Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

If I could find one Super Treasure Hunt it's this, the first for 2024

[sierraman]

2 hours ago, RoadworkUK said:

Same is true in the world of retro electronics. A look on eBay or Marketplace for old hi-fi equipment seems to point to all the commonplace-but-good stuff – the heavily engineered Japanese silver boxes – having gone to the tip before anybody thought to preserve it, while endless crap from Argos is assigned insane values by the sort who think people will be clamouring to secure a Matsui midi system that needs new belts for its tape deck. 

Incidentally, on Saturday I visited all the charity shops that Colchester has to offer, and I concluded that much of their stock is only there because nobody could be bothered to throw it away. 

Matsui... fucking hell they were ‘quality’ along with Alba and Goodmans 😂

[Datsuncog]

Don't forget Saisho.

👍

[egg]

My first walkman was Saisho secondhand from a mate, and I had an Alba alarm clock.

Although my 'music station' was a pure 70's tape and record combo that I was allowed to take upstairs when mum and dad upgraded to a Panasonic multi-disc changer in the early 90s.

[flat4alfa]

Saisho was the Dixons own-brand

Matsui was Currys

Both pretended to seem Japanese but majority had PCBs from Taiwan and components sourced from Malaysia, S Korea and Yugoslavia.  This all came out in court when Currys were fined for misleading advertising

Another hidden gem was the use of cheap Phillips components in the lower-end of Bang & Olufsen. 

Goodmans split in the 1980s. The 'hifi' arm went to Alba, so that's what you were getting.  The brand was bought by B&M, so why you see Goodmans today in their stores.  The other arm continued as a British speaker manufacturer that swallowed Tannoy

Seiko Japan created Alba in 1970s. However, things went downhill.  Argos have owned Bush and Alba brand names since 1980s

I think all that's right, going from memory! 

[bunglebus]

You can keep all that rubbish, I had a Schneider Newave!

[sierraman]

If you were really enthusiastic you’d supplement your Technics tape deck with a NAD amp. 

[bunglebus]

On my travels again, Sutton Coldfield this week. Got excited to find a Toymaster

Unfortunately they didn't have anything exciting, and it wasn't the tidiest despite only just having opened this morning 

Entertainer over the road....

Three M cases fresh in if anyone is looking for Chevettes, silver AMGs, Alfas, ID Buzz etc

Charity shop excitement 

[Split_Pin]

Those Readers Digest cars are one down from Days Gone. I've got a couple up in the loft somewhere or did have, they may be gone now, hopefully.

[bunglebus]

Hammertime.

[flat4alfa]

4 hours ago, sierraman said:

If you were really enthusiastic you’d supplement your Technics tape deck with a NAD amp. 

To me, in the 80s AIWA and Pioneer seemed the brands to look cool to school mates, it seemed only the well-off Dads had those.  Panasonic did a very good job trying to hide that Technics was their upper brand. 

My Dad's (silver in colour) National Panasonic one-box unit almost looked in-keeping with the times, but was poor after his 60s Garrard set into a piece of furniture. He built a slimline amp and a top-loading  tape deck to go with that from off-the-shelf Amstrad kits bought (I think) at Henry's Radio on Tottenham Court Road in the early 70s.  No ICs back then, just a soldering iron and the build manual and he was off..

Late-80s I was lucky to be given a double-tape Sharp portable with detachable speakers, with Phono input for the second-hand domestic direct drive Technics (both of which I still have today!)

NAD was plain, fitting the audiophile image they tried to project, with typically a Denon tape deck in black / very dark browns which were 1990s.  Usually matched with a Technics CD player stolen from Laskys on a Saturday.

Sanyo (Japan) swallowed Fisher (USA), then went off using Taiwan and HK production.  Schneider and Hinari were a European rebranding exercise in the 90s using Sanyo components and PCBs.  Amstrad had a hand-in there too.  Panasonic swallowed Sanyo.  

Kenwood swallowed Trio.  In the 1990s, Kenwood units in the fashionable black were every where in UK it seemed.  JVC later swallowed Kenwood so JVC 'home hifi' product branding was replaced.  JVC branding continued for car units.

Realistic was the house brand for Tandy after they swallowed Radio Shack

Proline was Comet's brand.  The less said about that the better.

Spinney(tronic) was Littlewood's brand

I think I'm in the wrong thread.

[sierraman]

I think NAD was aimed at perhaps the serious home listener, puts a really nice sound out. I had a Technics tape deck a while back, from a purely sensory point of view it felt really nicely made. I think my dad was a fan of Matsui, we had a Curry’s near us so we had a portable from them and a video recorder which at today’s prices seemed insanely expensive. We’re going off on a tangent here though I guess. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

Anyone want to see my dusty old Hi-Fi?

Purchased mostly in the mid '80's. Been moved around a few times and lived in 4 different counties.

The amp was dropped once along with the CD player. The amp survived but the cd player was knackered.

CD was replaced with a matching Sony Mini-Disc in the early '90's. It all still works and would make enough noise if I wanted to annoy the neighbours.

 

Now as they do one the one show, here's a nice old van model featuring a splendid old logo.

 

[flat4alfa]

 

Its beauty is beyond compare
No shining blocks of bullion
But ivory paint and grille of satin blue

Its smoke is like the death of spring
Its engine note a noisy din
But it cannot compete with you, Jolene

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolee-ah-eene
Please don't take my BRINKS MAT VAN

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolee-ah-eene
Please don't take it just because you ca-uh-aan

 

 

[flat4alfa]

19 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Anyone want to see my dusty old Hi-Fi?

Purchased mostly in the mid '80's. Been moved around a few times and lived in 4 different counties.

The amp was dropped once along with the CD player. The amp survived but the cd player was knackered.

CD was replaced with a matching Sony Mini-Disc in the early '90's. It all still works and would make enough noise if I wanted to annoy the neighbours.

That need to be put up on

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

10 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

That need to be put up on

 

Done.

[matt79]

2 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Charity shop excitement  excrement 

FTFU

[flat4alfa]

2 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Charity shite

EFA

Some years back, I was given that set by a well-meaning relation.  They must have been suckered by some marketing trick somewhere.

Anyhow, I put it on eBay, boxed as new ....and it sold!

[Noel Tidybeard]

project drive?

corgi tx1 taxi- launched with 2 opening doors, folding seat & slide out wheelchair ramp

now no opening features

[flat4alfa]

33 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Now as they do one the one show, here's a nice old van model featuring a splendid old logo.

Oxford Diecast in recent years did a Ford Thames 400E 1:43 with HMV livery.  They also put the dog 'Nipper' on the doors.  They sold out the whole run of them too.

Back in the 90s, Dinky (Matchbox era) did this 1948 Comma 8 CWT variation.  And Nipper!

The one to get is the Lledo Days Gone effort.  It's brill.

Sorry, I meant this Timpo Toys variation.  This is the one to get and comes in a few colours to seek out

Alex agrees

[flat4alfa]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Hammertime.

@bunglebus@Split_Pin

You're going to love this 6-page in-depth thread on those :

https://www.planetdiecast.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=83&id=30097&Itemid=0

Quote

What you can see in the above picture, is TEN versions of the 1906 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. They are all different in one way or another, especially the baseplates. They come from Hong Kong, Macau and China. They all have the same catalogue number

 

[Split_Pin]

#dontclickonthelink

[sierraman]

They look like they’ve come out of a cracker. 

[RoadworkUK]

My favourite obscure hi-fi brand is Optonica, the sobriquet afforded to Sharp's somewhat underrated high-end efforts. My grandad bought £600 worth of their slick-looking 5100 series back in 1980. Now, 42 years later, the amp powers my office system (cassette deck and CD player illustrated were left here by the previous owners of the house), the turntable and tape deck are in the system downstairs. Alas, the tuner was disposed of by my dad before the whole shebang came my way 20 years back or so.

And to get back on topic, here's a trans-o-lite Rover.

[Split_Pin]

I was given second hand by my Granny many years ago this plastic and tinplate vintage car with a radio inside. One spare wheel was the tuner and the other was the volume/off switch. It did work too!

[Datsuncog]

Long-awaited mail touchdown today:

It's the July Corgi Model Club release, the #358 Oldsmobile Super 88 H.Q. Staff Car.

Way back on 17 July, an email arrived from CMC to advise there was a delay on distributing these, as the cargo ship bringing them all over from China had to divert because  of bad weather in the Red Sea.

Nearly a month, and a few more apologetic emails, later - we finally have this!

Now, this may be another vaguely contentious release, as it's a variant of the #237 Oldsmobile Sheriff Car sent out to club members from June last year.

I seem to recall there was a bit of harrumphing online a few months ago when the Polizei Beetle appeared, not long after its casting-mate East African Safari Beetle had been issued - so this is now the second duplicate CMC casting, with a third to come in December (the Fire Chief Chevrolet Impala - a recolouring of the Taxi version from last year).

I guess it's a bit of a balancing act to keep costs down enough so CMC can afford to keep developing and issuing interesting new models every month, while not losing subscribers.

So - while I'll admit to a twinge of disappointment that this isn't a 'new' casting for me to slobber over, it is a bit unusual nonetheless.

Detailing here is minimal, to match the original:

Just the headlights picked out in silver, and printed decals on the roof, bonnet and doors - with everything else just a plain olive drab, as you might expect a military car to be.

The casting is very crisp, though.

As well as an aerial on the rear deck, this model features a full complement of passengers - and I don't think I've seen this on another model before.

Baseplate is identical to the earlier police version.

The Oldsmobile marque isn't mentioned on the box, oddly - but then, this military range was always a little bit makeshift.

The collector card elaborates:

As set out in The Great Book Of Corgi, their US importer had gone to Corgi's management and asked them to produce a range of military-themed vehicles, which it felt would sell well in the States.

Perhaps not fully convinced, Corgi's designers came up with a range of ten models which mostly consisted of recoloured older castings - including a Karrier ice cream van repurposed as a field kitchen. These were launched in January 1965, for the US market only.

It's hard to know whether it was simply a bad idea, without also developing actual military vehicles like tanks and field guns as part of the range, or whether Corgi's every-expense-spared attitude by using confusingly British vehicles like Commer PBs and Bedford TKs (which meant nothing to US kids) played a part.

But whichever way you cut it, these didn't sell.

Later in 1965, with stock presumably not shifting from the warehouse shelves, the range was made available for order by retailers in the UK and Europe, but the writing was plainly on the wall - and no new military vehicles were developed for the range until the Hong-Kong made tanks were introduced in the 1970s.

The Olds was an exception, as it was at least a model of a US vehicle, but sales remained slack and the military models range was axed from the catalogue the year after.

Of course, in a world where popular Corgi models tended to shift in their millions, those that only sold in the low tens of thousands are now super-collectable... I've never seen an original HQ Staff Car, and I don't suppose I ever will.

But despite being the second Olds 88 to appear in the subscriber collection in not much over 12 months, this one does have quite a different vibe from the Sheriff's Car version - it's weird, but all the little guys with hats inside do seem add a certain playvalue, even if you can't do anything with them.

I'm pleased it showed up, finally!

I daresay the August release will be hot on its heels...

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

@bunglebus@Split_Pin

You're going to love this 6-page in-depth thread on those :

https://www.planetdiecast.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=83&id=30097&Itemid=0

 

Thanks, I've been having trouble sleeping lately

[Burnside]

6 hours ago, bunglebus said:

On my travels again, Sutton Coldfield this week. Got excited to find a Toymaster

Unfortunately they didn't have anything exciting, and it wasn't the tidiest despite only just having opened this morning 

Entertainer over the road....

Three M cases fresh in if anyone is looking for Chevettes, silver AMGs, Alfas, ID Buzz etc

Charity shop excitement 

Oh no, I'm not a million miles away from Sutton Coldfield!

Might have to pop over there and see if they have any Alfa's left later in the week. I'll definitely check out the Siku on offer too. Providing my Stilo doesn't disappoint at the garage Thursday.

[Split_Pin]

32 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Thanks, I've been having trouble sleeping lately

Remember the dream that Alonzo Hawk had in Herbie Rides Again where his head was plagued by "all those little cars, hundreds of 'em!"? Well, that would be me if I read that article at bedtime. Even the cars that had been squashed by Bunglebus's hammer would grossly come back to life, lurching towards me on their wonky wheels.

Shudder.

[egg]

44 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

#358 Oldsmobile Super 88 H.Q. Staff Car.

Nice - did these actually exist in real life? Don't tell me they shipped them over to 'Nam.