Shite in Miniature II

[Split_Pin]

2 hours ago, SilverMachine said:

anyone parting with any renault 19 5 door hatchbacks cheap? phase 1 and 2  if possible

https://ebay.io/m/TGn9ec

Its a saloon but you'll find a hatch and Phases 1 and 2 no doubt. Jumajo is your friend here.

[MVX11V]

FINALLY! IT IS MINE MWAHAHAAA

[bunglebus]

A real white Saab Sonnet? Very nice, where did you find that?

[MVX11V]

58 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

A real white Saab Sonnet? Very nice, where did you find that?

Bloody eBay! 

[SilverMachine]

3 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

https://ebay.io/m/TGn9ec

Its a saloon but you'll find a hatch and Phases 1 and 2 no doubt. Jumajo is your friend here.

cheers @Split_Pin but there more than i paid for my first real renault 19!  (swapped a trash built but perfectly working pentium2 pc that i worked out owed me less than £20!) my second one i paid 200 as the guy lost the log book...

[warch]

Not strictly shite and definitely not a car but I was unable to resist buying this classic Corgi, which I purchased off eBay for a tenner with the postage. 

 

I was never really allowed army stuff when I was a kid (Star Wars was ok though). The inevitable result of this was a lifelong interest in the military, military history and wargaming. I did have a very dilapidated one of these minus tracks and most of the cannon barrel courtesy of my cousin. I always assumed the model, which is pleasingly large was sort of 1/64 scale because tanks are big, but it’s more like 1/48 - 1/50 scale like my Corgi Land Rover and the tank transporter it was also sold with. 

[bunglebus]

Nice spelling error from Maisto - Buick Lesarre rather than Le Sabre

 

[flat4alfa]

3 hours ago, warch said:

Not strictly shite and definitely not a car but I was unable to resist buying this classic Corgi

Centurion MKIII.  As found in Gift Set GS10 !

The real thing might not be strictly shite, but it was built on the production lines at Leyland Motors. Their 27L RR Meteor engine hit the heady heights of 0.5 mpg at best, which meant a Soviet T54 could get roughly four times the distance on its fuel load. However the Centurion crew was far more likely to survive a hit and be far less exhausted getting there.

Its power plant was related to the Merlin you'd find in your Spitfire, with early units being manufactured using recovered Merlin parts - many early Meteors showed crash damage.  The majority of Meteor production was by Rover Company at Solihull.

Did the British Army ever import Mack R-Series though?  It would have been a Thornycroft Antar, followed by a Scammell Commander.  But Corgi in their wisdom did their Commander model only in Juniors scaling

[flat4alfa]

On 27/09/2026 at 22:31, Split_Pin said:

I have a Ford D series artic Corgi Juniors with the larger Rostyle wheels. As it was a Husky I'm not sure it counts though.

I'd forgotten about those. I never knew the Popeye was a Juniors either.

Opportunity* to look again at Husky/Corgi Ford D Series I think?  Probably not but I'll do it anyway just to be annoying

The Husky originally had this set of turned 'spun' wheels fitted with rubber tyres:

Which carried through to the cast wheels fitted with nylon tyres, also found on the 'new' Corgi Juniors:

When Whizzwheels came, it adopted the big boy set, all-plastic and in one-piece. With changes made to the base to accommodate

Maybe they did other modifications, as we can see here there is only the one fixing lug.

It was always a bit of an odd scale, I'll have to get the calipers out and check. Or not.

Notice the base provided the entire lower front half, incorporating bumpers, lights and grille.

Unlike...

[flat4alfa]

...the Corgi Juniors Ford D 1000 Tipper, which had a completely different front-end to its casting.

It was a smaller scale overall, incorporating the plastic base’s fixing lug into a lower part of the grille.

As a young lad, I hadn't twigged they were meant to be the same vehicle cab. 

Then they had to confuse further by adding larger diameter big boy sized wheels, which weren't.

As a young lad I couldn't get why they needed to do that. There was no way a 'small lorry' would need wheels like that - what was it doing, climbing cliff faces?  Even @Datsuncog's garden rockery would be too much for it.

Not only that, Corgi reckoned the Leyland Terrier Tanker could also follow it up the same terrain

Madness.

[Split_Pin]

Mk1 Golf planned for 2027.

I cant work out why they've released it as a standard car as Mattel already have one in the MB line up. I thought they'd release it as a racing car, like the 1/24 Bburago model. Similar to how they've treated the MK1 Civic.

 

[warch]

6 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Centurion MKIII.  As found in Gift Set GS10 !

The real thing might not be strictly shite, but it was built on the production lines at Leyland Motors. Their 27L RR Meteor engine hit the heady heights of 0.5 mpg at best, which meant a Soviet T54 could get roughly four times the distance on its fuel load. However the Centurion crew was far more likely to survive a hit and be far less exhausted getting there.

Its power plant was related to the Merlin you'd find in your Spitfire, with early units being manufactured using recovered Merlin parts - many early Meteors showed crash damage.  The majority of Meteor production was by Rover Company at Solihull.

Did the British Army ever import Mack R-Series though?  It would have been a Thornycroft Antar, followed by a Scammell Commander.  But Corgi in their wisdom did their Commander model only in Juniors scaling

The Cent Mk III was the really early post war model (I can never really see the tank as a Second World War design because it looks so modern) but they were developed during the war and missed out on deployment by a month or so. 
 

The British army did use most versions of American trucks including tank transporters alongside things like the then rather elderly Scammell Pioneer. They certainly used the American Diamond T. I don’t know if a Mack R was used in this configuration, there was a British Mack recovery lorry but it seemed to be a flatbed for shifting much smaller lighter tanks like the Cruiser III/IV and Crusader.

[bunglebus]

Can't help you with the Corgi, but this Dinky Thornycroft Tank Transporter passed through my hands as part of the massive job lot I bought

 

[danthecapriman]

2 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Mk1 Golf planned for 2027.

I cant work out why they've released it as a standard car as Mattel already have one in the MB line up. I thought they'd release it as a racing car, like the 1/24 Bburago model. Similar to how they've treated the MK1 Civic.

 

Despite my earlier bitching about Hot Wheels (maybe they heard me!😄) that Golf and the Civic look rather nice. See, plain and normal is good!

[Datsuncog]

I've a GS10 Corgi Mack R-series tank transporter, if anyone fancies rehoming it.

Think I've given it a bit of a clean since finding it at the market, some 3 years back.

Paid £5 for it, so it'll go at that price. Not a minter, but certainly presentable enough.

Kinda timely, this discussion, as I happened to rediscover this particular model the other evening amongst a load of other diecast just chilling in a box in the attic...

Ah.

I think it's a mix of longer-term stuff set aside for some folks on here, and other items I'm probably going to offload.

Yes, best do something about that.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Have we had this yet? It's much nicer than mine, but top ££ on starting price. It'll be interesting to see what it ends at. 

https://ebay.io/m/1a8je0

[flat4alfa]

8 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Can't help you with the Corgi, but this Dinky Thornycroft Tank Transporter passed through my hands as part of the massive job lot I bought

That was very clean. It almost looks reproduction!

Having the Royal Army Service Corps blue/yellow insignia and no supports in the trailer casting for the later transformer/ship screw loads would date it 1956-63

I wish I’d known you were selling that one as the only example here is a low loader with a snapped trailer mount and was painted by a loon

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

just chilling in a box in the attic...

Is that the Chaika ?

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Dick Cheeseburger said:

Have we had this yet? It's much nicer than mine, but top ££ on starting price. It'll be interesting to see what it ends at. 

https://ebay.io/m/1a8je0

That is bloody lovely. Waaaay out of my price range though. But, I reckon someone will bid on it even at that price.

[Datsuncog]

18 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Is that the Chaika ?

It is, yes - and it's set aside for you, if you still fancy it!

42	10/05/2025	Flat4Alfa	GAZ Chaika limousine, black	5.00
			Franklin Mint Pontiac GTO cabrio, blue	1.00
			Tri-ang Magicar base & Wrenn motor	5.00
			Mebetoys Hot Wheels Ferrari 512S	5.00

[flat4alfa]

2025?? 
My life is passing quick

[flat4alfa]

22 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

It is, yes - and it's set aside for you, if you still fancy it!

Yes

That storage process you’ve employed seems to be magical, as it now looks shiny shiny not dusty dusty

Quote

Original 2020 Market Day photo resurfaces! But the paint on the other one is making me ZIL.

What happened to that one?

[Tenmil Socket]

@Split_Pin

Found another and before I could hit buy it now my boss walked into the office. It was sold once he’d left 😩

 

[Datsuncog]

50 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Original 2020 Market Day photo resurfaces! But the paint on the other one is making me ZIL.

What happened to that one?

That particular Zil 117 by Radon went to @Jon, back in November 2021. I think the paintwork cleaned up pretty well with some bubbles and a soft toothbrush.

It was a duplicate - and my original still-boxed version went to @Bear in early 2022 as part of a job-lot of original Soviet-era diecast, just before the house move.

I believe they've since been roffled on, not sure who ended up with them in the end.

Box illustration was simply super.

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, Tenmil Socket said:

@Split_Pin

Found another and before I could hit buy it now my boss walked into the office. It was sold once he’d left 😩

 

A valiant effort nevertheless.

As an aside the doorless and smashed one I bought on ebay has found a new home. The buyer promptly fitted a new windscreen, polished it and now it looks brand new. I made zero profit though 😂

[Datsuncog]

12 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I made zero profit though 😂

It's the Autoshite way (whether intentional or otherwise). 🙃

[tooSavvy]

I lowballed this and scored, £5 delivered 😉

Might scrub up OK....

🚙💨

[flat4alfa]

2 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

I believe they've since been roffled on, not sure who ended up with them in the end

@2110 ?

[flat4alfa]

“Farmer Tom's Zil"

"Oh is that right?  Oh dear, please could you pass on my best wishes for his recovery"

"No no, Farmer Tom's Zil"

"Eh?  Ok... well I hope he gets well soon"

"No no, Farmer Tom's Zil"

"Stop messing me about you daft ha'porth"

"Farmer Tom's Zil"

"FFS"

[Datsuncog]

8 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Can't help you with the Corgi, but this Dinky Thornycroft Tank Transporter passed through my hands as part of the massive job lot I bought

Lightly off topic, but family lore has it that a distant cousin who was in the army somehow once drove one of these Thorneycroft transporters up a tiny terraced Belfast side street to visit their aunt, blocking the entire road and bringing everyone out to gawp at it.

Such japes. Must have been the early/mid 1960s.

Impossible to verify, of course, but one of those stories that habitually got trotted out after a few sherries at Christmas...