Shite in Miniature II

[RoadworkUK]

22 minutes ago, Jon said:

 The telltale sign to me is the closed door, rather than it proudly left open, to show its play value. That's what the blue hump is there for, to ensure it stays safely open.

Of course! Oh, well that changes everything. Out it comes.

Freedom!

Feels GOOD.

Plus it really is mint as a minty thing.

 

[Split_Pin]

2 hours ago, RoadworkUK said:

I'd actually rather have the white one. I always thought the Texaco livery a bit silly on something road-car spec, but I've never seen a plain black one. Trouble with the white ones are that the bumpers ALWAYS go yellow with ambient UV light like a 90s PC case.

Yep that's exactly what's happened to mine!

[bunglebus]

My white one doesn't have white bumpers

I think I had the black Cossie as a kid too, I definitely remember the red XJ6 especially how smoothly it rolled on the lid of our chest freezer. Strange the things that stick in your mind

On the yellowed bits, could you do the hydrogen peroxide paste (hair bleach) and UV light treatment? 

[flat4alfa]

3 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

It gets worse, on the same evening while not even a bit pissed, I also bid on this

and won!

and a Ford Transporter through a different window and different swear words! Still Bexhill on Sea though.

 

Lucky Mrs Concern is very handy with the glass cutter and putty...

‘Tis not Ford. Should be Bedford. Must find Bedford.

[Spottedlaurel]

Indeed, although the cab does seem a little out of scale to the trailer:

Probably because of originally being designed to go behind that futuristic tractor unit thing.

Even back in the day I found it didn't sit happily behind the Ford.

[AndyW201]

21 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Alrighty then... so where were we?

Mildly confused and discombobulated, that's where.

I think you've seen pretty much all the tat stall had to offer - though The Nemesis made a few good finds, including the Dinky AEC tanker for a tenner and the others for roundabout a fiver a go.

There were still some dregs that didn't fit onto the stall knocking around the box, now slipped under the stall:

Ultimately, this is what the first pass netted me:

Crestas are for Eddy; Capri Classic is for anyone who wants it at £6.66 ( @AndyW201?) or else I'll hang on to it meself.

@flat4alfa

Don't know if the Capri has definitely been nabbed, but I'll take it Tim, if it's desperate for a home...

[Datsuncog]

It'll probably surprise you not one jot that I roamed a bit further than the market yesterday in my insatiable quest for diecast.

I hadn't been to The Entertainer for a bit - I've still something of a yearning for some of the Matchbox Two-Packs, but alas they'd none.

Mostly just stuff I've seen before, but they did seem to have some unfamiliar mainline colour versions: is this Goodyear Kangoo part of the same case as the Volvo 240?

Despite looking very hard, there were no 240s to be seen.

It's good to see that this store does make some effort to stock some of the higher-end Matchbox range:

Though the recent pics from inside some German toyshops do indicate there's room for improvement in the UK...

Was nice to see these Hot Wheels Premiums, too:

I could have happily taken all three of these home, but the nagging whisper of "yeah, but then what?" has been growing louder over the past few weeks.

I feel a Cog Collection Cull may be in the pipeline.

So I left The Entertainer empty-handed (other than the massive bag of Vanguards I'd come in with, obviously) and trundled downstairs to Poundland.

The selection there was small, as expected, but not without its highlights.

This Hot Wheels Jeep pickup had escaped my notice previously - and isn't that Volvo EV meant to be sought-after, for some reason?

There were three of them on the pegs.

Gassers aren't quite my thing either, but even I was tempted by this Mercury.

There were no Matchbox in this store, however, and I hope that's not going to become a general trend as they're a good price compared to the supermarkets.

Finally, I trekked over to Cash Converters as the thought of those boxed 70s Lesneys had continued to pluck at me all week.

Unfortunately, they'd been supplanted...

By bloody Days Gone.

Yes, very amusing.

These were also priced at a fiver - let's see if they go as quick as the Lesneys...

In the window was this 1/18 Maisto Opel Speedster/ Vauxhall VX220, at a not unreasonable £15.

As well as, for some reason, a ceramic figurine of my second-form chemistry teacher.

The world's a weird place.

So - not exactly a vastly successful mini-tour of the shops, but hey. Swings and roundabouts, as ever.

Plus, doing some sums has indicated that yesterday's purchasing came in at fairly moderate price points, so I think on balance it's been a good week for tat.

Enjoy your weekend, kids!

[Noel Tidybeard]

16 hours ago, RoadworkUK said:

In a veritable flurry of inevitability, @bunglebus's car-boot / toy fair Superkings XR4i / Sierra Cossie encounters had me pining for an example of the latter myself.

It is, really, the only thing missing from my model toy Sierra collection; I have a MIB first-issue XR4i, a number of 1:36 Corgi examples and that lovely 1:43 Latin American partwork, which handily represents the Sierra Ghia my dad used to ferry me around in. It's even basically the same colour; Glacier Blue. 

I didn't, though, ever have the Matchbox Superkings  Cossie as a kid. I had the K-100 XR4i, and it was one of my very favourite playthings (and is now in an extremely playworn state), often being raced across my primary school hall floor against my mate Tim's K-162 Cossie. I always preferred the XR4i because it didn't have a silly race car livery on it. Nevertheless, I still coveted the Cossie.

So, I'm a big boy now, and I can have whatever toys I can stealthily sneak into the house. I got to wondering how cheaply I could secure a boxed example on eBay. A quick search found one that had six days on the auction, and no bidders as yet.

Possibly due to utterly dire photography:

"Oops, not quite. Try again"

"Bit better, but I'll have one more go"

"Ah, that's grand".

So, that pic was good enough to confirm that it... exists... in theory, but all bets were off when it came to actual condition. Nevertheless, in order to ensure that I didn't forget about it, I put an opening bid in.

I then forgot all about it.

UNTIL, that is, I was doing the washing up on Sunday night, and my phone vibrated with a panicked "AUCTION ENDING SOON". Bidding had, at that point, reached the giddy heights of £4 plus P+P. 

Hmm. High stakes for a dubiously described and portrayed model. But then... what if it's perfect?

And, it's only money, isn't it? I can always, like, get some more if I need it, can't I? Somehow.

So I did my usual thing of waiting, and waiting, and then entering the absolute maximum I could possibly justify, with seven seconds remaining. Out of the air, I plucked a figure that I thought excessive enough that I'm bound to secure it for substantially less. So I slammed a max bid of £14 in.

And won it.

For £14. Plus £3 postage. Ouch.

Anyway. It arrived today, in the hands of DHL, no less, and with fancy DHL packaging. Entirely unexpected. Within nanoseconds of its arrival, I had it out of the packing and in my mitts. And as it happens, I don't feel entirely ripped off.

There's a bit of wear to the box corners, and the plastifilm has cracked at the top in the usual manner, but it ain't bad at all. But most importantly, the innards are mint.

Well, I mean they weren't always entirely mint on leaving the factory. Strange highlights in the pic above make it look as if there are scratches, but there aren't. There's some orange peel to the paint, but I don't know if that's occurred over time or was there when it went in the box. The interior is entirely dust-free, though.

I LOVE this casting, just as much as I love the K-100 XR4i casting.  It's not 100% true to reality, but it kind of emphasises the features that make the Sierra the Sierra, if you get what I mean. It's like essence of Sierra. Same thing is true of the inside, too. The dash isn't 100% (or even quite a deal less) accurate, but it nails the essence of the original, that wrap-around shape and tiered layout. And the tilting seats, slightly oddly proportioned as they are, nicely portray the Cossie's deeply bolstered items. 

More than anything, though, it feels weighty in the hands. And with details like the clear headlights and glassy red rear lights, and wheels that resemble the Cossie's cross-spoke rims (incidentally, the flat-faced chrome items with the pepperpot-style circles embossed in are the One True Wheel for the K-100 XR4i), it feels authoritative. Proper. Official. 

Finally, I choose to believe that the presence of Matchbox's proprietary keyhole-and-twisty-thing mechanism points to this example possibly having never left its box. I'm tempted not to change that. It goes into my collection of "things I now own that I always wanted", even if I never actually play with it.

Besides, turning up at my primary school 30 year on to play in the hall would probably be viewed with suspicion. 

 

sorry to break your bubble but to have the door closed means undoing the "key"

[FakeConcern]

12 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

‘Tis not Ford. Should be Bedford. Must find Bedford.

That's if I can found it on the ground outside!

[egg]

17 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

In the window was this 1/18 Maisto Opel Speedster/ Vauxhall VX220, at a not unreasonable £15.

half the price of ebay...

[flat4alfa]

[bunglebus]

2 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Hot Wheels Premiums, too:

Surprised the Cossie was still there, they vanish almost immediately 

[bunglebus]

Alrightly then, here's a few bits from this morning's boot sales, a few from the toy fair last week I didn't get time to photograph, and a couple of eBay wins

Starting with the later, these came along with my main target. Anyone know the brand of the Routemaster? 

Dinky FX4 has blue paint under the black for some strange reason

Husky trailer seems to been a stand-alone release although it is sometimes paired with a tractor etc

Corgi trailer to go behind a Ford D

@Jon wanted one of these I think so I grabbed it

Escort is pretty common but tidy enough 

[bunglebus]

Bloody Hell! 50p's worth of tinplate funny car

This was the car I wanted in the eBay lot. Complete at least

A while back I bought a job lot of Matchbox to get this rare Scorpion

Every car in the lot had home-made paper wheel trims and most had plasticine plastered on the base too - luckily the Scorpion just had the trims.

Since then I occasionally see more clearly from the same person, including a load today

The guy said they were from a house clearance in Southend, most were not that great but a few I couldn't resist, such as this

Brilliant . 

Norev Mini Jet R18

There's no way I was leaving this behind - I mean, "BORD", it's such a brilliantly bad rip off

Another of the slot car buggies turned up too

[bunglebus]

Matchbox next - got all these for £6 at the toy fair. Victor and Merc are especially nice

Another victim of the paper wheel trims

And another but they mostly came off with a wash

I was today old when I noticed the door on the Pony Trailer is the same as the side door on the Bedford horse box

Grabbed two VW powered fantasy models

And some emergency vehicles 

Dodge Caravan has its door - red version I saw did not

I think I have a better version of the Brut Corvette but I can't help picking them up

Recently talk of Roadblasters lead me to buying another - did see one of the really garish 90s versions of the Group C Racer too but managed to resist 

Glow Racer!

Picked this King Size Fruehauf Hopper up for £2 as I thought one of you might want it?

Major Pack trailer has a tractor waiting to be paired up

Yet another trailer - tyres alone must be worth 50p

Lastly this belongs behind the big Mod Tractor 

[bunglebus]

Oh and I found this in Tesco last night

[Tenmil Socket]

Took the Shark vacuum to be repaired earlier and the fella said it will be 10 minutes so I popped over to the charity shop opposite. 
 

Found these for 20p each. The Corgi BMW needs the rear axle relocating and a wash. Check out the tow bar on the Discovery! It can be removed I think as it looks screwed on.

Available FOC if anyone’s interested?

[egg]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385656396502

Anyone heard of Spanish brand Novolinea before?

[flat4alfa]

Pretty sure that Routemaster is a Budgie or a copy of one. Does it say Made in England underneath and the number of seats? 

[flat4alfa]

Tin plate funny car is ace

[Tenmil Socket]

11 minutes ago, egg said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385656396502

Anyone heard of Spanish brand Novolinea before?

[bunglebus]

37 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Pretty sure that Routemaster is a Budgie or a copy of one. Does it say Made in England underneath and the number of seats? 

 

[bunglebus]

Wasn't going to go into town today - but I did. 

BuM have newish Matchbox but nothing we haven't seen before

Not long ago these would have been hoiked straight off the shelf and onto eBay

Smyths had loads of the Race Day series but of course all the Crapis were gone.

They had another range of larger scale cars though, these are #3 + 4, don't know what the others are 

Entertainer had an unopened N case, and two lightly-rifled P cases! Off home to take pics....

[MiniMinorMk3]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

 

Came in lots of colours and was sold well into the 1980s, possibly 1990s, as a London souvenir gift shop special.

[bunglebus]

The two P cases in Entertainer had a few goodies inside

This Datsun has some amazing pearl paint - this would be the $uper if such things existed

[bunglebus]

I didn't think I was going to find much in Entertainer as their delivery was days ago, so I went to Smyths first. I was feeling a bit gutted looking at pegs full of Premiums but no Capri - so when I spotted this I thought I'd cheer myself up!

[FakeConcern]

4 hours ago, bunglebus said:

 

Lastly this belongs behind the big Mod Tractor 

No, this is where it should go!

 

[bunglebus]

How very dare you

Wonder why there was never any cargo

[FakeConcern]

Still prefer mine, useful too!

[FakeConcern]

I have just put more shite on offer

https://autoshite.com/topic/55662-fakes-firenza-free-no-spot-on-or-lone-star-diecast-shite-sale-you-thought-the-last-lot-was-bad-wait-till-you-see-these-the-biggest-anti-climax-since-millennium-eve/

This mornings boot sale didn't have much to interest us. Mrs Concern got a crap made in China caravan that cleaned up well with all the stickers coming off completely. She likes stuff she doesn't already have & the Hot Wheels Beach Buggy is new to her & she likes despite no screen.

I bought a strange Corgi Sting Ray that looks like the correct paint for a Whizzwheels version, but has the old base and wire wheels. Not sure if it's a repaint or actually swapped the base on a grey Whizzwheels one.

The Norev Jet Car Pug 504 is lovely! The only other Jet Car I have is a Citroen BX and I don't rate it.