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Shite in Miniature II


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When I worked in a toy and model shop a long time ago, our Matchbox rep disappeared off the face of the planet for a year. Gone. Whoomph. Nothing. Uncontactable. No catalogues, no POS displays, no stock. The company didn't give a shit, either. Just kept fobbing us off. We turned to Siku and Tomica as a small car brand instead, but they were dearer and didn't sell in the same numbers at all.

Then he just turned up again like nothing had happened. This would have been 1997 or so.

Weird how some places seem to do business.

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I have finally found the solution to the quest to put an interesting model challenge together for my friend in the States.  I wasn't actually looking for this exact set up, it just stumbled across a really good joblot that filled a lot of holes in my collection cheaply and it all sort of fell together nicely.  I'd already decided a Ford Capri was a must, it's one of his favourite British cars, and after looking around at what was available at this scale really the only solution was a car transporter with stuff on.  I went with Matchbox as it's familiar, good value for money with how detailed their stuff is, and has plenty of potential for modifying or leaving stock.  I've gone for cars that you can swap decent sized wheels onto so if he wants to use something like the Greenlight wheel kits, he can much easier.

 

The transporter is in really nice shape, it's almost a shame to send it to him as I'd quite happily keep that.  Inside the transporter we have:

Ford Capri Mk2- bonus opening bonnet and little engine to work on.  This is one of his favourite British cars.

Pontiac Firebird - another of his real world favourites.  It could do with better looking wheels. Odd one out because it's a Corgi.

Ford Mustang Mach2 - Sidepipes, opening bonnet, and a silly engine.  I suspect he'll really like this one, it's a nice model to work with.

Dodge Challenger - I've got quite a few of these, it's another he really likes.

Chevrolet G10 - this is the wildcard.  I'm not sure if he likes custom vanning, I suspect he does, and he's pretty handy with decals and airbrushes so he could do some really exciting things with this one.

 

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He's already got a kit for me, I don't know what beyond it being from a company that still exists and "90% of them were road boats", so I've no idea what he's picked up.  It was tricky because I fancied something utterly ordinary and malaise era and most of the kits over there focus on special editions and 2 door sports things.  I shall keep you posted on the challenge as it progresses.

 

there's NO mk2 crapi in that mr vulg!

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Right.

 

Plastic.

 

I have a real problem here.

 

They say I am killing the fucking oceans because I'm white, male, heterosexual, smoke, drink , watch car racing and pay taxes.

 

Let me tell you a few things about this.

 

I haven't thrown a molecule of plastic into no fucking ocean in my life.

If plastic in the fucking oceans is indeed a problem, I suggest you start prosecuting the way too rich parasites making a shitload of money from the contents of my plastic recycling bin, who indeed dump the contents of it into the fucking oceans out of pure, unadulterated greed.

 

They say there will be more plastic in the oceans than sea life. I call that horseshit. If there is anything I know, then it's the fact that nofuckingbody knows how much sea life is in those fucking oceans, let alone what species are in them.

 

They say I kill the oceans. The opposite is true. There are creatures in those fucking oceans that only wait for me to jump in.

 

They say if the oceans die, I die. Well, the oceans are not going to die. I will. Fact.

 

It's all bollox.

 

However, I'm all for protecting nature, because I am.

 

So promise me. Promise me that you are not going to hurl anything I would like to post now into the fucking oceans.

 

Promise me, or I will not post it.

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^^One of the models of my childhood which I didn't have, together with the Corgi Hillman Imp because I was born 5 years too late.

 

Thankfully I have both now, great little pieces.

 

Must say 155 you are v. generous on this thread. I've lost count of the numbers of freebies you have given me, especially the BMW wheels which resurrected one of mine to better than before :)

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When you say natural habitat I take it you also refer to the peeling metallic paint!      

 

Lovely colour, though, almost Aquatic Jade.   I remember our local green-grocer having a Zephyr de Luxe that colour.....Must have been over-charging my mum for the Sunday veg.

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Those old Airfix kits are sought after and hence quite valuable in any condition.

Reissues are unlikely, because some of the tooling went to MPC in the USA and thus went under with them, hence the whereabouts are unknown and it's more than likely some of it got sold for scrap. The succession of takeovers and mergers over there is so convoluted, that the trail of the tooling often can't be traced and nobody at this time really knows what exists and what not. Often tooling is now incomplete and retooling the missing components economically infeasible. Add to this the licensing jungle you have to go through to release any kit and you can imagine how unlikely it is for what was a niche product even in its day ever hitting the shelves again.

 

Depending on how restorable these built models are, they can command stiff money, but as has been mentioned by others, nowhere near the price of unbuilts.

If I could look at pics, I'd be able to tell more, but if they are reasonably complete and can be rebuilt, I'd say they are at least 75 quid each.

If you really don't want to eBay them, which IMO is the only sensible way, because it's exactly this what eBay initially was invented for, I'd try relevant fori such as Britmodeller.com, or approach vendors of old kits such as Kits for Cash, Kingkit, or Plastic Past Times. Although the latter will not pay full whack for obvious reasons, their offers aren't unfair and dealing with them couldn't be more hassle free.

I know im a couple of months late but just dug these old kits out and photographed them so I will share them now :mrgreen:

 

I will start with the best and steadily get worse :lol:

 

Kansas Kruiser with added "K"

 

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Ill say a little bit about all three in this first post but theres so many photos I will split it into three posts ;-)

 

I took very little notice of the destructions as they basically told you to paint all the interiors Black,the tyres Gloss Black,The Rear lights Gloss Red etc etc just dreadful! They also expected you to cut up the destructions sheet for the numberplates Blue dot matrix lettering on crap white paper!

 

Nice!!!! So I made my own numberplates White Lettering on Black Backgrounds used a rear lense repair kit paint to paint the rear lenses for extra realism and consulted sales literature of the real cars for suitable interior colours :mrgreen:

 

And old Street Machine/Custom Car issues for rear axle detaiing etc.

 

The one mistake I made was I buried the waterslides under clear enamel lacquer which 20+ years ago wasnt exactly UV Resistant :mad:

 

It hasnt affected the Yellow Cortina but the white areas on the Zody and most of the Capri are now sadly and off white Duck Egg Yolk yellowy white hue :cry:

 

But they were well made and are not broken and I have the boxes if a little faded and worn and all the Destructions,Moddlers Club coupons etc were kept :mrgreen:

 

So here goes first Cortina...............................

 

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Zodiac and Crapi to follow ;-)

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Krakle Kat Ford Capri

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This one suffered the most as it was a sea of White! and It seems I missed the lacquer off a few places :roll:

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Ooops missed a bit :roll:

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Plus a bit around the Grill :roll:

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Contrast can be seen here,the back of the bonnet that never saw UV Light against the shell that did :-(

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Car came with a driver,I painted him up at the time but never put him in place as I thought he looked a little to business like to be driving a jacked up Custom Scene Capri? I think he was just carried over from the stocker Airfix Capri?

Also I printed extra Numberplates not sure why but there still there ;-)

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All three kits made in Good old Blighty in 1980 to be included in the new for 81 Catalogue :mrgreen:

Just before Airfix went bust and got bought out by Palitoy :cry:

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The End!!!

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There is no way to resurrect the lacker laqwer liqueur clearcoat. Vintage enamel based lacquer yellowed, end of story.

Do not use the stuff today, you'll see the same happening over the next few decades.

It has long since been established in modelling circles what to use to avoid the effect.

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Junkman I’m sat here at work salivating over your updates. Really appreciated (even if I’m 99% likely not to buy any). Please keep your spy in whatever poison he demands ????

 

 

You know a car has crossed the boundary from 'somewhat attainable' to 'pipe dream' as soon as somebody makes a large scale, massively detailed model of it. That said, those Glaseratis look great even if I suppose it means I'll never have a real one.

 

 

I couldn't agree more with both of you. For whatever reason those high end models of supercars are the trend and seem to sell reasonably well, going by the pertinent forums. Especially the collectors in the emerging markets are very fond of them. Sadly this leaves the traditionalists a bit in mid air, which is widely lamented upon in forums catering for that bunch.

 

I can only afford so many of these high end models, but some of them are so well made that I bought them despite I don't really like the real car they represent.

That CMC W100 for example might find its way to me when I get a bonus, or otherwise run into some unexpected loot.

Usually my ceiling price wise is Sun Star Platinum and even those I mostly buy when they are on sale somewhere.

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