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Shite in Miniature II


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1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

It's incredible how many toy manufacturers had a crack at the Mangusta - despite being pretty niche, it must have really captured the public imagination on its release to garner such a strong appeal.

The non-Whizzwheels Corgi captures the shape well, and looks good on those wheels. I only had the Dinky version, which had great-looking wheels but looked a little flattened overall.

I wonder if De Tomaso actually courted/chased the diecast manufacturers? There seem to be lots of models out there - maybe they were free and easy with the blueprints?

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10 minutes ago, andrew e said:

Some crackers (well not the last 3!) there @sierraman 👍

I’m quite sentimental about the Malaga, got it on holiday in the late 80’s, it lived at my grandparents for a while in their cupboards under the stairs then it came home and I used to play with it in the garden hence it’s battered condition, it’s definitely done some miles under those wheels! 

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54 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Knew it was somewhere @Split_Pin Guisval Seat Malaga!

image.jpg

Probably rarer than the 1/1 version! 

Guisval are weird, some lovely items like the Renault 12 TS and the OPEL Kadett E and then some others which can be a challenge to ide tidy like the Datsun Patrol and this.

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1 hour ago, sierraman said:

Found these as well, my first Sikus. The blue Jaguar was my favourite car for a quite a while. 

I knew I had a Mira Fiesta somewhere!

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Love all of these, nice one for keeping them for so long.

Gone all light headed at the sight of some hot Mira and Guisval action.

Goodness knows what happened to Mira. My 5 door Peugeot 205 is unbelievably shite but the Citroen CX which is about 6 or 7 years older is the nicest small diecast toy car I have ever seen. Polished metal base, near perfect proportions, cast badges and opening doors.

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I think Mira ended up focusing on a very good range of 1/24 and 1/18 scale. Back in the 80’s they were probably best known for the Pegaso lorries they did in 1/76 scale. 

Guisval also did a decent toy like range of 1/24 with some good subjects like a Mk3 Granada and Opel Kadett GSI. One thing you wouldn’t get away with these days is advertising fags on toy cars! 

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On 6/17/2020 at 6:04 PM, RoadworkUK said:

Couple of months ago, before illness and misery swept the nation, I went to Ironbridge. The visiting of a tat shop and the expenditure of £4 saw this happen.

20200617_150447.thumb.jpg.db90726d61aca84ec9174601d643c48d.jpg

The vendor actually had two available; this one in its rather generic make-believe livery, and an SAS (the airline, not the elite military force) liveried one. I probably should have bought the latter but for the fact that its rear lights weren't so distinctive as they are here.

It's an interestingly singular model for an '80s Corgi, this. The way it's put together, with its flat metal chassis, and axles that hang beneath, recalls practice from decades before. I reckon that makes it kind of charming. 

20200617_150522.thumb.jpg.d116e4d1cdb3f0dfdbc3e7a2503021df.jpg

Of course, being quite definitely A Toy means opening features. The door works on a plug hinge, and the luggage doors on both sides open just like the real thing (TM).

20200617_150548.thumb.jpg.a774543429c94d8fdc16d81aa58a8db2.jpg

This one is presented in the typical late '80s packaging that we all know and love, its target market clearly being the sticky-fingered child with magpie "want it" mentality and pocket money to spare. It's interesting, then (to me, anyway) to see how this casting came to be whored out in pursuit of a more discerning audience in later years.

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Same casting, with opening features, but significantly gussied-up livery.. It says much for the fundamental rightness of the underlying model that a splash of well-applied paint should make such a difference. Various genuine local liveries were offered, often on a limited-edition basis. Soon enough, its "definitely a toy" origins would be left farther behind when the window box was abandoned for something of a more adult-oriented nature:

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Dunno what the the process was that determined whether your bus company would get to be represented in 1:68ish scale by the Corgi "maximum product life out of minimum possible investment" concern, but the same casting was dressed up in all manner of liveries, marketed on a limited edition basis, much in the same way as would become the case with Corgi's contemporary Original Omnibus Company series.

In fact, truly, this humble Paramount casting would be the one product that truly bridged the two eras, as the below amply demonstrates.

1505261306_s-l1600(11).thumb.jpg.894fd604c6682991885fffbad97cbe8b.jpg

Same casting again, same "definitely not 1:76" scale (in fact, taking the Paramount to be an 11m type, as the short first bay after the "feature" window suggests, the model's 17.5cm length suggests a scale of 1:62.8), and same slightly clunky plastichrome moulding for the headlights and grille.

Check those wheels out, though! In what was presumably a final outing for this casting before the OOC era got properly into its stride, the good Corgi mandarins had rewarded its humble Paramount with a set of properly modelled wheels, rather than the generic items that had kept it rolling across living room carpets for so many years. 

A last-ditch decision before this Blackpool gift set went to market? Presumably so, based on the box art, which shows the Seagull liveried Paramount wearing the very same wheels as my £4 Ironbridge purchase.

Forgive me for quoting myself, but I thought the above might be vaguely interesting on the topic of that Corgi Plaxton Paramount casting.

Now, if somebody would make a model of the Paramount 4000 double decker I'd be all over it.

 

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4 hours ago, Amishtat said:

 Hedingham are still going to the best of my knowledge, certainly it's not unusual to see buses thus liveried around North Essex. RoadworkUK will know more I imagine.

That  code 3 Hedingham Paramount is a lovely thing, and there's a strong chance that I've travelled on the "Prototype" on a school trip at some point.

In the early 90s they had a sub-depot in Walton-on-the-Naze, as well as one in Clacton, probably as hubs for the buses and coaches (mainly Bristol VRTs and Plaxton Tigers and Leopards) that were used on local school bus routes. I believe the main part of the fleet was actually based in Sible Hedingham, some miles away. I also believe they ended up taking over Partridge Buses of Hadleigh, who also had a presence on our bus routes, and ran my favourite two school buses of all time, Daimler DMS reg KJD58P and a magnificent Paramount 4000 on Neoplan underframes.

Hedingham are still around, but it's been a very long time since I saw a coach in their livery. Seems they're more into scheduled bus routes these days. EDIT: They're now part of the Go Ahead group.

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6 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

...some older Corgi castings from the 1970s and 80s found themselves repackaged...

And on that subject, raised earlier...

1318316248_IMG_20210312_1946512.thumb.jpg.055d6f2edcbcdf36af59c00eed3bdc4e.jpg

Another example of early 2000s Corgi make-do-and-mend - a reworking of the short-lived C384 Renault 11 casting from 1983/84, that popped up in their 'Definitive James Bond Collection' from 2001.

I've been after a later version of the 11 for a while, just to see what similarities, if any, the 5dr taxi has with the earlier 3dr.

500558945_IMG_20210312_1947572.thumb.jpg.4c04ad58d89835747482297b1714abae.jpg

Mmm, phares jaunes... and quite a bit of commonality in the overall shape.

The very earliest versions of the 11 have the weird grille like mine, with no Renault badge and a strange lick of silver paint. Since Corgi were producing their model to coincide with the launch of the real car, their designers were somewhat hobbled by not having a real version to refer to. Seemingly this was rectified soon after, as I've seen other cream versions with a grille more like the blue car.

45947448_IMG_20210312_1948102.thumb.jpg.7fb37efaabb2282e6a807954eb3bb56b.jpg

Obviously, the newer one is a 5dr with only the rear hatch opening, while the original is a 3dr with opening doors and hatch. It does indeed appear that the Bond version is a reworking of the original casting.

2047297708_IMG_20210312_1950372.thumb.jpg.5339180ef9ef7122ec146eadeb61d4d8.jpg

The later version is also much more detailed with its painting around the glazing. The glazing to the hatch looks the same, though has gained a wiper. Bonus.

1324254462_IMG_20210312_1950242.thumb.jpg.fd48e5418f7370319a7f764ae88285c5.jpg

Oddly, the boot badging has been deleted from the Bond version too.

1894097984_IMG_20210312_1949402.thumb.jpg.c4e9dbaa6f6ac31d68038f6009d8ada7.jpg

Same wheel inserts which, like the ones on the Sierra Ghia, I believe were only used on this one model. The metal axle is visible on the early version, but has been covered over on the later one - changing toy safety regs, maybe? 

1981964722_IMG_20210312_1948502.thumb.jpg.c83bddeb392b285c8cd243b3a71afd54.jpg

The base is the clincher - although the 'GTL' nomenclature has been chiselled off, along with 'Made in Gt Britain' and an updated Corgi logo, it's unquestionably the same casting.

1464710751_IMG_20210312_1952272.thumb.jpg.4a25317d4b75840a8f86e0da8f2021ca.jpg

So there we have it - some major revision to the body casting and bumper insert, of course, to reflect the number of doors, and every other part has been tweaked to a greater or lesser extent - but I believe this blue car to be a direct descendant of the cream one.

I can rest easy now.

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18 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

And on that subject, raised earlier...

1318316248_IMG_20210312_1946512.thumb.jpg.055d6f2edcbcdf36af59c00eed3bdc4e.jpg

Another example of early 2000s Corgi make-do-and-mend - a reworking of the short-lived C384 Renault 11 casting from 1983/84, that popped up in their 'Definitive James Bond Collection' from 2001.

I've been after a later version of the 11 for a while, just to see what similarities, if any, the 5dr taxi has with the earlier 3dr.

500558945_IMG_20210312_1947572.thumb.jpg.4c04ad58d89835747482297b1714abae.jpg

Mmm, phares jaunes... and quite a bit of commonality in the overall shape.

The very earliest versions of the 11 have the weird grille like mine, with no Renault badge and a strange lick of silver paint. Since Corgi were producing their model to coincide with the launch of the real car, their designers were somewhat hobbled by not having a real version to refer to. Seemingly this was rectified soon after, as I've seen other cream versions with a grille more like the blue car.

45947448_IMG_20210312_1948102.thumb.jpg.7fb37efaabb2282e6a807954eb3bb56b.jpg

Obviously, the newer one is a 5dr with only the rear hatch opening, while the original is a 3dr with opening doors and hatch. It does indeed appear that the Bond version is a reworking of the original casting.

2047297708_IMG_20210312_1950372.thumb.jpg.5339180ef9ef7122ec146eadeb61d4d8.jpg

The later version is also much more detailed with its painting around the glazing. The glazing to the hatch looks the same, though has gained a wiper. Bonus.

1324254462_IMG_20210312_1950242.thumb.jpg.fd48e5418f7370319a7f764ae88285c5.jpg

Oddly, the boot badging has been deleted from the Bond version too.

1894097984_IMG_20210312_1949402.thumb.jpg.c4e9dbaa6f6ac31d68038f6009d8ada7.jpg

Same wheel inserts which, like the ones on the Sierra Ghia, I believe were only used on this one model. The metal axle is visible on the early version, but has been covered over on the later one - changing toy safety regs, maybe? 

1981964722_IMG_20210312_1948502.thumb.jpg.c83bddeb392b285c8cd243b3a71afd54.jpg

The base is the clincher - although the 'GTL' nomenclature has been chiselled off, along with 'Made in Gt Britain' and an updated Corgi logo, it's unquestionably the same casting.

1464710751_IMG_20210312_1952272.thumb.jpg.4a25317d4b75840a8f86e0da8f2021ca.jpg

So there we have it - some major revision to the body casting and bumper insert, of course, to reflect the number of doors, and every other part has been tweaked to a greater or lesser extent - but I believe this blue car to be a direct descendant of the cream one.

I can rest easy now.

Here's mine,which must be slightly later.No silver on the grille,& you can just about make out the Renault badge.20210312_232835.thumb.jpg.e2137ef1eaaf6778ddfbba3683e1fd11.jpg

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Just having a hoke on eBay, as you do, and quite a nicely detailed early version of the R11 popped up.

363888120_Screenshot_20210312-2101152.thumb.png.d02174a537667dec0182b4f0631f1028.png

Boxed, but I'm not sure the vendor realises it's been got at with the Humbrol - so worth £25+ post? Not sure... But it does look heaps better with the black around the windows and rear hatch.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Corgi-11cm-Long-Diecast-Model-Car-384-Renault-11-Cream-/133675611914?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

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16 hours ago, sierraman said:

Same for the ISO Grifo, an exceedingly rare car but Corgi and Matchbox did one.

Good call.   So instead of fixing the element in the oven as she asked me to, I went into the loft again 😊

The Corgi measures to approx scale 1:44.  The Matchbox at 1:60

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The square licence plate on a low, flat, exotic car intrigued me, as a boy

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Both have opening things

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The big 7-litre Chevrolet V8 faithfully reproduced by Corgi

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Good effort on both to reproduce the knobbly hand brake, ribbed for pleasure

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Notice both are RHD

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Dull Fact:  'Grifo' is Italian for the Griffin, a mythological beast that's half lion and half eagle. The lion half represents the coat of arms of the Iso company's founder, Renzo Rivolta.  The eagle represents the symbolic animal of the United States, who supplied the engines and gearboxes.   Apparently.

IsoRivoltalogo.jpg.a94f7753282d3e60647638e16ac1989d.jpg

Notice the brand Iso is not an acronym on the logo.  This is due to being an abbreviation of the refrigeration company started by signore Rivolta: Isothermos.

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Arrivals - box of random bits including repainted Matchbox effort

20210313_190519.thumb.jpg.42bd5ad7902633d6fa6e9f79112b446e.jpg

and this Del Prado fire engine

20210313_190727.thumb.jpg.8b50a5c5a9c7461afeb88c3f6f542cc3.jpg

but what I wanted was the Siku Merc SL

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other package contains a package

20210313_190949.thumb.jpg.8dd2210f2d32f6cd18dace6396185246.jpga clue?

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a red herring. It's another repaint, but very well done. Approx 1:43 Zylmex Charger

20210313_191052.thumb.jpg.1a4ecdbe5431f9b39296413218aa13ab.jpg

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Currently:

20210314_185001708_iOS.thumb.jpg.379dd8b1427b1809fc9eb34203b1ca04.jpg

Squared lights on K-43 Cambuster ; Round lights on K-44 Bazooka.  K-number is stamped on the exhaust/grille part.

20210314_185056149_iOS.thumb.jpg.fd4ec5de2418b21ad6d2381275798935.jpg

Your round light Cambuster must have the bigger exhausts as fitted to Bazooka.

1480030368_CAMBUSTER_281973-197929.jpg.b2c43f747cc55887e00c08a718b37bcf.jpg 2107385499_Bazooka_281973-1976_Speed_Kings29.jpg.fc147a71eca371b3c44458af2c9ba9ce.jpg

So fitted at factory with wrong exhausts.  Cambooka?  Bazbuster?   Either way, you're rich!

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1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

Identification section!

I have these two Alfa 155

20210312_203310661_iOS.thumb.jpg.6ba0bee917e2b71776ddd2faa8ab8009.jpg

But no idea of the manufacturer

20210312_203319032_iOS.thumb.jpg.8a29963969f8713151ea15e18ecf5e94.jpg

Any ideas?

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Thanks.

I think they might be Realtoy?,I've got a whole load of them still on cards in different liveries which I think were  sold in Australia. I'll dig them out tomorrow if I remember.

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Had a delivery this weekend. Another one that passed me by when it was launched, dropped in price when it wasn't too popular and is now hard to get for reasonable money.

IMG_20210313_191737.thumb.jpg.e031d1b0293c26ee3ec6b2da656a976a.jpg

Something that seems to be happening to a lot of Vanguards lately, well a lot of diecast, really...

IMG_20210313_192510.thumb.jpg.2e39bbcafd45ed90a22878dd12f8d7c1.jpg

So, it's the rare non-Cosworth version of the Vanguards Sapphire, in GLS flavour, which is one of my favourite Sierra variants. I always tend to favour the mild sporty variants of a car rather than the balls out hottest version. The Astra SR rather than the GTE, the Escort 1600 sport to the RS, the 205 XS to the GTi etc. I always liked the way the Sierra GLS looked, with its grey lower half, red bumper stripes, sporty wheel trims, driving lights, and it's captured well here.

IMG_20210313_192642.thumb.jpg.944870208b6785d80e479e7241713e9c.jpg

Just a shame they modelled the facelifted GLS rather than the earlier model which had one of the best wheel trim designs of all time.

ford-sierra-2-0i-gls.jpg.3dc537fc4b37e075c876755890bfcc3b.jpg

Back in the day, I drove H531 BDM, a white Sapphire for a local taxi firm. Though it said LX on the boot, it was in reality a base Classic version with the 1.6 pinto, no leccy windows or central locking. But what made it cool in my eyes was that it had been pimped up with red bumper and side moulding stripes and the above wheel trims, so it at least looked the part. I later got upgraded to J576 FTS, a late model 1.8 LX then K253 MWS, a last of the line Azura with the injected 1.6 CVH. The ultimate for me though was when I went to another firm and got given J567 GAG, an immaculate grey late model GLX Turbo diesel. All Sapphires weirdly, a hatch would have been better for taxi work, but generally, in our town, the majority of Sierra taxis were Sapphires.

IMG_20210313_192948.thumb.jpg.c4dadf07da86cea9e5188c8a5cbf44f8.jpg

So this model is a nice trip down memory lane. For a while I've been eyeing up the cancelled-run black GLS versions that have been on eBay for a while, but this one popped up while I was browsing and had a couple of bids, then won. It was a bit more than I usually like to pay for a second hand Vanguards, but still a fair bit less than the Buy It Now price other sellers have them up for. And it's mint. Even the normally fragile cardboard outer box has survived generally unscathed and the model doesn't look like it's ever been out of the case. Until now...

 

IMG_20210313_194859.thumb.jpg.e058a6c675efa0ba353ab3dabaa7421a.jpg

Can't believe I've been after this model so long. It dates from one of the many rebrandings from around the Corgi takeover, when the models were divided into collections by Marque, with a seperate collection for Police vehicles. 2005, blimey, where does the time go?

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Lledo still on the plinth at this time.

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One main criticism with this model is, "Come on Corgi, where the feck are the red stripes????" which are a main visual part of the GLS spec. Especially as the black version got them!

IMG_20210313_193753.thumb.jpg.7648fdac8486c9409a9870499f61cb49.jpg

Great treatment on the front end though, the headlights, the grille and the correct bumper with the driving lights.

IMG_20210313_193936.thumb.jpg.742157e30be8bd3dc76ba0f848ae670b.jpg

And again at the rear. Great badging, and fantastic looking tail lights, they really show up how nasty the tail lights look on the latest XR3i model with their locating pegs on show. Liking the number plate font too. The big bore tailpipe gives the game away that this version shares the Cosworth's baseplate.

IMG_20210313_193017.thumb.jpg.435f2ab03ee2ef78b32c575606c867fb.jpg

Always liked the rear detail in this Sapphire casting, with the speaker detail and correct rear headrests.

IMG_20210313_193101.thumb.jpg.e0f08249d62a763f801d31d53a33fde0.jpg

Nice three spoke wheel, as I remember on the high spec Sierra versions.

IMG_20210313_193152.thumb.jpg.1292f1e071c50040f1ab8a9c331b1b73.jpg

More sharing with the Cosworth, as this has the Recaro style front seats, which the real GLS didn't have.

IMG_20210313_194028.thumb.jpg.984508ad2d3c321d668ba1c1f2dc97ac.jpg

And what looks like the Cossie side skirts too...

IMG_20210313_194208.thumb.jpg.506df8caeb83d1c50d70971dbba25d7f.jpg

It's lairy relative wanted to get in on one of the  photos....

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That's a nice bit of kit. My dad had E962JRY from when it was about a year old, Regency red 2.0i GLS. I agree they are the best looking spec, those lovely wheel trims don't actually fit other Sierras, the wheels are different too - and a right bar steward to get on and off without breaking them!

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That's me and the old man changing the fuel tank. Apparently we're quite similar? 

I owned a Regency red E reg hatch at the time, why I never got a pic of them together I don't know

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Making good progress on these three:

Chevrolet, Toyota and Honda kits

The Impala is less complete than it looks, it has no suspension fitted at present. Neither does the Honda, but as it just has metal axles through holes in the inner arches that's not going to take long, I just want to redrill them a bit higher so it sits lower.

Chevrolet, Toyota and Honda kits

Quite a difference in size between them (and the Impala is 1:25, so technically a touch smaller than the others).

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 Abarth kit

Also got the basics of this one together, to be built as a road car. The front and rear screens cleaned-up pretty well. The wheels are Japanese, but look awfully close to those I've seen on some rally cars. I'll paint them gold, and the car will be dark metallic blue.

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1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

That's a nice bit of kit. My dad had E962JRY from when it was about a year old, Regency red 2.0i GLS. I agree they are the best looking spec, those lovely wheel trims don't actually fit other Sierras, the wheels are different too -

After all this time, I remember that about the wheels. I noticed when it was getting tyres one day that the steelies underneath the trims had a different design to the standard ones, with 5 large holes with small ones between them, similar to what the rare Orion GLSi had.

Richie, the firm's mechanic was always turning up with sets of wheels and tyres, usually cheap from the breakers he went to, so none of the taxis we had at that firm had their original wheels (apart from the Azura, the boss wanted to keep the original alloys on that). The blue LX I eventually drove had Ghia pepperpot alloys, the other blue LX we had gained Mondeo LX trims,  we had a Mk5 Escort estate with Orion pepperpots and even the then nearly-new MK1 Mondeo they bought got a set of MK4 Escort RS Turbo alloys...

The Sapphire  GLX TD I drove for the other company was the best, that gained a set of MK1 Mondeo GLX trims, which looked the nuts on that!

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