Shite in Miniature II

[Split_Pin]

Y0 @Spottedlaurel I'm still up for buying the Matchbox van you procured for me from France in the summer if you have it?

If @bunglebus doesn't want the Mustang I'd happily buy that too!

[Spottedlaurel]

  On 18/12/2022 at 10:07, Split_Pin said:

Y0 @Spottedlaurel I'm still up for buying the Matchbox van you procured for me from France in the summer if you have it?

If @bunglebus doesn't want the Mustang I'd happily buy that too!

Expand  

Good stuff. I'll do a bit of sorting-out when I have time off over Christmas, and the postal issues have hopefully subsided.

[barrett]

  On 17/12/2022 at 02:58, Datsuncog said:

Guisval buggy was unusual too, though possibly missing a hood or something?

'Buggy Skoda' - well, okay.

Expand  

I didn't know about it, but a quick google shows it's a real thing, an Italian effort based on Skoda MB running gear called the Autozodiaco Kirby. So now you know.

[bunglebus]

  On 18/12/2022 at 09:41, Spottedlaurel said:

Well it would have helped if I'd have quoted the correct reference number, should be D118:

Apparently by Zee Toys.

Expand  

Yep, Motormax was the later name for Zee stuff. Number makes sense now!

Mine is the same colour, a lot of late Zylmex stuff is basic black

[quicksilver]

  On 17/12/2022 at 22:02, bunglebus said:

Because Mattel are imbeciles when it comes to knowing their target markets. MK1 Capri was a barely known Mercury in the states, popular in Europe and especially the UK. 

I suspect the only reason the MK1 Escort RS1600 is popular in the states is because of the Fast and Furious car, otherwise that would also be a slow seller.

Why didn't they ensure plenty of availability in Europe on that premium Ford set with the Supervan/RS1800/RS1600 etc?  They seem to take the sadly common attitude that the USA is the centre of the universe.

Anyway - how would they know how well any individual car in a case sells? They only know how many cases they sell surely?

Expand  

I really cannot fathom the way Mattel do business. They never seem to do any market research or adjust production based on demand so they carry on flooding shops with crap nobody wants like those baggage trucks and self-driving buses instead of more Capris and other things that are guaranteed to sell. I remember a story on Lamley about a Volvo C30 in a UK battenburg police livery that UK buyers would have gone mad for, but they never sold it here and only in the US where hardly anybody wanted it. That's tragically misreading the market, yet they seem to have learned nothing from it.

[Richard_FM]

  On 18/12/2022 at 08:15, Spottedlaurel said:

The Capri case seems to be getting easier to find around here now. I debated whether to get another one yesterday, but decided against it. The shopping bag already contained this lot from a coupe of charity shops:

 

Majorette Land Cruiser and MC Toy 2CV were 50p each. Funny thing is, I woke up early and before I got back to sleep I was idly thinking about finding a Majorette stash in a charity shop, then when I walked into town yesterday morning and popped into the Red Cross shop there was one sitting at the top of the tub.

The rest were 20p each, hence buying some parts/restoration examples. HW dragster might be a wheel donor, the Beetles are by Corgi and Realtoy (the latter quite nice, shame about the broken bumper ends but might look OK completely debumpered?), Land Rover by Matchbox (Thailand) and not one I recall but I was at work by 1987, Superfast Boss Mustang and plastic base Lone Star Impy Jaguar have bost lost their bonnets, '80s Fox Mustang by Chinese maker unknown but has the reference DC118 on the base, Porsche 956 by MC Toy (Macau), and Corgia Sierra has a mysterious bit of rust staining and some corrosion (TADTS). Perhaps suitable for a banger conversion? I had similar thoughts about the 1:43-ish Mercedes at the back, which conveniently has a screw-fix base for easy dismantling. Happy for most of them to be rehomed, if for example someone with a fondness for Beetles and modifying diecasts was interested....

Expand  

I had the Citroen 2CV & Sierra with plainer paintwork.

In your other post I had the red dragster in some hand me downs from a neighbour.

[sierraman]

  On 18/12/2022 at 12:03, quicksilver said:

I really cannot fathom the way Mattel do business. They never seem to do any market research or adjust production based on demand so they carry on flooding shops with crap nobody wants like those baggage trucks and self-driving buses instead of more Capris and other things that are guaranteed to sell. I remember a story on Lamley about a Volvo C30 in a UK battenburg police livery that UK buyers would have gone mad for, but they never sold it here and only in the US where hardly anybody wanted it. That's tragically misreading the market, yet they seem to have learned nothing from it.

Expand  

Somewhere in Mattel there will be someone that’s let loose to decide all this whose done a 3 year marketing degree but who knows nothing about the brand. I’m just wondering where we stand in the new year with Matchbox supply in the U.K. I have never known a company who wants to sell only through one retailer, why would you limit your options like that, imagine if Marmite only sold in larger branches of the Spar they’d be out of business in no time. 

I think it’s just indicative of many companies these days when they rope someone in that said all the right words in the interview but doesn’t know jack shit about anything. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

I lost patience with Mattel years ago when they got the exclusive rights to Ferrari. I had been happily collecting Ferrari F1 and road cars in the 1990s when suddenly Mattel did the deal. After which they did nothing with it part from release a couple of F1 cars a year, and very few road cars in 1/43rd. Eventually they started making older F1 stuff, and older road cars, but the numbers they released them in just saturated the world-wide market. They did not learn as they just repacked the same models in different boxes without changing the liveries for different drivers or races. Nearly all the road cars only came in re-sale red. 

Eventually I gave up collecting them and sold off all my Ferraris. After 10 years of collecting I had around 250 F1 cars, and run out of space to put them.

[quicksilver]

Exclusivity deals with manufacturers rarely work out well. Corgi had (not sure if they still have) such a deal with Wrightbus. They didn't produce any new castings of Wrightbus products that collectors really wanted but denied every other willing company the opportunity to do so, so all it achieved was forcing this hungry market to go unsatisfied while they released umpteen slightly different Borismasters. How that benefits anyone escapes me.

[Split_Pin]

I agree that Mattel have tragically misread the market. They need to look at the fact that they've missed the mark as far as the retro collector market goes. Look at Lego and more recently Playmobil who are releasing items relating to classic cars and vehicles from TV shows from the 1960s to 1980s. 

Mattel have a great range of castings  of European and British cars but some are hard to get. The market can be perverse though. Lots of potless desperados scalping the desirable castings to sell for one or two pounds profit when they first appear, only for further cases to become available so the items on ebay are no longer worth more and they subsequently sit around in someone's cupboard for goodness knows how long.

If I was them I'd limit the fantasy castings as its no longer the 1970s and concentrate on making different case mixes for Europe/UK and the US. In other words, less US based cars for this side of the pond and the inverse for the US. I'm an idiot but even that must surely make sense?

[155V6]

Just got back from a wet & very cold car boot with this lot

[155V6]

Poundland had these,one of the mixes we missed?

[bunglebus]

  On 18/12/2022 at 13:39, 155V6 said:

Just got back from a wet & very cold car boot with this lot

Expand  

Politoys Herbie! No way!

[bunglebus]

  On 18/12/2022 at 13:41, 155V6 said:

Poundland had these,one of the mixes we missed?

Expand  

Yes! Nova please!!1!

Cor and a red/white Dodge Sweptside - think you need to go and scoop up the lot 

[sierraman]

  On 18/12/2022 at 13:38, Split_Pin said:

I agree that Mattel have tragically misread the market. They need to look at the fact that they've missed the mark as far as the retro collector market goes. Look at Lego and more recently Playmobil who are releasing items relating to classic cars and vehicles from TV shows from the 1960s to 1980s. 

Mattel have a great range of castings  of European and British cars but some are hard to get. The market can be perverse though. Lots of potless desperados scalping the desirable castings to sell for one or two pounds profit when they first appear, only for further cases to become available so the items on ebay are no longer worth more and they subsequently sit around in someone's cupboard for goodness knows how long.

If I was them I'd limit the fantasy castings as its no longer the 1970s and concentrate on making different case mixes for Europe/UK and the US. In other words, less US based cars for this side of the pond and the inverse for the US. I'm an idiot but even that must surely make sense?

Expand  

I think you’ll find in America they have a saying ‘What’s the need for common sense when you have rules’. 

I’ve never understood the idea of traipsing round every Tesco in the district to make 89p on eBay but a select band of folks do. I did manage to find a ‘Best of British’ Capri on Friday which I was chuffed about, normally that’s the first to get scalped. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

Todays instalment of Roadside Assistance include the other German club, the AvD (Automobilclub von Deutschland) and the TCS (Touring Club Suisse).

Schuco DKW F89 AvD

Schuco Opel Astra Caravan

Gama-Mini Opel Kaddet

Schuco Opel Olympia TCS

Schuco Opel Omega TCS

Norev Peugeot 807 TCS

 

 

[sierraman]

  On 18/12/2022 at 13:41, 155V6 said:

Poundland had these,one of the mixes we missed?

Expand  

They had those in Spain recently, that’s where I picked up a Chevy Nova. I’ll drop in tomorrow and check stock 😂

[155V6]

  On 18/12/2022 at 13:42, bunglebus said:

Politoys Herbie! No way!

Expand  

Yes,it's missing headlights,rear seats,rear wheels,& glazing,but the paint is pretty good & it still has all it's stickers

[MiniMinorMk3]

  On 18/12/2022 at 13:39, 155V6 said:

Just got back from a wet & very cold car boot with this lot

Expand  

 

  On 18/12/2022 at 13:42, bunglebus said:

Politoys Herbie! No way!

Expand  

I had one of those about 10 years ago and bunged it on Ebay. I fell off my chair when the auction finished. People go nuts for those Herbies.

[155V6]

  On 18/12/2022 at 13:42, bunglebus said:

Yes! Nova please!!1!

Cor and a red/white Dodge Sweptside - think you need to go and scoop up the lot 

Expand  

I was going to buy some,but the queue was about 53 miles long 🙁

[bunglebus]

  On 18/12/2022 at 13:49, 155V6 said:

Yes,it's missing headlights,rear seats,rear wheels,& glazing,but the paint is pretty good & it still has all it's stickers

Expand  

Did they have glass originally?

Edit 

Looks like front screen only. This one is for sale on carmodel.com for just* €250

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

Yes front glass only

I like the Tekno version with the figure climbing out

But the rarest and most sort after (read expensive) is the Matchbox version

 

PS None of these were ever in my collection, all found on Vectis.co.uk

[bunglebus]

  On 18/12/2022 at 14:12, MiniMinorMk3 said:

I like the Tekno version with the figure climbing out

Expand  

That's very cool, and leads me to a bit of Herbie trivia. That classic image from The Love Bug that the Techno represents:

Contains a glaring error - there's no "53" on the door...

Also Googling "Techno Herbie" leads to some very unexpected results!

There's one on eBay UK for just* £367.50 with free post though!

I'll stick with this for now

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

  On 18/12/2022 at 14:19, bunglebus said:

That's very cool, and leads me to a bit of Herbie trivia. That classic image from The Love Bug that the Techno represents:

 

Expand  

We could start a game of Spot the Difference with various stills from the film

Wide rims

Thin rims and an older body shell

[bunglebus]

Oh yeah there are loads of errors throughout, especially the use of earlier cars with the oval windows cut out. 

I just like that one I posted as it's such a well-known image and used on the DVD covers, movie posters etc

[FakeConcern]

I was perusing ebay when Mrs Concern looked over my shoulder and decided she couldn’t do without a Corgi Renault 16 Tour de France camera car, so a bid was placed and it arrived very quickly after we won it.

We both prefer the toys to be a bit playworn (it actually looks rather better than it appears in the pics) and this looks to be straight from the toy box just as it should.

I found a small plastic base in the back of it and got excited for a second thinking it was from one of the cyclists, but it turned out to be a base for a soldier or Crusader.

I have a number of retro French cycling figures to pose it with, but they’re 1/32 so a bit too big and now the hunt is on for actual Corgi ones.

Looks ok from this angle...

Not so good this way...

For some reason it’s easy to find the figure, but not the bike, why anyone would want the cyclist without it I have no idea.

Unfortunately the usual Corgi/Dinky spares websites don’t seem to do them, so wondered if anyone here has seen them available anywhere?

 

PS I've just caught her looking at the Corgi Citroen DS race directors car and Corgi Pug 505 Team car on ebay haha

[Split_Pin]

It's a great model that! I got mine in 1990 obviously way before you could easily get replacement parts so my mum made a camera from balsa wood painted silver and I found a suitable figure. I could probably replace those with more genuine looking parts now but somehow that would erase its story.

 

[155V6]

  On 18/12/2022 at 14:19, bunglebus said:

That's very cool, and leads me to a bit of Herbie trivia. That classic image from The Love Bug that the Techno represents:

Contains a glaring error - there's no "53" on the door...

Also Googling "Techno Herbie" leads to some very unexpected results!

There's one on eBay UK for just* £367.50 with free post though!

I'll stick with this for now

 

Expand  

I've got a carded mainline version somewhere,also this plastic pullback by Dickie toys

I had a quick look on eBay for parts for the Politoys Herbie.I could get a pair of headlamps & a front screen for about £35,but it still wouldn't have any rear wheels 😂

[MiniMinorMk3]

  On 18/12/2022 at 15:00, FakeConcern said:

 

Unfortunately the usual Corgi/Dinky spares websites don’t seem to do them, so wondered if anyone here has seen them available anywhere?

 

 

Expand  

Norev  made various 1/43rd TdF figures. 

Norev - The Tour of France in miniature (tourdefranceminiature.fr)

You might find some on ebay

[Remspoor]

Like you do when you are bored you are on the interweb, just looking.
I found this range from Silas models. 1/43 and in resin.

https://www.carmodel.com/trademark/silas?enc=1

I do not do Farcebook but here is their page too. I therefore cannot see it all. https://www.facebook.com/silasmodels/

Then there is these diorama models.

http://www.milenarose.com/index.php

 I think they are maybe connected to Silas

http://www.milenarose.com/silasmodels/