Shite in Miniature II

[eddyramrod]

Yes, the red Zephyr had a woman driving; and IIRC a child in the back.  The white one obviously had two policemen, can't quite remember who came with the pale blue version.  But never mind; these things happen.  Don't kick yourself over it.

[MiniMinorMk3]

15 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

On the topic of E-Types... bit of a 'then and now' comparison on how Matchbox have modelled them over the years...

 

So which one's best?

Well, the detailing on the Mattel-era car is admittedly superb on such a small, mass-produced toy. And the Asada casting is truly masterful.

But there's something about the original that just edges it - maybe not technically, but arriving as it did on toyshop shelves just a few months after the launch of the real thing, it's hard not to feel a thrill of holding such a piece of automotive history.

So I'm gonna have to say that I still prefer the Lesney.

The original is best. That modern one looks horrible and is typical of the poorly executed fictional stuff that Mattel produce.

As for teh lack of detail on the back of teh old Lesney, maybe they had only seen a prototype E-Type before committing to produce the model and wanted to be the first to market.

13 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

Also this

 

There were lots of lovely models there, but I only seriously looked at Corgis. I did consider a Corgi Toyota 2000GT in shiny blue (fairly chipped but an intact screen for £5 and a really lovely Whizzwheels Rover 2000TC in purple for £20. Also a red Spot On Zephyr in box for £10 sounded cheap, but wasn't sure. I know not everything was a bargain as I saw at least four Matchbox KS Cougars in gold, none as nice as the one I bought recently for £5.48 including P&P and all wanted more than £10 for them.

Anyway I was pleased with my purchases even if they weren't super cheap, looking forward to giving them a wash tomorrow.

 

Those Type 3 Ghias came with a little brown case that fits in the frunk.

 

13 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Whoa up there horsey!!!!!  A red Spot-On Zephyr for a tenner, boxed?  Even I would have bought that, not just because I like them but also, it's worth a whole lot more!  But you did well enough with what you did buy.  I'm in the process of restoring one of those VWs, not sure what colour to go for yet.

 

Has to be gold for the Ghia. Although VW did not sell them in gold (not as far as I an remember), the Corgi in gold looks fab.

[MiniMinorMk3]

11 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

Also this Spot On A40 Farina. 

 

Quite pleased with these two.

I like that A40, better detailed than the one that I have in my unboxed Innocenti collection.

It's a Politoys No.34 Innocenti Austin A40. Advertised scale is 1/41.

 

It has a plastic body, in fact the only parts that are not plastic are the axles and screws holding the base in. Even the wheels are plastic.

Even though they went to the trouble of fitting jewel lights and separate bumpers, they did not spend much time on the body detail. There's no bonnet trim or side trim...

and at the rear there's no handle or badging.

Overall it's a bit narrow and the bonnet is too long

[bunglebus]

Slim pickings at the BHM boot sale. Got the back of the 57 Chevy to fit my spare front 

A pretty good hot rod Model A

And this - yet another variant of the Chevy/U.S. Van, blank base on this one

[Mine's a Leganza!]

5 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I'll take the Junior Mints Mini van and pink Mini please, Mrs will love those! If I could add the red MGB too that'd be great

All yours.

[sierraman]

Went to car boot. Absolutely fuck all diecast but did pick up 3 Kamasa pliers for 50p each which is a result as Kamasa are my go-to for pliers 

[Mine's a Leganza!]

4 hours ago, sutty2006 said:

I’ll take the yellow Volvo if it’s not already been claimed! 

Its all yours. Would look great with the red Volvo!

[sutty2006]

17 minutes ago, Mine's a Leganza! said:

Its all yours. Would look great with the red Volvo!

I have the red, green and a blue touring car version too! 

[Mine's a Leganza!]

2 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

I have the red, green and a blue touring car version too! 

I guessed as much!

[bunglebus]

I said a little while ago I was getting the urge to work on some early Lesney stuff. I had a couple of Anglias in the project pile, both overpainted by previous owners. One was a dark grey plastic wheel type, one a light grey wheel. One had some fair size dents in the roof, the other a bashed-in base and a cracked pillar. I went with the cracked pillar body and better base in the end.

I also left the bent base in vinegar to clean it up - then forgot it for about a week. Oops

I did have big ideas about trying to polish the grille and mask it up before painting but it's just too fiddly to do

Here it is done, it was going to be a lighter green like Spruce to match the Anglia my daughter's mum used to own, but I had problems with it so a darker shade was used

Glass was the better of the two units, different colours too but the other had cracks hidden by the old paint

Quite pleased with it, left the base original as it was in pretty good shape to start with. 

However, while rummaging for the second Anglia, I found the Hot Wheels version in the box

I got to thinking I could make a hot rodded version while I was doing the Matchbox. Paint off

First of all I tried a magenta colour which should have worked with the yellow windows, but I didn't really like it and the spray pattern on the can was awful so it was very orange peely

At that point I decided to do them both the same colour, but I had weird bubbles appear after lacquering it

Detailed the interior after painting it black

Stripped the chrome off the base (it had gone a weird grey anyway), painted the front valance to match the body...

And made myself go cross-eyed doing the checkered roof!

I'm still not sure about the Carlos Fandango spec rear wheels, I do have a skinnier pair to match the fronts too

So - there's one more variant to consider (as no-one made a die cast estate AFAIK) - the Thames van. I had three but this seemed the best candidate, which doesn't say much for the other two!

Bare metal - those roof barnacles had to go, along with a hole. All for ladders to mount on but I don't have them anyway

And done

Please remind me not to do any more plastic base Huskys, they're a right pain in the arse! Tiny posts you can't easily drill and tap and the bases are so fragile - luckily you can't see the join where I broke it...

Trio

Trio

I want a Trio...

...and I want one now

I forgot to paint the straps that hold the box down in the back of the Thames! Oops. Off to chrome its rear door handle now...

[junkyarddog]

Yesterday's autojumble find.

Polistil 1:25 Fiat 128 East African Safari rally car!!

It's epic

Full complement of opening flappage,only thing missing is one of the fuel cans on the roof rack.

Happy to have found this.

[MiniMinorMk3]

On 3/29/2023 at 1:57 PM, flat4alfa said:

I really want that Audi 90 IMSA model

I remember the livery well

There was a 1:32 slot car by Matchbox SCX back in the 90s that has escaped me many times

Please don't encourage me, I'm overwhelmed back here

 

I had one of these a few years ago.

[sierraman]

Unsurprisingly I have several Sierras...

[danthecapriman]

This talk of Spot-On, 

Ive just won one on evilbay for a fiver! Paint is absolutely awful but it’s complete and in a decent state other than that. Though I might have to resort to plastic card sculpting to put a new front bumper onto it! I don’t think new ones for this model exist.

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

Unsurprisingly I have several Sierras...

Is that Airport Security an alarm car type? Saw something like it on eBay a few days ago

Here we go

 

[w00dy]

Managed to get all the Fats and Furious cars I wanted at B&M

 

[Split_Pin]

5 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

Yesterday's autojumble find.

Polistil 1:25 Fiat 128 East African Safari rally car!!

It's epic

Full complement of opening flappage,only thing missing is one of the fuel cans on the roof rack.

Happy to have found this.

I have that one too, its great isnt it. I also have a very similar Lancia Fulvia except it has white paint spatters which Polistil tell us is snow from the 'Spedizione Polare'. 

[bunglebus]

Meant to post these pics up of stuff at the Saturday boot sale

[FakeConcern]

6 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I said a little while ago I was getting the urge to work on some early Lesney stuff. I had a couple of Anglias in the project pile, both overpainted by previous owners. One was a dark grey plastic wheel type, one a light grey wheel. One had some fair size dents in the roof, the other a bashed-in base and a cracked pillar. I went with the cracked pillar body and better base in the end.

I also left the bent base in vinegar to clean it up - then forgot it for about a week. Oops

I did have big ideas about trying to polish the grille and mask it up before painting but it's just too fiddly to do

Here it is done, it was going to be a lighter green like Spruce to match the Anglia my daughter's mum used to own, but I had problems with it so a darker shade was used

Glass was the better of the two units, different colours too but the other had cracks hidden by the old paint

Quite pleased with it, left the base original as it was in pretty good shape to start with. 

However, while rummaging for the second Anglia, I found the Hot Wheels version in the box

I got to thinking I could make a hot rodded version while I was doing the Matchbox. Paint off

First of all I tried a magenta colour which should have worked with the yellow windows, but I didn't really like it and the spray pattern on the can was awful so it was very orange peely

At that point I decided to do them both the same colour, but I had weird bubbles appear after lacquering it

Detailed the interior after painting it black

Stripped the chrome off the base (it had gone a weird grey anyway), painted the front valance to match the body...

And made myself go cross-eyed doing the checkered roof!

I'm still not sure about the Carlos Fandango spec rear wheels, I do have a skinnier pair to match the fronts too

So - there's one more variant to consider (as no-one made a die cast estate AFAIK) - the Thames van. I had three but this seemed the best candidate, which doesn't say much for the other two!

Bare metal - those roof barnacles had to go, along with a hole. All for ladders to mount on but I don't have them anyway

And done

Please remind me not to do any more plastic base Huskys, they're a right pain in the arse! Tiny posts you can't easily drill and tap and the bases are so fragile - luckily you can't see the join where I broke it...

Trio

Trio

I want a Trio...

...and I want one now

I forgot to paint the straps that hold the box down in the back of the Thames! Oops. Off to chrome its rear door handle now...

Love those Angleboxes! The chequered roof came out super nice and I want to do something similar now, but have so many projects on the go.

I have managed to finish the black Corgi Merc and black and red Corgi Fiat.

I used the new Molotow pen on the grill and bumpers

Rear bumper is a really rough casting

I should really have stuck to the Humbrol silver for this as the pen kind of flooded the grill and needed the quick application of a paint brush to spread it and prevent all the detail being obscured

I didn't paint the base as I wanted to keep the original look

I wouldn't have taken it to bits except the paint didn't scrape off and the opening boot meant I had to be careful to keep the interior clean. I need to find a spare wheel for it now

I didn't take the Fiat apart, just sanded and polished the windows first then masked them up

Love the coulour scheme suggested by @flat4alfathanks!

I used orange for the rear lights as the red didn't show up!

Got a slight bit of overspray through the masking on the base I still need to clean off

Lastly a quick preview of the Whizzwheels robbed off a Capri test fitted to the Lancia, I still need to sort out the fitment (haha) and go over the siver bits, but very pleased so far and the Tri Deck project is nearly finished!

[flat4alfa]

Wow Fiat looking smart.  And unique, outside of the 1:1 brochure

[flat4alfa]

Been away for weekend, catching up.

Read about the boxed Spot on for ten of the Kings Pounds’, and spilled my pint

Currently mopping up

[Spottedlaurel]

7 hours ago, bunglebus said:

The HW Anglia would look good as a National Hot Rod oval racer, and in that colour I thought that's the way you were going as a replica of one of George Polley's cars.

[FakeConcern]

22 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Been away for weekend, catching up.

Read about the boxed Spot on for ten of the Kings Pounds’, and spilled my pint

Currently mopping up

OK don't rub it in, I'm still kicking myself!

 

One of the things that put me off is it seemed to be massive having just bought the Corgi Lotus XI & VW KG. I have a few Spot Ons, but is the Zephre 1/43 or thereabouts?

[bunglebus]

48 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

The chequered roof came out super nice

That was quite nerve-wracking, the mask is a holographic sticker meant for fingernail decoration - it's really sticky, almost impossible to reposition and I thought it was going to pull the white off the roof!

[eddyramrod]

26 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

OK don't rub it in, I'm still kicking myself!

 

One of the things that put me off is it seemed to be massive having just bought the Corgi Lotus XI & VW KG. I have a few Spot Ons, but is the Zephre 1/43 or thereabouts?

That's because it IS big in comparison.  Spot-Ons were supposedly a constant 1/42 scale; I've never done the measurements to confirm or disprove this but they did tend to look like they belonged together.

[Jon]

Thought it best to unite some of my recent Siku purchases to some other Siku purchases from a few months back and a couple of older buys.

 

 

Just so we're all on the same page, I hope this clarifies once and for all that I do not collect fire stuff.

[bunglebus]

I am very jealous of those and would like to volunteer to relieve you of them as you don't collect fire stuff

Especially the VWs

[NorfolkNWeigh]

4 hours ago, Jon said:

Thought it best to unite some of my recent Siku purchases to some other Siku purchases from a few months back and a couple of older buys.

 

 

Just so we're all on the same page, I hope this clarifies once and for all that I do not collect fire stuff.

I didn’t think any diecast could offend me more than the Siku Granada Estate with its caricature proportions .  Those Fire ones manage to top them, my new most hated model , even uglier than a Dinky 2+2 E Type !

[bunglebus]

I think the Espada is hilarious, as if that was ever real

[Jon]

19 minutes ago, NorfolkNWeigh said:

I didn’t think any diecast could offend me more than the Siku Granada Estate with its caricature proportions .  Those Fire ones manage to top them, my new most hated model , even uglier than a Dinky 2+2 E Type !

Yes, you're a serial complainer of the Granada wagon! That said, I agree that it's not a great rendition (I reckon the smaller wheels would've worked wonders) but I'd wanted one since I tried to buy one at a shop in Blackpool in the early 90's, as a naively believed the ageing Siku poster in the shop accurately portrayed what they had in stock! The innocence of youth...

But also consider that Siku did bad renditions of the DS and E-Type too. For your delectation:

 

 

11 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I think the Espada is hilarious, as if that was ever real

I know, imagine that! 

Artistic licence on the model of Lamborghini but one was made, for use on a racing track.

Details from here:

https://www.swiftysgarage.org/siku-v317-lamborghini-400gt-espada-t69190.html