Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

Found on FB

[Lord Sterling]

12 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I believe that's the hard to find version, regular wheels but with the raised line for the boot shut - a casting change that happened just before the Superfast version was released.

I won a really nice one of these on eBay, then the seller got abducted by aliens 

Cheers. It's nice to know I have something else actually very rare apart from the 1/25 Rover Sterling.

Similarly I also have a the Jaguar Mk10:

Sadly it doesn't fit quite so snugly in the garage, although if you park it front-in and remove the towbar, it will fit. I'll not be doing that. 

I bought the Mk10 after seeing a discussion on here about them. Apparently some American had bought one from the UK for £2k (?) Because it didn't have the line "Matchbox" above the underside description of the car.

I wouldn't mind adding to my collection of Lesney cars of this era.

[AndyW201]

Got home to find this waiting for me,

Got this in the Corgi site's Black Friday sale, worked out about 58% off the RRP. Another one for the GM/Vauxhall/hot-hatch collection.

Its a fairly recent release, from early this year, although the casting itself dates from 2012. Lately, Corgi have been dusting off a few castings that havent been covered for a while, sadly this release hasn't been a massive success (which probably explains its appearance in the Black Friday sale). Its a shame, as it really suits Carmine red.

It's a pretty good casting, the Mk2 Astra's shape is captured well.

Its an older casting, but at the period it was launched, it was kind of a peak period for detailing. The front end looks great, particularly the lights, and grille. Love the headlight washers too... The 16V decal is almost lost in the red though.

Corgi had ruffled a few feathers at the time by bringing out a load of more modern '80s classics in the Vanguards range,  even European and Japanese models. These seemed to be made with spin offs like police and motorsport versions in mind, indeed the John Cleland  BTCC Astra was a big seller and is highly sought after today too. But at the time they were seen as "too new". To be fair, Corgi were probably just a bit ahead of their time as  '80s and '90s cars are a lot more popular now.

One criticism though is as the range included a 1.3 Merit spec police car, the problem with the GTE version is the too-high rear suspension, especially as the real 16V was 25mm lower than the 8V. Sadly unlike the majority of Corgi-era Vanguards, most of the modern classics didn't get sprung suspension, so I can't slam this one! To be fair, they do look a bit better off the plinth and on their wheels.

An improvement on this one, compared to the earlier GTE releases is that the interior trim has been upgraded to the two tone trim (rainbow?) like on the real cars, on the seats and door cards. It does give the model a bit of a lift,

Nice low number on the collector's card! Or maybe its how many they've actually sold 🤣Perhaps 1200 was a tad ambitious...

[sierraman]

I have one of the Cortinas but it’s got auto steer fitted which seems uncommon. 

[bunglebus]

53 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I have one of the Cortinas but it’s got auto steer fitted which seems uncommon. 

Just the regular wheel versions in brown. That was a nice little feature, sadly only on a few models. VW 1500 and Mercury Commuter spring to mind, along with the Mustang only system with the lever on the side

[Tenmil Socket]

12 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I spotted this loose Welly FSO Polonez on eBay a while back - not a bad effort, if a bit over-wheeled

 

Crikey… that’s nice.

If you keep looking you can see Primera,  Saab, Bluebird and Rover! 

[Tenmil Socket]

Just popped into a house clearance place asking if he had any old toy cars. As usual he explained a fella bought a load of old Matchbox and Corgi from him last week for a tenner.

This was a fiver:

 

[Tenmil Socket]

The Darling Buds Of May 😂

 

[sierraman]

1 minute ago, Tenmil Socket said:

The Darling Buds Of May 😂

 

A bit like those Gold adverts I feel like doing one along the lines of 

…’Do you have unwanted Days Gone By pastiche left in unwanted legacies by deceased relatives? Values of Lledo models of vintage cars are at an all time low at the moment, cash in now and send them to Autoshite Lledo for cash. Your priceless models of tacky unlikely associations like a Model T Ford Van advertising Shredded Wheat will be carefully collected by our courier service and compressed by our team in their vice. Over 310,000 Days Gone By have been smashed into pieces with hammers since 2016. Call today and we guarantee they will be tossed unceremoniously onto a concrete floor and reduced to their component parts in less than 24 hours’

’Mrs T Leeds… I had over 50 boxed examples of a Bullnose Morris depicting adverts for Smarties that my husband and I spent over 6 months trying to sell at car boot sales across the county after being left them in lieu of a 4 bed detached house in Kent that went to my sister. Autoshite arranged for these to be collected without any cost to us at all and we had confirmation they’d been destroyed within 3 days!’

[Datsuncog]

A few wee bits and bobs have appeared with me recently...

Poundstretcher continue to slash their prices on Mattel products, rather belatedly - Matchbox down to £1.11 (though the short cards still don't scan at the till);

The Matchbox have almost all gone now; most of what's left on the pegs are just those unloved Cargo Truck things.

It's taken them the best part of a year to sell them through, though - from a retail aspect, that's pretty slow. Although I did find a Super Chase in amongst them, way back in January - the only one I've ever encountered in a shop.

Some pretty stale 2023 Hot Wheels mainlines are still available at £1.52:

These are the ones that seem to arrive in small boxes containing only one type of model, rather than the usual large mix cases - believed to be ex-US retailer surplus.

And HW Car Culture premiums down to £5 a hit.

I came away with some alright pieces from my local branch, with change from a tenner.

The Mitsubishi 3000GT is a belter; I worked with a fella in the early 2000s who had a sideline importing these over from Japan. Lovely big things, but uncommon now.

A few more Hot Wheels turned up in another Poundstretcher branch - mostly just colour variations of stuff I already have, but hey, they were pretty good value.

The Silverline Porsche 944 was reduced from £6 to £4, which was more palatable to my stingy ways.

For some reason Poundstretcher's few remaining Power Grab boxed Matchbox are still a bit dearer than the blister pack versions:

A state of affairs which exists at The Entertainer too, peculiarly - £2.40 for blister pack, £3.00 for Power Grab.

Weird.

And speaking of The Entertainer...

Saw these two and couldn't resist; I didn't have the Karmann Ghia, and while I do have an orange T2 from about 2008, it looks quite jolly in red.

Still no Moving Parts at all, though - nor any Working Rigs.

And a quick spin through the model shop in Smithfield revealed some intriguing Japanese release Moving Parts in boxes:

I did make a purchase here, but haven't yet taken a pic of it.

Also nabbed this Dinky-branded Kidco Celica for a quid from the loose stuff:

Don't think I've posted these pics yet - some market acquisitions from Colin on the Irish Tat Stall:

These were both swaps for some surplus Mattel stuff - duplicates and so forth.

Escort originated with the Smithfield shop (going by the price written in marker pen on the box base), then went to The Nemesis, then swapped to Colin before passing to me. The metallic brown looks ace.

I haven't seen much to tempt me from Oxford in recent months, but this LWB Mk2 Transit was too good to miss.

Very much a model, not a toy, but well-proportioned and with a high degree of charm.

A bit of a nostalgia trip for me from the Tat Stall too - this Corgi Classics Ford Zodiac:

One of these, in this same style of box, was my very first 1/43 purchase - from a model shop in York back in 1989.

I still have the model, but the box was binned - so it's good to have this mint version for a fiver.

And, God help me...

Yes, it's happened.

Models of Yesteryear.

But the Riley MPH is a lovely little model.

And a MIB Lesney that's over 50 years old for £2 - well, I knew I'd crumple one day. And I did.

I'm not sorry, though.

[MiniMinorMk3]

19 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

I found the first number plate on a Lesney casting was 1960, on the No.4 TRIUMPH MOTORCYCLE AND SIDECAR as 637 CMT

 

 

There was one of those Triumph T110 combinations in my auction lot last week.

The plate is black on the rear the rear, probably because that is where the mould is split. Pity it has lost the right hand end of the handlebars.

Note it has Triumph T110 cast into the base. Obviously the box title was too long to fit.

[sierraman]

The Entertainer in Meadowhell has the real working rigs but I’d avoid the place like the plague this time of year. 

[andy18s]

22 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

A few weeks bits and bobs have appeared with me recently...

Poundstretcher continue to slash their prices on Mattel products, rather belatedly - Matchbox down to £1.11 (though the short cards still don't scan at the till);

The Matchbox have almost all gone now; most of what's left on the pegs are just those unloved Cargo Truck things.

Some pretty stale 2023 Hot Wheels mainlines were available at £1.52:

And HW Car Culture premiums down to £5 a hit.

Came away with some alright pieces from my local branch, with change from a tenner.

The Mitsubishi 3000GT is a belter; I worked with a fella in the early 2000s who had a sideline importing these over from Japan. Lovely big things, but uncommon now.

A few more Hot Wheels turned up in another Poundstretcher branch - mostly colour variations of stuff I already have, but hey, they were pretty good value. Silverline Porsche 944 was reduced from £6 to £4.

For some reason their few remaining Power Grab boxed Matchbox are still a bit dearer than the blister pack versions:

A state of affairs which exists at The Entertainer too, peculiarly - £2.40 for blister pack, £3.00 for Power Grab.

Weird.

And speaking of The Entertainer...

Saw these two and couldn't resist; I didn't have the Karmann Ghia, and while I do have an orange T2 from about 2008, it looks quite jolly in red.

Still no Moving Parts at all, though - nor any Working Rigs.

And a quick spin through the model shop in Smithfield revealed some intriguing Japanese release Moving Parts in boxes:

I did make a purchase here, but haven't yet taken a pic of it.

Also nabbed this Dinky-branded Kidco Celica for a quid from the loose stuff:

Don't think I've posted these pics yet - some market acquisitions from Colin on the Irish Tat Stall:

These were both swaps for some surplus Mattel stuff - duplicates and so forth.

Escort originated with the Smithfield shop, then went to The Nemesis, then swapped to Colin before passing to me. The metallic brown looks ace.

I haven't seen much to tempt me from Oxford in recent months, but this LWB Mk2 Transit was too good to miss.

Very much a model, not a toy, but well-proportioned and with a high degree of charm.

A bit of a nostalgia trip for me from the Tat Stall too - this Corgi Classics Ford Zodiac:

One of these, in this same style of box, was my very first 1/43 purchase - from a model shop in York back in 1989.

I still have the model, but the box was binned - so it's good to have this mint version for a fiver.

And, God help me...

Yes, it's happened.

Models of Yesteryear.

But the Riley MPH is a lovely little model.

And MIB for £2 - well, I knew I'd crumple one day. And I did.

I'm not sorry, though.

Tha Transit looks spot on..

[Tenmil Socket]

1 minute ago, andy18s said:

Tha Transit looks spot on..

It’s an Oxford… sorry, I’ll get me coat 😆

[danthecapriman]

Technically, technically… that Oxford diecast Transit mk2 has the wrong tail lights for a C reg van!😄 

But it is a lovely little model. I might keep an eye out for one or two for my model railway.

[junkyarddog]

48 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Riley MPH is a lovely little model

Agreed,I have one too.

 

[andrew e]

34 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Technically, technically… that Oxford diecast Transit mk2 has the wrong tail lights for a C reg van!😄 

But it is a lovely little model. I might keep an eye out for one or two for my model railway.

And bumpers, light shrouds and grill!

[MiniMinorMk3]

2 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

 

Very much a model, not a toy, but well-proportioned and with a high degree of charm.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

Technically, technically… that Oxford diecast Transit mk2 has the wrong tail lights for a C reg van!😄 

But it is a lovely little model. I might keep an eye out for one or two for my model railway.

 

1 hour ago, andrew e said:

And bumpers, light shrouds and grill!

Yes plenty not quite right about that for a 1985-86 Transit.

[danthecapriman]

You could always just replace the number plates with pre 84 ones on that Oxford Transit. If it even bothered you.

It’s similar on my 1:43 ones. They’re the pre facelift mk2’s and I wanted the facelifted version like my old 1:1 scale van! 
I’ll definitely try to pick up an Oxford 1:76 though regardless.

[warch]

15 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

Got home to find this waiting for me,

Got this in the Corgi site's Black Friday sale, worked out about 58% off the RRP. Another one for the GM/Vauxhall/hot-hatch collection.

Its a fairly recent release, from early this year, although the casting itself dates from 2012. Lately, Corgi have been dusting off a few castings that havent been covered for a while, sadly this release hasn't been a massive success (which probably explains its appearance in the Black Friday sale). Its a shame, as it really suits Carmine red.

It's a pretty good casting, the Mk2 Astra's shape is captured well.

Its an older casting, but at the period it was launched, it was kind of a peak period for detailing. The front end looks great, particularly the lights, and grille. Love the headlight washers too... The 16V decal is almost lost in the red though.

Corgi had ruffled a few feathers at the time by bringing out a load of more modern '80s classics in the Vanguards range,  even European and Japanese models. These seemed to be made with spin offs like police and motorsport versions in mind, indeed the John Cleland  BTCC Astra was a big seller and is highly sought after today too. But at the time they were seen as "too new". To be fair, Corgi were probably just a bit ahead of their time as  '80s and '90s cars are a lot more popular now.

One criticism though is as the range included a 1.3 Merit spec police car, the problem with the GTE version is the too-high rear suspension, especially as the real 16V was 25mm lower than the 8V. Sadly unlike the majority of Corgi-era Vanguards, most of the modern classics didn't get sprung suspension, so I can't slam this one! To be fair, they do look a bit better off the plinth and on their wheels.

An improvement on this one, compared to the earlier GTE releases is that the interior trim has been upgraded to the two tone trim (rainbow?) like on the real cars, on the seats and door cards. It does give the model a bit of a lift,

Nice low number on the collector's card! Or maybe its how many they've actually sold 🤣Perhaps 1200 was a tad ambitious...

Bloody hell, I didn't want/need one of these until I read your post and found they were only 15 quid. Must resist.

TBF 25mm is sod all in real life really, and even less at 1/43 scale. I have seen a few in real life where the tail looks somewhat higher than the nose though. And course few survived the Max Power era without being slammed on 17s then oversteering into a hedge. 

[bunglebus]

Up in the loft sorting Matchbox again, and any excuse to talk about the stupendous Field Car!

Two different roof textures 

[bunglebus]

And two different colour luggages on the Fiat 1500s

[sierraman]

12 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Up in the loft sorting Matchbox again, and any excuse to talk about the stupendous Field Car!

Two different roof textures 

By that do it take it a sale is coming up? 😂

[Christine]

 

[bunglebus]

44 minutes ago, sierraman said:

By that do it take it a sale is coming up? 😂

Yeah I'm always sorting more out, just got a lot of real-life stuff going on, most inconvenient!

Thought of another steering Matchbox, the Ford Kennel Truck

 

[Datsuncog]

7 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Still no Moving Parts at all, though - nor any Working Rigs.

Stop the bus.

Just so happened to be ambling through Castle Court this evening, and thought I'd cast my eye over The Entertainer's wares just in case they'd anything new in since last week, and - bingo.

Four newish Working Rigs on the pegs - of which I grabbed the International Box Van, and the MAN dropside with HIAB.

I was less interested in a large yellow Volvo BM (?) grader and some sort of agricultural machine in blue which I didn't get a good look at (hey, I was in a hurry).

Even better, when I got to the till there appeared to be some sort of 10% discount applied, so these worked out at £4.50 each.

Their mainlines are still those wretched early 2023 mixes, but hey - good to see some new stuff coming through.

[FakeConcern]

Planning to go to a toy fair in Walberton West Sussex on Sunday, not been to this venue before as it's about 55 miles away. I just wondered if anyone else was thinking of going? @danthecapriman it can't be more than 25-30 miles from you if you haven't moved yet maybe? Or anyone else in that area?

Quote

https://www.modeltoyauctions.co.uk/news/2021/9/2022-toyfair-dates-june-2022-update/8BF7A4F9D59D89705A7A53C2886D325E/

 

[danthecapriman]

45 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

Planning to go to a toy fair in Walberton West Sussex on Sunday, not been to this venue before as it's about 55 miles away. I just wondered if anyone else was thinking of going? @danthecapriman it can't be more than 25-30 miles from you if you haven't moved yet maybe? Or anyone else in that area?

 

That’s not far…

Im moving a few days after though by the looks of things so guess what I’ll be doing between now and then!?😆

I hate packing so much I’m actually tempted to just scoop everything into the bin and just buy new later!

[flat4alfa]

4 hours ago, bunglebus said:

And two different colour luggages on the Fiat 1500s

THEY DID WHAT !?

[flat4alfa]

36 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

I hate packing so much I’m actually tempted to just scoop everything into the bin and just buy new later!

Wait.

YOU’LL DO WHAT !?