Shite in Miniature II

[junkyarddog]

  On 22/09/2023 at 08:57, Datsuncog said:

Purplish base on that one - the inevitable broken grille, but otherwise not bad.

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Ah,got a purple base one.

Thank you. 

[bunglebus]

I'll take the dragster if you've already bought it

[FakeConcern]

@Datsuncog No thanks to the Hopper truck then!

Matchbox boat on trailer if cheap £3 ish plz but don't go back if you aren't anyway as Mrs Concern does have several already (& a Caper Cart).

[MiniMinorMk3]

  On 21/09/2023 at 18:44, FakeConcern said:

So there I was one evening last week browsing ebay (I hadn’t had too much beer honestly!), when I saw this...

Hmm Superkings, they’s the big ones right? I have a few of them to go with it..

Bollox!

So what fucking scale is Superkings meant to be then?

Even the smallest Corgis and Dinkys only just fit on it, the Sprite being the only one to go on the lower deck. Neither the Elan or Lotus XI fit as they’re too wide.

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Sometimes came in a Gift Set with Superfast cars.

Earlier pre Superkings version with early Superfasts

[Datsuncog]

  On 22/09/2023 at 08:59, flat4alfa said:

Wait - so he had green Mercury Commuter in both sizes? 

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Surely did.

But he doesn't have them now.

Because I do.

  On 22/09/2023 at 09:26, junkyarddog said:

Ah,got a purple base one.

Thank you. 

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No bother!

  On 22/09/2023 at 09:33, bunglebus said:

I'll take the dragster if you've already bought it

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I didn't... and by the time I went back for another look it had been snaffled by persons unknown, tragically.

[flat4alfa]

It always stayed as code K-11 or G-2

Initial 1969 release King Size packaging

The scarcer 1970 'interim' King Size, with original red wheels fitted to the colour-revision and with original DAF sticker

And some nice Super Kings artwork, typically at speed with no driver

As a child I had a Super Kings one.

As an adult, I have two, because sad muppet.

[flat4alfa]

  On 22/09/2023 at 10:13, Datsuncog said:

Surely did.

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If the small Superfast isn't taken, could I put my hand up for it please?

Because tidy enough and the DAGS need feeding.

[flat4alfa]

  On 22/09/2023 at 09:57, FakeConcern said:

@Datsuncog No thanks to the Hopper truck then!

Matchbox boat on trailer if cheap £3 ish plz but don't go back if you aren't anyway as Mrs Concern does have several already (& a Caper Cart).

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Was going to say he'd want at least a fiver or probably more.  After all, it's not like he's had his stock laid out on the table for him, photographed and broadcast across the internets...

[flat4alfa]

  On 21/09/2023 at 18:44, FakeConcern said:

So there I was one evening last week browsing ebay (I hadn’t had too much beer honestly!), when I saw this...

Hmm Superkings, they’s the big ones right? I have a few of them to go with it..

Bollox!

So what fucking scale is Superkings meant to be then?

Even the smallest Corgis and Dinkys only just fit on it, the Sprite being the only one to go on the lower deck. Neither the Elan or Lotus XI fit as they’re too wide.

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Aha!  I just found out the listing you won.  It lived in Chesham, not far from where I am sitting right now.

So in the light of the upset, I am willing to offer to buy it from you for an offer of the winning bid.  Then we can draw a line under the experience.  It would be DAFt not to take me up on this offer.

[Datsuncog]

Alrighty then... so where were we?

Mildly confused and discombobulated, that's where.

I think you've seen pretty much all the tat stall had to offer - though The Nemesis made a few good finds, including the Dinky AEC tanker for a tenner, and the others for roundabout a fiver a go.

There were still some dregs that didn't fit onto the stall knocking around the box, which had now been slipped under the stall:

Ultimately, this is what the first pass netted me:

Crestas are for Eddy; Capri Classic is for anyone who wants it at £6.66 ( @AndyW201?) or else I'll hang on to it meself.

Clean Superfast Mercury Commuter with added DAAAG has been claimed by @flat4alfa for a fairly reasonable £2; Rolls Royce Corniche in seemingly less common gold also available for the same.

**EDIT: now taken!!**

I only realised during the Ford D-Series chit-chat a while back that I no longer had any Corgi examples, so I had to remedy that.

So this early non-Whizzwheels Junior is staying with me.

Early Husky version of the Rice Horse Box was missing its ramp, so I left it.

[flat4alfa]

  On 22/09/2023 at 11:33, Datsuncog said:

Mildly confused and discombobulated

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The best way to be, on a Friday.

  On 22/09/2023 at 11:33, Datsuncog said:

Crestas are for Eddy; Capri Classic is for anyone who wants it at £6.66 ( @AndyW201?) or else I'll hang on to it meself.

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Oh, it is a nice colour scheme that Capri Classic.  Good buy too.  I like it.  Are you sure it is not a Motormax Mini in the box though, because if it is, I'm out 

[Datsuncog]

A quick scoot round the other stalls didn't reveal very much:

Some recent-ish Hot Wheels, including the beige Land Cruiser I've been looking for and inexplicably failed to notice until just now.

Vanguards, and Oxford stuff - but I've kinda done alright with this stuff already this week...

Apparently, the Beanie Babies are selling well these days.

Well, alright.

The Charity Stall/ Larry's Independent Traders had a Saico Minor and an incomplete LR Defender, in amongst some alarmingly festive tat...

Mmm, no thanks.

Also, weirdly, a figurine of what looks like my old headmaster.

I think I need a sit-down...

[Split_Pin]

Hey Tim I have an unboxed beige Land Cruiser that's yours for postage if you want it.

[Christine]

Made a Caddy Sport last night , front body kit is a lancia delta rear bumper..skirts are plasticard 

 

[Datsuncog]

Suitably refreshed, and with interim requests dealt with, Alan's Emporium was the final stop for the Tat Express.

New stuff had appeared from last week, but nothing much to excite, really.

Disappointingly, the Pixar Cars Mini requested by @bezzabsa was no longer anywhere to be seen.

There was one of those comical Mk3 Transits in fake Canadian police livery fitted with OMG RIMZ.

And a not-at-all Matchbox rip-off of a Mercedes 208D van, also purporting to be a Vancouver first responder vehicle.

And lo! There was a small sub-bag of 50p tat below that.

A good day for Bronyshite.com, less so for us.

Mostly just no-name guff.

This abysmal rendition of a Mercedes C Class did draw my eye, though not for the right reasons 

Overbumpered, overpillared and underwheeled.

Surprisingly, it's a Hongwell Cararama - I know they'd a few clunky early releases, but normally their stuff's very nicely done.

One to avoid.

And so - it was time to head on...

[flat4alfa]

  On 05/07/2023 at 21:37, flat4alfa said:

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.

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Got it back.

Citroën BX 1:43 MC-Toy from Honk Kong.  Unusual European car for them to cover, I think

[quicksilver]

  On 22/09/2023 at 12:43, Datsuncog said:

Suitably refreshed, and with interim requests dealt with, Alan's Emporium was the final stop for the Tat Express.

New stuff had appeared from last week, but nothing much to excite, really.

Disappointingly, the Pixar Cars Mini requested by @bezzabsa was no longer anywhere to be seen.

There was one of those comical Mk3 Transits in fake Canadian police livery fitted with OMG RIMZ.

And a not-at-all Matchbox rip-off of a Mercedes 208D van, also purporting to be a Vancouver first responder vehicle.

And lo! There was a small sub-bag of 50p tat below that.

A good day for Bronyshite.com, less so for us.

Mostly just no-name guff.

This abysmal rendition of a Mercedes C Class did draw my eye, though not for the right reasons 

Overbumpered, overpillared and underwheeled.

Surprisingly, it's a Hongwell Cararama - I know they'd a few clunky early releases, but normally their stuff's very nicely done.

One to avoid.

And so - it was time to head on...

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I was going to say that was Hongwell's first and worst effort. Not only is it badly proportioned, it's also nowhere near the quoted scale - sold as 1/72 but actually closer to 1/64. Not a great start but they got much better as they went on; compare that with their second-gen C-class from a few years later and it's like they're from two different manufacturers.

[Datsuncog]

I'll level with you - I knew where I was at the start, and I knew where I was at the end, but the middle bit's something of a blur.

This was how things were looking around 1.30pm, as the pack-up was happening...

No Lesney speedboat remaining, sadly.

The box appeared to have been fully emptied out onto the stall now, but I don't think these were clean/ complete enough to set anyone's juices a-flowing.

I did take a look at the big Corgi Hyster container lifter - but as ever, a lot of critical parts were missing.

Still an impressive big thing, though.

And I think a slight pause should be taken to observe the painstaking effort required to individually letter the destination board for this Code 3 Glasgow Routemaster.

There were a fair few Routemasters, in fact.

Some were later Corgi repaints like this, others earlier Corgi and Dinky examples:

I could have spent a happy hour playing spot-the-difference with these two, but - places to go, people to see.

So ultimately this is where we've ended up for the day:

Yowzah.

With any luck, I'll get the old spreadsheet cranked up later tonight and try to see what's what - will be in touch to confirm prices etc.

And with that - Happy Friday, kids.

[bunglebus]

That yellow Vanguard is pretty cool, wouldn't take much to remove the glue and drill/tap it either

[flat4alfa]

I think I'll just Dremmel the glue down flatter and paint over them

Didn't want to think about repainting it yet as I don't actually know what I've paid for it.  It might be Market Blokey expensive paint.  And Market Blokey expensive glue!  Need to get my money's worth.

However, if aliens are attracted to it, thinking it is a landing beacon, then I might have to think again.

[flat4alfa]

1957-59 Corgi 207M Standard Vanguard III Saloon is supposed to be a Primrose Yellow.  Not eye-searing lemon yellow

But it has a MECHANICAL MOTOR!  That might be seized anyhow.

[flat4alfa]

  On 22/09/2023 at 11:33, Datsuncog said:

Rolls Royce Corniche in seemingly less common gold also available for the same.

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Already have the blue Shadow Coupe, tidy, on Skinnyfasts.
Also have the red Saloons, tidy, on all sets of wheels.
Yet here you are tempting me with a gold Shadow Coupe on Lardyfasts.  What to do?

I rang lovely Sanna for advice, but she was out partying and I couldn't hear a thing

 

Edit/Update:  Lovely Sanna rang back and said yes I should buy it.  Then started rambling off about her new job in London.  I think she'd had a few drinks of Lakka.  Well, it is Friday.

[bunglebus]

It's got the roof, what's not to like?

[RoadworkUK]

In a veritable flurry of inevitability, @bunglebus's car-boot / toy fair Superkings XR4i / Sierra Cossie encounters had me pining for an example of the latter myself.

It is, really, the only thing missing from my model toy Sierra collection; I have a MIB first-issue XR4i, a number of 1:36 Corgi examples and that lovely 1:43 Latin American partwork, which handily represents the Sierra Ghia my dad used to ferry me around in. It's even basically the same colour; Glacier Blue. 

I didn't, though, ever have the Matchbox Superkings  Cossie as a kid. I had the K-100 XR4i, and it was one of my very favourite playthings (and is now in an extremely playworn state), often being raced across my primary school hall floor against my mate Tim's K-162 Cossie. I always preferred the XR4i because it didn't have a silly race car livery on it. Nevertheless, I still coveted the Cossie.

So, I'm a big boy now, and I can have whatever toys I can stealthily sneak into the house. I got to wondering how cheaply I could secure a boxed example on eBay. A quick search found one that had six days on the auction, and no bidders as yet.

Possibly due to utterly dire photography:

"Oops, not quite. Try again"

"Bit better, but I'll have one more go"

"Ah, that's grand".

So, that pic was good enough to confirm that it... exists... in theory, but all bets were off when it came to actual condition. Nevertheless, in order to ensure that I didn't forget about it, I put an opening bid in.

I then forgot all about it.

UNTIL, that is, I was doing the washing up on Sunday night, and my phone vibrated with a panicked "AUCTION ENDING SOON". Bidding had, at that point, reached the giddy heights of £4 plus P+P. 

Hmm. High stakes for a dubiously described and portrayed model. But then... what if it's perfect?

And, it's only money, isn't it? I can always, like, get some more if I need it, can't I? Somehow.

So I did my usual thing of waiting, and waiting, and then entering the absolute maximum I could possibly justify, with seven seconds remaining. Out of the air, I plucked a figure that I thought excessive enough that I'm bound to secure it for substantially less. So I slammed a max bid of £14 in.

And won it.

For £14. Plus £3 postage. Ouch.

Anyway. It arrived today, in the hands of DHL, no less, and with fancy DHL packaging. Entirely unexpected. Within nanoseconds of its arrival, I had it out of the packing and in my mitts. And as it happens, I don't feel entirely ripped off.

There's a bit of wear to the box corners, and the plastifilm has cracked at the top in the usual manner, but it ain't bad at all. But most importantly, the innards are mint.

Well, I mean they weren't always entirely mint on leaving the factory. Strange highlights in the pic above make it look as if there are scratches, but there aren't. There's some orange peel to the paint, but I don't know if that's occurred over time or was there when it went in the box. The interior is entirely dust-free, though.

I LOVE this casting, just as much as I love the K-100 XR4i casting.  It's not 100% true to reality, but it kind of emphasises the features that make the Sierra the Sierra, if you get what I mean. It's like essence of Sierra. Same thing is true of the inside, too. The dash isn't 100% (or even quite a deal less) accurate, but it nails the essence of the original, that wrap-around shape and tiered layout. And the tilting seats, slightly oddly proportioned as they are, nicely portray the Cossie's deeply bolstered items. 

More than anything, though, it feels weighty in the hands. And with details like the clear headlights and glassy red rear lights, and wheels that resemble the Cossie's cross-spoke rims (incidentally, the flat-faced chrome items with the pepperpot-style circles embossed in are the One True Wheel for the K-100 XR4i), it feels authoritative. Proper. Official. 

Finally, I choose to believe that the presence of Matchbox's proprietary keyhole-and-twisty-thing mechanism points to this example possibly having never left its box. I'm tempted not to change that. It goes into my collection of "things I now own that I always wanted", even if I never actually play with it.

Besides, turning up at my primary school 30 year on to play in the hall would probably be viewed with suspicion. 

 

[Split_Pin]

I had the white one as a kid and I remember being excited at having an F reg model when that mark was still current. Weirdly it had a white steering wheel but it matched then white wheels.

Stupidly, together with the burgundy Jaguar XJ6, I swapped them in the early 90s but I now have replacements in my possession. I think Matchbox managed to make Superkings in the late 80s just that wee bit more exciting to own than an equivalent Corgi.

Enjoy!

[FakeConcern]

Expecting to go live with "Fakes Firenza Free No Spot on or Lone Star Diecast Shite Sale. So bad even I don’t want them. (the biggest anti-climax since Millennium Eve)." at about 8 o clock this evening...

 

I bet you all can't wait...

[RoadworkUK]

  On 22/09/2023 at 18:09, Split_Pin said:

I had the white one as a kid and I remember being excited at having an F reg model when that mark was still current. Weirdly it had a white steering wheel but it matched then white wheels.

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I'd actually rather have the white one. I always thought the Texaco livery a bit silly on something road-car spec, but I've never seen a plain black one. Trouble with the white ones are that the bumpers ALWAYS go yellow with ambient UV light like a 90s PC case.

[FakeConcern]

  On 22/09/2023 at 11:32, flat4alfa said:

Aha!  I just found out the listing you won.  It lived in Chesham, not far from where I am sitting right now.

So in the light of the upset, I am willing to offer to buy it from you for an offer of the winning bid.  Then we can draw a line under the experience.  It would be DAFt not to take me up on this offer.

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It gets worse, on the same evening while not even a bit pissed, I also bid on this

and won!

  On 21/09/2023 at 19:04, flat4alfa said:

In 2023 a DAF Transporter was heard being thrown through a window with lots of swearing at Bexhill on Sea

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and a Ford Transporter through a different window and different swear words! Still Bexhill on Sea though.

 

Lucky Mrs Concern is very handy with the glass cutter and putty...

[FakeConcern]

OK here we go...

 

 

[Jon]

  On 22/09/2023 at 17:40, RoadworkUK said:

 

Finally, I choose to believe that the presence of Matchbox's proprietary keyhole-and-twisty-thing mechanism points to this example possibly having never left its box. I'm tempted not to change that. It goes into my collection of "things I now own that I always wanted", even if I never actually play with it.

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I hope you don't see this as bubble bursting in any way; more the carte blanche opportunity to release the Sierra from it's casing for better perusal. I'm confident this has been unboxed before and put back nice and carefully. The telltale sign to me is the closed door, rather than it proudly left open, to show its play value. That's what the blue hump is there for, to ensure it stays safely open.

I had one of these back in the day, as well as a first issue XR4i in white, which was revealed to have been UTTERLY ruined at the hands of myself and my brother some time in the early 90's, with the aid of Fimo modelling clay and Graffic Traffic permanent markers. Shame, as I really liked it and along with my red Corgi 1/36 Mini Metro (and yellow Corgi Juniors Sierra 2.3GL), it was a very memorable early addition to my toy box.