Shite in Miniature II

[andrew e]

Glad to see you back buying diecast you don’t need Jon 😉

I’ve got that Siku and your right it’s both weighty and disappointing!

[bunglebus]

That Dinky Jag is mad, they must have been doing some serious 60s drugs when they came up with those colours 

[flat4alfa]

5 hours ago, Jon said:

[...] I'm not sure why there's 2 holes in the bulkhead  when there's windscreen wipers cast into the 'screen.

The bulkhead had those raised wiper arm spline attachment ends throughout

The purple and red metallics are the least common, Purple produced for a matter of months 1975-76 before Speedwheels were fitted

Dinky 131, produced 1968-77
1968-70 White
1970-75 Copper metallic
1975-76 Purple metallic
1976-77 Copper metallic or Red metallic, fitted with Speedwheels

[bunglebus]

Anyone got this tractor unit floating about?

[flat4alfa]

5 hours ago, Jon said:

Honestly, the old guy stiffed me, wittingly or not. This is one of the sorriest excuses for a toy-shaped-object ever. The flipping wheels don't even spin on their axles. 

You might find it more collectible* than you think

The ATCO Bricks series was new for 1988 but was shut down by 1992 due to a lawsuit from Lego.

You may see them as rebranded to Medquip Interlocking Bricks, perhaps in some territories where the lawsuit didn't apply

[flat4alfa]

14 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Anyone got this tractor unit floating about?

Not here sorry.  You'll need to search for DAF 3300 Space Cab as it would say underneath, but they produced it in so many colours, it might be easier to search on Kelloggs and remove the decal

Base states 1987 but Team Pepsi Suzuki variation only produced 1989

[FakeConcern]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Anyone got this tractor unit floating about?

I have this one from the roffle I won, if it's any good to you

[bunglebus]

That could work, thank you

[FakeConcern]

OK I'll have a look for it then, I was going to take the wheels off it!

[barrett]

8 hours ago, bunglebus said:

That Dinky Jag is mad, they must have been doing some serious 60s drugs when they came up with those colours 

weirdly it's the same colour scheme as the cutaway MGB GT. Not sure if this was an actual colour scheme you could buy but I absolutely love it

[sierraman]

In the 1985 Corgi catalogue there’s a 1/36 Mercedes Magic Top 500SEC, never seen one, was it actually made? 

[Tenmil Socket]

58 minutes ago, sierraman said:

In the 1985 Corgi catalogue there’s a 1/36 Mercedes Magic Top 500SEC, never seen one, was it actually made? 

Not sure but I did find this pre-production model a couple of weeks ago of the standard version.

[MiniMinorMk3]

21 hours ago, Jon said:

 

...although I'm not sure why there's 2 holes in the bulkhead  when there's windscreen wipers cast into the 'screen.

 

 

15 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

The bulkhead had those raised wiper arm spline attachment ends throughout

 

The E-type had triple wipers at that time. The two raised parts will be the washer jets.

[sierraman]

29 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Not sure but I did find this pre-production model a couple of weeks ago of the standard version.

The preproduction stuff fascinates me, how do they get out into the public domain? You’d think they’d be kept at the factory and be extremely difficult to get hold of? 

[Jon]

25 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

 

The E-type had triple wipers at that time. The two raised parts will be the washer jets.

Yes, that makes sense, now that I see that my crappy photo is showing shaded nubs and not holes, like I'd thought.

I suppose I could've wandered across the room and looked at the actual casting!

[quicksilver]

2 hours ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Not sure but I did find this pre-production model a couple of weeks ago of the standard version.

That's a Matchbox 1/64. They were definitely made with the flip-over roof as I had one and was fascinated by the mechanism. I'm not aware Corgi ever did anything similar.

[Tenmil Socket]

9 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

That's a Matchbox 1/64. They were definitely made with the flip-over roof as I had one and was fascinated by the mechanism. I'm not aware Corgi ever did anything similar.

Yep, my bad... that'll teach me to start reading things properly!

[flat4alfa]

Matchbox MB220, Mercedes-Benz 500SL, 1990-00

[flat4alfa]

Matchbox SuperKings KS-172, Mercedes-Benz 500SL, 1991-92

[flat4alfa]

Corgi Juniors Mercedes-Benz 500SL, 1990-94

 

Became a Hot Wheels, 1994-97

[Datsuncog]

3 hours ago, sierraman said:

In the 1985 Corgi catalogue there’s a 1/36 Mercedes Magic Top 500SEC, never seen one, was it actually made? 

As far as I know, the C257 Mercedes never made it into production. Like so many others shown in the 1985 catalogue, it appears to be a resin prototype.

I'd love to know whether its non-appearance was down to technical reasons (was the 'magic top' mechanism too easy to break? Unable to comply with new toy safety regs?) or financial reasons - the management buy-out of the Corgi factory from Mettoy's bankruptcy only the year before had left them fairly squeezed, so was it just a step too far to bring in another new casting, especially one which would require extra time and parts to manufacture?

The Toyota Supra and the Mercedes 207D panel van were both new for '85 castings, as were the Turbos range. The Supra didn't last long in the range, and the Turbos were brought in specifically to be cheap, simple volume sellers with good profit margin that could bridge the gap between the Juniors range and the bigger, more expensive 1/36 line-up.

I'd like to have seen the previewed Toyota Corolla TE71 in the Turbos range, rather than the AE86 which eventually appeared.

[bunglebus]

New bits in Smyths 

I liked the Torino, but being as it's this exact release

Just on a different card, I'll keep my £9 thanks

[flat4alfa]

Corgi 1:24 scale Mercedes-Benz 500SL, with wizardry

[flat4alfa]

More to collect

 

[sierraman]

1 minute ago, flat4alfa said:

Corgi 1:24 scale 500SL, with wizardry

I had one of those, had a honking horn and flashing lights. 

[sierraman]

14 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

As far as I know, the C257 Mercedes never made it into production. Like so many others shown in the 1985 catalogue, it appears to be a resin prototype.

I'd love to know whether its non-appearance was down to technical reasons (was the 'magic top' mechanism too easy to break? Unable to comply with new toy safety regs?) or financial reasons - the management buy-out of the Corgi factory from Mettoy's bankruptcy only the year before had left them fairly squeezed, so was it just a step too far to bring in another new casting, especially one which would require extra time and parts to manufacture?

The Toyota Supra and the Mercedes 207D panel van were both new for '85 castings, as were the Turbos range. The Supra didn't last long in the range, and the Turbos were brought in specifically to be cheap, simple volume sellers with good profit margin that could bridge the gap between the Juniors range and the bigger, more expensive 1/36 line-up.

I'd like to have seen the previewed Toyota Corolla TE71 in the Turbos range, rather than the AE86 which eventually appeared.

You can see on the photos it’s was obviously a very clunky affair. Cost would probably have been a deciding factor. 

[Datsuncog]

It's possible that in better times, Corgi might have chanced its release - but with hard times knocking, Corgi top brass might have seen it as too much of a risk to pull the lever on full production. Especially if it was going to be a good whack more expensive than the rest of the range, and also looked a bit shit.

Kids ain't that stupid.

[flat4alfa]

4 hours ago, sierraman said:

In the 1985 Corgi catalogue there’s a 1/36 Mercedes Magic Top 500SEC, never seen one, was it actually made? 

I went down the 500SL route, R129... sorry I need new glasses

[Tenmil Socket]

12 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I had one of those, had a honking horn and flashing lights. 

I had a Ferrari F40 with a working alarm with a fob!

[Tenmil Socket]

Chevy from the Cogbox dismantled awaiting inspiration.