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Shite in Miniature II


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11 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Mysteries of the universe #74

Why did Matchbox change the base of the Datsun 126X?

Odd. Will have to see which one I have. (Wanders upstairs to the display cabinet.) Aha, it's the ribbed version.

Pretty sure I've posted these images before, but this is what it should look like:

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I think I have something about it in a Nissan publication and also some period Motor/Autocar pieces.

Would be interesting to try and paint/detail one as per the original colour scheme, although the orange glazing would rather clash....

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1 hour ago, Remspoor said:

Nothing about the base change here.

https://matchbox.fandom.com/wiki/Datsun_126X

Wiki is useful but doesn't really detail all the changes and variations. There are some sites that do but don't seem to get updated very often such as http://www.cfalkensteiner.com/ChFHomepageIndex.htm and https://www.vintagebritishdiecasts.co.uk/1index/xx175series.htm

Worryingly that first doesn't seem to be showing anything, that was a great list if variations and pre-pro cars

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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.

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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.

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9 minutes ago, Bren said:

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

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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?

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

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

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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.

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

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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.

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