Shite in Miniature II

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Details of the original Bizzarini

Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada, Giotto's masterpiece (archive.org)

Details of the Revival as modelled by Hot Wheels

British-built Bizzarrini 5300 GT Corsa Revival takes to the road (retromotor.co.uk)

 

Ah, that explains a lot - I can kinda see the Grifo's lines echoed in the 5300 Corsa, especially the contours of the rear window and bootlid where it blends with the rear flanks.

The Iso Grifo is one of my all-time favourite car designs, so that maybe explains why I'm drawn so towards this one!

[Tenmil Socket]

On 09/07/2024 at 19:32, FakeConcern said:

I got wo long standing projects finished today.

First up the 50p Pilen Volvo 480 with missing door, it was really fiddly to put back together as all the front lights are separate and one or othe fell out every time I hooked the base on at the back and lowered it

I painted the top coat with the doors shut so as not to find they wouldn't

I touched in over the white very thinly by hand afterwards

The home made door doesn't open and shut as smoothly as the original, but hey at least it does open and close!

It does stick out a tiny bit, but strangely the same one on my original 480 does the same

i have to sdmit it did turn out much better than I expected

The other one that got finished was a Corgi Whizzwheels Rover 2000TC I bought in Brighton for £2 quite a while ago

It was missing front grill, bumper and rear bumper while the glazing was all very scratched so I took it from a scrap Golden Jacks version

The colour was chosen to be similar to original as I liked it and I kept the jewelled headlamps as I felt Corgi designers would have done if they hadn't had to economize. Also I like them. The grill looks much better IRL than in the pics. I printed the shape of the bars out the right size on paper, covered in sellotape and used a biro to press the shape through from the back. It came out pretty well,but as I said doesn't show that well in the photos

Genuine Whizzwheels!

Nice looking cars...

Great job on the Volvo door 👍🏻

[danthecapriman]

I’ve had to leave the shed for now. Been painting the Renault 4 van and the Tipo and it smells really really funky down there now!!

Between painting I’ve put the 4 interior back together and swapped it to rhd.   
It’s been painted now too but it’s still wet. @bunglebus was bang on with the plastic going brittle, this interior is incredibly hard and very very easy to snap.

 

Done a bit more to the old Matchbox Kingsize Mercury too. 
It’s not perfect, but it’s an old toy so I’ll forgive it that! The roof was slightly bent around the windscreen which I’ve straightened as best I can but it was starting to crack the roof and pillars so I had to stop. You can see the glazing doesn’t quite sit in perfect. That was cracked inside the roof too so I’ve glued it to stop it cracking further. 
It needs tyres now, which are packed away somewhere!

[danthecapriman]

@Datsuncog ‘s recent Matchbox buys made me remember about this recent find…

From the 24 moving parts range, 78 Ford Bronco.

I couldn’t find a hood prop so the sweeties I was eating at the time had to work! 
Nice little rendering of a V8 in there, hood prop by Haribo!

  
New packaging on these too, no plastic.

I’ve not actually bothered looking for any 1:64 sized stuff for a while, there’s not been a great deal around for one thing apart from dregs and leftovers nobody wants. But this jumped out so it then jumped into the shopping basket!

[danthecapriman]

Tomorrow I shall be starting another project involving chopping up partwork models!

Ive mentioned it before here, but the ingredients are to hand at the moment so why not.

Draw your attention please to exhibit A:

A Vauxhall Chevette.

Now draw your attention to exhibit B:

A Chevy Marajo.

Look at the back end though…

It’s a Chevette estate! 
So I shall sand off the Marajo’s waist trim strips, then chop the front off both cars and put the Vauxhall’s front end/bonnet/wings onto the Marajo’s arse end to give me a Vauxhall Chevette estate or a Bedford Chevanne, whichever I decide to do. 
I’ve got a small fleet of the Vauxhall’s so if this works ok I also have another Marajo to become a van or estate and a Chevy Chevette saloon too which will receive another Vauxhall front end.

It should be similar to what I did with the Sierra estate front end swap, carefully mark out and cut then impact adhesive to rejoin the pieces.

Hopefully!

[sheffcortinacentre]

Well your all jammy buggers as this afternoon been in Smyth's ,range,2x B&M & Poundland nothing new hot wheels wise,only 2 had a small amount of matchbox & one had some fat & furriest.

No matchbox buildings of any sort in any.

 

[bunglebus]

2 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Well your all jammy buggers as this afternoon been in Smyth's ,range,2x B&M & Poundland nothing new hot wheels wise,only 2 had a small amount of matchbox & one had some fat & furriest.

No matchbox buildings of any sort in any.

 

I did a similar tour of Basildon today and found absolutely nothing new

[sheffcortinacentre]

Trouble is it's been like this for several years round here.

[Split_Pin]

Nothing round West Central Scotland either  😞

[sierraman]

10 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Well your all jammy buggers as this afternoon been in Smyth's ,range,2x B&M & Poundland nothing new hot wheels wise,only 2 had a small amount of matchbox & one had some fat & furriest.

No matchbox buildings of any sort in any.

 

Toy Town at Peaks has the bus station.

[MiniMinorMk3]

14 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

 

It should be similar to what I did with the Sierra estate front end swap, carefully mark out and cut then impact adhesive to rejoin the pieces.

Hopefully!

[Spottedlaurel]

I remember the odd black Chevette estate with yellow and black hazard tape on the roof edge, presumably ex-RAF cars which had made it out into civilian use.

[danthecapriman]

I do like the Chevette! Very nice looking small car. Pity they weren’t rust proofed a bit better though!

When I was at school our drama teacher had one, a Y reg 3 door hatch in a brown/gold colour. I used to like it even back then. Hated drama lessons though and she was a horrible old cow too!😆 maybe those two things were connected?

Anyhoo,

Stripped both the Chevette and Marajo down and got the paint off.

Weirdly the hatch looks bigger and wider than the estate but after measuring a few parts on both there little to no difference. 
Now the paint is off though you can see the hatch is almost certainly the same base casting as the race car version produced by IXO, as the wheel arches have the same flare. It doesn’t bother me massively tbh, but I think I’ll try to keep the bulk of the front wings on the Marajo and cut the bonnet and front panel out on both cars and just swap that bit over. 
Flared arches might be a bit more noticeable on an estate, especially if the fronts are flared and backs aren’t!

The Marajo then,

Apart from the front end (which looks very Vauxhall Nova-like to me!) it needs to lose the waist height trims down the sides, and also the raised trim around the side windows, and the boot lid has a raised trim around the window that needs to go. The boot lid also has a ridge cast into it which isn’t present on the Chevette so needs smoothing out.

So far I’ve done all of the trim removal, which has absolutely killed my fingers! It took a fair bit of doing!

It’s a hard one to get right in places. Filing and sanding the metal away but being very careful not to go too far or ruin the side profile. There’s a couple of spots on the wheel arches I did go a bit far, so a skim of filler should fix that (just like the real ones!). 
It looks much more Chevette estate like though now I think. The real ones always had a nice clean slightly rounded shape to them which I think this model now has with the Marajo bits removed. particularly around the boot lid. 
I’ve also cut and scribed in the missing sections of the door shut lines as the side trims had these cast into them which obviously was lost when they were removed.

Tomorrow I’ll mark them both up and cut the required parts out.

In the meantime, here’s the Renner 4 van and Fiat Tipo fresh out the paint shop!

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

So far I’ve done all of the trim removal, which has absolutely killed my fingers!

You need this, absolute game changer for me

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196180726044?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=P5_83tceR0C&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=X5RtjeAxSP-&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Gets rid of casting lines etc really easily - just use a much finer grit than you'd think, they remove material really fast

[bunglebus]

Mrs has just come back from Tesco Maldon with this for me

Friend

[danthecapriman]

39 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

You need this, absolute game changer for me

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196180726044?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=P5_83tceR0C&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=X5RtjeAxSP-&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Gets rid of casting lines etc really easily - just use a much finer grit than you'd think, they remove material really fast

Nice one! Just bought one.

Its bloody hard going with a file and sand paper!

[FakeConcern]

3 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

I do like the Chevette! Very nice looking small car. Pity they weren’t rust proofed a bit better though!

When I was at school our drama teacher had one, a Y reg 3 door hatch in a brown/gold colour. I used to like it even back then. Hated drama lessons though and she was a horrible old cow too!😆 maybe those two things were connected?

Anyhoo,

Stripped both the Chevette and Marajo down and got the paint off.

Weirdly the hatch looks bigger and wider than the estate but after measuring a few parts on both there little to no difference. 
Now the paint is off though you can see the hatch is almost certainly the same base casting as the race car version produced by IXO, as the wheel arches have the same flare. It doesn’t bother me massively tbh, but I think I’ll try to keep the bulk of the front wings on the Marajo and cut the bonnet and front panel out on both cars and just swap that bit over. 
Flared arches might be a bit more noticeable on an estate, especially if the fronts are flared and backs aren’t!

The Marajo then,

Apart from the front end (which looks very Vauxhall Nova-like to me!) it needs to lose the waist height trims down the sides, and also the raised trim around the side windows, and the boot lid has a raised trim around the window that needs to go. The boot lid also has a ridge cast into it which isn’t present on the Chevette so needs smoothing out.

So far I’ve done all of the trim removal, which has absolutely killed my fingers! It took a fair bit of doing!

It’s a hard one to get right in places. Filing and sanding the metal away but being very careful not to go too far or ruin the side profile. There’s a couple of spots on the wheel arches I did go a bit far, so a skim of filler should fix that (just like the real ones!). 
It looks much more Chevette estate like though now I think. The real ones always had a nice clean slightly rounded shape to them which I think this model now has with the Marajo bits removed. particularly around the boot lid. 
I’ve also cut and scribed in the missing sections of the door shut lines as the side trims had these cast into them which obviously was lost when they were removed.

Tomorrow I’ll mark them both up and cut the required parts out.

In the meantime, here’s the Renner 4 van and Fiat Tipo fresh out the paint shop!

That's looking great! It's amazing how much work is involved that really won't be noticable when all is finished.

2 hours ago, bunglebus said:

You need this, absolute game changer for me

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196180726044?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=P5_83tceR0C&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=X5RtjeAxSP-&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Gets rid of casting lines etc really easily - just use a much finer grit than you'd think, they remove material really fast

Oh yes, I need this too!

 

This afternoon I made the mistake of getting all my die cast out in one go to have a sort out and Mrs Concern got to see how much there is haha!

[danthecapriman]

54 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

That's looking great! It's amazing how much work is involved that really won't be noticable when all is finished.

Oh yes, I need this too!

 

This afternoon I made the mistake of getting all my die cast out in one go to have a sort out and Mrs Concern got to see how much there is haha!

That’s you on a buying ban now then!🤣

[IronStar]

Today’s picks 

Rant: I really don’t get Hot Wheels pricing. Cheapest I’ve seen them in Serbia is around 2E for a single, but they’re usually in 3-3.5E ballpark. Some stores have them at a bit under 4. These are all bought in Croatia today. One store has them at 1.49E at a regular price and supermarket next door has them at 3E. 😵‍💫

[bunglebus]

UK prices vary between £1.50 and the hilarious £2.99 Toys R Us want - probably even more at place like airports

[danthecapriman]

Had a few hours on the Chevette project this morning, and the face transplant is almost done!

Started by marking both cars up to be able to slice out the section I need and don’t want from both. It would have been much easier and quicker to swap the entire front ends but I’d rather do it this way and have the stock sized wheel arches. 
I made a few cuts with the razor saw and the rest with a cutting disc in the Dremel. The front end on the Chevette is bloody thick! Just got to be careful with heat build up.

   
I made the cuts on the Marajo just inside of the cast bonnet shut lines so I could keep them. On the Chevette I did the opposite so the two parts would fit tightly together.


   
After a clean up and a bit of filing to get a good fit we now have a Chevette estate!

     

Fit is generally pretty good but there is a slight discrepancy around the wings. The Chevette is marginally wider and sticks out a bit. Nothing that can’t be filed and filled to shape after though.

Once the glue had dried I test fitted the interior and chassis to check how it looked. 
Interior fits fine as to be expected, but the chassis is a completely different shape at the front so will need altering to suit the new nose.

After that I dug out some two part chemical metal (JB Weld), mixed it up and slathered the underside of the join in it to reinforce the front end, making sure to force it well into the gaps and joint.

  
Leftovers were then carefully forced into the gaps and joint on the outside to fill the gaps.

I can’t do anything else to it now until that dries, but it should be pretty solid once it has. 
Then it’ll get a rub down and filed to shape where needed, any remaining gaps filled and rubbed down again. I’ll run the scribe down the shut lines etc too just to make sure they haven’t been filled in. 
Scuttle panel air vent need’s reducing in width slightly too.

Im pretty pleased with it so far! It’s always a worry when you start slicing lumps out of models! 
Im hoping at least one of the donor hatchbacks will be able to take the unwanted front end from the Chevy Chevette saloon I’ve got somewhere (waiting to turn into a Vauxhall saloon) to make it into a US Chevy Chevette with the original front end styling. Not sure what I’ll do with the other two hatchback donors?

[Dick Cheeseburger]

10 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Had a few hours on the Chevette project this morning, and the face transplant is almost done!

Started by marking both cars up to be able to slice out the section I need and don’t want from both. It would have been much easier and quicker to swap the entire front ends but I’d rather do it this way and have the stock sized wheel arches. 
I made a few cuts with the razor saw and the rest with a cutting disc in the Dremel. The front end on the Chevette is bloody thick! Just got to be careful with heat build up.

   
I made the cuts on the Marajo just inside of the cast bonnet shut lines so I could keep them. On the Chevette I did the opposite so the two parts would fit tightly together.


   
After a clean up and a bit of filing to get a good fit we now have a Chevette estate!

     

Fit is generally pretty good but there is a slight discrepancy around the wings. The Chevette is marginally wider and sticks out a bit. Nothing that can’t be filed and filled to shape after though.

Once the glue had dried I test fitted the interior and chassis to check how it looked. 
Interior fits fine as to be expected, but the chassis is a completely different shape at the front so will need altering to suit the new nose.

After that I dug out some two part chemical metal (JB Weld), mixed it up and slathered the underside of the join in it to reinforce the front end, making sure to force it well into the gaps and joint.

  
Leftovers were then carefully forced into the gaps and joint on the outside to fill the gaps.

I can’t do anything else to it now until that dries, but it should be pretty solid once it has. 
Then it’ll get a rub down and filed to shape where needed, any remaining gaps filled and rubbed down again. I’ll run the scribe down the shut lines etc too just to make sure they haven’t been filled in. 
Scuttle panel air vent need’s reducing in width slightly too.

Im pretty pleased with it so far! It’s always a worry when you start slicing lumps out of models! 
Im hoping at least one of the donor hatchbacks will be able to take the unwanted front end from the Chevy Chevette saloon I’ve got somewhere (waiting to turn into a Vauxhall saloon) to make it into a US Chevy Chevette with the original front end styling. Not sure what I’ll do with the other two hatchback donors?

Flippin' love that, Dan. For full shite points, you need* to build one into a Chevanne. 

[danthecapriman]

15 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Flippin' love that, Dan. For full shite points, you need* to build one into a Chevanne. 

That’s the plan.

Im not sure if I’ll do this one as a van or estate, but I’ve got another Marajo and Chevette hatch waiting here to do whichever this one isn’t! 
Then I’ve got a Chevy saloon and another hatch to combine into a Vauxhall Chevette saloon!

It’s a bit of a pain in the arse with Vauxhall’s in 1:43. Anything that’s shared with the Opel or Chevrolet versions of cars is available but anything from Vauxhall only of the earlier models isn’t available. At least not easily or cheaply.

As far as I know this is the only way to get a Vauxhall Chevette - 3 door is available but the rest you have to make. 
Cavelier mk1 - not available. 
70’s Victor etc - not available. 
PC Cresta - not available. 
HC Viva - not available.

I suppose the market for a model of them wouldn’t be anywhere near as big as the Opel or Chevy equivalents. But a PC Cresta would make a fantastic model!

[quicksilver]

Some more from the ever-growing CMAC 1/76 3D print range.

@Six-cylinder and anyone who's visited the Field of Dreams should recognise this one. The model is technically an XJ6 but indistinguishable from the Daimler at this small scale.

Funky pink Escort with RS bits, sprayed with some random paint found in Lidl.

I'm sure you all know the legend of 40 RA. I was amazed to find a colour-matched aerosol of the proper Lotus Imperial Green available on ebay.

And a Rover 75 Tourer to go with the saloon. This is the other Tamiya iridescent paint (PS-47), which is supposed to be pink/gold but turned out as a nice subtle purple/brown that hopefully comes across in the photos.

 

[AndyW201]

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

 

It’s a bit of a pain in the arse with Vauxhall’s in 1:43. Anything that’s shared with the Opel or Chevrolet versions of cars is available but anything from Vauxhall only of the earlier models isn’t available. At least not easily or cheaply.

As far as I know this is the only way to get a Vauxhall Chevette - 3 door is available but the rest you have to make. 
Cavelier mk1 - not available. 
70’s Victor etc - not available. 
PC Cresta - not available. 
HC Viva - not available.

I suppose the market for a model of them wouldn’t be anywhere near as big as the Opel or Chevy equivalents. But a PC Cresta would make a fantastic model!

A few of those are available, but as said , you have to pay for the privilege!

BHM do the Mk1 Cavalier in saloon and coupé forms,

Lansdowne do the FD in plain Victor saloon & estate, VX4/90 and Ventora forms

They also did the PC Cresta,

I too cant understand why the HC Viva hasnt been done yet, but Oxford Diecast at least did a nice Firenza for not outrageous money, still widely available.

Vanguards did have a Chevette pencilled in, but was put on ice when things went a bit precarious, funds wise. They have promised more non-Ford releases in the future though and have hinted that the Chevette shouldnt be ruled out.

[danthecapriman]

33 minutes ago, AndyW201 said:

A few of those are available, but as said , you have to pay for the privilege!

BHM do the Mk1 Cavalier in saloon and coupé forms,

Lansdowne do the FD in plain Victor saloon & estate, VX4/90 and Ventora forms

They also did the PC Cresta,

I too cant understand why the HC Viva hasnt been done yet, but Oxford Diecast at least did a nice Firenza for not outrageous money, still widely available.

Vanguards did have a Chevette pencilled in, but was put on ice when things went a bit precarious, funds wise. They have promised more non-Ford releases in the future though and have hinted that the Chevette shouldnt be ruled out.

I was thinking actually when I was chopping the front off those two, I bet I do this then someone will make a Chevette estate/saloon…!

Ill have a look into some of the others you mentioned, I’ve heard of Lansdowne but didn’t know they did those Vauxhall’s.

The HC Viva is crying out to be made by Vanguard’s or Oxford. Such a common car in its day yet gets completely ignored. Most of its competitors are available - Escort, Marina, Avenger etc but no Vauxhall.

[AndyW201]

Corgi delivery. A car I, and others, have been waiting for them to release as a Vanguards for many years. So yes, another Vanguards Ford, but a new casting at least,

@danthecapriman one for you, especially.

There have been many, many versions of the Mk1 and Mk3 Capris done by Vanguards over the years, at last they've done a Mk2, and they've gone for it big style for the first release with a Signal Orange 3.0S with X Pack kit.

The deep dish Ronal alloys look great,

Glad to see quality and detailing is pretty good. Graphics and badging are really good, as is the number plate font.  I think I am alone though in preferring the Mk2 S graphics to the Mk3 ones.

Interior features the yellow Cadiz stripes of the real car. Small.grumble is that the stripes continue up the headrest, I dont think they did on the real thing.

Still well worth waiting for, I think. I've not joined in with any of the diecast sales recently on here, as I knew the release of this was imminent. The standard-bodied Ghia version in Sebring red is also due out this month or next,

and I've somehow also got that on pre-order...  So its going to be an expensive time, good job Ive had some decent overtime in lately. Still, with Mattel obviously not being arsed about selling Hot Wheels or Matchbox in this country any more, I might as well spend my diecast allocation somehow...

[danthecapriman]

45 minutes ago, AndyW201 said:

Corgi delivery. A car I, and others, have been waiting for them to release as a Vanguards for many years. So yes, another Vanguards Ford, but a new casting at least,

@danthecapriman one for you, especially.

There have been many, many versions of the Mk1 and Mk3 Capris done by Vanguards over the years, at last they've done a Mk2, and they've gone for it big style for the first release with a Signal Orange 3.0S with X Pack kit.

The deep dish Ronal alloys look great,

Glad to see quality and detailing is pretty good. Graphics and badging are really good, as is the number plate font.  I think I am alone though in preferring the Mk2 S graphics to the Mk3 ones.

Interior features the yellow Cadiz stripes of the real car. Small.grumble is that the stripes continue up the headrest, I dont think they did on the real thing.

Still well worth waiting for, I think. I've not joined in with any of the diecast sales recently on here, as I knew the release of this was imminent. The standard-bodied Ghia version in Sebring red is also due out this month or next,

and I've also got that on pre-order...  So its going to be an expensive time. Still, with Mattel obviously not being arsed about selling Hot Wheels or Matchbox in this country any more, I might as well spend my diecast allocation somehow...

Oooff! Nice. 
That does look a really good model, detail is excellent. Looks just like a mk2 at the front too, they’ve done a great job of that.

Im keen to see the standard version without the X-pack though. I’ve been so very tempted to pre order one but so far haven’t. Hmm!

[Split_Pin]

That looks superb, really sharp on the detail and much nicer than the Minichamps version (which I sold as it was a German spec and not relatable).

I wonder if they'll ever do a 1.3L in a solid colour 🤔

[bunglebus]

First boot sale finds