Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

32 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Leyland tractor unit 

Do you (or does anyone) know what it's actually called?

[danthecapriman]

3 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Ooh, Phantom. I think that's the hardest one to find

What was the green one called??

[Bren]

2 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Ooh, Phantom. I think that's the hardest one to find

On holiday in Devon last year I thought I had struck lucky - clocked the superfast RS2000 box amongst a pile of others.

Sadly inside was a very battered phantom - I passed.

I have the shell version on a blister - the boxed example is on my wish list.

[Split_Pin]

6 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Do you (or does anyone) know what it's actually called?

It's a Leyland T45 Roadtrain. The quad headlamp versions had the wide cab and were never built as short as that. The day cab had a short side window behind the cab doors. Only the narrower Cruiser version with single headlamps was available in the shoeter form. It's still well detailed and the Leyland script below the windscreen is spot on.

[bunglebus]

5 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

What was the green one called??

Seagull

[Datsuncog]

8 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

I’ve never seen that blue & yellow one before. We’re there many of these little artic’s?

Not many - there was the metallic blue and silver version of the MB-30 Artic Truck (1981/82);

a metallic red and yellow version (1983 only);

EDIT: Nope, scratch that: this doesn't exist. It's a red cab from the MB-14 tanker paired with a later trailer.

So the Matchbox Wiki seems to be incorrect - now I've gone and checked through my catalogues, there's only two versions produced. I know, something wrong on the internet - who'd have thunk it?

and the mid-blue and yellow version (1983-85).

It was a pretty short-lived casting, which was a pity as it was quite nice.

I can only assume that it was dropped not long after Lesney was bought out by Universal Toys in late 1984, since it was a slightly more complex model involving two separate castings - and probably realised a lower profit margin than the rest of the MB-75 range.

 

8 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Do you (or does anyone) know what it's actually called?

Weirdly it had 'LEYLAND' across the front, but that wasn't mentioned on the box or baseplate - just the generic 'Artic Truck'.

It seems to have been a more realistic reworking of the earlier 1973-81 Artic Truck

Which, although a fantasy casting, has pointy cab bits that put me in mind of the weird and very rare Hendrickson Paymaster (only 14 ever built):

Except, the Paymaster didn't appear until two years after the Matchbox toy...

[Split_Pin]

I've got that earlier casting as well but I wasn't much of a fan of it as its quite unrealistic , especially the way the tractor unit wheels are laid out. The trailer does have a number plate though which I did like. 

[bunglebus]

Two pics in my Flickr - thought I had a fairly good spare one so I'll double check

[bunglebus]

41 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

I've got quite a few of the funny little futuristic looking ones in various forms

These funny little fellas. 

Was never a fan as a kid as they didn't fit scale wise with the rest of the cars. Nor did any of the commercials but it was these that used to irk me!

[Datsuncog]

Of course, checking to see whether I still had the silver trailer (as there was a chance I'd got shot of it a year ago) entailed emptying out my own nostalgia toybox...

There's mostly Matchbox in there, these days.

Having been whittled down again and again, these now form my core collection of old toys - mostly my own childhood items, with some better examples pairing alongside the trashed originals, plus a smattering of more recent acquisitions.

They're not for sale - and are presented here for your viewing pleasure only!

Lotsa memories in here...

[Datsuncog]

Surprised to see how few Corgi etc I've left myself with these days:

Some Siku and Majorette too...

Hongwell and ERTL and Hot Wheels (very few now).

[Split_Pin]

Amazing! Survivors  from my 'original' childhood collection, which I'd classify as those bought 1981 to 1985 are few and far between. Many were swapped for junk or simply lost. I need to consolidate them!

[danthecapriman]

20 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

These funny little fellas. 

Was never a fan as a kid as they didn't fit scale wise with the rest of the cars. Nor did any of the commercials but it was these that used to irk me!

Yeah them! I’ve never been a big fan myself, I just tend to have acquired quite a few over the years.

To be honest though, my all time most hated ones are the speedboats and hovercraft’s! Never liked them but they’re another one that I just seem to have acquired shit loads of. Every time I buy a job lot or little batch, there’s always at least one in there!  
I’ve kept a couple of the nicest ones I’ve found just so they’re in the collection but the rest you just can’t get rid of.

[Datsuncog]

I was also pleased to rediscover a few trucks in the bottom of the toybox - I really thought I'd sent some of these on, so this was a nice bonus.

Of course, Cat had to take full advantage of an empty box...

This is maybe about the remaining 15-20% of the small diecast I once owned - I used to have A LOT...

There's also a few Matchbox from around 2007/08 when I started to rekindle an interest in diecast, but they're a bit more common these days.

[junkyarddog]

22 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

 

 

Oooh the cats done a whoopsie in my toy box!!🤣

[bunglebus]

Jay Leno range in Tesco

Along with 5 packs I'm not sure if we've seen

[sierraman]

There’s a right minefield it variations if you are a fan enough of them.

[sierraman]

The Long Haul was originally going to be branded Leyland but for whatever reason ended up a generic.

[Split_Pin]

2 minutes ago, sierraman said:

There’s a right minefield it variations if you are a fan enough of them.

I'm pretty sure the red headed Leyland belongs to a tanker version. 

[Split_Pin]

My memory is failing, it's an Elf. Mine is up in the loft somewhere but I remember it had the hazardous liquid codes on the back just like the real thing.

[sierraman]

18 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

My memory is failing, it's an Elf. Mine is up in the loft somewhere but I remember it had the hazardous liquid codes on the back just like the real thing.

It does indeed! Found the military green articulated truck as well presumably from a twin pack. 

[bunglebus]

Just looking through my pics, I have a few of those funny tractor units and their trailers

 

I thought I had a green tractor but maybe not

[bunglebus]

I didn't leave Tesco empty handed. Also managed to take not-terrible pictures in a hotel room!

Not quite sure about the artwork on the Vette

[bunglebus]

Just make sure you get the right stuff

[FakeConcern]

Went to Hastings today and bought this in a junk shop for £2 which I thought was ok as it has the roof and very good cond. Mrs Concern already has three more (purple with sailing boat, blue with roof and surf boards and a tatty orange one with no roof)...

I may take one of the surf boards from the other Buggy or the Mini Countryman or maybe buy a repro...

They also had a couple of Minis I was tempted by (maroon no 226 & a blue Magnifique) both £20 which was more than I wanted to pay. Now I've looked on ebay, I see that wasn't a bad price for excellent condition.

The only other one that piqued my interest was a boxed Ford branded Mk1 Mondeo for £10 looked like 1/43 or similar. Not sure if that's good or not as couldn't see any on ebay.

 

[Bren]

1 minute ago, FakeConcern said:

Went to Hastings today and bought this in a junk shop for £2 which I thought was ok as it has the roof and very good cond. Mrs Concern already has three more (purple with sailing boat, blue with roof and surf boards and a tatty orange one with no roof)...

They also had a couple of Minis I was tempted by (maroon no 226 & a blue Magnifique) both £20 which was more than I wanted to pay. Now I've looked on ebay, I see that wasn't a bad price for excellent condition.

The only other one that piqued my interest was a boxed Ford branded Mk1 Mondeo for £10 looked like 1/43 or similar. Not sure if that's good or not as couldn't see any on ebay.

 

The boat gift set is one of my faves.

[bunglebus]

7 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

£2 

Two quid! I'd have had the bloke's hand off, good find.

[bunglebus]

I was going to try and get one of these from Hot Wheels Collectors, went live at 5PM but my reminder didn't go off

[Jon]

On the subject of Hotwheels custom vans, here's one that I picked up the other day, by the power of Greyskull haired disposable income:

 

I'm no He-Man fan, more a supporter of the fact that this is a Mk1 Transit Supervan* casting - wasn't able to find the original version released by HW years back. I avidly collected Transit castings as a kid however, so this is a cultural nod to that, I suppose.

 

Seems it comes from a range of part/mild interest to @bunglebus, though fortuitously, the Transit seems to have the best theme. It was also the only one left on the peg at the shop.

 

Not being some HW/He-Man foamer, I dispatched with the packet forthwith, to get a better gander.  Not wholly a fan of the wheels but they could've been much worse. And my feelings are likewise for the side art, although the general fantasy theme does at least tie in with many a custom van decor of the day- minus airbrushed boobs, of course.

 

On the other side is that naughty Skelator fella. I'll say as a generally modified Mk1 Transit casting, it holds up pretty well, although it is really quite small. As a Supervan casting, it's not really lairy enough, though the original release was presumably much more so.

 

 

Anyway, it being a tradies van at heart, here it is leaving Castle Greyskull after Skeletor was having some issues with his downstairs toilet sink.

 

And here's our protagonist coming back later in the week for vengeance, as the cheque bounced. 

 

"So the moral of the story is that older age can often bring greater spending power - but a greater scope of ways to spend it. Some are wise decisions and others are a man buying a toy car 30 years after he stopped playing with them.  Choose wisely and remember to be kind to others and help your Mom with the groceries, or something.

And if you do a job for that nob Skelator, get him to pay cash up front."

[Split_Pin]

The replacement jewels came yesterday. However although the jewel is the correct 4mm size, they don't have the soft grey plastic cowling that would make them a push fit. As such they don't look quite right, plus they're too clear but I'm putting that down to the fact that the originals have aged.

The Mini one was easy as the space for the light was just a recess and it was easy enough to glue it in.

However the polis Beetle was much harder as there is just a big hole for the light which goes right through. The hole was designed for jewels that have the plastic surround but as this one didn't, it was too small. I know that gorilla glue expands alarmingly as it dries so I ran a tiny sliver of it around the jewel, placed it at the bottom of the hole and hoped that as the glue expanded it would push from all sides and centralise it. I think it worked well:

I remember the jewel falling out what must have been at least 40 years ago. My Granny Logan was there and she said it just needs 'a wee bit glue', so 40 years later I finally took her advice and it worked. It's not a perfect job but since the car must have been about 20 years old when it fell out, it's spent twice as long with just the one eye so it's a great improvement. I'm really pleased with it and it's back on display as previously, the missing light spoiled its appearance.