Shite in Miniature II

[Datsuncog]

14 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Like a lot of newer Matchbox, it's tiny! No bad thing, as the detail is good.

That really is tiny!

Reminds me a bit of the Tomica version of the 2CV, which was similarly quite titchy and finely modelled - Maisto and Corgi look like massive bruisers in comparison.

[MiniMinorMk3]

16 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Made it to April 84

That's just about when I sold it. It was  full of rust under that red paint and the engine was well passed its best. It was my first car that had started as an old Beetle. I learned to drive in it and a few months after passing my test I crashed it. I brought a kit of fibreglass parts and cut of all the bent bits and replaced them with the Baja panels. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

15 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I popped the new Matchbox 2CV out of its blister

 

I like how the number plate has the 602cc engine capacity on it.

15 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I love Corgi 2cvs as they came with the 1970s square headlights which I don't think anyone else has modelled.

Verem did a 1/43rd in Kermit Green...

which was a Solido casting

Norev James Bond

[bunglebus]

Solido

Dinky 

Cougar 

Majorette 

Giodi

Big Corgi 

 

[bramz7]

Went to Southampton earlier and walked past the window of the independent toy shop in one of the shopping centres.

Are those Ultra Hots?!

Yep!

And finally the XJ6C 😂

[Datsuncog]

Oh my!

You did very well there!

[sierraman]

I’m not a a Hot Wheels man myself despite having a fair few mint ones from the early 90’s. But I liked it when they brought back the Hare Splitter about 10 years back. 

[bunglebus]

Had a job in Oxford today so had a wander into town, as Google said there was a shop called Auto Models. 

Wasn't what I wanted to find though

Of course the really special stuff was in the window display 

Oh well, there are other shops. 1st floor, disappointment 

Tesco just had a Hot Wheels with a wonky blister, not really enough of an error to be worth buying

[bunglebus]

I'd just like to say, if I cock up painting the bumpers, I will probably cry 

[sierraman]

£400 for the Mustang and he’s written 1972 on the box? It’s like charging £60 for a bag of salad then wiping your nob on it in front of the customer first. 

[Datsuncog]

Headed out this morning; forgot to take a pic of the tree on my way out the door, so had to wait until evening when I got back.

And you know what that means...

[sierraman]

11 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Headed out this morning; forgot to take a pic of the tree on my way out the door, so had to wait until evening when I got back.

And you know what that means...

I’ll just say that Cherry Blossom tree wants the spindly branches cutting back to give it some form. No I’m not a tree surgeon I’ve just owned a pair in the past… 😂

[Snake Charmer]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I'd just like to say, if I cock up painting the bumpers, I will probably cry 

Thames vans always look scared or least heavily concerned. "Ahm scairt Pa!"

[Datsuncog]

Yup, a bit of a scoot round the Friday market was in order. It's been a while.

First up was Nostalgic Collectables, home of the irascible Market Blokey.

Actually some decent stuff to be found this week; not a vast amount, but some okay bits and pieces. Not very cheap at £10 a go, though.

The Superkings Volvo estate is one I've yet to own; metallic green for preference, though a red one would do nicely too.

I'm not so struck on the rally support version - it's pretty good, but not quite as appealing and while this one had relatively little chipping, the paper stickers looked like they'd got oil or something on them, so I passed.

The Superkings Leyland tipper was very very clean; most of the others were good if mildly tatty, bar the Matchbox Porsche 924 which was missing the rear hatch and had 'whitewall tyres' courtesy of a bottle of TippEx.

Late 1960s Corgi Classics Rolls Royce Silver Ghost was nice, but was it £20-nice?

I couldn't make up my mind. So, no.

The cheapo £3 table was a bit same-old, but...

... what's this?

Well, a K-9 Fire Tender of course, it's right there on the box.

Not quite mint, but jolly good overall condition.

While I was dithering over whether or not to begin a collection of 1970s fantasy vehicles, a man in an ironic cap and sporting an ironic moustache scooped it up and bought it instead. Probably ironically.

Ah well.

Over at the Charity Stall, things were also hotting up:

Mmm, Dinky Range Rover.

Hand-painted Corgi SM was... ambitious.

Large tanker by Mira:

Some nice stuff, but Larry the stallholder was perpetually engaged in earnest discussions with a punter each time I passed, so I never did find out what his prices were.

He's not usually cheap, though.

Colin on the Irish Tat Stall didn't have much fresh stock, though these JDM Majorettes were in the loose cars box:

Kinda look like they're illustrations. Weird.

[bunglebus]

Japan series gift pack

[Datsuncog]

Once again, it was all down to Alan and his Emporium to save the day.

Not gonna lie, the contents of his 50p Tray were better than usual.

And when he spotted me, he gestured for me to come round the side of the stall...

OMG TRIPLE TAT BOX ACTION

Looks like he'd scored well at the auctions.

Quite a mix of oldish and newish stuff; I hadn't really time for a proper rummage, but some interesting oddities seemed to be lurking:

Previa 

Camaro with a very deep chin spoiler.

Shonky Dinky Viceroy coach.

This Budgie refrigerated trailer was sadly incomplete - looked like it was in good nick before coming apart.

I found a few bits of base, but the doors and the centre part of the floor were missing.

Originally it would have looked like this:

Didn't see the tractor unit in the boxes either.

But it's true, all that hot tat action gets me hot under the collar.

Bit of breakfast was needed before heading into the office.

[Datsuncog]

Some items were purchased.

A not-too-bad Lone Star Impy Range Rover, a repainted Lesney Thames minibus, and a Kinder Egg Smart Roadster fell into my hot little hands.

Range Rover incorrectly says 'Police Car' on the base.

Hot Wheels 'View Insider' van with a Simpsons theme, and a Meyers Manx beach buggy.

I didn't realise until I looked closer that the buggy is missing its windscreen. Bah.

View lens thing is tricky enough to get into a photo:

Colours are still all vibrant.

Early 2000s TreVoR Tuscan by Matchbox was also hauled from the baskets, while I was drawn to the Majo Honda Civic from Colin's box of loose offerings.

Lastly, this 1/43-ish Pontiac Firebird by Hot Wheels:

Stickers have done well to survive.

Very 80s metallic brown!

Group shot!

Not the most earth-shattering finds, but I was pleased enough anyway.

[Datsuncog]

But I also picked this up...

It's a wholesaler catalogue from 1962 - from an outfit known as Sandle's, in London:

But why, I hear you ask?

Well...

I'm sort of interested in how these were sold, back in the day.

Budgie too:

So the aforementioned #202 Refrigerated Truck had an RRP of 4s 6d, back in 1962 - including Purchase Tax at a fairly steep 25%.

Some Lone Star, as well. No Corgi, slightly surprisingly - though maybe they were easier to deal with directly, if you were a shopkeeper.

And lots of these no-name tinplate and plastic toys, too:

It's not all toy vehicles - much of the catalogue is books, jigsaws, dolls etc - but it is an absolute treasure trove of information. I'll enjoy looking through this.

[Datsuncog]

Lastly, I called into Smyth's on my way home.

Nothing very exciting - though they have slashed the price of some of their slower-selling Hot Wheels Premiums:

I didn't nab this one, though.

They also had the full Surf's Up Silverline collection, and - finally - a Hot Wheels mainline 2025 C-case had been unpacked, a bit.

No green Mercedes 500E, but a long last the gold Camaro was within grabbing distance.

A Bugcation trailer set with a tatty box proved too tempting to pass up, too.

So, a bit of an odd one today...

....but once again, it keeps me on my toes...

Happy Friday, kids.

[Split_Pin]

Good score on the catalogue, that's an interesting insight!

[bunglebus]

5 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

There's a blackwall something lurking in there, the orange one with twin axles

Camaro is a Zee

 

[sierraman]

Wonder how many of those plastic larger toys survived? 

[Spottedlaurel]

As of this week I have voluntarily dropped to a 4-day working week. Getting old and tired. Not sure this will happen every Friday, but ended up 'celebrating' this by trawling around something like 10 charity shops in two different towns. The result of which was:

One Majorette Thunderbird, for £1.

Hopefully will be able to make more progress on the kits over a 3-day weekend.

[Remspoor]

10 hours ago, sierraman said:

No I’m not a tree surgeon I’ve just owned a pair in the past

How much did you sell those surgeons for in the end?😉

[Datsuncog]

6 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

It's a wholesaler catalogue from 1962 - from an outfit known as Sandle's, in London:

Seems that Sandle Brothers Ltd were primarily a stationery firm, who also seem to have sold toys and fancy goods - or at least, they did for their Christmas catalogues.

Some good pics of their store when it was in Spitalfields here:

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/07/26/sandle-brothers-manufacturing-stationers-i/

There are a lot of pens and letterwriting sets offered in the catalogue, right enough.

Substantial premises!

Seems they'd outgrown these by 1962, so clearly it was a big outfit.

[MiniMinorMk3]

18 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Of course the really special stuff was in the window display 

 

 

 

17 hours ago, sierraman said:

£400 for the Mustang and he’s written 1972 on the box? It’s like charging £60 for a bag of salad then wiping your nob on it in front of the customer first. 

You can get a much better one at Vectis in 10 days time.

 

That shop show pretty much why the UK is crap for collectors of model cars. Where are the IXO models? What about the Minichamps? Not even any Vanguards, just crappy tat issued a million times before TV stuff and a bunch of Oxfords for railwayists.

[MiniMinorMk3]

10 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

But I also picked this up...

It's a wholesaler catalogue from 1962 - from an outfit known as Sandle's, in London:

 

 

Thanks for posting the catalogue.

Plenty of margin for retailers to be competitive with each other.

[ambassador84]

New mix of Matchbox Moving Parts I've had to source from overseas as Sainsbury's appear to have dropped the line despite selling well and no new stocks appearing at The Entertainer at the moment.

[ambassador84]

2025 Case D which like so much of my new Matchbox purchases these days I have to source them online. Most of the new recolours from this batch do of course cross over to Case E which is now appearing at The Entertainer though oddly not the EV School Bus, VW ID.4 or the Chevrolet C10.

[ambassador84]

Due the rabid competition in trying to find new releases of Hot Wheels it's exceptionally rare now I'm ever first to an untouched case. The staff at my nearest two The Entertainer stores tell me they get in several boxes on a delivery and often can have 10 adult collectors ready and waiting! 

I was thus surprised to be first to a case of the brand new 2025 Matchbox E Case, an assortment I never dare to imagine would appear here as so many MBX retailers are stuck on older batches.