Shite in Miniature II

[danthecapriman]

2 hours ago, ETCHY said:

I remember back in the '80s there was a conversion kit for a convertible Mk10. Can't remember who it was by but the cars were worth nowt then so not sure how many were converted.

Might be an option to do a replica model perhaps ?

You can get a Matrix (mega £££) model of the soft top.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404062746371?itmmeta=01HRC4FH5A1SPN36MW7YZJ3CKN&hash=item5e14043703:g:HKAAAOSwObZj661e&itmprp=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4G0GhBPPaEGMmjYIyFMa%2BpF4CkvssdpfbVzK2NNG%2Fdwn7kD1%2BlvxhQKgry%2BrdrmawguXbVArGqisOdyKth%2BJ7Ct0nJZDoKRK3IA%2B9jFWY9%2BGOu5fCUyF5qDXMsffb6yrBLi3OQsqRWRDxE1%2FrFtmWtaZuLz3VxcvdbGJ7olqj610waSa19YJQDrs5AOp4ARaHh11UXQCndnQbJsahUyY%2Fn80N9ie53tz17yAkLd6maiLC88vhVaz5I02id8bk99UikfeJZ9M8GBQ0b%2B8n06%2FVuvv0jpdevrD14Nq2wh4KHun|tkp%3ABFBM4JK-hMNj

 

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

UT Models E46 BMWs were particularly prone to the milky windows and for a relatively complex model, there was no solution unfortunately. Mine is well out of the sun but sadly that means it's not very prominent on my shelves either which is a shame.

It is ridiculous really that it’d be a problem. For what it’d cost you’d think they’d use a UV stable type of plastic.

What I find even more baffling is that this UV/sun damage is a problem at all in the UK!! There’s probably only about two days of the year we see the sun!😄

[Datsuncog]

I think that's the problem though, cloud cover will block out visible light but not UV light! For the models stuck in the window of McCulloughs right on the seafront, every day was a sunny day from dawn til dusk, from a chemical degradation standpoint anyway.

Found a pic from a few years back of an EFE Leyland Atlantean that was similarly afflicted, at the front at least.

[Split_Pin]

18 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

EFE Leyland Atlantean

Greater Glasgow PTE livery! I'd have loved that one as I have the same bus on an earlier livery and I also made my own orange and black 'Strathclyde's Buses' livery.

[danthecapriman]

Well, it’s bollocks’d!! No amount of polishing or cutting compound will make a difference sadly. But that’s probably not unexpected really. 
I’ve ordered a Spot-On Jaguar S type replacement glazing unit from Mr Flowers, which obviously isn’t going to fit, but it might be adaptable for at least the front and rear screens? We’ll see when it arrives. Failing that, I could probably use the original glazing as a pattern and cut new from clear plastic then bend to shape with a bit of heat. There will be a solution I’m sure. 
I could do a convertible, but tbh, I’m no fan of soft tops, real or model. Don’t know why but they just never look as good as a tin top! 
I’ll carry on with it though and see what I can come up with.

[bunglebus]

Popped back into the toy shop, got a sneaky pic through the door

It's crazy mix of stuff from model kits to NOS Corgi and Matchbox, tat box level oldies, Marvel stuff - all sorts

I saw this in there yesterday and kept thinking about it

[quicksilver]

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

Well, it’s bollocks’d!! No amount of polishing or cutting compound will make a difference sadly. But that’s probably not unexpected really. 
I’ve ordered a Spot-On Jaguar S type replacement glazing unit from Mr Flowers, which obviously isn’t going to fit, but it might be adaptable for at least the front and rear screens? We’ll see when it arrives. Failing that, I could probably use the original glazing as a pattern and cut new from clear plastic then bend to shape with a bit of heat. There will be a solution I’m sure. 
I could do a convertible, but tbh, I’m no fan of soft tops, real or model. Don’t know why but they just never look as good as a tin top! 
I’ll carry on with it though and see what I can come up with.

Make it into a banger racer, then you won't need any glazing.

[MiniMinorMk3]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

I think that's the problem though, cloud cover will block out visible light but not UV light! For the models stuck in the window of McCulloughs right on the seafront, every day was a sunny day from dawn til dusk, from a chemical degradation standpoint anyway.

 

I remember a toy shop that was on Hastings sea front that had yellow film on the windows in an attempt to stop the damaging effects of 1960s sunlight. I always thought it must of come from a big Lucazade bottle.

[Datsuncog]

5 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

I remember a toy shop that was on Hastings sea front that had yellow film on the windows in an attempt to stop the damaging effects of 1960s sunlight. I always thought it must of come from a big Lucazade bottle.

Heh, yes I remember those too! There was an old haberdashery up the top of High St which had the same crinkly-looking brown celluloid-type blinds right up until it closed in the mid-2000s. I assumed it was some sort of anti-fade device - and it seemed to work, because there was stuff in the window that was probably from the 1940s.

McCulloughs had a large pull-out awning that covered half the shop frontage and kept the light levels low for the nursery goods in the window, but not the models window on the right for some reason.

[sierraman]

I had a few Britain’s toys that I kept in the window as a kid and they basically disintegrated after several years as the plastic faded and became brittle. 

[Datsuncog]

Aye. Sunlight is no friend to toys.

I had some Matchbox playtrack I'd been handed down by my older cousin, which lived in a basket in our playshed - this flexible plastic stuff:

There was a window in the shed, and as the sun moved round the garden throughout the day, a shaft of light beamed across the shelves.

One day I went to fetch the playtrack - having not bothered with it for a while - and the flexible pieces just broke up as I touched them. Seems that the UV in the sunlight just degraded it to the point it all turned brittle (the same thing happened to the plastic basket it was in).

It probably all went in the bin, which is annoying as now I think about it the little plastic shops and houses were probably alright!

[bunglebus]

33 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Sunlight is no friend to toys.

No it isn't

But hydrogen peroxide is brilliant stuff - doesn't undo the reduction in flexibility though. I have had to repair this as it broke removing it, but you'd be hard pressed to tell.

One day I might get the body painted!

 

[sierraman]

38 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Aye. Sunlight is no friend to toys.

I had some Matchbox playtrack I'd been handed down by my older cousin, which lived in a basket in our playshed - this flexible plastic stuff:

There was a window in the shed, and as the sun moved round the garden throughout the day, a shaft of light beamed across the shelves.

One day I went to fetch the playtrack - having not bothered with it for a while - and the flexible pieces just broke up as I touched them. Seems that the UV in the sunlight just degraded it to the point it all turned brittle (the same thing happened to the plastic basket it was in).

It probably all went in the bin, which is annoying as now I think about it the little plastic shops and houses were probably alright!

My kids have that one, wife picked it up on Facebook Marketplace for a fiver a few years back. Wasn’t the track rebranded from something else? 

[Datsuncog]

9 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Wasn’t the track rebranded from something else? 

Didn't know that, but quite possibly - I think there were always a few of Lesney's lines that were made for them by another firm and rebranded.

The Matchbox Motorway system was a German-built toy repackaged under licence, I think?

The playtrack had a long old life - I think it was recoloured grey for the 1980s, and continued on into the 1990s under the Motor City banner.

This has been in my eBay watchlist for way too long... I sold mine, still in its box, for like £5 at a car boot sale.

Regrets, hey?

[bunglebus]

I can't remember what colour track I had but that stripey stuff does look familiar. I have a strong memory of there being red plastic clamps to attach the start to the dining room table, creating lots of speed for the loop-the-loop at the bottom before the cars went through the gates and crashing into the fireplace.

Aha

 

[bunglebus]

My parents clearly didn't love me, or they'd have bought this instead

That explains where my Corvette came from then

I've no doubt my set came either from the jumble sale or my older cousin, so I wouldn't have had a lot of choice either way!

[sierraman]

8 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

My parents clearly didn't love me, or they'd have bought this instead

That explains where my Corvette came from then

I've no doubt my set came either from the jumble sale or my older cousin, so I wouldn't have had a lot of choice either way!

@Split_Pin must love me as he sent me one! It’s ace, had it out a few times to test it. I had in circa 1994 the Rapid Shot track which was similar, anyone remember that? 

[bunglebus]

I might have done my parents a disservice there, as I definitely had twin loops and a finish gate, so S-400 it was - now I remember the cars on the box too, definitely this first pic 

Memory unlocked

[danthecapriman]

I had a load of this stuff,

https://www.meccanoindex.co.uk/Other/Kenner/CV-Bridge-4-Plan.pdf

It was originally my uncles from new, but was passed down. The original box must have fallen to bits yonks ago so my grandad made a big plywood box with loads of little sections inside for all the different parts. 
There was absolutely shit loads of it though. You got loads of different girders and braces to build the bridges and buildings then the building faces and road surfaces would clip to them, or just lay on the floor. 
It was a fantastic system and you could just run your matchbox and corgi toys on it. 
No idea where it went though. I could have sworn blind it was still up in the loft but clearing out to move last year I didn’t find it, so god knows where it went.

 

 

[junkyarddog]

2 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

This has been in my eBay watchlist for way too long...

I've got this knock off set if you're interested?

[bunglebus]

18 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

[NorfolkNWeigh]

12 hours ago, ETCHY said:

I remember back in the '80s there was a conversion kit for a convertible Mk10. Can't remember who it was by but the cars were worth nowt then so not sure how many were converted.

Might be an option to do a replica model perhaps ?

It was a classic Jag specialist in Hinckley, always had half a page ad in T&CC. I think he made the Nazi Staff cars used in Raiders of the Lost Ark  out of butchered MK10s too.

[sierraman]

I had this... they also did one with a mould for you to cast an ice screen for the car to blast through which seemed unbelievably cool at the time. 

[flat4alfa]

Matchbox Motorway was a licenced copy of Arnold Minimobil from Germany

[Split_Pin]

4 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Aye. Sunlight is no friend to toys.

I had some Matchbox playtrack I'd been handed down by my older cousin, which lived in a basket in our playshed - this flexible plastic stuff:

There was a window in the shed, and as the sun moved round the garden throughout the day, a shaft of light beamed across the shelves.

One day I went to fetch the playtrack - having not bothered with it for a while - and the flexible pieces just broke up as I touched them. Seems that the UV in the sunlight just degraded it to the point it all turned brittle (the same thing happened to the plastic basket it was in).

It probably all went in the bin, which is annoying as now I think about it the little plastic shops and houses were probably alright!

I had that! It mysteriously disappeared though. I remember all the houses and it also had proper UK road signs. I have actually never seen a picture of a set since I had mine, despite Googling Matchbox Play Track many times and finding only similar items.

[Datsuncog]

Brighter.

Does a grow.

[Split_Pin]

Now that is what I like to see. The daffs are only just starting to flower in Central Scotland, we are always a wee bit further behind. It's worth the wait though.

[Datsuncog]

[Datsuncog]

Right then... a brighter but still kinda cold spring morning. A day for tat?

Errr...

Mmm. I think we've seen this lot before, I'm afraid.

The Dinky Pontiac ambulance held together with Sellotape is familiar, somehow.

Dinky Austin vans pretty playworn, but intact.

Which is more can be said for this pair of Atlantics...

Or this duo; it's hard to make out from the pics, but the tan Studebaker has its body quite badly bent.

Still, these restored Corgi 'Lazy Bones' Corvettes were cheery, if a little scratched up from being transported about the place.

Dinky Foden wagon had some epic axle shonk going on.

While more tinplates were in evidence - this one unrestored, and featuring a comically elongated bonnet.

And what's the asking price on these? Gonna be cheap, right, seeing as how they're all fooked?

No.

Still a tenner each.

😲

[Datsuncog]

Trying to conceal my shock as far as possible, I had a look round the rest of the stall.

Other big tinplates were boxed, and also pricey at the £30 mark.

Corgi Scammell was ok, but the box had taken a bit of a beating. Maybe not too bad for £10, but I've bought quite a lot of trucks lately and they're not the easiest things to store.

Vanguards Cresta PA has appeared before - it's loose in the box, and that's not doing it any favours.

This unusual Royal Disaster Diorama by Corgi failed to tempt me...

Despite being ostensibly a Royal Wedding 1981 edition of the State Landau, it features figurines of Brenda and Phil The Greek rather than Chaz 'n' Di.

Oh well, I suppose there was the purple commemorative Metro in the range, too.

And, as ever, Daze Gorn.

Plus a book to help you track your investments*...

And, with the main Tat Stall exhausted, off I trundled to see what was what elsewhere...