Shite in Miniature II

[danthecapriman]

20 minutes ago, AndyW201 said:

Would anyone be interested in this?

This Vanguards Crapi got damaged when a shelf fell on it and bust the windscreen. (A front spotlight has also been lost, never to be seen again.)

I've fashioned a windscreen from a piece of clear plastic, not great but not terrible either. Only other fault is old sausage-fingers here also lost the front fixing screw when I had it apart, so another longer screw is in, but it holds the car together, and can't be seen when on display.

Still a nice model that displays well, or good for a custom job. Has a nice set of Rostyles, and it's the GT XLR special version, with rear screen louvre and boot spoiler.

Sold as unboxed, but would be packaged securely. I've now got a replacement cheap off eBay, which just needed the front bumper sticking back on, so this is surplus now.

£9 posted anyone? 

Ooof! Yes please!!

[sierraman]

39 minutes ago, AndyW201 said:

Would anyone be interested in this?

This Vanguards Crapi got damaged when a shelf fell on it and bust the windscreen. (A front spotlight has also been lost, never to be seen again.)

I've fashioned a windscreen from a piece of clear plastic, not great but not terrible either. Only other fault is old sausage-fingers here also lost the front fixing screw when I had it apart, so another longer screw is in, but it holds the car together, and can't be seen when on display.

Still a nice model that displays well, or good for a custom job. Has a nice set of Rostyles, and it's the GT XLR special version, with rear screen louvre and boot spoiler.

Sold as unboxed, but would be packaged securely. I've now got a replacement cheap off eBay, which just needed the front bumper sticking back on, so this is surplus now.

£9 posted anyone? 

The Orange with lourves in the back window was actually a special edition. First one of many on a Capri

[Spottedlaurel]

1 hour ago, FakeConcern said:

OK, so what is it?

Humber Super Snipe estate. Photos to come.

[flat4alfa]

Crikey I never see them under £20, always outbid

[Datsuncog]

Some nice finds here recently; just goes to show that the Belfast market scene isn't quite the be-all and end-all...

No market action yesterday either, I'm afraid, since I was waiting in for a sofa delivery which could have appeared any time from 8am onwards (typically, it didn't arrive until after lunch).

Still, have an afternoon picture of the Tree of Tat, anyway.

An early afternoon trip to Tesco to find some avocadoes tested my willpower to breaking point - as the local store seems to have finally replenished their Matchbox tub with the last 2023 mix:

So, I broke.

I rather suspect the 5-packs will come off their half-price Clubcard offer soon.

Later, an unsuccessful run over to a retail park to procure a lamp instead landed me right beside a branch of Smyths.

It did not escape my notice that their Matchbox mainlines are now reduced to £1, suggesting these are now considered an obsolete line.

There weren't many from this selection that I don't have already.

But there were some.

I also picked up this Hot Wheels Premiums Toyota Land Cruiser - it was the only one left, there was no price on the peg, and I noted that a shelf above full of Big Air Bel Airs from the same off-road collection were down to a fiver... so I took a chance.

Well, ultimately it scanned at £8.99 at the till, so no bargains for me there - but it's a cracking big weighty thing and I do rather like it regardless.

I also nabbed another of the F&F Decades Silverline range, this time the '70 Chevy Nova.

What's odd is that, unlike the El Camino and Grand Prix I picked up before, this has a metal base and is nearly indistinguishable from the much more expensive Premiums release.

There's not even any extra tampo detailing or anything.

The bases are identical, and the only difference seems to be the rubber 'Real Riders' tyres on the Premium, and the bumpers are chrome plated rather than just grey plastic.

But not really a lot of difference, given the semi-premium retails at £3.49 and the premium at £8.99.

I'm very pleased with these, and although I've unboxed them I haven't taken any pics yet.

A turn through B&M netted me these...

Two I nearly bought a few weeks ago, but didn't.

The Dodge Ram is very nicely detailed, and the Forester... well, I have a soft spot for Subarus.

Though not as soft as their sills, apparently.

And a turn past an independent toyshop made my jaw hit the floor when I clocked the mahoosive Matchbox Action Drivers Airport Adventure set hiding up near the ceiling, and on sale for just £35.

I'd been over in this store a few weeks ago, how the hell did I miss this?!

This would have been a cracking bargain, but for the fact I'd already pulled the trigger on this one a week or two previously (having had it on my Amazon list for like a year), and it showed up earlier this week.

I thought I'd got a good deal on this, seeing as how some eBay headcases are trying to wrangle £90 for them, but it was still a fair bit more than £35.

Nominally, this is a birthday gift for my niece in September. Or so I keep telling myself. I haven't opened it, but we'll see how my famous* iron-will holds, shall we?

It's quite a bit bigger than the smaller sets in the range.

I did a bit of a photoshoot with my other Action Drivers sets last week; I'll put them up here at some point.

The airport set comes with two vehicles and all.

I don't know why I'm so smitten with these kiddies' toys right now, but I am.

I daresay a psychologist would have some theories, though...

And if that's not enough, I headed out this morning on an IKEA collection run...

[flat4alfa]

I wish my kitchen surface looked like that

Wife would hate it though and would likely be in a rage

[Datsuncog]

Here, have a pic from the reverse view, for a change.

The IKEA click 'n' collect timeslot was given as 10am-2pm, so that gave me a bit of leeway for hoking.

A pit stop at Cityside Retail Park for coffee allowed leisurely perusal of a Home Bargains, Poundland and B&M, but there wasn't much to appeal from a diecast standpoint.

The neverending Asda Living toy aisle jumble sale was surprisingly tidy for a change, and although their Hot Wheels selection was still stuck in mid-2023, I noted they had a much heavier metal rummage bin on the shelf, alongside one of the usual flimsy cardboard efforts.

Fancy.

I also took a spin into the Action Cancer charity shop located in the shopping centre; the scene of the upsetting Lesney-yoinking incident a few weeks ago.

And, oh lookee...

Well, no bags of cars - but a lone Cortina MkIV with some hand-painted stripes.

So I did.

With still no 'your order is ready to collect' message received from everyone's favourite Swedish megastore, I thought I'd see if there was owt in Belfast.

I got parked beside Smithfield, and so, inevitably...

Yes, the model shop.

Yer man does keep quite a good selection of Matchbox and Hot Wheels mainlines, as well as harder to find lines like Moving Parts, Collectors Series and Superfast anniversary models.

I used to not really bother my arse looking because his recent mainlines were generally £2 whenever Tesco and the like were doing them at £1 - but they're still out at £2, interestingly, making them cheaper than many retailers now.

He had quite a few desirable releases too, like the MB Volvo 240 saloon in blue and the MK1 VW Golf in green, and the HW Proton Saga and slammed VW T2 transporter.

Also, the usual loose stuff in a bewildering and unpredictable range of pricing options.

Yes, I put my hand in my pocket, finally.

And then left, while the experience was still relatively positive.

Since I was near to The Entertainer, it seemed silly not to check...

Dammit, they've got the Matchbox back on offer.

And they had some that I'd just paid full whack on.

Oh well.

Ten packs had some nice colour variations, like the metallic black MGB, but I really mustn't.

No Hitch n Haul, Working Rigs or Convoys to be seen, sadly, and just the same Moving Parts as before.

Ah well.

Since I was apparently now doing the rounds, I scuttled over to B&M - but they'd nothing to interest me today, ditto Poundland.

Cash Converters seemed to be rejigging their store, and with no visible diecast downstairs, I went upstairs...

 

[TBC - getting a lot of error messages here so dunno if it's the site or Ikea's WiFi acting up]

[Datsuncog]

Right, apparently IKEA's WiFi didn't like me uploading pics so banned me from its network. Cool cool. Means I can't post anything until I arrive home again, as signal is virtually non-existent out in Holywood Exchange...

[Spottedlaurel]

While we wait for DC to get back, here's my selection after a barren week in the supermarkets I got a bit from one or two places this morning:

Small stuff. The Matchbox Truck was one of the last things left from the dairy-themed batch of diecasts at the charity shop. Loose HWs were £3 for a bag at secondhand shop, it had the most Japanese content. Cadillac from the Co-Op.

Big stuff. Rancho has the attractive 4-spoke wheels. Apart from the Humber these were £1-£1.50 each.

And popping my Spot-On cherry:

 

 

 

 

The colour appears to be original, so did it start life as this one? https://diecastgems.com/product/spot-on-toys-306-humber-super-snipe/

Shame about the bumper and glass damage, but it's still quite an appealing thing (especially for what I paid for it).

[eddyramrod]

Steve Flowers can supply the bumpers and windows.  I know, I bought them for mine, that I've had since about 1964.

[bunglebus]

2 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

I noted they had a much heavier metal rummage bin on the shelf, alongside one of the usual flimsy cardboard efforts.

All the supermarkets seem to be getting those lately. Don't know if it'll do much to stop the cards getting damaged - I checked out another Lidl today and almost every one had a big crease at the hook. Doesn't matter if you open them anyway but it's annoying if you want to keep them boxed 

[flat4alfa]

3 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

 

Ooh I do like that, what with the RAF roundels

Sold!  😊

[flat4alfa]

The XP890 decal is from the Airfix Westland Scout model kit

And the real thing:

[FakeConcern]

Frog Mosquito

[flat4alfa]

Excellent

1 hour ago, FakeConcern said:

Frog Mosquito

This is the decal sheet

Sadly, DZ548 was lost in Feb 1944 during a Night Flying Test accident in cloud and both the pilot and navigator were killed

Quote

DZ548 BIV 105 Collided with B-17G 42-97480 and crashed St.Ives Hunts. 5.2.44 [airhistory.org.uk]

105 Squadron

[FakeConcern]

6 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

I wish my kitchen surface looked like that

Wife would hate it though and would likely be in a rage

My kitchen worktop earlier

Locked in to stop the cat covering them with fur

Also in the kitchen...

@SpottedlaurelThat Humber is great! I've never actually seen one of those although I have a few Spot On cars, most from when I was a kid. I have mixed feelings about them as I do think they are over rated and the raised panel joins always annoyed me as a kid. For some reason the paint on them seems to just fall off too. You did really well picking that up for the money!

@flat4alfa I recognised the squadron markings of the Mosquito I had as a kid, but wondered where the serial number came from. Frog kits were very basic, but managed to capture the look of the plane well, the Tempest was a fave especially as "The Big Show" by Pierre Clsterman was one of my favourite books and you could make a model of his

 

 

 

 

[eddyramrod]

10 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Stripping bath number 3 begins...

(The Volvo estate came clean after two and is now in the rainwater rinse.)

They're all in the rinse bucket now.  I'll dry them out tomorrow.

[Datsuncog]

Right then... as we know, one does not simply 'come home from IKEA' - there's then a few hours of banging together fibreboard cuboids and trying to get them securely attached to the wall in passably uniform fashion before it's possible to even think about little toy cars.

But, y'know, it looks ok, I reckon.

So then, Cash Converters?

Yeah, it's always sad when store managers get hooked on crack, and set about them with the price gun.

These are largely the same 2022 and 2023 selection of Hot Wheels and Matchbox that can still be found for between £1.49 and £2.50 in many stores a mere stone's throw from this very branch - but for some mysterious reason they're priced at £4 here.

And the rest.

Poundstretcher are still doing these green longcard Deltas for £2.50. There's a branch of Poundstretcher literally a two minute walk down Castle St from Cash Converters.

So a tenner? Nah.

I'd sooner have this piece of 1980s-looking plastic tat, for the same money.

With no IKEA notification yet, I hobbled back to the car and on down the road to Holywood.

Stewart Millar did us proud with some nifty Matchbox back in January, but alas no more. A quick squizz indicated no new arrivals, though I did briefly agonise over another DeLorean.

But - there's a lot of charity shops in Holywood High Street. And I'd been lucky with the Cortina earlier.

Most had nothing of interest, but some surprised me.

In amongst the usual Lledo dross I was surprised to see this Corgi Warner & Swasey telescopic crane.

Even at £5, I was moderately tempted - but missing legs and the winding mechanism, plus some axle shonk, cooled my ardour somewhat.

But moving on down the High Street suddenly revealed these beauties, in an animal charity shop.

Holy moly.

Some pristine early blue-box Corgis (the Velox being a rarer mechanical version), early Lesneys, and a Dinky Austin Somerset (with the box missing a flap) were enough to get me in a flap.

Although the presence of the Model of Yesteryear gave me some pause about whether whoever put them in the case actually knew what they were doing.

But there were no prices on them.

And no-one in the shop seemed to know what price they were.

Although the cabinet did contain other things that were a bit spendy. Not just the £30 crystal ashtray in front of the Vauxhall.

Like a tired-looking Kodak Box Brownie priced at £110. And a set of chess pieces for £200, with a sign saying that the same set was on Etsy for £400.

These were not particularly good signs, literally or metaphorically.

Eventually, at the point they were going to phone the manager to see if she knew what price they were, I just smiled beatifically and said it was ok, not to worry.

These weren't going to be a tenner a pop or anything. They were valuable, deservedly so, and I highly doubted my pockets would be deep enough once the asking was revealed. Why torture myself?

So off I went, round to the sort-of antiques and collectibles shop. You know the one. The one selling absolute tripe for £££.

But, weirdly, today it wasn't all rubbish. Not quite, anyway.

Ok, time to reveal.

[Dick Longbridge]

Aha! Minty Cav Gsi!

[danthecapriman]

I was down the garden the other day in the shed doing some models and had a spectator!

Cute little bugger! 
I was in the shed today and it came back. You can tap the window and it just sits there looking at you.

[Spottedlaurel]

Likes the smell of the glue and paint fumes?!

[eddyramrod]

Well I've emptied the rinse bucket this morning and now I've got five raw shells on the windowsill drying off.  Might even get primer on some of them this afternoon!

[Datsuncog]

Just to finish off on Saturday's adventures, then...

The orange Hot Wheels Honda Civic custom came from Asda; I don't have that one, and £1.90 seemed not too unreasonable.

The longcard Matchbox Chevy Nova - a 2020 release which seemed to bypass UK retailers, but has been dribbling through more recently as a grey import - was acquired at the Smithfield model shop, as was the 2024 version of the '66 Dodge Charger in dark green, which I like much more than the silver and orange 70th Anniversary release from last year.

Of course, he wrote the price in marker pen on the packaging, as is his wont.

But it doesn't bother me so much on these as it does on 40-year-old Corgis.

I also picked up a not-bad Lesney Mercury Commuter with regular wheels from the loose selection for £2, and a very tidy My First Matchbox Rover Sterling for a quid.

He actually had a fair amount of ok Lesney stuff this time round at similar pricing - yet also recent Hot Wheels priced at £3 or £4, loose.

In some cases, he still had carded examples of the same models hanging over on the other side of the shop for only £2.

Like I say, bewildering and unpredictable.

I could have spent more, but only had a limited amount of cash on me.

The Superfast Cortina has been discussed, but for me the star of yesterday's show was this:

A minty US release of the MB22 Cavalier GSi, acquired from the collectables shop in Holywood. 

This is why I was uncharacteristically willing to forego the pretty good example I'd bagsied on Friday night from the @bunglebus sales thread.

Funny, I'd been thinking about this model earlier too, because the Smithfield shop used to have a bunch of these 1980s US issues in a case for only a fiver - including a Mk3 Cavalier.

Having stared at it for years, one day I went in to buy it  - only to find it was just sold. Regrets, hey?

So when I found this alongside a bunch of other boxed Lesneys from the 1970s and 80s on a shelf in the NO PHOTOGRAPHY PLEASE shop, I felt a strong yearning.

It wasn't amazingly cheap, but I felt it was a fair price for what it is.

More so than the other Matchbox, which on closer inspection turned out to often be rather less than mint, and housed in reproduction boxes.

I dunno about you, but I don't think that £20 is a particularly reasonable price for a chipped Fiat 131 Abarth in a repro box.

He also had a carry-case of fairly playworn Corgi Juniors and Matchbox Superfasts which were priced at £4 each, though he generously offered to 'do me a deal' on the entire box.

It's a weird shop.

But I think I did ok out of it.

So after that, it was time to head back down the road to IKEA, and roundly tear the arse out of their free coffee refills policy in the cafe while typing some of this up, as I awaited my 'come and collect your shiz' text.

Which eventually came through at 1.55pm.

Ah well. I've had worse days...

[Split_Pin]

10/10 for warming the butter against your coffee!

[Datsuncog]

Honestly, they keep the butter in that place so refrigerated that it'd be easier to spread one of their candles on your scone... but 15 minutes leaning against the coffee cup did the trick!

Unboxed...

I don't think I mentioned the DanBox from the other week yet, did I?

[danthecapriman]

You did well with those Tim. That Cavalier is absolutely lovely and well worth the price I’d say!

 

3 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Likes the smell of the glue and paint fumes?!

Me or the squirrel!?!?😆

[andy18s]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Honestly, they keep the butter in that place so refrigerated that it'd be easier to spread one of their candles on your scone... but 15 minutes leaning against the coffee cup did the trick!

Unboxed...

I don't think I mentioned the DanBox from the other week yet, did I?

As nice as the Cav is, I'm more impressed you can wait 15mins to eat your scone.....

[andy18s]

▶️ Watch this reel
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/oAJPWYG8UmrZtkj8/

 

[bunglebus]

Bought a job lot which arrived the other day. Had some fairly decent Matchbox in it

But it was this in the background that intrigued me

I thought it was a Supercharger in a paint scheme I'd not seen before - but it's a Hartoy

[Datsuncog]

Nope, I didn't.

Well, it's been a turbulent couple of weeks.

This splashed down just when the £5 Mattel 5-packs dropped at Tesco, and I didn't know which direction to devote my energies.

But a very large box arrived from across the water, with some very lovely things within...

I'm an absolute swine for these Corgi Majors trucks, and I've been looking out for one of these Ford H-Series rigs for a while now.

Unsurprisingly, this is part of the reason why a big box was needed!

I did have most of a trailer at one point in the past, but not the matching truck - so I sold that on a few years back.

This one's clearly seen some action in its time, but is largely complete and will make a nice companion for the car transporter version I turned up at the market a few weeks ago.

Delighted with this!

From one of Corgi's biggest models to one of their smallest, then...

A very lovely Austin Mini in plain red, with just a few in-period stickers and Humbrol embellishments added by a previous owner.

Generally these show up with the A-pillars cracked or entirely missing, so one that's structurally perfect is unusual.

The floor seems to have been... undersealed?

Most peculiar. The outer surface of the wheels have also been dabbed in black - and these may be relatively easy to clean up and take back to their original finish.

But there's also something quite charming about this one just as it is, so I may leave it undisturbed.

I'm not normally much of a one for farming models, but this Lesney King Size Fordson Super Major is one I'll make an exception for.

There's a bit of the usual hub shrinkage here, but a drop of glue should keep things rolling.

It's simpler than the equivalent Corgi and Dinky offerings in its construction, with no steering or suspension, but nonetheless an appealing little toy.

And, to utilise that tow hook...

A couple of trailers - a Dinky flat version, and a Lone Star conveyor lifter

The Lone Star is actually in very good shape, and although the rubber belt has hardened a little over its 60-odd years, it still functions with some gentle encouragement and goes up and down on its 'hydraulic' rams.

Some recent-ish Hot Wheels will likely be joining the others in the toybox:

Mattel have been using some of these hot rod castings for a long time now.

I'm also interested in comparing the Mercury Cougar with the Matchbox version from around the same time.

Mazda RX7 is quite nice too.

Then there's the Matchbox - beginning with these early 70s releases.

I keep buying these Ford D-Series gritters and then selling them - so I intend to hang on to this one!

Setra coach is one that's generally eluded me for a long time - not that they're rare, but more that whenever I see one there's generally something I want even more alongside it.

The Superfast Miura is nicer than the one I currently have, so is an upgrade of sorts.

The Security Van is one I owned as a kid, though unwisely I managed to remove the plastic roof with a hammer and screwdriver (I think I wanted to see what was inside?) and it was never quite the same again...

The Rolamatics Badger in cola-cube metallic brown is one I generally disdained as 'made-up', but I've come round to these a lot more in recent years. This one is very tidy; most seem to suffer from terrible axle shonk but this is rolling well - and the little scanner on the roof's still spinning around too.

The Bomag road roller is another I never had, and will go with my other construction toys that I've been quietly acquiring in recent months.

I've always liked the long-running Mercury police car, and this is one of its later outings at the tail-end of the Lesney years (though it would reappear later still in the Roadblasters range under Universal, plus as a relatively uncommon Halley's Comet commemorative special release).

The Holden HX Ute is one of my all-time favourite Matchbox castings, and it'll not surprise you that I've a few of these now. This red version is very clean with the sticker intact, and may even receive a pair of motorbikes to go on the back for display purposes...

I had the military Jeep as a kid too, probably from a jumble sale, but it was missing its windshield as well as the cannon to the rear. This one's missing its weapons but does have the windshield, so I'm pleased.

The Volvo FL lorry was one which excited me quite a lot as a kid, as it seemed very modern and detailed plus it was big. I'm not sure if I have any of my childhood examples remaining, but if not this'll be a good one to fill the gaps.

The silver-grey Pontiac Firebird has good paint, though some mild crush damage to the windscreen surround that I've mostly straightened out, and a missing glazing unit. 

The black version alongside was a bonus car thrown in by Dan, and I'm 99% sure it originally came from me via the market! I think it's an ex-Frosties promo with the 'tiger stripes' removed, and may yield a glazing unit for the silver car...

The Mack CH500 tractor unit is another one I used to have from new, and I remember being surprised to find it boxed individually as part of the mainline range, rather than in a Convoy pack with a trailer - I now know (through dedicated study of catalogues) that Matchbox packaged most of their truck units as regular mainlines, such as the Kenworth Aerocab and Peterbilt, but somehow this had passed me over at the time.

The Land Rover Ninety is another of my favourite '80s releases - I received a blue and white version one Christmas, and was super excited as I didn't know this casting existed at the time. It seemed very true-to-life, in terms of colour and detailing, and it lived on my model railway for a long time - but unfortunately the white plastic roof went yellow from the sunlight.

I've recently acquired a replacement blue version, and this red variant will make a nice companion piece.

The Chevrolet El Camino is a much more recent casting, dating from the early 2000s I believe. Compared to recent releases it looks a little blocky in its proportions, but it was good to see this modelled.

I believe this casting still gets wheeled out from time to time - most recently in the Coffee Cruisers IV 5-Pack set, wearing black paint and quite nice silver detail tampos.

Moving across into Mettoy products now...

A pair of Husky-era Guy bulk tippers, one carrying coal and the other hauling... cobbles? Potatoes?

I've often been a bit lukewarm towards Husky commercials, but these were too good to miss.

Likewise these two quarry tippers. I actually thought these were two versions of the same casting, but really they're totally different - the red and grey Husky with the remains of a plough is an Aveling Barford, while the (mildly incongruous) Whizzwheels is a Terex R-35, and the castings of both bodies and tippers have no commonality.

Sometimes it's good to clear up these misunderstandings.

As a kid, I owned the battered shell of one of these Whizzwheels S3 Land Rovers, but what became of the base or wheels is beyond me. It became a staple of my 'toy scrapyard'.

The metallic green on the right was the civilian example, while the matt green I believe originally came with a clip-on plastic rear section and military ambulance stickers.

I've never owned a BVRT Vita-Min before; when I was younger I saw them but simply assumed that Corgi's effort at modelling a Mini was somehow even worse than the Matchbox attempt, and shunned them accordingly.

I was embarrassingly old before I twigged it was specifically modelled on the heavily modified Minisprint conversion, and that was why the body lines looked nothing like a 'real Mini'.

Oops. This one has had some paint done, so I'll try to clean this up a little!

I've had a few examples of the Whizzwheels Le Mans Sprite pass through my hands before, but not in such good shape as this one.

I owned a fair few pale blue Renault R5 Turbos from the BP petrol promotion in the mid-1980s, but never had the dark blue Elf version.

At these low, low prices I couldn't resist.

The tipper also intrigued me - I remember having a cement mixer using this same chassis unit when I was very young, but the black glazing, lack of interior and seemingly generic casting led me to classify it as a low-grade toy, and so it never really featured in my play settings.

I only found out quite recently that it was based on a real GMC commercial vehicle (I think?), and wasn't a generic. So apologies are due (though if Corgi had troubled themselves to state that on the base, I may have felt differently).

The tipping mechanism's actually quite good, with a heavy diecast flap at the back so it's heavy enough to pivot and remain vertical; I sort of like this. 

Finishing up, there's this Minix Vauxhall Viva HA:

I used to be mad into Minix; I had quite a few at one point, including rarer releases like the Simca 1301 and Morris Landcrab.

A red Viva was one of the first things I ever bought off eBay, some twenty-odd years ago. I think I paid £5 for it, plus postage - and sent him a cheque in the post to pay for this.

Yup kids, the days before e-commerce was a thing.

When it arrived, the back bumper had an end corner missing, which the seller had unaccountably not mentioned in their description of it as 'excellent' and 'mint'.

Lots of lessons were learned.

I moved them all on a while back, but got a tug at the heartstrings when I saw this one looking a new home.

And hey, it is excellent.

Bit of a wildcard to finish with...

Normally I'm not much into biplanes, or indeed planes in general, but this little Nieuport 101-3 appealed for some reason.

I don't know who it's made by but I don't think it's very old; it's just cheaply made, using diecast and tinplate components that are assembled fairly crudely.

The paper stickers are falling off, and it could definitely benefit from a trip around the sink, but I kinda like it.

And that's kinda that...

Oh, except for the knackered white metal Rover P6 which I forgot about and found at the bottom of the box a few days later, and haven't yet photographed!

All thanks to @danthecapriman for yet another exceeding fine selection at very moderate prices!

Which reminds me, I must really get some of my surplus stuff photographed and offered up here...

And so the great game of pass-the-tat-parcel continues...

Happy Easter, kids.