Shite in Miniature II

[Datsuncog]

Yes, I buckled.

Several times over, actually.

I also nabbed another one of these at half-price, since I had a voucher needing used.

The Alfa is great, I had the packaging opened before I even had my coat off.

Just magnificent.

I'm normally not a huge fan of Italian sportscars, but there's just something about this one...

Two thumbs up here!

[sierraman]

Next time I’m in loft I’ll look for my MFM, I’d go up now but it’s like the Death Valley up there in this weather. 

[Tenmil Socket]

15 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Yes, I buckled.

Several times over, actually.

I also nabbed another one of these at half-price, since I had a voucher needing used.

The Alfa is great, I had the packaging opened before I even had my coat off.

Just magnificent.

I'm normally not a huge fan of Italian sportscars, but there's just something about this one...

Two thumbs up here!

Are those cases currently half price?

[Datsuncog]

22 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Are those cases currently half price?

No, but if you sign up to their app, they send you a £5 voucher on your registered* birthday - it's only valid for a few weeks, so I needed to get it spent!

*birthday registered with app may not match actual birthday

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

The Audis have a casting difference - with and with without fuel door. You have both there.

I didn't think we'd see that premium set, hence buying the Brasilia online

[AndyW201]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Talking of slightly obscure Matchbox series, I picked up this Midnight Magic off eBay, which I thought was part of the USA only Roman Numerals set - but the card says no.51, and the base just has the name cast into it - in fact there's nothing obvious to suggest where this was originally sold

 

 

 

Looks a lot like the Target supermarkets exclusives packaging from a few years ago,

[MAF260]

I came across these two 80s hot hatches when moving house, forgot I had them.

also recently found this in Aldi of all places

[bunglebus]

16 minutes ago, MAF260 said:

I came across these two 80s hot hatches when moving house, forgot I had them.

Is that an MC Toys/Maisto Golf? Mine has the Matchbox lookalike wheels

 

[AndyW201]

Well, it looks like @Datsuncog has stolen a bit of a march on me, as I had to nip into our local Tesco earlier and their toy department has also had the Entertainer makeover.

To be honest, it's  the most full our local Tesco's toy department has been, but true to form, just as our local Entertainer has to be one of the worst in the country for diecast, the selection here is seemingly nothing like as good as in other areas.

Typically, after wanting one of those orange Volvos when they were reduced, I finally find them in stock somewhere, and theyre back up to £9. Couldnt even be arsed  picking one up.

Was pleased to see the Honda Accord Team Transport in stock though, at a reduced price, I may go back for one of those as I am quite partial to '90s era Touring Cars. Especially after seeing a smeak peak at the upcoming TT Nissan Primera set.

So, after rifling through the mainlines, which was, to be fair, a mix we havent seen round here yet, these were the only two worth digging out from the fantasy shite that was left in.

Used to be quite exciting to find the '80s/'90s and Then & Now editions as it used to be quite easy to make the sets and pairings up. Those days are gone now, sadly...

Yeah, that was it! Still no Beemer Touring, Jag or Audi S2. TBH after having to get something down from the loft recently, seeing all the boxes up there, and just sheer pissed-off ness at wasted journey after wasted journey, I'm still thinking of having a clearance, as I don't think Im feeling the Mattel stuff like I used to

As said a few posts earlier, the Entertainer takeover at Tesco means no more Matchbox from them now. A shame as the very few MB purchases I've made locally have been from there, and Toytown. Strangely, our local Morrisons have started stocking mainlines and 5- packs,, but currently, its the mix with the Autozam and green Audi TT. (Still better than both the B&Ms have to offer though).They had the pack with the blue Minor in at £6.25, but didnt want to even spend that, as its only the one car I want out of that.

So, grim locally, sadly.

[Split_Pin]

50 minutes ago, MAF260 said:

I came across these two 80s hot hatches when moving house, forgot I had them.

also recently found this in Aldi of all places

Thought you might like to see this one I built:

I try and either buy or make an exact model of every car I own!

 

[Datsuncog]

And we're not stopping there, kids...

Today caused me to have reason to be in Belfast for the first time in a while... so St George's beckoned.

But fear not; you weren't missing out on very much.

What look to be some unboxed Brumm/ Bang/ Best/ Franklin Mint/ New Ray models (I didn't look very hard) with a scruffy 1/36 Corgi Bentley, could be yours for £5 a throw.

Yeah, nah.

There were some older items too, squirrelled away towards the back of the stall:

Nothing super-interesting.

The Scalextric Capri and Escort were far from pristine, but not bad - however, they seemed to have attracted a certain price premium, as when I arrived some other guy was having a bit of a haggle over them. An offer of £55 was declined by Market Blokey.

These Bburago 1/24 Smurf vehicles were a new one on me - seems to be a luridly coloured Lamborghini LM200 and a Jeep, with those l'il blue Belgian weirdos at the helm, and helpfully multilingual decals.

Solido and Eligor (reissued Norev) models were pretty good for a fiver, mind:

I was tempted by these, especially the Renault Dauphine, Pug 404 Break and the Citroen SM - but I had all of these before, and sold 'em on.

Hnnng. Triumph TR4 was also quite appealing.

And there was a Tat Box!

Though it's not 50p no more.

😞

[Tenmil Socket]

36 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

And we're not stopping there, kids...

Today caused me to have reason to be in Belfast for the first time in a while... so St George's beckoned.

But fear not; you weren't missing out on very much.

What look to be some unboxed Brumm/ Bang/ Best/ Franklin Mint/ New Ray models (I didn't look very hard) with a scruffy 1/36 Corgi Bentley, could be yours for £5 a throw.

Yeah, nah.

There were some older items too, squirrelled away towards the back of the stall:

Nothing super-interesting.

The Scalextric Capri and Escort were far from pristine, but not bad - however, they seemed to have attracted a certain price premium, as when I arrived some other guy was having a bit of a haggle over them. An offer of £55 was declined by Market Blokey.

These Bburago 1/24 Smurf vehicles were a new one on me - seems to be a luridly coloured Lamborghini LM200 and a Jeep, with those l'il blue Belgian weirdos at the helm, and helpfully multilingual decals.

Solido and Eligor (reissued Norev) models were pretty good for a fiver, mind:

I was tempted by these, especially the Renault Dauphine, Pug 404 Break and the Citroen SM - but I had all of these before, and sold 'em on.

Hnnng. Triumph TR4 was also quite appealing.

And there was a Tat Box!

Though it's not 50p no more.

😞

Cost of living innit

 

[Tenmil Socket]

2 hours ago, MAF260 said:

I came across these two 80s hot hatches when moving house, forgot I had them.

also recently found this in Aldi of all places

Look like TSW Venom’s on that Golf

[bunglebus]

I decided I wasn't going to miss out on a bit of retail therapy, so popped into Basildump for the afternoon. Asda had a whole bunch of new premiums

And a Majorette I don't think I've seen

Entertainer were also quite well stocked but not with anything I wanted

Poundland again had lots of MB and HW, but no new releases 

Same story in One Beyond 

In the end, I just bought myself the Fiat

Waiting for me on my return was a box containing two Superkings. The 944 has a bit of playwear but is at least complete, which seems to be quite unusual 

This one's more interesting though, XJ220 was one of a very few new cars that I really loved as an impressionable teenager when it appeared back in the early 90s. It should really be in silver or dark blue to be perfect, however this is definitely one of the lesser spotted efforts from Matchbox at the time so I'm not complaining.

Guy also had the Rolls Royce Silver Spirit which I was going to bid on until I saw the broken rear light - went for £8.50 in the end anyway!

[bunglebus]

Oh and I obtained yet another Trekker for the Mrs

[Datsuncog]

There were a few other things of general interest on some of my usual market haunts:

Colin's been taking a punt on some of the Hot Wheels Premium twin-packs.

Nice, but not really my bag.

Retro-packaged Matchbox, on the other hand, were very much my bag.

He also said he'd been offered some of the Matchbox Moving Parts range - the older sort, in the plastic blister boxes from 2023 and earlier. I advised that I could be interested.

Because I was in a little later, Alan had been given ample opportunity to set out his wares:

Ehhh... well okay, some oddities present:

Datsun 240Z was a no-name, but possibly Zee or one of those manufacturers?

This said Edocar on the metal base - I was aware of late '80s MC Toys/ Maisto being sold in Europe with Edocar branding, but this looked kinda older. Dunno what lorry it's meant to be, though, or what it might have carried as a load.

Superfast Monteverdi Hai is in need of some TLC.

To put it mildly.

Ah, Alan. Never change.

The Charity Stall had a slightly chipped and scribbled-on My First Matchbox police Astra, plus a heavily overpainted Chevrolet Corvette T-top and a scruffy Corgi Juniors Jeep with no windshield, but before I could line 'em up for a pic, a woman who seemed to be somewhat odd started rummaging through everything while talking loudly to herself, so I just left her to it.

Trad coffee and tray bake were procured, with an unexpected side portion of God Squad literature.

Then I had to scuttle off for a meeting about AI tech, which wasn't nearly as exciting as I'd thought.

[bunglebus]

5 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Colin's been taking a punt on some of the Hot Wheels Premium twin-packs.

That's pretty good for £20

Datsun looks suspiciously like a late Zylmex D75 to me

The little Edocar lorry cab is a nice little thing

[flat4alfa]

8 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

I like the authentic* splodge of body filler below the rear window

[RoadworkUK]

Hey @Datsuncog, if you happen to be back in that Smyths, could you snaffle me one of those silver Car Culture Audi S4s, please? Fiver is way less than eBay scalpers want, and I don't actually have a scale representation of anything close to my own A4. Don't be making a special trip, though; I've enough on my conscience.

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, RoadworkUK said:

Hey @Datsuncog, if you happen to be back in that Smyths, could you snaffle me one of those silver Car Culture Audi S4s, please? Fiver is way less than eBay scalpers want, and I don't actually have a scale representation of anything close to my own A4. Don't be making a special trip, though; I've enough on my conscience.

Ah, now sadly I think all the new ones were priced at £8.99, including the A4 - the staff were still putting these out on the pegs when I called in, and if you zoom in on the Audi peg, the £5 label says 'Fast & Furious Land Rover Defender 110'... so I think they just hadn't got round to swapping over the price tags yet.

(I've been caught out at Smyths before with apparently bargainous Premiums!!)

Sorry to disappoint, although still happy to pick you one up if you're ok with the higher price plus postage etc - still less than scalpers, mebbe?

EDIT - just realised the Alfa's peg says Toyota Land Cruiser and the VW Brasilia's says McLaren F1, so who knows - I was charged £8.99 for the Alfa, though!

[bunglebus]

Quite like the Supra. And the Golf. Actually...

[Datsuncog]

Well now... that branch of Smyths isn't too far away, and I'd hope the pegs haven't yet been stripped bare by the scalpers just yet... If you're keen on the Golf and Supra, just tip me the nod and I'll do my best next time I'm passing!

[Datsuncog]

But! We're still not done with today's DC diecast odyssey, no siree...

After a somewhat confusing meeting, where it emerged that the supposedly 'cutting-edge AI tech' we were expecting was actually a clunky chatbot script reading FAQ prompts off a Word document, what better way to reground in the physical realm than with a big ol' chunk of metal with wheels?

I hadn't checked out the model shop in Smithfield for a while now, so I skipped over.

Ah. Locked and bolted. I wasn't really in a position to hang about for an hour, sadly...

Even though there were boxed examples of My First Matchbox in the window.

And this Volvo's been winking at me for years (though its reliable presence makes me suspect its obscured price tag is not overly bargainous).

But - not today.

The case of assorted rammel would remain undisturbed.

And the books...

...well, God loves a tryer, eh?

[Datsuncog]

So, vaguely disappointed but also slightly wet from an unexpected downpour, I dodged the puddles over to Castle Court, and made for Poundland to get a drink.

I mean, the Matchbox offer was finished, but there was no harm in wandering down the toy aisle on the way to the till...

HOLD THE BUS

Brand spankin' new Hot Wheels mix (well, recent-ish) now at A POUND a go with their stupid app?

Loads of Jaguar Mk1s, loads of Audi Avants, loads of BMW E30 Tourings... well well, this was why the branch over at Longwood had their Hot Wheels pegs heaving yesterday. A new Perks promotion.

Of course, the ones I bought yesterday for £1.80 each were in there. Of course.

Ah, collecting. What a marvellous hobby. You find all the stuff you were after, and you're still  left feeling vaguely annoyed.

The dude ahead of me at the till (pudgy, greying) was holding three BMW Tourings along with a packet of buffalo-flavoured crisps. The lad ahead of him (pudgier, balding) had two VW Transporters and two IMSA Audi 100s.

And I was behind with my bottle of Dr Pepper and... naturally, clutching a Hot Wheels blister pack.

I think that settles the whole 'who's actually buying these toys?' conundrum. It ain't kids.

I was so upset I immediately rushed upstairs and tripped and fell into The Entertainer, wallet-first.

 

Not that there was anything in the Matchbox selection to particularly grab me...

But those discounted Hot Wheels Premiums and Silverlines were a-calling.

Today was not a day for willpower, that's all I'll say.

[Datsuncog]

I guess it's time to roll the credits, then... what did I pick up today?

Well, I did grab a couple of things from Market Blokey's £1 Tat Box.

A really quite nice early Superfast Merryweather with the ladder still in place, and a Hot Wheels BMW E30 M3 in Polizei colours.

More recent Matchbox too - a Nissan Xterra and a Jeep Rubicon. Despite coming out of a Tat Box, these are both as good as new.

Bit of a wildcard - OMG LLEDO.

I know. But it's a Marathons Leyland tanker - not one I remember seeing before. Not super-detailed, but there's a bit of heft to this one and it looks ok alongside Matchbox stuff.

I was quite taken by Colin's range of Target-exclusive retro range Matchbox. A few appealed, but ultimately it was the metallic gold Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser I just couldn't leave behind.

I did get one of these a few months ago in the Wagons 5-pack, but this release looks so much better than the bright blue version. And I'm a sucker for the illustrations.

Lastly, from my lunchtime haul:

The little Fiat 500 was from Poundland for - shock! - a pound, while the Hot Wheels Team Transport AAR Plymouth Barracuda and Sakura Sprinter box van are a pair I've been wavering about for months now - a price drop to £15.20 was enough to reel me in.

The Fast & Furious Silverline Chevelle SS is just a car I happen to like the shape of, and I'm planning to compare it to the mainline version to see why it's so different.

And that's it! 

I mean, I say that's it... but it's been quite a busy week, and there's been a lot of new diecast acquired. I sometimes feel like I don't really have time to fully enjoy or appreciate them before my head's turned by something else within days or even hours... 

First world problems, hey?

Happy Friday, kids.

[bunglebus]

Nice haul. Some very tempting stuff in that model shop but no doubt at comedy prices

[bunglebus]

10 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Well now... that branch of Smyths isn't too far away, and I'd hope the pegs haven't yet been stripped bare by the scalpers just yet... If you're keen on the Golf and Supra, just tip me the nod and I'll do my best next time I'm passing!

All good my Smyths has them now

However if anyone spots the Volvo 240 drift wagon in this series I'd like it

[bunglebus]

Boot sale buys, almost all from one guy with boxes full of tat

[RoadworkUK]

12 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Ah, now sadly I think all the new ones were priced at £8.99, including the A4 

Ah good. Just enough to wake me from my FOMO trance. Stand down! Cheers, anyway.

[eddyramrod]

@Datsuncog could you pick up ( ) one of those T2 flatbeds for me please?  I used to drive one like that in a previous job, and I haven't seen them in any of the shops around me.