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19 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

not a really early one then- mine had the sticker for grill/lights

Nope, not that early - my Polo's box says 'Mettoy 1979' and I'm fine with that. The one I previously owned and sold also had the later cast-in grille and lights, rather than the sticker at the front, so I'm happy enough with a like-for-like replacement.

I'm still not quite sure when Corgi changed the Polo's tooling to a cast-in and painted front end, rather than applying a sticker to the flat front panel - the catalogues of the era always seem to show it from behind, to emphasise the opening hatch, so it's hard to know when the switchover happened.

At a guess, the sticker was a cheaper, more cost-effective way to add detail rather than having to spray-mask the front end twice, once for black and then once again for silver. I suppose it sped up production to cut out yet another painting and drying step - the model's shell already needed silver spray for the bumpers and red for the rear lights to give the shell a bit more detail. Possibly a newer process was later devised to speed up the painting process, or maybe someone senior commented unfavourably on the stickered front end and asked for it to be changed, despite the added hassle. There's no clue in The Great Book of Corgi, and since ol' Marcel's long gone to the Great Toyshop In The Sky, I guess now we'll never know why.

Just to ruminate further, spray-masking's one of those things that Corgi continued with for much longer than other manufacturers, possibly because it was how the Swansea factory was already set up and there wasn't the money to change the production lines.

It was a messy and time-consuming process though, with a cut-away mould needing to be pressed close against the part-finished model before spraying with the contrast colour.

The mould needed to be washed after every five or six uses, so it was a bit of a faff for the painters. It was also very easy to smudge or otherwise damage the paint during the process, and paint blemishes became the most common reason for models failing quality control. One side of the two-tone Toyota Supra I bought a few years back is terrible (and, of course, the eBay vendor was careful not to show that side in the pics).

Originally waterslide transfers were used to provide lettering or rally-style decals, but these were notoriously messy to apply at production line speeds, and  seem to have been phased out in the early 1970s in favour of paper-backed stickers. Corgi persisted with these well into to 1980s, by which time Mattel and Lesney had switched to tampo-printing processes for model decoration. Paper stickers didn't bode well should the toys get wet - although others in the range such as the AMC Pacer X did come with slightly hardier translucent plastic stickers, as did the Motorway Maintenance Mazda B1600, and the Ford Capri 3.0S.

As far as I can see, Corgi's first mainstream tampo-print model didn't appear until January 1981, when the Rover SD1 appeared in Triplex touring car livery, combining spray-masking with tampo-print for the sponsor logos. Other models followed, often with eyecatching rally or racing logos such as the Datapost Metro and BASF BMW M1, although the yellow and black first version of the Renault 5 Turbo still wore paper decals.

The automation of the decoration process did away with what Van Cleemput called the 'armies of girls' previously employed in the Swansea factory to apply stickers, and by the time of the management buy-out in 1985 - and the advent of models like the fantastic Kremer Racing Mercedes van above - sticker decorations were becoming a thing of the past.

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I had a box arrive ( as it's Wednesday) with some Road Blasters. Some of which I didn't know were part of the range

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also in the same job lot were this tidy pair

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and a Mod Tractor - not really better than the one I have but at least still has its towbar

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Finally in another box is this Sunnyside SS-901, sadly missing the rear panel but otherwise very nice. What is this a model of?

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54 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I had a box arrive ( as it's Wednesday) with some Road Blasters. Some of which I didn't know were part of the range

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also in the same job lot were this tidy pair

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and a Mod Tractor - not really better than the one I have but at least still has its towbar

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Finally in another box is this Sunnyside SS-901, sadly missing the rear panel but otherwise very nice. What is this a model of?

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Noice. If you're looking for a home for the 

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I'd be keen...

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Ah the tidy pair, I get it now. When it's a lower temperature than the centre of the earth in my loft I'll go through and sort out my doubles. In the meantime, here's the remainder of the job lot - a trio of Planet Scouts, with a colour variation! Bet no one asks if they can have these...

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This Whizzwheels Transit was in with a few bits that arrived a while ago, as always missing the tailgate.

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So I made one. Original has two windows but that looks odd to me on a tailgate

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Quite pleased with that, it's got a cut down pin glued at the top so it slides in the channels correctly. Had to detail it of course

*oops* forgot to paint the rear bumper

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Too hot here for anything constructive (and I did actually try, for once) so time to unpack some stuff and get it into the cabinet at last. That the management is away for the afternoon in no way* influenced this course of action. Most of this last seen by me  on a rainy Essex October afternoon. 

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15 minutes ago, Amishtat said:

Too hot here for anything constructive (and I did actually try, for once) so time to unpack some stuff and get it into the cabinet at last. That the management is away for the afternoon in no way* influenced this course of action. Most of this last seen by me  on a rainy October afternoon. 

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What's the caravan?

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Some tiny shite has arrived, thanks to a thread on a model railway forum alerting me to a range of keyrings by a French firm called Z Models, which I had never heard of. They're made to a standard size so the Alpine and Golf are somewhere between OO and HO but the Clio, 205 and R4 are just about spot on OO. The bodies are solid diecast but the bases are separate and the wheels do rotate, and the key chains were easily snipped off the back - I think they're far too nice to be used as intended and get battered around in a pocket and I suspect most will end up as model railway scenery.

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Elly and my old Fiesta on size comparison duties :)

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1 hour ago, eddyramrod said:

There's a lot of truth in what you say...

I have two of those caravans which I've restored, but can I get a door anywhere?  It's not something Mr Flowers does.

Ought not to be too hard to make one, surely? Bit of that model railway plasticard and some patience cutting out the window and you're away. 

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2 hours ago, Amishtat said:

Ought not to be too hard to make one, surely? Bit of that model railway plasticard and some patience cutting out the window and you're away. 

You might be right, you know.  The original Dinky door didn't even have a window.  Maybe I just need my Big Boy Pants...

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Just as a heads-up, I'm going to try for the market tomorrow morning - so, in the off-chance that the remaining older Corgi and Dinky stuff is down to £5 rather than £10, is there anything in particular from last week that anyone covets?

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Lesney stuff too - £3 asking price last time, and likely to be the same tomorrow.

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My phone screen's still busted and temperamental, and I'm not sure I'll be able to stay all that long - so a live event involving pics and writeup, then coffee, then a return jaunt to fulfil requests may not be possible... but hey, I'll see what I can swing.

If he's still wanting a tenner each though, he can whistle for it.

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20 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

is there anything in particular from last week that anyone covets?

That Chevy Astro if it's a fiver! No interior will be a good bargaining chip, sure a donor will emerge eventually. Haven't got anything with those red wheel centres so it'd be a nice place to start

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Nope, if previous form is anything to go by, he'll usually price everything higher for the first week, then drop it once the stuff that's genuinely worth it has been sold - and then keep dropping it until it goes.

That's why I managed to pick up so much stuff for £2 in April that was priced at £5 in December.

Fingers crossed!

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11 hours ago, andrew e said:

watch out for the Gazelled Avenger  😂

Well now, how prescient... this was my view upon arrival this morning.

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I know, I know. It feels small-minded and petty, but that's kinda where we are these days... I got into the market 15 minutes before the official opening time, and the one-man diecast hoover was still in ahead of me.

As it appears, there's been no price drop from last week - bigger Corgi and Dinky are still £10 a throw.

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Lesney are static at £3.

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And why would they fall, when The Nemesis continues to buy 'em at that price?

Clearly Blokey's managed to shift a goodly amount of them, even at top whack - there wasn't much from the requests above remaining, sadly.

One A105 remaining, with the glazing intact, just loose inside the shell.

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But strong enough money at £10.

Some new items seem to have appeared though:

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Victor FB might scrape a tenner if the bootlid were in place - but it ain't.

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He's had better Corgi Camaro SS models on the stall for a tenner in the past - though if all it needs is a repro windscreen, this could be worth it.

And is anybody salivating over the Gerry Anderson-esque Corgi High Speed Fire Engine?

Thought not - though it is very very clean.

Pricing squashed tat like this Mini at a tenner is just wasting everyone's time, though.

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And then I spotted this, off in a display case to the side:

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Criminey. I knew what it was straight off, too: a Spot On AEC Major flatbed, which has sadly been sloppily repainted (but crucially, not drilled), and missing an axle.

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Even in this state, I daresay £20 isn't an unreasonable sum. These are pretty rare beasts in anyone's book.

While making enquiries about this one, the following curious interchange occurred with Market Blokey:

"Are you going to be back round later?"

Um, yes, maybe...

"Because I've got some boxed stuff here. But I don't want to put it out while he's around"

At this, he nodded over towards The Nemesis, still rootling through the Lesneys.

"Come back in an hour..."

So, intrigued, I decided to do just that. I'm now over at the side with a coffee, waiting for The Gazelled Avenger to piss off.

But this is an interesting development in the stallholder-customer dynamic.

What is it about The Nemesis that Market Blokey wishes to withhold certain diecast from him...? I thought he'd be his top customer... unless he drives a hard bargain with his bulk-buys, and Blokey just about breaks even on the deal?

Most curious.

 

I took a turn round the rest of the market, but there wasn't a great deal to see.

The Charity Stall must have offloaded the big Tamiya Renault F2 from last week - sorry @andrew e!

I did move a load of 2000AD comics out of the way to find this lot, though:

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Mostly Tonka alongside some distressed Corgi. The 1990s F1 car at the front is marked Hot Wheels.

This small, Japanese made Tonka custom van drew my eye for some reason:

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Quite smol, for a Tonka.

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Not sure what's happened to the Corgi Minor, but plainly nothing good.

Standard-size Tonka dune buggy a smidge rusty, but intact:

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No-name Hong Kong pressed steel Porsche(?) not too bad either.

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EDIT: it's also a Tonka - I couldn't see a name on the surface-corroded base, but I've just zoomed in on the tyrewalls.

So that's about that, for now... I'm intrigued about the boxed stuff, though also prepared for it to be either a bit crap (like the badly scratched stuff in repro boxes he had a year or two back) or megabucks, so... we'll see. I'll head back over in 20 mins or so.

 

I did manage to find out that what my Corgi Model Club Porsche Carrera 6 is missing on its curiously blank undercarriage: a great big honkin' Porsche badge.

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Presumably DMV BlueSky YoYo Brands or whatever they're called couldn't secure the rights from Porsche AG to reproduce this on their remanufactured models, for whatever reason.

Okay, well - more to come later, with any luck!

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