Shite in Miniature II

[andrew e]

Its not a TOY its a collectible 🤣 Your right its not free rolling though, maybe that explains the lack of skirting board damage?

[bunglebus]

I also spotted that Hot Wheels shirt, and also decided not to buy it as I don't like the castings depicted

Poundstretcher had a good section of Matchbox with the green Golf and silver Morris - and they hadn't f*cked all the cards this time

[danthecapriman]

Some hacking and butchery going on here!

A while ago I found this picture,

Which I thought would make a fantastic model, but there isn’t really much available to make it so it’s a case of altering things and making your own. 
So another battered Dinky Merryweather sacrificed its cab. I need to find the donor chassis for it but so far can’t find it anywhere.

  
So the trailer was what I turned attention to instead.  
Im going to keep the twin axle chassis and black floor piece and make a flatbed trailer out of that for another truck. The box body needs shortening and a new floor and end wall making for fitting onto a donor single axle trailer chassis.

  

Did a dry run using the double drive MAN tractor to gauge heights etc.

All basically assembled, with rear bumper and wheel arches from a pile of spares from other projects. Axle was too narrow on the donor trailer so I’ve made a new wider axle and some spacers to keep it centred.

 

At the same time I re-bodied one of my Austin FFK trucks. 
Donor is a Pegaso Comet water bowser. Conveniently the two trucks are very close in size so the tanker fit very well onto the FFK, only needing a few spacers making to raise the tanker clear of the rear arches.

      
Almost looks like it was made like this!


   
Had a go at a Bedford CF swb too. 
Simple strip and respray to resemble one I found in a CF catalog from when they were new. Side door has been filed flat and filled to make a no side door van.

  
Got a handful into primer this morning too ready for painting tomorrow.

[bunglebus]

Commercial Corvair looks good

But I reckon the sh*tfire is the one you lot will be getting excited about

[RoadworkUK]

Massive thanks to @FakeConcern for this. Beautifully padded package arrived safely yesterday, with a bit of inevitable "what's that?" eye-rolling from The Management. I don't care. It's great.

[Datsuncog]

9 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Poundstretcher had a good section of Matchbox with the green Golf and silver Morris - and they hadn't f*cked all the cards this time

Yep, I hoovered up a few more from my local branch for £1.49 the other day - I don't actively need them myself, but I think I may be able to trade them for some more interesting stuff...

Or, y'know, just squirrel them away with all the others like some sort of demented person...

[FakeConcern]

11 hours ago, RoadworkUK said:

Massive thanks to @FakeConcern for this. Beautifully padded package arrived safely yesterday, with a bit of inevitable "what's that?" eye-rolling from The Management. I don't care. It's great.

Glad that turned up pretty quickly as some I've posted have taken over a week and thanks for letting me know you've got it!

[bunglebus]

Things are happening in the world of tiny tat. Popped into Smyths and found a couple of new mainlines - thanks to whoever pointed out there are currently two red fox body Mustangs available 

Mrs pulled the Volvo Drift Camper out from the back of the pegs

It's actually an error car thanks to a mashed up front wheel. I've been hoping to find this, and it wasn't going to stay in it's blister either

Thought I'd line it up with the Drift Wagon, obviously the rear of the casting is modified for the tow hitch - but looking closer, almost everything has been altered. Front bumper, grille, headlights, engine, exhausts, side windows, wheel arches and roof are all different, it's even LHD where the old was right. I was thinking of swapping the glass over with the green one but it's not straightforward thanks to the removal of the clear roof and different post location at the back.

Not sure if the trailer is removable, don't want to force it

[bunglebus]

Postal arrivals are a bunch of Corgis, mainly for the tidy Rockets buggy

And a mystery - these have turned up, I haven't bought any Solidos, and checking eBay doesn't give any clues as to who might have sent them in error

[quicksilver]

8 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Mrs pulled the Volvo Drift Camper out from the back of the pegs

It's actually an error car thanks to a mashed up front wheel. I've been hoping to find this, and it wasn't going to stay in it's blister either

Thought I'd line it up with the Drift Wagon, obviously the rear of the casting is modified for the tow hitch - but looking closer, almost everything has been altered. Front bumper, grille, headlights, engine, exhausts, side windows, wheel arches and roof are all different, it's even LHD where the old was right. I was thinking of swapping the glass over with the green one but it's not straightforward thanks to the removal of the clear roof and different post location at the back.

Not sure if the trailer is removable, don't want to force it

And what exactly is the point of that? Did Mattel hire British Leyland's product planners because they're so good at making totally illogical decisions? They've spent a load of money making tooling for a very niche car, then another load of money making another set of tooling for a completely different model of the same niche car in the same scale. So much of what they do just makes no sense to me.

As an aside, the colour of the new one with the caravan looks very similar to Whiteland Restorations' Project Monica. That's a saloon though.

[Datsuncog]

9 hours ago, quicksilver said:

And what exactly is the point of that? Did Mattel hire British Leyland's product planners because they're so good at making totally illogical decisions? They've spent a load of money making tooling for a very niche car, then another load of money making another set of tooling for a completely different model of the same niche car in the same scale. So much of what they do just makes no sense to me.

There have been some pretty odd decisions by Mattel of late - I'd thought that producing completely different versions of the same vehicle for both Matchbox and Hot Wheels mainlines was weird enough (like the Volvo XC40, both launched in 2023 too), but producing completely different castings of the Volvo 240 Drift Wagon within the same Hot Wheels marketing umbrella is next-level stuff.

I guess we're far from the good ol' days of designers sculpting wooden models and carving out moulds using pantographs, so I can only assume that current CAD programmes and other advanced manufacturing/ stress testing techniques are making it ever-easier to design and create tooling at lower cost - as evidenced by the sheer number of new castings and special editions across all of Mattel's diecast lines, which are reaching frankly bewildering heights.

Not just the mainlines - the number of unique premium and semi-premiums are off the scale, it seems that every month there's another two or three collections of five or more models dropped, many of which are completely new. Some of these castings appear once and then are never seen again, which is even more baffling.

I guess the 'sealed case' nature of Mattel's sales strategy is relevant - whether or not a model is popular with consumers, once it's in the lineup the retailer will get it as part of the case mix, regardless. So sales on a granular level are kinda not Mattel's problem, as long as there's enough overall demand for them to keep selling cases (even the unwanted peg warmers like the Matchbox Luggage Tug and Hot Wheels Deora III will find homes, eventually). The fact that the pack barcodes are all the same means that retailers can't even look at their sales data and see what's popular and what's not, even if they wanted to - it's just an assortment. And yet everyone wants to sell them, apparently. Off the top of my head, I can think of a whopping 51 shops within a ten mile radius of me that stock Hot Wheels - and that's just in one small part of Northern Ireland.

So either Mattel's toy car divisions are wildly out of control (not an impossible scenario, granted), or manufacturing costs have dropped to the point that management can allow designers the freedom to come up with all sorts of variations of weird, niche cars knowing that they'll sell in enough numbers to at least break even. I'd love to know the production figures on mainlines - I reckon these things are being churned out in their tens of millions, so economies of scale come into play. It's entirely possible that the runs are so big that tooling wears out over the course of a single run, and they can either make another set exactly the same or make one a bit different - there may not be much difference to the bottom line.

But even more expensive, kid-oriented lines like the Track Fleet are still widely available - and seemingly pretty popular. I guess on a business level, it's just measured by the number of cases sold, and the designers' job is just to come up with something fun to put in those cases, whatever it may be.

While I'll confess that the sheer number of releases is causing me some degree of mild panic, I grew up in the late '80s wishing I could find more models of 'everyday cars', rather than the exotic supercars and 1950s classics that most toy and model manufacturers offered. And as such, being able to find really quite good miniature versions of Mk2 Escorts and Opel Kadetts in Tesco or B&M for a pound or two is, in a way, a childhood dream come true...

[RoadworkUK]

Is the Drift Camper combo actually based on a real thing? The location of that caravan's axle is making me cross.

[Split_Pin]

I think as far as axle weights go, it would be illegal too.

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

There have been some pretty odd decisions by Mattel of late - I'd thought that producing completely different versions of the same vehicle for both Matchbox and Hot Wheels mainlines was weird enough (like the Volvo XC40, both launched in 2023 too), but producing completely different castings of the Volvo 240 Drift Wagon within the same Hot Wheels marketing umbrella is next-level stuff.

I guess we're far from the good ol' days of designers sculpting wooden models and carving out moulds using pantographs, so I can only assume that current CAD programmes and other advanced manufacturing/ stress testing techniques are making it ever-easier to design and create tooling at lower cost - as evidenced by the sheer number of new castings and special editions across all of Mattel's diecast lines, which are reaching frankly bewildering heights.

Not just the mainlines - the number of unique premium and semi-premiums are off the scale, it seems that every month there's another two or three collections of five or more models dropped, many of which are completely new. Some of these castings appear once and then are never seen again, which is even more baffling.

I guess the 'sealed case' nature of Mattel's sales strategy is relevant - whether or not a model is popular with consumers, once it's in the lineup the retailer will get it as part of the case mix, regardless. So sales on a granular level are kinda not Mattel's problem, as long as there's enough overall demand for them to keep selling cases (the unwanted peg warmers like the Matchbox Luggage Tug and Hot Wheels Deora III will find homes, eventually). The fact that the pack barcodes are all the same means that retailers can't even look at their sales data and see what's popular and what's not, even if they wanted to - it's just an assortment. And yet everyone wants to sell them, apparently. Off the top of my head, I can think of a whopping 51 shops within a ten mile radius of me that stock Hot Wheels - and that's just in one small part of Northern Ireland.

So either Mattel's toy car divisions are wildly out of control (not an impossible scenario, granted), or manufacturing costs have dropped to the point that management can allow designers the freedom to come up with all sorts of variations of weird, niche cars knowing that they'll sell in enough numbers to at least break even. I'd love to know the production figures on mainlines - I reckon these things are being churned out in their tens of millions, so economies of scale come into play. It's entirely possible that the runs are so big that tooling wears out over the course of a single run, and they can either make another set exactly the same or make one a bit different - there may not be much difference to the bottom line.

But even lines like the Track Fleet are still widely available - and seemingly popular. I guess on a business level, it's just measured by the number of cases sold, and the designers' job is just to come up with something fun to put in those cases, whatever it may be.

While I'll confess that the sheer number of releases is causing me some degree of mild panic, I grew up in the late '80s wishing I could find more models of 'everyday cars', rather than the exotic supercars and 1950s classics that most toy and model manufacturers offered. And as such, being able to find really quite good miniature versions of Mk2 Escorts and Opel Kadetts in Tesco or B&M for a pound or two is, in a way, a childhood dream come true...

It’s pretty much ground to a halt in the U.K. now with Matchbox. Same stuff for years on the shelf, maybe it’s intentional, selling in the U.K. must be a massive logistical pain in the arse as it’s mostly a forgotten brand and there’s already a well established market selling Hot Wheels etc. It’s sad but I’ve practically given up on new Matchbox, I can’t justify paying nearly a tenner each posted off wherever and visiting the shops is a waste of time, money and fuel as it’s the same crap for sale. 

[Remspoor]

2 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I think as far as axle weights go, it would be illegal too.

It is a fucking toy. 😄

[junkyarddog]

Don't recall seeing this casting before.

Was hoping to find the Fiat 500D Modificado,but this will do for today.

[sierraman]

24 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

It is a fucking toy. 😄

Those side exiting exhausts I think would also fall foul of C&U Rules. 😂

[Split_Pin]

34 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

It is a fucking toy. 😄

It is the fucking diecast thread.

[Datsuncog]

Bit of a lunchtime spree netted some unanticipated Matchbox finds:

A Collectors Series 1974 Toyota Celica GT Liftback, and a Moving Parts Series 1970 AMC Javelin.

I've been looking for the Celica ever since I saw a prototype on a Lamley Group post, though my hopes weren't very high - and I expected that eventually I'd have to go online to secure one. Not so, as it turns out.

The Javelin was also one that stirred my interest when I encountered examples online, but when Moving Parts shelf stock in The Entertainer came and went with no sign of it, I assumed I'd missed the boat. Again, I was incorrect.

They weren't exactly cheap, but I doubt I'd have acquired them for much less online, especially with postage factored in... so hey.

Sadly, the world's least enthusiastic shop assistant plainly had somewhere more exciting to be, so I was herded out of the the Smithfield model shop before I could investigate these properly:

Ah well. Next time...

[bunglebus]

I'm not especially an Italian car fanboi but I do like the Lancia Beta, as it was Herbie's love interest in Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. Amazingly for a Polistil, almost all the bits are there bar broken wiper arms

However the engine cover fell off while I was washing it

Talking of both Volkswagens and Polistil, I bought one

[RoadworkUK]

Polistil looks great. Especially the wheels.

[bunglebus]

Anyway castings getting modified is nothing new

 

[Justwatching]

Picked up a Matchbox Jurassic Park Ford Explorer at a somewhat reasonable price.

Very few diecasts have been made of it over the years, which I find surprising. Maybe the complex appearance makes it expensive to produce? Can't imagine it would be for lack of popularity. 

Sticking with Jurassic Park, I also picked up a Jeep Wrangler by Matchbox a couple of years ago. Don't think I've shown it yet, so here it is.

One of my rarest movie cars though must be this - the Amity Police Chevy Blazer from Jaws. This Hot Wheels Premium model is the only version I've ever seen. 

[sierraman]

My youngest has that Explorer. Quite a nice model that is. 

[sierraman]

4 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

It is the fucking diecast thread.

Am I on my own in that shit like side exiting exhausts and incorrectly sized wheels would have fucked me off when I was a kid? I wanted street furniture type stuff, I’ve probably retold this a hundred times but I used to reenact a scrapyard with the broken stuff I had in the living room, just in front of the coffee table but before the television.
 

We had this sort of harsh hessian carpet stuff that was great for the diecast, then the ‘scrapyard’ was sited on the edge of one of those really naff rugs everyone had. I can still see in my minds eye how I used to lay it all out. I’d knock some buildings up out of Lego, playing out my dream of becoming a scrapyard proprietor. I’d allocate myself a car that would be ‘mine’, from recollection this ranged from a Matchbox Rover 3500 to a MB54 Green Cortina. Occasionally I’d deviate from this after watching Hollywoods Greatest Stunts or The A-Team using some of my old wrecks to recreate what I’d seen. 
 

It’s quite odd but most of my childhood memories involved diecast to some extent, Saturdays were a great day, mostly because my mum would meet my Nan down the shops and we’d go to McDonalds and go in the Post Office which still had a display of Matchbox, that’s to say they unboxed them then you could see and decide which you wanted to buy. Normally as now they’re on pegs. Another time that springs to mind was in the Newsagents near my Grandparents house, I always used to go up with my grandad when he’d go to the council offices to pay his rent and I recall seeing a Laser Wheels Rover Sterling in the Paper Shop which I still have to this day. 

I take small comfort in knowing I’ve not just become a sad bastard but I’ve always been one. 

[andrew e]

That middle paragraph is me early 80’s to a tee 👍

[Split_Pin]

There's nothing sad about it at all. I'd have loved days like that. I tended to get diecast at random rather than as part of a longer special day.

In terms of realism, I found my dad's and uncles Dinkys and Corgis had better proportioned wheels and tyres. 

Datsuncog also mentioned about wishing diecast manufacturers of our childhood would make more bread and butter cars. Things got better as the 80s wore on for Matchbox with cars like the RoverSterling, Volvo 760 GLE and MK2 Astra all making an appearance in the range.

[danthecapriman]

Another sad sad fucker winner here that was the same.

Id have my road mat thingy out and my garage/multistory car park my grandad made and just play what I saw in real life. All my favourite vehicles were the ones that looked like the ones I saw. I absolutely hated the fantasy stuff or things too ‘hotted up’. I’d spend hours and hours just playing with my toy cars. 
Even in summer I’d go out in the garden and take all my construction related stuff with me - diggers, bulldozers, low loaders, tippers etc etc and just find somewhere in the garden to start digging and building miniature roads! 
I was never really bothered with things like Hot Wheels race track or stuff like that. Just run of the mill normal stuff.

I think that’s part of the reason I like the partwork and 1:43 stuff so much now. It’s ‘normal’ vehicles I like and/or remember. Things I can customise to recreate normal stuff from years ago. 
All the big wheeled customised fantasy stuff from certain manufacturers just mean nothing to me tbh, same as it meant nothing to me back when I was little.

Theres clearly a market for all that though as it seems to sell. I’m just selective what I buy, same as I was as a kid!  
A great example of it now thinking about it, is that we’re spoiled for choice in a way with a Matchbox Volvo 240 and the Hot Wheels one - my money has gone on the lovely little Matchbox version. It’s the most relatable realistic one. If Hot Wheels would do their 240 estate as a standard car I’d happily buy one of those too but until then it’s a no from me. They can do some crackers though… look at the recent Proton! 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

I don't think I'm alone in assuming that most of us on this thread are car obsessed, and have been since a very young age. I remember as a kid longing for the day when I'd be able to own and drive my own car. 

Diecast was the ultimate pathway into owning a real car. From  a child's perspective, it's amazing - you can choose the exact model you fancy (assuming you've saved up enough or it's Christmas/birthday time) and then add it to an ever-growing collection. I'm fortunate that I still own the majority of my childhood diecast. I culled a few of my least interesting models in the early 90s but the majority survived. 

One model in particular springs to mind - a very battered Matchbox Renault 5. I clearly remember keeping it in my desk in 3rd year in primary and it was very much an experimental model. At one point I took all the paint off it and then repainted it with tippex. 

Life's a funny old thing because I kept hold of the model, even though it's basically ruined, right down to the missing tailgate, damaged chassis and bent axles. 

Things have come full circle as I now teach in the same school. I teach in the aforementioned classroom on a relatively regular basis so a while back I took the Renault into school and placed it on the teacher desk for the day. Daft really, but it made me smile that almost 40 years later the Renault made it back into the same place. 

I've considered restoring it, and even bought an immaculate blue Matchbox R5 as a donor for the tailgate, axles, rear corner of the chassis and for a paint match for mine. Since then, I've thought the better of it  - the wreck that I've held onto has a backstory attached to it and a restoration will wipe out the warts and childhood brutality, won't it? 

[bunglebus]

I was always into customs and hot rods as well as old cars from the 50s and 60s. Comes from reading Street Machine, Hot Rod, Rod and Custom, Custom Car etc in WH Smith's while my dad was browsing the electronics magazines. 

The Matchbox 57 Chevy in black with red flames, and the black,  flamed Model A hot rod were the coolest cars in my collection