Shite in Miniature II

[flat4alfa]

BROWN MERCEDES ESTATE

[bunglebus]

Welly Crapi

 

[andrew e]

Those matchbox multipacks all look good 👍

[sierraman]

Like the Autobahn Express set. 

[Tenmil Socket]

16 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Remnants idea #1

Remnants idea #2

I wonder what the back of the estate looks like and what was used to convert it... Granada?

[Datsuncog]

50 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

I wonder what the back of the estate looks like and what was used to convert it... Granada?

A different conversion, but evidently a Volvo 245/265 would do the job...

How convenient...

[Datsuncog]

Still mildly obsessed with one of Friday's Tomica finds:

This is just such a nice toy.

There's a small peg on the base which, when moved, opens the front door.

Simple, but effective.

I don't know why I like this one so much - but I do.

Also managed to remove the blobs of glue from the wheels of the Oxford 1/72 Corsa:

  😧

That's a bit better.

Not maybe something I'd be all that interested in at full retail price, but for only a pound or so...

Looks like it's wearing a set of Lidl Middle Aisle black wheeltrims, for ultimate misery spec.

Still, I don't have much in the way of contemporary(ish) models, so it's kinda nice to have.

Potatocam is rubbish, but there's a teeny tiny Vauxhall badge on there - honest.

Even the interior's quite well detailed, given the size of it.

Underside too (plus more glue blobs).

It doesn't take much to make me happy...

[flat4alfa]

57 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

I wonder what the back of the estate looks like and what was used to convert it... Granada?

LOE 99P was in-house at BL official prototype.  Was daily hack for CEO Michael Edwardes for a while.  Now lives at Gaydon

SHP 549R was official prototype contracted out to Carbodies.  Now lives at Haynes Museum

TMK 428Y was done by an engineer in Norfolk.  Currently on a SORN, last on the road 5 years ago

 

[junkyarddog]

Whoever put those side repeaters on that bronze estate needs to made to eat them!!

The Rover/Volvo mashup looks like it been rear ended!!

[Datsuncog]

2 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

Whoever put those side repeaters on that bronze estate needs to made to eat them!!

It  does seem kinda unnecessary, given that the SD1 had probably boasted the biggest, most wraparound front indicators of the era...

[Christine]

double seat Honda

[sierraman]

2 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

LOE 99P was in-house at BL official prototype.  Was daily hack for CEO Michael Edwardes for a while.  Now lives at Gaydon

SHP 549R was official prototype contracted out to Carbodies.  Now lives at Haynes Museum

TMK 428Y was done by an engineer in Norfolk.  Currently on a SORN, last on the road 5 years ago

 

How many pints had he had when he designed that red Estate?

[155V6]

20 hours ago, bunglebus said:

That's cool. But I want the Track Car

I'm sure someone on here was on the trail of one from Facebook marketplace years ago

I did get this one a while back

It's a bit rough,but it was cheap & I haven't seen another one since.

[bunglebus]

More FB pics of strange HK imports. The guy bought a load of stock from a closing toy shop 30 odd years ago

[bunglebus]

5 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

BROWN MERCEDES ESTATE

Yes. That was the set I bought - they're all nice but not quite enough to buy the others

[Jon]

  Hi All.

Thanks to the quote below from @danthecapriman's diecast sale thread:

On 1/14/2023 at 2:32 AM, Split_Pin said:

I've never got mine working either even although everything looks in good order.  Maybe @Jonhas some tips!

I nipped into the garage yesterday, for a bit of tinkering with the @sierraman Neue Klasse BMW, to see if I could get it to work.

Apologies for upside down image (insert Antipodes joke here) but this image won't flip, for some reason. Anyway, the chonky features are there to house all these gubbins; that red interior inlay is possibly the cheapest grade of plastic ever assigned to a Dinky car, I imagine.

A test with a AAA battery and a bit of wire confirmed that the ancient bulbs still worked, so I set to with some shards of wet n dry, 'lubricated' with some contact cleaner. The cam on the rear axle is the magic-maker.

And the result:

Soz for potatofootage, I've converted mp.4 to GIF to easily upload it here. But I reckon that working indicators on a toy back in the day would've been pretty revolutionary. 

 

Spurred on by the success, I tackled the NSU:

 

Woohoo! This is a real bobby dazzler in this range of battery powered Dinkies, since the slab sides of the Ro80 aren't too exaggerated by the need to house a AAA battery and 60's electrics*. Again, simple cleaning of contacts and the happy circumstance of 5 decade old bulbs still holding up led to this mini victory. This casting is also the one with the neatest design and the most satisfying fit of all the components, to give confidence that it'll actually work, once all buttoned back up.

 

Finally, my luck ran out with the Merc:

The rusty contacts I could overcome. But I had to borrow a bulb from another car, as this one didn't have one. Yet, you can see that it was either a larger bulb originally fitted, or I had a piece of the puzzle missing, as the space for the battery was too long.

 

A bit of sleuthing online showed a rather elongated battery - was it possible that the Mercedes employed a now long defunct battery style?

 

Further sleuthing and phone screen zooming found the instructions written in English, describing the need for a U16 battery. Turns out that's an old term for AAA batteries, so that's not the issue and that a Dinky illustrator was having a bout of artistic licence that day.

My money is on the missing bulb being a different size, as from the illustrations, I've nothing missing from the puzzle. Anyone got one they can open up, for a looksie?

 

[bunglebus]

I also popped into Entertainer. Just another box of long cards on the annoying clip strips

Plus I think the last of the £3.50 F+F set

Upon my return home this was waiting for me. Another one that I have but this is much nicer

Then I had a mad afternoon rescuing my son in law after another completely avoidable automotive disaster - but I did visit a FB seller on the way back who had several trays of Matchbox etc on offer

Not seen either of these before

Husky

Corgi

And a weirdo 

[155V6]

19 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Well folks, I'm off down a rabbit hole again. Posted that Sunnyside Rover 3500 Dinky copy on FB and someone came up with this

As well as some others in the same Midnight branded boxes

That another one I've had (the Panda looks familiar too - Bburago?)

And this

That's the Alme Golf I showed earlier...

...along with the BMW 633. Might explain why they usually have no make on the base

So of course off I went searching for Midnight, and found they often have the brand Zodiac on them

Think this '57 is an MC Toys which is also sold as a Zee (or the other way around)

Here's mine

Not sure on the T-bird, might be Zee again

some others on the back of a box containing what's 100% a Zee pickup - recognise any? 

So yeah. More weirdos for me to hunt down, I have read the SS-909 Rover also came as a rally car - the search continues! 

I've got the TR8,missing the rear spoiler

[bunglebus]

7 minutes ago, Jon said:

Apologies for upside down image

 

[danthecapriman]

Never had one of these before but always thought it an odd choice of car for a British manufacturer to cover.

Simca!

Notice the Carrimore in the background? Notice too how it’s not my ‘bitsa’ green repainted one….  
This can only mean one thing!! Yes, another box of old toys arrived today. Gotta sort through yet but plenty here.

[Spottedlaurel]

23 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Saw this and went off to see but did not find a RatDat post - must have been lost in a purge?  Never mind, Corgi's 1975 Buick (Century) Regals have been discussed plenty before in this thread...............

It was a whole load of them I saw that he'd amassed when visiting him some years ago.

I'll get a few more photos of the Ertl Quattroporte up at some point, didn't realise I'd got myself a bit of a rarity (here at least). Looks like someone has one for sale on Etsy.

[flat4alfa]

12 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Looks like someone has one for sale on Etsy.

There are another 17 on eBay too, but all in the US

That's one of the cheaper ones...

No, I don't want one.

Honestly I don't.

No.

Stop it!

[MiniMinorMk3]

A couple of Fezzas today

Idea 3 Ferrari 410 Super America. Additional dymo labelling on base, and some of the usual paint blemishes that are found on these.

Nice old Solido Daytona in early issue metallic red

[sutty2006]

I ventured into the loft this afternoon. 
 

I seam to remember someone posted up a mint version of this, majorette? 
 

battered

 

matchbox superkings transporter

 

these were always my favourite. Superkings had opening parts and working suspension. The merc and jag were up there, right at the top. 
 

 

siku stuff. Always loved the attention to detail in these. 

 

matchbox rover sterling…. Ooooooopphhhhh. 

 

 

this merc 240d just says made in Great Britain underneath. 

 

corgi triumph acclaim. 

 

my only Britain’s landrovers 

 

this Range Rover is majorette I think. It didn’t come with this caravan, but it fits. I can’t remember what it came with, probably a boat or similar. 

 

another majorette, Toyota. 

 

a lot of my stuff is matchbox, corgi, majorette by the looks of it. 

[bunglebus]

9 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

this merc 240d just says made in Great Britain underneath. 

this Range Rover is majorette I think.

Merc is Corgi Junior, Range Rover is indeed 1:36 Majorette.

Unusual colour combo on the Merc, is it original? 

[sutty2006]

23 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Merc is Corgi Junior, Range Rover is indeed 1:36 Majorette.

Unusual colour combo on the Merc, is it original? 

Probably not. But I’ll double check next time I’m in the loft 

[Split_Pin]

Great little collection! The Superkings Testarossa and the Mercedes SL eluded me in Woolworths, before I moved on to Corgi Classics and the like.

[sutty2006]

Just now, Split_Pin said:

Great little collection! The Superkings Testarossa and the Mercedes SL eluded me in Woolworths, before I moved on to Corgi Classics and the like.

I think it’s a 911, but yeah they’re a great scale and really good quality. 

[Split_Pin]

Yeah I know, that one actually eluded me too though!

[danthecapriman]

Anyone able to ID these?

Tin plate Jeep,

 

Tin plate cars,

Ive no idea who made them or how old they are. I am looking to sell these on too! Tin plate stuff isn’t my thing.