Shite in Miniature II

[FakeConcern]

Toy fair this morning...

Bundle for (I think) too expensive £10.

Strange plastic hollow Elan

Corgi Elan not bad except no steering wheel

Corgi Camaro broken screen and no wheels but pretty good otherwise

Beach buggy roof with surfboards and trailer will give Mrs Concern another complete set plus kayak because she likes them!

Bundle for £1 as I thought @eddyramrod might want the Dinky Bedford CF (no pressure if you don't!).

These were 50p each.

Morris van in case @eddyramrod wants it

Embassy speed boat and transporter for Mrs Concern, she has the boat already in better condition so will get swapped around I expect

Corgi probe for parts

Chipperfields trailer and some lookalike animals just because

Corgi Rozzer Commer as I saw a back for one on my way around the room earlier, but annoyingly I couldn't find it later!

The tank transporter wheels given free from the same seller I bought a £1 transporter from a few weeks ago. He had thought he had another set for my mate Ed, but unfortunately he couldn't find them, said hed look out for some more though.

£1 each for these

Corgi Human Cannonball (human missing)

Enormous Dinky Transit for @eddyramrod if you want it again no pressure as I'm happy to keep it.

Corgi Lazybones Stingray in not bad condition and good suspension, much better than my childhood one so I couldn't leave it even though I don't especially want it

Corgi Lambo, probably I can combine with another one I have and repaint

Corgi Whizzwheels Land Rover in pretty good condition, even has the spare wheel still

Matchbox Speed Kings Javelin in black, this is funny as I got a red one recently not knowing it existed and @bunglebusthen pointed out other colours like this which I then wanted and here we are!

These were £2 each

Corgi Big Bedford with better paint than the one I have, missing tow hitch thing but still

Corgi Rozzer Cortina not too bad broken rear screen and cracked A pillar @eddyramrod?

Norev Horizon

Solido Renault Alpine

These are really quite nice

So many French toys are really nice and not that common, I'd hoped to go to France last year but it didn't happen hoping again this year.

Talking of French toys, heres one I've never seen and managed to knock down to a slightly better price of £15

I love the C4 VTS and have had three 1/1 (I still have one on SORN) and yes I know this is a Loeb version, but even though it doesn't say so (as far as I can see) the exhaust looks like  VTS one.

I had similar black wheels on mine too!

[Remspoor]

Part 2 of Dutchness.

IXOs

Minichamps ans Siku football Smarts.

Triang Tin Plate incorrectly labelled as Tonka.

 

A car themed puzzle

[Remspoor]

Part 3.

Boxes of NEX.

Modelcars Group and Solido

A gorgeous CX made by NOREV. Way too pricy for me.

Tripe9 and Welly.

Unbranded* Dutch police set

Lastly some Maistos. And a Mercedes in a DAF box.

All of these can be found in a shop near Rotterdam. A village called Ouddorp. In this shop. It is broken up into stalls and persons rent a section(s) to sell almost anything they want. https://www.jouwmarktkraamouddorp.nl/

I did not take any photos but also Action shops and a few Kruidvat stores may have a few Hotwheels or Matchbox in stock. These can be found all over the country.

[danthecapriman]

52 minutes ago, ETCHY said:

Great job & good idea to open that step out, it'll somehow make it more realistic, nice touch that.
I'm looking forward to seeing this finished.

Cheers!

I can’t wait to see it finished either!😆

Im going make some door mirrors for it too I think, probably from wire fitting into some holes I’ll drill in the cab casting. 
Undecided on glazing yet. I might reuse the old Dinky unit, or I might make some flusher fitting glazing from clear plastic. Either way the new cab rear windows will probably have to be made.

It really does make me realise how much I miss my modelling bench though and having everything to hand for stuff like this! I’m having to resort to using a cardboard box as a bench at the moment!

[bunglebus]

18 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

I like those later MK1 Transits. Got the ex-DC one in the same colour, put new glass in it but I'm not very happy with the replacement tailgate I sourced.

I've got one of the black AMCs spare as I want to do a custom and it's the only version with clear glass

[Split_Pin]

@danthecapriman that's a fantastic job on the back of the Ergomatic cab 👍

[bunglebus]

2 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Those remind me of the Polistil Funny Cars (MG series)

Polistil Funny Cars (modellino.ch)

I really like those but they don't pop up often

 

[bunglebus]

30 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

Below out of all the display what court my eye was the Range Rover. Black plastic.

This is the base. I cannot read it too well. I should have made notes.

Plasto - only thing I have by them is this Civic

if you'd asked me I would have guessed Galanite , especially looking at the wheels

 

[ETCHY]

31 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Cheers!

I can’t wait to see it finished either!😆

Im going make some door mirrors for it too I think, probably from wire fitting into some holes I’ll drill in the cab casting. 
Undecided on glazing yet. I might reuse the old Dinky unit, or I might make some flusher fitting glazing from clear plastic. Either way the new cab rear windows will probably have to be made.

It really does make me realise how much I miss my modelling bench though and having everything to hand for stuff like this! I’m having to resort to using a cardboard box as a bench at the moment!

I find my little table top wooden bench thing handy for doing stuff on. All scrap wood & little dividers made from scrap beading. Rubber feet save any surfaces it goes on & a handle to carry it. The notch on the front means a cheapo vice can slot in.

God knows why pic is sideways !

 

[danthecapriman]

6 minutes ago, ETCHY said:

I find my little table top wooden bench thing handy for doing stuff on. All scrap wood & little dividers made from scrap beading. Rubber feet save any surfaces it goes on & a handle to carry it. The notch on the front means a cheapo vice can slot in.

God knows why pic is sideways !

 

That looks ideal! 

I did have a shed purely for models. 16’ x 10’ fully insulated with power & lights. Had a model railway around the walls of it with storage underneath and a workbench with cutting mats etc etc. all my paints & model tools were all in a cupboard underneath. It made everything so much easier. 
With moving house I’ve had to pack all that away and everything is in big boxes ready to go now. Or was until the sale fell through. Now it’s all stuck packed away just waiting.   
Hopefully this year it’ll actually happen and I can get back to some normality.

[ETCHY]

9 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

That looks ideal! 

I did have a shed purely for models. 16’ x 10’ fully insulated with power & lights. Had a model railway around the walls of it with storage underneath and a workbench with cutting mats etc etc. all my paints & model tools were all in a cupboard underneath. It made everything so much easier. 
With moving house I’ve had to pack all that away and everything is in big boxes ready to go now. Or was until the sale fell through. Now it’s all stuck packed away just waiting.   
Hopefully this year it’ll actually happen and I can get back to some normality.

I can only dream of having a "man room" like that, hence the little portable bench. I just bung that on the dining table if doing anything messy.
Hope the house sale gets sorted  ok for you soon. We're planning to move soon too, so you never know I may finally get my very own man room !
 

[flat4alfa]

hobbydb.com said:

Quote

Finland's Plasto has been manufacturing plastic toys and packaging since 1954 in its home in the Åland Islands. In the 1970s, prior to producing its current line of sturdy generic cars and trucks, the company made 1/43 and 1/32 scale soft plastic models of VW Beetle, Mini, Citroën 2 CV and CX, Saab 99 Combi Coupé, Volvo 244, and Range Rover

Never knew about these.  I thought the Range Rover photo above looked nearer 1:32 than 1:24, and there it is

So Galante (Sweded) and Plasto (Finland) shared / bought-in wheel sets it seems.  Their output is very similar

So who's going to be the first to get hold of the Plasto Escort or Volvo 😎

[FakeConcern]

20 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

If it doesn't get taken, I'd like the Transit please as it is the Facelift/Arselift one I no longer have an example of

Likewise the Jam Sandwich Cortina, that amazingly still (just about) has its screen pillars thanks

Soz but Eddy wants them.

If I see any cheap next time I'll pick them up for you.

[andrew e]

There’s been a whole days worth of quality postings on this thread today - bloody excellent everyone who posted 👍

[danthecapriman]

This is hands down the best thread on here I think!

And I’m a relative new comer to it really.

[Split_Pin]

I hate to be the one to say it but its like the old AS in here. Everyone gets on, we help each other out and the thread shape-shifts from one week to the next.  One day we are all digging out our King Size Dodge Chargers and the next it's all about Ergomatics. I love it. Someone collects unusual Far Eastern items, another is getting some tasty partworks from South America. There's some lovely restorations and builds going on too. 

And of course, the legendary Tat Fridays. I have lost count of the number of bargains that Tim has lifted for me there. A big shout out to @Datsuncog .

Cheers everyone!

[AndyW201]

On 04/02/2024 at 14:56, danthecapriman said:

@AndyW201 some fantastic models in that lot👍 

The mk1 Granada is a lovely model, I’ve got the German Poleizi green & white one, picked up cheaply as a repaint candidate. 
They do make nice models, it’s just their range that annoys me really. I just wish they’d do more ‘normal’ cars and vans, like they used to. 

I didn’t realise until @eddyramrod told me, but that range of Atlas British police cars are actually Vanguard’s castings. You pick them up quite cheaply. 
All are lovely models, well detailed & decorated and really look the part. Stuff like this (but civilian colours) is the sort of thing I’d gladly buy if Vanguard’s would do them at a similar price as the IXO etc etc models I’ve been picking up. 
I’ve got a couple of the Marina saloons too, both older models but look superb still.

Yes, those Atlas police cars are a good way of getting a Vanguards model at a lower price, especially if you're going to code 3 them.

I picked up the Cortina GT pretty cheaply, mint and boxed with only one of the searchlights missing. I went for that version as, at the time, it was the only version of that casting with the proper GT tombstone seats.

This became a weathered shitbox-spec boy racer GT.

I did the same to one of the Marinas as it was a cheap way to get hold of a Vanguards Marina 1.8 TC.

I do share the frustration over the partwork stuff that is available in Europe, and further afield, while we get shite all. Luckily sellers like Jumajo in France and Bimax in Italy have been a good source for filling in gaps in the collection, at still fairly reasonable cost. The irony is that Atlas did look at doing a modern-ish classic partwork collection over here a few years ago, using Vanguards castings. They got as far as a prototype Daytona yellow Cortina MK3 GT and promotional material, then promptly canned it.

What could have been, eh?

Like others, I also share the frustration over the Vanguards range, but it's a sad fact that Hornby are seriously in the shit, probably over the bad decisions made on the railways side, as mentioned previously. Corgi seems to be the only part of the business that's doing well, so they need to concentrate on what sells well. Fords sell well. Other marques do not, it's as simple as that.

I was as bemused as anyone else when the modern Transits and Rangers were brought in, but they have sold like hot cakes, I think even Corgi have been surprised how well they've done, I even have to admit to having bought one of the Tangerine Focus STs, as I like the colour, and I do love a hot hatch... 

Sadly other marques havent done so well. The fairly recent series 2 Jag XJ and Triumph TR6 are fantastic castings but have been relatively unsuccessful. The Jags are still on the website, and still haven't sold out, despite being reduced in price.  Same goes for the last releases of the Cavalier MK2 and Astra GTE, the Cav took 4 years to sell out. To put that in perspective, that was only the 6th version of a pretty popular casting, and it struggled. In January, they brought out the THIRTY NINTH version of the MK1 Escort. Guess what? Flying off the shelves! Every Ford box set sells out despite the slightly ridiculous pricing, the Triumph set they brought out recently, bombed.

A lot of communication has been made to the head of Vanguards by one of the guys on the Facebook page, who has done polls across a lot of the diecast pages to get a good idea of what people want, and to their credit, they have at least acknowledged it (which is an improvement on before), promised to take it on board and they have promised more of an emphasis on "British heritage". Regarding that, we'll have to wait and see... Pricing wise, hmm yeah. But frankly, if you pay the full RRP for a model, you need your head looking at. Most recent Vanguards purchases I've managed to find for a good chunk under the RRP and for a couple of quid more than an IXO model (the properly packaged releases, not the more basic partwork releases, most of the time I find it worth it for things like a metal base, spring suspension, RHD, better interiors and proper UK reg plates. For example, I fancied an Escort Cosworth Monté, in Jewel Violet. Both companies did one and the Vanguards one beat the IXO one hands down. And if a Vanguards model is expensive, don't look at the price of a new Norev, Trofeu, Neo or Maxichamps model, let alone the likes of BHM or Silas....

Bit of a wall of text there, but to sum up, as a fan and collector of Vanguards for decades, I'm as pissed off as anyone else with the lack of Vanguards variety (and Oxford Diecast for that matter, look at what you can get in 1/76 compared to 1/43), but I can at least sort-of understand the reason for it.

[danthecapriman]

Nice job on those two @AndyW201 👍 love the slot mags too.

 

I really wish they had done that partwork with Vanguards! What is it with the British market that’s so off putting to these companies!? 
Id absolutely love to put a collection together like that for a magazine! Contact Corgi and IXO to get access to their castings and then go to town creating a little collection of day to day cars and vans people can remember or relate to. It doesn’t look like the market is here in the UK for such things though sadly.

I didn’t realise Hornby were in the crap though! 
They did have real problems some years ago, but Simon Kohler seemed to turn it around. Maybe it’s a hobby-wide issue though? With Hattons models closing down too? 
Cost of living is undoubtedly not helping either, people don’t necessarily have the money to put into an expensive hobby.

[Tenmil Socket]

23 hours ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Sure, no problem 👍🏻

I think the headlights have broken off the large truck. Still interested?

@flat4alfa it won't let me PM you regarding this Siku truck.

[andrew e]

Hornby (and many other retailers) problems are China isnt China priced any more.

[MiniMinorMk3]

Day one of the Five Porsche project.

First to get opened was...

This is the Valvoline Porsche 962 that won the 1985 Daytona 24 Hours, driven by Bob Wollek, Al Unser Sr, AJ Foyt and Thierry Boutsen.

One nice big tricky decal to go on.

Just one picture in the box, but plenty on the internet. With the dash decal the car was apart. The rear spoiler and the enlarged airbox were both removed at this time. The big rear decal was not going to go over that lump, so it will be colour matched later.

Second to be opened was this.

This is the Obermaier Racing Porsche 956 as driven to 5th place by Jürgen Lässig, Fulvio Ballabio and Dudley Wood in the 1986 Le Mans 24 Hours.

   

Basic pictures in the box...

but a large number of big decals to produce the livery, and then all the logos to go on afterwards. Working out the right order is always fun. No dash board this time, but the rear wing still had to come off.

After a days decal work this was the results.

Valvoline has the big decal on, the dash done and the rear wing done. The Obermaier Racing has the grid on the rear done, one side done and the rear wing done.    

There are a few gaps between the end plates and engine cover on the Valvoline which will need touch ins, but progress has been good with no breakages.

[MiniMinorMk3]

3 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

 

Bit of a wall of text there, but to sum up, as a fan and collector of Vanguards for decades, I'm as pissed off as anyone else with the lack of Vanguards variety (and Oxford Diecast for that matter, look at what you can get in 1/76 compared to 1/43), but I can at least sort-of understand the reason for it.

The reason Oxford does more 1/76 is because they are popular with the OO train modellers. It saves them a lot of time just plonking a load of ready made diecasts on their layouts instead of having to build some of those little 1/76 white metal kits.

Hopefully Hornby will keep to what Oxford has done in the past and keep producing the more prestigious ranges of old British cars, but then again, some of those did not move of the selves to quickly and ended up being discounted. 

 

PS Oxford Diecast currently have 343 1/43rd scale models in their range, with 213 currently in stock. Highlight include the Firenza Coupe and the Crayford Cortina.

[bunglebus]

On 03/02/2024 at 22:26, flat4alfa said:

That can't be right though?  Because they did the T45 anyway 1981-84 with badging, and that model outlasted that casting 

It was only ever in these Two-Packs 1981-82

Copied from my sales thread - I've been keeping an eye out for the correct trailer for it at boot sales, it looks just like one of Convoy ones but it connects to the trailer differently and has a hole, rather than a slot at the back above the wheels. Also the Convoy ones have chunkier treaded tyres

Convoy:

Bugger me there's one on eBay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116057308144?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ltSdJBo9RmG&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=X5RtjeAxSP-&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

You can see the different trailer hitch

Convoy:

@Datsuncog

[danthecapriman]

Undid the tape and removed the weights holding the AEC cab together earlier. 
Some excess glue squeezed out which will need sanding off, and a bit of filler that needs rubbing down still but the point is,  the cab is now on one piece!

 

Done a bit of test fitting to the chassis too.

Ive cut off the very front end of the donor chassis as it had a hoop type thing on it and a hinge point for the original Iveco cab mount. These were unusable for the AEC as the cab is smaller and sits in a completely different position.

Ive made up a new section for the front edge of the cab to sit on and once the glue goes off I’ll look at how best to actually attach the cab to chassis. Ideally it’ll be removable to make it easier to assemble and fit interior etc to afterwards. I think a plastic card deck and floor with a small screw through into the cab should be best, it’s just working out how!

[Spottedlaurel]

5 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Undid the tape and removed the weights holding the AEC cab together earlier. 
Some excess glue squeezed out which will need sanding off, and a bit of filler that needs rubbing down still but the point is,  the cab is now on one piece!

Excellent scratchbuilding Dan!

[danthecapriman]

Looking at it with the chassis under it now, I think I’ll leave the cab wheel arches as the narrow type. The axle and chassis width actually fit the cab very very well imho.

Id like to cut the square fuel tank off and make a round replacement though.

[quicksilver]

1 hour ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

The reason Oxford does more 1/76 is because they are popular with the OO train modellers. It saves them a lot of time just plonking a load of ready made diecasts on their layouts instead of having to build some of those little 1/76 white metal kits.

Hopefully Hornby will keep to what Oxford has done in the past and keep producing the more prestigious ranges of old British cars, but then again, some of those did not move of the selves to quickly and ended up being discounted. 

 

PS Oxford Diecast currently have 343 1/43rd scale models in their range, with 213 currently in stock. Highlight include the Firenza Coupe and the Crayford Cortina.

Interestingly the Firenza and Crayford Cortina are two of the few Oxford cars only available in 1/43 and not also in 1/76. The majority of the 1/43s have also been produced in 1/76 but for some reason not these two. I made my own 1/76 Crayford Cortina by chopping a saloon.

[bunglebus]

I think I need to have my medication reviewed, more shonky castings have just arrived

First up, a factory fresh Lone Star Flyers VW T1

The box tells lies, by the time this one was made the rear hatch had been cast shut, along with the engine cover

It's really apparent that times were tough by the time this one was made, the roof line is seriously wobbly, the skylight holes are full of flash and the paint is thin enough to see the metal underneath. 

I still love it though 

[bunglebus]

These...well. they were a job lot and one especially piqued my interest.

First up, 80s poster favourite

And another that's a bit more up my street

Things are definitely improving here

However this was the one I really wanted to have a good look at, and it does not disappoint

Which mark of Escort is this supposed to be exactly? Body says 3/4 but those headlights look like 5 to me

None have anything on the base. They do say if you're proud of your work you should sign it

[sierraman]

Looks to me like Fiesta Mk2 front grafted on to the back end of an MCW Metrocab.