Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

Been after one of these for ages, MC Toys MK2 Granada.

Also couldn't resist a Majorette buggy with the bizarre hypnotic wheels

[bunglebus]

5 hours ago, Jon said:

One thing I'd totally forgotten about was the lack of rear door! I was convinced these came with a red roller door but I think I was just getting muddled with the Lesney Rentaset van I also played with round at my grans. It does beg the question why you'd make a van like this that you couldn't load stuff in?!

 

Only red door is the sliding side ones - just checked mine out and one has suspension and one does not - might be missing?

 

20190805_161725 by RS, on Flickr

20200707_171416 by RS, on Flickr

20190805_161631 by RS, on Flickr

20200707_171337 by RS, on Flickr

[warch]

More Britains stuff, the ubiquitous 70s Ford 6600 (left), and the 2000s Ford 5000 (right).

Britains made several versions of the Ford 5000, including the pre Force 1964-68 and Force 1968-75 models The example I have is the new model of the Force 5000 from the 00s. It was a medium sized tractor of it's day with a Fieco safety cab and a four cylinder engine making about 70hp. It is a nice model but lacks working steering. The quality is a bit off, with rubbed off paint, and peeling bonnet stripes. I've added a driver to my one.

The Ford  1000 range was rebranded as the X600 series in 1975 which looked basically the same as the previous models, until 1976 when they all got huuge Q (quiet) cabs fitted. My 6600 is therefore representative of a 1975 model year tractor. The 6600 was the next model up from the 5000/5600 and had a whopping 5hp more (wow!). Mine has clearly been restored and repainted with a replacement resin cab, but has been finished to a high standard. It's a lovely model and very realistic. I had one with my toy farm which I got on my 2nd Christmas so I had to buy this one when it came up on Ebay. 

There are still plenty of 1000 and X600 Fords floating around on British farms 50 odd years after their introduction, although the larger 5000 and 6600 models were widely exported, especially to developing countries. Farm tractors usually lost the cab doors as they made the cab rather stuffy in summer and difficult to get in and out of all year round.  

[155V6]

I just found out that there is a model hearse(Steve Hearsell) in the Disney Pixar model range

 

Has anyone seen one,or even got one for sale or trade?

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, warch said:

Britains made several versions of the Ford 5000

One of these does the local show scene.   Did Britains ever do one?

[flat4alfa]

How about a Fordson Major Duo?   They have one of these at the local airfield 

[warch]

 

3 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

One of these does the local show scene.   Did Britains ever do one?

Britains did only one County tractor, the range topping 1884, (below) which was based on the Ford TW 30. Both the real tractor and the Britain model are highly sought after by collectors. 

Universal Hobbies currently do several County Tractors in 1/32 scale like the rather nice 117/4 (below) . Very much models rather than toys at 40-50 quid a go though (this is probably cheaper than a played with Britains one would cost).

[warch]

24 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

How about a Fordson Major Duo?   They have one of these at the local airfield 

Britains never did a Doe Triple D, although there are quite a few conversions and at least one kit (Scaledown Models) in 1/32. Universal Hobbies did one in 1/16 scale though

These were genuinely successful and sold quite well in certain areas with heavy wet soil conditions like East Anglia. They were still used commercially well into the 80s believe it or not.

 

[Spottedlaurel]

I recall the odd Triple D in the early '80s. My Britains stuff is somewhat scattered, but I rounded up this lot:

My Fiat 880DT has survived the years rather well, I like the funky styling of them. The Ford pictued by warch above had a brief stay of execution as this generic cabless tractor, with a different grille and no badging. I think they were offered at a lower price. Ford TW unfortunately suffered when it had a period of time in my son's toybox.

In other news:

Toyota Ipsum got a coat of Tamiya Pearl Green tonight. Still undecided about whether to give it the Champagne Gold two-tone treatment, I'll see how it looks mocked-up on the wheels.

[Jon]

A couple of weeks ago, I gathered together all my NZ acquired Sikus (barring one I'd forgotten about) and took a group photo:

It's a fairly rag-tag collection of stuff that's been available and at a price I could afford - or haven't been outbid on; that's seeminlgy been very much a thing, of late, as @bramz7 will attest to, when I attempted to buy some mint/boxed Polistils for him during lockdown. Anyway, as you can see, it's rather light on cars. But last week, I struck lucky, with a small group buy!

 

I'd never seen one of these Siku 280SLs in the metal before, although I was outbid on a group of 4 mint/boxed Sikus a few days prior. But we've established that it's a good thing I didn't win the auction, as ultimately what would I have done with them, etc. Barring a bent rear axle, the playworn paint work, skinny Siku wheels and red plastic rear lights are right up my alley.

 

It also has clear glass, which isn't always a thing in this era of Sikus. The front end is nice also but would be interesting to be compared to a Whizzwheels Pagoda. The bumpers are also satisfyingly skinny, though I'm not quite sure how federalised the bumpers were in the US on these SLs, so apologies for any potential inaccuracies. We must take these picture book backgrounds very seriously.

 

See what I mean about the wacky Siku glass?! I don't mind this though, as it's very of its time. I also like how it shows that Siku went to the lengths of attaching a separate nub of blue plastic for that single emergency light. Top marks also for making a Porsche 911 look so ordinary  - no spoilers, wide track etc. This will have been a hang-up from the fact that this was quite an old casting by the time this one was churned out, no doubt.

 

"Well la-di-da, look at this chap in his new fangled German van, with its dimensionally efficient square body that hardly tapers in as it rises, so as to fit more towels in to sell down t'market."

Actually, there's a grain of truth in this made up scenario, as I remember a guy at York market called Howard, who sold towels out the back of a VW LT back in the '80's and '90's. He had a microphone and everything and would pile up bundles of towels to sell to mildly mystified customers, all the while needlessly chattering away at an amplified level. Ever the promoter, he even had the Howard's sign writing on his van decked out in the style of the Harrods logo, until that got him into a bit of trouble. Funny what you remember, eh?

Anyway, I was very glad to nab one of these in green, as I have a silver one back in the UK, which was a favourite toy but I'm defo sure I'd have chosen a green one, had there been an option. This has suffered a minor dose of marker penning of the side lights but for now, I've just cleared up the excess daubing. The inset bit can stay as is, for now.

 

Last in the pile was one I'd been hoping to get for ages - a Mk1 Granada wagon! Again, this had mucho pen daubing on the grille but a quick wash with a dry marker pen put paid to that. It's missing the roof siren and whip aerial and the white paint is peeling away (maybe don't park it so close to a fire?) but again, I don't care. What I like most about this is the woeful dimensional inaccuracies, achieved largely by using the big wheels, reserved usually for commercial vehicles and the Range Rover. Look at the depth of the rear door, above the wheel arch! And that front door window shape is all sorts of wrong, too. It's as if it were made primarily as a toy, or something.

 

Round the back, it doesn't get much better, with the tail gate lacking in any real detail. There are a couple of exhaust pipes though, to denote that this a the 3 litre V6 version, as per the Siku chassis spec sheet. After all, your pretend car might as well be the fastest one.

 

Anyway, knowing that my group photo was now outdated but also finally having a few cars in my motley collection, I gathered the art and crafts, ex-ADAC mobile testing station and VW pickup together for a 1970's inspired shot. Note the generator that slides out from the front of the trailer, to provide pretend power to the whole rig.

 

If you peer with enough vigour amongst all the corrosion, you'll see that the floor of the testing station even has a set of rollers. Sadly, the internal door on the right of the bay doesn't open up but all the extendable bits fold away neatly and stay shut, even after this many years and this much wear.

 

So it's fair to say, I was somewhat more satisfied with this haul, as they came just as expected. The auction finished at 4:56pm on a weekday but Trademe has an awful habit of auto-extending the auction by 2 minutes, each time a bid is made in the last 2 mintues of auction. The only other bidder was a buyer I'd lost out to many a time before, so my hopes were low. However, I like to think they were still at work and didn't have time to dig into their deep pockets, so I managed to nab these 4 Sikus for £3.50!! That's a bargain in my book, for something from 40 years ago, that I imagine wasn't sold in large numbers in NZ in the first place.

It's the small victories, eh?

[Split_Pin]

That looks like a great collection you have and I like how the Magirus cab tilts which is a feature lost on later models. Great detail in it too, I would definitely still play with something like that.

I only had 2 Sikus growing up and it wasn't until the late 1980s because you just couldn't get them in Scotland. It was a shop in St Andrews  where I finally found them, on a day out there when we were on holiday in nearby Crail for 2 weeks. I think it would have been in 1988 when I got the Escort MK3 GL and the Passat MK3 estate in 1989. 

Other than that I had to make do with leafing through the catalogue. 

I did have a friend (who, looking back was very disturbed) who for some reason had loads of German model cars and I did swap a fair number of my cars for his Sikus, a couple of which I still have.

In the early 1990s a shop in Falkirk finally started selling Sikus, mainly Trucks and I got a couple over the next few Christmases. I still have these, an ADAC Ford Cargo articulated truck with a lowboy trailer and helicopter and a Parcel Force Iveco Turbostar. Thankfully I also kept their boxes. I collected a few more truck from Swapmeets and eBay too.

I also picked up some tatty ones at a Swapmeet a couple of years ago including the VW LT however it's a camper and not the van version which I prefer. Underneath the specs indicate it's based on a very early model with a 4 cylinder Perkins diesel which was quickly dropped in favour of the 5 cylinder VW unit.

[DoctorRetro]

Anyone collect HO / OO scale? 

£7 posted for this little lot, they are just sitting in a box not being used. 

There's a few cool little models in there, Opel Reckord, Mercedes 260D, Lada 1200, etc. 

[warch]

10 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

My Fiat 880DT has survived the years rather well, I like the funky styling of them. The Ford pictued by warch above had a brief stay of execution as this generic cabless tractor, with a different grille and no badging. I think they were offered at a lower price. Ford TW unfortunately suffered when it had a period of time in my son's toybox.

A good selection of Britain's best and most realistic models. Back in the 70s when the 880, 5000/6600 and TW came out they were all unique castings, whereas during the late 80s and early 90s there was a great deal of reuse and shared castings to the detriment of realism.

There is a firm who sell replacement parts for damaged Britains tractors https://www.britainstoyfarm.net/index.php/8/284178/ if you ever wanted to replace your TW's bonnet.

That Bamfords baler is another nostalgia trip for me, again a really good model and one that I had when I was 2. I still have my original.

[155V6]

51 minutes ago, TheDoctor said:

Anyone collect HO / OO scale? 

£7 posted for this little lot, they are just sitting in a box not being used. 

There's a few cool little models in there, Opel Reckord, Mercedes 260D, Lada 1200, etc. 

Yes please

[warch]

23 minutes ago, 155V6 said:

Yes please

Ooh lucky there's some lovely looking models in there, these are usually really expensive too. 

[DoctorRetro]

21 minutes ago, 155V6 said:

Yes please

Drop me a pm with your address and I'll get it ready to post

[Split_Pin]

Because nobody asked, here are some of my Sikus.

I do prefer the late 1980s cars and trucks with the wide printed spoked wheels. I think earlier versions of the Cargo, Iveco and Renault also had wheels like the Volvo. I have a couple more trucks up in the loft but they are rough/incomplete.

[Tenmil Socket]

34 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Because nobody asked, here are some of my Sikus.

I do prefer the late 1980s cars and trucks with the wide printed spoked wheels. I think earlier versions of the Cargo, Iveco and Renault also had wheels like the Volvo. I have a couple more trucks up in the loft but they are rough/incomplete.

Is the hatch panel gap on your Escort like these?

 

[barrett]

I had (or maybe still have) that Granada 'Turnier' and was always disappointed at the weird proportions and wheel size. I have no idea what scale it's supposed to be, but it was bigger than all my Matchbox-sized cars and therefore always looked wrong no matter how it was displayed. It was, however, the only Siku I ever found at a boot sale. They were always rare, especially the earlier ones. I did have a red Sierra hatch when I was quite young, but this died at the hands of a hammer whilst making a 'scrap yard' in my garden. Ho hum.

The Kadett and, to a lesser extent the Escort, show what a drop-off there was in Siku castings in the 1980s. Earlier ones are so crisp and accurate (although sometimes the proportions are a bit odd) but those 1980s ones really are a bit shit. They did some really cool stuff in the 1970s - alongside the very crisp German family cars there was a lovely Lamboghini Espada, an SM and a fantastic Opel GT. Even the Ford Capri was a lovely little thing. If I was into collecting small diecasts I'd seriously think about starting a Siku collection.

 

Edit to add:

[Amishtat]

The only Siku I recall having apart from the blue and silver coach was a metallic maroon four door Opel, maybe a Rekord. I can remember having it when I was three but haven't seen it for years. 

[sierraman]

I had the BMW 740i and the Jaguar XJ6 4.0, thinking back they were really expensive and you didn’t see them very often. Later on I remember seeing them in a model shop in Matlock they’d be like twice the price of a matchbox. 

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Is the hatch panel gap on your Escort like these?

 

Just checked, yes it does.

[155V6]

Some of my Sikus(& a few other odd makes)

[Split_Pin]

WDIW

Ignore my treacherous flailing silver pen on the Siku, I was a kid when I did it.

Other than that, the Siku is far better detailed with crafty extensionof the interior plastic piece to make bumpers and a grille, and the same for the base to make the lights.

The Corgi is the more accurate casting although it always irritated me that the front wings were elongated behind the wheel arch to accommodate the door hinges. The same applied to the 1/36 version.

The Siku has the edge on detail and makes a much nicer toy, in my opinion.

[Mr Laurence]

Great to see some love for Siku! When I was younger, I always found myself far more drawn to run of the mill cars than fantasy stuff and supercars, so whenever I had enough pocket money saved up and had the chance to,  I’d buy one. From what I remember, they were always far more expensive than matchbox or hotwheels cars, but they always felt much more sturdy and usually had opening doors or boots, which I liked. I also used to love how they’d cast the real life specs of each car onto the base. I don’t know if that’s something they’ve always done, but it’s a detail I’ve never seen anywhere else. All these posts have motivated me to dig out my old collection of them I’ve kept in a shoebox for at least the last ten years.

 

 

This car transporter was one of my absolute favourite toys growing up, and the fact that it’s largely survived unscathed is a testament to how well made Siku stuff was. This set also came with a black Mini that I’m certain I still have somewhere, but I couldn’t find it for the photo annoyingly. I think that the SL500 used to have a roof that you could take on and off, but if it did, it was probably sucked up the Hoover long ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

and on the subject of diecasts with an ordinary subject matter, is there any love on here for 1/72 Cararama stuff? I’ve always been a fan of these, but I could only find a handful that I still have. For their size and what they cost, they have some really nice detail. Do they still make these?

 

[junkyarddog]

Picked this up last Sunday at a boot sale. 

Matchbox Escort Cosworth.

Alongside a very elusive Smoll Eddy!

After a quick makeover,wheels are from a Burago Ford Mustang. 

So,where have you been Smoll Eddy?

"Down the lockup M8"

Where's my Daf car transporter gone?

"Call down l8tr,all will be revealed M8"

??

[Tenmil Socket]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

WDIW

Ignore my treacherous flailing silver pen on the Siku, I was a kid when I did it.

Other than that, the Siku is far better detailed with crafty extensionof the interior plastic piece to make bumpers and a grille, and the same for the base to make the lights.

The Corgi is the more accurate casting although it always irritated me that the front wings were elongated behind the wheel arch to accommodate the door hinges. The same applied to the 1/36 version.

The Siku has the edge on detail and makes a much nicer toy, in my opinion.

For me the Corgi is best. The Siku looks too 'American'?

[Datsuncog]

46 minutes ago, Mr Laurence said:

is there any love on here for 1/72 Cararama stuff?

Oh yes.

Used to have dozens of them, mostly obtained from Poundland and the like back in the mid-2000s. Mostly sold on now, but I kept a few back.

Mostly Oxford stuff and a few stray EFE commercials in the other display case, but a few of the 'classic' Cararama mixed in too - Lotus Elan, VW Transporter, BMW Isetta, VW Beetle (and caravan) and Mk1 Capri.

For the money, really good renderings of everyday cars, vans and trucks.

[DoctorRetro]

I've gone a bit Solido crazy lately, winning these for £2.99 and £0.99 respectively 

[andrew e]

Lots of Siku love here! As a kid they were all ways “too expensive” so were only ever a treat on holiday or birthdays. Easily twice the price of a hot wheels or a matchbox and not far off a 1/36 Corgi. 

Recently (as quite a few children of the 70’s on here seem to be doing) I have been acquiring the lusted over dream diescasts from my crumpled catalogues of my childhood.

Early 80’s in senior school a classmate had “the” dream diecast - the Siku crane ? fully operational and sadly the same price as whatever real car my dad was running at the time ? It weighted a ton, everything moved too! The lucky sod!!! That birthday I did get a rather fetching Mercedes W123 rallye which obviously ended its days in my childhood model scrapyard (own up we all did it!).

So I watched eBay through the lockdown from work and spied this in a night shift, half heartedly listed...  for just over £20 delivered (probably not far off what is was new!) it finally arrived 35 years later ?