Shite in Miniature II

34,023 · February 5

6 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

I was having a browse for info on those Triang Jumbo trucks and found this site:

https://www.triang.nl/Hiway.htm

Looks like there were a few different versions. Pretty sure mine was the milk churn truck. It’s a shame the churns are long gone. Funnily enough, the original decals off the sides were for a dairy in Selsey, which is not far from where I used to live!

If you had an idea of the dimensions of the churns, they could easily be 3d printed, plus the holder. 😉

28,850 · February 5

22 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I’ve just sold a load of hopeless cases on EBay, all of them were as above, knackered glazing or bits broke etc.

Oh damn, that's exactly how I like to buy them!

In other news, while we're moaning about the price of repro parts from Model Supplies... in among my latest box (costing near-enough £100, you may remember) is the plated plastic insert of the Corgi Cortina Estate. Just that one part was pennies away from £8, so as Dan said, it dunnarf mount up!

12,330 · February 5

A couple of Spot On models I bought recently had repro parts that added up to more than I'd paid for the whole thing!

60,646 · February 5

Noticed something weird on the Whizzwheels Escort I picked up recently

No rivets!

I know one of you had problems ages ago, trying to fit a Whizzwheels body on a Rockets base, as the posts were in a different place

Hard to tell if/where there's a front post, definitely nothing at the back, so I don't know how that's retained

45,051 · February 5

13 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Yeah a bit of Dremel action, and the same very carefully with a cutting disc to change where the axles locate into the base

They'll need gluing in so will be further forward than shown here

Some inspiration.

60,646 · February 5

I'm thinking more

60,646 · February 5

Postie and Evri man were having a punch up on the drive when I got home.

First up, not-a- Husky Ford F350. Lost its hook but the boom is complete, and has a very satisfying motion to lift it

I do like finding near mint diecasts from the interesting eras. Freeman Inter City Commuter has had an easy life it seems

From one Commuter to another - Playart's effort is obviously inspired by Matchbox...

Another near mint gem in the form of a Majorette Acadiane

No baguettes left in this vehicle overnight

Earlier we were discussing Corgi Escorts, so the arrival of this boxed Mattel Mebetoys is timely

It has tilting seats, and feels like it would last about ten minutes in the hands of a child

Another boxed Ford, and a crossover between Mattel and Corgi (it's like I plan this stuff)

I'm trying to track down more of the Corgi casting Hot Wheels but they're quite elusive in the UK. Card is pretty knackered so I might free it

Base is marked as a Hot Wheels not a Corgi, not always the case it seems, I have some that have full on Hot Wheels liveries but Corgi underneath.

Lastly, and back to Corgi again - boxed VW Hot Rod "Double Trouble". The Hot Wheels influence is very clear on this one, a few years previously it was a stock Husky Beetle with a roofrack full of suitcases

10,324 · February 5

6 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

I was having a browse for info on those Triang Jumbo trucks and found this site:

https://www.triang.nl/Hiway.htm

Looks like there were a few different versions. Pretty sure mine was the milk churn truck. It’s a shame the churns are long gone. Funnily enough, the original decals off the sides were for a dairy in Selsey, which is not far from where I used to live!

Some nice stuff there,thanks for the link.I picked up this earlier truck at the weekend,as Miss_155 likes ice cream vans

9,218 · February 5

That Sierra is weird in being marked up as an XR4Ti (the US-specific Merkur-branded version of the XR4i, with 2.3-litre Turbo Lima power in place of the Cologne V6), of which A) there was never a five-door version , and 2) the three-door XR4Ti was never marketed as a Sierra.

Intriguing.

27,304 · February 5

1 hour ago, 155V6 said:

Some nice stuff there,thanks for the link.I picked up this earlier truck at the weekend,as Miss_155 likes ice cream vans

Another little rabbit hole to go down chasing all those old Triang toys!😄 I spent ages yesterday looking for info on them.

It’s odd how they seem to have started with tin plate/steel plate style stuff then gone onto large scale diecast like the BMC FFK. It doesn’t seem to have progressed any further though. Although it was probably not too much after the FFK trucks Triang went under? Hornby took on the railway side of the brand (sold as Triang/Hornby for a period) but the road vehicles just seem to have totally stopped.

Anyone know what Triang’s last products were? Spot-On’s maybe?

60,646 · February 5

A few Tri-Angs have come and gone, from the enormous

To a single seater

To the miniature, and maybe their last products, Minics Motorway slot cars?

Tri-Ang Minic Motorway Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud

Lastly, a tin plate Jeep

42,684 · February 5

17 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Anyone know what Triang’s last products were? Spot-On’s maybe?

Triang didn't go under, exactly - at least, not at the point of merger in the mid-60s. Rather, Triang's parent company Lines Bros rescued their competitor Meccano Ltd (who also manufactured Hornby and Dinky) out of receivership in 1964/65, and kept their ranges going alongside Triang, with their own train range eventually being subsumed under the more successful Hornby name after a few years of joint branding.

The original Lines' Spot-On diecast series continued to sell alongside the acquired Dinky line for another two years or so after the merger, but again, Dinky was the brand that sold in far greater quantities and had much better market penetration.

However, one upside was that certain Dinky Toys began to feature light-up headlights, stop lights and indicators, as Triang's patent on these (first submitted in advance of the initial 1959 Spot On range) was extended to their former rival.

Corgi never got to feature battery-operated headlights until the 1983 Maestro, by which time the patent had expired - instead they were limited to offering Trans-o-lite lighting, and battery powered emergency lights.

Spot On models had never really sold in the quantities hoped since their conception as a Dinky rival in the late 1950s, and the brand was effectively being wound down, with few new models introduced post-1965. Instead battery operated toys aimed at much younger kids were being sold under the Spot On name at the point that the Belfast factory suffered a catastrophic fire in 1967, after which no new 1/42 scale diecast vehicles were sold under the Triang brand. It's possible that sales of their larger tinplate and diecast commercial vehicles continued separately, though.

A new set of US-themed vehicles, intended to test the waters for Spot On sales across the Atlantic, were produced in Hong Kong around the same time as the Mini Dinky range in 1966-67, but were ultimately marketed under the better-known Dinky name.

These were made to Spot On's usual scale of 1/42 and were fitted with the same spun aluminium hubs and tyres as standard Spot On models - so I'd say they probably qualify as the last Triang-designed diecast models made.

They were fairly unsuccessful due to perceived crudeness and quality control issues, with only six models released - two of which were also sold in the UK, but to distance them from the main range they didn't appear in any catalogues and were only sold through Woolworths branches, which didn't typically carry Dinky Toys.

These 'Hong Kong Dinkys' are now highly sought-after, of course.

Lines Bros were one of the UK's biggest and most successful toymakers in the late 1960s, but hit the skids after a botched investment plan for the US went horribly wrong, torpedoing their entire UK operation. They were forced to call in the receivers in 1971 - at which point the Meccano, Hornby and Dinky names (and factories) were sold off individually to other concerns, with Dinky and Meccano's UK operations going to Airfix, and Hornby going to Dunbee-Combex-Marx.

45,051 · February 5

My first wheeled transport was a Triang.

27,304 · February 5

Triang didn't go under - at least, not at that point - rather, Triang's parent company Lines Bros rescued Meccano Ltd (including Hornby and Dinky) out of receivership in 1965, and kept their ranges going alongside Triang, with their train range eventually being subsumed under the Hornby name.

The Spot-On name was sold alongside the acquired Dinky line for two years after the merger, but Dinky was the brand that sold in far greater quantities and had much better market penetration.

Spot On had never really sold in the quantities hoped since their introduction as a Dinky rival in 1959, and the brand was effectively being wound down (with battery operated toys aimed at much younger kids being sold under the name) at the point that the Belfast factory suffered a catastrophic fire in 1967, after which no new diecast vehicles were sold under the Triang range.

A new set of US themed vehicles intended to test the waters for Spot On sales across the Atlantic was produced in Hong Kong, around the same time as Mini Dinkys, but were ultimately sold under the better-known Dinky name - but were fairly unsuccessful (although now highly sought-after).

Lines Bros hit the skids and called in the receivers in 1971, at which point the Hornby, Dinky and Airfix names were sold off individually to other concerns.

Would that big FFK truck I’ve got have been made in Belfast then? I know the Spot-On range was made there but the FFK (and others?) doesn’t say anything about ‘made in xyz’ on the bottom. Was Belfast where all the diecast stuff were made?

42,684 · February 5

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Was Belfast where all the diecast stuff were made?

I'm honestly not sure - I understand that some early Spot Ons were made at Triang's Merton plant before production shifted across to Belfast, so possibly some diecast vehicles continued to be made in England.

The Belfast factory also made Pedigree dolls and prams which were another of Triang's brands, I know that much!

34,023 · February 5

2 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

My first wheeled transport was a Triang.

I had that handed down to me. Mine had a blue frame, red seat and metal disc wheels with rubber tyres. The pedals were too short to give any torque, amplified by the bolloxed bearings on the front forks meaning that any forward movement was usurped by the enormous play, with my wee legs unable to push the pedals any harder. Oh well, at least there was the handed-down Bermuda pedal car whose underpinnings were so bent out of shape that the pedals, again provided insufficient torque to get moving. Ah those were(nt) the days 😂

5,256 · February 5

There’s pictures of me as a kid on a similarly blue framed tricycle in the photo albums. I never did get the AA pedal truck I always lusted over, yet my bloody wife had one!

42,684 · February 5

22 hours ago, andrew e said:

I never did get the AA pedal truck I always lusted over, yet my bloody wife had one!

This one?

Also a Triang product!

5,588 · February 6

3 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I had that handed down to me. Mine had a blue frame, red seat and metal disc wheels with rubber tyres. The pedals were too short to give any torque, amplified by the bolloxed bearings on the front forks meaning that any forward movement was usurped by the enormous play, with my wee legs unable to push the pedals any harder. Oh well, at least there was the handed-down Bermuda pedal car whose underpinnings were so bent out of shape that the pedals, again provided insufficient torque to get moving. Ah those were(nt) the days 😂

Typical false wheel drive

7,377 · February 6

the 2 oxford frenzies turned up today- after seeing pics with the boggly eyed headlights i wasn't expecting to be amazed

but

BUT

they are actually quite nice models especially at a 10er a pop!

now fingers crossed they do the maestro in 1:43

6,782 · February 6

These four came from a couple of charity shops for £1 each.

My Dad got me the Mk10 Jag quoting I've got you that brown HW Jag you where after from a charity shop. I was thinking it would be the new TH in brown, but it's an older release which I prefer. The Sierra is none branded copy of a Corgi but still says made in Britain.

I've never noticed the logo in the window before. Why is it backwards?

Also got these in Tescotainer.

12,330 · February 6

27 minutes ago, morrisoxide said:

I've never noticed the logo in the window before. Why is it backwards?

So you can read it from inside?

60,646 · February 6

29 minutes ago, morrisoxide said:

The Sierra is non branded copy of a Corgi but still says made in Britain.

It is a Corgi, from the farcical era when they sold the moulds then decided they wanted them back (something along those lines anyway) so the Corgi name had been removed

34,023 · February 6

Specifically it's one from the BP Promo range, first one I ever got!

42,684 · February 6

2 hours ago, bunglebus said:

It is a Corgi, from the farcical era when they sold the moulds then decided they wanted them back (something along those lines anyway) so the Corgi name had been removed

That's about the size of it - my understanding is that when the Mettoy company started to go belly-up in 1983 after their huge investment in the Dragon home computing arm failed to pay off, they sold a load of their Corgi Juniors tooling to Kiko Toys in Brazil - some obsolete, some current - in a fruitless last-ditch attempt to help balance the books.

After the receivers had been and gone, and the Corgi factory resumed diecast production in mid-1984 following a management buy-out, the new company landed a lucrative deal to produce promotional Juniors-size toy cars for BP. This turned out to be successful, to the point that production was only constrained by the amount of casting moulds available.

Kiko were approached, and agreed to sell some of the newer tooling back to Corgi as this was somehow more cost-effective than making up new dies. However, the Corgi branding had been erased from these moulds and so mid-to-late 1980s production of Juniors-sized Corgis included toys produced from branded moulds and also from de-branded moulds.

I suppose the thinking was that at the point the toy was out of the box, it didn't really matter any more whether there was branding or not - but it's confusing for collectors!

Even more hilariously, when Corgi Toys Ltd were bought out by Mattel in 1989, a few of the smaller Corgis were absorbed into the Hot Wheels lineup (per the silver Sierra on the previous page) - and, as previously mentioned, some moulds were redesigned to take a Hot Wheels logo on the base, whilst others remained with Corgi lettering.

Very confusing...

40,663 · February 6

I think one of the first Corgi juniors I had was the BMW M3, wide body in yellow. My dad must have got them from the BP garage near us.

45,051 · February 6

19 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Lastly, and back to Corgi again - boxed VW Hot Rod "Double Trouble". The Hot Wheels influence is very clear on this one, a few years previously it was a stock Husky Beetle with a roofrack full of suitcases

I've just won one of these VW Hot Rod models with a bunch of other stuff, £30 plus commission. Off to pick them up now.

27,304 · February 6

55 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

That's about the size of it - my understanding is that when the Mettoy company started to go belly-up in 1983 after their huge investment in the Dragon home computing arm failed to pay off, they sold a load of their Corgi Juniors tooling to Kiko Toys in Brazil - some obsolete, some current - in a fruitless last-ditch attempt to help balance the books.

After the receivers had been and gone, and the Corgi factory resumed diecast production in mid-1984 following a management buy-out, the new company landed a lucrative deal to produce promotional Juniors-size toy cars for BP. This turned out to be successful, to the point that production was only constrained by the amount of casting moulds available.

Kiko were approached, and agreed to sell some of the newer tooling back to Corgi as this was somehow more cost-effective than making up new dies. However, the Corgi branding had been erased from these moulds and so mid-to-late 1980s production of Juniors-sized Corgis included toys produced from branded moulds and also from de-branded moulds.

I suppose the thinking was that at the point the toy was out of the box, it didn't really matter any more whether there was branding or not - but it's confusing for collectors!

Even more hilariously, when Corgi Toys Ltd were bought out by Mattel in 1989, a few of the smaller Corgis were absorbed into the Hot Wheels lineup (per the silver Sierra on the previous page) - and, as previously mentioned, some moulds were redesigned to take a Hot Wheels logo on the base, whilst others remained with Corgi lettering.

Very confusing...

There were also the promo stuff for the likes of Golden Wonder crisps. The Sierra with GW branding seems to be prolific even now so they must have shifted a serious amount of them.

45,051 · February 6

3 hours ago, morrisoxide said:

I've never noticed the logo in the window before. Why is it backwards?

Factory error?

3,538 · February 6

19 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Postie and Evri man were having a punch up on the drive when I got home.

First up, not-a- Husky Ford F350. Lost its hook but the boom is complete, and has a very satisfying motion to lift it

I do like finding near mint diecasts from the interesting eras. Freeman Inter City Commuter has had an easy life it seems

From one Commuter to another - Playart's effort is obviously inspired by Matchbox...

Another near mint gem in the form of a Majorette Acadiane

No baguettes left in this vehicle overnight

Earlier we were discussing Corgi Escorts, so the arrival of this boxed Mattel Mebetoys is timely

It has tilting seats, and feels like it would last about ten minutes in the hands of a child

Another boxed Ford, and a crossover between Mattel and Corgi (it's like I plan this stuff)

I'm trying to track down more of the Corgi casting Hot Wheels but they're quite elusive in the UK. Card is pretty knackered so I might free it

Base is marked as a Hot Wheels not a Corgi, not always the case it seems, I have some that have full on Hot Wheels liveries but Corgi underneath.

Lastly, and back to Corgi again - boxed VW Hot Rod "Double Trouble". The Hot Wheels influence is very clear on this one, a few years previously it was a stock Husky Beetle with a roofrack full of suitcases

I love the Corgi Juniors sticker on the underside of the Husky F350. That's been on there a long time !

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