Shite in Miniature II

[Datsuncog]

1 minute ago, TheOtherStu said:

I'm happy to send you some money now, but yes please, hold onto it. I'll no doubt find some other tat treasures for you to send me in the next couple of weeks 🤣

Grand job! Will take a wander back over and see if it's still there, sure!

[Split_Pin]

48 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Still, a nice morning for it.

Little bit hazy, and a pleasant 17°C showing on the Corolla's external temp display just after 7am.

The stall was fully set-up on my arrival, depriving me of a chance to dibs the diamonds before they hit that well-worn green plywood.

But it was ok - as seemingly it was nearly all just last week's stuff.

Some 1/18-ish stuff up top didn't seem familiar, but then it's easy to lose track...

Maxi Mégane was quite appealing, though.

Think the 911 is a Tonka Polistil.

Found the shonky Oxford transporter still kicking around...

And realised that I hadn't put it back together properly last week:

Yeah, that's better. Though I think there's still a loading ramp missing at the back, annoyingly.

Shiny Corgi OOC 'Millennium Edition' Duple Metsec Dennis still seeking a forever home.

Siku Unimog in good nick - don't think it's all that old.

Corgi Cooper Maserati with steerable wheels and a leaning driver was pretty cool, though.

CORTINABOMB still here too.

More F1 antics from Marx as well.

The Super Kings Scammell Dumper is pretty much mint.

Which reminded me that I'd inexplicably forgotten to buy the very-good-bar-a-grille Scammell Log Truck last week:

Well, that was silly of me. Of course I should have bought it... maybe it was the heat, or just the excitement. Either way, it's not here this week, more's the pity.

U.N.C.L.E. Olds missing a searchlight and bonnet decal, but otherwise decent enough for a fiver:

'Gunfire' mechanism still working fine after fifty-odd years.

I'd have put good money on this quite decent Bond Aston to have sold by now.

Ejector seat mechanism and rear screen shield both work fine, though the guns/front overriders arrangement doesn't seem to retract. Bit of a gap between body and base could be causing that, though the front rivet is tight and undisturbed - factory flaw?

On the topic of Astons, this Norev DB5 is still here too, with rather more accurate lines and wheels than the Corgi character toy:

It's in decent nick too - probably a magazine partwork model. I believe @TheOtherStu was enquiring about it last week - it's not bad value at a fiver, I'd have said.

Had this Corgi 'Cars of the 50s' Mercedes 300 SL been silver, I'd have nabbed it as atonement for a childhood version which I wrecked.

Some wear to the silver bits, but a spot of Molotow should sort that.

Big Jaguar MkVII is by Atlas, not Oxford as I first thought.

Quite nice.

Brace of Corgi breakdown Transits quite appealing too.

The front of the later recovery wagon version is much better modelled than the earlier LWB van version - though it's hard to see behind the nudge bar.

Original Lesney releases are just so tiny.

This tractor's a Hornby Dublo, though.

So yeah - I mean, there's still plenty of delights to tempt, and I did spend an awful long time debating the merits of a hookless Corgi Land Rover breakdown truck... but ultimately decided I'd just be buying for the sake of buying, rather than cos I actually wanted any of the items offered...

So I sloped off to see what else there was to be seen.

Hey Tim I'd give the chrome Duple double decker a home if it was a fiver?

[flat4alfa]

43 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

The Lesney Guy Transporter, Oxford Rover Transporter and Dublo Tractor? I can but ask... probably a tenner is more achievable for three.

I was just being cheap

And hoping it would fall through because I'm out of shelves

Because I am a GUY WORRIER 

[Datsuncog]

3 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Hey Tim I'd give the chrome Duple double decker a home if it was a fiver?

Daaah - after all that, Chrome Duple is GONE!

Ah well.

 

3 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

I was just being cheap

And hoping it would fall through because I'm out of shelves

Because I am a GUY WORRIER 

Dublo Tractor is also gone, annoyingly.

Lesney Guy and Oxford Rover carriers both here, though.

Can leave 'em if it's easier on your shelves!

[Datsuncog]

33 minutes ago, TheOtherStu said:

Yes please, hold onto it. I'll no doubt find some other tat treasures for you to send me in the next couple of weeks 🤣

Aston secured!

39 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

@Datsuncog could I request the Corgi RAC Transit van please?

Also got that here for you, fella!

[flat4alfa]

Gah those Dublo go for good money

Yes to Transporters

[TheOtherStu]

1 minute ago, Datsuncog said:

Aston secured!

Woohoo! Thank you.

Does the stall owner think you're a complete nutter? 🤣

[Datsuncog]

1 minute ago, TheOtherStu said:

Does the stall owner think you're a complete nutter?

Yes, but since his core market demographic is complete nutters who fork over good money for complete tat, then I believe I'm just one amongst many...

[flat4alfa]

TALKING OF WHICH

I HOPE HE IS OK

It's been a few weeks now

[danthecapriman]

13 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Aston secured!

Also got that here for you, fella!

👍 thanks! 

[Datsuncog]

3 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Yes to Transporters

Transporters acquired.

I played up my sadness at the detached upper deck on the Oxford, like a puppy with a broken paw, and thusly secured them for £8 the pair.

Acting skills 💯

3 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

TALKING OF WHICH

I HOPE HE IS OK

It's been a few weeks now

Indeed - hope he is ok.

Possibly away enjoying three months on the beach in Barbados off the proceeds of his online tat-sales?

 

I should have bought that Scammell.

Why didn't I?

[flat4alfa]

 

By the time I got DODGE PHOENIX

She was sleepin'
She turned softly

And called my name out low

And she'd cry just to think I'd nearly lost her
Though time and time I've tried to bid her so

Cause I've lost that Lone Star so many times before

 

[sierraman]

My philosophy is that he’s discovered a lock up garage in Belfast that John Noakes stashed all the Dinkies from the Blue Peter appeal, all the ones that escaped being stamped upon by Peter Purves. 

[flat4alfa]

Well I never!

Noakes was reincarnated

[Datsuncog]

On 6/16/2023 at 11:40 AM, RoadworkUK said:

How much is on the 1:18 McLaren F1 in Gulf colours? Looks like it's by UT Models

McLaren was indeed by UT Models.

Not too bad, but missing the usual wipers/ mirrors/ aerials of a model left unboxed on an open shelf and vigorously abraded with Mr Sheen and a yellow duster every other month...

Peugeot 307 was by Sunstar, and very detailed indeed.

Also missing a load of little bits, though - like the Peugeot badge from the grille.

Plus mucho free dust.

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

@Datsuncog could I request the Corgi RAC Transit van please?

Trip down memory lane that one.

Many years ago little Dan got a brand new Corgi Transit lwb ambulance. For some reason it was one of his favourite toys and over the next few years that thing covered many many miniature miles through various houses and gardens. 
Eventually it started falling to bits and looking pretty well worn. So little Dan stripped off all the ambulance stuff, filled the holes left (with a skim of poly filler!) and repainted it as a standard lwb panel van, which then continued to cover many more miniature miles.

Sadly I have no idea where that van ended up. Which is weird given how much it got played with. 
I do know for a fact it was looking pretty sorry for itself after spending at least a couple of years left outside in the little patch of garden I used to play in.

This replacement RAC version will fill a nice gap left from the old one though. I’ve already got a nice green Oxford nipper mini bus version too so it can live with that one!

[sierraman]

18 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Well I never!

Noakes was reincarnated

I can see a Top Rank Dinky Bedford In there. I bet he fucking had the boot open on the car round the back after that photo was taken! 🤣

[RoadworkUK]

26 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

McLaren was indeed by UT Models. Not too bad, but missing the usual .... etc.

Cheers DC. Yeah, I have the  road car version of that model:

It might be a giggle to have the LM version one day, too, but it's not something I hitherto had any real interest in doing, motorsport veehickles not really tickling my pickle all that.

[flat4alfa]

Corgi 007 Aston Martin in there the silly sods

Struggling on this tin plate one

And this.  Looking like an Opel Rekord estate but lights too wide

 

[Zie]

I'm blaming the forum outage for this. 

[Datsuncog]

So there wasn't a whole heap to be found elsewhere on the market this morning, it has to be said.

I'd hoped that maybe the Charity Stall might have some more of their older diecast stuff still available, but apparently not.

They did however have some of these enormous radio control vehicles by Dickie Toys.

I'm not sure what scale they were meant to be - and clearly the Porsche is a larger scale than the X5 - but the boxes are easily a good two feet long, so I'd guess around 1/12 or 1/10.

No idea on price, I'm afraid.

Alan had a few bits and pieces out on his 50p Table, but except for an engineless Red Rider it was all just modernish tat.

Though you could have spent £5 on a no-name Range Rover Evoque and picked up a Robson & Jerome cassette.

Ah, bless this place.

Which is a conveniently easy thing to arrange, thanks to the proximity of Mulligan's Irish Gifts, and their unique stock mix of Hot Wheels and what Colin the stallholder terms his 'Holy Joe stuff'.

Rosary beads with your Matchbox Convoy, sir? Not a bother.

The trouble is, it sells better than diecast. Especially to tourists from China, apparently.

And there's plenty of weirdness to be found on the General Tat stall, aka Nostalgic Collectables. Since most stock seems to be sourced from house clearances, all sorts of everything wind up here. I don't generally catalogue them unless they're tat-related, but this is what today involved...

Yep, I think that's a new and unopened set of gaskets for a Lister diesel engine, some Irish TV licence stamp cards, and a paper bag advertising Beecham's Powders.

Some fascinating publications too.

A quick flick through this reveals mostly stuff involving packs of cards and cribbage boards.

The days before YouTube, eh?

Billy Bennett was a well-known music hall entertainer from the 1920s until his death in 1942, specialising in comic monologues and ending each one with "Boom boom!" - a trait later borrowed/copied by Ivan Owen for his Basil Brush puppet character, and leading to an immortality of sorts for Billy.

Will Van Allen was a Birmingham-born comedian (originally William Dobbs) who hit the big time after moving to the US around 1910, giving humorous on-stage monologues in character as a 'little tramp'.

I wonder whether Charlie Chaplin found some inspiration in his act? It seems Van Allen was well-known and performing widely before Chaplin arrived on the scene - the difference being that Chaplin went down the nascent cinema route rather than Vaudeville, with physical comedy routines taking precedence over spoken-word humour to meet the needs of the early silent movie industry.

Amazing, the fragments of the past that show up in this tiny corner of Belfast.

And there's usually other peculiar old toys and games, like these 'Space Air Planes' - two very thin plastic aircraft and some rubber bands with which to propel them across the room.

I'm not sure who exactly buys this stuff - but it rarely hangs around for more than a week or two, so clearly someone's taking it...

[flat4alfa]

Only just found out about these Hot Wheels Body Swappers from 1986.

Off-Road 4x4

Mean Dream Racer

Squad Bod

[sierraman]

I bet a complete boxed set of those is £££

[Datsuncog]

Right then - the final sprint for the line!!

So - what didn't stay on the stall today, and instead got crammed in a bag and dragged around an increasingly sweaty Belfast City Centre?

Well, this Lesney Major Pack No.8 Guy Warrior/ Worrier Transporter, for one.

It's the early type with the grey tyres fitted, and isn't in bad shape.

Usually the decals are pretty ruined on these - they're certainly better than the ones off my later yellow version.

All it needs are a pair of tyres to the front...

Or I dunno, LOWRIDA?

Continuing the transporter theme, then:

The Oxford Diecast 00 Gauge Leyland (?) Transporter in Rover/ Land Rover livery.

I've got the upper deck conundrum sorted now - you can remove the whole section, and then either set it above or below a set of pins depending on how you want to display it.

There are, apparently, no foldaway ramps or anything like that.

But there may have been a matching trailer?

Annoying that the Dublo Tractor was already gone - but hey, two outta three ain't bad...

[quicksilver]

3 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Continuing the transporter theme, then:

The Oxford Diecast 00 Gauge Leyland (?) Transporter in Rover/ Land Rover livery.

I've got the upper deck conundrum sorted now - you can remove the whole section, and then either set it above or below a set of pins depending on how you want to display it.

There are, apparently, no foldaway ramps or anything like that.

But there may have been a matching trailer?

Annoying that the Dublo Tractor was already gone - but hey, two outta three ain't bad...

It should indeed have a trailer. Shame it's gone AWOL but maybe it'll turn up in one of Market Blokey's other random boxes of tat one day.

[Datsuncog]

Then there's the Atlas Aston Martin DB5.

Other than a bit of dust, this looks in really good nick. Mirrors and wipers still present and correct.

From looking at these online, the rear bumper does seem to be quite fragile - and sure enough it's coming away at one mount point. But a dab of glue should sort that.

Huuuuuge exhaust.

Hopefully this'll grace your shelf nicely!

[Datsuncog]

1 minute ago, quicksilver said:

It should indeed have a trailer. Shame it's gone AWOL but maybe it'll turn up in one of Market Blokey's other random boxes of tat one day.

It may well do.

He'd told me last week that he had 'loads more' of new stuff to bring in, so I'd guess he's obtained a couple of job lots from the same source.

All the loose diecast from last week was crammed into a single box - presumably because the market was a bit quiet and not much sold, he just brought the same box back in this week.

I'm hopeful there's more to be revealed on future weeks - and yes, maybe the missing trailer!

[Datsuncog]

Then the final request of the day:

The Corgi Mk3 Transit LWB in RAC colours.

This has the ingrained dirt and slightly yellowish tinge of something that's been stored on a shelf for a good many years - but hopefully a bit of cleaning will improve things.

I had a very similar police version of one of these, purchased c.1990 from a small village newsagent.

I liked it - though it scratched quite badly quite quickly, and I always thought these looked a little bit underwheeled.

In the back, there's...

Nothing.

Well, some dust.

Some tools or even some crates or something would have been a nice touch to add some playvalue, but I guess the company was still just about squeaking by in the late 1980s - so such fripperies didn't happen.

I only noticed when taking pics that the light bar's slightly broken.

I thought maybe I'd cack-handedly damaged it, but flicking back to the earlier pics shows it was in the same state this morning.

Annoying - but hopefully not an impediment to enjoyment!

[Datsuncog]

Well then - wildcard.

I was very taken with this little Corgi Cooper-Maserati F1 car, not least because it looks so fragile yet is still in one piece.

Mismatched tyres aside, the steering mechanism which operates by tilting the driver from side to side is quite ingenious, and very 'Corgi' somehow.

The official Cooper and Maserati emblems on the base are such a nice touch too.

I'm normally no real fan of racing cars either, but there's just something about this one... I guess it's just that intangible thing, charm...

I'm going to have to drag all my Corgi stuff out someday soon and see what I've got - as I know I've picked up doubles in recent months - and probably offer some out on here - but until then, this is a keeper!

[danthecapriman]

4 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Then the final request of the day:

The Corgi Mk3 Transit LWB in RAC colours.

This has the ingrained dirt and slightly yellowish tinge of something that's been stored on a shelf for a good many years - but hopefully a bit of cleaning will improve things.

I had a very similar police version of one of these, purchased c.1990 from a small village newsagent.

I liked it - though it scratched quite badly quite quickly, and I always thought these looked a little bit underwheeled.

In the back, there's...

Nothing.

Well, some dust.

Some tools or even some crates or something would have been a nice touch to add some playvalue, but I guess the company was still just about squeaking by in the late 1980s - so such fripperies didn't happen.

I only noticed when taking pics that the light bar's slightly broken.

I thought maybe I'd cack-handedly damaged it, but flicking back to the earlier pics shows it was in the same state this morning.

Annoying - but hopefully not an impediment to enjoyment!

Suits me just fine, ta.

May I request a Cog ltd full valet on this one too please? 😁

It does look very dusty.