Shite in Miniature II

[flat4alfa]

On 3/4/2023 at 12:00 AM, Split_Pin said:

They were an extremely strange offering of rather basic, but nevertheless well made 1/43 cars, firmly in the budget bracket and undercutting Vanguards and Corgi Classics by a good few quid. They were very reminiscent of the old Lledo Vanguards range immediately before the 1996 relaunch to rival Corgi Classics.

Stranger still was the MK3 Cortina which was a much simplified reissue of the old Whizzwheels model, with the doors sealed shut and the quad jewelled headlights filled in.

[Thread bounceback Batman]

Found I seem to have one of those Corgi Motoring Memories after all

The Cortina GXL MKIII in that bronze / copper colour

It has surprisingly little presence up on a shelf, despite the colour.  I think all it desperately needs though is some detailing.

If it was Lledo interrim, then it predates the TV series Life on Mars by a good decade, a series that created a (expected) resurgence in the model and values especially.  Perhaps Lledo/Vanguards/Corgi were ahead of the curve...

As a child, I had the Corgi Whizzwheels Police one, main memory being of the siren sticking out the front.  

 (library)

Still got it somewhere, but it's a paintless and stripped-back wreck with broken screen pillars.  And I'm not sure the siren would still be on it, that looks pretty brittle.

But once again, Like the MGB, why wasn't the MKIII Cortina modelled to death in its day, at ~1:64 scale by either Lesney/Corgi/LoneStar/Siku etc.  Surely they would have been strong sellers?  Was it a Ford not being helpful thing or just (in its day) seen as too common and not worth modelling?  Matchbox jumped from MKII to MKIV for example.

The nearest I found were the Taunus TC GT Coupe from Shuco in 1:66

and the Polistil Taunus pair in 1:64

But no Cortinas.

Oh man, wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

[Datsuncog]

Well then - meeting 1 of the day down, so where were we?

On 3/17/2023 at 1:29 PM, Rover414 said:

I wonder how much this was up for? It's something quite rare so shocked in some ways to see it there! @Datsuncog

 

On 3/17/2023 at 1:59 PM, Rover414 said:

Easily over £100 for one of those - Hattons (my local) just got one in for £120 secondhand. If by some sheer luck it remained around, grab it! I'd deffo take it cos it would fill a gap.

If you still fancy it, dude - it's yours!

Best news - he only charged me a fiver for it.

And bar a missing screw to hold it onto the base, it all looks complete and undamaged (which is more than can be said of many of the £10 models today).

Split_Pin and Flat4Alfa are lined up, just in case you should you have had a Damascene conversion over the past week and decided to forswear old buses forevermore...

 

On 3/17/2023 at 1:59 PM, eddyramrod said:

If the Vanguards do slip down to a fiver then I'm very interested, especially in the police models.  Vanguards, Atlas, OD, I don't mind.

Still looking a tenner each on them - and seemingly there were more new items this week from the same source, so I guess I can't blame him for wanting to maximise his value from them...

 

On 3/17/2023 at 10:41 AM, MiniMinorMk3 said:

I'd be tempted by that Haynes book. If it is still there next week left me know. Thanks

Sadly, it wasn't there this week. Daah.

 

1 hour ago, AndyW201 said:

Eek! If you're still there Tim, can you grab the green MK2 Granny, or if it's there next week?

I'll take a look next week! It was in okay nick, missing its box outer and the door mirrors but otherwise not too bashed.

I already have that one, otherwise I might have considered taking it!

[quicksilver]

SCORE! That FRM is the bargain of the millennium and even cost less than the Red Bus Pass advertised on it. Can't believe it was still there - can't be many knowledgeable bus collectors in Belfast as anyone who knew what it was would have snatched Market Blokey's arm off for it instantly.

[flat4alfa]

13 hours ago, bunglebus said:

They had absolutely loads of those in QD a few months ago, no chase cars though. It wasn't a great one but the rest are nice, especially the Porsche 

I've just read that there was no chase model in this 2021 series, unlike previous years

[flat4alfa]

2 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

More Matchbox Working Rigs and Convoys, but I held off.

Can you recall what the remaining Greenlights are?

I looked back back at past CogPosts™ and saw some I could endure for a fiver.  The Watkins Glen pace car Camaro, being one

[Datsuncog]

15 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Can you recall what the remaining Greenlights are?

There's two Greenlight Jeep station wagons - the orange 'Blue Collar' one just visible in the pic, and a US Post version just behind, plus a Chilean Police Dodge Charger. All at £6.

You can see them a bit more clearly in the pic from last week:

There's also some VW T1s which unaccountably failed to sell last week. Tenner on them.

Oh well. Guess he'll have them a while longer.

The Greenlight Escort Cosworths from last month have both been sold - but I noticed that the Smithfield Model Shop had several of them in stock, also priced at £10.

And that's all at the minute! Though random Greenlight oddities do seems to crop up from time to time on this stall, as and when his wholesaler has some remnants on sale for cheap.

 

The Smithfield shop has quite a lot of Greenlights, though yer man in there will have written the price in marker on the packaging... Mostly they seem to be film and TV related models, though.

[flat4alfa]

@Rover414 to the beige phone

https://theamazoeffect.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-routemaster-rerouted-story-of-frm1.html

https://routemaster.org.uk/pages/history-1-FRM

[Rover414]

@Datsuncog - definitely still want it, something I've always wanted at a price you just can't refuse!

[quicksilver]

Arrivals this week. Mostly a DanBox of assorted bargain delights but also a handful of brand new Oxfords including the Maestro.

[Datsuncog]

15 minutes ago, Rover414 said:

definitely still want it, something I've always wanted at a price you just can't refuse!

It's hard to argue with the price, it's true!

I wouldn't have looked at it twice if you hadn't pointed it out, so it's very much your find - I'm merely the conduit here.

I've had some great finds on this stall over the years, so I'm always pretty stoked when I can make the magic happen for someone else...

1 hour ago, quicksilver said:

can't be many knowledgeable bus collectors in Belfast as anyone who knew what it was would have snatched Market Blokey's arm off for it instantly.

Indeed - although there's plenty of bus aficionados in the area (hell, I sold enough EFEs and OOCs to lads throughout the '90s) there's maybe not the same discerning eye for real rarities...

My own lack of interest in buses was pretty much because Northern Ireland only has one bus operator, and while growing up there were only three types of vehicle on the fleet - Leyland Leopards, Bristol REs and (from about 1985 on) Leyland Tigers - all bodied by Alexander, and all quite similar-looking single deckers.

Oh, and a single Leyland Atlantean painted up with Bushmills Distillery advertising and with the roof hacked off, which was used as a promotional vehicle during the summer months.

Even the school buses were mostly just Commer and Transit minibuses - just vans with windows, not 'real' buses.

There just wasn't really much variety to stoke my interest the way that cars and vans did, plus there were absolutely no mainstream models available of the buses that were familiar to me (I've since seen scratchbuilt and white metal Ulsterbus kits of Alexander-bodied Leylands and Bristols, but only in more recent years). So - that's a part of my little collector's brain that simply never developed.

Mind you, whenever Corgi released the OOC Ulsterbus Tours coach in about 1997 it damn near provoked a riot amongst local collectors... so maybe that's why they've held off.

[flat4alfa]

On 5/28/2021 at 12:36 PM, Datsuncog said:

This brought back some memories, let me tell you.

Released in 1998, this was the first time anyone had ever modelled a bus in a Northern Ireland operator's colours, by my understanding.

Local collectors went utterly batshit over this. Seriously. It's hard to overstate just what an uproar this release caused in the local collector community.

I was still working in McCulloughs when this model dropped, and we could not get enough of them. We had at least 100 pre-orders for this, the most we ever had for any model, and everyone went nuts.

Corgi couldn't keep pace with demand, so we only got our orders through (which I would fax over to Corgi) in dribs and drabs. Six here, twelve there.

There was one dude who phoned us every day for a month, to find out if they were in yet.

Another guy would already be standing outside forlornly when I came out to pull up the security shutters around 8.45am; "Are yer wee Ulsterbus Tours coaches in yet?" 

Fellas would come in on a Saturday morning and hang around the store all day, just in case a delivery arrived - and even though we made it clear that any which did arrive were already allocated, with deposits paid.

The shop owner, rather cheekily but understandably for a shopkeeper, originally put a 66% premium on the RRP - and then hiked it again.

I can't be quite sure, but I think that while most OOC retailed at £11.99, these were selling at £20, then went up to £30. And we still had people coming in, offering us £40, £50 for them, but we simply couldn't get the stock.

Rumours flew about that The Model Shop in Belfast had a few, but were charging £100 for them. Mail-order sellers in GB then got a sniff of what was going on across the water, and suddenly Collectors Gazette was running ads with the Ulsterbus Tours Plaxton front and centre, for £49.99 (if memory serves).

If eBay had existed back then, it would have been utter carnage.

I remember having to chase one fella out of the back store, where we used to set aside customer orders waiting for collection - he didn't believe me when I said we had none in stock, and had sneaked through the door and was rifling the shelves looking for one.

Like I said, nuts.

Chapter excerpt from CogBook™

[Datsuncog]

^^ That's the one!

I thought I'd done pretty well picking up that still-sealed example a few years ago for a tenner - but it went back to the market again during the January 2022 diecast cull, without ever being opened.

I'm sure it's happy with someone else now...

Though if it had been a Bristol RE, then it would have been a keeper, for sure.

[quicksilver]

10 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Chapter excerpt from CogBook™

Yet I had one from an English shop, it was on the shelf and don't remember paying any more than RRP.  One on ebay now for £18.99 BIN plus bizarrely one in the US some chancer wants $54 for.

[MiniMinorMk3]

2 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Sadly, it wasn't there this week. Daah.

 

Thanks for remembering. Maybe next time.

[flat4alfa]

27 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Though if it had been a Bristol RE

https://www.brick.ie/forum/3856/vehicles

[flat4alfa]

Quote

Starting price    £7.99

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275752267855

[Split_Pin]

Surprisingly, Tescos had a 2023 case of MB and HW:

I had to put back the Porsche Carrera with the lovely blue script as the front bumper was melted in some sort of production error. I also put back the Corvette with the lights as the above were £2.20 a car.

[sierraman]

Like the Mercedes 500SEC, very Miami Vice.

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, quicksilver said:

Yet I had one from an English shop, it was on the shelf and don't remember paying any more than RRP.  One on ebay now for £18.99 BIN plus bizarrely one in the US some chancer wants $54 for.

As far as I can recall, outside of NI they weren't any more special than any other standard OOC release, and in those pre-internet days it maybe took a while for GB retailers to realise that there was pent-up demand and money could be made...

Or maybe it's all bollocks - I just remember a load of indignant oul lads in caps complaining to me for weeks at a stretch about how difficult the coaches were to find, and how much price-gouging was going on via mail-order sellers.

And now I'm an oul lad in a cap giving off...

40 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275752267855

Cheers, though like yourself, I don't really do buses - and the irony is, I think you were always much more likely to encounter one of these real-life coaches on the road in Scotland or England than over here... so, nice as it is, I've no memory of ever seeing one!

[MiniMinorMk3]

17 hours ago, barrett said:

Well, I can't compete with @bunglebus for new arrivals, but there is at least one addition.

 

I like that. Great model considering when it was made.

 

There's a great site dedicated to Polistil here. It features all the ranges made.

Those of Polistil (quellidellapolistil.it)

[MiniMinorMk3]

That Politoys model is better than some of the stuff made by Progetto K 25 to 30 years later.

[Datsuncog]

2 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

https://www.brick.ie/forum/3856/vehicles

That's a remarkably good rendering...

[Datsuncog]

And turning away from buses, there's a wee bit more to add today - because the act of returning a defective downspout diverter to B&Q on my way back from the market brought me dangerously close to the Newtownabbey branch of B&M, as per my earlier promise to @bunglebus ...

Having foolishly walked away from a complete set of Flying Customs on Wednesday evening, I felt a need to make amends.

Initial signs were... not good.

The place was a mess, and the pegs where the Hot Wheels had been on Wednesday evening were now crammed with Disney Pixar Cars instead.

The shelves were literally overflowing with assorted toys, and every time I tried to move something, something else came cascading off and onto the floor.

Eventually I spotted the '55 Chevrolet jammed down the back, and bit by bit found the rest scattered gaily everywhere else...

Well, almost.

Those who know how many beans make eight will discern that there's one missing.

Despite two Pontiac Firebirds being present the other night, now there appeared to be none.

Well, bugger.

Still - seven-eighths of a loaf is better than no bread?

I'll keep a look out for the last one.

[flat4alfa]

20 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Having foolishly walked away from a complete set of Flying Customs on Wednesday evening, I felt a need to make amends.

I'd be interested in the ones @bunglebus doesn't want / has already sourced 

[sierraman]

Sheffield is a massive black hole for this type of thing. None of the B&M stock them. 

[flat4alfa]

The annoying thing here is the nearest one moved into a large premises vacated by Homebase.  

It's that large that it retained the outdoor garden centre area too...

The toys cover two full-length aisles...

I try to avoid it though as the typical shoppers in there have fleas.

[Datsuncog]

43 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

I'd be interested in the ones @bunglebus doesn't want / has already sourced 

Sure thing!

There was another green Barracuda and a gold Custom Otto, which I left on the shelves.

Maybe they'll restock over the weekend...

24 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Sheffield is a massive black hole for this type of thing. None of the B&M stock them. 

Distribution seems really patchy, for some reason. I've been in four B&M stores across Greater Belfast now, and this is the only one that stocks the Flying Customs range.

[flat4alfa]

I can't think there would be many boxes to go around anyhow, they were supposed to be a Target store exclusive in the US

1) why are they over here on this side of the world, 2) where have they been sitting for two years, 3) arrghhhh

[Datsuncog]

13 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

I can't think there would be many boxes to go around anyhow, they were supposed to be a Target store exclusive in the US

1) why are they over here on this side of the world, 2) where have they been sitting for two years, 3) arrghhhh

They seem to have arrived over in the UK via South Korea... this sticker is on the back:

Doesn't really answer your question, but I'd wonder if Mattel's usual distribution network was interrupted by the global shipping problems endemic during 2021, and Target ended up rejecting them as they were taking too long to arrive from Malaysia - so they first went to a distributor in S. Korea, before finally being sold on to a UK discount chain?

EDIT: Seems that Sonokong, the Korean importer, is partially owned by Mattel.

Sonokong - Wikipedia

[Datsuncog]

On the more upbeat side, ridiculously pleased with this.

I haven't bought any Oxford stuff for a fair few years now, but I'm very much liking this release.

Beige interior looks ace.

Some impressive detailing at this level of smolness - even if my potatocam is disinclined to capture it.

Worth £7.99?

Mmm. I liked them better when they were £2.99. But ain't that just the way of the world these days?

I'd love to see this done in 1/43, mind.