Shite in Miniature II

[flat4alfa]

At least you get some in Asda, Halfords, Aldi and Home Bargains in your neck of the woods!

[AndyW201]

Big thanks to @bunglebus for sending me this,

One that has been out for decades but has eluded me until now. I was surprised to see 1989 on the base, so this must have come out more or less when the MK3 Cavalier came out. I got the dealer packaged Gama 1/43 Cav as soon as it appeared at our local dealer, Blue Bell garage, but was totally unaware at the time that there was a Matchbox version. To be honest though, by that time I was starting to move away from toys in favour of collectors models. Thank God I grew out of that habit eh?

Anyway...

For a toy, it's a very good rendering of the MK3, the shape is captured very well. Clever Matchbox copied what they did with the earlier Astra GTE and made the black boot panel part of the base casting, albeit in plastic this time around. Like the Astra, it's nice to have it in RHD too.

Also in the bunglebox was this. I've finally given up any hope of finding it in the wild. I can't understand how the shops round here have been stocking nothing but repeats of old cases for six months, but this has been completely impossible to find. But it's nice to have one at last.

I think I do prefer this in the red. Just like the earlier white version, and the same reservations about the wheels aside, the detailing is a delight, I love the rear quarter RS logos and the UK number plater font,

[flat4alfa]

On 7/3/2023 at 12:06 PM, FakeConcern said:

Do you have a normal one to swap?

Afraid not.  Only have 1 RAC, 1 AA, 1 PLOD DOG VAN and no others.

But it's glaring at you now

Yes you need to dispose of it!

[sierraman]

Majorette did a BX but it was the ill fated 4TC. 

[egg]

15 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

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

Yes, Norev are from that Department originally (Lyon) so many carry the 69 plate.

[MiniMinorMk3]

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

You tease, you tease

Had to go and look them up.  Surprisingly, Smyths have them listed on website, £8.99 each, which means £44.95 for the set

Spettacolare might sound like swearing, but it literally is Spectacular spending £45 on five toy cars

£9 each, is that for real? 

[Datsuncog]

Yup, that's the price the Premiums are generally pegged at over at Smyths.

The Entertainer charge the same, though sometimes have reductions.

Tesco used to sell Premiums at £7, but that was two years ago - and haven't seen them since.

[MiniMinorMk3]

So it costs £7 to put a metal base on a toy car. I bet the accountants at Mattel get all in a lather when some new Premiums go on the market. Also It's not like the production is limited or numbered, it's just a marketing exercise to get collectors buying stuff at a Premium price.

I'll stick to my limited production 1/43rds that cost any where between £30 and £70 each thanks.

[sierraman]

They’re mainly for the Americans I reckon. 

[Datsuncog]

They're a lot cheaper for the Americans, too.

[flat4alfa]

Premiums give the buyer metal bases, rubber tyres, better paint, better detailing, better detailed graphics and a sense of heightened personal wealth.

We've discussed before, but it's quite likely the gap is wide between Premiums and Mainlines mainly to suppress the mainline price point

 

MAINLINE BUYER

PREMIUM BUYER

COLLECTOR GRADE BUYER

A.S. BUYER

[eddyramrod]

I think I'll stick to my 1/43 resto projects.  They come in at anything from free to a fiver and being somewhat bigger than Hot Wheels etc, I have a chance of seeing what I'm doing.  That said, I do have a handful of smaller projects on the go but nowhere near the number I used to.

[flat4alfa]

I also think I'll stick to my 1/43 resto projects.  They have more weight to them for hurling at next door's cat.

[Volksy]

I might* pick up one of those 155 Touring cars though....

[Split_Pin]

Now for something that will make you exclaim "Christ, that is shite"

It is scaled at about 1/14 and is made from hard plastic. There are no innards other than some grey plastic axle mounts which collapsed years ago and were glued in place by me.

I bought this at my local school jumble sale when I was in Primary 5 for 15p. That would have been in 1988 or 1989. I recall these used to be fairly common and would see them given away as prizes at fairground stalls and such like. They came in a range of colours and decorations, this one used to be a Fire Dept car before I resprayed it 15 years ago when I last dug it out when I joined here.

The reason I'm posting it is because I can find only one other example pictured online and nothing about the toy or the manufacturer.  As you can see the baseplate is from something completely different but the other online pictures confirm this appeared to be used on all these 131 toys. I actually thought early 131s were rear engined as a kid because of this!

Does anyone know of 'William's' as a toy manufacturer? I presume they were long-lost under the break-up of Yugoslavia and the ensuing war.

[bunglebus]

Something about that base says it was meant to house a friction motor.

Is it Skoda underneath? 

[Split_Pin]

31 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Something about that base says it was meant to house a friction motor.

Is it Skoda underneath? 

I've tried Googling from the Skoda lens but haven't turned up anything thus far.

[FakeConcern]

6 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Afraid not.  Only have 1 RAC, 1 AA, 1 PLOD DOG VAN and no others.

But it's glaring at you now

Yes you need to dispose of it!

I suppose the RAC/AA vans are the newer less toy like more realistic type?

If the plod dog van has the doors and lights even though I'll need to fill in the aerial hole and file out the door window bars then a swap for that would be fine by me.

[sierraman]

Did anyone have one of those big plastic red buses as a kid? Approx 1/36 ish scale? Said ‘Buy British’ or some such shit on the side?

[bunglebus]

12 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Did anyone have one of those big plastic red buses as a kid? Approx 1/36 ish scale? Said ‘Buy British’ or some such shit on the side?

I've got the remains of one I got off @danthecaprimanI think. I see one regularly at the toy fair too

[danthecapriman]

26 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I've got the remains of one I got off @danthecaprimanI think. I see one regularly at the toy fair too

Was that the one someone had roof chopped to make a tourist bus?

[Dick Cheeseburger]

6 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

A.S. BUYER

EFA

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

Was that the one someone had roof chopped to make a tourist bus?

I’ve got about five of the blighters and lopped one roof off to make a three storey Harry Potter bus idea.  Stalled project stuck in a loft box somewhere

[Datsuncog]

[Split_Pin]

I've been on holiday for the last 2 weeks and I completely forgot that it's Friday!

I'm planning a trip to Belfast in October although with my wife and son in tow I don't think a jive down to St George's at 8am would be thought of highly 😅

[eddyramrod]

Leave them in bed and fly solo?

[Datsuncog]

So then - another Friday!

Heavy rain and high winds from last night had dissipated a little, and the run in was fairly quiet as a lot of folk seem to be scooting off on holiday this week.

On arrival, a little later than I might have liked at about 7.45am, the first thing to strike me was the return of The Nemesis to the market.

While it was great to see him, I couldn't help but glance at the bulging bag he was gripping... and count the gaps in the table... what had he picked up?

And I'd expected to see the rest of the repainted stuff from last week, but this is all-new.

Not all that cheap, sadly.

The big Corgi Majors Bedford TK Snorkel was complete and working, but had fairly tired paintwork. Not quite a snip at £20.

1970s or early 80s 1/35 FX4 Taxi - with the sliding interior privacy panel - was also showing plenty of evidence of decades in the toybox.

Meanwhile, I could have been tempted by this fairly clean Thames Airborne camper in green at £10, had I not already had a purply-pink one plus the CMC re-release.

A bit of rearranging showed that this was what we were looking at: an all-Corgi lineup today.

Mmm. Bit shonky, though.

Impala cop car had the back screen smashed out of it, while the Thames Walls van was the earlier non-chime release but missing a fair few bits of bumper.

Early era Merc 250SL in white with the tinplate base was tired, as were the Whizzwheels Mustang Organ Grinder and Alfa P33.

I've been looking for a decent MkX Jaguar for a while - but this wasn't it. They're always just a bit too worn. Whizzwheels Porsche missing its plastic engine cover.

Adams Probe was probably one of the nicest on offer today.

Mild custom Austin FX4 taxi (wearing of-the-era slide transfer whitewalls, number plates and both AA and RAC grille badges) had been touched-up; early release Land Rover LWB had broken bumpers and was missing its bonnet-mounted spare wheel, and seems to have originated from the RAF Bloodhound Missile gift set.

Later Landie wrecker was reasonable enough, with a broken string but the hook still present, though the fantasy ambulance with cracked glazing didn't appear a great prospect for the money...

[Datsuncog]

Some of last week's stuff was still here... but only the moderns.

The good news was that there's been a PRICE DROP down to £5 for all these.

However, there wasn't all much to tickle me - as I already have/ had most of these Corgis etc.

Atlas peelermobiles.

There was more automobilia up top, but leaning towards the vintage and classic end of things rather than the pure filth of Ital handbooks and Allegro manuals.

This seemed to be a US handbook from the 30s or 40s.

1953 publication date on the Odhams book.

Motor Yearbook mainly chronicling 1951 in motorsport, but had some info on latest release American Fords and DKWs too.

While a loose copy of the Belfast News Letter from June 1958 indicated that you could have your Austin serviced right beside the City Hall by Harry Ferguson, of Ferguson tractor fame.

(Probably not him personally doing the servicing, mind)

[eddyramrod]

Thanks Tim!

I know I've said before that I'd be up for any Atlas or Vanguards copcars at a fiver each, and the Minor convertible too (I have my reasons) but not at this time, sorry.  I've just spent quite enough on ebay to get me both dressing-down and cold-shoulder from MrsR!

[Datsuncog]

Around this time Market Blokey mentioned rather apologetically that he had some loose Spot Ons which he'd meant to bring in today, but couldn't put his hand to them. They were around, somewhere.

Nemesis then allowed me a tantalising glimpse of just one of his haul today - a clean looking Corgi VW Beetle driving school car, wearing the less-common (in Belfast anyway) Fahrschule decals.

I can only agonise about what else I missed... but hey, it's alright.

With things being as they are, I can do without major temptation these days.

A wander around the other stalls didn't reveal much - though an adjacent Tat Stall did have some Dinky diecast, no doubt at equally ruinous expense:

They also had some Brooke Bond collector card albums though, at a slightly more reasonable £1.

The Charity Stall had no diecast treats, though plenty of junk:

Haven't seen skinny Sellotape for years.

Something for the vinyl fiends too.

50p on this old-skool banger - or, possibly, playschool banger.

Never mind drum 'n' bass, drum 'n' bear's where it's at these days.

He also had a lot of tins of value peas, at three-fir-a-poun.

Still in-date, too.

Plus a load of tins of mints.

They were five for a pound.

But best-before 2018.

Hmmm.

The Irish Gifts stall wasn't really crackling either today - no more of the German Matchbox collection, although a lone Moving Parts Nissan Xterra in blue had shown up amidst the Hot Wheels:

Not a lot new down at the model end of things, though the white Cararama MK1 Escort might be a recent arrival - £10 asked.

A final jaunt over to Alan's Emporium didn't quite deliver the goods...

Meh.

There was however a heritage casting available in the form of this Corgi Routemaster - it might be advertising the London 2012 Olympics, but the casting is pure 1970s.

Not all that cheap, mind, given the state of it...

So! I guess that's us for this week, kids - not a bonanza, though not quite a washout either.

Just kinda middlin'.

Steady as she goes.