Shite in Miniature II

[andrew e]

Is this good news or bad news?

https://www.theretailbulletin.com/general-merchandise/hornby-acquires-the-corgi-model-club-11-03-2024/

[danthecapriman]

5 minutes ago, andrew e said:

Is this good news or bad news?

https://www.theretailbulletin.com/general-merchandise/hornby-acquires-the-corgi-model-club-11-03-2024/

Hard to tell tbh! 
I suppose on one hand it means a bigger parent company can take them on and potentially provide more backup and funding for their products. 
But, on the other hand it could also mean some stripping back of the range and cost cutting might end up happening?

I thought Hornby themselves were in the financial shit though?

[sierraman]

Bburago was notable for having telegraph poles for wipers on the Rolls Royce camargue. 

[danthecapriman]

Some of them you can paint black to make them less obvious, but others are terrible and you just can’t do much with them other than remove or replace them. 
Some of the really bad ones, I wish they hadn’t bothered fitting them at all really. Or gone old skool and done them as moulded into the windscreen unit, maybe with a bit of paint on them instead of separate parts.

[andy18s]

Missed out on this 3 pack today.

Seller wanted too much though and wouldn't take any offers.

[bunglebus]

I've had a day touring around picking up cars. Decided to go into Basildon, and realised I'd cocked up. Last week the Mrs called while I was driving and told me Entertainer had a premium set with a white/blue stripes Yenko Corvair. 

Nah, that's an old one

Well it wasn't, it was this

And of course the others had now gone bar the van

Bah. 

Oh well, I went off to pick up a bag of cars from the young lad who normally sells at the boot sale (plus a couple from the charity shop)

Like most Hot Wheels of the era, no name on the base - I think this may be a promotional release 

Easily identifiable Peugeot 505 has the info on the base of course

Charity shop find, and another I need to find the name of

The other charity shop find is a bit of a rabbit hole too, bearing the name "Chevrolet SS" on the base. Looking this up on Wiki suggests it's a Chevrolet Opala  - no not Impala, a Brazilian car based on the Opel Rekord/Commodore. Huh.

Moving onto Matchbox, my bag of goodies contained a fairly decent RS2000

A twin pack (I think) AMX

And a pretty nice Holden but sans bikes as usual

Last but no means least, @andrew e spotted a Studebaker Wagonaire with the cameraman intact

and it's yet another variation, being a Corgi Whizzwheels rather than a Husky, and having those large... hinges? at the base of the tailgate. It also has the much lighter, fluted blue glass in the rear. Both my Husky...

...and Corgi...

...have darker glass and no hinges or whatever they are on the tailgate.

There are so many variations of this casting!

[danthecapriman]

12 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I've had a day touring around picking up cars. Decided to go into Basildon, and realised I'd cocked up. Last week the Mrs called while I was driving and told me Entertainer had a premium set with a white/blue stripes Yenko Corvair. 

Nah, that's an old one

Well it wasn't, it was this

And of course the others had now gone bar the van

Bah. 

Oh well, I went off to pick up a bag of cars from the young lad who normally sells at the boot sale (plus a couple from the charity shop)

Like most Hot Wheels of the era, no name on the base - I think this may be a promotional release 

Easily identifiable Peugeot 505 has the info on the base of course

Charity shop find, and another I need to find the name of

The other charity shop find is a bit of a rabbit hole too, bearing the name "Chevrolet SS" on the base. Looking this up on Wiki suggests it's a Chevrolet Opala  - no not Impala, a Brazilian car based on the Opel Rekord/Commodore. Huh.

Moving onto Matchbox, my bag of goodies contained a fairly decent RS2000

A twin pack (I think) AMX

And a pretty nice Holden but sans bikes as usual

Last but no means least, @andrew e spotted a Studebaker Wagonaire with the cameraman intact

and it's yet another variation, being a Corgi Whizzwheels rather than a Husky, and having those large... hinges? at the base of the tailgate. It also has the much lighter, fluted blue glass in the rear. Both my Husky...

...and Corgi...

...have darker glass and no hinges or whatever they are on the tailgate.

There are so many variations of this casting!

I think that’s probably the first time I’ve seen one of those Studabakers with the cameraman still attached!

[andrew e]

Thats why I got @bunglebus on the horn!

[junkyarddog]

Picked up these two today.

Skyline looks good in black.

 

[Spottedlaurel]

Phew, finally at the end of a long day. Had a meeting up in Nottingham and managed to find a bit of time before/after to do a bit of shopping.

First up a little haul from Mark's Diecast Models in Stapleford:

These were all £5 each. He had others, like the jacked-up Dodge Challenger which I'm already wondering why I didn't get...

Cararama Lexus GS and RX, 007 partwork Toyota Crown and this rather nice Skyline C211, which was a bit of an indulgence but my fuel expenses for the day should cover it.

Haven't yet tried the lights function, but it's a great looking model.

Then from various branches of Poundstretcher, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and The Entertainer:

It's possible there may be the odd duplicate, but there were others I was very pleased to find so it all evens out. By coincidence I found that Yenko Corvair today, but unfortunately it was the only one in the series with no sign of the black Skyline. There were Whatsapp communications with @bunglebus at this point......

Having received the Moving Parts Land Cruiser from Tim just yesterday, I then found one myself in The Entertainer but I managed to resist it. I was tempted by a Matchbox "Retro Cars" 5-pack there, as it had a nice metallic blue version of the '70s Honda Civic, but there weren't enough others in there to justify it.

[bunglebus]

5 minutes ago, Spottedlaurel said:

I was tempted by a Matchbox "Retro Cars" 5-pack there, as it had a nice metallic blue version of the '70s Honda Civic

Oh I've not seen that yet

Still hoping to see the VW set

[Spottedlaurel]

That's the one.

Saw a lot of 5-packs today, but not that one with the VWs.

[FakeConcern]

@danthecapriman I've kind of lost track of what's happening with the Corgi Porsche you sold on your sale, but if the original people who wanted parts ( @bunglebus & @eddyramrod) are getting the bits they need then if @andrew e sends me a PM I'll send the interior as I've now popped it apart and got the boot/bonnet/trunk/hood/engine cover/whatever that I want off.

[sierraman]

I’m sure the Field car is a tribute to the twin pack orange original. 

[danthecapriman]

12 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

@danthecapriman I've kind of lost track of what's happening with the Corgi Porsche you sold on your sale, but if the original people who wanted parts ( @bunglebus & @eddyramrod) are getting the bits they need then if @andrew e sends me a PM I'll send the interior as I've now popped it apart and got the boot/bonnet/trunk/hood/engine cover/whatever that I want off.

The one I have here is now open. The interior is in @eddyramrod box for him. 
The rest I’ve taped back together to keep it in one piece and put it in @bunglebus & @andrew e box ready to send.

Its basically complete apart from the interior.

[bunglebus]

22 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I’m sure the Field car is a tribute to the twin pack orange original. 

Could be

But one of the previous ones was orange too

 

[sierraman]

No the later Bushwacker US edition?

[Datsuncog]

Carried out another lunchtime raid today, in my ever-widening quest to slake my apparently insatiable thirst for Matchbox.

Tesco, B&M, Poundstretcher, Smyths and The Entertainer seems to have given up entirely on stocking any new Matchbox mainlines these days; Sainsbury's and Asda never stocked them locally to the best of my knowledge, and stores like Morrisons or One Below simply don't operate here.

So really it's a choice of either Poundland or the few-and-far-between local independent toy shops to try to find any late-2023/ early 2024 mainlines, with the indies sometimes also carrying lines like Moving Parts, Convoys, Skybusters, Working Rigs, Collectors Editions and my current weird obsession, the Action Drivers play sets.

No, I don't know why either.

Having exhausted the eight or so branches of Poundland in my general vicinity, and stripped the sole surviving Stewart Miller branches of anything worth having, it was time to go further afield.

So today took me over the Craigantlet Hills to Toytown, in Ards Shopping Centre.

There's been a toy shop here for years. I can recall coming here fairly often with my grandparents when I was little, but I'm sure I haven't been near it in thirty years now.

It's also moved a little bit further down the shopping mall from where it used to be, but it's otherwise broadly familiar. Strangely underlit, which didn't make for good pics, but still familiar.

Running the usual gauntlet of those irritating Fart Ninja things brought me down to the back of the store, and oh yes - paydirt.

Orange paydirt.

DING DING DING

Okay, so the mainlines aren't very new - or indeed very cheap, at £2.30 a go, but they were there. And quite a lot of them, too. Mostly short card, but also some long card and a couple of Power Grab boxed models too (just the Nissan Terrano in silver and the Polaris RAZR left in that format, for £2).

Also a couple of Collector Series with an olde-tyme Lesney style box - just a few examples of the TR6 and a Camaro left, for a hefty £9.

Some 'National Flag' not-really-premiums were reduced from £4 to £2.75, but they were mostly featuring those legends of French motoring, the Fiat 500 and Jeep Renegade.

I flicked through the pegs to see if there were any more VW T3 crew cabs or red Mk1 Golfs, but there weren't.

Moving Parts were also priced at £4 a go, and the vast majority of the models offered were that metallic red 1980s Buick convertible and the yellow version of the Nissan X-Terra, with a few of the 1940s delivery van sprinkled through.

Convoys sets were mostly the International tanker with Mustang, and the fire ladder with an ambulance (I think), plus the Tesla truck and a Tesla something-or-other lurking right at the back. Not too awful for £7, but that wasn't why I was here...

There were a fair few Skybusters on the pegs, but I regret to confess I didn't really look at those.

But further on down, we had...

Aha. Now we're sucking diesel.

Quite a few Mattel playsets and other, large-format toys. Including, to my inexplicable delight, some Action Drivers sets I have on my 'want' list.

Some 5-packs too, though steep enough at £11.50.

Quite a few familiar looking castings in that one.

And even more sets on the shelves opposite, though mainly racing track bits.

Mostly they weren't super cheap - some claimed to be reduced, but they were still the same sort of price they're listed for at various online retailers. A few were quite a bit more expensive, but hey.

Plenty of Hot Wheels mainlines, but pretty much all were 2023 releases. Towards the top of the price range at £2.30 a throw.

Some Hot Wheels premiums and special releases were also kicking about, but none which could dissuade me from my quest.

Time was not on my side, regrettably, so I wasn't able to dilly-dally for too long. Decisions had to be made...

[Datsuncog]

And decisions were made.

I know. 

What am I even doing with my life?The Park & Play Garage was one I've been trying to find for a while - it's a cracking big set.

Not wildly cheap at £27, and that's apparently a reduced price, but it's no cheaper anywhere online that I could find; and hey, I'd sooner support an independent business than give Jeff Bezos more of my hard-earned.

He don't need it.

The Helicopter Rescue set wasn't one I was as mad keen on, but at £14 it was also a good bit less than I've seen it anywhere else. More toy-like, it's true, but still - this is one of the first Action Drivers releases from 2020, so I suspect it'll become harder to track down before long.

I haven't opened either of them yet - it's something to look forward to.

And there was more...

The Chevette drag racer came from the same toy shop; I had the opportunity to buy this several times last year, for a good bit less in Home Bargains, but for some reason I baulked. Time to make good on that.

And I didn't really have time to swing by Poundland on my way out, but I did anyway - and lo, there were recent-case mainlines on a couple of pegs. Not many, and some I had seen already - a couple of green Mk1 Golfs, a lot of green '33 Ford coupes, a solitary blue '70 Ranchero - but the Ford Interceptor Utility and Toyota Hilux were worth bagging in exchange for some loose coins in my pocket, I felt.

So I did.

And with that, it was definitely time to run.

What I'm going to do with these is anyone's guess, but I feel kinda giddy and excited by them - and, leaving aside whether that's age-appropriate, isn't that meant to be what toys are all about?

I didn't buy the Canyon Adventure playset - not today, anyway. I previously saw this set in TK Maxx just before Christmas last year for £22, and I wouldn't say that I won't, at some stage.

But I kinda like the architectural sets, for preference.

Similarly, I didn't bother with the Bus Station as I already have it - at only £4.99 from Home Bargains last summer.

Although mine turned out to have incorrect pieces in the box, so the roadway bits won't fit together. You gets what you pays for, maybe.

More to come on these, doubtless!

[bunglebus]

7 hours ago, sierraman said:

No the later Bushwacker US edition?

Wow never seen that one!

[sierraman]

5 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Wow never seen that one!

USA only though some will likely have made it to U.K. in those 3 packs in Tesco or through various sources. 

[bunglebus]

5 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Running the usual gauntlet of those irritating Fart Ninja things

They are very annoying aren't they? I meant to post pretty much your words the other day after getting guffed at while on my way through yet another toy department.

I mean...farts are funny but it must be awful working in Entertainer and having them go off all day, while listening to the music from Frozen for the 28th time that week

[sierraman]

I don’t know why but I’ve got the real horn for the late 90’s Matchbox, with the naff spiral wheels, they remind me of when we didn’t have internet but there was no catalogue so finding new stuff was a genuine surprise. I might be on my own with this but I quite like the odd day glo colour schemes. 

[bunglebus]

They are certainly of their time...

 

[sierraman]

The Corvette is one I distinctly remember, it came in a set I had once for Xmas, long gone now unfortunately. At the time I was sourcing everything from the car boots, new 1-75 seemed thin on the ground, I think my mums line was that you could get 5 of them at a jumble sale for the cost of one new one. I don’t know if a lot of you were the same as a kid but I always looked for the usual cars in the street so these were an unusual departure for me! 
 

I remember I’d always have a favourite’ one that I’d have, Rover SD1, Cortina 1.6, Porsche 959 spring to mind. I’d always play the same game if you like, I’d line up all the broken ones as a scrapyard (I was fixated with dereliction and scrapyards) as a kid. My mum was confused as to why I always wanted to keep the broken ones instead of binning them.
 

Thinking back that was a really content time, a Saturday afternoon playing at scrapyards on the rug in front of the gas fire watching ‘Hollywoods Greatest Stunts’ or the A Team. Just a Lion bar for company but it was escapism that as an adult for some reason you cannot fully achieve. There’s always some other shit floating around in your head like work or jobs that need doing, so you aren’t ever fully free. I think that’s why I like collecting diecast, it’s as close as you’ll get to those hassle free days as a kid. 

[Tenmil Socket]

3 hours ago, sierraman said:

I don’t know why but I’ve got the real horn for the late 90’s Matchbox, with the naff spiral wheels, they remind me of when we didn’t have internet but there was no catalogue so finding new stuff was a genuine surprise. I might be on my own with this but I quite like the odd day glo colour schemes. 

I don’t know… I’m quite the opposite. That seemed to be a low point for Matchbox IMO.

[sierraman]

15 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

I don’t know… I’m quite the opposite. That seemed to be low point for Matchbox IMO.

From a reality point of view definitely but they’re very much as you say ‘of the time’. They don’t seem too common these days either. 

[Tenmil Socket]

[quicksilver]

8 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Some 5-packs too, though steep enough at £11.50.

Quite a few familiar looking castings in that one.

 

Wow, the Blazer and the GMC wrecker are still going! I remember having them in a police set when I was a kid. That Blazer casting is coming up for 40 years old so Matchbox have certainly had their money's worth out of it; it's strange how some seem to stick around forever but others come and go within a few years.

[bunglebus]

Couldn't agree more with the memory of total immersion as a kid while playing with cars - I think that's why I enjoy customising them, I get utterly engrossed in what I'm doing for a while.

Talking of which, instead of getting one of my other unfinished projects done I took the Superfast Pontiac apart, think I have a colour close enough to the original 

Which revealed itself after a dunk in the stripper

Base looks good

As does the shell, a minor scratch on the roof is about all the damage it's taken in half a century

it was only looking underneath it that it dawned on me what was different compared to the reg. wheels one I did before

No opening doors

Sometimes I notice the tiniest little differences, other times glaringly obvious ones pass me completely!