Shite in Miniature II

[andy18s]

Been an interesting week of purchases for me  starting off with a pair of Maisto ML's,Pajero evo and the Tipo for not many Levs.

I've been looking for a decent ML model to replicate our 270cdi,just need to dump the factory chrome extras and sort a diesel engine swap. 

I put the Amg up for sale and it went within 20 min,covering the cost of the other.

Sunday I got dragged along to a house clearance by the wife,who wanted to go look at a roomfull of crafting and knitting gear.

Whilst unboxing another case of wool we found 3 boxes of 1/18 diecast of mainly Maisto.All dusty from  being displayed,no boxes and sort of wrapped in bubble wrap I dug a few out and left the wife to negotiate. 

So I ended up with this selection for 100lev,around £45.

[sierraman]

Tempted to try Tesco tonight but given recent trips I feel it will likely be a waste of time and diesel.

[bunglebus]

In Bad Camberg, where they have a famous vintage VW meeting every four years. Not today though, just a few diecasts in the services.

Normal Hot Wheels, €3.99. Crappy pull-back Beetles €9.99. But the Germany cars, and Moving Parts also €3.99. Huh.

Bought one, and left the other as it was loose in a box of Sikus but still had a price label - you can see it behind the Germany cars

[sierraman]

Unavailable in the U.K I think that Mercedes is. Sadly!

[flat4alfa]

15 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Asda £2.40, Entertainer £2.40 but 3 for 2.

I remember getting annoyed at them not being £1 anymore 

So as a round-up for a mainline/single HW

Sainsburys £2.30

Smyths £1.69 (it says so on yesterdays receipt)

The example shop in Germany converting to £3.51 

 

[bunglebus]

€2.99 in this shopping centre

Nothing interesting though. Of course there are six of the Siku buggy I had to resort to eBay for

And some Legos

[Datsuncog]

Mail call on Saturday...

Oh yes. 

Another of the increasingly legendary DTCM parcels finding its way over to pastures new.

And inside...

A pretty decent Lesney King Size K-17 Ford D-Series.

And its trailer.

And complete with its original load - a Case bulldozer!

What a tremendous combo.

The dozer has a removable cab, unusually - which was originally missing, but Dan found it in the job lot box and recognised what it was from. Excellent! A set of reproduction tracks, and I reckon this'll display very well.

But that's not all - some Corgi Juniors also made it in to the box.

Groovy purple Land Rover breakdown truck...

And a Beetle with 'flower power' type paper stickers.

Plus most of a Lone Star Impy AEC turntable ladder - minus the ladder.

Think this is one of the later versions with the Flyer wheels - I was unaware of this model until I saw one the other week at the market (with similar issues).

And there was also an ERTL Land Rover 110 too:

Missing its beige rear canopy, and with the front end of the base drooping a bit off its rivet, giving the grille an oddly blocky appearance - but I reckon a drop of glue will sort that.

Cog_Minor had one of these new - the rubber tyres and accurate-looking wheels always made it seem a bit fancier than comparable Matchbox and Majorette versions with their somewhat generic rims. I'm not sure where his went, but it's nice to have one of my own.

Finally, a late grab from the freebie pile secured this stray plastic object in the vague shape of a BL Wedge:

Because remember this from last week?

Well, it's now been made whole again.

The red car even secured on with a nicely positive 'click'. I'm sure it's been nearly 40 years since this Bedford Transporter was complete.

Nice.

I only got an opportunity to open this very late on Saturday night - so what better time to give everything a nice bath.

Some other recent market finds, plus other grubby King Size squirrelled away since 2021, also took a turn in the tub.

Decades in a shed or attic can dull the glazing and paintwork, so I find a bit of gentle rubbing with an old toothbrush and some soapy water can work wonders at making it all sparkle again.

Obviously 1.30am is a great time to be doing this.

But I do enjoy it way more than I probably ought to.

Anyway - cheers @danthecapriman! Very, very pleased with the D-Series, that's one I've been trying to find for many years!

[MiniMinorMk3]

4 hours ago, bunglebus said:

In Bad Camberg, where they have a famous vintage VW meeting every four years. Not today though, just a few diecasts in the services.

 

Always wanted to go to Bad Camber to the VW meet, as the amount of vintage VWs on show is always fantastic. It's probably one of teh only places that you will see a couple of Hebmullers, or some early slit window era cabriolets, maybe an early Samba or two. Oh well I 'll just have to be content with looking at some Minichamps for now.

[MiniMinorMk3]

11 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Mail call on Saturday...

Oh yes. 

Another of the increasingly legendary DTCM parcels finding its way over to pastures new.

And inside...

 

A pretty decent Lesney King Size K-17 Ford D-Series.

And its trailer.

And complete with its original load - a Case bulldozer!

What a tremendous combo.

 

Not quite. You have a Taylor Woodrow truck and a Laing dozer. Have fun searching for the correct dozer.

[Datsuncog]

It's a Taylor Woodrow dozer too - just seems to be the cab that's from a Laing version.

It'll do me fine!

[andrew e]

Touché!

[Tenmil Socket]

23 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Mail call on Saturday...

Oh yes. 

Another of the increasingly legendary DTCM parcels finding its way over to pastures new.

And inside...

A pretty decent Lesney King Size K-17 Ford D-Series.

And its trailer.

And complete with its original load - a Case bulldozer!

What a tremendous combo.

The dozer has a removable cab, unusually - which was originally missing, but Dan found it in the job lot box and recognised what it was from. Excellent! A set of reproduction tracks, and I reckon this'll display very well.

But that's not all - some Corgi Juniors also made it in to the box.

Groovy purple Land Rover breakdown truck...

And a Beetle with 'flower power' type paper stickers.

Plus most of a Lone Star Impy AEC turntable ladder - minus the ladder.

Think this is one of the later versions with the Flyer wheels - I was unaware of this model until I saw one the other week at the market (with similar issues).

And there was also an ERTL Land Rover 110 too:

Missing its beige rear canopy, and with the front end of the base drooping a bit off its rivet, giving the grille an oddly blocky appearance - but I reckon a drop of glue will sort that.

Cog_Minor had one of these new - the rubber tyres and accurate-looking wheels always made it seem a bit fancier than comparable Matchbox and Majorette versions with their somewhat generic rims. I'm not sure where his went, but it's nice to have one of my own.

Finally, a late grab from the freebie pile secured this stray plastic object in the vague shape of a BL Wedge:

Because remember this from last week?

Well, it's now been made whole again.

The red car even secured on with a nicely positive 'click'. I'm sure it's been nearly 40 years since this Bedford Transporter was complete.

Nice.

I only got an opportunity to open this very late on Saturday night - so what better time to give everything a nice bath.

Some other recent market finds, plus other grubby King Size squirrelled away since 2021, also took a turn in the tub.

Decades in a shed or attic can dull the glazing and paintwork, so I find a bit of gentle rubbing with an old toothbrush and some soapy water can work wonders at making it all sparkle again.

Obviously 1.30am is a great time to be doing this.

But I do enjoy it way more than I probably ought to.

Anyway - cheers @danthecapriman! Very, very pleased with the D-Series, that's one I've been trying to find for many years!

I got that yellow transporter in my 2022 Autoshite Secret Santa.

[bunglebus]

32 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

pretty decent Lesney King Size K-17 Ford D-Series.

Has that got a blue grille or is there some weird photography glitch?

Also didn't know mine was missing its lid. Bah.

[Datsuncog]

13 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Has that got a blue grille or is there some weird photography glitch?

Weird photography glitch! Using a cheapo ring illumination light together with an orangey bedroom light seems to have confused the phone's colour balance mightily - it makes the paintwork look more like a minty green too.

Have a (very slightly) better daylight pic.

[bunglebus]

I got the Laing one out of a big charity shop bag in December 

Think this is the bulldozer from the later set? I need to match all these up really

[danthecapriman]

48 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Weird photography glitch! Using a cheapo ring illumination light together with an orangey bedroom light seems to have confused the phone's colour balance mightily - it makes the paintwork look more like a minty green too.

Have a (very slightly) better daylight pic.

Glad you like it! I’ve got one myself (Laing version) but missing the dozer load.

That one is the original tractor, trailer & dozer set. One rear tyre came from a random odd one I found in another job lot box as one was missing on the trailer. The dozer cab came from yet another box, but oddly there was no sign of its dozer! Must have long since gone to toy car heaven/bottom of pond/buried in sandpit etc etc! But it was such a coincidence I just happened upon all the bits from different sources. Funny how things work out sometimes.

[sierraman]

Did find a solitary trailer that I had been after. Fully compatible with the 50 odd year old Cortina pleasingly. 

[RoadworkUK]

11 hours ago, andy18s said:

So I ended up with this selection for 100lev,around £45.

You've done rather well there! The Hotwheels DeTomaso Pantera would be my pick of the bunch. I imagine flogging that would go some way to covering your purchase. 

Nice.

[barrett]

Two more Mebetoys Sputafuoco / Gran Toros / Heisse Raders. First up the Lotus Europa, which is (for want of a better word) a 'regular wheels' Mebetoys casting which was converted to Gran Toros wide-track spec. The same seller had two boxed 'regular' versions, but both sold before I could make an offer, so this was a decent substitute for a tenner.

The Europa is a hard car to model, I'm not sure any of the period toys really got it spot-on but this is a good effort

Clearly a race-spec car with no bumpers etc. I'm not a fan of the stickers, but European-market examples all had these - this is actually missing a couple of race numbers I think

Otherwise it's close to mint. Hold on though, is this the way the bonnet opens on the real thing??

Never mind, engine detail is great with the separate air box, plus some bits in the frunk

Next is the Chevrolet Astro II, which was only ever a Gran Toro and never a 'regular wheels' effort

This one's a bit tatty and the axles have gone a bit squiffy, but it's still nice enough for the price paid

Opening bits here, too (the doors are very stiff and I don't want to force them)

Good engine/transaxle detail, but overall not one of my favourites. The subject matter does't do much for me, and the detail is pretty basic.

Anyway, two more dust-collectors to find space for. Anyone wanna see a gratuitous shelfie? Maybe I do have a problem...

 

[bunglebus]

I've got both of those in the same colours - the Europa was the first of these Mebetoys/Hot Wheels hybrids I found, by accident really. Love 'em

[MiniMinorMk3]

The Dinky Europa was a good effort, but the colour scheme was a bit yuk

 

Here's a couple of modern efforts from Kyosho and Spark.

[flat4alfa]

On 1/31/2023 at 10:05 AM, MiniMinorMk3 said:

The Dinky Europa was a good effort, but the colour scheme was a bit yuk

I wondered this too, thinking it may have been based on real car

Perhaps just to alleviate the heavy rear 'buttresses', attempting the illusion of a vinyl-covered coupe roof.  For want of a better term.  The S2 rear changes for the 1971 Twin Cam were ....better on the eye.

The example here is pretty play-worn but complete and not sure I'd want to repaint it.  Even if I did, it would still be left with the heavy rear. 

The Lone Star casting looks quite bloated (orange).  The profile look of the Corgi Junior (green) looks sleeker.  The Matchbox (purple) is the best all-rounder to my eye - but saying that, there may be some Matchbox Catalogue childhood nostalgia interfering there!

[bunglebus]

I was going to post the Matchbox earlier, definitely my favourite. 

Old, new

Zylmex

Corgi

Politoys

My Dinky is just as battered

[andy18s]

15 hours ago, RoadworkUK said:

You've done rather well there! The Hotwheels DeTomaso Pantera would be my pick of the bunch. I imagine flogging that would go some way to covering your purchase. 

Nice.

The whole back row are Hotwheels,the VW camper is a Road Signature and a couple of Maistos to finish off.

But yes,the Detomaso is my pick of the bunch.

[sierraman]

I converted a few Matchbox Europas the the solid Super GT shell. I always thought the Europa just looked a bit home made, a bit like a lash up built in a shed. Nothing illustrates that more than those awful periscopes on the white one. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

42 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I was going to post the Matchbox earlier, definitely my favourite. 

Old, new

 

The new Matchbox looks very similar to the Tomica

Tomica also did a Twin Cam 1/43rd in their Dandy range. Lots and lots of colour variations to be found.

[flat4alfa]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I'd forgotten about the Matchbox recasting.  It seems I've got one of those too - but have never removed it from the bubble card!  That's how much attention the 'still boxed' ones get - just tucked away into a bigger box, then forgotten about..   

The trouble is: do I, or don't I, unwrap it?  Will it kill the investment potential?  Probably not, but the worry lingers..

The other trouble is: boxed/carded ones can't be displayed about the house, because wife will very likely complain about 'living in a toy shop'.  Which is fair.

[flat4alfa]

4 hours ago, sierraman said:

I always thought the Europa just looked a bit home made, a bit like a lash up built in a shed.

Well you may have a point there.  Production was one car a week, test driven on the airfield runway behind

Quote

Earliest versions of the Europa had the body fully bonded to the chassis, with fixed side windows, fixed seats (adjustable pedals needing the use of tools), no door handles, no internal door covers

Series 1A and B had removable side windows, wooden dashboard, internal door panel covers which could accommodate the windows once taken off  [wikipedia.org]

Article from Thoroughbred & Classic Cars magazine 1995:  http://www.lotus-europa.com/vintage_photos/lotusimages.htm

[NorfolkNWeigh]

4 hours ago, sierraman said:

I converted a few Matchbox Europas the the solid Super GT shell. I always thought the Europa just looked a bit home made, a bit like a lash up built in a shed. Nothing illustrates that more than those awful periscopes on the white one. 

That white one is not strictly speaking a Europa, it’s a Type 47 .  Basically a Breadvan Europa with a Twin Cam , years before the S2 Europa  lost the Renault 16 lump. Predominately for racing , although I once worked with a bloke that used one as his road car in the late 60’s.

That specific periscope model is based on this ;

A Works car driven by John Miles and Jackie Oliver the year before getting Lotus F1 drives, there’s a good reason all Lotuses look like they were built in a shed…

[flat4alfa]

Two more have turned up!  A (reasonably tidy!) Super GT and a blue Superfast

It's all too much, can't keep track of what there is here, etc.

 

Anyone got any of these Hong Kong plastic 1:32 (ish!) jobs?  Merhall and Roxy Toys