danthecapriman Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 7 minutes ago, ETCHY said: Nice collection there. I note your Merryweather has a roof like mine that's painted. Yeah I think there's something concerning number of wheelnuts signifying early or later. The nozzle on my perished hose (that sounds like something from Viz🤣) is brass too. I like the Transit vans, I know there's a few variations of those.. Those AA vehicles are cool. "Mid-life crisis-man-child" yep me too 😂 ! The very late versions don’t have jewel headlights either. That one in my pic has cast headlights painted silver. ETCHY 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglebus Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 I got one in the disgusting filthy job lot danthecapriman, andrew e, FakeConcern and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthecapriman Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 24 minutes ago, bunglebus said: I got one in the disgusting filthy job lot Looks like the fire engine has caught fire! Imagine that😄 Came up well though. andrew e, FakeConcern and AndyW201 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ETCHY Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 1 hour ago, bunglebus said: I got one in the disgusting filthy job lot Brill clean up ! bunglebus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglebus Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 You should have seen the others! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flat4alfa Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Right, off to measure up AEC Ergomatic cabs and do a scale estimate on the Dinky Merryweather Hold my beer eddyramrod, FakeConcern, danthecapriman and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddyramrod Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Somehow I managed to get some spraying time in today, after dropping into Halfords for a new tin of Peugeot Seville... Some of those have gone upstairs for the finishing work now. Some of that might even get done tomorrow. andrew e, MiniMinorMk3, danthecapriman and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FakeConcern Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Exciting stuff and looking good @eddyramrod fingers crossed fo more tomorrow! eddyramrod 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthecapriman Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Looking good Eddy.👍 eddyramrod and FakeConcern 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datsuncog Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 13 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said: I'd certainly be interested in a Land Cruiser if you see another one please. You're in luck... Was passing Castle Court today, and called in to The Entertainer. One for me, and one for thee. No other Premiums to tempt, particularly - no more Mk2 Escorts, anyway. I also called into the local independent toy shop I'd found the MR2 in a few weeks back - no more of those, but they did have the first Minor I've encountered in the wild. So, I bought that too. Obviously. They also had a few individually packed Maisto toys too, which I wasn't used to seeing: Didn't buy any of them, though. But I did bring this home... No, not as cheap as the Home Bargains £7 playsets from last year, but I've been weirdly yearning for this fuel station ever since I saw it a few weeks ago... dunno what's going on with me right now. I seem to be regressing. Might knock it together later. As well as this lot, I also called into the Cityside Tesco store over lunchtime, but their Hot Wheels was a motley mix of 2022 and 2023 releases. No Matchbox whatsoever, either. The Great Proton Hunt continues, then... bunglebus, RoadworkUK, AndyW201 and 5 others 6 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sierraman Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 1 hour ago, eddyramrod said: Somehow I managed to get some spraying time in today, after dropping into Halfords for a new tin of Peugeot Seville... Some of those have gone upstairs for the finishing work now. Some of that might even get done tomorrow. I don’t know if you’ve a Bullseye Motorists Store near you but they’re flogging off some aerosols of old colours at £3 a tin. Worth a try? eddyramrod 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddyramrod Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Thank you! That's my kind of sale; unfortunately the chain hasn't reached this far. In fact I've never heard of it before tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datsuncog Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 6 hours ago, Tenmil Socket said: Didn’t someone acquire an electronic MB Sierra recently? I came across the packaging earlier. 5 hours ago, bunglebus said: I think it was in the window display of DC's favourite shop Yup - and, perhaps unsurprisingly for this particular establishment, it seems to have lost its original packaging but gained another... It'd be a nice market find, but I don't much care for his prices! andrew e and bunglebus 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglebus Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 I know a while back someone was discussing the Snorkel casting Please remind me, is is based on an earlier lorry? I found one of the awful Chinese made ones earlier and it looks for all the world like the cab is a widened Site Hut Truck... MiniMinorMk3 and AndyW201 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddyramrod Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Yes, in a word. The cab is a modified Leyland/AEC Ergomatic from the 60s, which is indeed what the Site Hut Truck is. danthecapriman and bunglebus 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglebus Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 I'll post a couple of pics tomorrow. It looks like someone described a Site Hut cab over the phone with a bad connection, to someone who didn't speak the same language andrew e and eddyramrod 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datsuncog Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 2 hours ago, bunglebus said: I know a while back someone was discussing the Snorkel casting Possibly me... bunglebus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglebus Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Blimey, over four years ago! I spend too much time on this thread. The poor old Snorkel has its swan song as a McDonald's toy in 2002 The one I found is the dayglo yellow Fire Eater version, it's that awful I don't appear to have taken any pictures of it when it turned up, probably in a job lot andrew e, Datsuncog, flat4alfa and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sierraman Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Mould probably wore out! andrew e 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spottedlaurel Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Popped into Aldi this morning. HWs at £1.49 each. They had remnants of the recent case with purple Datsun and green Volvo estates, and quite a few of an older one with red RS2000, IMSA Audi and white SWB Quattro. Thanks for getting the Land Cruiser @Datsuncog! Will be interesting to compare it with the older, light blue version I have. bunglebus and Datsuncog 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthecapriman Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 2 hours ago, bunglebus said: Blimey, over four years ago! I spend too much time on this thread. The poor old Snorkel has its swan song as a McDonald's toy in 2002 The one I found is the dayglo yellow Fire Eater version, it's that awful I don't appear to have taken any pictures of it when it turned up, probably in a job lot This is how that casting started out in 69 I think. As Eddy said, it’s an AEC/Leyland Ergomatic cab with Merryweather fire engine body. Same (more or less) as the big Dinky SuperToy one. The Matchbox one started out like the one in the pic, then somewhere down the line (80’s?) they altered it for some reason to chop out half the roof and lose the ladder, instead fitting the basket & crane. Im not too fond of the open top ones, but the original ones are a nice little model. Heres the site hut truck. The same basic cab design (Ergomatic cab) but this time with a flatbed. The fire engine is an AEC Ergomatic cab, it’s got the triangle AEC badge in the middle just below the windscreen. And slightly different grills. Site hut truck is a Leyland Ergomatic cab, Leyland badge down near bumper and slightly different grills. The basic cab design is the same between both brands though, they just differ slightly in certain styles depending which brand was on the front! Typical BMC/BL really! It’s a similar thing going on as the Austin Cambridge and Morris Oxford - same thing! Just on trucks. MiniMinorMk3, eddyramrod, andrew e and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglebus Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 What I didn't realise they'd done is widen the cab - looks pretty good on the 70s Merryweather with metal base and headlights etc, but add in some nasty 90s plastic and lurid colours... Here's the first version andrew e, MiniMinorMk3 and AndyW201 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglebus Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Hold on just one cotton pickin' minute - these aren't the same either ETCHY, andrew e and MiniMinorMk3 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danthecapriman Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 How strange!? Maybe it’s to do with whatever back is on them? Maybe the tooling was made differently slightly for each particular model version, flatbed with cab. Tanker with cab. Fire engine with cab etc. there’s obviously subtle differences depending which. Age might play a part too. The tanker and flatbed are older so possibly to the older sizing. The Merryweather fire engine was later (narrow speed wheel era) so maybe as a new tooled model they made them a bit bigger? andrew e, flat4alfa, MiniMinorMk3 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quicksilver Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 2 hours ago, sierraman said: Mould probably wore out! That hideous blue McDonalds one certainly looks very well worn. The edges are a lot softer than the original and it gives the impression of being on its last legs. I've always wondered why they chopped the roof off, turning a realistic model into an implausible work of fantasy; I had one as a kid and it annoyed me because I recognised it as an Ergo cab but knew they never existed as open-toppers. Deroofing a real one would probably cause the cab to fall apart. eddyramrod, Datsuncog and danthecapriman 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglebus Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 5 minutes ago, quicksilver said: That hideous blue McDonalds one certainly looks very well worn. The edges are a lot softer than the original and it gives the impression of being on its last legs. I've always wondered why they chopped the roof off, turning a realistic model into an implausible work of fantasy. Because America. I've no doubt the mould was well worn by that point, but that era cars have very thick paint, also seems to chip off in large chunks rather than just get worn like the 60s and 70s stuff - Hot Wheels were just the same at the time, the colour changing ones are very hard to find undamaged andrew e 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Here's a little 'shoot' I did on my old phone, before Christmas! Subject this time was a glorious Corgi Super Juniors Ford D Series removal truck, acquired I think from @155V6: I'd known of various D Series Corgi efforts but don’t think I'd seen any with the earlier wheels, which really suit it. The fonts chosen really set it off, though I'm guessing these have had a bit of a touch-up in the past, or the QC staff had the day off when this was assembled. There's some play value added too, with the access ramp allowing all sorts of small scale junk to be stowed away there. That said, the cast-in barn doors up top hinder the stowage somewhat and are an incongruous oversight... Until I read that the chassis of the removal van was shared with the low loader. Which was also sold as a Husky Major! I imagined the name change would've coincided with the change from spun wheels and tyres to Whizzwheels but it seems there was a transition period. For completions sake, there was also a transoprter sold, which along with the low loader, was deemed worthy of selling into the Whizzwheels era, unlike the removals truck; understandable, when you consider play value (and selling more castings to load them with). You can load cars into the removals trailer but you have to choose your subject carefully: Got this Husky Jeep from @bunglebus, as I had one years back, bought from a jumble sale or car boot sale, in the early 90's. On its arrival, I discovered that there are 2 wheel variations on these Husky Jeeps, as the one I originally had featured those seen on the Ford, as such: Think my original one still had the driver clinging on to the seat, after seeing a couple of decades pass by. Anyway, the Jeep is an equally pleasant little casting and if you reverse it in to the trailer, you can test the approach angle (if you're a middle aged bloke who doesn't mind taking photos of half-century old toys on his kitchen floor...) flat4alfa, Spottedlaurel, FakeConcern and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flat4alfa Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 All three were always different, not least due to being Leyland or AEC. So not derived from each other, completely separate tooling and the size and detail differences proves that. @Datsuncog's write-up linked above must be the most comprehensive, now that diecastfire.co.uk site is dead LS 35-A MERRYWEATHER FIRE ENGINE Mainline 1969-1974 , Twinpack 1978-1979 Was a Superfast from day one, despite initial box artwork wearing regulars which were only found on pre-production examples. Metallic red clearcoat over gold primer. MI 111 (MB 13) Merryweather SNORKEL Fire Engine 1983-2002, Multipack 1996-2007. BUT! In 1981 for a special tie in to a US TV series called Code Red, a series was launched USA-only. As it was based in Los Angeles, they had an LA theme to them. Perhaps to make the Fire Appliance appear more familiar to US peoples, Lesney cut the centre out of the cab roof and the rear tank, fitted seating and the Snorkel moulding. This was some time before this revised casting joined the 1-75 series in 1983. All this time I thought it was post-bankruptcy Matchbox International change. MiniMinorMk3, andrew e, AndyW201 and 4 others 3 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglebus Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 I've had a few of those Husky Jeeps, always with the smooth wheels though. It got Whizzwheeled later in life I've got the Super Juniors removal lorry too, it's a very nice thing so has stayed in my collection despite culling a lot of commercial stuff. Still got various D series cabs and trailers to rehome though Jon and Datsuncog 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniMinorMk3 Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 12 hours ago, sierraman said: I don’t know if you’ve a Bullseye Motorists Store near you but they’re flogging off some aerosols of old colours at £3 a tin. Worth a try? Is that a store for people who tow their speed boat with a Nova Merit? 1 hour ago, danthecapriman said: This is how that casting started out in 69 I think. Here's the one to look out for Auctioned back in 2013 with a big estimate Vectis Auctions | Matchbox Superfast No.35 Merryweather Fire Engine AndyW201, bunglebus, flat4alfa and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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