Shite in Miniature II

[quicksilver]

20 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Typical. I find two toy shops in the same town, both closed on Mondays

And one of those misplaced apostrophe's, but game's was spared for some reason. You'd think one of those two would seize the opportunity to open on Monday and poach trade from the other.

[Tenmil Socket]

15 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Did you keep this or sell it on?

Only I saw this in charity shop and nabbed it quick as I thought it ought to go with it

I didn't know this, but you rise and lower the gun by turning the Commander's Hatch

The firing pin works too.  Replacement tracks are available

 

This is the set as produced

Weirdly there’s one of those tanks behind the smoking shelter at work!

The gardener made a (very) little pond type thing and put some toys around it that he’d found in a skip. Think there was action figures too. 
 

This was a couple of years ago but I’ll check if it’s still there the next time I’m passing out of curiosity.

[sierraman]

There’s a real one at the side of the northbound carriageway just south of Bristol on the M5. 

[junkyarddog]

A recent find is this 1:18 scale Mk4 Mondeo.

Shame it's plastic,but it's a nice representation of the real thing.

 

[junkyarddog]

Another recent find. 

Norev Peugeot Hoggar!!

Cool concept car,stupid name though.

[sierraman]

4 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

A recent find is this 1:18 scale Mk4 Mondeo.

Shame it's plastic,but it's a nice representation of the real thing.

 

Just like mine!! 

[bunglebus]

Arrivals! Bought these two off eBay

Everyone's favourite Granny

These Matchbox all came from AliExpress, they have a weird pricing system so the more desirable castings are higher priced. I managed to find a few that were quite fair, I'm just fed up of there being no new releases here

Now if you'd like to switch over to BBC2, I've got a few toy cars up for grabs

[FakeConcern]

I got wo long standing projects finished today.

First up the 50p Pilen Volvo 480 with missing door, it was really fiddly to put back together as all the front lights are separate and one or othe fell out every time I hooked the base on at the back and lowered it

I painted the top coat with the doors shut so as not to find they wouldn't

I touched in over the white very thinly by hand afterwards

The home made door doesn't open and shut as smoothly as the original, but hey at least it does open and close!

It does stick out a tiny bit, but strangely the same one on my original 480 does the same

i have to sdmit it did turn out much better than I expected

The other one that got finished was a Corgi Whizzwheels Rover 2000TC I bought in Brighton for £2 quite a while ago

It was missing front grill, bumper and rear bumper while the glazing was all very scratched so I took it from a scrap Golden Jacks version

The colour was chosen to be similar to original as I liked it and I kept the jewelled headlamps as I felt Corgi designers would have done if they hadn't had to economize. Also I like them. The grill looks much better IRL than in the pics. I printed the shape of the bars out the right size on paper, covered in sellotape and used a biro to press the shape through from the back. It came out pretty well,but as I said doesn't show that well in the photos

Genuine Whizzwheels!

Nice looking cars...

[bunglebus]

Top job on the door. Normally I consider it game over if something like that's missing. Took me long enough to make a shonky plastic tailgate for my Corgi Transit

 

[Datsuncog]

Some new stock in The Entertainer today...

No new mainlines, sadly, but I was pleased to see more Moving Parts back on the pegs - alongside a small selection of '70th Anniversary' special edition models, also with opening parts.

Now to be honest I'm finding the anniversary stuff all a bit tedious these days, and think Mattel rather tore the arse out of the whole thing last year by making nearly everything in the range silver and orange... it all started to get a little too close to collectables cynicism for my liking. £7 seems a little steep too, as they don't seem to have any more detail than the standard range, but hey - maybe I'm not the target market here.

More recent Hot Wheels mainlines were in evidence, but none that I'm currently looking out for.

Those Car Culture Volvo 142s are pretty sweet though.

The Moving Parts did move me to open my wallet, though:

These look really good. I'll post some proper pics of them tomorrow.

I also swung past B&M in the off-chance they might have some of those stripped-down Fast & Furious Chevy Fleetmasters, but no, sadly not.

I was tempted by these two gassers though, and somehow couldn't quite manage to talk myself out of them...

[bunglebus]

It's Entertainer delivery day today, fingers crossed!

[sierraman]

See £4.30 is pretty reasonable on those moving parts but it’s finding anywhere that’s stocks them? The one in Sheffield just has the same crap from January. If I win the lottery I’ll go in, buy all the 70th anniversary shit and lob it straight in the fucking bin outside so they can restock. 🤣

[Split_Pin]

Who did it best: BMW E32 7 series.

I received a CogBox today and inside was this no-name 7 series from the 1980s pictured twixt the Superkings and Gama offerings. I was sure it was a copy of one of them.

First the S-K

No, definitely not. Quality wise,  all things considered, the no-name is on par with the S-K.

But the Matchbox is my favourite, I just love the packaging:

Weirdly it says 1990 on the box but I clearly remember my friend Euan having his example (I had the Jaguar) before this. It says '1988' on the base of the car.

Extra V12 engine detail

This one has clearly never been shop-bought as it would have been sent back by the customer on opening:

Next the 1/43 Gama:

Last but not least is the rare 1/24 GAMA version.

No, not that either.

So it's not a copy after all and in its own right it's actually very nice with separate lenses and opening features.  Another that's never been opened, such was the stiffness of the cardboard flaps on the box when opening them.

[danthecapriman]

Bloody post!

Two models arrived this morning. 
One was just put into a post bag thing and taped up with no extra packaging, bubble wrap, polystyrene bits etc etc. and somehow arrived completely undamaged. Great, but I’m surprised!

The other was in its original packaging, with additional bubble wrap inside, then wrapped in bubble wrap and polystyrene beads around the original packaging, then put into a strong cardboard outer box. Well done and probably not much else the seller could have done tbh. 
And yet…

Poor Renner 4 van!!🤬

Luckily it was pretty cheap and I wanted it for repainting anyway but it seems I’ll also have to fix the smashed base and interior too now. 
God only knows what these parcels go through to end up like this sometimes. They must be getting drop kicked from depot to depot I think.

[bunglebus]

On 04/07/2024 at 14:25, Zie said:

Been looking for one of those.

I picked one up today at they were still in stock at £7.20, yours if you want it 

[bunglebus]

@danthecapriman sometimes those partworks get brittle, I posted an F1 car packed similarly and it also disintegrated en route

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

no-name 7 series

I've got that exact one

 

[danthecapriman]

50 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

@danthecapriman sometimes those partworks get brittle, I posted an F1 car packed similarly and it also disintegrated en route

I’ve just put it back together, nothing a bit of superglue couldn’t handle. The base has gone very brittle though, so that must be why. 
The metal body is pretty heavy so maybe while it’s been rattling around in the mail system it’s just snapped the mounts off the chassis.

Since it needed fixing anyway it’s jumped the queue for ‘anglicising’!

Dashboard is very simple so I’ll cut n shut it to right hand drive. Chassis and interior unit are sat drying overnight before I start messing around with them after the repairs.

I got this some while back too, Fiat Tipo. (With what look like Lancia wheels!!)

Not a car you see modelled very often, so I’m going to do this one as one my mate bought off a customer when we were working in the garage. 
It was a diesel version towed in with a broken timing belt (I think!? It was a long time ago!) customer didn’t want to pay to repair it so my mate bought it cheap instead of it going for scrap. It needed a replacement belt to run again but also needed brakes and a few other things too so he just did the lot, then gave it to his girlfriend who used it for years after that. Seemed to be a good car after the belt.

 
Nothing fancy here, the car it’s going to be based on was a very plain mundane basic spec diesel in white!

[danthecapriman]

Sierra estate nearly done. I want to fit the wheels form another Sierra model though thats got those early hub caps with the little vent slots in. Can’t remember where they are though. 
It’s going to need a wash off this one. It’s been sat in the shed ages gathering dust!

 

Ages back I started this Matchbox Kingsize Mercury Commuter wagon so I’ve started finishing it off.

  
This one had really saggy suspension on the back which was because the spring plate inside had worn loose on the rivet that holds it down. Easy to fix by twatting it with a blunt chisel squashing it down again.

[bunglebus]

I got engrossed in fixing a real car today so got into town later than I wanted. Bumped into another collector in Smyths who informed me Entertainer had four new boxes on their delivery (i.e. he'd nabbed all the good ones already)

Still picked up a few though

 

[Zie]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I picked one up today at they were still in stock at £7.20, yours if you want it 

Yes please! 😁

[Datsuncog]

Some of the Matchbox Moving Parts from yesterday, then:

The Bizzarrini 5300 Corsa has already been profiled upthread, but it truly is lovely.

It just looks so right, and that dark metallic red is sublime. Detailing is great all over.

I'm not normally all that into GT racers, but this really is something else.

I don't know much about the real thing, so I'm not sure what the engine's trying to depict with the rusty smudges - but at least the bonnet's easy to open, and actually does go wide, unlike some others.

It's a glorious little toy - and those racing wheels with the knock-offs look spot-on for stance and purpose. I love this one.

[bunglebus]

Finding more interesting* stuff in the loft

Matchbox going live on my sales thread at 7

[Datsuncog]

This 1964 Buick Riviera is another beauty from the 2024 Moving Parts range.

I do love the Rivieras of this vintage - there's just something about the sharpness of these mid-sixties personal luxury coupes that I find pleasing.

The casting's quite finely rendered, although the opening doors are maybe a little bit clunky, and don't seem to quite line up on the passenger side.

Decoration is subtle, with printed lights some silver detailing around the windows. Base detail is adequate too, but that's not really Matchbox's forte.

Some effort's been made for the interior, including seat patterning, although the steering wheel is just a featureless disc - possibly toy safety regs preclude anything as fine as the sort of spoked steering wheels seen on Lesney products back in the day?

Nonetheless, this is a handsome big model - and it is pretty large. The wheels look just right on it too.

It first came out in last year's range wearing black paint, and is also included in the 2024 Collector Series in red.

This kinda silvery-pink shade is, apparently, known as Desert Beige.

I'll have to compare this to some of the other recent '60s Matchbox releases like the Charger and Continental...

[sierraman]

I’d really like it if they brought the superfast wheels back. 

[bunglebus]

There's a new Race Days series coming up, most don't float my boat but this looks good

[Datsuncog]

And then lastly there was this...

A Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 4x4, in satin black with a slight pop of colour down the sides.

The loaded roofrack, side ladder and awning suggest a semi-stealth camper rather than a commercial load-lugger.

This is also a large model - I'm not sure it'd fit into a power grab box or onto a standard mainline card. It barely fits into the Moving Parts box. But it makes for a good hefty toy that does feel a bit premium.

The base does a decent job of replicating some of the underside detail, while also setting out all the codes and whatnot.

The opening part here is the sliding side door - it's a little bit awkward to prise out of the frame, as it's held closed top and bottom by two little nubs, and a fair bit of levering with a thumbnail or similar is required to persuade them to release their grip - but it's good that they've fitted a painted metal door rather than cheaping out with a plastic one.

Inside can be seen (just about) a stove with a pan on it, a sink and (out of shot) a seat towards the back.

Chunky off-road wheels with orange rim embellishers complete the look nicely.

This is another recolour of a 2023 casting; previously it was rendered in pale grey with a green forest motif. Aside from the yellow glazing, I think I like this version better.

I didn't really anticipate buying all of these, but since models from the range can be annoyingly hard to track down, it felt like a case of now or never...

Moving Parts seem to vanish pretty quickly from the Matchbox display in this store, suggesting a high degree of popularity amongst collectors and/ or scalpers. They're nearly double the price of mainlines, but in terms of paint finish and detailing they do feel a bit more special, with printing on every surface and a generally hefty feel to them.

I was a bit surprised to see that there are 54 different models to collect in the 2024 Moving Parts range - that's a lot to commit to. Not all of them appeal to me as much - some of the newer US pickups and hypercar exotics are all a bit much of a muchness, and there was also a Seagrave fire appliance with a liftable ladder in the store, which I left behind on the pegs as it seemed a bit tiddly compared to the others.

Hey, I'll never be a completionist with Matchbox, but it's still interesting to see what they come up with.

Now if only they still printed paper catalogues so I could tick them off as I found them...

[MiniMinorMk3]

18 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Some of the Matchbox Moving Parts from yesterday, then:

 

Details of the original Bizzarini

Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada, Giotto's masterpiece (archive.org)

Quote

Giotto Bizzarrini is one of the most valuable Italian engineers and because of his skill he collaborates with numerous manufacturers such as Alfa Romeo, Lamborghini and Ferrari. In 1964 he worked for Iso Rivolta in Bresso, for which he designed the Iso Grifo grand tourer equipped with powerful American 8-cylinder engines. Once the road model has been developed, the volcanic engineer from Livorno would like to focus on the competition version called A3C but clashes with the company's management, who is not inclined to officially engage in car racing with this car.

Bizzarrini did not give up and decided to set up on his own to realize the production of his most extreme creature. Based on the Iso Grifo A3C, a road-legal sports car was created with the idea of producing it in small series. The car saw the light of day in 1965 under the name of Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada, immediately becoming a formidable competitor for the Ferraris of the period. The style and technical characteristics of the car reflect the genius of its designer and the 5300 GT appears similar to a racing car, much more extreme than the grand tourers offered by other car manufacturers.

The breathtaking design largely echoes the line set by Giorgetto Giugiaro for the Iso Grifo A3C: the nose is dominated by rounded wheel arches while the tail is long and elusive, characterized by a large, almost horizontal rear window. The side highlights the sinuous course of the beltline and reveals the presence of numerous slits and vents for hot air with a clear competitive imprint. The front also houses generous air intakes, both near the grille and on the bonnet, as if to hint at the presence of the powerful engine that powers the 5300 GT Strada.

The price to pay for such a fascinating aesthetic appearance is a certain discomfort of the cabin. The seating surface is practically low to the ground and the riding position is semi-recumbent. The seat is not adjustable: since it is a handcrafted creation, it is fixed at the factory directly to the rider's measurements. The interior is characterized by the voluminous transmission tunnel from which the short gear lever emerges and by the particular dashboard. The main instruments, speedometer and tachometer, are located in the centre of the dashboard, while four secondary indicators are located in front of the driver.

The engine of the Bizzarrini 5300 GT is a powerful 5,358 cc Chevrolet V8 powered by a single four-barrel carburetor from the Holley brand. It develops a maximum power of 365 hp at just under 6,000 rpm. and is mated to a 4-speed manual gearbox. It is a rather traditional unit with rod and rocker arm distribution, but by virtue of a car body weighing only 1,200 kg, it allows the Italian grand tourer to achieve remarkable performance. The top speed varies according to the set of gear ratios chosen by the buyer and ranges approximately between 250 and 280 km/h.

Production of the Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada continued until 1968, totalling 133 units produced, including some rare examples with spider and targa bodywork. 

Details of the Revival as modelled by Hot Wheels

British-built Bizzarrini 5300 GT Corsa Revival takes to the road (retromotor.co.uk)

Quote

The reborn Bizzarrini sports car company has achieved a significant milestone, as its first completed car hits the road. 

A painstaking recreation of the original, the Bizzarrini 5300 GT Corsa Revival is now undergoing endurance testing to ensure reliability.

The project is intended as a tribute to the company’s founder, Giotto Bizzarrini, and his dedication to innovation and performance.

An engineering icon
Bizzarrini 5300 GT Corsa Revival
A former engineer for Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Iso, Giotto Bizzarrini was involved in some of the most significant sports cars of the 1950s and 1960s.

His work includes the 1957 Ferrari 250 TR, the renowned 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO and the revolutionary Ferrari 250 GT SWB Breadvan. 

Bizzarrini founded his eponymous company in 1964, with his Bizzarrini 5300 GT based upon the Iso Grifo A3C he had engineered. 

The Bizzarrini 5300 GT Corsa went on to take a class win at the 1965 Le Mans 24 Hours race, finishing ninth overall. As a demonstration of its reliability, Bizzarrini then drove the successful car back home to Italy.

Modern performance potential
Bizzarrini 5300 GT Corsa Revival
Today, the revived Bizzarrini company includes former Aston Martin chief executive Dr Ulrich Bez as chairman. 

The Bizzarrini 5300 GT Revival is a faithful replica of the original, but made with the benefits of modern engineering. 

A 5.3-litre V8 engine, using Weber carburettors, develops more than 400hp. Independent suspension using Giotto’s own design is used, along with disc brakes all-round. 

A kerb weight of just 1,250kg results in an impressive power-to-weight ratio.

Still pushing the boundaries
Bizzarrini 5300 GT Corsa Revival
Although Bizzarrini was originally founded in Livorno, Italy, the 5300 GT Revival is being hand-built in the UK. 

Each of the 24 examples will conform to FIA Appendix K historic racing regulations. This includes a comprehensive six-point roll cage, two racing bucket seats and a safety fuel cell. 

A lightweight one-piece composite bodyshell is fitted, with buyers able to specify a carbon fibre version if desired. 

“Had it been available, we believe Giotto Bizzarrini would almost certainly have deployed carbon fibre in his racing cars,” said Richard Quinlan, COO of Bizzarrini. “As a result, the 5300 GT Revival Corsa will be offered with a full carbon fibre bodyshell as standard for those customers who do not need to conform to Historic Racing regulations.”

Placed on red alert
Bizzarrini 5300 GT Corsa Revival
The 5300 GT Revival was constructed using Bizzarrini’s own blueprints, and the knowledge of those who made the car back in the 1960s. Materials from original suppliers have also been utilised to ensure period accuracy. 

Such dedication to authenticity extends to tracking down the correct shade of Rosso Corsa red paint. A sample from an original panel was used, which was subsequently colour-matched to create Rosso Corsa Bizzarrini 222.

With final testing now underway, Bizzarrini plans for first deliveries to customers in May 2022.

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

20 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

I got this some while back too, Fiat Tipo. (With what look like Lancia wheels!!)

 

Snap

 

That Tipo is from the Edison Giocattoli series

Giocher also did a version with the correct for 1988 wheel trims

And your right about the wheels on the EG version, they are from a Lancia Dedra

[danthecapriman]

33 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Snap

 

That Tipo is from the Edison Giocattoli series

Giocher also did a version with the correct for 1988 wheel trims

And your right about the wheels on the EG version, they are from a Lancia Dedra

I didn’t get a box with mine! It just came in a little blister packet.

Odd why they decided to put the Lancia wheels on it too. Maybe they had a load of them leftover?