Shite in Miniature II

[155V6]

5 hours ago, sierraman said:

Why have I never come across these? The only Norev I have are the 1/43 cheapish Renault stuff and the mini jet ones again Matchbox size. 

I don't know if they were ever really sold over here.If you have a Citroen dealer near you,it might be worth looking in there as they sell them in my local one.I don't know if they sell them in Renault dealers though?

[bramz7]

First one I ever got (and to blame for this) was from a Citroen dealer in 2003. 

I think dealers were the only source for a lot, possibly all, Norev 3 inches in the UK. They do come up on eBay on a fairly regular basis but it does tend to be the same things. Some of them are probably almost impossible to get here. 

[eddyramrod]

OK, trailers and ads over, here's the main feature.  This is like the old-fashioned Saturday mornings at one's local fleapit, in that what we have here is episodes of various serials.  So, we'll start with Eddie Shoestring's Hillman Hunter:

I know the wheels are wrong but Corgi didn't offer a steel-with-hubcap option; probably the nearest would be the Rover 2000TC type, which I do know would fit.  I should probably try to lay some in.

Now that Shoestring's fate is established, we should visit the paintshop.  We'll start with a Corgi Beast Carrier body that came (damaged) with a Dodge Kew Fargo.  It was also available on a trailer chassis but I don't think I've ever had one of those.  The wagon became this one:

And the body is now this:

Further episodes will follow; it's going to become a (dim) memory from my childhood.  Now we're going to rejoin two more serials.  First up, a Yesteryear Packard which has been awaiting some brightwork:

...and the section of Carrimore transporter is going to go with this:

...which used to be a Dinky CF, in fact it was the model of my old van for many years.  Detailing and assembly to come.  Now here's one that has been languishing for a couple of years, primered then stuck in a cupboard because I couldn't find the right colour for it.  Well Halfords' new range to the rescue!

From memory this Maisto (usually seen in racing green) scales out to about 1/40, so it's going to be slightly oversize in my Screen cabinet, but I don't mind that.  Anyone want to guess why it belongs in there?  It doesn't matter because there are no prizes and I'll explain it anyway when it's done.

And so to a new round of drilling!

These are just some of the unloved toys I started with today; they'll all look a whole lot better in future episodes.  I'd actually already done some...

That's a Vanguards PA Cresta you can see.  They're screwed together, which is nice, but the dash is riveted in place and you won't be able to remove the roof-and-windows without drilling that as they are a one-piece moulding.  I'm not spraying this car, I'll be hand-painting it.  You'll see why eventually...

Broken and distorted Corgi Simon Snorkel comes apart without drilling, but now I need to do some cutting in order to re-use part of the body.

I said there was a lot of work going on!  The Lada Riva didn't need drilling; it's a Bond partwork car and screws together, but for my purposes it's the wrong colour.  You'll be seeing it again.

And finally tonight, the rinse bucket after the Cosmic Soda bath.

We are now getting rained-on, so the bucket may well fill up a bit overnight while these shells are rinsing!  So until next time...

 

[danthecapriman]

Great stuff Eddy.👍

Quite a few I recognise in that lot! Can’t wait to see how they come out.  
That orange & black Rover is quite something isn’t it!? I wonder what little Johnny’s inspiration was for that one!?😆

[eddyramrod]

Your guess is as good as mine!  The model is old enough that he might have done it in 1977 after seeing one bodged-up by his local Onslow.  That pseudo-rally sort of look was popular in the 70s.

Anyway, I've wiped out that bit of history now; it's going to be black.  You'll see why eventually.

[FakeConcern]

I've not been getting much diecast fun for a couple of weeks due to having people to stay, but got this from a junk shop in Hastings

I've given it a good soak, but it hasn't yet come completely clean (this is still pre clean). I need to find my Tomte DS now to go with it

I also picked up the Corgi BMW to rob the wheels as I think they look more like the HotWheels Mini Pickup ones and I may put them on my Fake Corgi (if you want the BMW you can have it for the £1 it cost though)

We went to a Toy Fair in Midhurst this morning, but it wasn't great for me as mostly trains and MIB Vanguard type stuff. There was nothing cheap enough for me to pick up for Mr Ramrod and not much for us. Mrs Concern got a Majorette caravan and a Lone Star Dune Buggy

I got a few Corgi & Dinkys none as cheap as I wanted and only the Dinky/Solido Ritmo/Strada is at all unusual.

 

Afterwards we went back to Mrs Concerns Sister's house where I spied this lovely Triang Horse box

She has a large collection of Britains stuff including Land Rovers some of which can be seen below

@eddyramrodinteresting projects as always going on! What is the lovely lemon yellow you got from Halfords called? I could do with some of that!

@danthecaprimansome super projects as always, thankyou for sharing them with us!

[danthecapriman]

7 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

I've not been getting much diecast fun for a couple of weeks due to having people to stay, but got this from a junk shop in Hastings

I've given it a good soak, but it hasn't yet come completely clean (this is still pre clean). I need to find my Tomte DS now to go with it

I also picked up the Corgi BMW to rob the wheels as I think they look more like the HotWheels Mini Pickup ones and I may put them on my Fake Corgi (if you want the BMW you can have it for the £1 it cost though)

We went to a Toy Fair in Midhurst this morning, but it wasn't great for me as mostly trains and MIB Vanguard type stuff. There was nothing cheap enough for me to pick up for Mr Ramrod and not much for us. Mrs Concern got a Majorette caravan and a Lone Star Dune Buggy

I got a few Corgi & Dinkys none as cheap as I wanted and only the Dinky/Solido Ritmo/Strada is at all unusual.

 

Afterwards we went back to Mrs Concerns Sister's house where I spied this lovely Triang Horse box

She has a large collection of Britains stuff including Land Rovers some of which can be seen below

@eddyramrodinteresting projects as always going on! What is the lovely lemon yellow you got from Halfords called? I could do with some of that!

@danthecaprimansome super projects as always, thankyou for sharing them with us!

Some nice ones you bagged there! Love that little Fiat.

That big Triang horsebox (Austin/Morris FFK) is a beauty too. I’ve got one here somewhere in dropside truck form.  
There is a very very slight difference in condition of course! 
Id love to dig it out again if I could remember which box it’s packed in and restore it. It’d look good on display like that green horsebox one.

[bunglebus]

Finally got an hour to myself to document all the cars I bought earlier this week, and a few more that have arrived in the post

Took some better pics of the Matchbox track sets, anyone care to work out how much £1.87½ is these days?

Most of the cars are fairly common and duplicates of ones already in my collection (who said hoard?),  but I feel like I'm rescuing them and will pass them along to similar minded folk in due course.

Freed the Ford pickup from the back of the lorry

Mustang dragster, love the funky coloured bases on these

Early Superfast Cougar...

...and Commuter

The "Broomstick" Porsche

And the circus vehicles. Were these a set?

Any excuse to repost that Swap Top

Zylmex Chaperall was a good find, as I didn't have one

Hot Wheels BMW E30 is frankly awful. I have several 

Early Whizzwheels Jag

Don't think I had this police(?) version of the Mercedes

Even the anonymous donor had fallen into the trap of infinite Corgi Junior variations 

Despite the obvious, I didn't feel I could leave the otherwise nice Capri behind

This is a little oddity I picked up in a different shop that day, I think this Volvo 700 is a Yatmong

RHD!

[eddyramrod]

57 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

@eddyramrodinteresting projects as always going on! What is the lovely lemon yellow you got from Halfords called? I could do with some of that!

Thank you   The paint is from the new range they're carrying; it's just called "Yellow Gloss" although it does have a serial number.  I can't remember it offhand and I'm not going outside again tonight.  But I do remember it was the palest yellow on the display, at one end of the group of yellows.  If your local branch has updated their display then it should be easy enough to find.

[FakeConcern]

6 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Thank you   The paint is from the new range they're carrying; it's just called "Yellow Gloss" although it does have a serial number.  I can't remember it offhand and I'm not going outside again tonight.  But I do remember it was the palest yellow on the display, at one end of the group of yellows.  If your local branch has updated their display then it should be easy enough to find.

Thanks, they have updated and I've already bought two cans!

 

[bunglebus]

Bits that arrived via eBay included the Treasure Hunt I've had no luck finding - this will guarantee several materialising the next time I go into Entertainer 

Still boxed, but far older is this Lone Star Alfa Spider

Interesting to see Solido referenced regarding the opening doors

No screen but otherwise very nice

Sticking with boxed, my Zylmex Capri arrived (actually branded Zee on the base, not something I've ever seen on cars from this era in 1:64. No idea why)

Remember me saying I could buy a white Matchbox K-7 and apply the Team Matchbox decals to replicate the rare version? I bought one with that in mind, but it's far too nice! Maybe one of the other two can get altered instead

I have no idea what I was on when I bought this

But as the blister has detached itself, we can have a better look

It's got a pull-back motor and pings the body up after it sets off, making it do tricks. Or it would if it worked properly...

More Beetles also arrived, another Clover from Korea

And this delightfully awful contraption from Blue Box

Look how the rear bumper hugs the contours of the body

Hasbro Transformer 

A Dinky (must restore one of these)

A modernish Rio, not a bad effort 

And a terrible pressed steel effort from someone who'd clearly only seen a Beetle once before and recreated it from memory

[junkyarddog]

1 hour ago, FakeConcern said:

I've not been getting much diecast fun for a couple of weeks due to having people to stay, but got this from a junk shop in Hastings

I've given it a good soak, but it hasn't yet come completely clean (this is still pre clean). I need to find my Tomte DS now to go with it

 

 

 

You're not going to believe this....I picked up one of these today too!!!😮

[FakeConcern]

4 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

You're not going to believe this....I picked up one of these today too!!!😮

Is yours yellow too?

I'll post another pic when I get it clean, how about a pic of yours?

[junkyarddog]

21 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

how about a pic of yours?

😮

I mean,what are the bloody chances of this happening???

I only bought it to finish off a bundle purchase,it reminded me of Colombo 😂

[bunglebus]

Wash it first, golden rule 

[bunglebus]

Blue Box were well known for copying Western die casts, in plastic - usually Matchbox and at that kind of scale. I had to have the Beetle as it is clearly cribbed from, and similarly scale to, the Dinky Deluxe

[Jon]

3 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

I only bought it to finish off a bundle purchase,it reminded me of Colombo 😂

Presumably that bundle purchase required "just one more thing"?

[sierraman]

I’ve got a Bedford Snorkel, wondering what to do with it, might do at DTCM job and graft it on to another chassis… but what though? 

[MiniMinorMk3]

11 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Finally got an hour to myself to document all the cars I bought earlier this week, and a few more that have arrived in the post

Took some better pics of the Matchbox track sets, anyone care to work out how much £1.87½ is these days?

 

 

In 1971 £1.87 was about 4 months pocket money.

 

 

11 hours ago, bunglebus said:

A modernish Rio, not a bad effort 

 

 

 

Those RIOs can be over 30 years old. The shape is better than a contemporary Vitesse version. They also did Ovals and Cabrios.

In more recent years they expanded the range to include other versions.

[flat4alfa]

11 hours ago, bunglebus said:

And the circus vehicles. Were these a set?

Never seen that Model A before

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

I’ve got a Bedford Snorkel, wondering what to do with it, might do at DTCM job and graft it on to another chassis… but what though? 

What scale are those Snorkel’s?

Depending on the scale you could try looking for cheap or damaged IXO/Altaya/DeAgostini trucks to rob the chassis and wheels off. It makes little difference really what the truck actually is as the cab and body won’t be used. 
That’s what I use for re-chassis-ing those old Dinky AEC and Bedford cabs. Try to find one with suitable wheel styles though if possible. 
If it’s smaller than 1:43 maybe try looking for a cheapo Corgi 1:50 truck?

Ive got a box here that’s gradually filling up with all the removed European truck cabs and parts I don’t use from the donor chassis! All stuff we didn’t get here - Deutz, Pegaso, Berliet etc! They come in handy occasionally to pick parts off for other projects.

[eddyramrod]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

I’ve got a Bedford Snorkel, wondering what to do with it, might do at DTCM job and graft it on to another chassis… but what though? 

How confident would you be with making or stretching another chassis?  The TK Snorkel is quite a long wheelbase for a wagon with a single rear axle.  Do you have any scrap artic cabs around you that might be adaptable?  Ford D-series or Cargo, Volvo FL, DAF 75 for example?  Try roughly measuring some against the body you have and see what will look "right," because that will make or break the project.

Good luck!

[Datsuncog]

12 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Anyone care to work out how much £1.87½ is these days?

A Lesney trackset costing £1.87½ in 1971 works out as £22.90 in 2024 prices.

Not wildly expensive, but not a pocket money toy, for sure - solidly in Christmas or birthday gift territory.

[neil72]

My Dad who is nearly 90 and still cycles to the local mid-week car boot loves a cheap find, here's his latest which he gave to me in exchange for a couple of radios i'd found for him (he collects radios!!)

 

 

[bunglebus]

Those all look in decent shape, a couple of early ones too. Has the blue VW camper got a square fuel door on the left side?

[bunglebus]

Anyone into Playmobil? £15 the lot, looks like it's mostly older stuff

[Tenmil Socket]

12 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Bits that arrived via eBay included the Treasure Hunt I've had no luck finding - this will guarantee several materialising the next time I go into Entertainer 

Still boxed, but far older is this Lone Star Alfa Spider

Interesting to see Solido referenced regarding the opening doors

No screen but otherwise very nice

Sticking with boxed, my Zylmex Capri arrived (actually branded Zee on the base, not something I've ever seen on cars from this era in 1:64. No idea why)

Remember me saying I could buy a white Matchbox K-7 and apply the Team Matchbox decals to replicate the rare version? I bought one with that in mind, but it's far too nice! Maybe one of the other two can get altered instead

I have no idea what I was on when I bought this

But as the blister has detached itself, we can have a better look

It's got a pull-back motor and pings the body up after it sets off, making it do tricks. Or it would if it worked properly...

More Beetles also arrived, another Clover from Korea

And this delightfully awful contraption from Blue Box

Look how the rear bumper hugs the contours of the body

Hasbro Transformer 

A Dinky (must restore one of these)

A modernish Rio, not a bad effort 

And a terrible pressed steel effort from someone who'd clearly only seen a Beetle once before and recreated it from memory

Enjoy spin turning!

Is this one of those Capri’s that you’ve posted that I got off @Datsuncog not too long ago?

[neil72]

7 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Those all look in decent shape, a couple of early ones too. Has the blue VW camper got a square fuel door on the left side?

Nope!

As an aside, my mum actually worked in the Lesney Factory, was great when she did as me & my brothers got free toys!

 

[bunglebus]

4 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Enjoy spin turning!

Is this one of those Capri’s that you’ve posted that I got off @Datsuncog not too long ago?

It's a powerful toys - apparently.

Yes it's that casting, but I thought the Zee name was dropped long before that era of production 

[bunglebus]

I had to buy one of those annoying charity shop plastic bags, as this was among modern Hot Wheels and Chinese junk which I might torture later

Pretty decent Sir Rodney Roadster complete with roof