Shite in Miniature II

59,572 · October 1, 2024

Is that screen actually cracked? May respond to a bit of T-Cut and polish

25,845 · October 1, 2024

23 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Is that screen actually cracked? May respond to a bit of T-Cut and polish

Unfortunately it's cracked.

27,012 · October 1, 2024

1 hour ago, junkyarddog said:

Been a while since I've done a repaint.

Siku Opel Senator in a very tatty state.

Slightly strange proportions too,but never mind I didn't have one so...

Shame about the marked windscreen,it is what it is.

Blown apart.

This was an extremely quick repaint,took about an hour from start to finish.

Still slightly strange looking though!

Nice job on that!👍

I can’t say I’ve ever seen one of those Siku’s before either.

27,012 · October 1, 2024

Continuing the Vauxhall theme…

I’ve been working on this for a few days.
Started as one of the Opel collection Kadett estates.

Filed off the cast on side trims, then chopped the side glazing in half and glued the rear windows back in. Gave them a quick key with a fibreglass pencil.

And turned it into a Bedford Astra van!

The fastest vehicle on the roads in its day. Apparently!

45,033 · October 1, 2024

43 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Continuing the Vauxhall theme…

I’ve been working on this for a few days.
Started as one of the Opel collection Kadett estates.

Filed off the cast on side trims, then chopped the side glazing in half and glued the rear windows back in. Gave them a quick key with a fibreglass pencil.

And turned it into a Bedford Astra van!

The fastest vehicle on the roads in its day. Apparently!

The Astra Van is a thing of legend.

An article by the late great Russell Bulgin for CAR magazine (the best CAR magazine in the world) in 1990.

Why the Astra van rules the fast lane: CAR+ archive, June 1990 | CAR Magazine

Quote

Can we talk stealth for a while? Stealth is the art of driving inconspicuously quickly. The new Lotus Elan and the Peugeot 205 GTl 1.9 may well be fast up-and-at-’em middleweights, but with their alloy wheels, low-riding stance and general demeanour of muscley aggression, they are just too obvious. Driving an Elan is prima facie evidence that you like to go out and raise a ruckus now and again.

And as I sit in the middle lane of the M25, it’s not Elans and 205 GTls that stonk past me at a quadzillion miles per hour. The fast lane of a British motorway is where the stealth-machines fly. The fast lane of a British motorway is where you get blitzed by a Bedford Astra Van at 95.

I’m not kidding. For the past 20 years, the fastest day-to-day transport on a British motorway has been a van, effectively unseen through its very ubiquity. To a car driver, a van is a van is a van: you can’t determine light commercial status or performance in a single glance the because they all look the same.

Before the Astra Van, the third-lane off gold medal winner was the Ford Transit. Forget Cavalier, Sierra and Montego...

12,198 · October 1, 2024

9 hours ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Would that Hot Wheels not be worth more than £100 to an American?

In that case I'll do a starting bid of £100! Haha.

42,441 · October 1, 2024

Scuttled through Poundstretcher earlier today; sadly their cheap-cheap 99p Matchbox mainlines are now back up in price to £1.49 across the board, for long card, short card and power grab boxed versions...

Still the cheapest Matchbox around, mind.

However they've also got a load of slightly older (early 2023?) Hot Wheels long cards just in, and priced at only £1.69.

These aren't mix cases - as you may or may not be able to see, each peg is the same model all the way back.

I was intrigued to learn that Poundstretcher's stock comes in smaller boxes containing just the one release; as far as I can tell this isn't something Mattel offer to European distributors, but I think it is something that certain US retail chains like Walmart, Target and Kroger seem to get. I've seen a few US YouTubers' videos showing stores with a veritable blue wall, displaying what appears to be the full range of Hot Wheels mainlines, with a dedicated peg for each release in the range. Most convenient.

I'd thought maybe there were just some very diligent staff in those stores - but now I reckon they're ordered up in individual model packs by these chains, rather than the mix cases we're more used to seeing over here.

Indeed, I'd suspect these older releases washing up locally are probably overstock originally packed for these US retailers, and Poundstretcher has picked them up cheaply as grey imports...

Confusingly though, they also have some newer long card releases on another end-of-aisle display, but which have been sat out on the pegs since the start of the year - and they're still apparently priced at £2.50.

And underneath the Matchbox, there were a pointlessly small handful of 2023 short card Hot Wheels, plus some of the semi-premium Silverlines still kicking around since the summer.

Despite the misleading price label on the pegs, I can assure you that the Hot Wagons do not scan at £1.69 at the tills - maybe this label was originally for the (somewhat unloved) Jurassic World range of vehicles?

I'm sure the staff just love arguing with irate customers who object to suddenly being asked for £6, which is possibly why they haven't changed the label yet.

So yeah - I didn't buy anything today, but if you've a branch of Poundstretcher nearby, it could be worth a look...

33,651 · October 2, 2024

15 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Continuing the Vauxhall theme…

I’ve been working on this for a few days.
Started as one of the Opel collection Kadett estates.

Filed off the cast on side trims, then chopped the side glazing in half and glued the rear windows back in. Gave them a quick key with a fibreglass pencil.

And turned it into a Bedford Astra van!

The fastest vehicle on the roads in its day. Apparently!

Wow that looks exactly like the ones I remember (except it's not going 130mph in the fast lane)

12,198 · October 2, 2024

@danthecapriman The Astravan is great, but I'm waiting for you to do the even faster Astramax now...

27,012 · October 2, 2024

42 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

@danthecapriman The Astravan is great, but I'm waiting for you to do the even faster Astramax now...

I’m not sure how to do the Astramax. There’s not really much to start from for that box body back end so it’d have to be fully scratch built. It’s not square either with loads of slight curves etc.

Im sure it could be done of course!😄

The base model of the Kadett/Astra estate is a nice wee thing though, good shape for those old 3 door estates.

5,914 · October 2, 2024

18 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

I’m not sure how to do the Astramax. There’s not really much to start from for that box body back end so it’d have to be fully scratch built. It’s not square either with loads of slight curves etc.

Im sure it could be done of course!😄

The base model of the Kadett/Astra estate is a nice wee thing though, good shape for those old 3 door estates.

I thought the Astravan and Astramax were essentially the same thing? I seem to recall my dad having a Bedford van that looked the same too?

40,649 · October 2, 2024

Wonder if you could graft a Matchbox Astra GTE on to the back of a Ford Courier?

40,649 · October 2, 2024

Just now, Tenmil Socket said:

I thought the Astravan and Astramax were essentially the same thing? I seem to recall my dad having a Bedford van that looked the same too?

No the ‘max had a high capacity rear load area, the Astravan was just an estate with no windows.

5,914 · October 2, 2024

2 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Wonder if you could graft a Matchbox Astra GTE on to the back of a Ford Courier?

I think I have a spare Astra GTE if you want to try it @danthecapriman?

27,012 · October 2, 2024

Bedford Astra van:

Bedford Astramax:

21 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

I think I have a spare Astra GTE if you want to try it @danthecapriman?

Thanks for the offer, but I’m trying to stick to one scale as much as I can now. 1:43 only!
It’s really not that hard though to do custom models… try it!

33,651 · October 2, 2024

6 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

I’m not sure how to do the Astramax. There’s not really much to start from for that box body back end so it’d have to be fully scratch built. It’s not square either with loads of slight curves etc.

Im sure it could be done of course!😄

The base model of the Kadett/Astra estate is a nice wee thing though, good shape for those old 3 door estates.

I'm sure you can get one out the box.

33,651 · October 2, 2024

Yep, AHC Pilen do one in 1/43.

27,012 · October 2, 2024

27 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Yep, AHC Pilen do one in 1/43.

Well I’ll be dipped! Your right!

Never seen one of them before but I’ll keep an eye out for that.

I started this a couple of days ago…

Oxford 1/43 Thames 400E. Normally I’m not a fan of the stupid colour seasonal gift tat but in this case it was dirt cheap as the case was smashed.

Sprayed it this morning and reassembled this afternoon.

Nice enough little thing. Older model but everything came apart and went back together perfectly. Looks the part in a dull colour I think. About right for the real vans age.

Weirdly, when I stripped it down the interior unit comes complete with rows of seats in the back from the minibus version. Since mines a van I took them off and put them in the spares pile as I might have a plan requiring some bus seats!

12,198 · October 2, 2024

3 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Well I’ll be dipped! Your right!

Never seen one of them before but I’ll keep an eye out for that.

I started this a couple of days ago…

Oxford 1/43 Thames 400E. Normally I’m not a fan of the stupid colour seasonal gift tat but in this case it was dirt cheap as the case was smashed.

Sprayed it this morning and reassembled this afternoon.

Nice enough little thing. Older model but everything came apart and went back together perfectly. Looks the part in a dull colour I think. About right for the real vans age.

Weirdly, when I stripped it down the interior unit comes complete with rows of seats in the back from the minibus version. Since mines a van I took them off and put them in the spares pile as I might have a plan requiring some bus seats!

Looks great in primer grey!

Do you have a Corgi Thames Airborne to compare it to?

27,012 · October 2, 2024

24 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

Looks great in primer grey!

Do you have a Corgi Thames Airborne to compare it to?

It is actually paint, believe it or not!😄 it’s Tamiya Haze grey. It was a devil to put on in one respect as it’s almost exactly the same shade as Halfords grey primer! I couldn’t see where I’d sprayed it or missed any.

Ive got the Corgi one somewhere. It’s packed away though.

Im tempted to get a mini bus version and spray it up like the original Lesney Thames estate car in blue & yellow!

22,819 · October 2, 2024

@danthecapriman This one's AHC Models of Holland apparently.

27,012 · October 2, 2024

I got the GUY just about done today too.
I’ve ordered some 3mm rhinestones with flat backs to try as headlights but they still haven’t turned up. Only things left to add really are wipers and mirrors, but with the impending house move I might leave them off until it’s unpacked the other end in case they get broken.

And with its trailer.

And the photo that inspired me to do it as a BR truck,

Class 40 40198 Bolton Trinity Street c1983

27,012 · October 2, 2024

3 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

@danthecapriman This one's AHC Models of Holland apparently.

They look pretty good. I’ve definitely never seen one though.

I think they come up on eBay etc as Kadett Combo vans or something.

6,669 · October 2, 2024

Poundland finds.

Jim Clark?

I reckon the Vespa will be about the same scale as 1/24.

14,030 · October 2, 2024

More from the 4 for £1 box at a local charity shop (the place where I got loads of good stuff recently).

Corgi SD1 minus tailgate glass, Matchbox trailer as discussed here a day or two ago and a pair of Majorettes. Probably could have found another 4, but I already have piles of stuff needing to be homed. For that reason I bought a couple of plastic boxes at PoundStretcher.

I'm planning to forego a couple of local toy fairs on Sunday and see if I can sell some kits, duplicate HW/MBX and magazines/brochures on a stand at the East Coast Retros 1:1 meet on Saturday.

2,862 · October 3, 2024

5,914 · October 3, 2024

13 hours ago, morrisoxide said:

Poundland finds.

Jim Clark?

I reckon the Vespa will be about the same scale as 1/24.

I’m hoping to find one of those 90’s GMC Cyclone’s. Does anyone know if Hot Wheels have done any more 90’s cars in that range?

14,030 · October 3, 2024

42 minutes ago, Volksy said:

Mr Strange (Milky Milky). I'd forgotten about him....

45,033 · October 3, 2024

20 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Yep, AHC Pilen do one in 1/43.

19 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Well I’ll be dipped! Your right!

Never seen one of them before but I’ll keep an eye out for that.

I've had a couple of the Astramax vans. There are actually Opel Kadett Combos, and looking at the "number plate", my guess is they were produced in 1991.