Shite in Miniature II

43,261 · June 20, 2023

Foden, Foden, Foden

Rawhide!

33,298 · June 20, 2023

4 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

TBH I was all for packing this lark in recently.

I had emptied the display cabinet to clean the occupants. Problem is the gap either side of the shelves, which is enough for the shelf to tip and fall if they're moved to the side, as happened a few years ago, when the two middle shelves gave way. Amazingly not much major damage ocxurred then, apart from a few cars with a couple of paint chips and I spent a good full day matching up mirrors and bumpers, and re attaching!

It happened again the other day.

This time the top shelf went, it only had three cars on but two of them, two of my favourites in the collection, (and one of them being the rarest and most valuable), are fairly ruined.

The Graphite Granada 2.8i sport suffered fairly badly.

Both mirrors snapped off, but in an awkward spot, not clean off at the base like they normally do. Despite taking care to match them up to the right sides, they've gone back at a weird angle and don't look right. Possibly they bent upwards before snapping off.

With the mirrors back on, I then noticed that the rear spoiler had come off.

Exhaustive searches have failed to find it. Only place it could now be is under the unit itself and I CBA right now to empty it again and shift it...

Obviously because Vanguards, cheap spares donor cars don't exist and enquiries to Corgi's so-called spares department drew a blank too...

Still a lovely looking model though, and at least the front splitter didn't break off. And in the cabinet you can't tell the spoiler is missing...

The Vista orange Capri Mk1 special didn't fare well either, with a split the full height of the windscreen. I got the car apart and tried to gently push the screen back together, but to no avail, and then I lost the screw that holds the baseplate on. It was then that I ripped the screen out completely then threw the dismantled car in a drawer and forgot about it before I took a hammer to it!

Yesterday, on my day off, I had another look at it. Miraculously there is no paint damage, and the important bits to this version, like the rear spoiler and window louvre survived. So I had a look around for something suitable to fashion another screen from. (Fortunately the glass on these Capris are in four separate sections, front, sides and rear, and the other sections were undamaged, so I only had to sort the windscreen.)

A fairly suitable source was found in the shape of a ready to eat salad container, after a good wash. The plastic is more or less as thick as the old screen and could be made to bend fairly easily. So a shape was cut out, with a tab cut out and bent at the top to attach it to the inside of the roof, then at the bottom behind the dash.

The results wouldn't fool anyone, it's a bit gappy, but it fills the hole and it's see through! So at least it can display again, a screw was borrowed from a plinth off a cheapo Cararama model that just about secures the baseplate, so I don't have to take the hammer to it just yet!

Still on the lookout for a cheap screen donor to repair it properly. I've got a tatty Detail Cars/Solido Capri that I had a look at, but despite both being 1/43, they are hugely different in size and proportions. I may get a cheap Cararama one and see if I can use the screen from that.

Good job on the windscreen.

A similar thing happened to me when moving house many years ago. I had cars stored in stacked vegetable boxes in the back of the hired Transit I was using but they were too high and tipped over on a roundabout. A Polistil police Jaguar had a broken bumper and boot sign but thankfully everything was recovered and repaired. A radio controlled Astra Coupe fared very badly and was smashed, that ended up in the tip A few other mirrors here and there, never to be found again but nothing which seriously affected the aesthetics. I was fuming with myself for months after that.

43,261 · June 20, 2023

3 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I was fuming with myself for months after that.

33,298 · June 20, 2023

Just now, flat4alfa said:

Haha that was exactly me!

5,370 · June 20, 2023

So with three damaged Vanguards models and a bit of disillusionment about collecting in general, what's a guy to do?

I know, I'm an idiot, I can't help myself...

This is one I've been pissing about over getting for a while. I've got the Mk3 in the base, GXL and 2000E flavours but for years I wanted them to do a GT. Quite a few Vanguards police GTs were made, but being police spec, I didn't bother with those as they didn't come with the funky tombstone seats or sports wheels.

Atlas came close with plans for a new 'modern classics' type range, for which they did one prototype which was a Vanguards based Mk3 GT in Daytona yellow with the correct sports wheels and tombstone seats,

Sadly the range was canned after that solitary prototype. However a tombstone seat-equipped police GT was released by Atlas as part of their police car collection. Maybe because the seats had already been tooled up for the yellow version? As seen on here before, I managed to get a cheap Atlas police version and did a quick and dirty conversion to a 'civilian' boy racer version with lowered suspension and slotmags.

So when Corgi eventually did their own Vanguards GT, I was a bit disappointed that they'd done it in Marine blue. I've seen the real car this model is based on and it's an absolute stunner, but Marine blue isn't the most inspiring of colours, especially on a sports model. I was hoping they'd do one in Daytona yellow, Purple velvet, Vista orange, Le Mans green etc. If they were going to do a Marine blue Mk3 with dartboard wheels ,I think there's one that collectors would rather see,

They did announce a Daytona yellow Mk3 this year as well, in all the preview bumph, it was listed as a 2000 GT, but as it went into production, it was changed to yet another GXL. Sigh.

So, it's taken me till now to actually get this one. However, it's not an unattractive model. The Vanguards Mk3 is one of their really good castings.

Front end detail is good, with the all important quad lights and tiny GT grille badge.

The GT specific all black rear panel and nicely done boot badges.

The tombstones are present of course, and the steering wheel is the sports type with the faux drilled spokes and it can't really be seen here but the console has the four auxiliary gauges.

The 'dartboards' are neatly done around the black bits, especially compared to the Mk5 Crusader model, on which they just look like the wheels have had black paint randomly splattered on them. Even the miniscule '2000' printed on the wing badges looks just like on the real thing,

Didn't do too badly on this one at about half the price they normally go for on eBay.

5,421 · June 20, 2023

Indicator should be clear with orange insert & chrome border being a 73 ( one of the last prefacelift ones.

Plus the thin chrome stripe above & below the wide centre one on the grille, rear indicator section shouldn't go right to edge of lense.

Pendant

5,370 · June 21, 2023

Yeah, TBH I don't buy Vanguards looking for 100% authenticity. It's when they fit 2000Es with sloping dashboards and base spec seats that bothers me more, which is why I've only got one 2000E. And I only got that because it's beige. (That one has the wrong indicators too... 😆)

7,320 · June 21, 2023

1 hour ago, AndyW201 said:

Yeah, TBH I don't buy Vanguards looking for 100% authenticity. It's when they fit 2000Es with sloping dashboards and base spec seats that bothers me more, which is why I've only got one 2000E. And I only got that because it's beige. (That one has the wrong indicators too... 😆)

yes there was much disappoint at the sloping dash especially as they have done the correct one in the mk4 & mk5

26,722 · June 21, 2023

I don’t have that many Vanguards, the prices put me off!

Cortina’s.
The blue peasant spec one is my favourite!

Mk1 & 3 Capri’s with a Minichamps mk2 for good measure.

There’s a Granada or two somewhere too.

Theyre nice models with a good finish but they just seem expensive.

10,166 · June 21, 2023

I've been doing some coverty scale photography again tonight, after Mrs_Jon has gone to bed and I wanted to test the new 'lightbox' for my LED torch, which I made from a used powdered vegetable stock container (think a short Pringles tube).

Tonight's first subject was the Lego Technic Charger I bought months ago for a bargain £5 from the charity shop:

I'd padded its construction out to rainy weekends only - and to wait for the half dozen or so missing bits to arrive from Denmark, courtesy of Lego.

As renditions go, it's passable for a Lego effort but quite crap otherwise. Was certainly a bit of a let down once finished the other day, so I harboured ideas to sell on for a nice juicy profit.

That said, I only found out recently that it has the sticker sheet missing, but apart from the grille detail, I'm simply bereft of side repeaters and NOS bottle decals. So no real loss but no doubt a dent to the potential coffers.

I'll admit however, that it's starting to grow on me. The squishy long travel suspension certainly helps, as does me seeing it sat across the living room, where the side profile holds up much better. The blockiness of the construction somewhat blends away from afar, which helps.

The 3/4 front view is pretty bad still (getting a satisfactory shot took a while) and of course, there's far too much rim and much too little side wall for my discerning tastes. I've contemplated nicking the 50's spec wheels off Mrs_Jon's Lego De Lorean but that's likely best attempted when she's out for the day.

To sum up, I was very happy to get it for £5, it's got some nifty tricks designed in and I enjoyed the build but ultimately, I like the creativity of basic, 20th Century Technic Lego; this has way too many fancy shaped bits that could serve no other purpose than their intended singular use. And I've a sense of having no idea what else I could make with the 1000+ pieces.

I also dicked about with a few old c.1/43s in my super special studio but I'll bosh up the results tomorrow.

40,555 · June 21, 2023

I seem to remember Vanguards were only about a tenner when they came out. They’re ideal if you like Ford, a lot of the other marques seem to get neglected.

42,195 · June 21, 2023

On 6/9/2023 at 9:08 AM, Split_Pin said:

At the solstice it would be good to see a comparison of 8am and the same time in the depths of January!

You got it...

43,261 · June 21, 2023

16 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I seem to remember Vanguards were only about a tenner when they came out. They’re ideal if you like Ford, a lot of the other marques seem to get neglected.

Lledo launched 'Days Gone Vanguards' in 1994. Funnily enough considering the current Ford love, the first model was the 1960 Morris Minor Traveller, scaled to 1:43

A tenner in 1994 is £25 today

26,722 · June 21, 2023

Discovered a variant of the Matchbox GUY car transporter recently.

Apparently a few intermediate ones were released using the left over original turquoise colour cabs but the new yellow trailers.
This one’s fairly rough but still works and looks ok. Slightly more unusual to the other two colours.

58,593 · June 21, 2023

Popped in Entertainer as it's delivery day. An H case of Hot Wheels with no super, and this

With the same damn mix of Matchbox as before

43,261 · June 21, 2023

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Discovered a variant of the Matchbox GUY car transporter recently.

Apparently a few intermediate ones were released using the left over original turquoise colour cabs but the new yellow trailers.
This one’s fairly rough but still works and looks ok. Slightly more unusual to the other two colours.

THEY DID WHAT

Ah so they did

Can't fake one as riveted together too

44,544 · June 21, 2023

Here's something that is rarely modelled, the Opel Commodore B GS Coupe.

Seen here done by Schuco

The body proportions are quite good

and this colour combo of metallic grey with red interior is excellent

Good detail on the front with small GS badge on grille

Rear lights are good, but tail pipes look a bit big, at at least they are not solid.

Wheels are a bit flat, the actual ones are more curved in towards the centre of the rim

Nice double coach line, but vinyl roof is a bit matte, should be satin for that true effect.

They also did race versions if that's your bag.

26,722 · June 21, 2023

28 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

THEY DID WHAT

Ah so they did

Can't fake one as riveted together too

Exactly, replicating the factory riveting would be difficult. I suppose you could always carefully paint one but that’s usually obvious too.

There can’t be very many of that version around though?

There’s a pre production paint sample version of the DAF replacement in blue cab with silver trailer too. Finding one is probably virtually impossible but painting up a replica is something I might have a go at (after moving as everything is packed away now!).

43,261 · June 21, 2023

4 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

There’s a pre production paint sample version of the DAF replacement in blue cab with silver trailer too. Finding one is probably virtually impossible but painting up a replica is something I might have a go at

1969 K-11 Production first release colours

K-11 colour trial that I think we both agree looks nicer

K-11 colour trial / casting trial, and the one you really want

26,722 · June 21, 2023

4 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

1969 K-11 Production first release colours

K-11 colour trial that I think we both agree looks nicer

K-11 colour trial / casting, and the one you really want

The blue and silver definitely looks the best imho.
I’ve got the yellow and blue/gold version of the DAF.

What was the purpose of the colour trial models? Presumably just to test paint combinations and colour etc?
Seems odd those same models would then be released into the market.

26,722 · June 21, 2023

Here’s another utterly pointless variation for the aficionado’s!

Corgi’s Sierra 2.3 Ghia…

Same model and catalog number but different interior and base/bumper colours!?!
No idea why or if all the other Sierra colours are like this?

58,593 · June 21, 2023

Uh-oh, die cast related injury!

Somehow got a jeweller's saw blade quite deep in my finger - A&E time...

It was going well cutting out the windows of the squashed Hot Wheels up to that point

5,370 · June 21, 2023

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

Here’s another utterly pointless variation for the aficionado’s!

Corgi’s Sierra 2.3 Ghia…

Same model and catalog number but different interior and base/bumper colours!?!
No idea why or if all the other Sierra colours are like this?

Another one to throw into the mix,

My boxed example has light grey base/ bumpers and tan coloured interior.

58,593 · June 21, 2023

Resorted to eBay to get my Ultra Hots SP2

43,261 · June 21, 2023

4 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

What was the purpose of the colour trial models? Presumably just to test paint combinations and colour etc?

Yes, for a gathering of executives and consultants around a table of examples to determine what worked best. Gavin from marketing was present.

The white one Gavin liked was a trial casting without some of the final detail

Quote

Seems odd those same models would then be released into the market.

They weren't, they were destined to be smelted. But Gavin stole it when they weren't looking. Gavin then kept it in his attic all those years as part of his pension plan. Years later, Gavin's grandchildren blew the lot by just having the one pool party that no-one can remember as Instagram crashed that day.

26,722 · June 21, 2023

4 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Yes, for a gathering of executives and consultants around a table of examples to determine what worked best. Gavin from marketing was present.

The white one Gavin liked was a trial casting without some of the final detail

They weren't, they were destined to be smelted. But Gavin stole it when they weren't looking. Gavin then kept it in his attic all those years as part of his pension plan. Years later, Gavin's grandchildren blew the lot by just having the one pool party that no-one can remember as Instagram crashed that day.

Gavin! I knew it! Mother f****r!😆 stealing from the company indeed.

In the end though I’m a little glad he did this, as it means they still exist.

I know with model railway stuff the pre production/prototypes/engineering & paint samples etc very rarely seem to make it out into the market. They either get destroyed or kept in storage like Hornby seem to do.
Mind you, these are companies that let some stupid QC and ‘errors’ slip out the factory doors so…

58,593 · June 22, 2023

It's probably because they were made here, but there seem to be more than a few Matchbox colour trials and lunchbreak specials on the market.

It may well be BS but I've had two different people say they or a relative worked at the factory and painted stuff the wrong colours when no-one was looking. I expect at the time it was just a bit of fun or done for their kids but plenty have gone through Vectis over the years.

Some resin casting proofs came up a while ago IIRC, now they really would be a special find.

Only ones I have are the Superfast Countact in chrome which apparently is fairly common, but I don't have the full story, and my pink Speed Kings Shovel Nose

33,298 · June 22, 2023

14 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Here’s another utterly pointless variation for the aficionado’s!

Corgi’s Sierra 2.3 Ghia…

Same model and catalog number but different interior and base/bumper colours!?!
No idea why or if all the other Sierra colours are like this?

Pretty sure mine has a light beige interior.

43,261 · June 22, 2023

Funny to see evidence that Matchbox tried to test trials of the Countach, as the end result was quite a poor effort. Even as a child I knew the casting looked wrong and had no interest in it

44,544 · June 22, 2023

4 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Funny to see evidence that Matchbox tried to test trials of the Countach, as the end result was quite a poor effort. Even as a child I knew the casting looked wrong and had no interest in it

But the cognoscenti knew that the casting was of the Countach Prototype and not the production car.

So is this the ultimate pre-production Matchbox model?

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