Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

Ooh, there's a postie WOMAN at my door. She brings goodies from Modelmatic:

There was only really one car in the set I wanted but they weren't selling individual cars. The Mrs suggested I buy the set and sell the others on. I'll probably keep the Porsche...and this

[Datsuncog]

The snow's getting a bit melty around here, so my last chance for some more OFF ROAD YO antics, on a small scale.

1/43 scale, to be precise.

Just a pair of Hongwell Land Rovers I happened to have to hand.

SIII LWB pickup is quite a nice little thing, with opening doors and posable front wheels.

Defender wagon is maybe slightly better detailed, but has no opening bits to amuse this simpleton.

This can only end in disaster.

Just as well the pond ice is pretty thick.

I know I've a snow plough somewhere, but I just can't find it right now...

[bunglebus]

 

[Split_Pin]

33 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

The snow's getting a bit melty around here, so my last chance for some more OFF ROAD YO antics, on a small scale.

1/43 scale, to be precise.

Just a pair of Hongwell Land Rovers I happened to have to hand.

SIII LWB pickup is quite a nice little thing, with opening doors and posable front wheels.

Defender wagon is maybe slightly better detailed, but has no opening bits to amuse this simpleton.

This can only end in disaster.

Just as well the pond ice is pretty thick.

I know I've a snow plough somewhere, but I just can't find it right now...

That Series 3 (?) old-style Land Rover model looks great. I've been after a decent representation of a Land Rover for a while but don't fancy paying £££s for a good condition Britains item so I'm away to look on ebay for a Hongwell one- lovely!

The snow never really materialised here yesterday so no hot 4x4 diecast sno  kaos for me

[Spottedlaurel]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

There was only really one car in the set I wanted but they weren't selling individual cars. The Mrs suggested I buy the set and sell the others on. I'll probably keep the Porsche...and this

Just asking, how much would the Celica and Accord be please?

P.S. Anglia looks ace!

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

I've been after a decent representation of a Land Rover for a while but don't fancy paying £££s for a good condition Britains item so I'm away to look on ebay for a Hongwell one- lovely!

They're decent enough wee models - and shouldn't be too hard to track down.

I liked this one as it looks like a farm hack; but there are a load of other versions in the range, including Police, Fire & Rescue, Royal Mail, safari, British Telecom and Mountain Rescue... if eBay doesn't yield much, they crop up fairly often at the market...

[RoadworkUK]

I didn't realise Hongwell did a Series Landie; I have the 90s Defender like yours, and its precursor would be quite a nice addition to the ranks. I have a Universal Models 1:18 Series III, but LR tax puts paid to any chances of me getting a later Defender in jumbo scale these days.

[Split_Pin]

21 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

They're decent enough wee models - and shouldn't be too hard to track down.

I liked this one as it looks like a farm hack; but there are a load of other versions in the range, including Police, Fire & Rescue, Royal Mail, safari, British Telecom and Mountain Rescue... if eBay doesn't yield much, they crop up fairly often at the market...

One like the Telecom version would also be good but I like the farm hack look. They all seemed to be in that great blue colour, faded so much you could draw in it with your fingernail 🤣

[eddyramrod]

I've been upstairs doing size comparisons.  This is going to be a LOT of photos...  So we start with Los Tres Caminos, that well-known Texas mariachi combo!  (Note photobomb by my AS mug!)

These are all the same Dinky casting, but you know, a group shot was just too tempting.  The green one I painted by hand, the other two are sprayed.  Now, DB4s...

The blue one is my recently-restored Corgi, the green one is an Altaya.  The Corgi is clearly more like 1/48.

Now lets look at the Dinky 1949 Ford sedan...

In company with a White Rose tudor marked for CHP.

Again, the Dinky is significantly smaller.  This is going to be a recurring theme!

Citroen next...

Red one is Corgi; gold is Atlas-Dinky; white is Altaya.

As you can see, the Corgi is the smallest.  Dinky is much closer to 1/43 if we assume the Altaya is correct, which is an assumption I am making throughout these comparisons.  If in doubt, refer to the modern "model" over the old "toy."

Dodge...

White one is the Bond partwork edition; behind is the Corgi Kew Fargo I recently restored,  I know it's the previous generation of Dodge but the scale difference is blatant!

Now lets go HGV, all from somewhere in the Leyland group...

L-R: MB Roadrunner; MB Ergomatic, Dinky Albion.

Note that the Ergo and Albion are two of my restos, Albion featuring a dropside where the mixer used to be.

Albion and Ergo wouldn't look odd together; Roadrunner is a bit bigger scale.

Transits...

L-R: Dinky LWB single-wheel; Altaya LWB twin; Vanguards SWB.

But which is 1/43?

They can't all be, can they!  I'd be inclined to say the Vanguard is most correct here.

If you have Transits, you really need CFs...

Green one is Dinky (my old van from 1983, AJV 589L); yellow is by IXO; ambulance is the MB.

How poor was the Dinky effort here!  And how huge is the MB, it might almost be 1/36.

Marinas...

This is the Corgi I've just finished.  After this shot I put it away, then had another idea...

So here are two of the Marinas I've owned!

Red one is the Vanguards 1.8 saloon (NFR 305P, seen here in its early 1987 colours after I crashed it), blue one is the Corgi 1.8 coupe (YLV 348J, my first Marina in 1983, which later gave up its bonnet and grille to repair the red one).

Corgi did pretty well with this one, it's not far off the Vanguard at all.

Hark the Heralds...

Again, from the Personal fleet!  Black and white was 350 DYG, blue was ATD 315A and carried my L plates.  Both were the 12/50 with the Webasto roof.

Same thing happens with Fords...

Classic saloon is a Vanguard, blue Capri coupe is a Dinky.

I think I have a Vanguards Capri somewhere but the saloon was at hand.  

How much smaller is the Dinky!  And Anglias work the same...

Green is Spot-On, white and red is Vanguards, white and black is Dinky and is obviously my old Super, ETB 988E that I had in 1979/80.

If we assume Vanguards to be 1/43 and Spot-On to be 1/42, they look about right, but the Dinky is much smaller again.

Swedish traffic stop...

265 by Dinky, 245 by Matchbox.

Not quite a match but not far off.

[Bren]

Dinky - with speedwheels - epitomise the slow death of the company. For me anyway.

[FakeConcern]

As you know @eddyramrod I find the scale comparison  of these very interesting so thanks for sharing that. Obviously I rushed off to see what Van the man Cleemput says about the Corgis

Aston DB4 1/46

Citroen ID 19 Safari 1/48

Dodge Kew Fargo 1/56 (!)

Marina 1/43

Maybe someone (@flat4alfa) will be along later with more info?

[bunglebus]

2 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Transits...

You probably need the earlier, sliding door version really. The fixed drivers door, single rear door ones are noticeably bigger

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

You probably need the earlier, sliding door version really. The fixed drivers door, single rear door ones are noticeably bigger

Well I never! 
I didn’t know there was a size difference too like that. I know some Dinky Transit’s have various differences but always just assumed it was minor details. 

[eddyramrod]

I didn't know that either!  But for clarity, the Dinky police van I've shown you IS the sliding-door version.

@FakeConcern thank you for the scale notes!  They pretty much confirm what I already thought.  1/56 on the Dodge though... wow.

[flat4alfa]

The non-slidey on the left is the 1971 facelift Transit, so the one on the right is late-plate madness.

Quote

I had a 1978 facelift, dubbed MKII

Quote

But realised the limited shelf space deserved a Corgi Milk Float MKII instead

Which was daft.

[flat4alfa]

Dinky Transit CogBook™ chapter entries are on page 720

https://autoshite.com/topic/10758-shite-in-miniature-ii/page/720

[bunglebus]

Perhaps we need to put the Corgi MK2 next to the Dinky next

 

[flat4alfa]

That Vanpire must have cost as much as all the others together.  Never seen one, well ok possibly in its box at the back of an antiques cabinet well out of reach 

[andy18s]

20 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Only buy today was a Majorette MK5 Escort from the charity shop

Postie man left me some parcels in the recycling bin though, 1st was a job lot that puzzled me at first until I got right to the bottom of the box

Redline Boss Hoss. Seen better days but I managed to save the Nitty Gritty Kitty with a bit of effort. Matchbox Roller is a nice bonus

Another box contained two "Matchbox" 59 Cadillac ambulances

The green one is a Johnny Lightning, I don't have many of these and can't quite make my mind up about them. Nice metal/metal construction but obviously aimed more at collectors than kids.  Last box had a slightly left-field choice, and I do like a beach buggy...

Bandai buggy is pressed metal similar to Tonka, turning that spare tire winds up the motor, very trick.  Don't think the fragile windscreen would last long in a kids hands so this appears to have had very little use

Blimey,a non cossie 3dr....if you decide to pass it along sometime can I baggsy it?

[Tenmil Socket]

Just spotted this Majorette Toyota on eBay... I'd forgotten all about this casting.

[flat4alfa]

4 hours ago, andy18s said:

Blimey,a non cossie 3dr

Never seen one of those either.  It seems Majorette No.275 package title was FORD ESCORT GT so that would be what search on

1992 - 2001.  Just 'FORD ESCORT' was on the base

The die-cast were made in Thailand, maybe plenty more variations.  All had opening doors

Also a plastic body version on a metal base, allowing for a 'sunshine roof' effort, all made in Portugal after Majorette acquired NovaCar.  Fixed-closed doors.  Also seen as NovaCar brand releases

Obviously, the ones to collect are the Power Rangers releases.

I thought those might be a LE BIG MAC meal toy or similar, but no they were a range release on card

a sub-set of the Magic Cars range with plastic bodies, doing magic*

[andy18s]

18 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Never seen one of those either.  It seems Majorette No.275 package title was FORD ESCORT GT so that would be what search on

1992 - 2001.  Just 'FORD ESCORT' was on the base

The die-cast were made in Thailand, maybe plenty more variations.  All had opening doors

And a plastic body version on the metal base, allowing for a 'sunshine roof' effort, all made in Portugal.  Fixed-closed doors.

Arse,now there's another rabbit hole to disappear down....

[Datsuncog]

A frosty dawn raid on the unsuspecting discount stores of the city did not yield very much...

Poundland stores round here appear not to have got the memo on half-price Matchbox:

All still offered out at full whack.

Oh well. I don't need any more... I'm just a sucker for some of these castings.

Two branches of Poundland yielded very little in the way of Matchbox - unlike the Abbeycentre branch - and loads of Hot Wheels, but tragically all just last year's Q case selection.

I had a brief surge of hope at The Entertainer when I saw fresh Hot Wheels cases on the floor and being opened - but they were still older Q cases too.

They seemed to be stocking out some Premiums as well, though - I could see some Rotsuns, and might see if I can get back later in case any flat-front Mk2 Escorts have put in an appearance...

A quick dash through B&M revealed plenty of HW in stock, both in short card and long card formats, but they dated from positively antediluvian times:

Those white Cruisin' Bruisers are from when - 2022? 2021?

Semi-premium F&F cars were also there in abundance - the yellow 240Z was kinda nice.

But tragically - no Proton for me. Yet.

But it's okay, I felt similar despondency about the SII Land Rover with the surfboard and the purple Datsun Bluebird estate, and now there are loads of them everywhere...

Last stop was Cash Converters, just in case...

Roughly 1/18 National Lampoon Wagon Queen Family Truckster was unexpected - but with no box and some paint chipping, maybe not much of a delight.

Norev Peugeot 504 Break with high-roof conversion was quite nice, though.

Ah well.

Weather permitting, we'll see what tomorrow brings, hey?

[flat4alfa]

30 minutes ago, andy18s said:

Arse,now there's another rabbit hole to disappear down....

HELP!  I'm stuck - can you get me out?  Arghhh

[flat4alfa]

19 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Roughly 1/18 National Lampoon Wagon Queen Family Truckster was unexpected - but with no box and some paint chipping, maybe not much of a delight.

Oh!  What was Lampoon price?

[Datsuncog]

25 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

They seemed to be stocking out some Premiums as well, though - I could see some Rotsuns, and might see if I can get back later in case any flat-front Mk2 Escorts have put in an appearance...

What can I say?

Sometimes I just get a bit of a hunch...

(Probably caused by bad posture at my desk, admittedly.)

[Datsuncog]

12 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Oh!  What was Lampoon price?

Aha.

Ahahaha.

Are you sitting down?

Mirrors/ aerial seems to be broken off too.

Bargain-tastic.

[RoadworkUK]

"You think you hate it now, wait 'til you have to pay for it."

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Are you sitting down?

Mirrors/ aerial seems to be broken off too.

Bargain-tastic.

Employees can do a 10% discount without manager approval and will always apply it if you ask nicely.  Still not barg in this case either way.

I wonder if an example of being price-inflated for one week only as the payday loan has only just defaulted and it's been put out for sale.  Next week, offer £20

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Sometimes I just get a bit of a hunch...

(Probably caused by bad posture at my desk, admittedly.)