Shite in Miniature II

[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

[RoadworkUK]

How utterly delightful. It's like the prototype for the Micro Machines' super van city.

[sierraman]

I have seen them, I think they’re primarily a US release. I would expect they go for big money with the box intact. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

About twenty-seventy pages ago there was a couple of postings about the steerable Corgi Cooper Maserati. Here's the sister (brother) Lotus Climax.

I was never a fan of the fictitious race livery of the two models.

This one has silver wheels, sometimes they have a slight gold tint.

Driver getting his lean on.

This one originally cost 49p.

 

[bunglebus]

Entertainer delivery day. Yet another flippin' H case

Tesco have a new batch of 5 packs, although at £11 they're rather more than the £7 odd places like Home Bargains charge - they often put a 2 for X deal on though

[flat4alfa]

4 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Cor look at that, must be a US release as the San Andreas fault line runs right through the High Street!

[Zie]

Home Bargains paid off for me again, no place else had anything new. 

This really is a nice casting. 

The hunt for a Gray Sierra continues. 

[danthecapriman]

Another box full of miniature treasures arrived today.

Found this inside.

Another one of those Challengers that skipped the chrome plating! Needs a clean but it’s in good condition otherwise.
@junkyarddog is this the same as the one you found?

[bunglebus]

Aldi in Ireland have apparently got new Hot Wheels cases with the VW ID Buzz, orange Porsche Carrera and the red Alfa with the new wheel design @Datsuncog

[Datsuncog]

10 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Aldi in Ireland have apparently got new Hot Wheels cases with the VW ID Buzz, orange Porsche Carrera and the red Alfa with the new wheel design @Datsuncog

Annoyingly, Aldi don't have any stores in Northern Ireland... they operate in GB and in the Republic of Ireland, but not NI!

Still, could be a reason to plan a trip down to Dublin...

[Peter C]

Burago 1:18 Ferraris do nothing for me, I like to collect models of boring everyday motors.

I’ll start by sharing these:

Does it get more boring than a Mitsubishi Charisma?

How about a boggo spec  Mk 5 Escort?

Any love for a Nissan Micra?

I have many more but show me yours first.

[RoadworkUK]

If that Charisma was 1:18 scale, I'd absolutely love it. 

Or the Micra tbh.

[danthecapriman]

I do like that Escort. Probably one of the most mundane unpleasant cars ever made… but the model looks great!

[Peter C]

7 minutes ago, RoadworkUK said:

If that Charisma was 1:18 scale, I'd absolutely love it. 

 

It’s 1:43 scale, or slightly bigger.

[matt79]

Those Schabak Escort models always look over wheeled & under pillared to me.

 

[Peter C]

12 minutes ago, matt79 said:

Those Schabak Escort models always look over wheeled & under pillared to me.

 

Agreed.

[Peter C]

A few more to help you maintain an erection.

Mk5 Astra

Vauxhall Adam

 

Hyundai Tucson 

 

Vauxhall Chevette

 

Mk3 Escort and an early Vauxhall Nova

 

An old Passat

 

Peugeot 1007

 

Renault Kangoo

 

Peugeot 107

 

And a couple of Citroens

[bunglebus]

14 minutes ago, Peter C said:

Vauxhall Chevette

Now that's nice

[bunglebus]

3 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Annoyingly, Aldi don't have any stores in Northern Ireland... they operate in GB and in the Republic of Ireland, but not NI!

Still, could be a reason to plan a trip down to Dublin...

Well the same case is showing up at Halfords too...

[junkyarddog]

4 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Another box full of miniature treasures arrived today.

Found this inside.

Another one of those Challengers that skipped the chrome plating! Needs a clean but it’s in good condition otherwise.
@junkyarddog is this the same as the one you found?

Certainly looks like it.

[Tenmil Socket]

52 minutes ago, Peter C said:

A few more to help you maintain an erection.

Mk5 Astra

Vauxhall Adam

 

Hyundai Tucson 

 

Vauxhall Chevette

 

Mk3 Escort and an early Vauxhall Nova

 

An old Passat

 

Peugeot 1007

 

Renault Kangoo

 

Peugeot 107

 

And a couple of Citroens

Who makes that BX?

[AndyW201]

1 hour ago, Peter C said:

A few more to help you maintain an erection.

Mk5 Astra

Vauxhall Adam

 

Hyundai Tucson 

 

Vauxhall Chevette

 

Mk3 Escort and an early Vauxhall Nova

 

An old Passat

 

Peugeot 1007

 

Renault Kangoo

 

Peugeot 107

 

And a couple of Citroens

A lovely selection of mundane, everyday kit. Our tastes are pretty similar. And you're reminding me I must get my arse in gear and get on Jumajo and get one of those Chevettes ordered!

I got one of those Minichamps dealer Astra mk5s as well, came in a presentation box with a load of promotional bumph for the CDTi engine.

For a normal, slightly dull 5 door hatch, it's a superb model, beautifully done. During lockdown (although I was only off work for three weeks then got brought back in.) I went a bit mad on eBay buying a load of Vauxhall/Opel dealer models dirt cheap....

[Peter C]

1 hour ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Who makes that BX?

Norev.

It’s very pretty.

[flat4alfa]

Wait.. a 1:64 Citroën BX?  Didn’t know of that one until now.  Wheels look familiar.

Back here is a Guisval in 1:33 (that's what it says), repainted to match the one of my Dad's BXs from my childhood.

Distant memory tells me it was a 1.6 TRS

Not sure about the exhaust system on this one though?!  Obélix is also confused.

Also here is a Norev Jet-Car in 1:43. 

For the number plate list! - it wears 4428 KF 69 front and rear.  Département 69 is Rhône, which is here:

Picked this as its in the red of his 1.4, but not sure of trim level.  Both did have the Mk1 nuthouse dashboard.  Both cars were terribly unreliable and fell to bits, I do remember that too.

Also have an example of the less common 1:43 MC-Toy from Honk Kong.  Unusual European car for them to cover, I think?

  Old Dad has this on his shelf at home so can't get to it right now, but it's this one.  Think it was a fiver on eBay, probably a bit much but never seen another and the decal seemed to appeal.