Shite in Miniature II

[Bren]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

It's an interesting one - can't find any images of the white "59" Mustang, and the "Starfighter" dragster was renamed "Silver Streak" at launch. I thought the purple Rover 2000 was another one that wasn't made but they are out there. Also don't remember seeing the Camaro in blue with a raised roof, I think the later Whizzwheels cars must be less common than their earlier counterparts

I have the whizzwheels rover 2000 however don't ask me where it's paint went. Some of these had fairly short lives and as a result are expensive - compare the prices of whizzwheels rover 2000/camaro/ corvette to their earlier counterparts. You will pay a premium due to their rarity.

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

Picked this up the other day, £2 plus postage on t’ebay. One that had been elusive at car boots etc. 

The transporter or the transported? Should have a Capri on board

 

[sierraman]

I’ve got a Capri in the loft somewhere to go on it. The Xantia I picked up in the summer for 20p. 

Just trying to fill the gaps in the collection!

[Remspoor]

These are not die-cast and the scale is the same as N Gauge railway models. 1:160. They say that can be increased a little.

 

Maybe they make a model of that obscure vehicle you have been looking for.

https://railnscale.com/vehicles-cars/

 

[mitsisigma01]

Does anyone collect the dealer supplied BMW miniatures, in 2007 there seems to be quite a few... A 122 page catalogue with price list

[andrew e]

I really think for me that 1973 catalogue is peak Corgi for the smaller scale. Even with the whiz wheels everything seems so desirable 😎

[mitsisigma01]

Whose got a real bmw and which model, I'll see if they have a pic and number... and a 2007 price 👍

[sierraman]

8 hours ago, andrew e said:

I really think for me that 1973 catalogue is peak Corgi for the smaller scale. Even with the whiz wheels everything seems so desirable 😎

They were fantastic, a particular favourite it’s the Mercedes 350, so much more detailed that the Lesney. I think they were at a peak with the effort made but it was obviously starting to lose them money by the end of the decade.

[andrew e]

I had one of those and it was a real favourite - up until the X-19 arrived -every SL I see is always chipped on all the edges though.

[flat4alfa]

I don't remember the Corgi Merc 350 SL, must have been a slow seller and short run?

The Matchbox model is of the longer wheelbase 350 SLC, have one or two of those and also the MC Toy 500 SL with removable hardtop that is uncannily in a very similar blue to the Corgi in the catalogue...

Might do photo

[flat4alfa]

Old Dad liked the Magic Roundabout programme, partly as he's a Frenchman and the show was a french production, but also more for the humour in the English translation. 

I was a small little lad at the time when he bought this.  I still have some of the bits, but not the track.  It must have been quite expensive set.  Bet he never let on to Mum how much

[flat4alfa]

[sierraman]

18 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Old Dad liked the Magic Roundabout programme, partly as he's a Frenchman and the show was a french production, but also more for the humour in the English translation. 

I was a small little lad at the time when he bought this.  I still have some of the bits, but not the track.  It must have been quite expensive set.  Bet he never let on to Mum how much

You’d probably vomit if you saw how much a boxed set is worth now. 

[bunglebus]

I also liked the Magic Roundabout. As I understand it, there were loads more episodes than we ever saw, as most didn't get translated into English, and for those that did the translator had to guess what was going on and make up the story to go with the animation as they didn't speak French.

I also heard a rumour that Charles De Gaul took exception to the Dougal character as he thought they were taking the p*ss out of him. Maybe they were.

[sierraman]

I always remember the Magic Roundabout being on at something like 6am on Channel 4 when I was a kid. 

[mitsisigma01]

I think it used to be on about 5.40pm just before the evening news on BBC1.... 

 

Yep, getting old😕

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS.

 

I did call by the market this morning, as it happens. For some reason, the cat insisted on attacking my feet around 7am, and since it had stopped raining and I was otherwise trying to avoid thinking about work, I toddled in to Belfast to get a few things.

A proper autumnal Friday, with a bit of a steel edge to the breeze and the sun still hanging low on the horizon... leaves starting to accumulate in the puddles at the sides of the road on East Bridge St, and I was glad of my scarf - even though the wind seemed keen to snatch it from me.

No Nemesis by the time the doors opened at 8 - and, although I've not been present every week lately, I haven't spied him since August, I think. Uncharacteristic.

I might ask after him, next time. Just in case.

Mind you, there's now security guards stationed on the traders' loading bay in Verner St, which is how (I believe) he managed to slink in early each week and already have the table half-cleared before anyone else got a look-in.

Not very much to interest anyone on the stalls today, though, in terms of diecast - just the unsold dregs from last week up top from Market Blokey:

...and some hot Days Gone action in the solitary box to be found.

OMG Darling Buds Of May COLLECTORS SPECIAL EDITION madness:

No doubt whoever first owned these thought they were onto a sure-fire nest egg investment... they're probably about as desirable as a VHS copy of said series. £2 each takes them, apparently.

These clipped-card toys were a bit unusual, though, for Belfast:

Scale consistency across the range apparently not a priority. Both 1/60 scale? I think not.

There were a few different models in the box, all of which were apparently Welly products packed specially for Morrisons:

Which is all the more odd, as Morrisons don't operate in Northern Ireland - other than during a very brief window in about 2004, after they bought up the Safeway chain but before they sold their NI operations to Asda, after only a few months.

Plus, isn't this very similar to a Universal-era Matchbox casting?

In hindsight, I probably should have bought this one to do a side-by-side comparison...

The only genuinely old model on the whole stall was this Dinky Taxi, which didn't quite set my soul on fire with delight:

Not in bad shape at all, but not really my thing.

Still some of those MoY Fire Engine Series left; still at a tenner.

This Leyland Cub came in a very large box, which seemed wholly unnecessary.

This GMC was quite nice too - and still in its tissue wrapper - but I should really avoid such opportunistic hoovering-up, so I didn't.

And that was that, pretty much - a sweep of the other stalls produced not much of interest, other than a Fisher-Price rescue vehicle on the Charity Stall, which was totally unfamiliar to me:

Quite a large thing, and all plastic as you might expect - and appeared reasonably complete. Does it stir any childhood memories for anyone?

Not sure what the asking price might have been.

Cheeringly, Alan's Emporium was back at the market - though there was nothing automotive to be seen this week, anyway. Maybe another time.

So I got a few groceries, and my usual coffee, and headed home again.

 

Though I did happen to pick this up, as requested by @155V6:

Yup, it's the snappily-named Siku #3411 Flugfeldlöschfahrzeug, apparently based on a Metz-Faun design.

It's quite a bit older than I thought it might be - the back of the box still showcases quite a few seventies Siku models, like the Mk1 Granada estate:

Side of the box is marked 'Made in W. Germany', so it's likely to be pre-unification - minimum of 30 years old, then?

The box is a little bashed-up, it's true:

Still, some fresh cellophane could improve it a bit.

The model itself looks to be a minter, though:

It's really heavy, too.

Opening side storage cabinets reveal removable hoses in sliding carriers, which probably didn't last five minutes under normal play conditions:

Plus multi-directional swivelling foam lances:

And teeny-tiny opening hatches on the roof, which are nice and all, but I'm not sure what play value they add...

It's a brilliant model, and in terms of sheer heft and engineering, demonstrates why Siku always commanded such a premium over their competitors.

I'm sure this would have cost more new than the tenner paid today - certainly when inflation's factored in - so hopefully you're happy enough with this one, dude! Sure PM me with your current address whenever you want it sent over.

A happy Friday to you all, gentle miniShiters.

[Datsuncog]

34 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

a sweep of the other stalls produced not much of interest, other than a Fisher-Price rescue vehicle on the Charity Stall, which was totally unfamiliar to me:

Hmm, some Google-Fu indicates that it dates from 1974 - part of the 'Adventure People' range.

So there you go - not one I'm familiar with, though those poseable figures with the funky bell-bottoms do stir a memory or two.

Possibly the kind of thing that could be found at jumble sales for pennies, back in the day?

[flat4alfa]

21 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I always remember the Magic Roundabout being on at something like 6am on Channel 4 when I was a kid. 

I thought - surely not, this series dates from the 1960s-70s and there was no Channel 4 until the 80s.

So looked it up

Quote

The first British broadcasts were shown every weekday on BBC1 at 17:50, just before the early evening news at 17:55.[3][1] Although the exact time of the early evening news varied over the years, The Magic Roundabout kept its slot before the early evening news for the duration of its original broadcasting, except for 16:55 time slots during October to November 1966, and earlier times during parts of 1972 and 1973. This was the first time an entertainment programme had been transmitted in this way in the UK. The original series, which was a serial, was made in black-and-white. From the second series onwards it was made in colour, although the series was still broadcast in black-and-white by the BBC; the first colour episode of the show ("Chocolate Soldiers") was transmitted on 5 October 1970.

Fifty-two additional episodes, which were claimed to have been not previously broadcast, were shown in the United Kingdom from January to March of 1992 on Channel 4's News Daily. Thompson had died by this time, and the job of narrating them in a pastiche of Thompson's style went to actor Nigel Planer. The aforementioned fifty-two episodes actually have been previously narrated by Thompson (particularly from the 1970-1971 series), being redubbed editions of the original French colo[u]r episodes by AB Productions (with different music and slightly different voices) broadcast in 1990. An additional forty-three episodes were narrated by Planer from April to September of 1993, this time, with most of the episodes coming from a batch of new French episodes which were broadcast during that same year up until 1995. [wikipedia.com]

Never knew about those CH4 'lost' episodes

[bunglebus]

SIKU used to be lovely things. I occasionally browse the display of them in Entertainer but as they've always made models of up-to-date vehicles for the most part, they don't appeal - and the wheels are awful

[mitsisigma01]

2 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

January to March of 1992 on Channel 4's News

Daily. Thompson had died by this time,

I didn't know Daley Thompson had died so long ago... 🙄😬

[Split_Pin]

I think the Granada was made into the 1980s. Those other models are old though, especially the yellow Magirus. No sign of any forward control Volvo Trucks like the F10 or even the F7 just the N10 which looks to have quad round lights so definitely not even mid 1980s. I'd have a stab and say it's about 1981.

[bunglebus]

Still feeling the effects of man flu, so instead of getting on with anything productive, I've scanned the 1978 Tomica catalogue

 

[bunglebus]

9 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

I think the Granada was made into the 1980s. Those other models are old though, especially the yellow Magirus. No sign of any forward control Volvo Trucks like the F10 or even the F7 just the N10 which looks to have quad round lights so definitely not even mid 1980s. I'd have a stab and say it's about 1981.

The Granada is in my '84 catalogue but not my '86 - but I guess box designs wouldn't have been changed annually

[Datsuncog]

Either that Tomica catalogue was originally owned by a very lucky kid, or it was owned by a LIAR.

Every single model ticked, bar the Toyota camper, weirdly.

That 1/43 Beetle with the Rolls-Royce style front end (DF-11) is ROFLtastic.

Some great models there, cheers for that!

[bunglebus]

4 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Either that Tomica catalogue was originally owned by a very lucky kid, or it was owned by a LIAR.

Every single model ticked, bar the Toyota camper, weirdly.

That 1/43 Beetle with the Rolls-Royce style front end (DF-11) is ROFLtastic.

I was thinking exactly the same - and I'd love to find one of those Beetles, but like most things Tomica they're £xpensive

The Rolls Royce front was offered as an aftermarket kit to improve luggage space, at the expense of aerodynamics/sex appeal

[junkyarddog]

I'd like number 108.

Toyota Corolla coupe.😎

[sierraman]

Were Tomica ever officially sold in the U.K.? 

[eddyramrod]

Some lovely stuff in that Tomica catalogue!  I spy a yellow Mustang II hatch, just like the one I failed to buy 30 years ago; and a blue Cadillac that looks very much like Huggy!  I would imagine these are all 1/64 (nominally, at least) so if anyone spots them at project prices...

[Datsuncog]

 

28 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Were Tomica ever officially sold in the U.K.? 

Yes, but I think it was only after the mid-90s - the model shop where I used to work stocked them in blister packs, after our Matchbox rep went AWOL and we were stuck for pocket-money toys.

Dunno exactly where they were sourced from, but from memory they were mostly US/European range models like a Mini, 2CV, Lotus Europa, VW Kombi, Morgan Plus 4, Chevrolet Pickup... though there was a Mazda RX7 in the mixed selection too (see the front row of what was formerly my small Tomica collection - except for the Datsun Cherry)

We also did Siku and some of the bigger Majorette models and gift sets, though never the small individual Majorettes.