Shite in Miniature II

[Datsuncog]

So, I made some purchases - pics to follow, fear not - and eschewed the further Ulster musical delights the stall had to offer...

Doesn't look much, but apparently the Skrillex vs. Qbert remix on the flipside is deadly.

Everyone's favourite musical churchman-cum-politician, lightly caressing a dog in a not-at-all creepy manner.

No comment.

These two cats look like they know how to par-tay.

That's quite the cardigan.

Anyway, that's enough local records for local people... puttering off round the rest of the stalls revealed not a lot.

Alan's Emporium still had its unboxed Days Gone on offer for a fiver, but the 50p tray was bereft of anything of interest.

The General Tat stall had a few Matchbox Working Rigs items at a fiver, plus some more from the Moving Parts range:

Some less-common long card versions too, plus a couple more France & Germany models (why Lamborghini and Fiat are boxed as French rather than Italian, I'm not sure).

And I forgot to go round to the Charity Stall this week, because I'm stupid, so you can guarantee it was probably laden with boxed Spot-Ons for a quid...

Anyway - pics of what I came away with still to come...

[flat4alfa]

10 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Milton did copies of both Dinkys and Corgis. It looks like someone has done a wheel swap to make that look older than it actually is. They are worth £40-50 mint and boxed, so that one is maybe a tenner.

Early ones did have spun hubs

A wheel swap would explain the tampered base as the paintwork and decal are original.  Well, perhaps touched-in

[RoadworkUK]

That Willie Mullan is worth eight grand according to Discogs

Big news on the Brooklyn underground gospel trance scene.

[flat4alfa]

There.  Fixed it.

[flat4alfa]

Oh dear.  We may have immortalised a dodgy character of the worst kind.

I've just been reading about Willie Mullan and his links to the Kincora scandal.

[andrew e]

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

Ooooo one of those gopping Lone Star E-Types

No, don't want it

DOES NOT COMPUTE 🤣 There is “NO” setting after all 😁

[Datsuncog]

13 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Oh dear.  We may have immortalised a dodgy character of the worst kind.

Mmm... sadly, you don't have to dig too deep in this place to find all manner of unpleasantness...

Wasn't aware until now of the Pastor Willie Mullan links to Kincora (which I used to live two streets away from, albeit after it stopped being a children's home), but Rev William McCrae isn't known as 'The Singing Bigot' for nothing.

There's a persistent rumour Jack & Mary were kingpins in the 'housebrick in a sealed Playstation box' scam on eBay in the early 2000s.

Desperate business all round.

[junkyarddog]

That matchbox Audi Avant in red is quite collectable. 

Those Majorettes tho....🤯😛

Always wanted the Van with the radio as a kid,even remember a comic called "Spike" (I think) giving some away in the 80s.

Never got one😕

Probably shit anyhow 🤣

[Datsuncog]

Well, here's what I arrived into the office with...

And, rather unsettlingly, the guy at the security desk as I was signing in said, "Here, do you collect wee Dinky cars and that?"

I warily acceded that yes, I did take an interest in diecast models - with the faint but urgent hope that he might follow this query up by pulling a giant crate of mint boxed Corgi from beneath the desk, lately found in some long-forgotten transport planning storeroom and otherwise slated for the bin - but no.

 Apparently he's also a Friday Market regular, and has clocked me drooling over the diecast on occasion.

He just chuckled a bit. "Everyone's got some sort of wee hobby..."

Well, quite.

Ahem.

So! There are some requests made already...

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

The Majorette Rally Renault 5 Maxi Plus please

 

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

Ooo and is that a Honda Prelude?

yes Prelude please that must be rare

Sure thing.

Prelude with comedy oversized bonnet badge isn't bad at all - some light marks to the roof, which may come off with a smidge of T-Cut or similar.

Maxi 5 Turbot looks pretty minty, though the box reckons it's a Mustang GT.

Will set these aside with your others, sure!

 

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Wouldn't say no to Majorettes, 911s, blue Tipo - and what's the red one behind the Prelude? 

 

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Possibly the Lite Ace too

Can do.

Tipo has a small mark on one wheel arch, but otherwise looks very smart.

Lite Ace is jammed upside down into a much later blister pack that's far too small for it - but other than some wear to the rain gutter edge, looks not bad either.

The red Golf GTI has a small knock just above the B-pillar...

But otherwise is quite good, Carlos Fandango wheels and all.

Box is a bit fragile, mind - most seem to have varying degrees of UV degradation.

Nice bright base, though.

But it's definitely not a Land Rover.

If you'd like the Porsches, there were two identical red 911s in later-style blister packs, plus one black one in an earlier silver plastic box - interested in some/ all at a pound a throw, if they're still there at lunchtime? They all looked decent enough.

 

Which leaves these currently homeless:

Transit/ Tourneo is in good condition, with vivid pink bumpers and interior.

[EDIT - TRANSIT NOW TAKEN!!!]

Saab Turbo has had a hard paper round, but I know there's some love here for this casting, so if you fancy either of these for £1, let me know!

 

Lastly, there was some more Tomica action to be had...

Another L-4 Fuji bus turned up, albeit in worse condition than the one I picked up last week.

Mostly this is just very dirty, but there are a number of chips to the corners and leading edges, plus two shallow scratches on the roof which may or may not become less noticeable with a spot of polishing.

There was also this L-12 Neoplan double deck coach, with similar features:

Few chips and dings here and there, plus general grot.

Plastic base suggests a later model.

If anyone fancies these at £3 a throw then you're most welcome to them - otherwise eBay might beckon...

[bunglebus]

5 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

If you'd like the Porsches, there were two identical red 911s in later-style blister packs, plus one black one in an earlier silver plastic box - interested in some/ all at a pound a throw, if they're still there at lunchtime?

Oh yes please (all three). Very happy with those other Majos especially the Golf, I think that's a bit of a rarity

[bunglebus]

8 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Prelude with comedy oversized bonnet badge isn't bad at all

Certainly better than mine

And I was somewhat miffed when this POS arrived from eBay a while ago

 

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, RoadworkUK said:

Oooh I'd definitely give that B&H Lynx a home. Been after one for ages.

Will head over shortly and see if it's still there!

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

Bottom left is the Toyota 4Runner

I nearly picked that one up, as it matched one I bought new in 1996 - but I felt it had a few too many chips to the paintwork.

Still, if you're keen I can take a look?

1 hour ago, FakeConcern said:

Hi @Datsuncog If you have the chance please pick up any Matchbox Volvo C30s that aren't gold (not sure if there's a red one lurking in the pic near the bottom)

And also the Majorette Citroen C4VTS in green (If there's one in black or red I'd prefer it but not too fussy)

If it's difficult then no problem and thanks anyway

There was only a solitary gold C30 still remaining in the tub (surprisingly, as I thought I'd sifted it before for any more of them) - but can see if the C4's still unclaimed, sure!

15 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

That matchbox Audi Avant in red is quite collectable. 

Those Majorettes tho....🤯😛

Always wanted the Van with the radio as a kid,even remember a comic called "Spike" (I think) giving some away in the 80s.

Never got one😕

Probably shit anyhow 🤣

There were loads of those red Avants in there initially, like probably six or seven - also similar quantities in blue and black.

I got myself a blue one...

It really is a very odd little collection. So many multiple duplicates, and all of them opened.

I picked up the Corgitronics radio van when I was in my early teens - can't say the sound all that quality's great off it, but it does work; provided you like long wave radio, as it only picks up LW.

Bit of a novelty really, but I'm quite fond of mine.

[andrew e]

Another Radio van fan here, on the Christmas list many a time! Happy to home the transit speculative majorette purchase @Datsuncog  and the recent Micra & Range Rover if there still there.

[Split_Pin]

Can't beat some Majorette diecasts! The Prelude is a great casting, shame about the silly badge on the bonnet. Mine isn't in as good condition. The Transit was one I never had as a kid, instead I had the Matchbox and Corgi but I do remember it. I picked one up about 5 years ago and the sliding door and the fact that it's a SWB minibus means it's nicely different from other similar offerings at the time. I still need to get my hands on the pickup version.

[AndyW201]

Gaaah! Late to the Friday tat party as always...

If you go another time could you grab a red MB Audi Avant and one or both of the Majorette Micra's please DC? Ta muchly.

Edit, the green Mazda 2 if poss too!

[bunglebus]

5 packs on clearance in Sainsbury's 

[danthecapriman]

Another box has landed!

[flat4alfa]

58 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

I picked up the Corgitronics radio van when I was in my early teens - can't say the sound all that quality's great off it, but it does work; provided you like long wave radio, as it only picks up LW

It's a MW Medium Wave receiver

Am listening to Absolute Radio's final AM broadcast right now!

Weeble popped over for listen to the lo-fi reception experience.  He doesn't seem particularly impressed to hear Absolute is jumping off the band

[Surface Rust]

5 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Another box has landed!

I think this evening I will have to tell my wife that the reason I keep furtively checking my phone every 5 minutes is that I'm having an affair.

I think I'd get less grief that way than if I admit I'm looking to acquire more model cars...

[flat4alfa]

8 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Another box has landed!

Wot?  Storks are delivering your boxes now are they?

[sierraman]

4 minutes ago, Surface Rust said:

I think this evening I will have to tell my wife that the reason I keep furtively checking my phone every 5 minutes is that I'm having an affair.

I think I'd get less grief that way than if I admit I'm looking to acquire more model cars...

‘I need to tell you I’ve been speaking to other men on the internet... about model cars...’

[flat4alfa]

3 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Up top, only the Corgitronics Radio Luxembourg van held any particular interest, as it appeared in marginally better nick than my own longstanding example

They seem to follow me about those things

[danthecapriman]

This arrived today, in a separate parcel!

I’ll get better pics later with a camera that’s not absolutely shit. 
Dinky Wayne school bus. This is very very cool! Definitely one of my favourites, and it’s absolutely huge!  
The chassis plate has been pushed in slightly but I’ll pull it back out which should be easy enough and the tyres aren’t great so I’ll find a full set for it. But, I really like this one.

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, Surface Rust said:

I think this evening I will have to tell my wife that the reason I keep furtively checking my phone every 5 minutes is that I'm having an affair.

I was getting asked the other night why I was on my phone so much. Thankfully potentially buying more toy cars is OK, chatting to other females not so much

[danthecapriman]

Picked up yet another one of these too,

This one’s really nice. So nice Batman & Robin are chopping in their Batmobile and taking this instead!  
I think that takes me up to 4 Corgi Major Carrimore’s of various types! But they’re great to display the cars with so that’s my excuse.

[flat4alfa]

Post Lady delivered a box with the contents attempting to escape

Not very well packed, then

But what was inside?

.

 

.

 

 

.

 

 

,

 

FFS !! MORE BUICK REGALS

So much for "Ta-da!  Collection complete!"

Well the Buicks were 99p for three.  The JPS Lotus was 99p, so was Chitty

[danthecapriman]

3 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Post Lady delivered a box with the contents attempting to escape

Not very well packed, then

But what was inside?

.

 

.

 

 

.

 

 

,

 

FFS !! MORE BUICK REGALS

So much for "Ta-da!  Collection complete!"

Well the Buicks were 99p for three.  The JPS Lotus was 99p, so was Chitty

I love the Corgi Buick Regal’s. Those big ones I’ve got a really good standard police version, and a tatty Metropolis police one and a royally screwed Kojak one. My plan is to strip the two tatty cars and repaint into a nice civilian colour to make a nice custom version. 
I’ve got a few of the Juniors version here too.

[danthecapriman]

Theres a few more somewhere too. Green, red and yellow I think. I need a better black one really…

[Datsuncog]

Okay so - once more into the fray, just after 12, for the Final Showdown.

Clutching my little list, I dodged various lunchtime marketgoers balancing teetering plates of falafels alongside guitarists warbling Elton John numbers, and  made a beeline for the Bus Box.

Ah, bollocks.

7 hours ago, RoadworkUK said:

Oooh I'd definitely give that B&H Lynx a home. Been after one for ages.

Sadly, you may be waiting a little longer... of all the buses, the Brighton & Hove Lynx was gone.

I shoulda gone with my instincts and picked it up at the time.

Daaah.

 

Next, I plunged into the Matchbox+ box.

Well now, there was happier news here.

5 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Oh yes please (all three). Very happy with those other Majos especially the Golf, I think that's a bit of a rarity

I quickly located the black 911, and one of the red ones, but there was no sign of the second red 911... until this showed up.

Yes, that's two near-identical red 911s crammed upside down into a twin-pack, and then taped up.

So that's quite a few 911s today! Got charged the same for the twin pack as for the singles,  so hopefully they'll be some use to you...

 

5 hours ago, andrew e said:

Happy to home the transit speculative majorette purchase @Datsuncog  and the recent Micra & Range Rover if there still there.

With the Mk3 Transit's future secured, a good hoke through the box happily dredged up the other two desired items:

Hopefully this was the Range Rover you had in mind - there were also some black Matchbox Rangies in the same box!

 

7 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

Hi @Datsuncog If you have the chance please pick up any Matchbox Volvo C30s that aren't gold (not sure if there's a red one lurking in the pic near the bottom)

And also the Majorette Citroen C4VTS in green (If there's one in black or red I'd prefer it but not too fussy)

If it's difficult then no problem and thanks anyway

Some further searching confirmed no other C30s or C4s in the box - so I got this one, just.

I know I had a silver one of these once in the past, but I now don't know where it went...

The potential red C30 at the bottom of the photo turned out to be a Majorette BMW X5!

 

5 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

Gaaah! Late to the Friday tat party as always...

If you go another time could you grab a red MB Audi Avant and one or both of the Majorette Micra's please DC? Ta muchly.

Not too late, as it happens - the second Micra was also still kicking around the box, and a further guddle pulled out a red Audi (the last one, I think).

Will have a look next time for the green Mazda!

 

Phew!

With my diecast fix-it hat now removed, I had a further poke around the stall - though not much had changed.

Sales hadn't been overly brisk up top - though a Matchbox Beetle had appeared in the intervening hours.

Duller blue Wagonaire confirmed as a juvenile repaint, not a $$$$ pre-prod rarity.

Ah well.

Speaking of rarities,the Milton/ Miltan Luxury Coach had also left the stage - but when editing the pics earlier, I'd been intrigued by what looked like an unusually large blue and white single-decker coach right at the back - bigger than the 1/50 scale Corgi Classics Bedford OBs and the like.

Ah. It's another scratch-build.

The detail really is remarkable, given that it's all done by hand.

And unlike the 1/76 scratch-builds from last week (identified by the eagle-eyed @quicksilver), there's little doubt about the constructor here.

Impressive bit of kit - so much work's gone into it. Hopefully it'll find an appreciative home.

This Joal Scania is similar to one I picked up a few years back, but has blue stripes on it - which I don't believe the other one did.

With less time pressure, I also paused to prod around in a box of railway bits and bobs on the floor:

A Triang 'Periwinkle Road & Railway' set - or some of it, anyway. Including assorted bits of Triang's unsuccessful Lego competitor, 'Pennybrix'.

The train is pretty basic, and I couldn't see the car "with Periwinkle himself" anywhere in the box.

No idea who Periwinkle is, but I'll presume it's the leprechaun-looking fella on the front of the box, signalling a track hazard.

Seems that these have some collectability anyway, although this set's a bit borderline.

TRI-ANG M1001 `PERIWINKLE RAILWAY` SUPERB BOXED CONDITION !! - Tri-angman

There was also an ultra-basic wind-up Hornby train set in there, just about within its box.

I remember seeing this in old 1970s Hornby catalogues - a single oval of track, with a clockwork loco and some very basic rolling stock, plus a level crossing.

Never actually seen one outside the catalogue, but still - not something I really need right now.

I suppose I also didn't really need another Lite-Ace either, but nonetheless I seemed to have acquired one.

It's in good enough condition - some very small marks to some edges, just.

It definitely doesn't belong in this packaging, though.

Like the other unhomed Majorettes - holler if you fancy this for £1.

[EDIT - now taken!]

And earlier on I'd been initially delighted to glimpse a rectangular blue box in amongst all the 2000s Matchbox - and then crestfallen to discover it was empty...

But while sifting earnestly for specific items at lunchtime, right at the bottom of the box I found...

Oh, nice. And not looking any the worse for its escape.

The clear plastic is banjaxed, but at least that means it can be retrieved without busting open the glued flaps.

That's not bad for a quid, I guess. I might hang on to this one myself...

So, ultimately this is the full haul for today:

I'm going to get flayed when I get home, aren't I?

Just to recap, still available are:

• White Majorette Toyota Lite-Ace (£1) NOW SOLD!!
• Silver Majorette Saab 900 Turbo (£1)
• Tomica Fuji Coach, 'Chuo Bus' (£3)
• Tomica Neoplan Coach, 'Rettinghaus Reisen' (£3)

The rest I will add to the spreadsheet as and when I get a chance - ceiling painting beckons this weekend, but surely I'll get a few minutes to tot things up at some point... Hopefully!

Happy Friday, kids.

[danthecapriman]

Was someone here after a rollermatics Range Rover??

Found this one in my own collection today. Very good condition except the pen marks. I’ll try to get it off. If whoever was wanting one fancies it??