Shite in Miniature II

[Datsuncog]

Just going through Saturday's pics again and realised I left this one out from the Tatcave exploration.

Not exactly cheap, but definitely glorious.

Bit dusty, mind.

But the opening bits are pretty good.

1/25 scale bigness.

What a cracker.

[Split_Pin]

I remember a horrible ex that  I had, almost 20 years ago now thankfully. 

Although she tolerated my diecast habit (she was deeply unpleasant in most other ways though), one of her stupid friends was in our flat and looked disparagingly at my Corgi 'Routemasters in Exile' set and said "You collect buses as well?". After my ex and she went out to wherever it was they were going her she obviously said something along the lines of 'you need to get rid of him, he's a weirdo' or similar, which fed her overall desire to cheat on me and generally be an absolute calculating snake until she eventually left.

After that, rather than be ashamed of my hobby I dug my heels in further and once I'd moved back in with my parents and had lots of free income, I must have bought at least five diecast a month for the next year and I absolutely didn’t regret it one bit.

My now wife knew right from the start what my hobbies were as when we met I already had my own house which was heavily populated in every room with cars, trucks and buses.  When she moved in I did consolidate them to one room and a shelf in the hall so that she could add in her possessions which was fine but thankfully all she does is chuckle when I get another parcel in the post or find an elusive HotWheels at the Supermarket.

Everyone else seems to be into either sport, cooking or travel but they can all get fucked.  I love my hobby and I love this wee corner of the Internet where we can freely discuss an unusual Superfast variation, a hard to find Darda or how we all dislike Lledo Days Gone.

It's the true meaning of being in the same page.

[flat4alfa]

7 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

What a cracker.

Roberta agrees so much she bought an outfit to match

She also has her matching Green Gazelles ready for Tat Friday 

[flat4alfa]

6 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

But this morning, I complained about being too busy to repair a front window, so she had words.

[MiniMinorMk3]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Having a scuttle around the charity shops in Hall Green near my dad's. Spotted this, in a display case so not going to be pennies, maybe a tenner?

FORTY NINE NINETY NINE

That is just an Altaya magazine part work model. Would have retailed for about £10-£15 originally. £50 is taking the Michael.

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

Here’s the Mini’s to make up for the last load of drivel!

I have a yellow No.7

18 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Just going through Saturday's pics again and realised I left this one out from the Tatcave exploration.

 

Not exactly cheap, but definitely glorious.

 

What a cracker.

That was well worth the asking, very nice.

[danthecapriman]

22 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

That is just an Altaya magazine part work model. Would have retailed for about £10-£15 originally. £50 is taking the Michael.

I have a yellow No.7

That was well worth the asking, very nice.

Did they have a number that the model was actually meant to be? Or did they just slap whatever number sticker they had to hand at the time on? So far I’ve seen the primrose and blue Mini with numbers 1, 3 and 7 on them. I think my blue one has number 1 stickers on.

That green Mini Magnifique in my pic is, eventually, going to be repainted a different colour (inspired by @eddyramrod purple velvet one!) once I’m in a position to strip it down and paint it of course. Needs a few repairs to the bumpers and the doors and boot lid are very loose so I’ll have a look at tightening them up a bit if I can too.

[bunglebus]

Not a lot else of interest around the dwindling number of charity shops here - there used to be something daft like 18 along one street, now it's half that with some noticeably empty units scattered about

Corgi Cossie for a score

Comedy proportioned Triumph 2000

Fisher Price, and over priced

[flat4alfa]

16 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

That green Mini Magnifique in my pic is, eventually, going to be repainted a different colour (inspired by @eddyramrod purple velvet one!)

Had to go and find that out

Or you could go with the box colour that was never released

Which would be a better match for the sunroof cover stripes?  Maybe.

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

I remember a horrible ex that  I had, almost 20 years ago now thankfully. 

Although she tolerated my diecast habit (she was deeply unpleasant in most other ways though), one of her stupid friends was in our flat and looked disparagingly at my Corgi 'Routemasters in Exile' set and said "You collect buses as well?". After my ex and she went out to wherever it was they were going her she obviously said something along the lines of 'you need to get rid of him, he's a weirdo' or similar, which fed her overall desire to cheat on me and generally be an absolute calculating snake until she eventually left.

After that, rather than be ashamed of my hobby I dug my heels in further and once I'd moved back in with my parents and had lots of free income, I must have bought at least five diecast a month for the next year and I absolutely didn’t regret it one bit.

My now wife knew right from the start what my hobbies were as when we met I already had my own house which was heavily populated in every room with cars, trucks and buses.  When she moved in I did consolidate them to one room and a shelf in the hall so that she could add in her possessions which was fine but thankfully all she does is chuckle when I get another parcel in the post or find an elusive HotWheels at the Supermarket.

Everyone else seems to be into either sport, cooking or travel but they can all get fucked.  I love my hobby and I love this wee corner of the Internet where we can freely discuss an unusual Superfast variation, a hard to find Darda or how we all dislike Lledo Days Gone.

It's the true meaning of being in the same page.

I always had my smaller diecast hidden under the divan bed I had from being about 3, so it was hidden from view anyway. Not purposely just by coincidence. Anyway I can remember taking advantage of my parents being away and having some bird from down the pub back for the leg over. Little did she know that perhaps a hundred or so Superfast lay inches from her arse! 

[flat4alfa]

2 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

1/25 scale bigness.

What a cracker.

This is the 1:43 Solido ALFA Carabo Bertone

This is boxed and like new

I did put it on 'bay to raise some funds but it sat for months at £14 or so

So I kept it

Still has plinth screw attached, but it is on display on shelf now so box/plinth tucked way somewhere

The Matchbox, Hot Wheels and Corgi Rocket came along for the ride, if only to annoyingly remind us that that 'caribo' is named after ground beetles the Carabidae

[Datsuncog]

50 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Little did she know that perhaps a hundred or so Superfast lay inches from her arse! 

Maybe you should have mentioned it - could have turned a good night into a great night!

[155V6]

43 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Maybe you should have mentioned it - could have turned a good night into a great night!

I showed this to Miss_155.Her reply,"That's the sort of thing you'd do" 😂

[RoadworkUK]

8 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Just thinking about what happens to... stuff. The things left behind. The accumulations of a life. The personal meanings, the connections. What becomes of it all when those threads are cut? Just... fragments of someone else's joy, lying like glass splinters in the bottom of a crate, no longer whole. The data lost. File not found. Artefacts whose meanings can now only be guessed at

This is the main reason I kind of hope I have kids. I'm hoping to spawn somebody who might take at least a dim interest in inheriting my old shit, lest it be otherwise condemned to a skip. No charity shop will want to take several hundredweight of car brochures.

[RoadworkUK]

5 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

I'm not the writer I thought I'd be. 

You're the writer a crapload of people would like to be...

[Jon]

I'm sure pseuds could argue endlessly that men's hunter/gatherer traits are now represented in the form of collectors, who are demographically strongly in the male camp, so it's perhaps expected - just not really accepted. I think it's the tangible element that's so off-putting to many. Mostly, collections grow and grow, whereas (barring the odd bit of supporter's gear) a sports bore is largely following a temporary concept with finite periods of play, which for an unsupportive partner, is much easier to deal with. Unless it's all-consuming and they never shut up about it, or the results sway their emotions too much.

I display a few bits of diecast on my book shelf in the living room but it's heavily curated, as it fits in with our general love of mid/late 20th century things - if @Datsuncog thinks he had a thing for Hornsea pottery, he ain't seen this small corner of NZ. But Mrs_Jon loves collecting it too and it's used every day, so it's socially acceptable to have it hanging about.

I've mixed emotions about nostalgia but emigration has helped a little - as does growing up in York, where ancient stuff will easily outlive me, so the everlasting familiarity means I don't need to live there. Revisiting my family home was fun to find all the old stuff of mine stored away but 40+ year old me saw little value in student excercise books and a load of other toss, so lots of stuff was merrily jettisoned. The stuff left (diecast, of course) took up waaay less space and was organised. Should I still want to keep it when my folks pass, it's feasible to send over. Don't think I'll miss the family home - the people inside made that and it's not like we're some amazingly tight family that live in each others' pockets, or anything.

As for my belongings, I'm not too sure of their future when I'm done with them but I think I'm OK with that. Or at least, it's not an impending sense of dread that makes me worry on their behalf. I'm very comfortable with not leaving a lasting legacy - there's so many people in the world, that I'm OK with being forgotten about. I reckon it's almost liberating. As was said above, do try and enjoy the time you have.

If you've made it through this wank-fest of words, then you deserve a bit of die cast for your troubles:

nice little easter egg for @AndyW201....

[bunglebus]

6 minutes ago, Jon said:

As for my belongings, I'm not too sure of their future when I'm done with them but I think I'm OK with that

Me too. If there's any value in them my kids can make a bit of money, but ultimately it's out of my control, I'll be out of the game 

[Datsuncog]

There was also a short, bizarre coda to Saturday's tat hunt.

Later that night we went over to MrsDC's family home, just to check on things due to holiday un-occupancy.

Found some Micro Machines playsets in one of the rooms. Formerly her brother's, now used by his kids when they're round.

I'm sure this is incomplete, but it's not in bad nick otherwise.

Super Auto World, for sure.

Much play, such value.

I'm fairly sure it was sets like this which gave me an unreasonable expectation of how much work was actually needed to restore a car...

Yeah, just wang it through the body shop then into the paint booth yeah? Bish bash bosh, thirty seconds, tops.

The big van set hasn't aged, it's still a nifty piece of toy design.

A whole city inside.

Well, kind of.

And some stray vehicles too!

Nice. 👍

We're still doing bathroom demolition at home, and I was aware that there was a pumped shower arrangement fitted to this house - so went up to the attic to take a quick look at how this had been installed.

While up there, moving stuff out of the way revealed a grubby plastic bag...

No surprise there - plenty of grubby plastic bags in any given attic.

But inside...

What the...?

Errr... Okay.

Unexpected.

Half a set of Majorette Crazy Roadsters - seemingly a similar effort to the Corgi Muppetmobiles, or the Matchbox Disney cars. But unencumbered by the demands of character licensing.

So, who do we have here then?

#456 'Elliot the Cat', steering a Morgan Plus Eight. 

That's a cool cat, alright.

#453 'Teddy Bear' rocking a Renault JP4 with the roll cage removed - cos clearly he likes to live dangerously.

Or maybe if he's just a polyester skin stuffed with kapok, he knows he's fine in even a serious smash.

#451 'Tom Dog', piloting an Excalibur, no less.

I didn't even know Majorette had modelled the seventies tastelessness of this mock-Jazz Age behemoth, beloved of Vegas playboys and South American despots in equal measure.

Well, wow.

And no-one has the foggiest notion where these came from, or why they're up there.

The Majorette Wiki reckons the Series 450 was produced between 1993 and 1997, which is a bit later than I'd have thought.

https://majorette-model-cars.fandom.com/wiki/Crazy_Roadsters:_Serie_450

So we're missing Croco Bill, Big Bebert, and Bip the Turtle, each of whom are driving differently coloured versions of the same three castings.

It's possible these were long-ago Christmas gifts that somehow rolled away into a corner before they could be stuffed into a stocking, but they've clearly been up there a long time. Since MrsDC's folks bought the house new in the eighties, they can't have come from any previous occupants.

Very mysterious.

Since no-one knew they were even there, I thought perhaps I might re-home them somewhere more appreciative.

Gratis, of course.

Any takers?

It's the least I can do, after bending your collective ear all afternoon...

**EDIT: TAKEN!!**

[egg]

26 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Me too. If there's any value in them my kids can make a bit of money, but ultimately it's out of my control, I'll be out of the game 

My daughter is either utterly disinterested or a wee bit hostile to most of my 2nd half of the 20th century habits, Gen Z innit, so I'm already trying to slim stuff down (diecast not the biggest issue - also books, CDs and, you know stuff). 

Also, my mother and mother in law are hoarder types, and one day that job will come - and it fills me with dread - I'm hoping not to repeat that problem for my only child (whereas me and Mrs Egg at least have siblings to share the tip-runs, I mean charity shop runs, I mean getting in touch with Lovejoy...)

[RoadworkUK]

Ah, man. Super Van City!

Brings back extraordinarily vivid memories of my primary school. My mum was head of infants, and I often found myself assigned as chaperone when a new kid arrived in my school year. Generally they'd stand my company for about half an hour before – rightfully – heading off in the direction of the sporty/noisy lads. But when James arrived, we immediately hit it off.

He and his sister, Johanna (I think two years below) had moved into one of the posh new houses at the bottom of Elm Tree Avenue, and within a week of his arrival, I was invited to his for tea. His mum collected him, his sister and I from school... in a brand new Vauxhall Astra GTE. With the digital dashboard, and Wet Wet Wet on the stereo. 

We arrived at his house; his kitchen had an island. The house was arranged around a central hall with a staircase set perfectly symetrically, with a galleried landing on either side. And in his room there was virtually every species of Micro Machine I had ever laid eyes on, and several more I'd never encountered. 

Alas, before very long at all, for whatever reason, he moved schools once again. I don't think I've seen him since I was ten. James Chatterton, if you're out there, I hope all's well in your world. 

[bunglebus]

21 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

So we're missing Bip the Turtle,

[Datsuncog]

Awesome!

Do you want his three mates, so they can all have a party?

[FakeConcern]

Blimey we’ve come over all philosophical and introspective now so I’ll add my distorted perspective for what it’s worth.

First if you have a life partner you love and who loves you are winning, if they are happy (ok tolerate) any obsession you may have then that is something to be grateful for.

Mrs Concern and I have never really been mainstream on anything, like Jon most of our home is filled with mid century modern furniture and artefacts. Our house is resolutely old fashioned and stuck in the past, some would say a rut. If you can manage to not give a shit what other people think it really helps, but it’s not easy to do.

I’m jealous of many on this thread for admitting to themselves that they even wanted to collect toy cars and doing so for ages.  I’ve always liked them, but couldn’t until recently get my head around what to do with them if I did have them. I always had most of my childhood ones in the loft, but whenever I saw some Corgi or Dinky I’d love at a boot fair or in a junk shop and Mrs Concern would say “why don’t you get it?” I could never imagine what I’d do with it so I always turned it down. Now I really enjoy collecting the toys I had but lost and the ones I wanted but never had and also discovering new ones.

When my dad died 20 years ago I felt my life counting down and partly as a result of that we moved out of London to a retirement seaside town and have enjoyed it ever since despite our friends and colleagues funny looks. Our house is now worth about half what the one we moved from in London is now, but we think it was worth it for the quality of life and enjoyment we got from living here. What I’m trying to say is success is more about being happy and knowing you are than material or workplace success.  It did help that I was never ambitious and just kind of ambled through life. It all turned out ok in the end though.

As I said at the start it’s my perspective which is now for me the happy position of being retired and having no financial worries which really does free you up a lot, but also makes you conscious of being closer to death so why not.

The thing is you’re a long time dead so just do what you want and fuck anyone who doesn’t get it.

I’ll probably read this later on when completely sober and think what the fuck was I on about!

 

 

[bunglebus]

13 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Awesome!

Do you want his three mates, so they can all have a party?

Ah

[Split_Pin]

11 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

The thing is you’re a long time dead so just do what you want and fuck anyone who doesn’t get it.

This, a million times over. 

[eddyramrod]

27 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

you’re a long time dead so just do what you want and fuck anyone who doesn’t get it.

It's taken me a long long time to realise that, and even now I'm only beginning to come to terms with it.

I'm a lifelong collector, and a recyclist before it was fashionable.  I was brought up to throw nothing away, make do and mend, DIY and not just read but read for pleasure.  MrsR was brought up in as opposite a manner as you can possibly imagine, and so completely fails to understand my joy that I glean from all these old toys.  We are both retired and are living on what used to be called "fixed incomes" so she panics over owing the credit card company less than 10% of our approved limit.  She also goes into maximum meltdown every time she discovers I've bought another model (let alone a boxful...) and again when it arrives, the two events usually being several days apart.

I have no blood-children.  The two we have are from her first marriage and I've only ever known them as adults, or near enough (17 and 21 when we met).  Emma won't give a stuff about my collection; neither will her two sons.  Paul is unlikely to attach any value to them and since his children are girls, I'm not expecting much interest there either.  MrsR constantly threatens to chuck out random elements of the collection, and consistently asserts that everything is going in a skip if I go first.  I counter with (and need to set this in motion really) a promise to leave the entire collection to the Lakeland Motor Museum.  What they'll do with them is anybody's guess, but at least I will have done my bit.  It's quite likely they will inherit a lot of partly- or fully-dismantled items in various stages of restoration; certainly someone will have a headache matching all the empty boxes and bubbles to the various naked models on display.

Oh look, as I was saying about fully-dismantled...?

[bunglebus]

O M eff G do my eyes deceive me?

No they do not

BuM stock value is about to go up

[sierraman]

Be still my beating heart.

[Bren]

I can recall the excitement of being given money for a toy car when I was little.

Standing. Looking. Choosing.

I remember a late aunt taking me to the local newsagent for one.

For years I was reminded of the day I climbed in the window of the newsagents to pick to a toy car.

It was the matchbox AMX Javelin ( it should have been AMC).

For me collecting brings back memories. Happy memories.

Back in the 70's my parents had things much harder than I do - money was very tight, so money for a car or matchbox kit was very special.

For birthdays the boat was pushed out a bit more - a dinky toy or a bigger kit.

Much of my wider family have gone now. But I like to have stuff that reminds me of them and times which, compared to what today's kids have, were much happier.

[flat4alfa]

49 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

O M eff G do my eyes deceive me?

[Zie]

52 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

O M eff G do my eyes deceive me?

No they do not

BuM stock value is about to go up

A Twizy! We had One as a run around pool car at work for a while.