Shite in Miniature II

[eddyramrod]

I'll check my stock

 

[quicksilver]

15 hours ago, bunglebus said:

This just arrived 

Yep, those cheeky chappies at Mira at it again with another Matchbox copy. Here's the original for comparison 

 

That Mira looks so much better than the Matchbox original just because it's a realistic colour. What colour-blind Lesney designer thought metallic pink with a lime green base and a yellow interior was a good combination?

[bunglebus]

On 21/10/2024 at 10:29, Tenmil Socket said:

Is that a Cav underneath it?

Actually went back to get this today but the bag is gone, I had intended to pop in Monday but my plans got scuppered thanks to M25 carnage 

[bunglebus]

16 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

That Mira looks so much better than the Matchbox original just because it's a realistic colour. What colour-blind Lesney designer thought metallic pink with a lime green base and a yellow interior was a good combination?

It was all about competing with Hot Wheels at the time, lairy colours and big wheels were the in thing in the 70s. It wouldn't take much to create a custom version with a more sensible colour scheme 

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, quicksilver said:

That Mira looks so much better than the Matchbox original just because it's a realistic colour. What colour-blind Lesney designer thought metallic pink with a lime green base and a yellow interior was a good combination?

Also they tended to have situations where they had left over batches of paint - hence you’d find Rolls Royce Shadows with mint green bases or pink. I think if I worked there the temptation to just make my own ones up would simply be too much…

[danthecapriman]

32 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Also they tended to have situations where they had left over batches of paint - hence you’d find Rolls Royce Shadows with mint green bases or pink. I think if I worked there the temptation to just make my own ones up would simply be too much…

That’s what I’d do I think! Every now and then run a single casting through in a different colour just to make a rare one off! 
You’d probably get the sack eventually though I expect 😄

[sierraman]

2 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

That’s what I’d do I think! Every now and then run a single casting through in a different colour just to make a rare one off! 
You’d probably get the sack eventually though I expect 😄

I’m guessing like most production based jobs in the seventies it would have been practically impossible to be sacked as it would have been heavily unionised. You do see a lot of the prototypes etc that have escaped, presumably in 82 when the shit hit the fan it was a free for all. I think though if I’m right that production at Hackney didn’t just come to a dead stop there in 82? They carried on some production whilst the moulds were transferred to Macau? 

[bunglebus]

Entertainer have got some Matchbox grab boxes in at a rather hefty £3 each - but a mix we haven't seen in the UK. Picked these two up

[MiniMinorMk3]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

Also they tended to have situations where they had left over batches of paint - hence you’d find Rolls Royce Shadows with mint green bases or pink. I think if I worked there the temptation to just make my own ones up would simply be too much…

 

43 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

That’s what I’d do I think! Every now and then run a single casting through in a different colour just to make a rare one off! 
You’d probably get the sack eventually though I expect 😄

A bit difficult doing one off colours during production.

 

[Macscrooge]

Battered Corgi M-60 which came from a diecast purchase on here. Missing tracks were replaced by stealing a set from an AMX-30D of similar provenance. Rough paint job topped off with decals from my spares box. The tiger face is from a Hobbyboss M4A3E8 Sherman kit. It’s about 1/60 scale. Most of my vehicles are c1/50, so it’ll probably stand in as an M-41 light tank in wargames. 

[sierraman]

The charcoal AMC is the latest batch.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

On 13/10/2024 at 09:47, Dick Longbridge said:

Follow up to this...

I've dug out my old R5 from storage. I always looked looked after 99% of my diecast as a kid. However, this R5 was different - it's the one I remember keeping in my desk at school, throwing around the playground and latterly using as a victim for emery paper, primer, marker pen and tippex. It was a custom test mule.

On closer inspection, it's absolutely wrecked. Both rear body mounts are snapped off, one corner of the rear chassis is missing (where the body mount should attach) my childhood efforts with emery paper have been brutal and left gouges everywhere and even the wheels are ruined, let alone the axles. Even the nearside a and c pillars are snapped. One positive though, the tow hitch is still intact - in my head, it snapped off 40 years ago. 

I've just shown it to my lad and he doesn't understand why I don't just throw it away. 

It's beyond saving really but I've made a plan.  Bodyshell - I'm going to strip it back bare, polish it (and lose the scratches hopefully) and lacquer it. It always was a custom diecast during my tenure so why stop now? 

The damage will be stabilised with chemical metal and pins to strengthen wherever they will squeeze in. Missing bits will be chopped from the tidy donor '5 and bonded into place. Wheels and axles from the donor will be fitted.  Glass and tailgate will come from the donor. Ultimately, this thing will remain fragile, but tidy overall, and will display a few deep scars of its past life. 

I'll update when I start - probably in a few weeks time when life has slowed down a bit. 

Thanks @sierramanfor the tailgate. Looks like new*!

[danthecapriman]

15 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Thanks @sierramanfor the tailgate. Looks like new*!

Jesus!! That has really lived a life and a half!😄 

You going to repaint it or leave it be?

[sierraman]

Should have said could have popped you a base in there as well! And some tyres, glazing and another shell 😂

[Tenmil Socket]

53 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Thanks @sierramanfor the tailgate. Looks like new*!

That looks like it was unearthed at Pompeii!

[Noel Tidybeard]

17 hours ago, Justwatching said:

Got this "Pacesetters" DeLorean. Package says 1993. It's a pretty crude representation of the DeLorean, but I like the opening gullwing doors. If you're going to have a moving parts feature, the doors were definitely a good choice here. Front wheels are smaller than the rear - extra points for that detail, too. 

Completely unrelated, but I broke the lightbar on my NYPD Dodge Monaco (dropped it). Repair wasn't possible without obvious glue joins, so it's in the bin.

Any thoughts about what I can do with this? Fill the holes and have a slick-top version? Give it a distressed scrap-yard look? Leave it alone? 

dodge monaco got to be the blues mobile

[Justwatching]

20 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

dodge monaco got to be the blues mobile

Bluesmobile calls for an earlier version of the Monaco.

[maxpower]

2 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Thanks @sierramanfor the tailgate. Looks like new*!

That's like a johnny smith's barn find 

[sierraman]

2 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Thanks @sierramanfor the tailgate. Looks like new*!

You could probably, with time, recover the body, maybe the glazing but I think the base and the wheels are definitely fuckin fucked! 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Jesus!! That has really lived a life and a half!😄 

You going to repaint it or leave it be?

It was lobbed across the playground in the mid 1980s many times. Poor old thing. 

My plan is to strip the paint back and assess just how rough the shell is. Unfortunately I went a bit mad with the emery paper many, many years back and there are plenty of deep scratches. 

If it's vaguely saveable, I'm planning on carefully wet and drying it and then polishing it. 

Yeah, I know, I may as well roll it in glitter... 🤣

[Dick Cheeseburger]

24 minutes ago, sierraman said:

You could probably, with time, recover the body, maybe the glazing but I think the base and the wheels are definitely fuckin fucked! 

Nah, the glazing is knackered too. The plastic lip which the tailgate should latch into snapped off about 40 years ago!

[danthecapriman]

41 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

It was lobbed across the playground in the mid 1980s many times. Poor old thing. 

My plan is to strip the paint back and assess just how rough the shell is. Unfortunately I went a bit mad with the emery paper many, many years back and there are plenty of deep scratches. 

If it's vaguely saveable, I'm planning on carefully wet and drying it and then polishing it. 

Yeah, I know, I may as well roll it in glitter... 🤣

You’ll probably find the shell will come back at least reasonably well once you strip it. I’ve had a few old castings that looked absolutely awful to start with but once all the grime and old crappy paint comes off there’s not that much actually wrong. 
@eddyramrod has managed to recover some awful ones I’ve sent him!

Its the plastic bits that always seem to suffer.

[Noel Tidybeard]

2 hours ago, Justwatching said:

Bluesmobile calls for an earlier version of the Monaco.

ahh to me that's a plymouth fury like all the one that got "broken" in the dukes of hazzard

[Tenmil Socket]

3 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Thanks @sierramanfor the tailgate. Looks like new*!

That is literally a work of art. Please leave it as it is and put it into a display case and saviour the memories!

[Dick Cheeseburger]

9 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

That is literally a work of art. Please leave it as it is and put it into a display case and saviour the memories!

That had crossed my mind initially!  I quite like the idea which Chris Pollitt HeWhoShallNotBeNamed used to do with scruffier cars with nostalgic value.

However, this example is so ruined, I at least owe it a structural tidy up so that it can sit properly on some tidy wheels and have a working tailgate setup once again. 

[junkyarddog]

Found a Grail piece last weekend. 

Bandai bump and go Volkswagen. 

Not quite the one I wanted,but beggars can't be choosers. 

I had a second hand one as a kid,my beloved late uncle got it for me somewhere. 

Mine was white,with a sunroof,and a removable engine. I do hope someday to find one,in the meantime this will do.

It's huge😁

Paid too much for it,but Meh,it was coming home with me.

[bunglebus]

I called into Entertainer today just as a nice full case of Hot Wheels emerged. I'd seen most of them already, but not this one

But that wasn't all they had - new Moving Parts too

Now funny enough, this has just come up on the Matchbox Collectors site

I did consider it but for £30 it really didn't seem like a bargain - so this will do nicely instead 

[Macscrooge]

More refugees from AS sales!  1/36 scale Corgi CJ-7 Jeeps, making decent stand-ins for US Army M-38s. It took a lot of paint to cover the metallic emerald green!

[Dick Cheeseburger]

5 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Thanks @sierramanfor the tailgate. Looks like new*!

How long can I leave it until the whole thing dissolves?

[danthecapriman]

5 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

How long can I leave it until the whole thing dissolves?

It shouldn’t do anything to it. 
Just periodically take it out and see if the paint has softened or started coming off. Some of them start shedding paint within minutes.