Shite in Miniature II

[Remspoor]

4 hours ago, bunglebus said:

ancient Badger airbrush

Thanks pal I had one of those when I was younger. 😁

Straight out of the box it never did work that well for me. Maybe I could have  done with the intent to show me how. I am looking forward to reading how you get on with it.

[warch]

Been waiting for this to be released for ages, the Oxford Diecast Austin Champ.

The Champ was very much a product of post war military thinking, which was an attempt to commonise their wheeled vehicles to reduce issues with spares availability. This was achieved by equipping everything with variations of the Rolls Royce B Series engine in 8, 6 and 4 cylinder flavas. The Champ was fitted with the 2.8 B40 engine which had a useful 80hp. The engine components were shared across all versions however. 

Rover however managed to piss on Austin and the Ministry of Defence’s chips by wheeling out their new cross country motah which outperformed it in trials, which in those  days comprised vehicles loaded  with straight faced men in suits and ties driving over bumps at speed. The MoD decided to go with both the Champ and the Land-Rover in the end, but not before testing a sort of hybrid vehicle which featured the engine from the former shoehorned in the latter. 

The massive Rolls Royce engine went well and could crack 80mph, and thanks to the design of the gearbox had 5 forward and 5 reverse gears. It was effing heavy which made it very nose heavy to the detriment of cornering and off road ability.

The Champ always felt like a nearly vehicle for me, my dad owned one and half shares in another. In all honesty the Landrover was the superior design, but I’ve always loved the Champ for its brutal slightly derpy looks and because they’re so unusual.

[Bren]

I was 50 last Thursday. My brother bought me this -

I had the junior one when I was little. My parents never really had the money to buy me the likes of this in the late 70's.

[warch]

9 minutes ago, Bren said:

I was 50 last Thursday. My brother bought me this -

I had the junior one when I was little. My parents never really had the money to buy me the likes of this in the late 70's.

I much prefer the 70s original sets with the plastic figures to the metal ones in the 90s rerelease. Happy Birthday for last week, what a lovely present.

[Bren]

2 minutes ago, warch said:

I much prefer the 70s original sets with the plastic figures to the metal ones in the 90s rerelease. Happy Birthday for last week, what a lovely present.

Thank you. I have the re issue - kojak as well - they look cheap by comparison.

I remember getting taken to Woolworths after infants school one day in 1977 - I picked the corgi 369 hughes police helicopter. Got home to find my then three year old brother had picked kojaks' car. He got a bag on when he saw my helicopter - no idea why as the kojak car was much better.

[sierraman]

Happy 50th @Bren. 

I had a Badger air kit as well, could never get it working just right, aerosols always seemed much more convenient. Didn’t they come with a propane cylinder? 

[MiniMort]

A trip to the Newark Autojumble paid off today!

Managed to score almost all of these for 50p each! 

[sierraman]

Almost never find anything worth buying in the charity shops apart from this for 25p. The back suspension has collapsed, the metal bar that retains it has fell off so I’ll need to drill the base to refit it. Did cross my mind to repaint it but the shell is really tidy. 

[bunglebus]

3 hours ago, sierraman said:

Didn’t they come with a propane cylinder? 

Might have been but it's been punctured. Came with the same adapter I bought to connect it to a normal air line

[bunglebus]

1980 Amt Matchbox model kit for £10 

[Datsuncog]

On 7/15/2022 at 6:14 PM, eddyramrod said:

If you really want an UNCLE Olds, I can spare one, it won't be dear. 

Cheers Eddy - I think the replica Sheriff Olds will do me for now! Display space for models in the new place is, sadly, non-existent - all my diecast is crammed under the bed, and I don't see that changing anytime soon... so I'm having to be quite selective in what's acquired!

Quote

It did seem a bit of an odd choice to me, as the studio mostly used Mopar products.  Corgi was making an Imperial convertible (much more accurate choice) and Black Beauty which was also Imperial-based; surely something could have been cobbled up?

It really is; I can only presume that Corgi figured they could cheaply alter an older existing casting to make the 'Thush-buster', and by 1966 were thinking of phasing out the Olds Super 88 from the main range. The Imperial was a newer casting, so possibly they didn't want to start messing with its tooling, and assumed that kids wouldn't notice?

[Datsuncog]

Lunchtime laptop companion on The Hottest Day Of The Year (TM):

Oxford Diecast 1/43 Volvo 130 Series 'Amazon', in pale green. From more arctic climes.

Quite a nicely detailed thing; just a pity that Oxford don't seem to put these larger scale sorts of models out very regularly; their monthly newsletter seems mainly to showcase paint variations of Minis and Land Rovers. But their website still details some unusual 1/43 models worth having, not least the Jensen Interceptor and Datsun 240Z.

Nice to have a UK spec example for the collection, and the green interior really zings.

Underside not too shabby either.

Details like wipers are plastic rather than photo -etched metal, and while the quality's maybe not quite up there with Vanguards, it's also a bit less expensive too - £25 will net you one from the Oxford website.

[bunglebus]

Anyone fancy IDing this from some crap eBay screenshots? 

[AnnoyingPentium]

Just now, bunglebus said:

Anyone fancy IDing this from some crap eBay screenshots? 

Pug 504/505?

[eddyramrod]

Yes, it's a 504.  Norev, perhaps?  Can't read the baseplate.

[Justwatching]

1981 Mercury Grand Marquis Colony Park in 1:64 scale by Greenlight. 

Has an opening tailgate and tow hitch. Not had any of their campers or trailers. Yet. 

[155V6]

[andrew e]

WINNA!!!

[Datsuncog]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Anyone fancy IDing this from some crap eBay screenshots? 

There's not a horse box in the job lot, is there?

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

There's not a horse box in the job lot, is there?

No, it's a right mixed bag of mostly junk. Just wondered if that was worth getting

[Split_Pin]

In my own experience that era of Norevs are very difficult to sell so I therefore assume not worth a great deal. I'd be more attracted to the Dinky version although I think that might be a saloon.

[Datsuncog]

I do love an estate - but I'm happy enough with my Altaya model of an Argentinian 504 Rurale...

Not an original toy, but it'll do me alright.

[Datsuncog]

Just a plug for @Roverageous new diecast endeavour:

May be of some interest to the folks on this fair thread?

OneFortythree: Shop our selection of diecast model cars in the UK – OneFortyThree

[alcyonecorporation]

On 7/17/2022 at 10:18 PM, bunglebus said:

Might have been but it's been punctured. Came with the same adapter I bought to connect it to a normal air line

spray gun 

[Datsuncog]

Early lunch today, as I've to drop the Yaris down to get its badly-blowing exhaust looked at before its MOT in August.

Little bit of Lesney loveliness for you:

Yup, the #45 Ford Corsair.

This was one of two I obtained from the market stall last year, and despite being a bit playworn - and missing the clip-on plastic boat from the roof - I really like it.

It's also overdue a bit of a scrub, as although the decades of toybox grime give it a certain patina, I'm slightly disinclined to spend much time touching it. Which is a pity, as it fits into the hand so pleasantly.

Lesney did a good job with the proportions here - the larger contemporary Dinky version looked a bit stubby, IMHO, while the Lone Star Impy rendering looked good but tended to lose its opening bits quite quickly. Cararama's stab at a 2dr Corsair from the early 2000s didn't look quite right either (though that might have been because of the too-wide axles).

Number plate is a bit odd - generally Lesney put GB-style plates on their toys of this era, but 7151 VI doesn't really correspond with anything.

I'd thought it might be a Republic of Ireland plate, but apparently VI wasn't a series ever issued (British Virgin Islands did use it, but only in the mid-90s).

Simple, elegant, expertly modelled and so very charming. Peak Lesney. I like it.

[Split_Pin]

I've got that one too and in a similar condition. As you say, it's just 'right' 😀

[barrett]

Is the reg not 715 TVT, which is a 'normal' pre-63 British plate. Maybe Matchbox just hadn't caught up to the suffix plates yet when the car was being modelled? I have no idea when it came out but if it was late '63 like the real thing it might explain it.

[AnnoyingPentium]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Just a plug for @Roverageous new diecast endeavour:

May be of some interest to the folks on this fair thread?

OneFortythree: Shop our selection of diecast model cars in the UK – OneFortyThree

Bookmarked.

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, barrett said:

Is the reg not 715 TVT, which is a 'normal' pre-63 British plate. Maybe Matchbox just hadn't caught up to the suffix plates yet when the car was being modelled? I have no idea when it came out but if it was late '63 like the real thing it might explain it.

Y'know what, I think you're right - it's kinda hard to tell with both the towhitch in the way and the boot lip overhanging, but the plate does seem to read 715 TVT - which would indicate a Stoke-on-Trent area code.

The Charlie Mack big book o' Matchbox reckons the #45 Corsair appeared in 1965, and carried on through to the 1969 catalogue year, so while maybe it's not quite period-correct (its real-life counterpart would have been on a C-suffix at the point of launch) - it's not jarringly out of place.

My phone camera resolutely won't focus on the relevant area, but happy to call that mystery solved!

[eddyramrod]

FWIW I agree, it'll be 715 TVT.  The real Corsair might very well have worn a plate like that if it was an early model.  I know my dad bought one new in 1964 and that was GTE324B (1500 2-dr in Goodwood Green).