Shite in Miniature II

[warch]

18 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Yesterday, went to Aylesbury branch of Entertainer

two racks, one table, range all laid out. Underneath the table were three open boxes....   all were brimming, yet all had been rifled through. EVERY VOLVO GONE.

 

They're all on ebay at £7 each with the postage. Bloody scalpers!

[junkyarddog]

"That old Impala looks fucked M8"

I do agree Smoll Eddy,but it's quite a rare find,it's made in Israel by Gamda Koor, Sabra.

What do you think of that?

"Oy vey M8"

[Split_Pin]

I like that a lot, really unusual.

[egg]

Fantastic find, I came across a job lot of those on German eBay last year, but chickened out. 

[junkyarddog]

Were they expensive?

Think I paid about 2-3 euro for this one,certainly no more than 5 at any rate.

Just thought it was unusual. 

[Bren]

The matchbox bmw 323i takes me back to 1987 - last full year at school, while perusing a gift shop in Towyn I clocked the gorgeous red matchbox xj6 which was purchased - my mate however clocked the BMW and acquired it without paying.....

[eddyramrod]

23 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

"Oy vey M8"

I have two of those....

[junkyarddog]

4 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

I have two of those....

No wonder Smoll Eddy was less than impressed!

[egg]

33 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

Were they expensive?

Think I paid about 2-3 euro for this one,certainly no more than 5 at any rate.

Just thought it was unusual. 

I think it was a job lot of 5 for about €20, but postage as well of course...

[egg]

But many are much more....This is €30

https://www.ebay.de/itm/alterer-VW-Kafer-Blechspielzeug-Sabra-Gamda-Kaar-Israel-Vintage-Toy-Car-Beetle/153774613943

€60 for this one...

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Gamda-Koor-SABRA-Ford-Mustang-rot-red-Nr-8106-Made-in-Israel-1-43-Box-Garage/123727269264?hash=item1cceb84d90:g:3ugAAOSwysFcAchb

 

[Datsuncog]

21 hours ago, RoadworkUK said:

I've never really liked the non- specific nature of the "US Van" casting...

I never quite understood why Corgi called the Juniors version 'US Van', while calling the 1/36 versions 'Chevrolet Van'... it bugged me for years too, also because I never seemed to see any vans like my toy ones in the US shows I was addicted to back then.

I had the 'US Van' in ambulance, Swissair, Pepsi and plain red variants.

I've since come to believe that it was Corgi's not-terribly-good crack at a 1975/76 Chevrolet G10 short wheelbase van, going by the grille, lights, wing-mounted amber reflector and general shape (if you squint a bit)...

While, interestingly, Matchbox shortly after chose to model the long wheelbase 1977 Chevrolet G20.

I would never have guessed that my familiar Corgi and Matchbox toys were meant to be models of essentially the same van.

I think Matchbox did it better... but still, that British Telecom van is nice!

[eddyramrod]

Early incarnations of the Corgi Junior have "Chevy van" stamped into the base, where the later ones say "US Van."  The Corgi's trouble is that it looks like it's been sliced down the middle and a couple of feet welded in to make it wider.  I also never cared for the oval windows in the back doors.  Hard to believe they're supposed to be the same van, I know!

[Datsuncog]

Well, a little later than hoped - but finally we have Part 3 of the 20th December Market Extravaganza.

Remember this?

And this?

Well, it turns out it looked a bit like this, once the dust settled.

So, what is there?

As requested by @bunglebus:

Five Majorettes, including the 911, two Corvettes, a Firebird and a Jeep.

Corvette ZR1s vary in terms of decoration, glazing and interior colours; opening doors too.

Meanwhile, the Pontiac has an opening bonnet while the Porsche gets the door treatment.

Jeep no longer seems to have the dog on board - but I had a similar model years ago, and could never work out what the weird giant hat thing in the back was meant to be. A dog bed would not have been my guess.

So yes - if you still want these, I'll set them aside for you!

I also netted these Majorettes, which I don't believe were in the 50p tat box for the morning session:

Breakdown wagon appears to be a Chevrolet Blazer - though the baseplate gives few clues.

Saviem truck is similar to a white one I once had, of uncertain provenance. I'm guessing this may have had a canopy, originally?

And same with the rather nice Unimog forklift - not one I'm familiar with, but a similar mechanism to the Matchbox MB15 Lansing Bagnall Forklift.

Same paint, and same colour of plastic baseplate on the pair of them too.

If anyone takes a shine to these, they're available!

Also, in my scoop-happy state, I hadn't picked up the message to leave these two, so I nabbed them by mistake.

Mustang is missing a tailgate, while the fire brigade Rangie isn't as good as thought, with some suspension damage giving it a peculiar low-rider stance, plus red paint dabbed over the decals.

Oh well. Available to anyone who thinks they can do something with them.

There was also this Corgi Juniors Ford D-Series skip truck - I owned one of these years ago but the boom broke, and I can't remember if I still have the white plastic skip in my nostalgia toybox.

If I do, I'll reunite them.

My skip truck was bought new but had much smaller wheels and no glass, oddly.

 

Continuing with the commercial vehicles theme, there were also these from Matchbox:

A Dodge Cattle Truck (MB71) and weird fantasy Articulated Truck (MB50).

I always retained a certain grievance against the articulated truck (and similar tanker stablemate), mainly due to the axles being far too close together, and the weird cab proportions.

It's only in more recent years that I've come to wonder whether it was loosely based on plans for the advanced-but-doomed 1975 Hendrickson Paymaster tractor unit?

In fairness, Lesney were doing their best to provide an articulated truck at a 1-75 size and price point, so I probably shouldn't be so harsh. The push-plug trailer coupling via a nylon bush is pretty clever, being simple, cheap and works well.

Lesney also managed to improve on it a little later, with the more prototypical Leyland T45 artic carrying out the same role.

The full majesty of the Convoy range would come later...

I only noticed while taking pics that the Cattle Truck has suffered a factory flaw - it seems the towhitch hasn't been seated properly during the riveting process, causing the baseplate to bend, a corner of the hitch to squash and bulge out, and the rearmost rivet to barely hold.

On a flat surface there's a noticeable lean to the body, but that's ok. Otherwise, it's in good nick.

This plain red and beige version would probably originally have come as part of the 1978 Farm Set...

Though it was also apparently sold in the US as part of the 'Hitch 'n' Haul' range, their version of the UK Two-Packs

I also turned this up:

I still have, in dreadful condition, a white Peterbilt flatbed truck and trailer from the Convoy range: it came with two FedEx containers, one of which has gone missing and the other is suffering badly from too much beach play, long ago.

At least I'll have two containers, now.

 

Following on from the discussion on Ergomatics a few weeks back...

I've been looking for an AEC Merryweather fire appliance for a little while now, and although I had (and got rid of) a Superfast Leyland pipe truck some time ago, I couldn't resist picking these up for a comparison pic:

The Leyland is a lot smaller here, though annoyingly neither is in great fettle.

Both these are available at cost price, if anyone fancies them?

 

And just to finish off the Matchbox selection, we have these:

Yup, some of the parts from the mid-80s range of stock car racing sets.

In my general haste, I couldn't see either the Ruff Trek Holden ute which would have accompanied the '217 Super Star' set on the left (though I have a tatty version at home), or the Dr Pepper AMX Javelin missing from the set on the right. Maybe someone else pinched them first; maybe they were never in the tat box.

I do like these, and I think I'll hold onto them for a while  - until I can find the rest of the set, anyway.

 

And lastly - these.

Now, these were quite unfamiliar to me but some quick research indicates that these are Hot Wheels 'Steering Rigs' from around 1981.

It's quite a clever little toy - the tractor units each have a sort of perforated lug by the coupler...

And the trailer has a pin up near its own coupling peg which fits into it...

And the movement of this pin is controlled by a sort of transparent wheel mounted on the rear of the trailer.

So, when hitched up and pushed from the rear, the cab appears to steer left and right based on the movements made through the wheel.

Like so:

It really is a most ingenious and thoroughly satisfying method of steering - and weirdly addictive. Never even knew about these before - brilliant toys.

Now, I THOUGHT that I'd picked up two of these trailers from the tat box (the other being a white box trailer), but on hoking through my hoard later, I only seem to have secured one.

I'm hoping that lone trailers won't sell so well, and it might still be there next time.

Although the axles are a little wonky, these are all in pretty good nick - and may make a welcome addition to any blackwall collectors out there?

 

So there we go... and I've just noticed that I also picked up a green Matchbox Convoy Kenworth, but managed to overlook it while taking pics. Ah well.

I think this may well wrap things up at my end for 2019, but fear not - hoping to get back up to speed some time in the New Year.

Have a good 'un, kids.

[bunglebus]

Good to have you back - and yes I'll happily take the 1st lot of Majorettes. 

I like those blackwall steering rigs, think I'll stick to cars though, got to get my collection trimmed down!

The Convoy transporters and cars are excellent, I had the Brut set and swapped it when I was a kid, still regret that move.

[sierraman]

More Hot Wheels purchased. The Greyhound coach weighs a ton! Also got a Superkings Mercedes 350SLC, absolutely mint. 

[flat4alfa]

5 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

I never quite understood why Corgi called the Juniors version 'US Van', while calling the 1/36 versions 'Chevrolet Van'.

It gets better - the later issue 1/36 vans are ‘Chevrolet’ on the base, but ‘US’ on the box side panels

I have the whole range of 1/36 for my OCD sins. Also some code 3 efforts in the pipeline too. Any interest in seeing them? I’m a tad in denial of the amount spent getting the lot together...

The sole 1/64 Juniors one I was after arrived yesterday by the post lady. A variation rarity, I remember the catalogue entry from when I was a boy. Never seen one as clean as this one and won it for £1.90 ? 

[Jon]

With only a handful of hours to go, I suppose now is the time to finish up my 2019 tat account, with the last couple of as yet undeclared bits. I mean, conditions outside are ripe for the house painting I'm undertaking but this is very important stuff, right?

 

I was very happy to score this Siku Hanomag off a private seller in Auckland, so was able to pick it up in person whilst up there for work. I didn't have any Sikus with these particular types of wheels, so that was a nice bonus. It originally would've had a canopy and perhaps even an a-frame steering axle trailer behind it (seems it was sold with or without it) but I like it just as a plain drop side, especially since it's retained its tailgate.

 

Here's a pic of what a real one looks like - quite a good looker, eh?

 

[andy18s]

I umm'd and ahh'd over this one

Decided to buy it and of course it's sold......

(Really need to charge my phone too)

 

[Jon]

Lastly, straight after winning the above Hanomag on Trademe, I pressed the Buy Now button on this:

As you can see, it's not in the best of nick (missing door mirrors, canopy and broken wind deflector) but I'd never seen this model of Siku F7 before (and now I've seen two on this thread, thanks to @Spottedlaurel!) and I had fond memories of playing with my Siku trucks and trailers back in the day.

 So, forgive my slight indulgence on the photo count but let's all take a closer look at why Siku trucks are so excellent. For a backdrop, I've chosen the colours of the 1980's Siku catalogues I loved as a kid:

 

First up, the trailer. All the drop sides drop, barring the front, so plenty of bits to tinker with. The struts also drop down, so the trailer is self supportive; when stowed, they click in place nice and firmly, to prevent accidental deployment, which we can all agree is very frustrating and a very real hazard on carpets and rugs. The tractor unit can also hitch and unhitch quite satisfyingly, which is a big bonus in my eyes. I can't begin to describe my displeasure towards my Superkings DAF transporter tractor and trailer, which were eternally coupled!

 

I've left the coupling mechanism on the tractor slightly ajar to demonstrate how the trailer is safely coupled; as the big lever turns clockwise, the white nylon cup turns round to fill the gap in the coupling. Special bonus point of having a car-type towing hook added, should a child wish to pull the Siku twin axle caravan behind and enact the life of a carny.

 

The as yet unmentioned part trick of the trailer is its floating axles! Check out the terrrain this can tackle without grounding out.

 

Finally, I went full catalogue mode here, especially as it allowed me to show off a couple of my other prized Sikus. 

 

Anyway, happy 2020 to all and let's see what exciting small things are in store!

[Lord Sterling]

Spotted these in a charity shoppe I help out in:

£4 each. They might be gone by now. But if anyone is interrested I can try and get them but I won't be able to get to the shop until the weekend.

[Split_Pin]

59 minutes ago, Jon said:

Siku trucks are so excellent. 

Siku Trucks are indeed great, I love your photos!

I have that F7 however it's acquired a low loader trailer at some point. The legs are 'wound' down like a real trailer's legs would be. I also have an Iveco Turbostar and it's box trailer has a similar axle arrangement to your F7 trailer there.  

I also have a somewhat unbelievable 6 wheel Ford Cargo tractor, pulling that same low loader with a helicopter.

Siku also chose interesting truck subjects, the Renault G series Turboliner was always my favourite. I have a 6 wheel dropside rigid which probably had a vinyl tilt cover at one point and a 4 wheel drag as well. 

The FL10 has as yet escaped me and so has the MAN-VW LT. I'll keep looking!

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, Lord Sterling said:

Spotted these in a charity shoppe I help out in:

£4 each. They might be gone by now. But if anyone is interrested I can try and get them but I won't be able to get to the shop until the weekend.

Even though they are 1:43, I’ll say yes please to the Tatra for £4

[Spottedlaurel]

2 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

The sole 1/64 Juniors one I was after arrived yesterday by the post lady. A variation rarity, I remember the catalogue entry from when I was a boy. Never seen one as clean as this one and won it for £1.90 ?

Funny how things work out isn't it? For many years this Jaws version was the only 'US Van' I had. I bought the James Bond set with some Christmas money one year, from memory it contained this van, the spattered Mercedes which should have been a Cortina IIRC, amphibious Esprit and a helicopter. Did they sell the van separately?

When my kids were younger it was likened to the silver van I sometimes used for surveying work, so I think they called it daddy's measuring van.

[Rover414]

@Lord Sterling if that 911 is still available I would have it.

[Lord Sterling]

7 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Even though they are 1:43, I’ll say yes please to the Tatra for £4

 

4 hours ago, Rover414 said:

@Lord Sterling if that 911 is still available I would have it.

Cheers lads. I'll see what I can do.

[Split_Pin]

@Datsuncog if they havent been dibsed yet I'll take the Hotwheels rigs, and the flatbed orange ergomatic please!

[bunglebus]

13 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

I have the whole range of 1/36 for my OCD sins. Also some code 3 efforts in the pipeline too. Any interest in seeing them? I’m a tad in denial of the amount spent getting the lot together...

 

Post 'em up! I sometimes withhold stuff I've bought because it feels like I've gone a bit overboard. I'd be interested in seeing them anyway. 

[DoctorRetro]

@eddyramrod

Has anyone nabbed the Unimog? I've got a thing for them, so if anyone else has any Unimog models, I'd be interested.... 

Edited as I tagged the wrong person, sorry Eddy. 

@Datsuncog- same question! 

[quicksilver]

14 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I also have a somewhat unbelievable 6 wheel Ford Cargo tractor, pulling that same low loader with a helicopter.

Such things did exist! Ford made Cargos all the way up to 38 tonnes and the 3828 was available a twin-steer 6x2 artic. Never very popular and hen's teeth rare now.

iveco ford cargo 3828 ts by eurostar522, on Flickr

[Datsuncog]

21 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Early incarnations of the Corgi Junior have "Chevy van" stamped into the base, where the later ones say "US Van."  The Corgi's trouble is that it looks like it's been sliced down the middle and a couple of feet welded in to make it wider.  I also never cared for the oval windows in the back doors.  Hard to believe they're supposed to be the same van, I know!

Agreed, it's the excessive width which seems to make the van's proportions look all wrong - the same issue Corgi had with their Juniors version of the Jaguar XJS.

I remembered last night that I have a Johnny Lightning version of the Chevrolet G10 van too, so dug it out for a three-way comparison with the Corgi and Matchbox versions:

Fascinating how different they all turned out.

Unsurprisingly, the JL version is far and away the best in terms of proportions, accuracy and detail - but then, they're not really toys.

My sole remaining Corgi 'US Van' is this plain red version with opaque black glazing - which by my recollection was a makeweight model from a 'Bumper Gift Set', like this... 

...which were always a mix of fairly decent newer stuff, and plain-painted low-grade older stuff (the aforementioned Jag XJS and Aston DB6 tended to crop up repeatedly in these sets, again with no interior and black windows - not unlike Matchbox Super GTs, now I think about it).

I used my silver paint pen and some stickers from a Graffic Traffic set to make it look slightly less cheap.

The 'custom' oval windows at the back also appear quite incongruous when other advertising liveries were applied - but then I suppose this casting started off life as a 'Vanner' model...

...and only in later years came to be used as a general purpose van which could be used to carry a sticker for pretty much anything. They annoyed me too, as the windows looked like no van I knew, and also seemed wrong, somehow.
I suppose that the Chevy Van's generic nature is maybe what gave it such a long lifespan - since it also looked a little like a contemporary Bedford CF, Corgi probably reasoned that most kids wouldn't really notice (or care) what it was meant to be.

Obviously diecast toymaking was not a good place to be in the early 1980s, and Corgi were forced to survive by using their old castings for much longer than during their 60s and 70s heyday, when detail and innovation was the name of the game. I gather that the casting was only produced from 1977 to 1983 (then the tooling sold off to Kiko of Brazil), but the factory had such huge stocks that they continued to box and sell them through to the early 1990s.

http://toyvan.co.uk/corgi/junior-chevy-47-b-2/

In a way, it's impressive that Corgi kept going at all - but I wonder if this era stoked my sense that I'd missed out on something better, since even the older playworn cars I'd find at jumble sales seemed somehow much higher quality than the toys on the pegs at Woolworths.

Love them or hate them, Corgi's 'Technocrats' characters from the early 70s at least affirmed that Corgi wanted to portray respect for their young customers, seeking to delight and surprise with the high quality and novelty of their toy vehicle range.

Ten years later, all this had kinda evaporated as Mettoy struggled for survival.

By the time this van was put out, Corgi had opted to etch no base markings at all - except the solitary and rather forlorn 'Made in Gt Britain'.

On a quality level, it's little better than those no-name diecast from the Far East which turn up in the tat boxes.

However, although the Chevrolet continued to appear in gift sets and other promotional freebies until the end of the decade, Corgi's new Mk3 Transit van with tampo printing was a cracker, and effectively took over as a multi-purpose casting whenever a van was needed. A corner had been turned, and with the huge turnover from the BP promotional cars range, new castings started to appear in the range again, such as the Jaguar XJ12, Volvo 760, Land Rover 110 and Mercedes W201 estate.

Even if there were still quite a few 70s hangovers still appearing alongside them...

Despite being a bit rubbish, the 'US Van' is one of those immediately recognisable items from my childhood, so... I guess I'll be keeping mine.

 

16 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

I have the whole range of 1/36 for my OCD sins. Also some code 3 efforts in the pipeline too. Any interest in seeing them? I’m a tad in denial of the amount spent getting the lot together...

I think we all know the answer to that question...

?

Quote

 The sole 1/64 Juniors one I was after arrived yesterday by the post lady. A variation rarity, I remember the catalogue entry from when I was a boy. Never seen one as clean as this one and won it for £1.90 ? 

That's a beauty, and not one I'm familiar with...

Seems that Corgi reckoned the Chevy could stand in for a Sherpa too?

 

15 hours ago, Jon said:

Lastly, straight after winning the above Hanomag on Trademe, I pressed the Buy Now button on this:

Anyway, happy 2020 to all and let's see what exciting small things are in store!

That's fantastic - incredible engineering on these Siku trucks!

I share your pain regarding the non-detachable DAF transporter, too.

Cheers so much for sharing your finds and fine lensmanship - and here's hoping that 2020 brings plenty more!

 

20 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I'll happily take the 1st lot of Majorettes. 

The Convoy transporters and cars are excellent, I had the Brut set and swapped it when I was a kid, still regret that move.

Good stuff - will pop those in a box for you.

I never had any of the Convoy stock car transporters, for some reason - I knew them from the catalogues and I liked them very much, but for one reason or another never got my mitts on any. Nice to finally get some time with them!

 

4 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

@Datsuncog if they havent been dibsed yet I'll take the Hotwheels rigs, and the flatbed orange ergomatic please!

I'll gladly set those aside for you - and very hopefully the remaining HW trailer will turn up at the next tat event...