Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

15 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Give it time, you'll get used to that.

Used to what?

[bunglebus]

Look what I've just* had delivered!

It doesn't look very happy

[New POD]

Got one of them. 

[quicksilver]

8 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

 

After a quick search for Graffic Traffic images on the internet it quick became apparent that the list on the Matchbox Wiki is very limited. Also after searching I was amazed at the prices being asked for them.

 

That picture in the bottom corner of the Neon Hot Stocks card is blatant false advertising. No way were those perfectly straight and solid stripes applied with a Graffic Traffic pen.

[AndyW201]

Tesco had had a reasonable amount of recent-ish Hot Wheels in,

Love this!

I'm also liking this racing Cupra, especially after realising it's based on a Leon. Reminds me of watching the BTCC at Croft in the early 2000s, cheering on Plato in his Leon (and blagging  a nice "Seat BTCC Champions"  sticker for the wife's Ibiza)

Found another Sunny pick up so I can set free the other one with the mullered card now.

Keep trying to avoid buying loads of the same casting, but I cant resist these Porsches, especially one with a black & gold à la JPS colour scheme

Loving these Mk2 Jag racers. This one looks proper hard with those big steels and painted bumpers. The GET 1 number plate is a playful nod to the grey Jag with the reg BUY 1.

My fave find of the day, another casting I can't leave alone. Not surprising, with daily driving  a 1:1 scale '90s Merc I suppose.

Like @bunglebus mentioned the other day, this is my favourite type of Hot Wheels, no massive wheels, no wild paintjob or lairy graphics, just a nice colour and highly detailed front and rear. (Although the AMG bodykit is perfectly replicated on this one. including that 'ducktail' spoiler)

[FakeConcern]

A bit off topic, but still...

Is anyone interested in old 60s cap guns? I have these two and happy to sell for £5 or so

Let me know if you want them

The other day I was at a market and saw some Blue Peter books and flicking through them came across an article on making a Monte Carlo style scene for Scalextric Minis that I remember from when I was a kid. I couldn't (wouldn't) buy that as they wanted to sell the complete set, so got one on ebay.

It's not quite like I remember it, but it is the one I had

Now I want to do something similar for some Corgi Monte Minis

As I've moved on to Scalextric I'm going to tag @flat4alfa and give him one last chance to get these off me

i did tag you 59 times in a spoof roffle where you were the only entrant, but you didn't get back to me so PM if you want them for £10 including postage (slot cars were £3 and plastic Alfa was £4). this is your last chance!

 

Just noticed one of the Blue Peter pics is out of focus, soz!

[ambassador84]

1 hour ago, AndyW201 said:

Tesco had had a reasonable amount of recent-ish Hot Wheels in,

Love this!

I'm also liking this racing Cupra, especially after realising it's based on a Leon. Reminds me of watching the BTCC at Croft in the early 2000s, cheering on Plato in his Leon (and blagging  a nice BTCC champions sticker for the wife's Ibiza)

Found another Sunny pick up so I can set free the other one with the mullered card now.

 

Keep trying to avoid buying loads of the same casting, but I cant resist these Porsches, especially one with a black & gold à la JPS colour scheme

Loving these Mk2 Jag racers. This one looks proper hard with those big steels and painted bumpers. The GET 1 number plate is a fun nod to the grey Jag with the reg BUY 1.

My fave find of the day, another casting I can't leave alone. Not surprising, with daily driving  a 1:1 scale '90s Merc I suppose.

Like @bunglebus mentioned the other day, this is my favourite type of Hot Wheels, no massive wheels, no wild paintjob or lairy graphics, just a nice colour and highly detailed front and rear. (Although the AMG bodykit is perfectly replicated on this one. including that 'ducktail' spoiler)

The black Porsche and green Mercedes still elude me. My OCD receptors continue to fizz!! 

[AndyW201]

After the recent TV car-related business with the Corgi Professionals stuff including some plate changing, I finally got the correct reg numbers on the two Vanguards cars I got to replicate two of the cars featured in the early '70s haulage company melodrama The Brothers.

Youngest brother David Hammond's MGB was easy, just a change of plates.  Unusually for a Vanguards model, there are no wing mirrors fitted to it, and having no holes to mount any, I wasn't risking sticking a set on, as it would end in tears.

Eldest brother Ted Hammond's Daytona yellow Consul was, as can be seen by it's WOO reg, a Ford press fleet car, so despite being a base spec Consul, did have a sunroof and a set of GT style sports wheels.

So the Vanguards base Consul had a quick wheel swap from a police spec GT. The standard plates on this model are a bit weird and out of scale, so they were changed.

(I'm not brave enough to cut a sunroof into it.)

[AndyW201]

So, looking at the display cabinet, despite being completely rational and sane, like everyone else on this thread, the non-Vanguards cars without number plates were beginning to jar with me a bit. So I got to work,

The Minichamps Mondeo, being a saloon, was given the reg from one of my taxicabs from back in the day. Alas the one I drove was a doom blue GLX rather than a Citrine yellow Si, but it did at least have a blue interior like this one...

The Premium X Focus RS was given a number from an actual Ford press demo car (looking at the pic, the bloody front plate could have been trimmed better on this, my eyes were starting to go crossed by now...)

Being gold, there was only one number that could go on this Minichamps Capri. Unlike the Professionalmania/Corgi version though, this one is on it's original V reg rather than the W reg it was given for the show.

The Minichamps Mk3 really is a work of art, despite my fondness for the Corgi Vanguards version, the Minichamps one is still superior.

Even has the netting in the Recaro headrests!

Mk3 Fiesta models are incredibly rare. Apart from the hugely spendy Kess resin RS Turbo the Schabak XR2i is the only other option, although even these too can be expensive. I was lucky enough to snag this, boxed, along with one of their Mk5 Escorts for a tenner on ebay, so I had no qualms about pissing about a bit with it.

Schabak, Gama, Schuco, Conrad et al were brilliant models of the period, but on display with more recent 1/43s, they do show their age slightly. So this one was given a bit of detailing on the mirrors, door handles, wipers and fuel cap, along with blacking out the door cards. The reg plates feature a number that could have been a Ford press fleet number at the time,

The Vanguards lowly spec Mk3 Cortina suffered a bit of storage damage, which severely bent the front bumper, and the number plate is missing, presumed lost. 

The bumper was straightened out as well as I could get it, and a replacement plate was added,

It's been knocked about a bit, but it's still one of my favourite Vanguards models, this one. It's just the misery spec of it, compared to all the flashier versions.

Lastly, as the guy I ordered the sheet of number plates from had sent two sets of everything, I used the other RS set on the IXO Octavia, as the VRS version is known as the RS on the continent, so it sort of works on it,

OCD conquered!

[bunglebus]

7 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

I'm not brave enough to cut a sunroof into it

Looks like a glass sunroof, so a gloss black sticker in the roof might look convincing?

Would that be an aftermarket roof anyway, Ford stuff was usually steel tilt and slide I think

[FakeConcern]

8 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

After the recent TV car-related business with the Corgi Professionals stuff including some plate changing, I finally got the correct reg numbers on the two Vanguards cars I got to replicate two of the cars featured in the early '70s haulage company melodrama The Brothers.

Youngest brother David Hammond's MGB was easy, just a change of plates. I think the grille on the real car was slightly different, being a later B, but it's near enough for me. Unusually for a Vanguards model, there are no wing mirrors fitted to it, and having no holes to mount any, I wasn't risking sticking a set on, as it would end in tears.

Eldest brother Ted Hammond's Daytona yellow Consul was, as can be seen by it's WOO reg, was a Ford press fleet car, so despite being a base  spec Consul, did have a sunroof and a set of GT style sports wheels.

So the Vanguards base Consul.had a quick wheel swap from a police spec GT. The standard plates on this model are a bit weird and out of scale, so they were changed.

 

(I'm not brave enough to cut a sunroof into it.)

I wouldn't have known the Consul was Daytona yellow from the screen grabs haha!

27 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Looks like a glass sunroof, so a gloss black sticker in the roof might look convincing?

Would that be an aftermarket roof anyway, Ford stuff was usually steel tilt and slide I think

I was thinking the same, a bit like the King Size Volvos

[Snake Charmer]

Eddie Jordan passing away jogged my memory that I had this from some years back won at a charity event with a shirt and hat donated by the team.

[AndyW201]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Looks like a glass sunroof, so a gloss black sticker in the roof might look convincing?

Would that be an aftermarket roof anyway, Ford stuff was usually steel tilt and slide I think

It was a sliding steel roof on that one, so presumably it was typical Ford supplying a base model for a TV programme with a few options ticked like they often did with their press fleet cars.

Proper posh for a base Consul!

[AndyW201]

33 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

I wouldn't have known the Consul was Daytona yellow from the screen grabs haha!

Blame poor quality 1993 vintage VHS recordings off UK Gold for that 🤣

I don't think it helps that my camera makes the Vanguards model look a lot brighter than it is in the photos, it looks more like Signal yellow than Daytona...

[quicksilver]

40 minutes ago, AndyW201 said:

It was a sliding steel roof on that one, so presumably it was typically Ford supplying a base model for a TV programme with a few options ticked like they often did with their press fleet cars.

Proper posh for a base Consul!

Probably the same reason that the Professionals RS2000 had a sunroof - to let in more light for filming interior shots.

[flat4alfa]

11 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

As I've moved on to Scalextric I'm going to tag @flat4alfa and give him one last chance to get these off me

i did tag you 59 times in a spoof roffle where you were the only entrant, but you didn't get back to me so PM if you want them for £10 including postage (slot cars were £3 and plastic Alfa was £4). this is your last chance!

I bought you were joking.  I didn’t quite get the joke and thought there was some back story at my expense…

I didn’t jump at it as I’ve only in recent weeks finally got a proper job after being unemployed for months.  So I have avoided spending anything and been selling my life away

I’ll resurrect the PM on this as I didn’t think price was mentioned

[eddyramrod]

@AndyW201 I had no idea there was another such telly nerd here!  The Brothers... I mean, that's dedication, that is.  I remember it well, and loved it.  You'll tell me next you're working on a Corgi Hunter to make middle brother Brian's car....

Slight drift: my maternal grandad, Bill Bentley, was one of the founding staff at Longton Transport in Stoke, in the 30s.  The company was started by three brothers - the Dales, of whom the eldest was Edward - and my mother, who also worked there before the war, always maintained The Brothers was clearly based on Longton's story.  In the series one of the actors playing a driver was Derek Benfield, who was also a well-known playwright.  His accent first introduced 12-year-old me to the idea of "Lorry" being pronounced "Lurry," which has stayed with me all these years...  Of course none of the vehicles in the series were "Trucks."  That came in later.  The only real option to the L word back then was "Wagon."

As you were....

[bunglebus]

Spotted 5 Welly Lupos for sale on eBay (separate listings), just bought the two more unusual pull-back versions

No idea why these are always Jazz Blue, there are definitely other colours out there. It may be because they were sold as a Tesco own brand and that's what you got. It's just a bit of fun for the mrs really, trying to fill this storage tin

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

1 hour ago, quicksilver said:

Probably the same reason that the Professionals RS2000 had a sunroof - to let in more light for filming interior shots.

 

[MiniMinorMk3]

Talking of dioramas.

Vanguards did a few. This one is the final corner at Bathurst.

SNeaking up on the curb is 

 

[AndyW201]

9 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

@AndyW201 I had no idea there was another such telly nerd here!  The Brothers... I mean, that's dedication, that is.  I remember it well, and loved it.  You'll tell me next you're working on a Corgi Hunter to make middle brother Brian's car....

Slight drift: my maternal grandad, Bill Bentley, was one of the founding staff at Longton Transport in Stoke, in the 30s.  The company was started by three brothers - the Dales, of whom the eldest was Edward - and my mother, who also worked there before the war, always maintained The Brothers was clearly based on Longton's story.  In the series one of the actors playing a driver was Derek Benfield, who was also a well-known playwright.  His accent first introduced 12-year-old me to the idea of "Lorry" being pronounced "Lurry," which has stayed with me all these years...  Of course none of the vehicles in the series were "Trucks."  That came in later.  The only real option to the L word back then was "Wagon."

As you were....

Yeah, the series, along with Auf Wiedersehen Pet, has become a bit of an obsession of mine! Sadly the series  started 2 years before I was born but I saw it referenced in a thread on IMDB. With driving a tr...  lorry at work, my interest was piqued. At the time there was a channel on YouTube with all 7 seasons to watch but it disappeared, although there is a retro TV channel on Telegram with them all on. I got the DVD box set for Christmas a few years ago, so often watch it on my portable player when I'm on a night out in the tr... lorry. Which reminds me, I've got a spare series 1 on DVD that I got before the boxset, if you fancy it, it's yours for cost of postage? Ted (in his original Glyn Owen incarnation) has his old Cortina 1600E in that series!

And you're right about Brian's Minx, I've long been thinking about modding a Corgi Hunter to represent that. Although my custom skills are poor. What I could do with is someone with better spraying  skills than me to commission one from... Why they didnt get their money's worth out of that casting and do some 'cooking' variants I'll never know.

[eddyramrod]

It's largely responsible for my early ambition to be a "Lurry driver" when I grew up.  (If I ever do....)  I still, even now I'm retired, describe myself as such on occasion.  DVD?  Absolutely, yes please!  I remember being most perturbed when Glyn Owen was replaced by Patrick O'Connell, I couldn't imagine how the series would survive, despite having already seen the same process twice on Doctor Who!

Corgi Hunter, yes that's a constant nagging annoyance.  Corgi under-used so many castings but the Hunter was the absolute shining example.  I have several "Cooking" Hunters that I've made myself including the navy blue one that Eddie Shoestring managed to kill in the only episode to feature it, that introduced his famous red Cortina estate.  And of course the two Minxes and one Sceptre from my own history!

 

[AndyW201]

13 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

It's largely responsible for my early ambition to be a "Lurry driver" when I grew up.  (If I ever do....)  I still, even now I'm retired, describe myself as such on occasion.  DVD?  Absolutely, yes please!  I remember being most perturbed when Glyn Owen was replaced by Patrick O'Connell, I couldn't imagine how the series would survive, despite having already seen the same process twice on Doctor Who!

Same, Glyn Owen was the perfect fit for Ted. Patrick O' Connell was way too middle class!

I'll dig out the DVD and get it sent during the week. PM me your address as I don't seem to have it.

[FakeConcern]

I've never seen The Brothers or Boys From The Black Stuff for that matter, but still wondered why Corgi didn't do everyday cooking versions of several models including the Hunter and the driving school A60. I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them just at the minute!

 

Edit; The Mk1 Cortina Estate without the wood trim has just come to mind.

[barrett]

2 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

I bought you were joking.  I didn’t quite get the joke and thought there was some back story at my expense…

I didn’t jump at it as I’ve only in recent weeks finally got a proper job after being unemployed for months.  So I have avoided spending anything and been selling my life away

I’ll resurrect the PM on this as I didn’t think price was mentioned

I'd have the plastic Alfa if you're not bothered...

[bunglebus]

A while back the question came up of whether you could make a phantom Graffic Traffic out of a casting that wasn't part of the original range. I thought the main hurdle was the uniquely coloured plastic windows, so I tried an experiment with the same clothes dye I used on the white Hot Wheels Proton. Result: success!

This was a clear window a few days ago, I heated the dye for a few seconds in the microwave a couple of times but mainly just left it to stew.

It's a shame there isn't a process I know if to remove the colour from original plastic, but still! Opens up a few custom possibilities 

[Snake Charmer]

@AndyW201 Looks really good, particularly the grille and lights plus the hubcaps correct. Does it wobble at the back like the void bushes have gone? 😁

[eddyramrod]

3 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

I've never seen The Brothers or Boys From The Black Stuff for that matter, but still wondered why Corgi didn't do everyday cooking versions of several models including the Hunter and the driving school A60. I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them just at the minute!

 

Edit; The Mk1 Cortina Estate without the wood trim has just come to mind.

Black Stuff was superbly made at all stages, but was horribly downbeat.  Might I also recommend Sir to find Blott On The Landscape from about 1985?  David Suchet, George Cole, Geraldine James, Simon Cadell... delightfully loony, in six one-hour episodes.

The Hunter and A60 stand out, certainly.  Both would have stood a Taxi livery, maybe also Police.  Certainly civilian colours would have sold well... wouldn't they?  

Cortina estate?  To remove the "wood" is going to require significant re-engineering, as it's part of the interior moulding.  The woody was the 1500 Super, and was only offered until the MY1965 facelift.  After that the Super was denoted by a bit more brightwork than lower models.  But I agree, bringing the casting down the range might well have opened up some different liveries. 

The lovely Marina Coupe only ever came in two unrealistic colours.  What a shame!  And it really should have been a Golden Jacks.

The 1966 Chrysler Imperial convertible didn't have many, if any, variations.  Imagine if it had been available in a range of colours, possibly with Golden Jacks; maybe even with a towbar to complement the Buick Riviera/Dolphin Cruiser set?

Plymouth Sport Suburban station wagon?  Two or three colour schemes and then... zip.  I'm working on fixing that, you'll see soon.  A couple more of them might give me room to try stuff...

[FakeConcern]

2 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Black Stuff was superbly made at all stages, but was horribly downbeat.  Might I also recommend Sir to find Blott On The Landscape from about 1985?  David Suchet, George Cole, Geraldine James, Simon Cadell... delightfully loony, in six one-hour episodes.

The Hunter and A60 stand out, certainly.  Both would have stood a Taxi livery, maybe also Police.  Certainly civilian colours would have sold well... wouldn't they?  

Cortina estate?  To remove the "wood" is going to require significant re-engineering, as it's part of the interior moulding.  The woody was the 1500 Super, and was only offered until the MY1965 facelift.  After that the Super was denoted by a bit more brightwork than lower models.  But I agree, bringing the casting down the range might well have opened up some different liveries. 

The lovely Marina Coupe only ever came in two unrealistic colours.  What a shame!  And it really should have been a Golden Jacks.

The 1966 Chrysler Imperial convertible didn't have many, if any, variations.  Imagine if it had been available in a range of colours, possibly with Golden Jacks; maybe even with a towbar to complement the Buick Riviera/Dolphin Cruiser set?

Plymouth Sport Suburban station wagon?  Two or three colour schemes and then... zip.  I'm working on fixing that, you'll see soon.  A couple more of them might give me room to try stuff...

I've seen Blott both when it was current and more recently as well as read the book.

I know the Cortina wouldn't be possible, but as a kid wished it had been die cast with stuck on plastic wood as I think I've only ever seen one wood trimmed one IRL.

A Golden Jacks Marina would have been an excellent idea, but that's a whole other debate to nominate your choice! I think you know I converted a Firebird Whizzwheels to Golden Jacks as it appeared in early catalogues and I remember @flat4alfa pointing me in the direction of this website http://corgitoys.free.fr/English/CORGI_342_Lamborghini_Miura_ Take-Off-Wheels.htm

 

[bunglebus]

Rummaging in the loft, trying to thin things out slightly - so of course I start finding variations that means I have to keep several otherwise identical cars. These SLKs seem to multiply, heaven knows why they turn up so often

But some say Kompressor on the side, and some don't 

MX5, They look the same

So why did Mattel change the base?