Shite in Miniature II

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Should the 924 have a spoiler or something? 

[Datsuncog]

Daaaaaaamn.

I gotta get me to B&M stat.

[sierraman]

9 hours ago, 155V6 said:

I've got the Swap Body Road Runner,I picked it up last year in a lot from FB Marketplace.It was one of those things that I didn't know existed,like the Bedford CF Ambulance from a few years earlier

Flatbed without anything fitted

Open back fitted,this is metal

Side tipper fitted,this is metal too

Box body,this is plastic

It’s fabulous isn’t it. I don’t think they made them all that long tbh. Superkings of that era seem a bit hit and miss. Anyone remember the Mercedes hiab truck. 

[Split_Pin]

38 minutes ago, sierraman said:

It’s fabulous isn’t it. I don’t think they made them all that long tbh. Superkings of that era seem a bit hit and miss. Anyone remember the Mercedes hiab truck. 

Yes wasn't it a logging truck with a drawbar?

I had both early and late versions of the Mercedes. The early ones had 5 spoke wheels, an interior, tipping cab with engine details and a wind deflector on the roof. Post 1986 examples had a fixed cab, no deflector and the 2 steering beacons on the roof. I can't remember if it had an interior. 

My early Mercedes was an 'Anitran' livestock transporter which came with some doomed cows. I still have it although the strainer has somewhat fallen to bits. The later one was a boat transporter, I sold that on about ten years ago now as part of a large diecast purge.

[sierraman]

2 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Yes wasn't it a logging truck with a drawbar?

I had both early and late versions of the Mercedes. The early ones had 5 spoke wheels, an interior, tipping cab with engine details and a wind deflector on the roof. Post 1986 examples had a fixed cab, no deflector and the 2 steering beacons on the roof. I can't remember if it had an interior. 

My early Mercedes was an 'Anitran' livestock transporter which came with some doomed cows. I still have it although the strainer has somewhat fallen to bits. The later one was a boat transporter, I sold that on about ten years ago now as part of a large diecast purge.

I have those but the one I’m on about has Apex on the side and had the chassis of the logger but a hi-ab fitted. From circa 1987-88ish? 

[MiniMinorMk3]

17 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Deboxed some of the Saturday finds - starting with the DY-24 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS.

For a mass-market collectable from the early 1990s, it's not too badly done. The stubby shape's good, the tiny 'Dino' and 'Pininfarina' tampos are finely rendered, and the plastic glazing unit with the windshield surround matched to the body colour is quite neatly handled.

I always thought the Matchbox Dinky was a bit crude, but then as you say, it was only about £5 when issued. The biggest error on it is the Pinninfarina badge, it should be on the other side.

For about twice the price you could of had the Vitesse version, which is far better detailed, and came in a range of colours and versions. Vitesse made Dinos for quite a while, so they are easy to find.

First box. Italian car with clear indicator lenses.

Second box

Square box with better detailing of side windows.

Limited Edition silver car with black wipers and orange indicators. Also has later wheel style.

Some colour variations

But better than the Vitesse is the later issued Bang model. This was around £25 when new, but had photoetch detail. I can only find this 10 Years of Bang version at the momment.

Best of all though was the very expensive (£35-£40) Kyosho version. These Kyosho Ferrari models were absolutely stunning. The had the look and feel of a BBR hand built that cost double what the Kyosho cost. They also had open panels and fully detailed engines.

Here's an Enzo showing off its engine.

 

17 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

 

Kind of annoyed now that I disposed of so many of my Matchbox Dinky last year...

Mostly these were variations - I still have these castings in my collection, just in different colours.

But my completionist tendencies still twitch...

I started buying the Matchbox Dinkys when they first came out, and I kept buying them as new ones were issued. I kind of stopped soon after my son was born and couldn't justify spending on little models cars so much. I liked the Beetle as it was the version with the crotch cooler flaps on the front quarter panels. The Bentley Continental was also a favourite along with the MGB.

When I got into Ebay, the Matchbox Dinkys I had were the first to go, as by that time I was collection F1 Ferraris and Italian road cars.

[MiniMinorMk3]

Give them another year or two and they'll be going home dreaming of something else.

[eddyramrod]

I don't think I've shown you these yet, so let's begin at the beginning, as they say; the very best place to start.  And where we begin is with a bunch of old diecasts from assorted sources which include Mr @FakeConcern...

So they all got drilled out and pulled apart, and dunked in the caustic baths...

..Which resulted in these...

And then spraying ensued, along with some remedial work on the bench...

The Mini came with a spurious interior that only had two seats, so I appropriated the yellow vacform from the damaged Ford Classic.  The other interior is from the Marcos Mantis and had suffered the loss of most of one seat, which I replaced with one cut from a scrap Cortina GXL.  I painted the "carpet" in matt black as had already been done, then went over the actual seating in gloss dark blue to simulate leather, or at least vinyl.  The Mini chassic now wears the wheels from a smaller-scale scrap Humvee, and those on the Mantis came from a scrap Crown Vic.  So here's what they look like now...

You might have noticed the batch included a Rover P4 Cyclops and a Studebaker, both Dinky; they've both been with me as long as I can remember and have been painted many many times.

Plenty of surviving Rovers are black, so that was an easy choice; the Stude is pink to represent the car Stockard Channing's character drove in Grease.

And finally for this post, some smaller film cars.

The Cortina was in the climactic warehouse fight in Christine; the Plymouth crashes into it and drags it around the place a bit.  The Porsche is the current Matchbox issue, painted navy blue over black (and under that, the original green) to represent the car Tom Cruise uses in Mission: Impossible 2, when he chases Thandie Newton in her Audi TT on mountainous roads.  It's not really dark enough but I'll live with it.

[flat4alfa]

4 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

The Cortina was in the climactic warehouse fight in Christine; the Plymouth crashes into it and drags it around the place a bit

Needs trolleys under it  🙂

[Datsuncog]

16 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

I gotta get me to B&M stat.

No such luck...

A whistle-stop lunchtime dash through the nearest B&M, which proved so good for Ultra Hots and Flying Customs, had nothing for me in terms of the latest Matchbox case.

Still loads of the early 2023 selection on the pegs and clipstrips, so I don't imagine there'll be any new stuff stocked until the older stuff's sold through.

Bah.

Sainsbury's seems to have Hot Wheels back in stock, though:

Quite a lot, and recent-ish too - but a quick riffle revealed no Escorts, Sierras or Supras.

Pricey enough.

They also had Monster Trucks back on the shelves, but they're not so much my thing.

Ah well.

[Zie]

My local B&M had the same stuff as the last couple of months. Aldi on the other hand. 

No GTV or Sierras though. 

[bunglebus]

Ordered a 1:24 Welly Lupo in yellow off Aliexpress 

Definitely not the right yellow though!

Think we have 1:24, 1:28, 1:43 and 1:64 now in a couple of different brands

[sierraman]

No matchbox in the B&M or The Entertainer. The next batch will probably arrive sometime round Xmas...

[bunglebus]

Entertainer had another L case in. Must have missed the recolour Gulf Aston last time 

[flat4alfa]

Just been out to 3 towns to visit 3 ALDI and didn’t find ANY Hot Wheels mainline singles. You gits.

I very nearly bought a Garden Patio Trebuchet though.

 

[Jon]

In the latest bout of avoiding productivity, I delved into my chipboard wardrobe bespoke magazine archive yesterday, to reference something or other. Since it's all un-arranged, as I had to shift the lot weeks back to fix the rot in the wood framing of the garage wall behind it, I didn't find what I was looking for but did chance upon the August 1993 edition of CAR magazine, which would've hit the shelves exactly 30 years ago.

Within was an article of interest:

Subeditors were always good with titles in this era - even Top Gear had some pithiness. 

 

A quick deep dive into the more intersting subjects (on here) show lots of familiar shapes, many of which look to be solid, shiny examples.

 

I can never remember which way round the colours are on that BP wrecker to render it ludicrously valuable. I'll take a stab that this is the affordable one. Matchbox police car looks incongruously modern in this company. Or is it a Majorette?

For the sake of uploading in a single post, I've had to lower the res of the words bits but they should still be legible.

 

Can't quite make out what the green car is that's about to crash onto the table top but the other looks like a Superfast Europa, missing a door. I don't think either features on the front cover, so nice to see they had some (hopefully) lower grade stooges on hand for the stunt work.

 

Tin toys do little for me but it's good to note that many of these entries aren't just journos writing the required amount of words to fill the remit, but based on personal interests and collections.

 

Imagine your craftsman Dad making a pedal car 40 years prior, that gets handed down the family and still sees service! And with independent suspension, too! 

I hope it still survives.

 

Part of a fiver going towards buying a boxed Ecurie Ecosse transporter is top value within almost any era, I'd imagine.

 

Would love to know if Richard Bremner ever did achieve his imagined gigantic Scalextric layout?

 

Either Colin Goodwin is being overly harsh on his toys, or those duck egg blue crates on the front cover aren't from his collector's case. He also mentions his 230SL missing its windscreen but there's an intact version on the front cover.

No doubt, the subjects are partly from the contributors' collections but I'm imagining the rest were borrowed from a dealer. Which means plenty of logistic leg work, possibly some insurance cover or liaising with legal to establish existing cover, etc. Let alone the studio/location this was all shot in! Where the hell do you find a painted pale yellow wooden floor (from the front cover) for starters? I'd say there's an easy half week of planning gone into this one incidental article for a monthly mag and that's one of the reasons I covet my old issues of CAR so much.

Perhaps @RoadworkUK could let us know otherwise but I imagine there just aren't time and financial budgets for this sort of article anymore?

 

[bunglebus]

There's a rarity in pic #3

The police car is the Matchbox Plymouth Gran Fury - I don't have that exact version as mine has orange windows

[Jon]

The Majorette I had in question was this one but the Matchbox is clearly correct:

Image borrowed from this blog:

https://twolanedesktop.blogspot.com/2019/01/husky-1959-buick-electra-police-and.html

From a cursory glance, it seems like an interesting site to delve in to - quite fortuitous, as I'm trapped on the sofa with a cat curled up on my lap whilst Mrs_Jon is watching the opening Women's World Cup match on TV.

At least I'll have something to keep me quiet, whilst I occasionally feign interest...

[RoadworkUK]

10 hours ago, Jon said:

Perhaps @RoadworkUK could let us know otherwise but I imagine there just aren't time and financial budgets for this sort of article anymore?

Tragically, you've got it in one.

Back in the 80s,  as a glossy, monthly, feature-led motoring magazine, CAR had very little in the way of real competition and an incredibly loyal following. Features like that weren't designed to increase circulation by making the mag jump off the shelf, but to entertain (or even indulge) those who regularly bought it. Today, even CAR would be so focused on covering the same stuff as its rivals (for fear of missing out) that a feature like that could never command multiple pages and would have to be put together on a shoestring if it even made it into the contents.

The real shame is, I reckon, there really is a market for that kind of thing, mostly among those of us who, say, discuss toy cars on an online forum that focuses on cars from the 'wing and a prayer' end of the market. But that isn't anywhere that companies will be queuing up to invest in advertising, and that, more than anything else, underpins the viability of a newsstand magazine. 

And yeah, coming up with titular puns is one of the few remaining joys a magazine subeditor has.

[MiniMinorMk3]

11 hours ago, Jon said:

In the latest bout of avoiding productivity...

Within was an article of interest:

 

 

 

Thanks for posting. I probably read this when published as I was still reading CAR at that time. It was an excellent magazine, along with it's sister title Supercar Classics.

The things I relate to in the article are the Superfast Track, the Matchbox case and Scalextric.

I never had the Superfast yellow track, but had both the orange Hot Wheels and red Corgi Rockets. A lot of toys ended up as chipped up tat on those tracks, along with lots of chips on the white skirting board, much to my dads annoyance. To stop the problem of damaging the dining table we would put a tea towel between the start gate and chosen furniture launch site. Great fun those tracks and a lot simpler than Scalextric.

Scalextric was a pain. It was a right faff to set up as the cars would rarely do a full circuit first time out. Then you'd spend half an hour looking for the bad connection. I think our set only came out about 5 times.

Both me and my older brother had a Matchbox case. Handily Corgi Rockets and Hot Wheels would also fit in them, so there was no need to buy their respective storage systems. As for the boxes that Matchbox came in, I used them as garages until the end flaps fell off.

During my Mini collecting I have a small collection of Scalextric cars and three large boxes of track and accessories. In the 10 or so years I have had them I have yet to put a track together to race the old Minis about.

[andrew e]

I’m imagining the admen and the editor staring into @RoadworkUK eyes with a glare that says “never mention this again in an editorial meeting….”

“Now get back too telling us how new grey Golf is best grey Golf ever” 😂

[danthecapriman]

Corgi Mini supplies arrived this morning, so I dug out my blue Mini (conveniently right in the top of the first box I looked in!). New tyres all round and replace the missing headlight.

Mini’s just had a trip around the sink first as it was actually quite grubby. Must have been one of the ones I bought and didn’t wash.

[bunglebus]

@Tenmil Socketbox arrival

Buddy L! doesn't work, further investigation required 

Powertrack Escort is a must being an Essex boy

959 is the numberplate version that I inadvertently sold a while back

Tootsietoy 

Clean Corgi

Think this is the front of the Hot Wheels coach

Donor car as it still has the spotlights

And a very pink Beetle

[bunglebus]

Also scored a load of Zylmex Crazy Wheels off eBay thanks to an offer. Only two of these are doubles, the Beetle and the Ford Pickup - and my current one is pretty battered

[bunglebus]

A bit of contact cleaning and tweaking...

It has contacts against the rear axle and a cam so the lights flash as it rolls along 

[andrew e]

A stroll, a pint* and a @bunglebus face to face Tat trade off  - life’s not all bad!

[bunglebus]

And in exchange...

Oh yes

[bunglebus]

And what's this? A @vulgalourb̶o̶x̶ tube too

Very nicely detailed on the customs I have to say

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

A bit of contact cleaning and tweaking...

It has contacts against the rear axle and a cam so the lights flash as it rolls along 

Had a couple of those Buddy-L but in this livery only though.  It's a EMS medical rescue car

I assumed it's supposed to be a M-body Plymouth Gran Fury or Dodge Diplomat

There is another Police livery to get

Also NASA

and Fire Chief to collect 

Did this to one of them

Didn't quite get the circuit right, despite using a big capacitor in there

[Zie]

39 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

 

Now that is very very cool!!!..