Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

Two new 9 packs spotted in Tesco. Nothing that excited me enough to make a purchase though

[sierraman]

2 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Answering your question, no. 

Just a BattleKings tractor unit in same stylee, hauling a Corgi Dougal.

It passes through every Monday.

I’ve a K14 recovery wagon, not a bad model tbh, just a shame it doesn’t have something like a Foden cab. I’ve also the above recovery wagon, I’d had the tractor unit years, then by chance acquired the trailer at a car boot sale last year. 

[flat4alfa]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

I’ve a K14 recovery wagon, not a bad model tbh, just a shame it doesn’t have something like a Foden cab

I wonder if a Foden cab might have been too dull for 1974, when the K-14 cab style was released?

I can see that to a young lad it didn't look quite so beefy, or even speedy at all

I mean, just look at it: hunking down on its shoulders, razor-edge styling, chunky wheels in the air.  And that massive air intake!

Maybe that was the market, as 'Heavy Breakdown Truck' would be better understandable to a young child, over the word 'Heavy Recovery', which was something Mum did after the valium.

[flat4alfa]

1974 saw the first of the style, as K-106 Tank Transporter tractor unit and K-4 Big Tipper, though little was shared as the tipper did not have the extended cab.

It seems that the Big Tipper main casting was utilised again for K-14 Heavy Breakdown Truck by adding the rear deck weight and boom.  Notice the roof was changed, having a similar roof hatch detail on the passenger side seen on the K-106 tractor unit casting.  Also notice that across the range, all were RHD.

There was a later matt olive green recolouring of K-106 and K-14 for inclusion in the BattleKings range, whilst retaining their product numbers.

Odd then that the K-10 Car Transporter tractor unit was completely different, when they could have used K-106.  K-10 doing a similar low-loader hauling job as can be seen here

This unit design never saw any other use.  Probably because of the din from the pair of enormous supercharged engines right behind the driver and passenger. 

Oh and the fuel mileage might have been a headache for hauliers.

[bunglebus]

It's just slipped under my radar up until now for some reason. Maybe as it's a generic casting, but it works better for me as the breakdown truck than the others

[flat4alfa]

As a BattleKings it's forgettable.  But in the civilian red and white it stands out

So you know what I'm going to have to do now you're taking @andrew e's one...

[bunglebus]

ANYWAY. I've been off down another die cast internet rabbit hole. It all started because someone on a Zylmex/obscure Chinese/Hong Kong Facebook page is compiling a really nice photographic guide to all the Zylmex vehicles. I got chatting to him on messenger and mentioned I had a handful of their catalogues which I'd scanned. While sending him images, I noticed this in the 1979 edition

The reason I noticed is this turned up recently

Clearly the same casting, although there's nothing on the base to suggest it's a Zylmex. Looking in the 1980 catalogue for the R652 shows that is a flat nose Porsche 935, and no sign of the 911 shown in the 1979 catalogue. Google also shows the flat nose 935 casting.

So, off to Google. Base says Porsche Turbo 1/37 scale Made in Hong Kong. That brings up a few pictures of the car I have, mostly unboxed or in generic packaging

But one says "Shinsei Jet Machines". Googling that reveals

Quote

Shinsei was a brand name of Shinsei Kogyo Co Ltd, based in Japan. This company made diecast models in many different scales ranging in size from 1:38 to 1:87 scale

Quote

They also offered a friction pull back series called "Jet Machines LTD". There were described as having a patented powerfully fast engine mechanism that could not be over wound. These were distributed by a Korean company called Clover in window box packages.

So WTF is going on? Did a different brand car accidentally get included in the 1979 catalogue? Was it proposed but then the casting passed on to another manufacturer? I will probably never know, although Mr. Facebook Zylmex man reckons castings were often made without brand names to be sold by the likes of Sears and Walmart to sell as their own line, much like MC Toys cars sold as Tesco products

There's a red one that hasn't lost it's spoiler on eBay. Same base

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-Vintage-made-in-Hong-Kong-332-Porsche-911-Turbo-Martini-1-37/313277073688?hash=item48f0c4c918:g:WSAAAOSwv7peeH4o

And moving further afield

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SHINSEI-Japan-JET-MACHINES-MINI-POWER-1-37-PORSCHE-911-TURBO-70s-2-/254354388925

Base of the Shinsei one:

Base of mine

So the Zylmex catalogue car and the Shinsei are clearly one and the same. 

[Datsuncog]

Rounding off Estate Car Weekend (as I've all of a sudden decided to call it, retrospectively), here's a couple of other tailgate-equipped bits and bobs from the depths of the DC vaults...

I was quite surprised when Vanguards' take on ADO16 turned out to be the estate version.

They did do a very decent job of it; I think I expected that a saloon version would appear soon after though, but twenty or so years on, I'm still waiting.

We had the cracking Aeroflot GAZ  24 Volga estate upthread; here's the same thing but in a rather more sober shade.

This is an eight-seater with a third row of seats in the boot; fun fact being that back in the USSR, you needed a special permit to be allowed to buy one of these.

Into the nineties now...

This Minichamps Mondeo Estate dates from about 1994, so it was pretty up to date when I got it.

Compared to the Corgi Classics and Matchbox Dinky that I was also collecting at the time, this seemed like light years ahead in terms of detail. 

I loved the fact this was an estate; so few of my other toy cars were.

Weirdly though, this hasn't worn too well with the tyres going pale and powdery and the windows on one side turning slightly milky.

I haven't had this one out on display for over twenty years, so I'm not sure what's happened.

And keeping with Fords, and with different models, there's not much more shite than the unloved 'wide mouth frog' Scorpio.

Also by Minichamps, the navy blue estate was cheap because no-one in their right mind wanted it. Except me. I think it cost me a fiver in 1997.

The saloon was even cheaper as it was unboxed on the tat stall a year or two ago.

Detail on these is stupendous, with interior decoration especially good.

I really like being able to compare the saloon and estate versions like this; and look forward to maybe tracking down a few more wagons before long...

Cheers for all your input, it's been good to see some load-luggin' love over the past few days!

[Split_Pin]

I've got that Heavy Breakdown truck. It was my cousins and I must have been given it nearly 40 years ago now. Never been a fan of the fantasy cab, I really wish they had chosen something relatable such as the Foden pictured or even something like a Scammell Contractor.

[Split_Pin]

Just to round off Estate weekend, I have a 1/87 Wiking Capri that's been rather well converted into an estate. By the time I get to it the weekend will be done so you'll just have to take my word for it for now!

[sheffcortinacentre]

12 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Yeah unless we get nice weather and I can take pics in the garden I have to use the lunar surface, or whatever T-shirt is handy at the time. 

Still, they seem to run well even with no atmosphere

Some get the car show treatment though

But most get a plain background, that coke bottle shape doesn't need any garnish

 

Lol at the general mayhem.

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Lol at the general mayhem.

That thing was a lot of work in 1:64 (ish)!

It's much easier to make a car look good than bad

The not quite to scale scoop still bugs me though

[Spottedlaurel]

6 hours ago, bunglebus said:

It's much easier to make a car look good than bad

I imagine that to be true, I haven't yet had the bravery to try. Les Dawson's piano playing comes to mind.

I have a number of kits that would look much better built as tatty, weathered clunkers. However, it took me so long to get half-decent paint finishes that I haven't got the heart to deliberately make them look rough.

Going back a page or two to your comment about giving the hearse a pro-street look, I have that in mind to do on something else at some point, as I have a couple of Monogram pro-stock cars in the parts box.

In the meantime, the hearse got finished:

 

Good to see it on the shelf in one piece after 25+ years, even if takes up a lot of space and necessitated quite a bit of reorganisation.

The little Honda also saw some paint. I used a can of Tamiya Coral Green that must be over 20 years old - it didn't spray brilliantly but I think I can do something with it, even if it needs some clearcoat.

 

And I did a bit more on the Impala. The engine swap was easy enough, but getting the front glass in place looks like it's going to cause some fitment issues as it clashes with the interior side panels and dashboard top.

[bunglebus]

That hearse is so good! The first pic especially looks totally convincing.

[Split_Pin]

Loving the hearse! 

[flat4alfa]

That massive lawn needs a bigger shed on it!  😄

[flat4alfa]

15 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

It seems that the Big Tipper main casting was utilised again for K-14 Heavy Breakdown Truck

I was wrong

So that makes it three different castings after all

[Datsuncog]

Just realising I never quite finished the last of the French Tat Box items... there was also this impressive lump in there.

De Agostini on the (upside down) box, and IXO on the base.

It's HUGE.

I hadn't twigged until last year that Corgi Classics made their cars and vans in 1/43 scale, but their buses and trucks in 1/50 scale (which is embarrassing, as I used to sell 'em).

So a proper 1/43 truck is quite a thing to behold.

Vanguards Rover SD1 for comparison, there.

The cab and chassis are diecast, while the loadbed and canopy are plastic - though pretty well done, it's true.

It's stated to be a Volvo F88 on the base, but the badge on the grille says it's a F89 Turbo, which was a more powerful development of the F88. Either way, with build dates between 1965 and 1977, either version would have been a pretty rare sight on the road by the time I was old enough to become mildly obsessed with Sam Peckinpah's film Convoy and start to tell the difference between trucks (and the F89 was never sold in the UK anyway, since the canted-over 12-litre engine occupied what would become the driver's footwell on a RHD conversion).

While this style of rigid two-axle truck towing a drawbar trailer was always more common in continental Europe, it's still a delightful model to have.

Detail is pretty impressive, I think.

Especially for only €13.90.

Also, a web images search will bring you up what appears to be the real-life Swedish example this model is based on, with a few minor cosmetic changes.

Ten-ten til we do it again, good buddies...

[barrett]

Thanks to @Datsuncog I now have one third more Ami 6 berlines than I did last week.

[bezzabsa]

That plod SD1 is gorgeous.. and looking at the Mondeo estate - trying to work out who ripped who off, as My carine E estate looks very similar!!

 

[flat4alfa]

On 10/24/2020 at 8:33 PM, flat4alfa said:

Post lady came ...and then there were three

 @C1am

Three times the trouble, not very serious

@andrew e

[flat4alfa]

On 6/21/2020 at 6:02 PM, flat4alfa said:

Sunday Lotus garden meets in the sunshine could be the new thing!

JPS 7P on the Team Car livery with the authentic* wheels;  MS 1969 on Wings Flying Club.  

 

So who can post a sunny garden shot of the others ? 

@andrew e

[Datsuncog]

17 hours ago, bunglebus said:

There's a red one that hasn't lost it's spoiler on eBay. Same base

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-Vintage-made-in-Hong-Kong-332-Porsche-911-Turbo-Martini-1-37/313277073688?hash=item48f0c4c918:g:WSAAAOSwv7peeH4o

Just like the Buddy L Chevy Nova that showed up a few weeks back, here's another example of some tat I completely forgot I ever had. Boom. Memories.

I owned one of these in red, and although I believe it arrived with me new in the early/mid '80s, I never really took to it. The pull-back motor was good and strong, but to me 1/43 was an odd scale - too big to get involved in play scenarios involving my Superfast-sized cars, yet ludicrously small alongside my Superkings and Corgi 1/36 items. Consequently, it just lived in my basket of toy cars, getting more bashed about but without ever being played with much.

My memories are of it missing the spoiler and one headlight lens, while annoying me because the front air intake and blanked-off rear windows looked 'wrong' to my understanding of what a Porsche 911 should be.

Like the Buddy L, no idea what became of it in the end. I think a door sheared off, leaving a sharp edge and it was possibly binned as dangerous.

I'm pretty sure it didn't have any maker's name on it, since I also owned a Zylmex Chevrolet Monza and that was kinda special to me because it was the only car I had by that maker.

Ahhh, jumpers for goalposts...

[bunglebus]

I am an idiot. Got so excited at the prospect of converting a Mini Ha Ha to have a normal roof and windows, I got busy with the JB Weld before stripping the paint, so of course when I did strip it, the filler fell out because it was stuck to paint not metal

Ah well take two...

[bunglebus]

However I was cheered up by the arrival of postie man groaning under the weight of several job lots of tat for me. Most exciting of which contained this

Which means I am two thirds complete in my Polistil Porsche quartet

 

I suspect the 1:64 will be the hardest to find, as I got sniped on an orange one recently

[bunglebus]

Other vehicles of interest include this Lledo Transit. Despite being a Tetley giveaway, this is actually quite a nicely done casting. I have three of these if there are any fans of Ford's minibus that want one, although the other two are much tattier

If this was a bit tattier it would go in the project box, but the detail is really good on this Franklin Mint Mercury

Arriving a day too late for the wagon weekend is this Corgi Mercedes ambulance

Base detail is rather pleasing with the propshaft clearly molded

There were some old Hot Wheels hiding among the job lots, including the Race Bait 308

Some really is rubbish, although this MC Toys 911 might just be salvageable

Several Porsches were damaged in what I suspect was a battery leak incident, annoyingly this unusual version of the Matchbox 911 was the other

A little brain teaser - what VAN is this from Corgi?

I really like the Vantastic, and although the Super GT wasn't its greatest incarnation, this was was too clean to turn down

Not had the Matchbox School bus in my mits before

I think @Datsuncogwas talking about these a while ago, they really do feel cheap and nasty compared to their older Superfast brothers

These are pretty common but I always wonder why they didn't make more of this casting, loads of these are still in use as campers so it seems like a missed opportunity

Talking of VW vans, this no make LT is so bad is actually rather endearing

There were loads more but mostly terribly Chinese crap with chrome plastic bases of generic "an car"

[bunglebus]

@stuboy

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dinky-Ford-Capri-Number-238-Door-Cards-/114701081527?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

[jon.k]

I will stop clogging up the thread with my wares soon, I promise. Would anyone like this lot I’ve got left? £4 plus postage? 

[RoadworkUK]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

A little brain teaser - what VAN is this from Corgi?

Renner Trafic?

(if it is, take a look to see if it has the minibus interior. I have the van and minibus version and both have four rows of seats.)

[bunglebus]

I've already stuck it in the loft while I was unearthing the Polistil Porsches.

It wouldn't surprise me if it has a minibus interior, can't see Corgi bothering to make different ones if they can't be arsed to put anything more than VAN on the base.