Shite in Miniature II

[Datsuncog]

10 hours ago, IronStar said:

How was it branded there?

Thanks a lot man! Red one would be ideal, but I’ll settle for any color and maybe respray it 😄 

No worries - I've only seen the Florida in that off-white, and the Zastava and Yugo 45A in red, but who knows! 

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

There’s an awful lot of those partwork vehicles that get bought up by wholesalers and toy/model shops after the partwork series has ended. Most are either unsold stocks or ones with slight defects. Usually they get sent back to the original supplier and sold off in bulk, usually without the magazines. But that means they can end up anywhere in the world for sale again, often in countries they weren’t originally available.

Some are really good, others less so! Most of them are cheapened down versions of more premium base castings (from the likes of IXO, PremiumX etc etc) with simplified paint jobs and less intricate details like wipers etc.

I found a few with spelling mistakes on the packaging and even on the bases of the models! Good old Cina!

Essentially this ^^^

I've never seen any of these models sold new with the magazine, but it seems some distributors in the UK got hold of a load of seconds and/or surplus stock sometime in the early 2010s.

A fairly large range of Soviet-era service vehicles were really common for a while in discount chain Poundland (selling for £1 each), so they must have been dirt cheap at wholesale prices. Some were really common (the GAZ Pobeda taxi seemed to be everywhere) while others were quite hard to find (I only saw the Lada Niva fire appliance once).

I think Poundland bought them up to sell as toys, only to later find they couldn't legally be sold to under-14s because of all the small fragile parts - so they were often dumped on a low shelf down with the gardening tools. I bought a lot of them to keep and to trade, though I'm not sure what's left now! I should explore under the bed and see what I have.

They still crop up from time to time on market stalls or in diecast and collectables shops; they used to be priced at £4 or £5 but in recent years can be nearer the £10 mark. 

The model shop near me (the one I tried to visit last Friday but it was closed for lunch) keeps a lot of assorted partwork models in a big basket near the door, so I'll have a proper look through them the next time I'm in. I bought a few from there a couple of years back (the Dacia crew cab pickup, for one), while a couple I've bought from the French online retailer Jumajo, as sometimes they had cheap examples that I was happy to add to my order for another few €.

I bought the eBay job lot from Italy because it was relatively cheap and about half the items were pre-sold to the fine folks on this very thread; however I had a house move in early 2022, so had to carry out some fairly radical downsizing of the collection in advance. I'm pretty sure I sold the Florida, but I'll have a look just in case.

EDIT: yes, it was sold back in February 2022 to someone on here who hasn't visited for a long time - for a whopping £1.80.

😕

[MiniMinorMk3]

10 hours ago, bunglebus said:

This one's still here somewhere 

Made in Cina no less

 

 

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

There’s an awful lot of those partwork vehicles that get bought up by wholesalers and toy/model shops after the partwork series has ended. Most are either unsold stocks or ones with slight defects. Usually they get sent back to the original supplier and sold off in bulk, usually without the magazines. But that means they can end up anywhere in the world for sale again, often in countries they weren’t originally available.

Some are really good, others less so! Most of them are cheapened down versions of more premium base castings (from the likes of IXO, PremiumX etc etc) with simplified paint jobs and less intricate details like wipers etc.

I found a few with spelling mistakes on the packaging and even on the bases of the models! Good old Cina!

There's an easy explanation for the use of Cina on De Agostini models.

[danthecapriman]

2 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Some may remember that @155V6 picked up a Grandad-built garage some time ago.  I am, I hope, well-enough known as a lover of these things; certainly enough for him to remember me and meet me in Bagshot when I was there On Tour.  This is it:

It's a big bugger!  Occupied rather a lot of the Vitara's load space, and has involved rearranging the shelves in my front bedroom, from this...

...to this...

...where there is now a Mini Club meet happening on the ground floor!

I also found a car-boot at Maidenhead on the way home, where these appeared in front of me...

MBKS flatbed trailer; I think it's the one that's supposed to have three tractors on it; Corgi tipping-trailer body with no tailboard; and a late-40s/early-50s Dinky Armstrong Siddely Tourer.  Total investment £2.50.  I've primed the trailer bits already, but not decided how I'm going to approach the Armstrong.

There's been drilling and painting going on since I got home too.  These are the bodies drilled off their chassis, about to go in the stripper.  Note the infamous Poo-Brown Sierra!

And here are most of them after I got the aerosols out.

This morning I even managed to get colour on these two.

Fuck me, that garage weighs a ton.  I manhandled it all the way from the car to where it is now, upstairs - on my own!  I was drenched in sweat!  I've populated it a bit more since the pics above, even the Mini Club has grown.

 

Jesus! That garage is bloody huge!! I’m not surprised you nearly busted your ass manhandling it indoors! You don’t want to be moving that again. 
Looks brilliant though, especially populated with cars it probably had in it when whoever it was made it.

 

Love the projects too. There’s a few there I recognise! 
That poo brown Sierra, have you thought about cutting out the pillar in the back windows to make it into a lowly spec 3 door? You’d probably need to make new glazing for it though.

[junkyarddog]

2 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

I was drenched in sweat!

Bet your ears were ringing too!!

[AndyW201]

On 29/07/2024 at 14:19, danthecapriman said:

Well, it had to be done! 
I make no apologies for buying it either.

 

Thumbs up from me.  
It looks like a mk2 and the details look pretty good. Nice bit of printing for the badges etc too.

The only thing I’m not a particular fan of are the wheels. Maybe something I can address at a later date though.

Heres hoping they do a Miami blue L spec version in future!

Hey, that looks great, nice to see it turned out okay, as I should have one arriving in a couple of days. Took advantage of a 20% discount offer and cashed in some reward points.

Funnily enough, regarding the wheels, this Ford PR shot seems to show a Ghia also with diamond cut wheels with dark inserts. Someone on the Vanguards site on FB, a bit of an old Ford expert, reckons this finish could be had as an option on early Ghias, with painted silver as the standard finish.

It would still appear that the car the Vanguards one is based on has had its wheels refurbished with darker inserts at some point though.

[AndyW201]

16 hours ago, IronStar said:

On this week’s episode of what did DeAgostini put out as the next iteration of Legendary Cars series - Skoda Oktavia. The original one.

Why this, when I’ve never seen one, and early 00s one would sell better is a question we probably will never get an answer to. I really think they’re running out of ideas, and after they used up all the staple cars in the first 15 or so editions, they are just putting out things to see if it sells. I expect a re-run of Zastava vehicles, and I’d really love to grab a Yugo and Florida that I missed the first time. They can be had from scalpers, but they can go to hell, I’m not supporting that. 

Thers a much better partwork series out called Famous Czech Cars, which as the name suggests, is all Skoda. I agree with you about the need for an early 2000s Octavia, this is the one from the Czech Cars series that Im currently trying to hunt down,

So far, the only model that has been made of a road-going RS. There are a few kicking about for sale but prices are at a premium. If they were to bring that series out over here, I'd subscribe to it, as there are some right crackers in it, but we've never been well catered for partworks in the UK.

[bunglebus]

4 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Not doing too well on finding stuff in France this year, so far just this one purchase:

These are at the local supermarket, I might relent and buy the 3-pack if not much else comes to light:

@bunglebus do you 'need' any of these?

Only one boot sale attended so far, that had a few very playworn older Majorettes but nothing particularly tempting. Have some more lined-up.

No, thank you!

[IronStar]

17 minutes ago, AndyW201 said:

Thers a much better partwork series out called Famous Czech Cars, which as the name suggests, is all Skoda. I agree with you about the need for an early 2000s Octavia, this is the one from the Czech Cars series that Im currently trying to hunt down,

So far, the only model that has been made of a road-going RS. There are a few kicking about for sale but prices are at a premium. If they were to bring that series out over here, I'd subscribe to it, as there are some right crackers in it, but we've never been well catered for partworks in the UK.

If we get it here as part of this series, I’ll pick up one for you.

[danthecapriman]

It’d be interesting to find out which partwork’s are in progress or coming up. I wonder if you could subscribe online and have them delivered to a UK address? 
It seems quite hard to find any information about them though.

It’s good to see some more modern old cars starting to feature in them though. Like the Focus mk1 in the Argentina partwork. There’s a Citroen Berlingo van in it too.

[Tenmil Socket]

4 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Some may remember that @155V6 picked up a Grandad-built garage some time ago.  I am, I hope, well-enough known as a lover of these things; certainly enough for him to remember me and meet me in Bagshot when I was there On Tour.  This is it:

It's a big bugger!  Occupied rather a lot of the Vitara's load space, and has involved rearranging the shelves in my front bedroom, from this...

...to this...

...where there is now a Mini Club meet happening on the ground floor!

I also found a car-boot at Maidenhead on the way home, where these appeared in front of me...

MBKS flatbed trailer; I think it's the one that's supposed to have three tractors on it; Corgi tipping-trailer body with no tailboard; and a late-40s/early-50s Dinky Armstrong Siddely Tourer.  Total investment £2.50.  I've primed the trailer bits already, but not decided how I'm going to approach the Armstrong.

There's been drilling and painting going on since I got home too.  These are the bodies drilled off their chassis, about to go in the stripper.  Note the infamous Poo-Brown Sierra!

And here are most of them after I got the aerosols out.

This morning I even managed to get colour on these two.

Fuck me, that garage weighs a ton.  I manhandled it all the way from the car to where it is now, upstairs - on my own!  I was drenched in sweat!  I've populated it a bit more since the pics above, even the Mini Club has grown.

 

Looking forward to seeing both Sierra’s finished!

[Zie]

On 20/07/2024 at 18:19, Zie said:

An update. 😂

[danthecapriman]

7 minutes ago, Zie said:

An update. 😂

Maybe if you go back in ten years time they’ll have a fully stocked box!

[cms206]

From today's Metro - anyone else fancy a Bburago 1/18-scale E-type for £139.94 😳

[sierraman]

10 minutes ago, cms206 said:

From today's Metro - anyone else fancy a Bburago 1/18-scale E-type for £139.94 😳

Bit dear that! 😂

[RoadworkUK]

"... maximum speeds of 165 to 170mph"?

Crikey. It's not only the price that's been massively inflated

[andrew e]

That’s how fast the money leaves your bank account!

[Christine]

Charity shop .. Corgi Cubs ..poverty  version ?  'Merican   Police car , 

 

 

 

Matchbox Special 1. 40th   Pro Stocker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Spottedlaurel]

Diecast matters improving here in France, picked these up at a brocante and then a vide grenier that we visited today. In temp's of the mid 30s I'm surprised stuff survived....

Two Euros for the R5, one each for the others.

Appropriately I had just taken a photo of a 1:1 4F4 when I found this battle-scarred but solid example. C30 picked up with rehoming in mind, isn't it @FakeConcern who likes them?

Plastic base on the Mondeo, front wheels don't always sit in the right place.

Also got a couple of bigger things to add to my 1:43 French bilge non-collection:

GS seems very clean, did they redo them as a partwork?

[bunglebus]

AliExpress to the rescue!

The very lovely Audi 100 coupé

And a much cheaper version of the BMW E30 M3 casting, that looks equally as good as their limited edition Collector's club release

 

[FakeConcern]

3 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Diecast matters improving here in France, picked these up at a brocante and then a vide grenier that we visited today. In temp's of the mid 30s I'm surprised stuff survived....

Two Euros for the R5, one each for the others.

Appropriately I had just taken a photo of a 1:1 4F4 when I found this battle-scarred but solid example. C30 picked up with rehoming in mind, isn't it @FakeConcern who likes them?

Plastic base on the Mondeo, front wheels don't always sit in the right place.

Also got a couple of bigger things to add to my 1:43 French bilge non-collection:

GS seems very clean, did they redo them as a partwork?

Yes please to the Welly C30, thank you so much for thinking of me (I only have one of these in silver)! I'm up for any models of Volvo c30 and Citroen C4 VTS...

[flat4alfa]

17 hours ago, Christine said:

Charity shop .. Corgi Cubs ..poverty  version ?  'Merican   Police car , 

 

OMG RARE GLAZING VERSION

[IronStar]

Spotted in the wild yesterday 

[Christine]

21 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

OMG RARE GLAZING VERSION

Can i retire on it ?  RARE BLUE BASE TOO!  

'Only made '76 to'77  , so rare , and   sought after by collectors....'

There's  dozens on ebay.... for 10p..

 

Not many Pro Stockers though in green 

[sierraman]

Is B&M still selling Matchbox? 

[Datsuncog]

35 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Is B&M still selling Matchbox? 

The big B&M up the road from me at Abbeycentre still has a couple of pegs of Matchbox short cards, but I don't think they've had any new stock since the middle of last year - still seems to be mostly the mix which had the 70th Anniversary cars, including that Porsche 911 Rallye.

Belfast City Centre branch of B&M has had none for a while.

Belfast Connswater branch was nearly out of them, but did seem to get some more in a few weeks ago - or maybe they just found a stray box out the back. It was the mix with the orange Opel Kadett coupe in it.

The only 2024 Matchbox I've encountered outside independent shops has been in The Entertainer, in Poundland - though they've recently slipped back to the older 2023 mixes too, presumably bought cheap hence selling them for £1.50 with their loyalty app - and in Poundstretcher, who seem to have got a wide variety of short and long card items from 2022 to 2024 all priced at £1.49, but don't seem to have put them on their stockfile so they don't scan at the till.

[Datsuncog]

As an aside, I happened to be strolling through Tesco this morning and realised that The Entertainer toy aisle now has Matchbox mainlines back in stock:

The usual BOGOHP offer is available here too, so £1.80 a throw if you're multibuying - still cheaper than some other outlets. Pity they also seem to be last year's stock - although some lesser-seen items were in there:

I really don't need any more of these, though.

I thought I'd lucked out in Sainsbury's, as their (fairly small) toy range was being reprofiled with a number of fresh Mattel boxes on display...

But the only mainlines were just the mix from back at the start of the year, with the Proton Saga in it. AND the box had already been rifled through to remove any green RS2000s, possibly by staff...

Poundland didn't have very much this week - the £1 Hot Wheels offer with their app seems to have been popular, with the fresh mix including the BMW E30 Touring having flown off the pegs, while their (mostly) 2023 Matchbox mainlines are back up to £2 again.

Some fashionable choices were available elsewhere in store, though...

Though you'd have to be quite tiny to squeeze into this jacket, sadly:

Very much kiddies size.

[IronStar]

18 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

As an aside, I happened to be strolling through Tesco this morning and realised that The Entertainer toy aisle now has Matchbox mainlines back in stock:

The usual BOGOHP offer is available here too, so £1.80 a throw if you're multibuying - still cheaper than some other outlets. Pity they also seem to be last year's stock - although some lesser-seen items were in there:

I really don't need any more of these, though.

I thought I'd lucked out in Sainsbury's, as their (fairly small) toy range was being reprofiled with a number of fresh Mattel boxes on display...

But the only mainlines were just the mix from back at the start of the year, with the Proton Saga in it. AND the box had already been rifled through to remove any green RS2000s, possibly by staff...

Poundland didn't have very much this week - the £1 Hot Wheels on offer with their app seems to have been popular, with the fresh mix including the BMW E30 Touring having flown off the pegs, while Matchbox mainlines are back up to £2 again.

Some fashionable choices were available elsewhere in store, though...

Though you'd have to be quite tiny to squeeze into this jacket, sadly:

Very much kiddies size.

I hope you picked up that purple AZ1! 😍

[Datsuncog]

6 minutes ago, IronStar said:

I hope you picked up that purple AZ1!

I've already got at least one, possibly two!

Damn, I need to sort out all the Mattel stuff in the back room...

[andrew e]

Surprise bootsale stroll this morning and stumbled on a world class matchbox in cherished condition  for 50p! A couple of chips and a windscreen scuff, but just how I like them, over the moon like a 49 year old kid 😂

 

[sierraman]

55 minutes ago, andrew e said:

Surprise bootsale stroll this morning and stumbled on a world class matchbox in cherished condition  for 50p! A couple of chips and a windscreen scuff, but just how I like them, over the moon like a 49 year old kid 😂

 

I have that one, I remember my mum buying it me when Meadowhall first opened. I recall they didn’t ‘roll’ as well as the usual ones?