Shite in Miniature II

[flat4alfa]

Can confirm, yes Puma was soley a German Ford Cologne plant car, European market only

[Datsuncog]

On 30/12/2023 at 14:30, Datsuncog said:

Also noticed that Poundland are now offering out Hot Wheels mainlines for a quid, with something called Poundland Perks - which I'll assume is a loyalty card or app or something, like the increasingly infamous Tesco Clubcard Price or Nectar Prices in supermarkets.

There was no additional info to be found about the Perks in store, and there was nothing I really wanted off the pegs, but if anyone's planning bulk-buys, it's something to be aware of! Cheapest in town, for sure.

 

On 30/12/2023 at 14:57, bunglebus said:

Perks is an app just for NI and IOW apparently!

Had another look around online, and apparently Poundland Perks is a loyalty app - it soft-launched in the autumn at stores on the Isle of Wight, then rolled out to Northern Ireland stores in mid-November. 

But the plan seems to be that it'll launch across the UK before too long:

"The scheme has already been trialled in the four stores the firm has on the Isle of Wight and today the second stage of its UK-wide pre-launch will take place when it goes live in 41 stores across Northern Ireland. It then expects it to roll out across the rest of the UK next year."

https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/poundland-announces-rewards-scheme-offering-28124725

So maybe worth keeping an eye out. £1 for Hot Wheels mainlines might appeal to those of us who still can't quite shake the excitement of being an eight-year-old in a toyshop...

[Datsuncog]

On the topic of Mattel products... had a quick scuttle through the toy aisle at Tesco a few days ago, but was left mildly deflated.

Hot Wheels mainlines are back up in price, but the tub is down to the dregs.

Seems the Deora III remains a less than popular choice in the range.

All seasonal reductions on Matchbox singles have now been rescinded, and they're back up to full whack too.

Seems to be a general mix in here of 2023's greatest hits - some from the most recent case release, some from almost a year ago.

Multipacks are on offer again though, it seems.

I like Matchbox; I always have done, even though quality took a bit of a nosedive during the Tyco years. While case selections are always something of a mixed bag, I think some of their recent releases have been remarkably good in terms of subject matter and renderings. It's been nice to find them in Poundland, B&M, Home Bargains and Poundstretcher (even if the latter seem to bring in older stock as grey imports).

Things may change in 2024, if retailers like The Entertainer decide not to bother with them any more - I've no doubt the distributor may have over-egged the pudding rather when describing how the 70th Anniversary models would simply fly off the shelves.

But I'll probably still be nosing around the shelves wherever possible...

[Datsuncog]

But anyway...

[bunglebus]

5 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Things may change in 2024, if retailers like The Entertainer decide not to bother with them any more

There's going to be an announcement on Monday about Entertainer taking over the toy department in all Tescos, rather than just a few select few at present 

[flat4alfa]

[Datsuncog]

Right then... a damp old morning, but we're here for it.

Corolla Patrol - up and at 'em.

Quiet inside...

But - the Tat Stall is open for 2024.

With trucks!

Lotsa trucks.

I spent a happy few minutes trying to match up the tractor units with the trailers as best I could - rather a lot of waifs and strays, but I tried to at least pair the correct manufacturers together.

Playart trailer lacked the Scania it would have originally come with, more's the pity.

Corgi Superhaulers Volvo in Code 2 Kays Catalogue livery was secured for @Split_Pin

Ford CH truck is by Winross - I think this matches with the circus trailer spied a few weeks back.

Smaller scale trucks were variously by Grell and High Speed.

Renault Magnum by Grell an unusual one.

But there was more...

[flat4alfa]

Yup.  Centenary of Reithoffer's Circus release.  How did it end up there..

But I don't want it, sorry

[Datsuncog]

A small tin of (mostly) Spot-On drew my eye...

But at £20 a throw - and £60 for the boxed but by no means mint ADO16 - they may well stay there.

I'd quite like a Landcrab, but this one had a broken front bumper and rather serious suspension woes (just like the real thing). The windscreen had been punched out, too.

Corgi Mercedes ambulance in Falck colours was appealing, but also priced at £20 - with a missing box insert - so I couldn't quite justify it.

Pity.

Matchbox Dinkies with some damage to the boxes not too bad at £5, though.

Vanguards and Oxford Diecast 1/43 were a tenner, though.

As was the Morse Daimler/ Jaguar.

(Fight it out in your own time)

Other stuff was also available - 1960s & early '70s MoYs, for example...

Plus lots of Days Gone: £2 in a box...

...£1 with no box.

If you must.

Plenty more where those came from...

[flat4alfa]

Paging @eddyramrod

[AndyW201]

Vanguards Astra please. What was the other Vanguards Vauxhall Tim?

[Datsuncog]

Some real rarities did show up, though.

This lovely big tinplate Mercedes 250SE, for one.

Probably about 1/15 scale, friction drive, with no maker indicated anywhere that I could see.

£80 asked.

And another one!

This one's battery operated, with one of those twin-wheeled bogeys mounted at the front to make it drive erratically all over the place.

Doesn't look like it's had much in the way of hard play, as the mirrors and aerial are still intact - I doubt they'd have lasted five minutes in the hands of an over-enthusiastic six-year-old.

Also £80 asking. But it's lovely.

And this Beetle...

Even larger in scale than the Mercedes - 1/14, maybe? - but again battery operated, and in full working order. The base just says 'Volkswagen - Made In Japan'.

With a transparent engine cover, and an engine with moving parts!

Working lights too, and it drives.

Market Blokey was happy to demo it for me - I've a (very) short video which I'll post up later NOW ADDED!!

But - ooft! - £200 asking price.

I don't doubt it's worth it; I just don't have it.

More affordable - but looking decidedly smol and bashed, in such illustrious company - is the plastic Silver Cloud, which seemingly couldn't find a buyer at £10 last time.

Also on the more affordable bracket was this somewhat more humble tinplate fire chief car - based on a Ford, maybe?

All we get is that it was made in Hong Kong.

[Datsuncog]

39 minutes ago, AndyW201 said:

Vanguards Astra please. What was the other Vanguards Vauxhall Tim?

The other one was a two-tone pink Cresta PA - annoyingly loose in the box and a bit damaged.

I nearly bought the Astra, thinking it was a fiver, but put it back when he said it was £10. But happy to go back if you fancy it!

[Datsuncog]

9 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Paging @eddyramrod

Secured. 😉

[bunglebus]

27 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

My First Matchbox Astra in there

[flat4alfa]

22 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

This one's battery operated, with one of those twin-wheeled bogeys mounted at the front to make it drive erratically all over the place.

Should have maker's name Itchiko on parcel shelf

[Datsuncog]

15 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

My First Matchbox Astra in there

Indeed - wee bit worn though, so I left it for today...

[Tenmil Socket]

32 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Some real rarities did show up, though.

This lovely big tinplate Mercedes 250SE, for one.

Probably about 1/15 scale, friction drive, with no maker indicated anywhere that I could see.

£80 asked.

And another one!

This one's battery operated, with one of those twin-wheeled bogeys mounted at the front to make it drive erratically all over the place.

Doesn't look like it's had much in the way of hard play, as the mirrors and aerial are still intact - I doubt they'd have lasted five minutes in the hands of an over-enthusiastic six-year-old.

Also £80 asking. But it's lovely.

And this Beetle...

Even larger in scale than the Mercedes - 1/14, maybe? - but again battery operated, and in full working order. The base just says 'Volkswagen - Made In Japan'.

With a transparent engine cover, and an engine with moving parts!

Working lights too, and it drives.

Market Blokey was happy to demo it for me - I've a short video which I'll post up later.

But - ooft! - £200 asking price.

I don't doubt it's worth it; I just don't have it.

More affordable - but looking decidedly smol and bashed, in such illustrious company - is the plastic Silver Cloud, which seemingly couldn't find a buyer at £10 last time.

Also on the more affordable bracket was this tinplate fire chief car - based on a Ford, maybe?

All we get is that it was made in Hong Kong.

That red Merc is tremendous!

[flat4alfa]

31 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Even larger in scale than the Mercedes - 1/14, maybe? - but again battery operated, and in full working order. The base just says 'Volkswagen - Made In Japan'.

With a transparent engine cover, and an engine with moving parts!

Working lights too, and it drives.

Sold under Kingsize brand

This is a variation with sunroof and different wheels

[AndyW201]

33 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

The other one was a two-tone pink Cresta PA - annoyingly loose in the box and a bit damaged.

I nearly bought the Astra, thinking it was a fiver, but put it back when he said it was £10. But happy to go back if you fancy it!

If you don't mind Tim, thanks. £10 is about the going rate for one of those nowadays, and the box looks better than on most. Looks like it still has the mirrors and aerial too, which is rare...

[Datsuncog]

12 minutes ago, AndyW201 said:

If you don't mind Tim, thanks. £10 is about the going rate for one of those nowadays, and the box looks better than on most. Looks like it still has the mirrors and aerial too, which is rare...

Yes, it all looks to be complete and undamaged - now safely stashed in my Big Bag o'Tat for you!

[Datsuncog]

Crawling around under the stall for a bit yielded not very much else...

BMW was loose in its packaging and had sustained some damage. All the writing on the underside appeared to be in Chinese - possibly a dealer model, though?

Bburago Porsche looked quite nice, though not necessarily £20 nice.

Surprised to see this looking so clean...

Before I twigged, it's a modern reproduction...

As is this ECTO-1:

Small print shows it's a 2021 reissue; I was kinda tempted as Cog Minor got one of these for Christmas in about 1990 or so, but I think he might look at me a bit weird if I presented him with a box-fresh one.

(He's something of a collector too, as it happens, but his passion is original Roman coins - not rubbishy market stall tat like me.)

Speaking of Christmas...

Someone's long-ago excitement, still to be seen all these years later.

Ah now.

Time for a coffee, methinks...

[sierraman]

The Bburago Porsche brings back some memories I had the 1:43 one in the same colour as one of my first cars. 

[Datsuncog]

Not a huge amount to be seen elsewhere - some Hot Wheels mainlines on the Irish Tat stall...

And Premiums.

Some 'Small Toy Car':

No idea what the tampo declaring 'NameIt' is all about.

Some new stock on Optimistic Bobby's table, too...

Unpriced, but likely somewhat over the odds...

Land Rover is a bit unusual - I probably should have looked closer at it. Lone Star, possibly?

Not a great deal of new stock over at Alan's Emporium either:

Mostly just cheap tat.

Ah well - some good stuff to be had, but hopefully there'll be better days ahead!

The Nemesis did show up, although only after 9 (by which time I was on my second pass) - he couldn't resist the two big tinplate Mercs, and also took the Corgi Mobile Shop, the Spot-On Austin 1800, a plastic Hong King rendering of Thunderbird 2, and also the big East German plastic tractor set from a few weeks back...

It was a mighty bundle of notes he handed over.

Jealous, moi?

[Tenmil Socket]

20 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Not a huge amount to be seen elsewhere - some Hot Wheels mainlines on the Irish Tat stall...

And Premiums.

Some 'Small Toy Car':

No idea what the tampo declaring 'NameIt' is all about.

Some new stock on Optimistic Bobby's table, too...

Unpriced, but likely somewhat over the odds...

Land Rover is a bit unusual - I probably should have looked closer at it. Lone Star, possibly?

Not a great deal of new stock over at Alan's Emporium either:

Mostly just cheap tat.

Ah well - some good stuff to be had, but hopefully there'll be better days ahead!

The Nemesis did show up, although only after 9 (by which time I was on my second pass) - he couldn't resist the two big tinplate Mercs, and also took the Corgi Mobile Shop, the Spot-On Austin 1800, a plastic Hong King rendering of Thunderbird 2, and also the big East German plastic tractor set from a few weeks back...

It was a mighty bundle of notes he handed over.

Jealous, moi?

I wonder how he reached a value of £200 for the Beetle?

 

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, Tenmil Socket said:

I wonder how he reached a value of £200 for the Beetle?

One of those enduring mysteries, no doubt... if he picked it up at auction, chances are £200 = whatever he paid + his usual margin; though he did say that if it didn't sell at £200, he'd just keep it for himself cos he liked it so much... and I can totally see why.

[Tenmil Socket]

11 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

One of those enduring mysteries, no doubt... if he picked it up at auction, chances are £200 = whatever he paid + his usual margin; though he did say that if it didn't sell at £200, he'd just keep it for himself cos he liked it so much... and I can totally see why.

Is he a collector himself?

[Datsuncog]

10 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Is he a collector himself?

Not sure - I'd guess he'd have to have some interest/ knowledge in collectables in order to trade in them, but he's told me several times that he has no particular interest in diecast vehicles personally; they just sell well for him. He does sell a lot of china and glassware elsewhere on the stall.

This approach seems to be a double-edged sword, as while we've at times done pretty well to secure rarities at a very good price, at other times the pricing seems to be waaaay too expensive for some very meh models.

Maybe tinplate's his thing, or maybe he'll just make an exception for the Beetle? It is quite something to behold...

[MiniMinorMk3]

17 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

‘Cars of Argentina’ or something similar was the collection/series. Always a magazine with a model…

 

…but always in Spanish!

There seems to be quite a lot of issue numbers to them, but I can’t find a full list of all the cars anywhere.

Theres a similar ‘Memorable cars of Mexico’ series, and some kind of Spanish one too. But again, I can’t find any lists of all the cars.

I keep looking for them and occasionally you turn up a new model you didn’t know about, but so far no Puma. Which is a pity given they did a Focus and Fiesta of the same era. 
Lots of them seem to be castings from other manufacturers though, mostly IXO, Greenlight etc so might be worth trying those makes too.

Edit; there’s a Minichamps/Maxichamps one.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255724466944?hash=item3b8a5db300:g:bicAAOSwG69jIFtU&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwICETQ76Vum2eNljd2W99vO2nQQKdojY%2FCG3eo33A%2B7tZsB6EDJQ7L0ooJ4zvWkfYkwdJKJPZfZZfvSI4Bh3e8HY2XmLSXAy7YJQ%2BZuLWUtssC73hd%2Fc04jF3O7cRYotiaymlGjtvqk36LAdhbNbjIofn%2BqUEZJkBQ5He3qvjpUtKkO4vPHpKThi0MKnzCCs%2FuhkBGbl9AvxaXt1vx%2B8myAwwi5R8IsA6dJUfrxfJULwLRgpLJaM4EE1L7ULCOfmHA%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR9KO4t-aYw

 

 

Some info here...

Unforgettable Argentinian Cars (salvat.com)

and a link to their facebook page. I guess if you scan through that you will find all the cars issued so far.

Autos Inolvidables Argentinos Salvat | Facebook

The time line photos is full of the cars issued.

Facebook

The latest offering are

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 01/01/2024 at 12:46, MiniMinorMk3 said:

I've no idea if anyone else does this to over come the problem of opening model boxes. You know the one with the inner and outer flaps that have small cuts on the outer flaps so they stay shut.

Well I get my little screw driver and place it inside the outer flap...

and pull. So no more torn or creased flaps.

No doubt someone will think of a smutty innuendo.

i use a smoll pair of scissors with flat blades