Shite in Miniature II

[ambassador84]

3 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

If you happen to see any reasonably priced Guisval Reediciones, I'd be very grateful if you would be able to lift a couple.

Guisval website is clunky and I can't get it to work in order to buy anything.

Unfortunately Guisval don't ship outside of Spain even though I'm sure it would be worth their while in doing so. I own a place in Sitges several hours down the coast from the factory hence why I was able to get mine. Took them two weeks to process my order so they don't rush things! 

[hennabm]

23 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

A bit out of my patch, where were they?

Lincoln. On the corner of the Cornhill and Sincil Street. A bit further up was another toy shop - Nobbs - did all the meccano and model railway still

[danthecapriman]

Currently in between a couple of big jobs at home, but once they’re done I’ll be building a new shed/model room in the garden, which I’m really looking forward to!

In the meantime though, I’ve started a little project building a replacement truck body for one of the Bond partwork vehicles. 
This one’s the Chevy C30 which comes as a farm truck.

Removing the rear body is easy. Just two screws.

This one is going to become a ramp truck! 
A bit of measuring up and chopping some plastic card sheet to size/shape gives the basic shape.

 
Some extra reinforcement on the inside just to beef it up a bit as it’ll have a car on the back.

A bit of embossed plastic chequer plate and angle edges etc and it’s looking the part.

More still to do, and the back end needs making but it’s looking the part I think. 
Once I’m happy with the new rear end I’ll strip the cab for a repaint.

[ambassador84]

17 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

If you happen to see any reasonably priced Guisval Reediciones, I'd be very grateful if you would be able to lift a couple.

Guisval website is clunky and I can't get it to work in order to buy anything.

Unfortunately Guisval don't ship outside of Spain even though I'm sure it would be worth their while in doing so. I own a place in Sitges several hours down the coast from the factory hence why I was able to get mine. Took them two weeks to process my order so they don't rush things! 

[ambassador84]

Although Hot Wheels and Matchbox predictably dominate my collection I also have a big thing for lower end/ budget/ off brand Far Eastern diecasts too in 1:64 scale.

I miss the days of the now departed Realtoy who offered exceptionally well detailed vehicles for half the price of the competition. Sadly as we all know that void has been replaced here in the UK by those unspeakably shite HTI Teamsterz generics.

Their spirit lives on in a new 1:64 range by a Chinese toy company called QY Toys who are more known for the cube shaped puzzles. 

One of my favourite new castings is their new generation Defender 110. Fully licensed and really well detailed including working suspension too. Shame our UK retailers have zero imagination when it comes to stocking stuff like this...

[AndyW201]

While I was in the loft at the weekend, I noticed this Trofeu Escort, still in bits in a plastic bag.

I got this in among a box of smaller stuff a while back, from @bunglebus. It had been modified quite a bit, I think to fit a big pair of 'Fandangos' on the back. I got as far as taking the baseplate off and seeing if I had a spare pair of wheels for it, then put it back in the bag and forgot about it... 

So, it can be seen where the base was 'trimmed' to fit the Fandangos, which had also cracked the base in places. The little plastic loops that the axle slides through to keep it in place had also broken off. As did the ones at the front when I tried to remove the front wheels... 🤬

This model cost me I think, a quid, and the interior door panels and dashboard have long since disappeared, so this was only ever going to get a quick and dirty cobble-it-back-together job. Which is indeed what it  got!

First job was to glue the base back to the seating unit, which made it all a bit more solid.

I looked around for some plastic I could shove in to fill the gap where it had been cut about. None found. So, spotting a roll of gaffer tape instead, I made a packing piece from tape wrapped around a piece of fairly thick cardboard, then glued it over the axle recess, giving a bit more rigidity and something to stop the rear axle and wheels from disappearing up or sideways into the body.

The same was done up front. Another packing piece was glued onto the underside of the bonnet , to clamp everything down when the baseplate was secured back to the body.

I had a bit of a 'mare with the wheels, I had a set of Minilites from another Trofeu Escort, but the axles are shite on these, being soft flimsy plastic rods. Wheels should just pull off them, but in practice, they just shear at the wheel hubs, which meant I've had to glue the minilites onto what was left of the axles, so the track is a little on the narrow side. The front axle has had to be located up on top of the baseplate, rather than into the recess undeneath, so as well as being upgraded to alloys, it means it now sits a bit lower than standard. 

Oh dear...

The wheels themselves were a bit horrible, being full of glue and shite from being fitted to various other cars, but a quick dab of silver sharpie, and Project Escrap now looks like this. Not exactly up to the standards of the other diecast restos and customs on here (More up to the standards of the glue and jewel-encrusted cries for help unearthed by Mr Cog on Market Blokey's stall), but at least it's back on four wheels and back together. Could do with a door mirror (sure I can dig one out from somewhere) and there are other things like the door handles and wipers missing (TADTS on Trofeu models), but I'm fairly happy with it now.

Must have pushed it's value up to at least £1.25 now, as well...

[MiniMinorMk3]

2 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

 

 

Must have pushed it's value up to at least £1.25 now, as well...

That's crying out for a grey primer front wing and primered rear arches. Also a coat hanger aerial, a Daytona Yellow passenger door and quartered front bumper.

 

By the way, Trofeu put Minilites on their Mexico models.

 

 

[bunglebus]

Charity shop finds

Corgi roofless Range Rover 

Some weird Hong Kong thing that I probably should have left in the tub

And one of two I offered on the WhatsApp group, snapped up by @Spottedlaurel. In hindsight I should have kept it as it has a yellow interior, and my current one has red - but you can't keep 'em all

 

[eddyramrod]

Today has been a "nice spring day" here.  Naturally, with the sun out, I decided to get some drilling done, so that on the next suitable day I can get the cosmic soda out and strip some paint.  So these are the shells, freed from their chassis...

Should keep me busy for a few weeks!

[bunglebus]

More finds. Nosing through the Hot Wheels tub at Sainsbury's, somehow just knew I was going to find an error

No side tampos

I also got wind of an extraordinarily cheap deal on Alibaba for some fake Hot Wheels 

Most of these I recognise the original casting, some are definitely doing their own thing!

Mustang looks familiar 

So does Purple Passion

Barracuda 

Chevelle

Nomad with terrible "Candy Strirer" livery is a highlight 

Can't say I recognise this one though 

Beetle is predictably bad

59 is quite cool in its own way, but definitely doesn't look like any of the Mattel versions I've seen

[ambassador84]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

More finds. Nosing through the Hot Wheels tub at Sainsbury's, somehow just knew I was going to find an error

No side tampos

I also got wind of an extraordinarily cheap deal on Alibaba for some fake Hot Wheels 

Most of these I recognise the original casting, some are definitely doing their own thing!

Mustang looks familiar 

So does Purple Passion

Barracuda 

Nomad with terrible "Candy Strirer" livery is a highlight 

Can't say I recognise this one though 

Beetle is predictably bad

59 is quite cool in its own way, but definitely doesn't look like any of the Mattel versions I've seen

I got mine from Alibaba too. Many of these castings are actually M2 MACHINES copies as well as some Hot Wheels. The silver wagon is an M2 Machines copied 1957 Chevrolet 150 Handyman.

[bunglebus]

One other arrival, for several years there has been a Corgi DeTomaso Mangusta lurking in the restore pile, that had an unfortunate reaction to brake fluid when I tried to get the paint off the glass

I happened to notice a nice original one on eBay with no bids - and I won it

[sierraman]

Some of those sixties Corgi castings were magnificent. 

[eddyramrod]

Most of them were!

I love the old castings, even the really simple 50s ones that had no interior, no suspension, not even windows until Corgi decided we deserved them.  They're so rewarding to strip and restore, the factory detail is excellent.  Later ones with opening bits were often just as nice.  Things started going wrong when Corgi went to 1/36 scale, and Dinky tried (unevenly) 1/42.  Even then, some were nice models, but the detail was beginning to slide.

[ambassador84]

Brand new Guisval Renault 5 which they brought back into production a couple of years ago. Their fragility means they are only really suitable for careful collectors even if they are still technically sold as toys.

[ambassador84]

Fresh from the Guisval factory as part of their Reedicion line of reissues. Quality is sub par but then again they were never as robust as any equivalent Matchbox.

[ambassador84]

Guisval "Reedicion" reissue of their VW based Beach Buggy.

[ambassador84]

Despite looking like something dragged out of a charity box this Guisval Seat 127 really is a product of 2025. You buy these for their charm and history, not for any meaningful semblance of qualiteeee 😉

[Datsuncog]

22 hours ago, ambassador84 said:

Shame our UK retailers have zero imagination when it comes to stocking stuff like this...

TK Maxx is capable of surprising me, on occasion:

My local branch had a load of these Shuang Da branded toys a year or so back; the StreetKa was pretty nicely done.

Despite their limitations, I really like those reissued Guisvals - I had a few as a kid, and was most disheartened when they just fell to bits during fairly undemanding play. My bronze Mk1 Fiesta was the one I mourned the most.

Mira toys had a wonderful heft to them:

Just a shame that they really lost their way in the 1980s!

Great to see some from your collection, welcome aboard and thanks for sharing!

[ambassador84]

6 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

TK Maxx is capable of surprising me, on occasion:

My local branch had a load of these Shuang Da branded toys a year or so back; the StreetKa was pretty nicely done.

Despite their limitations, I really like those reissued Guisvals - I had a few as a kid, and was most disheartened when they just fell to bits during fairly undemanding play. My bronze Mk1 Fiesta was the one I mourned the most.

Mira toys had a wonderful heft to them:

Just a shame that they really lost their way in the 1980s!

Great to see some from your collection, welcome aboard and thanks for sharing!

😅😅😅 glad I'm not the only one who scooped up those Shuang Da from TK Maxx. Many of those castings including the StreetKa, Cobra and an Audi A4 cabriolet and BMW 3 Series convertible are ex High Speed castings which clearly got snapped up by Shuang Da after HS closed down.

Great memories of finding Guisval and other Spanish brands like Mira on my first holidays abroad in the late 80s as a kid. I kept them all in mint and boxed condition but stupidly sold many off some years back.

Even as a spotty teen I remember the distinct change from the highly detailed Mira to their new cheapo range which no doubt hastened their demise.

[ambassador84]

The hype surrounding the Matchbox 1983 Ford Fiesta Mk2, predictably here in the UK, still hasn't died down yet despite the green one being vastly better supplied than the debut red version which hardly got a look in here! Could you imagine the hoarding and scalping if they ever do a MK1! 

Happily Guisval are here to service your Fast Ford Needs with their ancient Mk1 casting which they've been producing on and off since the late 70s. New or old they can get fairly expensive on the secondary market despite still being in production. 

[ambassador84]

Guisval "Reedicion" Seat Panda.

[ambassador84]

Guisval "Reedicion" reissue of their gorgeous Land Rover Tow Truck.  I always thought these were Corgi Juniors copies but apparently this utilises their earlier pick up casting.

[bunglebus]

59 minutes ago, ambassador84 said:

Guisval "Reedicion" reissue of their VW based Beach Buggy.

 

Original Buggy Volkswagen 

Buggy Skoda - Do they still make this one?

 

[ambassador84]

4 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Original Buggy Volkswagen 

Buggy Skoda - Do they still make this one?

 

You'll be pleased to hear they do. I'll upload some pics when I get the chance 🤪 ☺️ 

[ambassador84]

Gorgeous new Matchbox Moving Parts 2023 Toyota Century. Such a crying shame so few of our chain retailers actually bother to stock them despite their obvious appeal to both collectors and children. I know The Entertainer and Sainsburys regularly do but as we all know they all too often sell out quickly without restocking adequately!

One of my favourites so far this year and one which in my opinion have done a better job than the Majorette equivalent.

[ambassador84]

New recolour for the Matchbox Moving Parts Opel Mokka 

[ambassador84]

Being the tight Yorkshireman that I am I do baulk at the price of Hot Wheels premiums here and indeed anywhere in Europe. On average they are £9 each and for me that tips the balance between value and desire especially as I know they are half the price elsewhere in places like Japan and the US.

Mattel are definitely losing out to the scores of newly established premium 1:64 diecast brands hailing from China. 

This stunning Peugeot 505 estate cost just over £5 and that includes postage from China! No metal chassis or Real Riders but far less clunky looking with some exquisite levels of detailing. This being made by DCT.

[sierraman]

The moulds on those Guisvals look bloody knackered! Must get mine out of the loft later. 

[ambassador84]

28 minutes ago, sierraman said:

The moulds on those Guisvals look bloody knackered! Must get mine out of the loft later. 

They are really poor if I'm honest but the owner clearly has no money to repair them. Even generic Chinese diecasts are better made 😅