Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

16 hours ago, sierraman said:

Wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve phased them out completely

 

[sierraman]

I’ll drop by the Tesco Saturday. 

[flat4alfa]

On 5/14/2021 at 9:33 AM, Datsuncog said:

Big Lucky Toys rip-off of the Matchbox Gruesome Twosome; bit playworn, but not too wrecked.

Lucky Toys 'Massivesome Onesome' has been fiddled with.  All 16cm of it.

Front axle would not move due to broken holder tabs.  Fixed* that with a bodge adaption that Roadkill would be proud of.  Axle now rotating.

Rear friction flywheel motor removed, oiled and now free-wheeling properly.  Reseated housing in base and axle now at proper riding height.  We have a runner!  Albeit quite growly.

Now to do a compare with the Matchbox 1-74 original

[D.E]

19 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Thanks.  Guide is in fact broken off

Are you going to keep it or sell it?

This is going to be sold I think, I don't do much with slot cars myself so it's probably better off with someone else.

[AndyW201]

Got excited when I nipped into Tesco yesterday morning and found fresh stocks of  Matchbox mainlines on the pegs. Alas, they were all from the last case. But at least I got the blue Mini Cooper, Fiat 500 Abarth and modern Honda Civic I missed last time around. 

Not even anything new with Hot Wheels lately, Smyth's was a waste of time last weekend and local Morrisons regularly restock but with stuff from 2 or 3 cases ago.

[2cvspecial]

feeling really ill , so this is cheering me up

 

[Datsuncog]

On 9/24/2021 at 9:20 AM, flat4alfa said:

Haven't seen The Trainer King around for several weeks now, as it happens... not sure if he's also given himself a metaphorical tummyache too, from guzzling too many diecast goodies, and has now put himself on a strict Dinky-free diet - or if he's been stricken with COVID-19, and is currently at death's door.

I know he annoyed me a bit at times, but I deffo don't wish that on anyone.

As it happens, I was at the market last week, and this week too - last week because I had a flu jab booked at the pharmacy on the corner, and today cos I had a bit of time to spare before attending a funeral. I wasn't there for early-early doors, but headed in around 8.30 or so (usually the time when The Nemesis was still nosing around).

You may be relieved to learn that you diecast-crazed cats haven't missed very much: there's been no 50p tat box lately, and in fact no old toys anywhere to be seen. Just some giffer-magnet Days Gone, '80s Corgi Classics, and Matchbox MoYs.

Is anyone's pickle particularly tickled by this lot?

No, I thought not.

It's possible that this blurry snap of a boxed Siku airport fire appliance and a Sapeurs Pompiers water tender by Solido might have garnered a flicker of interest - but not at £10, I wouldn't have thought.

This piece of retro gaming was quite nice, though I didn't open it to see what was inside.

Some great box illustrations, anyway.

No diecast of interest on any of the other stalls, so could it be that Tat Friday has naturally run its course in Belfast, anyway?

It's possible.

But... I did buy something.

Something with wheels.

Something which I'd been semi-jokingly threatening to buy for years now - pondering aloud on occasion about exactly at what point I'd finally crack, and open my wallet for a Matchbox Model of Yesteryear.

Friends, today was that day.

But be sure, it wasn't just a lightly chipped metallic peuce Daimler, or a zingy yellow Spyker (with all the plastic seats fallen out).

Nope, this was something I'd secretly coveted for a long, long time.

Look at that. Special Edition and all.

I know.

Not just a model - a legend.

Ringing any (fire) bells?

That's right, it's this monster.

It's from way back when Matchbox (under Tyco's leadership) decided that selling models in shops was old-hat, and in future they'd offer their collectables via mail order instead.

Around this time, the impressionable teenage DC would receive bumf through the door every few weeks, extolling the exemplary virtues of Matchbox Collectibles' latest 'Beers of the World' collection (various old castings hacked into brewer's drays and vans), or their 'French Heritage' collection (the same Citroen Type H van with different logos like Yoplait, Président Brie and Taittinger Champagne - cruelly press-ganged and painted up at the last minute from what should have been a Matchbox Dinky collection model - the missing DY-34).

And then there was the Fire Engines Series.

Now, as a general rule, I'm not particularly interested in fire engines.

Which makes it all the more perplexing that I can't seem to stop buying the fuckers.

But even then, back in 1994, the sight of the flagship model from the MoY Fire Engine series, the Ahrens Fox Quad, atop the marketing guff with all its breathless sales patter, was quite enough to make me want to toddle down to the TSB and empty out my meagre PassBook funds, in order to write a very large postal order for the entire series. Just so I could have that one model.

I didn't, though. Sensibly*, I waited a few years before liquidating my assets in order to buy a fucked MkV Cortina with no floor.

Ask me about my Dogecoin investments.

But I never stopped wanting the Ahrens Fox Quad, for reasons that still aren't really all that fathomable.

So today, a 27-year old dream came true.

Well, kind of.

Is it as good as I'd hoped?

Of course not. I mean, it's detailed and all, like the marketing flyer assured me, but the interim decades of collecting Vanguards has kinda pushed the envelope a bit for what 'detailed' looks like - and it's a bit beyond a separate steering wheel and chrome-effect handbrake, these days.

Still, it is very nice, and genuinely pristine - not a mark or even a speck of dust on it, so it's clearly been kept boxed all these years. All the hoses and pressure valves seem a bit fragile, so for this to be fully intact is a bit of a bonus.

I'm sure I'll grow bored of it, but at least it has the all-important Certificate of Authenticity. So that collectors know it's the real deal, authentically mass-produced in a Chinese sweatshop, and not something I've cunningly whittled in my shed.

Maybe I'll make my tenner back one day, maybe not. But I'll enjoy fondling this one later, for sure... when Mrs DC's not around to become irked at the sight of it.

A very good Friday, to one and all.

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Maybe I'll make my tenner back one day, maybe not. But I'll enjoy fondling this one later, for sure... when Mrs DC's not around to become irked at the sight of it.

The best MoY in the world. ever?

Gob smacking TBF, never knew of this one

I'm putting my hand up with that tenner back, to be the first in the PCF queue (post-Cog-fondlers)

[flat4alfa]

I've just found out this big one was nicknamed The Skirmisher

Oh what a skirmish

[andrew e]

Datsuncog your not alone in the no interest in fire engines yet an unhealthy fascination for them. I blame a View to a Kill.

[flat4alfa]

I never had any interest until I was walking up lower Manhattan and past a Fire House with their gleaming engine(s?) on display.  It was to the right, shortly before the Flatiron building.  Think it was Ladder 13 but I've slept since then.  Either way my eyes were like saucers and the crew let me paw over it like a proper Limey tourist.  I felt a bit silly, especially as NY Fire Crews are properly built fellas and there I was all of 12 stone.

Sadly this was a year or two before the WTC disaster, so those fellas might not be with us anymore.  When I see footage I do think of them.

[bunglebus]

I had some arrivals. But I don't remember ordering a Bburago Street Fire (whatever that is)

Ah, it's the "Cortina" I won. Clearly actually a Corgi Capri, complete with tilting seats and jewelled spotlights - and broken suspension 

Nextly, more Hot Wheels bajas I didn't have. Except the blue one which happened to be in the large job lot from the other day...

Lastly, proof that buying job lots doesn't always work out. I bought a Matchbox Superkings Peterbilt recovery truck just like this brand new after winning £50 on the Premium Bonds when I was about 10. It's long gone but this was literally hiding in the shadows of the pictures of a job lot. Now I know why - it's fucked. Broken suspension and grille and generally tatty

It came with some other bits but I'm still pretty gutted

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

I had some arrivals.

Hey, I had that one too - part of Majorette's 'Miami Gift Set'.

This was the subject of a post-Christmas splurge c.1990 - only mine might have been a slightly later version, as it came with a Ferrari F40.

I wasn't interested in the Ferrari, I wasn't even all that fussed on the truck and the speedboat - for me, it was all about that Cadillac Fleetwood limousine, because it had opening front and back doors, AND a sliding sunroof. Which, in roughly 1/60 Matchbox size, was both unheard of and pant-wettingly exciting.

The truck was quite nice though, with a removable, floating speedboat held in a cradle on the trailer.

As it happens, I don't know where they're getting their asking prices from on eBay for this one - nor am I all that certain where my old Majorette stuff ended up - but I think they went to someone on here, who's presumably eying up their own private Carribbean island as I write.

Although, in my searching this evening, it seems it was also sold as a stand-alone model too, in the Majorette Super Movers range.

My boat definitely had the light blue hull and dark blue deck, so it's interesting to see there are two versions (at least) out there.

Sorry that the rest of the haul was a bit underwhelming - some ya win...

[bunglebus]

8 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

it was all about that Cadillac Fleetwood limousine

I kinda want one of those, I have the Mercedes one which I started to customise a while back, but it really is a terrible casting with awful panels gaps around the doors, I don't think the Caddy is any better in this respect. Diecast Resurrection on YouTube did one recently which looked good.

I was intending to do a bit of a bad taste version with three spokes and lairy paint. It's on the list...

[bunglebus]

On 09/06/2019 at 18:53, bunglebus said:

20190609_121030 by RS, on Flickr

Then there's this behemoth which was passed on to another 'shiter

[sierraman]

I had the big Majorette limousine, in fact I gave it my nephew after having it listed on eBay for months. Tried without luck to sell all the 1/36 Majorette stuff years ago so gave them away. Worked out quite well as it goes as it’s all he ever plays with.

[bunglebus]

Anyone know what my green K-30 trailer should be towed by?

 

[sierraman]

50 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Anyone know what my green K-30 trailer should be towed by?

 

Could be wrong but a Range Rover? Or maybe as some Polizei set?

[155V6]

59 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Anyone know what my green K-30 trailer should be towed by?

 

It looks like the bottom half of a generator,towed by a Unimog

[155V6]

Or it might be from this set

[Split_Pin]

I had the small Cadillac Limousine in a lurid green colour, bought in 1992 at Bay News on the island of Arran. 

I remember seeing it years earlier and like @Datsuncog I was in awe of the opening front and back doors. It was a bit dearer than the regular 200 series cars which were about 72p so I didn't have enough at the time.

I sold it in one of my 2013-15 purges but I wish I'd kept it as it was quite an iconic Majorette for me back then.

 

[bunglebus]

Looking like a Majorette, is this 1:55 scale Polistil BMW M1

 

[flat4alfa]

On 9/25/2021 at 7:08 AM, bunglebus said:

Then there's this behemoth which was passed on to another 'shiter

Behemoth is here with Dolly.

Came here via Doctor Pandamonium IIRC

It's great.  But Tom is much happier up on his Massey

[eddyramrod]

You need a Sea King now with Arnold Schwarzenegger hanging off one of the skids....

[flat4alfa]

It was a Bell 212

...which gives us the opportunity* to show some Jamie Lee Curtis, who did her own stunts

...yes even hanging from a Helicopter, it was on her 35th birthday too.  

I wonder if they ever did recover the Lincoln Town Car from the bottom of the Florida Keys

[flat4alfa]

Looked for a 212 in 1/32 scale to match but the nearest is 1:48 Italieri kit of the 'CH-135 Twin Huey' variation

Which is a relief

[Frogchod]

Another new arrival, a Citroën GS birotor. 1/24 scale. 

Also found a display cabinet in a junk shop. This now houses my reverse rake window collection. 

Not the bottom row obvs... 

[bunglebus]

My friend gave me his Super Treasure Hunt Cougar for helping him out. I love it

 

[155V6]

Some bits from a lot I got today on FB Marketplace,pleased with the Gama Astra

On the way back,I went into Tesco to get a pizza for my tea.I had a look for Matchbox & Hotwheels but the bins weren't empty,they were gone 🤔.I did find these two on clip strips though😎

[155V6]

Just got back from my second collection this week,here's some pictures.

Corgi stuff,the Acclaim is nice,but it's no Ballade 😀

Older Corgi stuff,I love the De Tomaso.Mini is tatty,but all there apart from front bumper corner & tyres,so I'll be looking at Model Supplies

Large Matchbox

Majorette

Odd ones.I thought the Rolls was a modified Corgi,but it's Polistil & is really nice.The Mercedes says Cursor-modell on the base & has opening front doors,bonnet,& boot

Small Matchbox

New Matchbox

Corgi Minis

3/4 of a box of buses

The rest

I was really happy to get this lot,it's the sort of thing I normally miss by 5 minutes.I also got a pair of Rover 25 rubber mats from the same seller,plus a pile of Top Gear & Max Power magazines from around 20 years ago 😀