Shite in Miniature II

[danthecapriman]

I still absolutely love that big Chevy Suburban! As old as it is now, it’s still got a great look about it and the size of it gives it some presence too.

The Torino and Transit did indeed look most excellent after they’re scrub up.

I think that haul was the highlight of a great year’s Tat Friday for me.

[bunglebus]

  On 29/12/2023 at 11:10, Datsuncog said:

a whole rake of wrongly-boxed but otherwise very nice 1990s/00s Majorette models

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Forgot that was this year - the red MK2 Golf is a rarity I'm glad to have acquired too

[Datsuncog]

August, then... a cornucopia of Lesney showed up early in the month, to the delight of many:

Though once again, the box had been comprehensively Nemesis'd by the time I got in.

Not that I'm at all jealous...

Some bigger, older stuff did show up too:

This big Dinky Bedford TK dustcart was very handsome, if annoyingly incomplete, though the Corgi Quad Tractor was simply lovely - and in very decent nick, with shells etc still present,

I was mildly distressed to be out-Nemesis'd on this luvverly Datsun:

Price optimism continued in some quarters:

And I wrapped up the month by going clean buck daft at the final car boot sale of the season, and picking up far too many diecast because they were like five for a pound or something.

Tonka Ford Maverick wasn't bad, for 20p.

Final wrap at the end of the days appeared thusly:

Phew!

[bunglebus]

Just received another unsolicited delivery of Hot Wheels 

The mystery machine Batmobile the other week was a Christmas present from my daughter as it turns out, no idea why I've been sent these two

[AndyW201]

This year's Tat Friday hauls for me, kindly grabbed my Mr Cog were the gaily coloured Vanguards XJ12 avèc whitewalls,

One I've always fancied, just because the colour scheme stands out so much from the more soberly coloured releases.

Very happy with the condition too, especially at a fraction of the price that eBay optimists price them at.

"Zoe", the Pat Moss A40 rally car. Some nice detailing on this one, especially the Sprite style steel wheels, extra lights and rally plates,

The Majorette K12 Micra. I like diecasts of bog standard, everyday cars that nobody really bothers with, something Majorette have always done really well.

It's always nice to discover a Matchbox casting, from what I call a peak period for them, that I never knew existed. So I was chuffed to get this tidy Mercedes w140. A bonus was that it came in an incorrect blister pack for an R129 SL, which provided a more appropriate home for a very tidy  loose SL

that I had bought earlier (from @danthecapriman if my memory serves me right).

Another sought after Matchbox for me from that golden era was the Saab 9000, which Tim had nabbed for himself but kindly let me have,

Also from a Tat Friday expedition came two Flying Customs that I needed to complete the set with the ones I had already got from B&M.

Many thanks to Tim for procuring these for me and for making my Friday mornings, in Aberdeen waiting to get my truck unloaded, much more cheerful!

[Datsuncog]

Into September, soft autumnal rains were a-pattering - and I was in MOT hell with the Yaris and its ever-fussy brakes, leading to a fair bit of difficulty in getting some Tat Friday action.

Steep pricing meant some things were rather dearer than any of us might have hoped, though while £10 for a Model of Yesteryear is likely a bit steep, some of the bigger Corgi Classics seemed reasonably affordable at that price point:

Weirdly, the Tat Stall had obtained some new Corgi retoolings of older models, being punted out at a tenner a go - less than half the price than you'd buy them from Corgi's own shop.

I did manage to procure this rather appealing 'Ramone's House of Body Art' playset building, from the Disney Pixar 'Cars' franchise, for a mere quid at the Charity Stall.

It'll end up with the nieces at some point, no doubt, but I'm just - ahem - looking after it for now.

Other fairly decent stuff popped up there, too:

I remained unfeasibly pleased with this 50p Majorette chip van, for reasons I still can't fathom.

And Cash Converters on Bridge St came up with an astonishing assortment of boxed 70s Lesneys - which were tragically not mint, but still kinda good value at a fiver a go.

Happy with these.

Some rather nice Vanguards appeared at the fairly reasonable price of three for £20...

Good news for Granada fans.

Towards the end of the month, some of the older stuff reappeared, but prices fluctuated maddeningly between £5 and £10...

This big Corgi Mack pleased me a lot, too.

Friday Tat Hauls this month included:

[Datsuncog]

October brought with it rather darker mornings for the tat forays, as might be expected...

And also more buses, again.

Is there a correlation?

Although Market Blokey was absent at the start of the month, some older stuff showed up later on...

Including CUSTOMZ

And models as full of rubbish as their real-life counterparts.

And yet more repro stuff, at attractively low prices.

And some display-unfriendly Franklin Mint models.

This Rambler Ambassador, with all-opening doors, was something of an oddity I couldn't pass up:

And I nearly bimbled off without this hard-to-find Hot Wheels Porsche 935, which is one of their collector-baiting Chase Cars...

Luckily the Emergency Tat Channel raised the alarm, and it was secured for @bunglebus.

I also couldn't resist this Capri from the same range either.

The Nemesis kindly gifted me a box lid for a Corgi GS/24 Constructor Gift Set

The Tat-Trading days closed like this...

Crumbs!

[Tenmil Socket]

Who did this go to? The thing of nightmares...

[Datsuncog]

November brought some more nice finds of the older persuasion:

Which, in turn, yielded one of the year's top finds...

Yup, this beauteous little Fiat 850 by Mercury.

Y'know what, this gets my vote for Find Of The Year.

I surprised myself be becoming actually quite enamoured with this little Corgi Jeep FC150, a casting I previously felt very little affection for.

Though the good stuff dried up towards the end of the month...

Yet even then, The Nemesis sold me a few Spot-On, so there was still fun to be had.

Other stalls had some interesting stuff, too.

But there was still some bounty to be had - the month's purchases looked like this:

And finally, to the year's end...

[Datsuncog]

December!

Cold 'n' frosty... but there were Tat Boxes to warm us (even if the market was bloody freezing).

Plus some absolute dross.

But this spinny Norev Laguna was surely a pretty good find, for a mere £3.

I should have picked this up, though.

And this.

This massive motorised Rolls Royce really tickled me, despite being not the sort of thing I'd generally want...

But it was amazing. I'm sure I'll never see another.

Regrets, hey?

And a delivery of the more recent Hot Wheels cases finally dropped, locally.

And to see the old year out, purchasing looked like this:

And so went the year... thanks to you all for sharing it with me! Great to see these little toys go on, and spread a bit of happiness and fun throughout this cold ol' world...

Until next time, kids - Happy Friday. And Happy 2024 to us all.

[Tenmil Socket]

An Instagram post I've just spotted says there's a double page spread in the centre of todays Daily Mirror about Matchbox.

[MiniMinorMk3]

  On 29/12/2023 at 16:03, Datsuncog said:

Yup, this beauteous little Fiat 850 by Mercury.

Y'know what, this gets my vote for Find Of The Year.

 

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That Fiat gets my vote to.

[Split_Pin]

  On 29/12/2023 at 16:19, Datsuncog said:

Great to see these little toys go on, and spread a bit of happiness and fun throughout this cold ol' world...

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I couldn't agree more. Thanks as always for being the broadcaster of this ray of light every Friday. I appreciate you are also juggling work commitments that day (remembering again the Kirk Mercedes bus occurrence 😂)  and home renovations at the weekend. Yet the wee motors always get through. You have definitely made a difference to most of the regulars in this thread via Tat Friday. Thanks Tim. I hope you have a happy New Year.

As a side note, I'd just like to highlight, in case anyone was wondering, you can fit TWO Lesneys inside a 1/18 X Type Jaguar. Ingenious efficiency in surreptitious packaging. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

Here's the last in the short series of catalogues scans. I might discover others in the next few months that I have forgotten about, but most of the ctalogues I have relate to 1/43rd scale stuff from teh 1980s, 1990s and the Naughties.

This is going to be a bit of a comparison  as it is the British issue 1977 Solido Catalogue.

First thing we notice is this one has a date.

Then we see pictures of the actual models, and there were 55 car models in the 1977 collection.

But Solido seem to have changed what they model. Back in'67 it was mostly prestige sports cars and racing cars with generalised liveries.

No it's mostly every day French chod and models of actual race cars from actual events.

New issues are still seen as artists impressions.

And there's a few that I don't think actually escaped the factory, like the driving school 104 and the R5 Alpine.

The truck range has expanded but the cost cutting is evident from the generic wheels.

A lot of European makes are included, which we did not get from Dinky or Corgi

They still persisted with the L'age d'or for the giffer collectors'

The military collection has expanded and it looks like you could re-enact all the fronts on the lounge carpet.

Look at that Berliet transported and trailer. Imagine that loaded up with a selection including an R5, R12, R14, R17, R18, and R30.

Small gift sets with various trailers

Military Gift Sets

And finally those 1/32nd scale construction sets with some 1/43 caravanning sets

This catalogue was issued by Modeltime in the UK. They were based in Croydon and were one of teh biggest wholesalers of imported diecast. They were based in Croydon and used to have a retail shop that I visited in the early 1990's. I remember seeing practically the whole of the Brumm range there, including some odd colour variations.

I do not know anything of teh retail Seagull Model of 18 Exhibition Road SW7.

Modeltime commissioned models from the likes of Brumm, Bang/Box/Best and Vitesse for the UK market.

[Split_Pin]

Lovely, I do like these catalogue scans. It's an absolute tragedy that Solidos of this era are not popular with collectors. I used to have quite a few 1970s mint and boxed items but I had to give them away in the end, such a shame. I'm glad I kept 3 of them though, especially the Renault 12 estate.

The Century of Cars range I was given (that has to be the occurrence of the year, diecast-wise for me!) has some nice 1970s reissues such as the Fiat X1/9, Porsche 928 and Alpine Renault. Even their L'age D'or range are detailed and have interesting subjects that you could at least find in books rather than yet another generic beer or tea-liveried Model T.

[barrett]

Amazing they still had stocks of Maxicars they were trying to flog in 1977! Pretty sure the range came out in 1972, maybe even a bit earlier, and by all accounts they sold terribly. Still looking for the Opel if anyone ever sees one...

[bunglebus]

Delivery just arrived, containing a job lot I wanted, really for just one car - a Majorette Jaguar E type. I had one but it was somewhat playworn

This one's much nicer - bonus leaping cat on the bonnet 

[Split_Pin]

That's a new one on me!

[bunglebus]

  On 28/10/2023 at 12:12, bunglebus said:

A while back I was on a bit of a mission trying to find all the different Corgi Mazda B1600s. Don't ask me why cos I don't know.

Anyway I only had one version to track down, and a good one appeared for sale

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Ah foolish child. Yet again I think I've found every single possible version of the B1600, and another rears its head - so of course I have to have it

I'm working on the theory that this particular livery only came in this set?

I already have the Porsche in both green and orange, but mint in box is always a nice thing

[andrew e]

@Datsuncog Thats a fantastic review of the year, and its nice to see I scored on quite a few months! Interesting to see that on Fridays I missed where actual real life got in the way (!) there were quite a few “I wish I’d got in first” moments - jealous moi - of course not 😉

I would add for those of you who love a tat Friday, scan this calendar and pencil in some day outs for yourself, maybe pick somewhere close your other half wouldn’t mind visiting after too 😇 you will be allowed to spend more 😂

https://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/eventSMT/y2024/m1

[Spottedlaurel]

  On 29/12/2023 at 18:10, andrew e said:

I would add for those of you who love a tat Friday, scan this calendar and pencil in some day outs for yourself, maybe pick somewhere close your other half wouldn’t mind visiting after too 😇 you will be allowed to spend more 😂

https://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/eventSMT/y2024/m1

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I had a look just yesterday and was surprised and also pleased to find there's one up in Norwich today, so I shall be tootling up there soon in the Carina E (it feels right to be in that, just the sort of thing I'd hope to see in the car park there).

[eddyramrod]

There was one at Bolton yesterday, my nearest of any worthwhile size.  I didn't go.  Real life got in the way, as so often.

[cms206]

Finally managed to turn up a Saga (or 3... and half a dozen Matchbox 240s... ) at The Entertainer in Buchanan Galleries!!!

[bunglebus]

@NorfolkNWeigh talking about the Café Hag Majorette VW van prompted me to scuttle off to eBay and see if there were any interesting ones available.

Found a better "Service Autoroute" version

I also bid on this mint in sealed blister Alme Peugeot 

Unfortunately it decided to unseal itself from the very thin, brittle blister in transit - can't blame the seller, it would have happened however it was packed I think.

Allows me to get it out without feeling guilty at least

[Tenmil Socket]

Can anyone tell me the best place to search for upcoming local toy fairs?

[junkyarddog]

Picked up a couple of these Kadett C  Coupes,decided to let Smoll Eddy wheels swap one.

Do you like orange Smoll Eddy?

"Only a Chocolate orange M8"

 

[Spottedlaurel]

/\ That orange Kadett looks excellent! I got an extra one a little while ago to do something similar, and I've now got spare copies of the Alfa GTV and puple Datsun estate with the nice 4-spoke wheels.

Toy fair reportage to come. Not big but managed to get quite a bit for not much.

[Split_Pin]

  On 30/12/2023 at 12:16, bunglebus said:

@NorfolkNWeigh talking about the Café Hag Majorette VW van prompted me to scuttle off to eBay and see if there were any interesting ones available.

Found a better "Service Autoroute" version

I also bid on this mint in sealed blister Alme Peugeot 

Unfortunately it decided to unseal itself from the very thin, brittle blister in transit - can't blame the seller, it would have happened however it was packed I think.

Allows me to get it out without feeling guilty at least

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Cor that Peugeot is a cracker.

[bunglebus]

Proton progress

This one has been a pain in the trousers, masking up the black strip on the rear bumper especially. Tried to go for maximum detail including painting the cast-in washer jets and third brake light. 

Had a mare with the first can of paint as the spray pattern was similar to putting your thumb over a hose, and it went all bubbly after drying the second coat. Luckily the base was OK as it wouldn't have been easy to strip off plastic.

Only thing I'd like to change is the oversize steel wheels, hopefully I can find some more realistic aftermarket versions

[MiniMinorMk3]

  On 29/12/2023 at 18:10, andrew e said:

@Datsuncog Thats a fantastic review of the year, and its nice to see I scored on quite a few months! Interesting to see that on Fridays I missed where actual real life got in the way (!) there were quite a few “I wish I’d got in first” moments - jealous moi - of course not 😉

I would add for those of you who love a tat Friday, scan this calendar and pencil in some day outs for yourself, maybe pick somewhere close your other half wouldn’t mind visiting after too 😇 you will be allowed to spend more 😂

https://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/eventSMT/y2024/m1

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  On 30/12/2023 at 13:01, Tenmil Socket said:

Can anyone tell me the best place to search for upcoming local toy fairs?

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andrew e posted an excellent yesterday.

If you click this link it takes you to the events title page

Swapmeets and Toyfairs on The UK Model Shop Directory (ukmodelshops.co.uk)