Shite in Miniature II

[155V6]

Some recent arrivals

This lot came last week from @Fennec

Last week's car boot finds

Siku Mercedes from @eddyramrod,Corgi Wrecker was an eBay bargain

This week's car boot finds

[sierraman]

I’ve checked I actually have 18 of them. I did have more as I had 3 boxes sets of six but I sold them 

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

I can still never manage to use the old brushed-on acetone trick to remove these from their blister packs

Buy a bottle of Wilko's own brand "clean up" thinner. Works a treat

[bunglebus]

40 minutes ago, 155V6 said:

Maxi Taxi looks in good nick - unusual version of the pickup at the back?

[Datsuncog]

Bayer Aspirin and Tiger Balm versions of the Model A Van - last seen being bashed around in a 50p Tat Box earlier in the month.

Or you could pay £75 for this rare* assortment at the Blytheswood Hospice shop.

I've two Kellogg's promo versions - my original bashed-up cereal freebie from the 1980s, and a near-mint version acquired more recently which didn't spend several years getting zoomed up a slide to land in the flowerbeds...

[flat4alfa]

Yesterday, Post Lady and Delivery Man provided a Polistil Alfasud in 1:43 scale.

And an overflowing! box from Carrickfergus.

Along with a heavier box from Waterlooville.

Waited for wife to go to bed and then the boxes were unwrapped surrepticiously.

 

[155V6]

40 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Maxi Taxi looks in good nick - unusual version of the pickup at the back?

Maxi Taxi is nice,one of my favourite recent finds 😁.Pickup is an Australian release.

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Buy a bottle of Wilko's own brand "clean up" thinner. Works a treat

No Wilko branches in NI!

😩

Whenever I've seen YouToobers demonstrating the 'approved' technique for extracting a diecast from a blister pack without tearing it all to hell, all they seem to do is dab some acetone (or other solvent) onto the back of the pack, then cut away for an unspecified amount of time before simply applying a little force to pop the plastic away from the cardboard with no damage to the card.

In my cackhanded experience, what happens is that I dab some on - and it then just evaporates off the back of the card without doing anything. So I add a bit more - same. Then I add quite a lot, and notice it's starting to soak through to the front. So I add a bit more, then a bit more, then notice the card's starting to coggle, so leave it for a while for the solvent to dissolve the glue.

Then I give it an experimental wiggle, which invariably results in the sodden front of the card tearing away along with the plastic blister.

Then I decide it's a stupid waste of time trying to get it off cleanly, and also a stupid waste of time buying small cars at all, and then remember that everything is stupid and pointless and we're all stuck on a rock in an empty uncaring universe tipping slowly towards entropy and heat death, and nothing matters anyway. Following this minor existential crisis I usually just go to bed.

Clearly I'm doing something wrong, but I can't quite pinpoint if it's the solvent, the technique, or the cold terror of doomed infinity that's causing the issue.

[bunglebus]

I don't always get it spot-on but the thinner technique works for me

Got a few in the outhouse 

Some more in my display cabinet 

Think there's a big stack in the loft too.

Acetone just doesn't seem to work properly for me either. I'll see if I can send you a bottle over

[bunglebus]

15 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I have spare decals for this to make it nice again

See?

[sierraman]

I used to piss about unsealing the blister packs but honestly I don’t bother now, just open them along the packets and enjoy them. I’m not planning on flogging them and they’ll probably end up in a skip when I cark it anyway! There’s some older stuff I have that’s still boxed, by now chucking the package would be sacrilege but the new stuff should be out and enjoyed. 

[Datsuncog]

I'm an opener by habit - I don't much like keeping sealed models, and I'm aware this era of Matchbox will never be worth megabucks since there are already so many unopened examples in circulation amongst collectors.

I only try to remove them neatly because I'd kinda like to keep the artwork! Something like @bunglebus'setup would be ideal, with the cards acting as a backdrop to the display.

Also, until I get better storage/ display sorted out I feel bad throwing them loose into a shoebox under the bed, so tend to just pop them back into the opened boxes once I'm done messing around with them...

The secret subterranean stash. Welcome to the Tatcave.

Recent Mattel products:

Nnnngh. Messy.

But after years of generic packaging, I really dig the current illustrations.

I'd far rather see more of the cardboard boxes versions than the blister packs - easier to open, and easier to store too.

But that's just me...

[AndyW201]

Hit both local B&Ms today. Not a lot of difference to previous weeks. Still loads of older Matchbox but no 2023 yet which is a shame as I really want that AMC Eagle.

In the branch I don't normally go in, there was partial Flying Customs success, 

I was pleased to get the Plymouth, one of my favourite Hot Wheels castings, as well as one of my favourite yank cars.

Ah well, that's 75% of the Flying Customs got now!

I've not heard of these mainline based Crass & Spurious editions though. There was one solitary Escort there, so being a sucker for the Hot Wheels Mk1, I grabbed it.

This one was a thoroughly decadent £2.99 but the card art is, IMO, fabulous. I've already got the mainline blue/white stripes edition, and this one does have more detail, especially on the front and rear, which does justify it a little...

[MiniMinorMk3]

My chosen fluid for removing price labels and other sticky stuff from models and their boxes is lighter fluid.

So I have just done a test with a bubble Matchbox I have lying about to see what would happen.

2007 Thailand produced VW T2 Bus. Probably worth twenty-seventy million pounds on Ebay.

Drop a bit of fluid all round the bubble.

Because I am impatient I waited about 20 seconds for it to do its work and with a little pull the bus was free and in fresh air for the first time in over 15 years.

Maybe if I had waited a bit longer he surface might not have come away with the bubble, but never mind. I just got out my favourite model and box repair glue and stuck the bubble back on. I have deliberately stuck the model in the wrong way to increase the Ebay value as it must be a factory error. 

2 minutes latter I did a gravity test and all is fine, apart from the slight whiff of lighter fluid and glue.

[flat4alfa]

The solvent in lighter fluid is petroleum Naptha

Take care handling it in enclosed spaces

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, AndyW201 said:

Hit both local B&Ms today. Not a lot of difference to previous weeks. Still loads of older Matchbox but no 2023 yet which is a shame as I really want that AMC Eagle.

I've a spare here ready

PM me your address

[bunglebus]

2 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

I've not heard of these mainline based Crass & Spurious editions though. There was one solitary Escort there, so being a sucker for the Hot Wheels Mk1, I grabbed it.

This one was a thoroughly decadent £2.99 but the card art is, IMO, fabulous. I've already got the mainline blue/white stripes edition, and this one does have more detail, especially on the front and rear, which does justify it a little...

You found that in B&M? I've been trying to find one but Smyths got a solitary box in which of course got raided 3 seconds after it was put out

[eddyramrod]

2 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

 

My Marina Coupe that I had in 1983 was YLV 348J...

[Datsuncog]

I would probably watch Fast & Furious 6 if it starred a Marina Coupe... 

I'd quite like to see Vin Diesel understeering all over the place on lever-arm dampers, while trying to wring the full 57bhp out of that A-series lump.

[sheffcortinacentre]

Picked this up today never seen anything like it think it was probably for the American market ,for use in conjunction with micro machines will pass on for the £20 I paid plus p&p

Inc instructions gwo.

[sheffcortinacentre]

6 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

I probably would have watched Fast & Furious 6 if it had starred a Marina Coupe... 

I'd quite like to see Vin Diesel understeering all over the place on lever-arm dampers while trying to wring the full 57bhp out of that A-series lump.

Would it have been thrown out the back of a plane with a piano?

[eddyramrod]

9 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

I probably would have watched Fast & Furious 6 if it had starred a Marina Coupe... 

I'd quite like to see Vin Diesel understeering all over the place on lever-arm dampers while trying to wring the full 57bhp out of that A-series lump.

Something I've done!  Except mine was the 1.8 SC...

[eddyramrod]

Yesterday I spent some time with the ole caustic soda, stripping shells that I've previously drilled apart.  So now I have the shells of 20 assorted models awaiting primer; maybe 5 or 6 to go back in for another bath as the paint sticks too well (three of which are earlier restorations, so really I'm quite pleased with the adhesion) and a handful more upstairs in my model room, still waiting their turn.

Still no pics because I still haven't replaced my dead-loss crappy camera.  Sorry.

[FakeConcern]

10 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Yesterday I spent some time with the ole caustic soda, stripping shells that I've previously drilled apart.  So now I have the shells of 20 assorted models awaiting primer; maybe 5 or 6 to go back in for another bath as the paint sticks too well (three of which are earlier restorations, so really I'm quite pleased with the adhesion) and a handful more upstairs in my model room, still waiting their turn.

Still no pics because I still haven't replaced my dead-loss crappy camera.  Sorry.

I have a big box ready to be stripped off now, I'll try to get some pics when I do it.

Roger Clark Crapi

Escrote from @danthecapriman

My original Corgi Countryman (just got some doors from Steve Flowers

Corgi Police Mini Van, not sure what to do with this as I have two others in good cond, I'd like to do it Pea Green as I had one that colour, but just at the moment I'm only using paint I already have

Mini Magnifique will be a custom, I hope

More to come later...

[bunglebus]

32 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Yesterday I spent some time with the ole caustic soda, stripping shells that I've previously drilled apart

I used to use that stuff but it can affect older castings - last thing you want is to melt the body!

I prefer to use paint stripper these  days, doesn't bother me if it takes a few days sitting in a plastic tub. Current victims are the Civic, green Matchbox VW Dormobile, Corgi MK1 Escort and your old Dodge Magnum (sorry).

The Magnum was a really weird choice for Corgi, they're not exactly a stunner

I'm thinking of making it black to go with the dark windows

[danthecapriman]

12 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

I have a big box ready to be stripped off now, I'll try to get some pics when I do it.

Roger Clark Crapi

Escrote from @danthecapriman

My original Corgi Countryman (just got some doors from Steve Flowers

Corgi Police Mini Van, not sure what to do with this as I have two others in good cond, I'd like to do it Pea Green as I had one that colour, but just at the moment I'm only using paint I already have

Mini Magnifique will be a custom, I hope

More to come later...

Oooh, a Crapi! I’ve got 2 of those myself waiting to be stripped and painted! (Surprise surprise!). Ones a rough Roger Clark white one, the others in that weird day glow orange colour they did. One of them will be going Miami blue since I’ve got a can of that here. Exactly the same mix as my real mk2.

That Escrote is good to see! I’m pretty sure that one came from a boot sale about 25 years ago! 
 

What colours you doing the Escort & Capri?

[eddyramrod]

1 minute ago, bunglebus said:

I used to use that stuff but it can affect older castings - last thing you want is to melt the body!

I prefer to use paint stripper these  days, doesn't bother me if it takes a few days sitting in a plastic tub. Current victims are the Civic, green Matchbox VW Dormobile, Corgi MK1 Escort and your old Dodge Magnum (sorry).

The Magnum was a really weird choice for Corgi, they're not exactly a stunner

I'm thinking of making it black to go with the dark windows

Your car, your choice, of course.  I never saw the model in anything other than yellow when new, although since I hardly ever saw one at all that doesn't say much!  In recent years I've seen a few at the fairs but again, they've always been yellow.  There was a point when I had three of them, one of which I'd painted purple...

[bunglebus]

23 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

Escrote from @danthecapriman

Good luck, that one drove me potty trying to get the casting lines sorted out, that's why I ended up doing it as a ratty version in the end

[FakeConcern]

I want the Roger Clark Crapi white again (although it looks pretty good in Humbrol yellow!) and I may even buy some repro stickers for it.

I still have my pre WhizzWheels (or whatever) Escrote so thought I'd do this one up in some orange I already have, I may have mentioned I'm trying to do budget restos so the Corgi Minis I already did were both paint I had on the shelf and these will be too. Amazing you had that so long at let it go haha. I get far too attached to stuff.

[bunglebus]

4 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Your car, your choice, of course.  I never saw the model in anything other than yellow when new, although since I hardly ever saw one at all that doesn't say much!  In recent years I've seen a few at the fairs but again, they've always been yellow.  There was a point when I had three of them, one of which I'd painted purple...

They were only ever yellow, and a very short lived release. I only managed to find one a year or two ago via this site. I didn't know they even existed until just before that!