Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

6 hours ago, vulgalour said:

I enjoy these more fanciful offerings from Matchbox.  For some reason, I've always found this green hovercraft much harder to find than the white one.

 

 

 

Try finding the Adventure 2000 one in flat green with the black base....

[flat4alfa]

On 12/6/2019 at 6:33 PM, Tenmil Socket said:

Thought that looked similar to my old Majorette 'Fourgon VW'

Had this one since a lad - bought it in France in 1981 (first ever holiday 'abroad'). 

 Quite why they chose a decal in Dutch I don't know.  But I do know that this particular Dutch phrase was the first Dutch I ever learned!  I thought it was German.

Quote

Siemens. In a class of its own

 

[155V6]

26 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Can't help with the answer

But what did strike me was the quarter-light window that's not on other Dodge D-Series casting variations such as this Fire Brigade one

Sorry I should have cleaned it before poking a lense in its face

I never noticed that before.Also,just looking at some of my pickups(I must have about 80),the early ones have the rubbing strip right along the side,the later ones don't have it on the door.Plus some have the hole for the snowplough in the base,some don't.

[155V6]

Love the Siemens VW,that's one variant I haven't got.

[bunglebus]

22 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Thought that looked similar to my old Majorette 'Fourgon VW'

Had this one since a lad - bought it in France in 1981 (first ever holiday 'abroad'). 

 Quite why they chose a decal in Dutch I don't know.  But I do know that this particular Dutch phrase was the first Dutch I ever learned!  I thought it was German.

 

Good to see it retains its tailgate - a lot are broken or missing

20191005_131419 by RS, on Flickr

20190901_194439 by RS, on Flickr

Anyone else notice the deleted belt line molding on the panel van version? It's still there on the rear quarters but nowhere else

[155V6]

9 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Good to see it retains its tailgate - a lot are broken or missing

20191005_131419 by RS, on Flickr

20190901_194439 by RS, on Flickr

Anyone else notice the deleted belt line molding on the panel van version? It's still there on the rear quarters but nowhere else

I had to look at mine,and you're right.But the plain orange version has got it.

[Noel Tidybeard]

did someone say 50p 1100?

 

[warch]

This evening I wandered idly into my local Tesco. As I was browsing for a new set of downlighters for my kitchen I became distracted by the apparent abundance of Hot Wheels bursting out of the top of the proprietary blue skip. I thought I'd have a rummage about. A minute's searching left me clutching in my mortal hands an RS 1600 and an Audi Sport Quattro. Get in!*

 

*Forgot the light bulbs mind.

[sierraman]

Skyline with the odd Japanese writing on it. 

[Frogchod]

Last years promotional giveaways went down well.

So I've been on ebay again and got another box of 5 Hvans .

I didn't bother stripping the paint this time, just a rub down with fine wire wool.

Mass production, Andre Citroen would have been proud...

 

[bunglebus]

Entertainer have re-stocked!

 

20191212_132938 by RS, on Flickr

20191212_132527 by RS, on Flickr

20191212_132341 by RS, on Flickr

ovloV is RHD so lends itself to customising as a stock version, if that's your bag

[Datsuncog]

Wahey, it's Rover Thursday!!!

What's Rover Thursday, I hear you cry in nervous bafflement?

Haven't a clue, but it is Thursday - and here's some Rovers.

Yes, it's another feeble excuse for Who Modelled It Better? Today, that amounts to a straight shoot-out between Matchbox and Corgi.

I believe there is a correct answer, and also that it's not hard to find.

Corgi were first to market with their smol 1/65-ish version of the Rover 3500 SD1 in 1980, bringing their Corgi Junior out alongside the full-size 1/36 offering.

Given that the SD1 had been launched in 1976, and Dinky had already had a crack at it before they went belly-up in '78, it's a little surprising there had been such a degree of lag before this model arrived - but at least Corgi made up for lost time by launching each of their little and large versions in road car, touring car racer and police car liveries.

The Juniors version would last through to 1987, including the police version issued as part of the long-running BP fuel promotion.

 

Lesney took even longer to introduce their version, their MB8 Rover putting in its first appearance in pre-production yellow as 'coming soon' in the 1981/82 catalogue, finally appearing in bronzey-red in the 1982/83 model range - displacing the long-running MB8 De Tomaso Pantera.

However, by late 1982 Lesney had gone to the wall and the SD1 tooling was shipped to Macau by Universal Toys, reworked to create a police version, and relaunched for the 1983 catalogue (though not in the US where, confusingly, the De Tomaso returned once again as MB8).

As a consequence of only being in production for a few months, the non-police version isn't all that common.

 

Let's look at civvie SD1s first, then...

Fight!

Profile-wise, I think Corgi does a better job in capturing David Bache's bodylines, with its extremely broad hints of two late 1960's Pininfarina designs - the BMC 1800 concept and the production Ferrari 365 GTB/4 'Daytona'.

There's a litheness which Matchbox just doesn't seem to capture as successfully - their take on the car seems oddly slab-sided, though could have been lessened if they'd cast the sills in black as part of the base, as Corgi did. The scalloped swage line seems a smidge high, while the rear end also looks a bit truncated.

From the front, both models are recognisably SD1, though again the Matchbox seems oddly tall.

Corgi prominently modelled the headlights and indicators in relief along with a good chunky badge on that smooth nose, plus the baseplate comes up to form the black plastic bumpers. It's maybe a smidge flat and wide, but it's clear what it's meant to be.

Matchbox, in contrast, chose fussily lined concave headlights and a very detailed and delicate depiction of the Rover badge, which is unfortunately almost totally lost under the paint.

The wraparound Daytona-inspired indicators, one of the SD1's most recognisable styling cues, also loses definition in a muddle of casting lines and paint. Moulding the front part of the bumper as part of the plastic base, while keeping the ends part of the body casting, continues to confuse the eye. To me, it just doesn't instantly click what it's meant to represent.

At the back, the Corgi version suffers some loss of detail through the thickness of the opening rear hatch surrounds, while the huge towbar with top retainer plate spoils where the number plate should be. The lights also look a little wide, though the strip beneath which would carry the badging on the real thing is well-proportioned. Other than the towbar, the chunky rear bumper is scaled appropriately.

For Matchbox, the tallness of the car plus the almost non-existent split rear bumper makes for a discomfiting appearance, even though the large glazing area is more accurate. The (interior coloured) towbar is similarly distracting, though the accurate number plate (KGF 188W) is a nice touch. A minor casting flaw is also visible on the top-right of the rear panel on mine.

Looked at from above, we can see Matchbox's nod to play value - the sliding sunroof. Although not the only Matchbox toy to feature this (the Studebaker Lark Wagonaire had a sliding roof too) it wasn't all that common on toys of this scale.

Both models differ in the profile of the bonnet scoop, too. And despite the lurid yellow tone, Corgi seems to have made somewhat more of an effort to sculpt the SD1's distinctive dashboard, though the blobby moulded-in steering wheel is less convincing than the crisp Matchbox version.

Underneath, Matchbox seems to be onto a winner with good attention to detail, including suspension, propshaft and exhaust all finely modelled.

This detailed plastic baseplate was unusual choice by Lesney, who still tended to use flat, metal castings underneath for their other models. It's still hard to know whether it was an attempt to save money by a company feeling the squeeze, or an effort to make better models.

Corgi's undercarriage is more stylised, but does incorporate the spare wheel well.

Both were clear via their twin-branch exhaust pipes that this was the 3500 V8 - no poxy 2600 six-pots here. Or the 2.4 Diesel, come to that.

 

Jam Sandwiches, now...

Well, most of the previous comments apply here. Corgi has added a fairly low-detail lightbar to the roof and applied generic paper 'Police' stickers to the side and tailgate, incorporating a vaguely Metropolitan Police badge, but not much else.

Matchbox's reworking of the SD1 is taller still with the addition of a curious cast-in rearward-sloping platform for the twin round lights, plus a (slightly anachronistic?) black plastic siren/loudhailer behind - though, oddly, it seems less top-heavy than the plainclothes version. Possibly the tampo-applied stripe helps to break up the slabbiness? (Fashion tip for you there too, kids.)

The change to blue glazing meant that the lights could be included as part of the single moulding, though the interior is all but invisible and you'd wonder why they didn't take the opportunity to frost the glazing, leave the interior moulding out altogether and save themselves a few pennies - especially as there were now no opening features.

From the front, the Corgi hasn't changed much - but then this is an early 80s version of the police version, so the tooling's quite fresh. The light bar does look a bit crap, not helped by someone trying to winkle it off (not me).

Having said that, I've yet to see a police version in a tat box/ charity shop with a missing light bar, so Corgi must have anchored them on pretty well.

For the Matchbox, the tooling seems to have lost its crispness rather, with the nose badge now all but invisible. From this angle, if someone told you this was meant to be a model of a Citroen BX, you wouldn't necessarily disbelieve them.

You can also see that the mounting board for the lights is also fractionally wider than the roof itself, seemingly for no real reason. Curiouser and curiouser.

The one I have is apparently one of the very last versions, since the jam-sandwich livery only appeared in 1986 - its final year in the mainline range:

Previous 1983/85 police versions looked like this, with a chrome-effect siren and different tampos:

It's hard to tell from my crappy pics, but the door shut lines are all but invisible on my version, yet plain to see on the above earlier toy - so possibly the casting was retired simply because the tooling was knackered.

From the rear, the 'Police' sticker on the Corgi's bootlid is a nice touch. Obviously, the towbar was ideal to hook up the Corgi caravan or horse box, in case PC Plod wanted to borrow it while off-duty.

Matchbox also retains its towbar, though if you look closely you can see also there's a bizarre warp to the casting, making it look like it's been hit a thump up the arse in the line of duty.

The rear panel is actually totally straight from side-to-side, not clapped in as you might think - but clearly, there's been a production problem somewhere.

Numberplate hasn't changed from the bronze version - a far cry from the Lesney heyday when, as Vulgalour pointed out a few months back, numberplates were changed on otherwise identical component castings between the drophead coupe and fixed head coupe versions of the Rolls-Royce. Just because they could.

 

Just to contrast, the later 1980s Corgi version on the far right has tampo prints to the side, bonnet and roof, plus the newer style of five-spoke wheels and a revised lightbar, now with a raised section in the middle.

The bases on these later Corgi versions are also metal, with a strange texture to them that almost suggests sandcasting.

Apparently BP insisted that the toys given away as part of their fuel promotion in the mid-80s had a 'quality' feel to them, so a number of models offered - originally designed and sold with plastic bases - were now reworked with metal bases, at BP's behest.

This does, at least, make them pleasingly weighty - though, possibly to claw back some costs, later SD1s had their tailgate glazing deleted.

It's hard to see here, but the Matchbox bases didn't change at all during the production run, other than to replace 'Lesney England' with 'Made in China' (or Macau, as others were marked).

Oddly, I had a real problem with this Matchbox model for many years.

I didn't have one, nor had I apparently ever seen one - and when James-Up-The-Road arrived down to play with his brand new police version, I steadfastly refused to believe it was a genuine Matchbox toy.

Something about the plastic base and the slab-sidedness did not ring true, and I can recall arguing quite forcibly with him that it was not a real Matchbox car. It just didn't look or feel anything like my understanding of what Matchbox toys were. I wasn't even 100% sure what sort of car it was meant to be; only long afterwards did I twig it was supposed to be an SD1.

It's curious that I had such a fixed notion in my head of what a Matchbox car felt like, in the hand and to the eye, so that this appeared as a travesty and a charade. But then I was quite an opinionated child, when it came to diecast anyway.

So, given that I'm hideously biased, I hereby declare the Corgi version to be the winner of 'Who did it better?'

The shape is more true-to-life, the detailing better rendered, and the opening tailgate is a nice touch. IMHO.

Oddly, when Planet Diecast did a similar comparison, they reckoned the Matchbox casting was clearly far superior.

https://www.planetdiecast.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=87041:one-of-britains-fine-cars-miniatures-of-rovers-post-war-offerings&catid=13

But since Rover only managed to sell a handful of SD1s in the North American market (despite spending a fortune on redesigning the bumpers, lights and all the de-smogging gubbins), I reckon they don't know what the real thing looks like, so nyer.

 

All these Corgi Rovers were accumulated from market tat boxes at @TheDoctor's behest - and I'm only using them here as I was far too lazy to go hoking through my own collection last night to find my own stuff. Soz.

 

That said, I can now appreciate there's a lot of charm to the Matchbox versions as well, and you'll be pleased to learn I'm probably less likely to get into a furious and impassioned ding-dong in the front garden with a six-year-old over it.

I'm not even sure where my almost mint reddy-bronze version came from - possibly a charity shop in Shoreham-on-Sea? - but this battered police version showed up in the tat stall box a few weeks back, and I've been pondering this ever since.

I'd also hazard that Matchbox toys made in the far east under Universal's ownership seem suffer much worse paint wear than previous Lesney versions - most of my toys were fairly well looked-after, but the paint just seemed to fall off these mid-80s Matchboxes, while other older Lesneys were bashed about quite a lot, but still looked reasonably shiny. The paint loss on the Matchbox peelermobile looks pretty bad, though going by the state of the windows, it may have had a lot of hard play.

So, obviously, now I'm on the look-out for a half decent jam-sandwich version, too.

 

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a car whose sales were mainly confined to GB, there weren't many other SD1s made in this scale by any other manufacturer - though the Corgi casting reappeared in Hungary (them again!) under the 'Metalbox' brand (with lettering not unlike that used by Matchbox), though it does appear to be a licenced Corgi product rather than a pirate casting.

...while the same Corgi version was also made under licence by Kiko in Brazil, painted up as a Fire Chief car.

Apparently Gisima (not a manufacturer I'm familiar with) produced a somewhat lower-quality toy, which seems to be a pirated rip-off of the Matchbox MB 8 - right down to the sliding sunroof.

 

Meanwhile, I also once owned this crude no-name SD1, saved from being pounded into the pavement with a hammer by one of my wee brother's mates.

It features the federally mandated North American quad lights treatment, unusually.

Mmm, smooth arse.

Proportions actually not bad.

No identifier beyond 'Made in China' - though some corners of the internet ascribe it to Summer Toys, they of the comical Volvo 164 fame.

I think @155V6might have this one now...

 

Anyways - hope you enjoyed Rover Thursday... because we all know that means there's only one more sleep until Tat Friday...

[Tenmil Socket]

This is so poor it's great!

[egg]

What year is this one from folks? 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Matchbox-Removal-Van/174099621202?hash=item2889256552:g:xrQAAOSwti5ceEIR

 

[Datsuncog]

7 minutes ago, egg said:

What year is this one from folks? 

2016 for that colour combo, apparently!

https://matchbox.fandom.com/wiki/MBX_Moving_Truck

MB33, based on the Ford F-series truck.

[sierraman]

I’ve a few of the Matchbox Rover 3500. Pre production models were yellow with a red interior. 

[Split_Pin]

Brilliant comparison DC. I have the MB 83-85 police versions and the Corgi versions in red, metallic blue and yellow, thenlatter of which is paired with a nice Corgi caravan.

Incidentally I bought an eraser from the school book club in about 1988 which was a pirated casting of the police Corgi SD1. I'd like to find the last-of-the line BP promotional police version as it was one of the few from that series that I didn't own despite it being common amongst my peers.

[quicksilver]

A fascinating comparison and it's remarkable to see how different two interpretations of the same subject in the same scale can be. The Corgi is the clear winner for me as it actually looks like an SD1 but the Matchbox is too bulky, like an SD1 that ate all the pies. That roof appendage on the cop car version is weird, something to do with filling in the sunroof mechanism at a guess.

[Tenmil Socket]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Matchbox-No-55D-Ford-Cortina-pre-production-model-military-green-Test-model/332026303045?hash=item4d4e4f5245:g:iKMAAOSwHMJYIeo7

[egg]

The Corgi is the definite winner. But I'm a matchbox boy*, so would always choose that first in Woolies.

[sierraman]

50 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Brilliant comparison DC. I have the MB 83-85 police versions and the Corgi versions in red, metallic blue and yellow, thenlatter of which is paired with a nice Corgi caravan.

Incidentally I bought an eraser from the school book club in about 1988 which was a pirated casting of the police Corgi SD1. I'd like to find the last-of-the line BP promotional police version as it was one of the few from that series that I didn't own despite it being common amongst my peers.

I don’t know if I’ve dreamt this but didn’t Corgi make a Rover 3500 pencil sharpener?

[sierraman]

Here it is. Had to look it up...

[Bren]

Personally I think the corgi casting is more accurate - the matchbox model has a front end that is too steeply raked. Plus it has a working sunroof.

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

I don’t know if I’ve dreamt this but didn’t Corgi make a Rover 3500 pencil sharpener?

That's fantastic! Never even knew that existed... mind you, it would have been confiscated in ten minutes flat if I'd had one at school...

[egg]

Has anyone here got a Siku Mondeo Mk1 they'd like to sell please? Unboxed..

[Spottedlaurel]

As it's voting day today, I'm going to cast mine in favour of the Corgi version.

A solid blue example was one of the last toy cars I had when young, so it's survived the years very well.

[sheffcortinacentre]

What proof other than he says is pre production etc is there on the MK4 Cortina?!?

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, Spottedlaurel said:

As it's voting day today, I'm going to cast mine in favour of the Corgi version.

A solid blue example was one of the last toy cars I had when young, so it's survived the years very well.

Your vote has been cast and validated...

I believe this is appropriate, given the circumstances!

[quicksilver]

Don't forget the opposition. The Dinky Party want you to vote for somebody, anybody at all

[eddyramrod]

NO! Not just "Anybody at all;" in fact they are asking you to vote for Roger Somebody, corner-lot car dealer of this parish.  What's the matter with you?  Don't you recognise the flat cap and the short sheepskin car coat?