Shite in Miniature II

[AndyW201]

  On 23/03/2025 at 11:51, 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!

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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]

  On 23/03/2025 at 09:49, 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

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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]

  On 23/03/2025 at 12:22, 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.

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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]

  On 23/03/2025 at 16:27, 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...

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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?

[sheffcortinacentre]

  On 23/03/2025 at 01:09, AndyW201 said:

 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 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 Citron 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's 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 confronted!

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The press fleet MK3 cortinas where all pre production cars all scrapped not long after launch .

[sheffcortinacentre]

  On 23/03/2025 at 08:57, AndyW201 said:

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...

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Currently nearing it's second run on talking pictures Freeview 82

[sheffcortinacentre]

  On 23/03/2025 at 09:34, quicksilver said:

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

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Yes done over a weekend during one episode, the only other being Henry ford jr auto RS 2000.

[AndyW201]

Had a delivery yesterday

This is one off the list of Holy Grail Vanguards that I missed out on when it came out and has subsequently got expensive. This one though was listed as used, and having had it on my ebay watchlist for a while, I got an offer from the seller, which with free postage, made it work for me.

So this is the limited edition TC Jubilee model, produced in 1973 to mark Morris' 60th anniversary. All finished in Citron yellow with blue cloth trim, on top of the 1.8 TC spec, it got front driving lights, Sundym tinted glass, black vinyl roof, black painted door mirrors, side repeaters and twin coachlines. Sadly the Jubilee lost out on the gorgeous TC steel wheels and instead got standard Marina rims with black plastic centre caps which were, I think, the same as the ones on the US-spec Austin Marina. Unforgivable!

So being second hand, there are one or two dodgy areas of paint. For some reason, a few variants of the Marina casting seems to be prone to this.

Still, it was cheap for one of these, and it's only going to go in the display cabinet anyway, not hoarded away for teh investmentz. One thing I've noticed lately on ebay is that Vanguards Marinas, like the real thing, are starting to go for fairly strong money now.

Possibly one of the reasons why this particular variant is quite sought after is that is the only TC version made by Vanguards so far. There was a police TC marketed by Atlas editions, based on the Vanguards casting. I got hold of a slightly damaged one last year, and did a rough, mid '80s style one-bad-MOT-away-from-the-scrapper shitbox version with big tidemark and giffer style badly painted panels. Sadly this one, being police spec, also missed out on TC wheels, so I gave it a set of slotmags,

Lovely detail on the front end, with the extra lights, and the correct yellow stripes on the TC grille for this model.

Nice badges, but the painted moulded-in tail lights give the game away that the Marina is one of the earliest castings from the uprated Vanguards range of the early 2000s which gained features like sprung suspension, glazed headlights, seperate wipers and less generic wheel designs than the earlier Enfield-era cars. The range was expanded to include '70s cars and it was this range that really kick-started my model collecting again after finding the white Marina 1.8 Super in a model shop in Whitby back in 2002, along with the white Granada Mk1 Ghia and Harvest gold Allegro. Little did I know back then...

Compared to those early 2000s releases, this one is a bit of an eyeful with the colour and the extra detailing, which does hide the casting's age pretty well.

Those wheels are pretty well done, considering they were tooled up for this version only. However, I have a problem with the whitewalls, IMHO whitewalls are great on 50's & '60s cars, especially American cars and ones with Transatlantic type styling like Zephyrs/Zodiacs, Crestas, Super Snipes, etc. Not so great on a 1970s porridge saloon, and one with optimistic sporting pretensions at that. Fortunately a quick squizz on Google brought up some pics of the actual car that this was modelled on, without whitewalls on.

Which was all I needed. In the words of Phats & Small,

"Gotta turn around" (the tyres)

Well, I think it looks better, so they're staying like that.

So it goes in the BL/Rover/ARG shelf of the cabinet, along with its smaller Citron yellow stablemate,

(Yeah, they obviously used different batches of Citron yellow paint, although there are about 15 years between the two models)

[AndyW201]

  On 23/03/2025 at 15:02, Snake Charmer said:

@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? 😁

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Possibly, the back end is a bit high and springy compared to the other ones I have...

[Noel Tidybeard]

  On 23/03/2025 at 15:02, Snake Charmer said:

@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? 😁

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the rubber bumper strips & under-riders annoy me somewhat with what is suposed to be a 1600L

[danthecapriman]

  On 23/03/2025 at 20:50, AndyW201 said:

Had a delivery yesterday

This is one off the list of Holy Grail Vanguards that I missed out on when it came out and has subsequently got expensive. This one though was listed as used, and having had it on my ebay watchlist for a while, I got an offer from the seller, which with free postage, made it work for me.

So this is the limited edition TC Jubilee model, produced in 1973 to mark Morris' 60th anniversary. All finished in Citron yellow with blue cloth trim, on top of the 1.8 TC spec, it got front driving lights, Sundym tinted glass, black vinyl roof, black painted door mirrors, side repeaters and twin coachlines. Sadly the Jubilee lost out on the gorgeous TC steel wheels and instead got standard Marina rims with black plastic centre caps which were, I think, the same as the ones on the US-spec Austin Marina. Unforgivable!

So being second hand, there are one or two dodgy areas of paint. For some reason, a few variants of the Marina casting seems to be prone to this.

Still, it was cheap for one of these, and it's only going to go in the display cabinet anyway, not hoarded away for teh investmentz. One thing I've noticed lately on ebay is that Vanguards Marinas, like the real thing, are starting to go for fairly strong money now.

Possibly one of the reasons why this particular variant is quite sought after is that is the only TC version made by Vanguards so far. There was a police TC marketed by Atlas editions, based on the Vanguards casting. I got hold of a slightly damaged one last year, and did a rough, mid '80s style one-bad-MOT-away-from-the-scrapper shitbox version with big tidemark and giffer style badly painted panels. Sadly this one, being police spec, also missed out on TC wheels, so I gave it a set of slotmags,

Lovely detail on the front end, with the extra lights, and the correct yellow stripes on the TC grille for this model.

Nice badges, but the painted moulded-in tail lights give the game away that the Marina is one of the earliest castings from the uprated Vanguards range of the early 2000s which gained features like sprung suspension, glazed headlights, seperate wipers and less generic wheel designs than the earlier Enfield-era cars. The range was expanded to include '70s cars and it was this range that really kick-started my model collecting again after finding the white Marina 1.8 Super in a model shop in Whitby back in 2002, along with the white Granada Mk1 Ghia and Harvest gold Allegro. Little did I know back then...

Compared to those early 2000s releases, this one is a bit of an eyeful with the colour and the extra detailing, which does hide the casting's age pretty well.

Those wheels are pretty well done, considering they were tooled up for this version only. However, I have a problem with the whitewalls, IMHO whitewalls are great on 50's & '60s cars, especially American cars and ones with Transatlantic type styling like Zephyrs/Zodiacs, Crestas, Super Snipes, etc. Not so great on a 1970s porridge saloon, and one with optimistic sporting pretensions at that. Fortunately a quick squizz on Google brought up some pics of the actual car that this was modelled on, without whitewalls on.

Which was all I needed. In the words of Phats & Small,

"Gotta turn around" (the tyres)

Well, I think it looks better, so they're staying like that.

So it goes in the BL/Rover/ARG shelf of the cabinet, along with its smaller Citron yellow stablemate,

(Yeah, they obviously used different batches of Citron yellow paint, although there are about 15 years between the two models)

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That Marina is lovely. Definitely looks much better without the white wall tyres showing too.

Ive noticed the Vanguard’s Marina’s have been edging up in price a bit too. Luckily I got a couple cheaply before that, and more recently bagged myself a few of the Atlas versions for repainting.

[sheffcortinacentre]

  On 23/03/2025 at 21:02, Noel Tidybeard said:

the rubber bumper strips & under-riders annoy me somewhat with what is suposed to be a 1600L

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Bumper strips were std on L underiders were optional.

Post 72 only base had plain bumpers.

[MiniMinorMk3]

Vanguards in general have been going up for the last couple of years. You used to be able to buy lots of 10 or so earlier Vanguards '70s stuff at auction for about £50, these days you would probably be bidding nearer £100. But if the lot consists of Fords you would be edging towards £150. The later stuff in the perspex boxes are more pricey due to the limited numbers being lower than the early ones. In the old days the edition numbers were in the multiple 1,000s, now most are around 1,000.

I've had example of the first nine Vanguards Marinas pass through here. I've never had the Citron TC (VA06310) of the Aqua Super (VA06309)

VA06300 Teal Blue

VA06301 Harvest Gold

VA06302 Essex Police

VA06304 Glacier White

VA06304 Hidden Treasure

VA06305 Blaze

VA06306 Sandglow

VA06307 Yellow Cars Leicester

VA06308 Limeflower

 

[Split_Pin]

I got this from @FakeConcern and it was almost too far gone:

A 3d printed tyre was what saved it...

Once the tyre was on and it looked like a car again I could see that it had potential, albeit a long way off.

Anyone want to see it now?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm actually a tiny bit emotional 😅

[danthecapriman]

  On 24/03/2025 at 12:13, Split_Pin said:

I got this from @FakeConcern and it was almost too far gone:

A 3d printed tyre was what saved it...

Once the tyre was on and it looked like a car again I could see that it had potential, albeit a long way off.

Anyone want to see it now?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm actually a tiny bit emotional 😅

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That’s fantastic! Really nicely done👍 

The webasto style roof cover was a great idea too, filling the hole. Great to see an otherwise lost cause get turned into something great.

[junkyarddog]

I've ummed and arred over this premium set for months.

But today was the day!!!

Oh yeah,now you're talking!!

[FakeConcern]

  On 24/03/2025 at 12:13, Split_Pin said:

I got this from @FakeConcern and it was almost too far gone:

A 3d printed tyre was what saved it...

Once the tyre was on and it looked like a car again I could see that it had potential, albeit a long way off.

Anyone want to see it now?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm actually a tiny bit emotional 😅

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That looks fab!

 

So glad you saved it...

[Spottedlaurel]

Some recent acquisitions:

Didn't know about this 5-pack, complete with maroon LS400. Purchased in Sainsbury's at 2 for £15, with a different set for Bunglebus.

This batch came from @bunglebus, as yet I haven't been able to find any of them myself.

And an oddity here from Kent Models:

"Blind box", not sure if there's any clue as to which one it contains.

So, for my £5.99 which one did I end up with?

 

 A nicely detailed little thing, quite light and at first I wondered if it was smaller than 1/64.

Comparison with a 1/65 Majorette DS, the closest thing I had available, which I suppose would make a Figaro look quite diddy at 1:1.

[eddyramrod]

I had a little spare time in town yesterday.  Fatal, isn't it?  Poundland...

...and then Tesco...

And I don't really do this scale any more!  What it is to be weak-willed!

 

[MAF260]

  On 25/03/2025 at 09:19, eddyramrod said:

I had a little spare time in town yesterday.  Fatal, isn't it?  Poundland...

...and then Tesco...

And I don't really do this scale any more!  What it is to be weak-willed!

 

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I also picked up one of those Jags in Tesco last week! With a 3 for 2 offer I bought 6 including a Maserati Shamal and Mercedes W124 500E

[bramz7]

Felt nostalgic so went hunting for Hot Wheels from the turn of the millennium. 

Pretty chuffed with this lot. I don't think 9 year old me would have picked any but either myself or my brother had that Tony Hawk fantasy dragster back then. So painfully 2000 isn't it! 

 

[155V6]

  On 25/03/2025 at 16:32, bramz7 said:

Felt nostalgic so went hunting for Hot Wheels from the turn of the millennium. 

Pretty chuffed with this lot. I don't think 9 year old me would have picked any but either myself or my brother had that Tony Hawk fantasy dragster back then. So painfully 2000 isn't it! 

 

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I love the Rigor Motor casting,here's a couple of mine

[bunglebus]

Not quite sure what Tony Hawk's got to do with Rigor Motor, but it's a fun casting for sure

 

[Split_Pin]

That's the best name I've ever heard for a Hot Wheels Rigor Motor!😂

[MiniMinorMk3]

  On 25/03/2025 at 21:53, bunglebus said:

Not quite sure what Tony Hawk's got to do with Rigor Motor, but it's a fun casting for sure

  

 

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There was a Tony Hawk Skate Series released in 2000 and the Rigor Motor casting was used as one of them.

Tony Hawk Skate Series (2000) | Hot Wheels Wiki | Fandom

 

 

[bramz7]

Birdhouse is/was his skate brand so that looks like the sum of the Toby Hawk-ification.