Shite in Miniature II

26,806 · Monday at 14:08

Mercedes Benz 500E wheel swap.

Quite satisfying to swap the wheels on a nicely detailed casting.

Talk about satisfaction,I repainted the gash pink interior of the Porsche 911 turbo cabriolet to a less eye searing black.

Much better.

18,101 · Monday at 14:12

17 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Fascinating. I'd love to see the base if you come across it again

It's Politoys – around the time the 1:43 'M' (for metal) range was launched they also did a small series of fibreglass 1:41 cars, but I think these didn't last long as they were fairly delicate compared to the metal toys and didn't stand up to repeated play so well. I believe there were only eight in total, and all of them were produced in the normal M-series, too, except for the Beetle, so that's doubly rare. I've never seen one before and would definitely have grabbed that one at the fair assuming it wasn't megabucks...

18,101 · Monday at 14:18

19 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

he VW seller had this lovely Politoys Lancia Beta, but I'm not so keen on Rozzer versions however exotic so I passed.

That's a real rarity: it's one of the Mexican-built McGregor cars which you basucally never see in Europe. That livery was unique to the McGregor (the Beta was only offered as a road car in Italy) and the wheels are different (and much nicer) that the Italian-built cars). Well-worth a tenner if he still has it next time I'd say

5,294 · Monday at 15:01

50 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

Mercedes Benz 500E wheel swap.

Quite satisfying to swap the wheels on a nicely detailed casting.

Talk about satisfaction,I repainted the gash pink interior of the Porsche 911 turbo cabriolet to a less eye searing black.

Much better.

Were I in short trousers now, I think these castings would be well loved and played to death.

Except being born in 2015 neither car would mean anything to me 🤣

12,135 · Monday at 15:54

I gave both Alpines to clients , who both have Tigers. I did wonder why i couldn't see a minix rambler on ebay , even on completed listings !

1100s and Anglias , Vivas , Corsairs , Imp , minxs , triumph2000s Thames , A60s

Caravans , Beetle , 1800, and a Rambler

12,135 · Monday at 15:57

Fire engine Lone Star

11,405 · Monday at 16:25

29 minutes ago, Christine said:

I gave both Alpines to clients , who both have Tigers. I did wonder why i couldn't see a minix rambler on ebay , even on completed listings !

1100s and Anglias , Vivas , Corsairs , Imp , minxs , triumph2000s Thames , A60s

Caravans , Beetle , 1800, and a Rambler

The Rambler and the Vauxhall Cresta estate are the two rare ones missing from my collection. I don't even think I've ever seen a Rambler in the flesh.

Is that a Lego Beetle? It looks very similar to Minix but they never did a Beetle.

12,135 · Monday at 16:29

Ha , so it is ! I was in the box so i assumed it was minix .. It's quite a pleasing model actually

62,434 · Monday at 16:33

11,405 · Monday at 16:34

1 minute ago, Christine said:

Ha , so it is ! I was in the box so i assumed it was minix .. It's quite a pleasing model actually

Again a rare one like that Bedford van in Bunglebus's job lot. These vehicles are quite sought after by Lego collectors - they're from the early days when the Lego system was literally just bricks and everything else that went with them was pre-assembled plastic.

27,977 · Monday at 16:41

I’ve never had much Minix stuff. For some reason it just never turns up.

The only recent one I’ve found was a dark blue Viva, pretty sure one of you lot has it now. Possibly @Datsuncog ?

They are really nice little things though.

62,434 · Monday at 18:16

1 hour ago, Christine said:

Ha , so it is ! I was in the box so i assumed it was minix .. It's quite a pleasing model actually

Sell it to me before looking at eBay sold prices...

62,434 · Monday at 18:28

I've got a few Minix, but Flickr is currently broken as part of the Great Amazon Outage.

Still looking through various boxes and trying to concentrate on the ones I don't really want to keep, such as a no-name pull back 5 series (or is it a 7?)

King Size Merryweather

One @Datsuncog might be dribbling over, Dinky dustcart

OK I might have put this one in the keep pile

Tomy ambulance can go though

Why did Corgi make a model of a car that turns into a submarine, with paper decals? No kid is going to resist giving it a dunk in the bath

Metro is nice enough but it's not staying

12,135 · Monday at 18:28

I thought it was a 4 quid minix ! Tell me more about it , quick silver just said lego. Is it 50s 60s ? Would my dad have got it in Germany doing national service 1955 56 ?

62,434 · Monday at 18:35

6 minutes ago, Christine said:

I thought it was a 4 quid minix ! Tell me more about it , quick silver just said lego. Is it 50s 60s ? Would my dad have got it in Germany doing national service 1955 56 ?

All I knew was roughly late 50s to 60s. 1955 to 1970 according to this

https://en.brickimedia.org/wiki/HO_1:87_Vehicles#google_vignette

Again, I have a few but they are very sought after and therefore pricey

12,135 · Monday at 18:51

The story my dad loved to tell, was coming home from Germany national service . He opted to do 2 more extra years over there .. Stopped at customs , with many suitcases .. M.P asks " what's in that case ,son? "

says Dad " Modelling gear...."

"Open it " .... {opens case of modelling gear}

"Okay , whats in that next suitcase? "

"Modelling gear..."

"Open it" (opens another case of modelling gear)

"Okay , and the next ...i suppose more modelling gear?"

"Yup..."

" Oh fuck it , don't bother opening it ....go through ....and leave your unifom on the other side .."

43,203 · Monday at 19:15

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

I’ve never had much Minix stuff. For some reason it just never turns up.

The only recent one I’ve found was a dark blue Viva, pretty sure one of you lot has it now. Possibly @Datsuncog ?

They are really nice little things though.

That's the one - still got it!

Only ever had a couple of Minix, acquired in the early 2000s - a pale green Morris 1100, another Viva HA in red, a dark green BMC Landcrab and a (believed rare-ish) Simca 1501 in the same dark green. I sold those off a while ago as a bundle of small mostly plastic stuff to someone on here who's no longer on here - @mercrocker, I think.

They're nice little things but I've got too many other collectable interests to focus on Minix properly!

62,434 · Monday at 19:41

Ah Flickr is back. Seems I have one solitary Minix

12,135 · Monday at 19:43

I can help you out there...

62,434 · Monday at 19:46

Legos* are more plentiful

*Don't you just hate how Americans say that?

12,773 · Monday at 21:06

6 hours ago, barrett said:

That's a real rarity: it's one of the Mexican-built McGregor cars which you basucally never see in Europe. That livery was unique to the McGregor (the Beta was only offered as a road car in Italy) and the wheels are different (and much nicer) that the Italian-built cars). Well-worth a tenner if he still has it next time I'd say

I thought I had something similar and I found it!

29,598 · Monday at 21:48

I had a load of Minix from new in the 60s. Naturally I wrecked many of them, including the Cresta PB estate and Simca 1301 saloon. I don't ever remember having the Hillman Minx or Triumph 2000, definitely never the Thames van, and until it was mentioned here, I didn't even know the Rambler existed! They were lovely little models, of an almost-entirely British catalogue, depicting cars I could see every day (mostly; don't think I've ever seen a Cresta PB estate in the flesh!). The Husky and Matchbox diecasts of the time tended to be mostly close to Minix in size, so could be played with together. The metal ones, of course, stood up to play much better than the fragile Minix cars.

I think I might still have one or two somewhere.

12,135 · Monday at 22:40

Was it related ? I had minic motorway , i suppose it was from my dads collection , but he gave it to me , with an Aston and an E type . Kinda 1st generation slot car set . All or nothing hand controllers . My dad was furious when i gave it to my mate. I had the real deal , 1 32 Airfix Motorace sets by then . With proper speed controllers that got so hot you couldn't hold them .. Shark nose Ferrari and a Cooper cars , rally Mini monte carlo set and an Airfix Montys Humber that dad converted to a slot car..

29,598 · Monday at 22:51

Both were made by Tri-Ang, but IIRC the Minic cars were to a somewhat bigger scale. I remember the Airfix/MRRC track, had loads of it, and cars. My favourite was always the Lotus Cortina; even at six years old I would have liked a wider range of saloons.

12,773 · 2025-10-21T07:39:13Z

8 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Both were made by Tri-Ang, but IIRC the Minic cars were to a somewhat bigger scale. I remember the Airfix/MRRC track, had loads of it, and cars. My favourite was always the Lotus Cortina; even at six years old I would have liked a wider range of saloons.

If you mean Airfix slot racers, they were 1/32 and you could use any Airfix car kit of that scale I think. I had Lotus Cortina (with pennies sellotaped to the boot) Sunbeam Rapier and Minis, I only have one Mini left now as my mum chucked out everything I hadn't taken when she moved house!

62,434 · 2025-10-21T08:13:30Z

I've found a couple of Minic Motorways. They're not much bigger than an 80s Matchbox

Tri-Ang Minic Motorway Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

Tri-Ang Minic Motorway Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud

Tri-Ang Minic Motorway Humber Super Snipe

29,598 · 2025-10-21T08:28:38Z

39 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

If you mean Airfix slot racers, they were 1/32 and you could use any Airfix car kit of that scale I think. I had Lotus Cortina (with pennies sellotaped to the boot) Sunbeam Rapier and Minis, I only have one Mini left now as my mum chucked out everything I hadn't taken when she moved house!

Yes, I was aware of the Mini and Rapier; I know the mk3 Zodiac was also offered, and I think the Viva, Renault Dauphine and E-Type Jag. Bodies were from the standard kit range, yes. Of those mentioned, I think the only one I didn't have was the Rapier, but as slot cars, I think the Cortina was the only saloon I did have!

As the kits became more detailed I think they would have been more difficult to convert for the track. I'm not saying it's impossible - I've done a Triumph Herald on a Scalextric Metro chassis, and I have a couple of other projects that have been pending for years. But opening bonnets, detailed engines and so on would all get in the way, whereas the Cortina was a nice strong one-piece body. And really, can you imagine an Austin Maxi or FD Victor estate on the track?

11,405 · 2025-10-21T08:51:07Z

11 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

I had a load of Minix from new in the 60s. Naturally I wrecked many of them, including the Cresta PB estate and Simca 1301 saloon. I don't ever remember having the Hillman Minx or Triumph 2000, definitely never the Thames van, and until it was mentioned here, I didn't even know the Rambler existed! They were lovely little models, of an almost-entirely British catalogue, depicting cars I could see every day (mostly; don't think I've ever seen a Cresta PB estate in the flesh!). The Husky and Matchbox diecasts of the time tended to be mostly close to Minix in size, so could be played with together. The metal ones, of course, stood up to play much better than the fragile Minix cars.

I think I might still have one or two somewhere.

The Rambler is apparently rare because it was the last new model introduced and only had a short production run, most of which went to the USA. Triang wanted to increase sales of Minix over there but this was a strange first choice of American subject as it was hardly the most popular car and something from the big three would surely have sold better.

@Christine I'd be interested in buying your Rambler if you decide to sell it.