Shite in Miniature II

[eddyramrod]

1 hour ago, 155V6 said:

Handsome!

Ahem...

Handsome!

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

I got to drive a Fuego back in 1984. When at college I worked at a petrol station in the evenings and weekends and the boss had a X reg gold GTX. AT the time I had an Alfa Giulietta, so the Fuego was a very different car to sit it. The laid back dash kind of gave it a very airy feel, and the seats were those typical futuristic looking Renault items that could be found in contemporary 5s. I remember it being on par for power with my Giulietta, but had a much lighter feel. I did like them and the best looking at the time would have been a black Turbo. 

I remember seeing them all the time and I guess it must have been the best selling FWD Coupe at the time as Renault were always giving generous discounts. It's only competition would have been the Mk2 Scirocco, which was horrible compared the the original.

[Spottedlaurel]

I picked up a non-Police version of the Solido 1/43 Fuego at the French autojumble, just gone back to July to find my photo:

 

[sierraman]

I like the Fuego, you used to see a lot in Spain where I believe you could get them with the 2.1 diesel fitted and an appropriately large bulge for your testes. The ones in the U.K. always seemed really ropey, I think they seemed to appear old hat quite quickly. Occasionally you used to see them with a sort of slatted rear window cover? 

[bunglebus]

Bid on a few eBay lots but only won these - but they're in lovely condition. RO80 is obviously my favourite 

[bunglebus]

New CMC list - can't say I'm entirely enthralled about the James Bond Aston, there's a billion out there in various forms already, and the earlier version of the ice cream van has jumped in front of the Toronado I'm looking forward to more

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

Dug out some stuff that's been hiding for a few years and thought I'd post some up.

So it's time for a game of "What's in the box?"

We'll do the top middle first. It's a Herpa 1/43rd Mercedes-Benz E320 Coupe. The first of the E-Class that was just a face lift of the C124 320 CE.

This example is finished in Blauschwarz (blue black) Metallic with a light tan interior.

Nice bits of detail including the headlamp wipers

The alloys look okay and the rear lenses are the correct style with the tinted white indicators.

There is also the E320 model badge printed on the boot.

These Herpas are not as good as the MiniChamps versions with their opening bonnet and boot lids, but then that makes them more available to those on a budget.

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

14 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

New CMC list - can't say I'm entirely enthralled about the James Bond Aston, there's a billion out there in various forms already, and the earlier version of the ice cream van has jumped in front of the Toronado I'm looking forward to more

 

The Aston is going to be available from Corgi in a special Silver livery. An example can be seen on the latest release video from Corgi. This video also feature two new castings that will be released this year. They are a Mk2 Fiesta, which I am sure will get the Ford collector's going wild. Finally they are doing a new non-Ford, the original Range Rover is being produced with a promise of both 2 and 4-door versions.

However most new stuff is more Fords with only a new Jaguar XJ series 2 and a Rover 75, that was announced 15 years ago, will be being released this quarter.

 

[flat4alfa]

7 hours ago, sierraman said:

I like the Fuego, you used to see a lot in Spain where I believe you could get them with the 2.1 diesel fitted and an appropriately large bulge for your testes. The ones in the U.K. always seemed really ropey, I think they seemed to appear old hat quite quickly. Occasionally you used to see them with a sort of slatted rear window cover? 

Yes they were built for a while at the NW Spain Renault plant at Valladolid

[bunglebus]

34 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

The Aston is going to be available from Corgi in a special Silver livery.

If I've got it right, CMC are doing the 1968 270, the 1968 version which is slightly bigger and was always silver, but Corgi are doing the 261 (original 1965 gold one) in silver, as Corgi should have done in the first place! 

Confusing

[MiniMinorMk3]

27 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

If I've got it right, CMC are doing the 1968 270, the 1968 version which is slightly bigger and was always silver, but Corgi are doing the 261 (original 1965 gold one) in silver, as Corgi should have done in the first place! 

Confusing

CMC did the gold one a while ago, it is 10th on the list you posted. I did not notice that the one you were pointing out was the later 270 with all the extra gadgets. Talk about flogging a dead horse, how many reboxes of that model will Corgi do in the next 10 years?

Meanwhile here's an old picture from when teh original 270 was being made.

[junkyarddog]

20 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Handsome!

Car isn't bad either!🤣

[flat4alfa]

I've still got my Dad's original 270.  It's a shame I played with it as a child and messed it up a bit.  But, hey it could be easily resurrected rather than buy a replacement

So I dug it out.

Original* condition, although I think the Korean baddie figure might be a replacement over the years

Alongside the other two generations of Corgi 007 Bond models

This is what is here: 261 > 270 > 271.  The other 270 size at the back has later wheels?

This the original* 261 Aston Martin, alongside both CMC replicas sent to me

I'm shaken, but not stirred.

[flat4alfa]

7 hours ago, sierraman said:

Occasionally you used to see them with a sort of slatted rear window cover? 

The slatted cover I presumed was on the options list, same as Lancia had for their HPE

Didn't find on the Brochure options page

Or in the Turbo brochure

[Spottedlaurel]

On 08/01/2024 at 17:13, flat4alfa said:

The number plate on the model implies it is a car registered to Département 28

Which is here:

So now you know, the Gendarmerie there did away with emergency roof lights.  Probably

OMG, ringer! My civilian version has the same plate - somewhat amateurish of the thieves to use the ID of a police car....

Dept 28 was the home of the factory: https://maps.app.goo.gl/5dGuiWZPyn1otKNs9

[Nibbler]

Arrived today: A mint and boxed Rover Sterling and a couple of other vehicles. Don’t care much for the E-type convertible, but I do love the coupe. A car for a gentleman. So I grabbed this one cheap, 440 was also cheap as the box was wonky.

[Split_Pin]

6 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

The Aston is going to be available from Corgi in a special Silver livery. An example can be seen on the latest release video from Corgi. This video also feature two new castings that will be released this year. They are a Mk2 Fiesta, which I am sure will get the Ford collector's going wild. Finally they are doing a new non-Ford, the original Range Rover is being produced with a promise of both 2 and 4-door versions.

However most new stuff is more Fords with only a new Jaguar XJ series 2 and a Rover 75, that was announced 15 years ago, will be being released this quarter.

 

That will explain why I never found the 75 in ski blue! I am interested but will wait a while and hope the price comes down.

[Datsuncog]

7 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

It's a Herpa 1/43rd Mercedes-Benz E320 Coupe. The first of the E-Class that was just a face lift of the C124 320 CE.

This example is finished in Blauschwarz (blue black) Metallic with a light tan interior.

Oh, that's interesting - I wasn't aware that Herpa had produced metal 1/43 models, I'd thought they were exclusively HO gauge plastic. Quite nicely done, but agree they're not quite up to Minichamps standards.

 

7 hours ago, bunglebus said:

New CMC list - can't say I'm entirely enthralled about the James Bond Aston, there's a billion out there in various forms already, and the earlier version of the ice cream van has jumped in front of the Toronado I'm looking forward to more.

I was genuinely thrilled to see the 'New Releases for 2024!' email drop this afternoon, but was similarly disappointed once I saw what was on it... so, a different version of the Bond Aston that was previously released, and a slightly different version of the Anglia Ice Cream Van that was previously released?

Hmm. Not all that impressed, I have to say. 

I can only assume that the first version #261 Bond Aston was a strong seller for the online shop, and so there's an expectation that the #270 might do well also... personally, I've only a mild interest in James Bond but I can appreciate that #270 was quite an impressively engineered toy, adding yet more features from the film car such as the revolving number plates and the tyre slashers.

Will I be splashing out for another Bond car in silver, come October time?

Yeah, probably. But I'll be ever-so-slightly peeved.

The inclusion of the #447 Walls Ice Cream Van was unexpected - given that the later #474 Walls Ice Cream Van with working chimes was the model that hooked so many of us back in 2021, as the OMFG £2.99 billy-bargain loss leader.

I find it somewhat difficult to believe that this model was really 'much requested', as claimed in the email - from all the collector suggestions for future models I've read on the CMC Facebook page, literally no-one's been clamouring for a reissue of one that's already been released, only with fewer features.

On the other hand, I can understand that there may be newer collectors coming into the game who weren't around two-and-a-half years ago for the introductory Ice Cream Van - especially since CMC have now started selling club editions to European collectors - and would quite like to have it in their collection too.

But I can't see myself springing the thick end of thirty quid for yet another Anglia ice cream van (I've already two #474 examples from the introductory offer) only this time sans chimes - so the #447 is one which is unlikely to ever cross the Casa DC doorstep.

Pity, because the other 2024 releases set out have been absolutely banging - I'm eagerly anticipating the Golden Jacks Rover P6, the Hillman Hunter rally car, and the VW breakdown truck. The Austin A60 Driving School Car, the Chrysler Imperial, the Ski Club Citroen DS Safari and the Olds Toronado are also ones I'll be glad to add to the collection.

Even the MGA is one I'm kinda looking forward to receiving, despite being a bit basic.

I'll admit, it does make me slightly concerned about the long-term viability of the collection - I can appreciate that selling them to club members at a fixed price does necessitate producing some simpler models (Thunderbird, Merc 300SL) to offset the costs of the bigger and more complex reproductions (Merc 600 Pullman, Superior Ambulance). But with several castings now having been reused in different colours (steering Beetle, Oldsmobile, Chevy Impala) are they finding it increasingly necessary to cut costs to make ends meet?

I really hope not, though it does make me wonder - what is it with this country?

Dan's fantastic recent arrivals from various Mexican and Argentinian partwork collections, plus the French, Polish, Spanish, Russian and even Greek partwork 1/43s I've picked up over the years from Jumajo and others, do make me wonder why similar efforts just don't seem to gain traction in the UK.

Other than the 007 Bond Collection and the Atlas Police Cars collection (using lightly modified Vanguards and Oxford castings), I can't think of any recent partwork collections available to UK collectors that have lasted more than a short while. Even the Atlas Dinky Collection didn't seem to manage more than a few issues - while the French equivalent just seemed to run and run.

I dunno, I just find it hard to believe there are so many more 1/43 diecast collectors in Poland or Mexico than there are in the UK. I mean, Vanguards keep saying that they won't make any more BL, Vauxhall or Rootes models because they just don't sell in the quantities needed to make them viable - and if they did sell, then I'm sure they would make them - but still, I find it hard to wrap my head round it.

[eddyramrod]

It's a mystery to me too, Tim.  I have a couple of partwork Taxis, something we occasionally see here, but I'm dimly aware there's much more to the collection than we ever actually see.  Both of mine date from my time in Cyprus, where the magazines were issued in Greek!  I also have, largely thanks to you yourself, a few of the Polish collection with at least one mag - an amusing novelty but one I doubt I'll ever be able to read.  What are the Europeans doing right to get these things, that we don't seem able to do?

Across the Atlantic things are different again!  I suspect that economy-of-scale comes into play: their domestic market must be enormous.  It's actually still possible over there to find a genuine in-person model shop (or "hobby store" in their version of English) and when you do, it really does feel like walking into Aladdin's cave.  True, Dan and I are some of the (over here) oddballs who like the American cars, but even on AS we're not alone; there are several long-established clubs and some massive shows.  So why don't the likes of Greenlight and Johnny Lightning have a presence here?  Both produce a vast range of models, often screen-influenced, that Brits simply never see.  Surely the success of the Bond partwork points the way to a series of, perhaps, telly detectives' cars in 1/43?  Some have already been done by such as Corgi: S&H Torino, Kojak Buick, etc, but so, so many are simply ignored.  Where is Ironside, with his not-one-but-two wheelchair-adapted Ford vans?  And the plain black Galaxies used by his subordinates?  Where is Frank Cannon's Continental?  Even The Fall Guy's GMC pickup!  The shows were exported, and for the likes of me, growing up in the 60s and 70s, founded and nurtured an enduring love of the cars.  Wouldn't they sell?

Perhaps not, in this Orwellian paradise we seem to have created.

[danthecapriman]

9 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

I really hope not, though it does make me wonder - what is it with this country?

Dan's fantastic recent arrivals from various Mexican and Argentinian partwork collections, plus the French, Polish, Spanish, Russian and even Greek partwork 1/43s I've picked up over the years from Jumajo and others, do make me wonder why similar efforts just don't seem to gain traction in the UK.

Other than the 007 Bond Collection and the Atlas Police Cars collection (using lightly modified Vanguards and Oxford castings), I can't think of any recent partwork collections available to UK collectors that have lasted more than a short while. Even the Atlas Dinky Collection didn't seem to manage more than a few issues - while the French equivalent just seemed to run and run.

I dunno, I just find it hard to believe there are so many more 1/43 diecast collectors in Poland or Mexico than there are in the UK. I mean, Vanguards keep saying that they won't make any more BL, Vauxhall or Rootes models because they just don't sell in the quantities needed to make them viable - and if they did sell, then I'm sure they would make them - but still, I find it hard to wrap my head round it.

I could not have put it better myself!

It’s incredibly frustrating being in the UK and struggling to get things that many other countries seem to have so easily. 
I mean, Mexico!?! Really!?! No disrespect whatsoever to the Mexicans, Argentinians etc etc but how on earth have they managed to get such big well rounded part work collections with magazines!? I just can not fathom how somewhere like México has been deemed as a big enough market for such a series. 

Im utterly convinced I could put together a partwork collection, using entirely existing castings to make say a 50 car collection for something along the lines of ‘Cars of the UK’ basically along the same lines as the Mexico series featuring cars and vans seen on UK roads from the 60’s right through to the early 00’s. In fact given the castings I’ve already got from the other series’s it’d be pretty easy to put together really. There’s so much variety you could include. 
Im sure it’d sell too. You could even get more exposure for it by incorporating another magazine like Practical Classics. I’m sure they’d welcome something like that which would in turn help their magazine sales!? 
You could even do a basic six or twelve months trial, one model with each magazine issue with a common UK car with it.

Nothing particularly ‘out there’ but say, a Ford Sierra Ghia or L in a new colour, Morris Minor, Mini, Renault 4, Austin Montego, Vauxhall Cavalier, Vauxhall Nova, Peugeot 405, Hillman Avenger, Ford Cortina 4 or 5, Ford Consul, there’s even a Citroen Berlingo in the Argentina series… I could go on and on.

It just annoys me how the UK market seems to get completely overlooked and ignored, all we get is a handful of unsold cast offs from the other partworks some time after everyone else.

While I’m in full on rant mode, they (Deagostini or whoever) could easily do a partwork sold here about American cars. Maybe a partnership with Classic American mag?? American cars are popular here, even if it’s just a series of the more common well know stuff. 
Or how about cars from the big screen!? @eddyramrod could probably come up with a great list of interesting screen cars using castings that are ‘off the shelf’. 
Again, I’m positive it’d sell well.

 

[flat4alfa]

10 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Oh, that's interesting - I wasn't aware that Herpa had produced metal 1/43 models, I'd thought they were exclusively HO gauge plastic

Die-cast from the China production contract

Plastic models still made by Herpa Germany at the Playmobil plant

[flat4alfa]

37 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

(Deagostini or whoever) could easily do a partwork sold here about American cars

They have, many times.  Most recently https://www.deagostini.com/uk/collectibles/american-cars  but because of

10 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

don't seem to gain traction in the UK

...they were mail-order only.

Quote

While I’m in full on rant mode

https://www.deagostini.com/uk/suggest-a-collection/

https://uk.hornby.com/careers  😀

[danthecapriman]

21 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

I could not have put it better myself!

It’s incredibly frustrating being in the UK and struggling to get things that many other countries seem to have so easily. 
I mean, Mexico!?! Really!?! No disrespect whatsoever to the Mexicans, Argentinians etc etc but how on earth have they managed to get such big well rounded part work collections with magazines!? I just can not fathom how somewhere like México has been deemed as a big enough market for such a series. 

Im utterly convinced I could put together a partwork collection, using entirely existing castings to make say a 50 car collection for something along the lines of ‘Cars of the UK’ basically along the same lines as the Mexico series featuring cars and vans seen on UK roads from the 60’s right through to the early 00’s. In fact given the castings I’ve already got from the other series’s it’d be pretty easy to put together really. There’s so much variety you could include. 
Im sure it’d sell too. You could even get more exposure for it by incorporating another magazine like Practical Classics. I’m sure they’d welcome something like that which would in turn help their magazine sales!? 
You could even do a basic six or twelve months trial, one model with each magazine issue with a common UK car with it.

Nothing particularly ‘out there’ but say, a Ford Sierra Ghia or L in a new colour, Morris Minor, Mini, Renault 4, Austin Montego, Vauxhall Cavalier, Vauxhall Nova, Peugeot 405, Hillman Avenger, Ford Cortina 4 or 5, Ford Consul, there’s even a Citroen Berlingo in the Argentina series… I could go on and on.

It just annoys me how the UK market seems to get completely overlooked and ignored, all we get is a handful of unsold cast offs from the other partworks some time after everyone else.

While I’m in full on rant mode, they (Deagostini or whoever) could easily do a partwork sold here about American cars. Maybe a partnership with Classic American mag?? American cars are popular here, even if it’s just a series of the more common well know stuff. 
Or how about cars from the big screen!? @eddyramrod could probably come up with a great list of interesting screen cars using castings that are ‘off the shelf’. 
Again, I’m positive it’d sell well.

 

In fact, you know what!? Consider me triggered!!

Give me a few weeks, I’m waiting for yet another parcel!, but once it’s here I will take up my own challenge and come up with a collection of assorted cars and vans from the 60’s to the 00’s of ‘Cars of the UK’s roads’. Only using castings from the other partworks. 
I’ll try to make it as diverse as I can (so not all old Ford’s!) and obviously some might be candidates for different more UK friendly colours if they were to be released here!

[danthecapriman]

4 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

PErh

They have, many times.  Most recently https://www.deagostini.com/uk/collectibles/american-cars  but because of

...they are mail-order only.

https://www.deagostini.com/uk/suggest-a-collection/

https://uk.hornby.com/careers  😀

I’d love to work for Hornby! Either the train side or the Corgi side. Although I suspect I’d get frustrated after a short while being kept on a short leash!

[eddyramrod]

10 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

cars from the big screen!? @eddyramrod could probably come up with a great list of interesting screen cars using castings that are ‘off the shelf’. 

Exactly what I'm already doing upstairs in my workshop, and have been doing for decades!  A little practice with a paintbrush and a 007 Goldfinger Ford Thunderbird can become the green one used by Thelma And Louise.  A Vanguards Hillman Imp just needs issuing in green for Man In A Suitcase back in the 60s; and you only have to look at ebay or Facebook to see how well The Professionals and The Sweeney sell at 1/43.  Minder?  Nobody has issued the silver Jag and white Capri as a tie-in, and why the hell not?  I've had to paint up both cars using Matchbox SpeedKings, but both were all over the opening credits every week for donkeys' years.

What did we get instead?  A Century Of Cars, which seemed to be mostly a way to flog off some old Solido castings with a little help from Corgi.  I bought that series.  Less than half the subject cars were of real interest to me, and supplies became unreliable towards the end.  Something similar happened with the 007 series, except I hadn't signed up to that.  Then there were two Atlas reissues of old Dinky Toys, in quick succession!  

I think the subscription business-model is wrong.  If the issues were available among other car mags in Asda and Tesco, a new one every month just like PC, wouldn't they fly off the shelves?  It would seem the manufacturers have decided not.

@danthecapriman You and me both!

[flat4alfa]

17 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

the train side

Announced yesterday

[eddyramrod]

@flat4alfa I've sent this to De Agostini using the link you posted!

In common with several of my friends, I have a vast collection of 1/43 (approx) model cars.  I grew up watching the spy and detective series on television, going all the way back to Z-Cars and The Avengers.  For decades I have modified and painted various models to replicate the cars used on-screen in many of these shows, but even I still have glaring gaps.  There are many existing castings of UK-market and US-market cars that could be used with minimal investment; simply a new colour will suffice for many.  Issuing each with a magazine should not be difficult!  There is a wealth of information available on the world's television habits and I'm sure that behind-the-scenes information and photos would also be easy enough for a dedicated team to track down.
I know there have been models issued from time to time relating to assorted series; I can think of at least two issues of a Ford Zephyr 6 mk3 in white, for Z-Cars, for example, one current, one in-period.  But the only such collection that I know of that has been offered as a unified series is the James Bond Collection - which was splendid in some ways, but a fierce letdown in others, with some glaring omissions and errors, and worse, endless repititions of the famous DB5.
Thank you for your attention. 

I added my email in case they decide to chat a bit...

 

[danthecapriman]

5 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Announced yesterday

Yeah, I got an email from them with that announcement.

Sad really. I’ve been a customer of theirs for yonks. Loads of my model railway stuff came from them. It’s a sign of the times though I think, sadly. 
Declining interest in such hobbies and the obvious problems the high street in general is suffering. Cost of living doesn’t help either as hobbies are something that gets cut back in times of hardship.

Its a massive shame for all the staff too.

[danthecapriman]

Here’s the Sierra I’ve been doing.

I did chip a tiny bit of the front bumper though, so I’ll let the red cure then fill the chip before painting the bumpers grey. 
The red I had turned out to be Ford radiant red, not cardinal red, but whatever… reds red right!?

Ive had to stop for now though. The cold out in the shed is a bit much! 
I had to go get a new strip light and install that in there too which I’d rather not of had to do given the intention to move. It was way too dark to do anything though.

I started taking these (Argentina series!) apart too. 
Blue one is a Ford F100, green is an F150. Both early 80’s trucks.

The blue one is pretty easy to get here, so I’ve got a few. This one’s going to be a simple repaint. 
Green ambulance will lose the (imho oversized!) box body and get a US style scratch built utility truck rear body. 
I’ve got another of the ambulance which I fancy doing as a tilt bed recovery truck.

[RoadworkUK]

Everything's shit, isn't it?

I find myself exceptionally grateful that I've amassed the collection I have. I'm not far short of being able to regard my 1:18s as "attic finds"; I see them each so irregularly that every time is a like a rediscovery. Great thing about that is that they give me continuing joy, and that's the whole point. And revisiting stuff you've already got is a damn sight cheaper than lining the scalpers' pockets.

I don't mind admitting just how important and valued @Datsuncog's St George's Market visitations have been when it comes to sating my appetite for fresh, boxed diecast without sending my wallet into a spiralling depression.  Model buses aren't something I need (at all), but they've always been something I've liked, and anything interesting that's crisp, boxed and to all intents and purposes, new, for a fiver (or two fivers) is seriously difficult to resist.

Fact is, that rush just doesn't crop up in my usual life any more. Time was I could regularly score a tantalising 1:18 bargain on a random day out. Visits to Norwich would include lengthy stays at Langleys, which is now a poor shadow of its former self (although I daresay the proprietor is doing the very best they can). That's where I bought several of my AutoArt models for student-friendly levels of cash. Today, all they can muster is the usual Maisto-type stuff at decidedly non-bargainous prices. Model Zone is sadly missed, too; their branch at Bluewater used to make family shopping excursions that much more bearable, and I was delighted to find one in Brighton on the first of our now-traditional annual Christmas shopping trips there back in 2015. Long gone now, of course.

In fact, I don't think there's a single shop within a 40-mile radius of my village that regularly stocks a decent selection of 1:18 cars or anything other than Hotwheels and Matchbox. WE Wass, Beatties, Williams and Griffin in Colchester – all now either gone or taken over, and none having the least inclination to serve the interests of model car fans. 

Chalk it up as another victory for the internet.