Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

Graffic Traffic is back together. Annoyingly the base cracked again where I'd fixed it before but it's not especially noticeable

Still looks better than it did

 

[bunglebus]

Corgi Targa is also now complete for the first time in years.

I've got the remains of the donor plus a mostly complete but stripped police one with red interior spare if anyone needs it? Has the teledial wheels!

[andrew e]

A bit late to the stockcar party! Ive had these stockers since I was a kid, the Volvo is a recent purchase and its mint!

[bunglebus]

Last little project for today, this 64 Nova gasser has been at the back of my bench for months as I thought it needed a wheel swap and detail

 

So I did. Wheels are from the Jay Leno Tank Car

[Datsuncog]

5 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Blimey there's a good deal on in Tesco - £5.00 for Matchbox and Hot Wheels 5 packs and monster trucks for £2.75 

 

👍👍👍👍

[Split_Pin]

Some great restoration and project work going on here of late. I really like the wheels on the Nova gasser, what a transformation!

[Bear]

Found this one again:

Oy. Wake up...

Anyone in?

Guess not!

Sills and wheel trims not fitted as I need to see if I can get them to send new door windows - the winding mechanism is shite. Also I think an overhead light LED has gone walkies at the plug end but now the plugs are sealed in a rear arch well...

[AndyW201]

Slightly raised eyebrows from the Mrs when I got home, two packages landed today.

First was a mini-haul from @danthecapriman. I'm secretly pleased with my self-restraint this time. Not being pissed this time round possibly helped as well...

These Husky Commer walkthroughs are cute little things, Ive seen a few on here and wanted one for a while. I loved the real vans as a kid as well, there were a few working the streets in our area back in the day as mobile shops (ex mobile libraries), and fish & chip vans.

The Corgi VW hot rod was one of my favourite toys when I was a kid, but for years I never even knew there was a standard Beetle by them too. This one is a nice clean example.

As is this Datsun 260Z, same colour as the one I had.

Another one I was completely unaware of  until fairly recently. As a kid I had the Superkings A series U-Haul Luton van, but never came across this in the toy shops. I should be able to form a couple of tow hooks from some of the flexible wire we use to bundle up bandsaw blades at work. Replace the hooks and re-silver the wheels, and it should be reet.

This Golf is almost box fresh save for a couple of small chips.

My original one had barely a scrap of paint on, and no roof rack by the time I finally parted with it. I shall most likely treat this one to some repro surfboards.

Always wanted one of these big Corgi Capris. This one's pretty good, it's all there, glazing is good and the tip up seat backs and steering wheel are still present. Not sure what to do with it yet, as my resto/modding skills are practically non-existent, but I do fancy this in LeMans green or Purple Velvet or something. 

This one is the highlight for me. Ice cream vans are a bit of a secret obsession of mine, and at the price Dan was asking for this, I had to grab it. 

It's far better than I was expecting. Tyres are all present and are in great condition, and it sits well on its suspension. Glazing is decent and should clean up well, I think there's a sliding window missing from this side, but it's the serving side anyway, so I'm not too fussed there. The server even still twirls away inside,

This one will get a repaint soon, I'm looking forward to getting on with it.  My intentions are to not restore it to shiny original Mr Softee spec, but as a 2nd or 3rd owner independently operated vehicle, like the slightly down at heel vans that were around in the '70s.

Thanks again to Dan for more bargains and another cracking sale.

[sierraman]

Dilemma or what? I’ve had the gloss superfast wheeled one for 30 years plus, it’s well and truly fucked apart from the shell. Should I use it to make one good one with this regular wheels one? 

[bunglebus]

9 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Some great restoration and project work going on here of late. I really like the wheels on the Nova gasser, what a transformation!

Thanks, there's quite a lot of detail work in it that's not immediately obvious but takes it a bit closer to a premium. Most of it's inside, all-chrome interior needed a bit of black on the seats and dash etc to tone it down

[AndyW201]

Other arrival was this,

Having a few sporty Escorts now,  from MK1 to 5, I fancied a MK1 Focus to continue the line, and have been watching these for a while.

Tickford had commissioned diecast retailer PDQ diecasts to have these made as a corporate gift to mark the Focus RS's 10th anniversary. A bit of a licensing fracas with Ford ensued, and by the time that was sorted, Tickford had been sold to Intertek, who weren't interested in the model. Leaving Dave at PDQ holding the baby, so to speak, and 2000 models to shift. Lately he has been selling some small batches at almost half price with small paint defects. They were cheaper than Vanguards/Minichamps to start with, so I finally got one as a late birthday present, after having them on eBay watch for years. This does have a couple of small spots, on the roof, I have a few Minichamps models with the same.

Ah well, I'm not going to be able to retire on it as an investment,  so it's going straight in the display cabinet anyway! It was cheap.

It's made by Premium X so it's a well made thing, with plenty of detail. Like the real thing, it sits nice and low.

Apart from the slight defects, the Imperial blue paint looks lovely too.

Being a "premium" model, the badges are actual badges, not just tampo printed. Nice detailing on the rear screen too.

Detail runs to brembo logos on the calipers,

My shite phone camera doesn't really show it well, but interior detail is well above the norm, with realistic steering wheel trim and gauges,

Decent heater controls and radio,

Correct Sparco seats and seat belt buckles,

Even the green starter button...

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

Dilemma or what? I’ve had the gloss superfast wheeled one for 30 years plus, it’s well and truly fucked apart from the shell. Should I use it to make one good one with this regular wheels one? 

I would if I were you. The regular wheels are nicer than superfast’s imho.

If you’ve had the other one so long, it’s not like your destroying it, just fixing it.

 

[danthecapriman]

8 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

Slightly raised eyebrows from the Mrs when I got home, two packages landed today.

First was a mini-haul from @danthecapriman. I'm secretly pleased with my self-restraint this time. Not being pissed this time round possibly helped as well...

These Husky Commer walkthroughs are cute little things, Ive seen a few on here and wanted one for a while. I loved the real vans as a kid as well, there were a few working the streets in our area back in the day as mobile shops (ex mobile libraries), and fish & chip vans.

The Corgi VW hot rod was one of my favourite toys when I was a kid, but for years I never even knew there was a standard Beetle by them too. This one is a nice clean example.

As is this Datsun 260Z, same colour as the one I had.

Another one I was completely unaware of  until fairly recently. As a kid I had the Superkings A series U-Haul Luton van, but never came across this in the toy shops. I should be able to form a couple of tow hooks from some of the flexible wire we use to bundle up bandsaw blades at work. Replace the hooks and re-silver the wheels, and it should be reet.

This Golf is almost box fresh save for a couple of small chips.

My original one had barely a scrap of paint on, and no roof rack by the time I finally parted with it. I shall most likely treat this one to some repro surfboards.

Always wanted one of these big Corgi Capris. This one's pretty good, it's all there, glazing is good and the tip up seat backs and steering wheel are still present. Not sure what to do with it yet, as my resto/modding skills are practically non-existent, but I do fancy this in LeMans green or Purple Velvet or something. 

This one is the highlight for me. Ice cream vans are a bit of a secret obsession of mine, and at the price Dan was asking for this, I had to grab it. 

It's far better than I was expecting. Tyres are all present and are in great condition, and it sits well on its suspension. Glazing is decent and should clean up well, I think there's a sliding window missing from this side, but it's the serving side anyway, so I'm not too fussed there. The server even still twirls away inside,

This one will get a repaint soon, I'm looking forward to getting on with it.  My intentions are to not restore it to shiny original Mr Softee spec, but as a 2nd or 3rd owner independently operated vehicle, like the slightly down at heel vans that were around in the '70s.

Thanks again to Dan for more bargains and another cracking sale.

Glad you like em!

Get that Capri stripped and painted!! 
Got to start somewhere… besides, it’s not that hard to do and you can’t really ruin anything. If it goes wrong just strip it again and start over!

[eddyramrod]

10 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

. If it goes wrong just strip it again and start over!

Exactly!  I had a bit of a masking disaster recently, as you can see above.  I can deal with the ice cream van (another Dan bargain) by brush.  The two-tone Ford sedan just needed re-masking and the darker shade spraying again.

I stripped the two vans and re-primed them.  This morning I've put some colour on the CF.

Nothing is beyond fixing.

 

[Tenmil Socket]

18 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Exactly!  I had a bit of a masking disaster recently, as you can see above.  I can deal with the ice cream van (another Dan bargain) by brush.  The two-tone Ford sedan just needed re-masking and the darker shade spraying again.

I stripped the two vans and re-primed them.  This morning I've put some colour on the CF.

Nothing is beyond fixing.

 

White Arrow van, nice!

[eddyramrod]

5 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

White Arrow van, nice!

Thank you; that was my plan indeed, but I failed at the masking, and got the layout wrong anyway.  On the British Gas CF I pretty much got the layout right but again, my masking wasn't so good.  I need to build up some more confidence to tackle them again (but now they're in my head, it will happen) so this CF is going in a 70s custom direction.  I don't know yet which way I'm going to take the Transit.

[MiniMinorMk3]

A couple of Tickfords that have passed through.

From Biante of Australia is the 1999 Series 1 TS 50.

Biante models are quite rare in the UK.

The detail is not to bad for a sort of middle range diecast, very much on the IXO and Minichamps level.

In the same packaging as the @AndyW201 Focus is this Tickford Capri.

This is a resin cast by Spark. Has some great detailing but also has had a slight wheel to tyre reaction.

[Datsuncog]

DanBox incoming!

Something nice to open after my online meeting, anyway!

[bunglebus]

Why does Asda's toy section always look like a jumble sale?

A couple of new bits among the chaos, Jada Nanos do not appear to have any codes on the outside that might reveal the contents

[Spottedlaurel]

54 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Why does Asda's toy section always look like a jumble sale?

The big Asda in Ipswich has some funky HWs display with illuminated signage. But still nothing too exciting in it whenever I've looked....

[danthecapriman]

The talk recently about BMW’s was timely.

Ive never seen this one in this part of the world before. Only place I could get one was from South America! 
Very nice model of an E21 though. Great colour too, very ‘of its time!’

Issue number 113 if anyone’s interested. I need a complete list of all these as I still think there’s a good number I’ve never seen before.

[morrisoxide]

Some interesting stuff coming up from Matchbox.

Opening doors Roadmaster.

Harry Potter Anglia that looks massive

GTA

Wagoneer.

The question is will we get them in the UK? 

[MiniMinorMk3]

Today is the Spring Equinox so here's some topical pictures (I could not locate my own one).

 

[danthecapriman]

Here’s a quick roundup of stuff ‘on the bench*’ at the moment for those interested.

The first Sierra I did is being detailed. Bumpers etc are being done in British Rail Executive dark grey! Seems to work quite well as a grey plastic bumper sort of colour.

  
Sierra estate. Front end cured well and it seems to have stuck well. 
I’ve reinforced the joint underneath with some chemical metal putty just to be sure. 
I’ve filed down the joint to get rid of any slight difference in height then sprayed several coats of primer over the join, rubbing it down in between each coat to use the primer as filler in the line of the joint. Normal filler just wasn’t fine enough to do the job. 
 The front bumper and holes in the roof (from the roof bars) have been filled and need sanding back. The roof also had cast roof ribs on under the roof bars so these have been filed down smooth as a low spec car should be.


 

 
I’ve had a Ford F100 short bed in bits for ages, so finally decided what to do with it! 
Metallic black paint job, and the light bar taken off the Dodge RAM pickup used on this. It’s loosely mocked up here while the paint hardens off.

 
Dodge RAM pickup is dry and had a quick polish up.

Battered Vanguards Escort mk1 has been stripped and re sprayed in its new colour. 
This is a Mexico free zone so it’s been done in a nice period correct colour for a normal everyday style mk1… as almost all of them were!

 
And a new project started…

A Lada Riva estate! 
Was a Belarus cop car. I’ll fill the holes in the roof and do it as a standard estate version. 
These are a really nice casting. Buffed up well with the wire brush!

 
The others - trucks I was doing etc, are sat waiting finishing off too but I like to get a good few on the go at a time instead of just one or two.

 

*bench - by bench I mean, a big cardboard box!

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Today is the Spring Equinox

I'll have you know it's tomorrow, cos my birthday is always the first day of spring!

[junkyarddog]

2 hours ago, morrisoxide said:

GTA

That's an old casting.

I've had these two quite a while.

[morrisoxide]

That Alfa must have eluded me. If only they had a booklet of cars you could tick off like back in the day.

Missed  some possible new ones?

Golf Mk3 looks like the hatch opens.

Greenbrier Loadside and Buick Riviera.

RA28 Think this has been mentioned before on here.

[morrisoxide]

In other miniature news, I got these from a charity shop for 30p each.

The Air France bus driver looks like he had too much wine.

[sierraman]

25 minutes ago, morrisoxide said:

In other miniature news, I got these from a charity shop for 30p each.

The Air France bus driver looks like he had too much wine.

He looks like he’s letting out a trump to the side. 

[Datsuncog]

Bit of an oddity I happened to spot earlier today, sat atop one of those pop-up stalls that sells phone cases and chargers in the middle of the shopping centre concourse:

Seems to be a plastic model of a 1955 Pontiac Star Chief that doubles as a Bluetooth speaker. Of course.

It reminded me a bit of those terrible 'classic car' radios and telephones from back in the 1980s.

I didn't see it out of the box, but it looks like it might be quite large. And the headlights seemingly come on.

Possibly 'inspired by' the rather spendy 1/18 Sun Star version?

I didn't see a price on the shopping mall example - but some light internet searching indicates that the 'WSTER WS-598 Music Car Speaker' can be obtained via AliExpress in the sub-tenner price bracket...