cookiesouwest]

After many years of not collecting and having sold almost my entire collection 15 yrs ago due to financial woes, I've decided to restart.

First purchase was an EFE Dennis Dart with Plaxton Pointer body in Badgerline livery.

Very dissapointed that the rear wheel was knackered. Oh well, better find another.

 

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Not as an S, though as a Ghia...

Two spotlights and a bit of black marker, and it could resemble an S with a vinyl roof though?

Dear Santa...

[barrett]

With the usual qualifications about my lack of interest, a package has arrived (horrible overcast day today, excuse the grainy pics)

It's Mercury No. 23, the Fiat 2300S. One of my favourite cars, and I think this is the only 1:43-ish metal toy of this model. There is a Norev plastic one, and the small Impy version, and the very strange Solido casting of the one-off(?) convertible version which was modelled with the hood up, giving the worst of both worlds. The Mercury is the only period, standard coupé in this size, and I'm very happy to add it to the non-collection.

It's actually fairly approximate and a little crude, but it nicely encapsulates the real thing's character. It's pleasingly rendered in the best combination for a 1960s car, grey with red upholstery. As I've said before, Mercury was definitely a rung or two below Politoys in terms of quality. It's interesting to note that this model debuted in 1964, one year before the Politoys M series was introduced, and according to Wikipedia it is thought to be the first Italian diecast with a full compliment of opening flaps

I guess when it was released it would have really cut a dash in a marketplace which was mainly made up of plastic toys, or cruder, interior-less metal toys of the type Mercury was producing prior to this. Although the proportions are a little odd, the details are nice, with separate head and tail lamps, accurate interior and a passable straight-six engine with the distinctive air box for the triple carbs. I guess I need to hunt out more Mercurys of this period, but they seem even more difficult to find than other contemporary Italians in this country, and I have never found a full breakdown of the model range for 'ticking off' purposes.

Incidentally, the 2300S is probably my greatest missed opportunity - a great example of a beautiful, exotic car which was very cheap to buy until quite recently and has now gone so crazy I'll almost certainly never have one. Although I hate Petrolicious, I love this little video of a stylish Italian gent chatting about his 'beautiful egg'. The induction noise/exhaust note combo on these is among the greatest 'car noises' ever. I'll even excuse the driving gloves.

 

[bunglebus]

Despite charging me full postage for all three of these Lone Star Impy cars, they arrived just in a Jiffy bag so the boxes have suffered. Still, it's the cars that are important so here are no.73 Stingray Fast Back, 74 Toyota Sports (2000 GT) and 76 GT Rally (64ish Corvette)

[AndyW201]

14 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Ah, you were bidding on some of those too?  Most quickly went beyond my budget...

Mine too! I counted myself lucky to get the Cortina, though I was a mite pissed off at getting sniped in the last few seconds for the Top Hat Hillman Avenger...

[sierraman]

I had loads of those Lone Star Impy trucks, like a really generic truck in various guises. Can’t find any information about them like when they were made? Timescales etc?

[junkyarddog]

53 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Despite charging me full postage for all three of these Lone Star Impy cars, they arrived just in a Jiffy bag so the boxes have suffered. Still, it's the cars that are important so here are no.73 Stingray Fast Back, 74 Toyota Sports (2000 GT) and 76 GT Rally (64ish Corvette)

Nice haul.

Such a shame that the quality of them declined. 

Kinda like what matchbox did later with the super GT line.

[junkyarddog]

52 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I had loads of those Lone Star Impy trucks, like a really generic truck in various guises. Can’t find any information about them like when they were made? Timescales etc?

I saw some of those trucks recently, still boxed,but they really didn't appeal so left them.

[sierraman]

2 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

I saw some of those trucks recently, still boxed,but they really didn't appeal so left them.

Yeah they’re really shit. I had some in a job lot I bought some time back. I’ll find them out they’ve been in my way since. 

[eddyramrod]

59 minutes ago, AndyW201 said:

Mine too! I counted myself lucky to get the Cortina, though I was a mite pissed off at getting sniped in the last few seconds for the Top Hat Hillman Avenger...

I got sniped on several!  What's really galling though, is the bloke who "won" most of them has disappeared and so soured the experience for the seller.  I suppose we'll have to fight for the rest on ebay.

[Bren]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Despite charging me full postage for all three of these Lone Star Impy cars, they arrived just in a Jiffy bag so the boxes have suffered. Still, it's the cars that are important so here are no.73 Stingray Fast Back, 74 Toyota Sports (2000 GT) and 76 GT Rally (64ish Corvette)

Annoying when you pay for packaging that isn't. A couple of years ago I paid three figures for some UFO product enterprise models - they were wrapped in brown paper...

[bunglebus]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

I had loads of those Lone Star Impy trucks, like a really generic truck in various guises. Can’t find any information about them like when they were made? Timescales etc?

I'm on a Lone Star Facebook group so I can see if anyone knows. 

These three have 1976 boxes

I agree the later cars aren't a patch on the earlier ones with opening bits, clear glass and interiors, but times were tough for the manufacturers and the target market was kids with pocket money. 

I'll be looking for the earlier cars too but they don't show up boxed for a couple of quid!

[Amishtat]

Been having a bit of a diecast drought of late, just haven't been able to find much of interest to me. Right up until yesterday that is, when we went to one of those slightly wanky collectors /overpriced old cack fairs just outside Glasgow. In mitigation I knew there'd be diecast since my partner had shown me the Faceache advert for it, which showed rather a bit of boxed sixties Corgi stuff. I knew that wouldn't be within my slender means but went for a look anyway. At this point it's worth pointing out that my favourite aunt collects old postcards, so I had a small amount of cash about my person. The Corgis were in lovely condition but out of my league, and almost everything else I saw had the old price tag on a string approach we know and love* on here. About halfway round though, I spotted a stall with two tat boxes which were crammed with mid sixties to early seventies diecast. The vendor was quite happy for me to have a rummage, and even offered me a goodish deal to take  both boxes. I'm still kicking myself a bit now, but I really couldn't afford them, six months or a year ago I'd have snapped his hand clean off. I got what my strict budget permitted and am still pleased with them, but first let's have a look at what I had to leave behind. The newest thing I saw was a rough Corgi Datsun 240Z and the condition of almost everything varied between heavily playworn and Stalingrad but I do have non-buyer's remorse on the Corgi Firebird, should have grabbed that too. Less so the Imperial, the first I've ever seen but too far gone for me. 

[bunglebus]

Cap-ri looks salvageable

[bunglebus]

Talking of salvage I managed to improve those Lone Star boxes. One needed a new window cut from the top of a modern Matchbox multipack

Yes I saved the price label too!

[Amishtat]

20 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Cap-ri looks salvageable

I thought so too but trodden on with a twist to the shell on closer inspection 

[Tenmil Socket]

On 12/12/2021 at 1:42 PM, Datsuncog said:

Having a bit of a clear-out - and wondering if these might be of interest to anyone here?

Tamiya kits catalogue, from 1988 - complete, though the cover's split from the staples.

Yours for the cost of postage.

 

Giles Chapman's thoroughly entertaining potted history of the UK diecast car industry:

I got this secondhand, and it's lightly worn but otherwise very readable.

Again, available for cost of postage.

**NOW TAKEN!!**

 

Interesting little book in Italian, featuring a number of unusual models beyond the usual Dinky and Corgi:

Possibly suitable for persons who don't collect toy cars?

Also available for the cost of postage.

**ALSO TAKEN!!*"

 

Now, this one's a bit of a doorstop.

I was pretty chuffed with the Great Book of Corgi last year, and thought this would make a good companion piece. But, it's a bit different...

Plenty of great info, but it's more of a series of tables rather than a history of the brand, and there's so much military and aircraft stuff in here which doesn't really grab me - so I don't think it quite justifies its space on the bookshelf...

It's missing its dust jacket but otherwise very clean, and I paid £45 for it from eBay last year. The cheapest current listing is priced at £50.

Any interest at £20, posted?

Could I take the Tamiya catalogue please?

[eddyramrod]

Little parcel arrived today from the very lovely @bunglebus of this parish.

...Containing not one but two small-scale Rovers!  I can now, all being well, recreate this...

...Which was mine until my operation in 2018.  Naturally there isn't, AFAIK, a model of the hatchback 800, never mind the facelift variety!  So one has to improvise.  I'll let you know...

[Datsuncog]

3 hours ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Could I take the Tamiya catalogue please?

You certainly can... happy to pass it on, dude!

[Split_Pin]

I honestly think I've bought more 1/1 scale cars than diecast in 2021 and those are just replicas of the real car that I owned. So, to complement my latest purchase I've bought a Minichamps version of it.

Who would have thought that a Saab 93 MK2 Convertible  was such a scarcely modelled car? Plenty of MK1 93s and lots of 95s (I have 4) though.  Apart from the Minichamps version there's only a 1/72 Yatming model but I couldn't find any for sale. 

It arrives on 16th December or so I'm told by ebay.

[bunglebus]

#5 is the Land Rover. £7 each in Entertainer but nothing I'm interested in

[bunglebus]

Yep

[Amishtat]

Part one of Sunday's haul. Been after the TK transporter for a while, saw one in a junk shop in Cullen last year which wasn't much better than this so I wasn't passing this one up. The Citroen Le Dandy is missing its spotlights as you might expect at this end of the market and of course everything is properly filthy. That's a job for later on when I've the house to myself.. 

[Amishtat]

Picked this Dinky Alfa up because it looks to be a straightforward job, and was another I don't recall seeing before. 

[Amishtat]

Really pleased with this pair, the Cortina especially as it was the one late sixties /early seventies Ford model I didn't have. It's rather crude around the doors/sills in the same manner as the Escort but for the sake of completion I'm happy enough with it. What are these wheels from? They don't look right to me, sure I recognise them from somewhere though. Also the Transit purely because it still had a full complement of doors. 

 

[Amishtat]

This was the stand out of the day for me though, condition notwithstanding. The only Spot-on in the box, and yes, I did check thoroughly. Only the second one I've seen and the first at a decent price. This is now first in my little queue for restoration. Still the A60, Humber, Minx and Rover 3-litre to find but I'm in no rush. 

[sierraman]

That Mk2 Cortina is very much of its time with the fancy new reflective plates. Think all the parts for what you’ve got there are still available from Steve Flowers. That said sometimes they are nice when you can see they’ve been played with. 

Purchased some more tat last night, a job lot of Superkings in varying states of disrepair, mainly for the case tractor and the Datsun concept car. Comes with a engineless Cougar dragster which might well lend itself to a custom.

[Amishtat]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

That Mk2 Cortina is very much of its time with the fancy new reflective plates. Think all the parts for what you’ve got there are still available from Steve Flowers. That said sometimes they are nice when you can see they’ve been played with. 

Purchased some more tat last night, a job lot of Superkings in varying states of disrepair, mainly for the case tractor and the Datsun concept car. Comes with a engineless Cougar dragster which might well lend itself to a custom.

I've just been on his website pricing up what the Cresta needs.Not too bad really, a smidge over a tenner for front and rear chrome and a glazing unit. I ought to take the time to sit down and figure out how many replacement tyres I need too, there seems to be quite a lot of things here with one, two or more missing. 

[sierraman]

Trick is to do one big blockbusting order to keep the postage costs down. I did order some bits to restore a Spot on Zodiac last year, when they arrived the parts were good quality and fitted perfectly. 

[Amishtat]

That pale yellow Mark 3?  That came out nicely.