Shite in Miniature II

[flat4alfa]

It takes a bit getting used to, this 'new' colour, but I'm more than glad they reproduced the model in the first place.  They could have copped-out and just make things simple for themselves as they did with the Dinky Atlas efforts

To be fair, the original colour schemes were reasonably authentic/ of the time, but quite drab.

It's quite likely Barry and Sandra, who owned their green and white Airborne for the past 50 years, had it painted in a similar colour.  This was because when it went in for its second resto, George the gaffer at the body shop reminded them they couldn't get hold of the cellulose anymore so Sandra picked this colour off the set of swatches he did have.

 

[Datsuncog]

So then - annoyingly I had to scarper, because I'd intended to go into the office so as to give some lunchtime loafing time, but then discovered the building was closed today. I therefore had to then get my arse back home pretty sharpish to log in remotely, and I think I might have got away with it.

But! What else was there at the market?

Eh...not a lot, really.

I took a closer look at the Corgi Marcos Mantis, as it looked alright, relatively speaking...

...but all a closer look showed me was that it had, in fact, been extensively touched up and overpainted.

Quite a bit of wear to the nylon wheels:

Mmm... I can see brush strokes on the roof, and bootlid.

It's a nice enough model of an automotive oddity, and would display alright at a distance, but it's not one for me today - not at that money, anyway.

I also noticed this Dinky military vehicle, which was fairly unmolested.

I can never remember whether the smooth, unstepped hubs denote a prewar Dinky, or a postwar one.

Might be an earlier one, this.

The remnants of what I believe to be the horses from a Lesney Coronation Coach, predating the introduction of the Matchbox range.

Yeah, a curio but not in great nick, exactly.

Some more late era Corgi reissues of their old 1/35 toy range - a Royal Mail Mk3 Escort van, and that Badgerline Metrobus.

Not much other automotive adjacent tat on the stall this week - some cast iron trivets were causing a bit of a stir amongst the other regulars - though there was this:

It was massively thick, but seemed to be kind of a text map - it appeared to mostly be an alphabetical list of cities, towns and villages with a list of which roads they were near to. I don't really understand the function of that - maybe, like mathematical log books and slide rules, its time has passed...

Would be a nice prop in a 1966 car, though!

I gazed fondly at the box of old stuff, but there was nothing really rare enough or desirable enough to me to prompt a hand/wallet interface...

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

I'd say even smaller than that, say about 1/65 scale?

Hard to get a sense of scale from the pics, but I don't think it was more than 3" long. Smaller than the Budgie Leylands, for sure.

I still like it.  But more 'fiver like it' though as it's so weeny.  Best I see what you can wrangle!

I had the Bedford RL in Airfix 1:32 but do still have the market blokey RL with the broken screen pillar that is probably a similar size rip

Lenny the Legionnaire still runs it about as the camp  supplies fetcher

[sierraman]

I’ve never actually seen a coronation coach in the flesh. I did read a while back they’d brought another one out, but at sixty quid I wasn’t tempted. 🤣

[flat4alfa]

Get those horses off the Coronation coach and have them tow the Charbens Ford.  Then stick figures of Laurel and Hardy in there, complete with ceremonial regalia.  

The collectors market fellas in Connecticut will have meltdowns

[flat4alfa]

58 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Someone is making a quick profit

Corgi Toys Model Club 420 -Ford Thames "Airborne" Caravan - 2023 Reissue | eBay

Corgi Toys Model Club 420 -Ford Thames "Airborne" Caravan - 2023 Reissue | eBay

That somebody is more than likely taking advantage of the export ability

Quote

Item location: Tamworth, United Kingdom

Posts to: Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guernsey, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Martinique, Mexico, Monaco, Montserrat, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Croatia, Reunion, Romania, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam

But I thought CMC had set up a site for offshore sales to alleviate that

[MiniMinorMk3]

43 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

The remnants of what I believe to be the horses from a Lesney Coronation Coach, predating the Matchbox range.

 

Looks like the local Don has been leaving some messages in peoples beds!

[Datsuncog]

4 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

But I thought CMC had set up a site for offshore sales to alleviate that

Yeah, I've been getting social media ads for CMC priced in USD lately.

It was a handy* reminder that the second set of CMC models I'd ordered up as an investment/ flipping opportunity are now something of a busted flush.

Maybe the eBay lads are going for those elusive Monserrat and Reunion Island diecast markets?

[Datsuncog]

A quick spin round the rest of the stalls didn't reveal very much new:

Alan's holding steady with the Emporium's selection of 50p tat.

Think the yellow Mustang Mach 1 in the bottom row might be a Maisto.

Colin had some new Oxfords in, but not really anything to grab me.

More Hot Wheels too, including a pair of Mercedes SECs and that RX7:

But we're all good for Mercs on here now, aren't we?

Poundland still had them for £1.50, last time I looked.

There were no more Golf GTis to be seen this week - he'd sold them all over the weekend, and hadn't ordered any more. He still had the others, though:

I advised he probably should order in a few more Golfs, as I knew a few people who'd be interested in taking one... so watch this space.

The Charity Stall had nothing at all of interest, diecast-wise. What a strange and inconsistent establishment.

I went and grabbed a coffee from my usual place, edited some pics, posted a few, then went for a final amble in case there was anything new to be seen.

However, all I got was Paddy (of Paddy's Antiques Shitshow fame, home of the chipped £75 Corgis and plethora of 'DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING ' signage) once again having a very public ding-dong row - this time with the proprietor of a homemade chutney stand over in the adjacent block of stalls.

I didn't quite catch the exact nature of the dispute , but it was fairly lively, and conducted at considerable volume.

I dunno, maybe the chutney-seller had touched something on his stall, or looked at it funny. From a distance.

I'm expecting a few dozen 'DON'T LOOK AT ANYTHING' signs to be adorning his wares next week. And yet another blazing row going on.

Still, I guess there are standards to uphold, yeah?

And that, dear chums and fellow diecast fondlers, was pretty much that for this week... but, as you can probably guess...

 

 

I didn't leave empty-handed.

[MiniMinorMk3]

On the Thames 400E theme, here's a couple of Oxfords that have been through my hands.

and a splendid Lotus themed one I saw at Thirlestane Castle in 2015

[flat4alfa]

2 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

and a splendid Lotus themed one I saw at Thirlestane Castle in 2015

It seems that Oxford did that one too, not only that they sold out the whole run

Not surprising really, good price I think at £16 for a 1:43 and on that theme. 

It does look smart, aside from from the Moomin headlamps they fit on them

[flat4alfa]

5 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

More plastic oddness lay in the box in the form of this no-name ladderless fire ladder.

Decapitated firefighter on the far side probably not in the original design brief.

Beeju brand, made by EVB Plastics at Salfords in Surrey.  1948-56

[flat4alfa]

19 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

The Venetian blinds on the side windows look very similar to the rear blinds fitted to the earlier Chevrolet Corvair and Fiat 1800 - but I can't say for sure whether they're identical or not.

There had been an assessment done 

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

Just had a look at the latest Oxford Catalogue and did a double take on this.

I owned this car from 2014 until 2019. They have got the seat colour wrong and have not included the webasto.

 

[egg]

3 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

The remnants of what I believe to be the horses from a Lesney Coronation Coach, predating the Matchbox range.

My mother in law reportedly has a mint boxed Coronation set, but I've never seen it in the best part of the 25 years I've known her!

[bunglebus]

Got a couple of cars in the post today. Keeping one under wraps for now as I'm after a better example, but here's the other - a Yatmong Toyota 2000 GT. It's got a bit distorted during manufacture where one of the rear rivets wasn't spun correctly. It also has a big chunk of sprue in the rear window opening 

[Datsuncog]

Well then - what came home with me today?

The Euro '96 Bedford O van by Lledo for @TheOtherStu, for starters.

It's pretty clean, and should display nicely for you!

Will pop this aside with your others, sure - and just try not to think about how it's from over 25 years ago...

Then there's a rake of Matchbox 'Germany Collection' specials, earmarked for @bunglebus:

Will see if I can find you a red Golf GTi to complete the set-within-a-set.

And after the requests, there's my own haul of pruck - starting with the Lesney No.31 Caravan:

It's pretty much perfect, I have to say. Two tiny chips on the offside, just below the window - but they could have just as easily occurred on the factory production line.

I was never all that fond of this casting before now, as it didn't seem particularly representative of the caravans I'd see on UK roads at the time - Monzas and Sprites and suchlike. The lack of wheelarches looked a bit odd, and combined with the ribbed outer skin looked somehow more continental.

But then again Matchbox were a global concern, selling the bulk of their products overseas, so I suppose something that roughly fitted every market was maybe seen as more desirable than a specific replica of any given caravan.

But the swing-open door's a nice touch, and it really is like new underneath - so shiny.

There's even a reasonably good stab at a sink, stove and seating inside - though hard to photograph,

So overall - in this condition, it's a nice one to have.

The No.39 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II isn't in a shockingly bad state or anything, but it does show some evidence of toybox wear.

Minor paint chipping to the leading edges and corners, plus some wear to the wheels, hints that it hasn't spent all its life cosseted away in a box.

The base is a fair bit more oxidised than that of the caravan - but even so, it's a reasonable enough example.

But I think I might have a cleaner version of the Shadow II somewhere, in dark metallic red, so - dunno, this gold version may end up evicted from its box.

I'll have a think. And a hoke in the attic toybox.

No towbar on the Rolls, shockingly, depriving us of PLAYVALUE - but we can still mock up quite an impressive towing rig anyway.

Posh camping, hey?

But it's the boxes on these two which I really like. And which effectively compelled these purchases - dunno if I'd have bothered with them if they were just loose on the stall.

I mean, okay they're a bit bashed, ripped, dusty and faded - but I still find this era of late 70s/ early 80s Matchbox packaging incredibly evocative.

I've blathered on at length before, but there was a little newsagency down the road from me when I was a kid which sold a few Matchbox items, kept on a shelf below the glass counter near the door.

It's still there, and in fairness has changed very little over the past 40 years.

Now, by the time I was about three and therefore old enough to properly understand what I was looking at, Lesney were going under and there were no new Matchbox in this old style of packaging coming through.

I don't ever remember seeing any of the new, Universal-era pale blue boxes with windows stocked at The Clandy, so I guess distribution channels must have changed a bit in the post-Lesney years.

After a while, say by 1985 or so, the only models remaining in the glass case were the somewhat less desirable items like the Pannier Locomotive, railway coaches, and tractors - not really my thing. No cars or vans.

But I always made certain to take a look whenever I was in the shop getting a comic, or choosing a film from their VHS video library - just in case, say, a MkIV Cortina had suddenly been found in the tiny storeroom at the back.

They were still there by the early 90s, I'm sure.

Somehow, just seeing these box-end graphics gives me a bit of a tingle, even now. I dunno why.

So I'll try to clean these up, and tease out the dents in the cardboard a bit, and then just... enjoy them.

Hey, you never know what Tat Friday's gonna bring...

(CMC Thames camper is, this week, considered an honorary Tat Friday attendee).

So - Happy Friday, kids. Have a good 'un.

[flat4alfa]

2 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Yatmong

It's catching on

[bunglebus]

It was deliberate. It's also made in Honk Kong

[bunglebus]

Talking of bases - should the Bond Rolls Royce say Sedan De Ville?

[MiniMinorMk3]

6 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Talking of bases - should the Bond Rolls Royce say Sedan De Ville?

It should say Sedanca de Ville. It is a Rolls-Royce Phantom III with coachwork by Barker.

A Sedanca de Ville is a car with an external or open-topped driver's position and an enclosed compartment for passengers. It is also some times referred to as a Coupe de Ville.

[flat4alfa]

 

Bung, bung, bung, bung, bung, bung
Bung, bung, bung, bung, bung, bah-bunng

Mr. Clubman, bring me a dream
Make him the cutest that I've ever seen
Give him the word that I'm not a Rover
Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over

Mr. Clubman, I'm so alone
Don't have nobody to call my own
Please turn on your magic beams
Mr. Clubman, bring me a dream

Bung, bung, bung, bung, bung, bung
Bung, bung, bung, bung, bung, bah-bunng

Bah-bunng, bung, bung, bung, bung, bung
Bung, bung, bung, bung, bung, bah-bunng

 

[egg]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

ribbed outer skin

For extra pleasure, something for the weekend, Sir?

[Datsuncog]

1 minute ago, egg said:

For extra pleasure, something for the weekend, Sir?

Happy Friday, indeed...

[bunglebus]

Going though some Matchbox and just remembered I was looking at registrations.

Mini Ha Ha DHK 161N

Racing Mini AJN 391H

Jeep CJ6 SPB 41S

Mercedes 350SL DLK 257M

Vantastic 969-302 which is an odd one

Monteverde Hai OHV 386

Field Car TF 886

Dodge Challenger PDB 7

Lamborghini Marzal TO 1149

Hot Rocker and Capri BYN 623J

Jaguar XJ6 just says JAGUAR

At some point they pulled the ol' switcheroo and started putting tampo plates on, such as JPC 1975 on the E Type Jag  

[sierraman]

It’s funny how the number plates stick in your head from being a kid, RSH88T for the Cortina I think it was. 

[Datsuncog]

GNF 40T on the No.39 Silver Shadow, if you haven't already got it!

(Bloody useless phone camera)

[155V6]

Something arrived yesterday which I've been after for a while,a purple Corgi Capri

Ok,it's not exactly mint,& it's a Junior rather than a Rocket,but I'm still pleased to have it.I spotted it at the back of a lot of Juniors & got it at the top of my budget.

It does mean that I've got a load more cars which I don't need,so these will be added to my diecast sales thread

[Spottedlaurel]

I had a Cogbox arrival earlier this week:

Ooh, the anticipation.

Some pages from CCW and a 2022 copy of the Plymouth Herald, they'll be handy for lighting the woodburner.

Carefully wrapped, as ever.

Yay! The Shinsei Fuso truck is a lovely thing, pretty weighty and nicely detailed. 1/64 scale, so it'll sit nicely alongside Tomicas etc. Random Majorette for the random Majorette collection (which will hopefully be bolstered when visiting France soon).

Great to have the Dyane (or Diane as it says on the base) so I can do this:

Box containing a CX was acquired from @eddyramrod a year or two ago. Great that @Datsuncog then found the little kit that should be inside it on a market tat stall.

Hang on though, it was originally 40p, and I paid 50p.

Cost of living crisis gone mad.

The Dyane lends itself well to the crude way these kits/toys are put together, more so than the likes of the Renault 14, CX etc also in the range. Opening front doors, bonnet and tailgate are rather bold. Grille and bumper moulding is missing but I think there's scope to paint and detail this little thing so it would make an effective display piece in the cabinet, a nice reminder of French trips.

Sadly that might mean I'd lose the cute duckling sticker on the bonnet, so it's not a project to be started lightly.

[Datsuncog]

Glad it all showed up safely for you! The Shinsei Fuso really is a nice bit of kit, and it makes me needlessly pleased to reunite an empty box with a boxless model... enjoy!