Shite in Miniature II

[flat4alfa]

You fitted that wing wrong

[bunglebus]

Having a mooch around Braintree. Not much to report but Quadrant, B&M, Tesco and Sainsbury's all had fairly full pegs. Only Sainsbury's had the case with the grey Cossie and red Celica though.

You still after an Ami @Datsuncog?

[Datsuncog]

3 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

You still after an Ami @Datsuncog?

I am!

And I can't for the life of me understand why I haven't seen one yet, given that I've trawled through manys a display of latest-release Matchbox, but... nada.

If you're there... I'd very much appreciate you picking me one up!

 

Interestingly*, I've not seen any of the Supra case Hot Wheels locally yet.

Was in Sainsburys over lunchtime and they've no Mattel diecast at all on the shelves anymore.

[flat4alfa]

3 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

The rear end never seems to sit right

That's a shame, the one here is a pretty good fit.  Looking at it though, it should be straightforward so shave a millimetre off the hinge pegs and get it to sit better.

Quote

Big and Little wheels always looks odd.

I can see what they tried to do.  Still nice enough though, this example was about a fiver.  With the screwed base, easy to change for some deep-dish set!

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Big pipe out back

Which is not broken!

[danthecapriman]

My Viva is slightly* more worn.

Nice little model non the less though. I was looking for a good one for a while but they seem to loose their bonnet very easily given how many are around missing them.

[bunglebus]

33 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

If you're there... I'd very much appreciate you picking me one up!

I did. Think I've seen six today alone 

[flat4alfa]

27 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I did. Think I've seen six today alone 

I only ever saw the one.  Bought it, realised later I didn't like it after all, popped it on eBay and it went for £4.50...

Well done Mattel.  You created this problem.

[bunglebus]

The reason I was in Braintree was to collect something off FB sales

[egg]

52 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I did. Think I've seen six today alone 

oh, didn't happen to get two? 🙏

[bunglebus]

My CMC Police Beetle arrived while I was out

So I grabbed the original out of the cabinet for comparison 

There are a few detail differences such as the POLIZEI font, rear light paint blobs (original looks nicer) and the shape of the mudflaps.

This version always seems to be LHD (which makes sense), unlike the rally one which came in RHD too. I quite often find the steering wheel becomes detached and rattles around inside on this issue too for some reason

[bunglebus]

6 minutes ago, egg said:

oh, didn't happen to get two? 🙏

No but I can keep an eye out - seem them in three different Tescos today

[egg]

24 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

No but I can keep an eye out - seem them in three different Tescos today

Thanks, I've got two Tesco Metros nearby, but don't suppose they're stocked in them? The nearest Extra is only a 10 mile round trip, but can't really justify the super unleaded just for that 😆

[TheOtherStu]

5 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

I've had one of those Vivas in recent years.

Nice bright blue metallic with a red interior

Bit of crude engine detail

Black rivetted base.

Loads of info on the box, including the inner flaps.

Well, it looks like it's worth a quid or two!

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, egg said:

Thanks, I've got two Tesco Metros nearby, but don't suppose they're stocked in them? The nearest Extra is only a 10 mile round trip, but can't really justify the super unleaded just for that 😆

Metros sometimes have them, Expresses don't seem to in my experience 

[bunglebus]

Now and again when I'm in the loft putting new finds away, I notice something. Today's exciting* discoveries are two different Matchbox Speed Kings Miura rear window treatments - possibly one was swapped by a former keeper? Not sure which is correct

The second thrilling* find is black/chrome variant roll hoops on the Matchbox Dodge Dakota ST

[flat4alfa]

2 hours ago, bunglebus said:

There are a few detail differences

 

Looks very good effort, especially the extra detail of the horn grilles

Not only that, the new figures have LOADS of extra headroom, because they have shrunken heads, which is handy.

[flat4alfa]

52 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Today's exciting* discoveries are two different Matchbox Speed Kings Miura rear window treatments - possibly one was swapped by a former keeper? Not sure which is correct

Took a look but seems no, you have a common* fix for the commonly-missing louvred piece!

Don't know why I didn't think of it, it's a much better idea to replace with clear sheet, so the engine can be seen.  Early warning for when it catches fire too, because those competition carbs were known do that sort of thing

[flat4alfa]

On 5/13/2023 at 8:53 PM, bunglebus said:

I'll have to start making a Flowers list

Ah yes...  about that

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404 Page Not Found

Lapsed, retired or maybe just only the (more expensive) eBay seller shop?

[sierraman]

Revell 850i Respray completed. Eventually!! It’s the one in white Quentin Wilson would have advised you not to buy. 

[bunglebus]

If you fancy going down a rabbit hole of Superfast rarities, click here

 http://www.shabbir.com/matchbox/rare.html

[egg]

44 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

If you fancy going down a rabbit hole of Superfast rarities, click here

 http://www.shabbir.com/matchbox/rare.html

I love how many diecast websites were built geocities style sometime in the last century.  There's so few 'shitesites' clinging on that used to be on the front page of infoseek in 1996.

[egg]

Talking of which - this is what my 'personal website' looked like in 1997

 

[Datsuncog]

Had a quicky shuftie through the toy aisle at Tesco tonight. No new Matchbox or Hot Wheels to be seen; just same old, same old.

If I'd had to guess back in February or whenever we starting seeing this Matchbox case selection appearing, I'd have wagered it'd be the Ford Ranchero or AMC Eagle that'd be harder to find, not the Citroen Ami! Most perplexing.

Though as I was heading down towards where the toys are kept, there was a bloke ahead of me, pushing a trolley... Maybe early forties, short sleeve shirt, work trousers, lanyard with a pass on it.

I saw him do the quick half-glance behind as he drew level with the diecast dump bins, before commencing a quick riffle through both tubs.

I had the good grace to become very interested in some Harry Potter figures, until he finished his guddle and shuffled off round the corner.

I hope I don't look as guilty/ daft whenever I do the exact same thing - but I'm sure I must.

😐

One of us.

[flat4alfa]

23 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Maybe early forties, short sleeve shirt, work trousers, lanyard with a pass on it.

Wait… you can’t leave it there!  I’m on the edge of my sear wondering on the footwear.  Were they work shoes …or one of Adidas’ finest retro styles ?

[Datsuncog]

Nah, they were black work shoes - he must keep the vintage Adidas for the Saturday boot sales...

[TheOtherStu]

1 hour ago, egg said:

I love how many diecast websites were built geocities style sometime in the last century.  There's so few 'shitesites' clinging on that used to be on the front page of infoseek in 1996.

Dan’s gallery of the grotesque comes to mind. Along with a cd from pipex or compuserve (long before the AOL CDs popped through your letterbox)

[Jon]

In the last couple of weeks, I dug mildly deep in to my pocket to secure a very alluring but much unrequired buy, based on the most spurious of reasons:

 

 

A Siku Mercedes 406 - this model is Siku V292, should you be interested in such details.

Originally cast in 1969 and sold until 1974, I'd not seen one this early, on the skinny wheels (spurious reason 1).

 

I do however have this slightly later water rescue van (Model 2213 1976-79), which amazingly still has all the little plastic tat complete. Nerd me was interested in seeing the differences in earlier and later versions (spurious reason 2).

 

To aid with such a deed, I fortunately had this last iteration of the 406 (Model 1912, sold 1985-87 apparently but I'm sure it still features in my 1988 catalogue), which as you can see has had the Project Drive treatment and represents the last of the three iterations of this casting (spurious reason 3). Interestingly*, I bought the youngest first and the oldest last and on condition alone, it's also linear, as the Post van is boxed (complete with humorously oversized plastic parcels still on their sprues), the water rescue van is mint but loose and the ambulance was obviously cared for but mildly playworn and also unboxed.

 

Let's dive in and take a look at them side by side:

 

We can see immediately that the individual headlamps were lost by the end of the seventies. But early on, cost savings and the Hot Wheels effect of playability over realism is starting to show; gone are the six individual wheels, replaced by four F1-esque wide boots.  Notice that the detail of blue lights and clear glass become a much more lairy blue/blue combo - although I didn't check to see if this was a single piece, to aid parsimony. I'm not sure if the smoked glass of version 3 was a cost saving measure but it sure looks cheaper. That said, smoked glass was achingly on par for the mid 80's, so perhaps it was quite a hip design choice.

 

On editorial reflection, I should've 180'd these, to more amply demonstrate the loss of opening front doors on V3, despite all versions all retaining the opening side door - on the other side...

From a wheels choice, my firm favourite is V2 (lovely wheel/sidewall ratio), especially as it's coupled with very squishy suspension. V1 is more accurate but no suspension. V3 suspension is much less pliant but my discovery and voracious acquisition of Sikus as playthings in 1987 put this style firmly in my nostalgic crosshairs. Final wheels/suspension ranking verdict: V2, V3, V1.

 

From a diecast crow's eye, it's easy to see the loss of opening doors on V3 but if you look closely, you'll also see a simpler, more robust design of top hinge for the rears, too. V1 & V2 rear doors look the same to me but V1 has model number V292 cast into it, whereas V2 doesn't, presumably as it would irk some OCD bloke at Siku that the wrong model number remained. A bit like the very early 1:1 scale Sprinters having the make and model pressed into the rear doors and then swiftly replaced with decals instead, presumably so they could be used on VW LTs.

All roof nobbles remained throughout, although I don't know how much they modified the cherry picker version (which I don't (yet) have), to accept the arm; totally new casting, or just drill a big hole in the top?

 

I've added this image purely because I took the photo. Can't think of any technical notes here. Possibly you can see the wheel design of V1 a bit better, which isn't the prettiest. Actually, STOP PRESS: note that top 2 side ribs of V3 are missing, for a smoother surface for transfer application. Seems a little excessive, as I think it was only Post vans and a Coca Cola version that I've seen available in this casting. I guess Siku weren't to know how long Mercedes would soldier on with this model at the time of changes (answer: not a lot. The updated T2 soon replaced this casting but it's not a favourite of mine).

 

 

So what conclusions can I draw? For the aid of some form of 'completion', I'm glad I picked this early casting up, as I've never seen another. It also seems that I paid below market value, so that's a nice little bonus. It is no doubt quite a delicate casting, so no wonder that it became much more robust over the years. Post-Hot Wheels launch, it was inevitable that the realism would wane over youth appeal and playability. I still think the mid-70's to late 80's Siku era is my personal sweet spot, however.

 

I'll leave you with one personal theory; Siku V292 was the basis of the (obviously cribbed) PlayArt casting that @bunglebus picked up recently:

 

[Jon]

Curiosity got the best of me and I answered a couple of my own questions, via an Ebay ad:

 

1: the later wheels were used for a time with the earlier, front opening doors casting.

 

2: The front of the two central roof nobbles is the locator for the hole used to support the cherry picker. What I guess to be a casting of a vent remains.

 

3: The chassis for the cherry picker is a different casting, with a screw (?) used to secure it. You can see the post in the van in picture 1.

 

4: If I want to be a completist, I need to acquire a V2.5 cherry picker, with the earlier body and later wheels. Time and local availability will tell if I ever aspire to such heady dullness.

[bunglebus]

Upcoming Car Culture release

[bunglebus]

Never seen this before