Shite in Miniature II

[sierraman]

I think at £2.50 they’ll stay there tbh. 

[Datsuncog]

They're not cheap, admittedly, but they're broadly the same price point as Tesco - and cheaper than Sainsbury's - so I can maybe understand Poundstretcher's Head Office pitching them at that price - even though it's all grey-import stuff with Chinese domestic market stickers on the back.

But it's certainly dearer than I'd care to pay, especially for old stock from earlier in the year or indeed even further back...

I'm hoping they'll all be reduced to half-price come the New Year, as happened with their MB Working Rigs range previously - for £1.25 a go, I may be a little less picky...

[bunglebus]

I don't often post real cars on here, but

[shampooefficient]

Not going to win any prizes for photography, model making, or... Anything, really... But this is a model of MrsSE's track/rally chav chariot.

Inspired by her last outing. And mainly because the fake mud hides the abysmal job I did of changing it from silver to blue.

[sierraman]

50 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Broadly the same price point as Tesco, and cheaper than Sainsbury's, so I can understand Head Office pitching them at that price - even though it's all grey-import stuff with Chinese domestic market stickers on the back. But dearer than I care to pay, especially for old stock from earlier in the year...

I'm hoping they'll all be reduced to half-price come the New Year, as happened with their MB Working Rigs range previously - for £1.25 a go, I may be a little less picky...

The Entertainer is usually punting them out at 3 for £5 which is more palatable.

[Split_Pin]

49 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I don't often post real cars on here, but

I have both the Superkings 240z and the Whizzwheels, which do you prefer?

[MiniMinorMk3]

Catch Z's

Polistil 1/43

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

Well the decals on the Luso have been going on.

3 down 38 to go

That's another 5 on.

6 more done. There's a bit of overhang on some.

Some adjustments made. This was the end of the first session. I had forgotten how much of a pain handling a model covered in wet decals is.

Session two, complete front spoiler and put on door and bonnet decals. These have further decals applied on top.

Lined up the two halves of the spoiler decal stripes.

When I cut the first decals up of the day I messed up and sliced through the GS Turning decal. The pitfalls of white decals on a sheet and 60 year old eyes.

ARSE!

More right side stuff on.

Another break to let things dry.

Final session starting with the rear panel.

Then on with the central stripes. Lining those up by eye is fun, especially when you shove it just a bit too much to one side.

Sun Strip next

Then the boot...

and the rear panel and spoiler Warsteiners.

Well after about 4 hours they are all one. Just gonna let it dry over night and then check and dab down anything with the DecalFix tommorrow.

 

[bunglebus]

That's a lot of decals. I sweat doing 3 or 4 on one car 

[bunglebus]

This came in the post. Was listed as a repaint, which I think it is - but I can't see how it's been done.

It has a blue interior which interested me as my other one has red

[bunglebus]

2 hours ago, shampooefficient said:

The abysmal job I did of changing it from silver to blue.

Looks ok to me. You should see the Corgi Sierra I painted to match my real one. Using a touch-up brush

[Datsuncog]

It turns out there's not very much happening in Tesco's toy aisle either.

Hot Wheels mainline singles are still £1.75 each when you buy two using a Clubcard.

But - nothing terribly thrilling lurked within the cardboard tub.

Matchbox also down to £1.75 - and you don't need to buy two in order to score the discount, either.

Unfortunately there wasn't much to get in a tizz about - just a load of those less-than-appealing cargo tugs alongside a surfeit of Push 'n' Pullers, and (weirdly) still quite a number of those lovely green Rancheros left too. But I've quite a lot of them already...

Some spirited riffling through the tub for anything more interesting revealed a solitary Bedford CA ice cream van - so, for lack of many other options, that's the one which came home with me.

I'm still not 100% sure why, though...

[MiniMinorMk3]

47 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

This came in the post. Was listed as a repaint, which I think it is - but I can't see how it's been done.

It has a blue interior which interested me as my other one has red

The rivets look fresh to me. It's definitely a repaint as the bumpers were only painted on the edges originally, and not up to the body. Also the indicators were not painted on the originals but the rear lights had a thin bit of red on them.

The blue interior is only found in the gold versions

[bunglebus]

Ooh

[Jon]

Have some more not-1/43 castings that appealed to my hair-trigger finger:

 

A couple of lovely AMC Javelins.

I'm a fan of almost every AMC model but, quirky later 4x4 models aside, I think the Javelin is one of their best efforts.

 

These are of course Matchboxes and I vaguely remember there being a green one in the toy box, years ago. Not sure if it was a late entrant, or bought new. If it was the latter, then it was my older brother's, as I'm sure these standard casting Javelins had been replaced by the racing versions by my time. During the change, the opening doors were lost, along of course with the slightly incongruous tow bar.

 

Whilst the blue one's hook is missing from the bar, the green's is complete.

 

Though green is more familiar, I prefer the earlier wheels and fab shade of the blue. Writing this, I think I'm drawn to blue cars, as I currently own 4 of them!

 

The accentuated front wheel arches and slightly gawky long bonnet, yet somehow 'cab forward' styling of Javelins really appeals.

 

I'm probably getting my car design analogies all wrong there but the rears of these seem just a little too short. I think the rear wheels are perhaps a little too far back, which is in stark contrast to the AMX, which had a short wheelbase and sizeable overhangs.

 

Here's a real actual one I spotted 6 years ago, in a dealer's lot in Illinois:

Look at those uneven proportions!

 

Gloriously down at heel seems fitting for a modified 70's muscle car in the 21st century.

Absolute chef's kiss on the name. Why don't modders name their steeds any more? The last car I remember seeing with a title was a face-lift Vectra in the early 2000's, in that Vauxhall bronze colour, body kit bedecked and named: The Ginger Bitch. 

Halcyon Days.

 

Finally for now is this Hot Wheels Ford Fairmont.

Bought this to replace the one I had as a wee'un. For some reason, I grew up under the belief that this was my first ever toy car. If that was true, then it was a slightly left-field choice for a UK child in the early 80's. That said, we had a smattering of HWs and me and my brother both had HW fold out carry case play sets from this era, so there could be a grain of truth to it.

 

I didn't actually know what it was a representation of, growing up (and admittedly, until I read the base on its arrival!) but it's a fair representation of an a domestic Fox body Fairmont, so am guessing it's quite accurate to the racing one. Regardless, the 3 box design was accurate enough to appeal to young me: had it been an open wheel racer, I doubt I would've played with it much.

Did one of these inspire my life in a positive way, or just open a can of worms? Who knows!

[bunglebus]

7 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I have both the Superkings 240z and the Whizzwheels, which do you prefer?

The Corgi is probably better detailed and has opening doors (better than a bonnet?)

But I prefer the Matchbox because I had the Volvo/Datsun rally set as I kid after I won £50 on my Premium Bonds and was allowed to spend half on whatever I wanted. Bought that, the Corgi Mini in Silver and the Matchbox K-20 Peterbilt recovery truck with steering. That was a good day.

[Datsuncog]

[bunglebus]

Got be time for a montage of all those pictures, unless you're going there just before Christmas too?

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Got be time for a montage of all those pictures, unless you're going there just before Christmas too?

As far as I can tell, there's a market next Friday too (22nd) which I'm hoping to get to, and that's the last one of the year - so I'll pull together a montage on the Solstice thread running from midsummer to midwinter then.

But of course, from next week the days are getting longer again... tilting back towards the sun.

[Datsuncog]

Well, alright then... not so very freezing this morning, but certainly pretty dark.

Yup, that's still basically night-time.

The Nemesismobile was already parked up round the corner, so I felt moderately sure I wouldn't be getting much in the way of Gamda Koor Chevrolets or Lone Star Firenzas this morning.

Indeed, the stall was pretty busy with Club 7.30 members, but...

Hang on, that can't be it - can it?

Just these fine* collector-grade** investment pieces*** to make it worth my while trekking in?

Plus the sort of 50p shop tat I used to get bought for birthdays because various well-meaning relatives knew I "liked old cars":

Yeah, I know - it's the thought that counts... hard as it is for an eight-year-old to fully appreciate that.

Fine attention to door design, there.

But... what's that still lurking behind the stall?

Looks like... more diecast in a collapsible crate.

Hmm.

Okay then... so we wait.

[Christine]

17 hours ago, bunglebus said:

This came in the post. Was listed as a repaint, which I think it is - but I can't see how it's been done.

It has a blue interior which interested me as my other one has red

You being our expert rebuilder ..are you seriously saying you dunno how thats done ?? 

[sierraman]

You can buy those rivets, they’ve just been glued in. 

[sierraman]

30 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Well, alright then... not so very freezing this morning, but certainly pretty dark.

Yup, that's still basically night-time.

The Nemesismobile was already parked up round the corner, so I felt moderately sure I wouldn't be getting much in the way of Gamda Koor or Lone Star Firenzas.

Indeed, the stall was pretty busy with Club 7.30 members, but...

Hang on, that can't be it - can it?

Just these fine* collector-grade** investment pieces***?

Plus the sort of 50p shop tat I used to get bought for birthdays because various relatives knew I "liked old cars":

Yeah, it's the thought that counts... hard as it is for an eight-year-old to appreciate that.

Fine attention to detailing, that.

But... what's that still lurking behind the stall?

Looks like... more diecast.

I used to get bought anything with vintage cars on, despite being fascinated with Mk1 Granada’s and Citroen GSA’s people seemed to massively get the wrong end of the stick. I kid you not I once at the age of about 10 got bought some vintage car whisky tumblers by my Nan. The following Xmas one of those Vintage car alarm clocks where the tasteful digital clock was inlaid in what was intended to be the windscreen. That’s before we get the the Lledo Days Gone that we’re going to be an investment for the future. Honestly I’m going to sound like a right ungrateful twat here but I would have much sooner had a Superkings Peterbilt which ironically if I’d looked after it would actually be worth a fair bit in the box. 

[flat4alfa]

45 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

 

Sue Pollard is a Tat Shiteist in Trainers, shocker

[RoadworkUK]

15 minutes ago, sierraman said:

"....Superkings Peterbilt which ironically if I’d looked after it would actually be worth a fair bit in the box. "

It's true. And, Ironically, while I thought I was being properly spoiled with the 1:18 Bburago E-Type when I was 8 (and I did, and still do, genuinely love it), NIB examples are so abundant on eBay and nobody wants them. Because intended as a collectable, not a toy.

Same reason I'm so much more excited to see a 1.3 three-door Sierra than yet another Cossie.

[sierraman]

8 minutes ago, RoadworkUK said:

It's true. And, Ironically, while I thought I was being properly spoiled with the 1:18 Bburago E-Type when I was 8 (and I did, and still do, genuinely love it), NIB examples are so abundant on eBay and nobody wants them. Because intended as a collectable, not a toy.

Same reason I'm so much more excited to see a 1.3 three-door Sierra than yet another Cossie.

I built 2 of them from a Bburago kit, which was good fun. It’s a really well proportioned model for its time. 

[bunglebus]

35 minutes ago, RoadworkUK said:

Same reason I'm so much more excited to see a 1.3 three-door Sierra than yet another Cossie.

Mine was the fire breathing 1.6, sorry 

[RoadworkUK]

Yep. The detail is nothing like as finely resolved as an AutoArt, but I reckon it's as good a representation of the form as you can find.

[RoadworkUK]

1 minute ago, bunglebus said:

Mine was the fire breathing 1.6, sorry 

PPPHHWWWOOAAAARRRR

Nice Serck plates, too.

[Datsuncog]

I could tell that The Nemesis was equally vexed about the lack of quality diecast appearing... though there were a few odds and ends already visible on the stall.

This 1977 Silver Jubilee rendering of the State Coach is by Crescent, who were presumably hoping to 'do a Lesney' and clean up the same way Leslie and Rodney Smith's company did back in 1953 with their own Coronation version, in turn steering the nascent diecasting company away from making fishing bait presses and window cranks and towards toys.

Dunno if it worked as well the second time around.

I'm not sure who made this big plastic tractor set, but it's quite appealing:

The only clue to the manufacturer is the letters 'GBZ' emblazoned on the end of the box.

Not really my thing, but a lovely set anyway - especially with the stylised '50s farm illustration on the inside of the box.

A restored-but-chipped-again Dinky Porsche 356 was on display alongside other smol collectables on a sheet of OSB.

Quite nice, but a smidge spicy at £15.

Unsure how this wound up in Belfast...

Guess there's one or two folks locally who are mad into rallying Talbots, so could be a link there.

While we were waiting, Nemesis offered me this refinished Solido Mk2 Escort:

It's a nice wee thing, though again the repaint had chipped off in a few places. The interior and inside the door had also been painted up in tan gloss paint, while the external panels were more of a satin finish.

I was tempted, I'll admit, but I've already owned a couple of these in the past and sold them on - and spare funds at this time of year are not abundant - so, regrettably, I passed on it.

Just in case a tray of Firenzas suddenly appeared, and I needed every penny...

OH LOOK

No Firenzas.

🤡