Shite in Miniature II

[Datsuncog]

23 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

Ford Maritime blue. They must have ran out of seas and oceans to call their deep blue by then. I remember having a Baltic blue Fiesta , the year before it was Atlantic blue. Must have been the easiest job at Fords then, thinking up paint colour names.

My Mk2 was Mistral Blue, which I believe is named after a cold wind experienced by people in the south of France...

Do quite like both the XR2 and Pop+ versions, but I'm not sure Vanguards are my thing anymore - just seem quite pricey for what they are, and the quality control has been quite hit and miss on those I've picked up in recent years.

If I could check them over in a shop to make sure they weren't too badly flawed, that'd be alright - but when it's all pre-ordered online, and you just get what you're sent, then no, not for £45 or whatever they now cost...

[Datsuncog]

Some more Matchbox Mix E action down at Tescotainer tonight:

Still no 2CV, but the Golf Country and BMW coupe did appeal...

Also, reduced 5-packs - and both the Hot Wheels Nightburnerz set and Matchbox Japan Cruisers II tempted me.

But not tonight, kids... Not tonight.

[Split_Pin]

That Part-time blue Pop Plus is identical to a work hack at my first job, E920JST. It was hopelessly rotten, had terrible brakes and nobody else would drive it except me but I loved cutting about in it. 

[danthecapriman]

That Vanguards Fiesta popular plus is definitely on my hit list. Weapons grade street furniture for ages yet completely vanished now.

I had a B reg 1.3 Ghia in Paris Blue (note - not a sea or ocean but a shitty big city in French France!)     
It looked reasonable for its age but had the obligatory black tide mark around its lower extremities. The windscreen leaked and soaked the front carpets, but the floors were rotted through so it just drained straight out again! You could actually see it dripping out sometimes! 
Handbrake didn’t work, footbrake might as well not have worked for the good it did. 
But, it was a nice car to be in - lovely blue velour interior, light and airy inside. Remote boot release, economy light too. And it absolutely flew with that 1300 CVH in it. Stopping was the problem.

So after that I’ll need two of those Vanguards Fiestas now😆

[sierraman]

11 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

That Vanguards Fiesta popular plus is definitely on my hit list. Weapons grade street furniture for ages yet completely vanished now.

I had a B reg 1.3 Ghia in Paris Blue (note - not a sea or ocean but a shitty big city in French France!)     
It looked reasonable for its age but had the obligatory black tide mark around its lower extremities. The windscreen leaked and soaked the front carpets, but the floors were rotted through so it just drained straight out again! You could actually see it dripping out sometimes! 
Handbrake didn’t work, footbrake might as well not have worked for the good it did. 
But, it was a nice car to be in - lovely blue velour interior, light and airy inside. Remote boot release, economy light too. And it absolutely flew with that 1300 CVH in it. Stopping was the problem.

So after that I’ll need two of those Vanguards Fiestas now😆

A mate of mines brother had a beige Y plate, last of the Mk1. One day they all just seemed to disappear! 

[danthecapriman]

13 minutes ago, sierraman said:

A mate of mines brother had a beige Y plate, last of the Mk1. One day they all just seemed to disappear! 

I was supposed to be buying a T reg mk1 in that bronze/gold they came in but the twat sold it again to someone else after taking my deposit (which I did get back!), I left £50 I think then went to find a cash point for rest. Got back to find the car gone and the seller being a dick! 
Ended up with the mk2 a few days later as I needed a car. 
It was absolutely fucked really, the clutch went in the end and it just wasn’t worth putting another one into it so I just got rid. I wish I’d kept it now though of course.

A neighbour had a D reg popular in beige when I was a kid. It wasn’t very old but he did loads of miles in it. It was rotten within a few years! Literally streaks of rust down the sides rotten. Although even by the rust standards of cars like that, I’m sure there was something about D and E reg Fords having very very poor quality steel used in them and were even worse for rot!

[andrew e]

On 14/05/2025 at 21:54, FakeConcern said:

Following all the Spot On interest here, I resolved to get all mine into the condition I want them to be, starting with my childhood toys.

The first two are the Thames Trader

and Rolls Silver Wraith

I need a couple of bits from Steve for the Trader and both need some details to be finished

I'm trying to make them as they are in my memory

The colours aren't quite right, but close enough

I'll make number plates and put the silver and red touches on next

I'm now trying to find a good colour match for the TR3

You can see the original colour inside the wheelarch

 

You need the Valiant Porsche green shade. Cobalt green 👍

https://www.tamiya.com/english/products/85102/index.html

https://www.tamiya.com/english/products/20071/index.html

 

[sheffcortinacentre]

17 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

I was supposed to be buying a T reg mk1 in that bronze/gold they came in but the twat sold it again to someone else after taking my deposit (which I did get back!), I left £50 I think then went to find a cash point for rest. Got back to find the car gone and the seller being a dick! 
Ended up with the mk2 a few days later as I needed a car. 
It was absolutely fucked really, the clutch went in the end and it just wasn’t worth putting another one into it so I just got rid. I wish I’d kept it now though of course.

A neighbour had a D reg popular in beige when I was a kid. It wasn’t very old but he did loads of miles in it. It was rotten within a few years! Literally streaks of rust down the sides rotten. Although even by the rust standards of cars like that, I’m sure there was something about D and E reg Fords having very very poor quality steel used in them and were even worse for rot!

There was a problem with Orion's around that age said to be poor quality Spanish steel.

[bunglebus]

D reg and maroon = very rusty, very quickly

[Split_Pin]

Yeah I heard that too, shitty metal.

A colleague at the same work had 2 early A reg MK2s in succession and they were both almost completely rust free, but my school pal who inherited his sisters Bermuda Blue example B146 BWO in 1996 had to put up with rotten floors, arches and sills.

We also had an F reg diesel one as a work pool car, F457YSF. It was still like a patchwork quilt underneath  but confined mainly to just* the sills, arches and boot floor. I became known there for being a dab hand at sanding down cataloy!

[Datsuncog]

Mine was originally registered in Guernsey (briefly - presumably a hire car), then was reregistered with a C-reg in GB, before being brought over to NI and given the plate I had on it.

It was very, very rusty.

The vendor had given it a quick blow over before punting it on; the fact it still only cost me £120 indicates the level of care involved...

I also became pretty handy with the Isopon, but it did me two and a half years before letting go with a two-page MOT fail list!

[Datsuncog]

Airport tat:

Global World Traveller - £1.89 not too bad for the black Skyline.

WH Smith - I'm sorry, £4.99?!??

Pity, cos I'm after that Escort but... it's the goddam principle of the thing.

And, I'm very cheap.

[ambassador84]

9 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Some more Matchbox Mix E action down at Tescotainer tonight:

Still no 2CV, but the Golf Country and BMW coupe did appeal...

Also, reduced 5-packs - and both the Hot Wheels Nightburnerz set and Matchbox Japan Cruisers II tempted me.

But not tonight, kids... Not tonight.

Unfortunately that's Case D The Entertainer and Tesco are now getting in meaning no 2CV in that assortment. Your best bet now for Case E and 2CV is Poundland.

[ambassador84]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Airport tat:

Global World Traveller - £1.89 not too bad for the black Skyline.

WH Smith - I'm sorry, £4.99?!??

Pity, cos I'm after that Escort but... it's the goddam principle of the thing.

And, I'm very cheap.

That really is a piss take isn't it! I was in a Poundland just this week and they had tons of this batch in including the once elusive Optimus Prime! The scariest thing is some people must actually think £5 for a Hot Wheels is normal!

[Split_Pin]

11 minutes ago, ambassador84 said:

Unfortunately that's Case D The Entertainer and Tesco are now getting in meaning no 2CV in that assortment. Your best bet now for Case E and 2CV is Poundland.

Tescotainer had case E a while back as that's where I got a 2CV.

[Datsuncog]

16 minutes ago, ambassador84 said:

Unfortunately that's Case D The Entertainer and Tesco are now getting in meaning no 2CV in that assortment. Your best bet now for Case E and 2CV is Poundland.

There were a couple of blue Morgans in there too - I'd thought those were E-case?

It's all pretty mixed up in there now! 

All my local Poundland stores have recently restocked their shelves with old 2023 mixes, so I doubt I'll see much new for a while!

Luckily, I'm not local today...

[ambassador84]

58 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Tescotainer had case E a while back as that's where I got a 2CV.

Yes they did as well as The Entertainer but bizarrely their latest drop goes one batch back. At least it means getting a few things which didn't cross over such as the white Megane, red BMW M2 and if you're lucky the Super Chase Toyota 4Runner 😀

[Split_Pin]

6 minutes ago, ambassador84 said:

Yes they did as well as The Entertainer but bizarrely their latest drop goes one batch back. At least it means getting a few things which didn't cross over such as the white Megane, red BMW M2 and if you're lucky the Super Chase Toyota 4Runner 😀

Very strange!

[bunglebus]

This morning's rather good boot sale haul - individual pics will have to wait as I've got a flight to catch soon!

The Ka was a pre-emptive £3 purchase as I know at least one of you miscreants likes them

[AndyW201]

12 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

As mentioned earlier, the new Vanguards releases were released today. The Mrs will be happy as she is not going to have to do any shopping for father's day, anniversary or Christmas presents for me now!

The long awaited Mk2 Fiesta tooling has been released, the XR2 has so far only been available as an expensive resin Neo release, so I've already got this one on pre order,

But that's not all! Check out this  bit of base level loveliness,

Plus, with the Monogram Caledonian MG ZT, a Jupiter red Mk2 1300 Sport and that Minder twin pack, there are  quite a few there that I fancy but sadly, restraint has to be showed...

Nice to see that the standard and XR2-kitted bodies, with and without sunroof, are being represented, along with standard and XR/Ghia bumpers, so hopefully we'll see the 1.4 S modelled which was the Mk2 I owned, identical to this one.

F260 FHH replaced a 1.1 X-flow Mk3 Escort, naturally the difference in performance was like night and day. I did want an XR2 but being the early '90s, £1200 to insure an XR2 versus £380 for the S was a clincher. Sadly they are almost unheard of now, they were quite rare back in 1993 when I had mine, I think everyone just went for a Nova SR instead.

The S was a bit of a weird one, spec wise. It had a nippy engine with 5 speed box, a few XR spec bits underneath like uprated springs & shocks and uprated anti roll bars, and XR2 spec dash & steering wheel but the seats were the low spec ones from the Popular plus with the cheap plastic see through head restraints. My sister had an E reg 1.1 Festival and that had better seats.

The Corgi prototypes show a van option in the tooling as well, 

Which, in that colour is almost a dead ringer for B500 LPY, a sunburst red 1.1 Popular van that my brother flew around in as an apprentice maintenance man for a local property company. That van must have been on or over its weight limit all the time, but still went like stink. Would be nice to see that modelled too.

[Split_Pin]

As I am one of those miscreants, yes please on the Ka. I'll PM you about clearing my slate once you are back.

[bunglebus]

Second airport update today, aren't you lucky

Hamleys had some fairly sought after castings, but at £4.00 each I'll give them a miss. £14.00 for premiums

[AndyW201]

Didnt get round to posting these last week, but these are my few recent purchases,

Smyth's was the usual. All the usual premiums and silver series seemingly taken care of before they even have chance to get on the pegs. Only National Icons were about 8 GT40s and this one solitary Skyline, so I grabbed it. No Porsches annoyingly.

One of my favourite castings this one though. i like the wheels, which look a lot like Real Riders,

Took me a while to twig that there are two different castings of this Skyline, this one with bumpers and standard grille and lights, and the other one without bumpers and external oil cooler on the front.

Asda stil had plenty of the Boulevard ones in (as I suspect they will for a while), so I grabbed this nice E34.

For an F&F release, it's nice and restrained. Other than the subtle M badging, it looks pretty much like a white 520i on a set of Schnitzer rims. 

This was in the "not a hope in hell of getting one of these around here" category, luckily I found it cheap on AliExpress. With postage, it still worked out cheaper than they went for over here.

It's nicely done, the colour scheme is vaguely reminiscent of the Jagermeister colurs to me. The body styling reminds me of a cheap Zylmex racing 2002 I had as a kid, which was one of my favourite childhood toys.

Shame they couldnt do a standard bodied E21 but I'll happily take this one.

Just about to hit the shops for this week, but the way things have been for diecast lately, I'm not holding out much hope...

[danthecapriman]

7 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

Nice to see that the standard and XR2-kitted bodies, with and without sunroof, are being represented, along with standard and XR/Ghia bumpers, so hopefully we'll see the 1.4 S modelled which was the Mk2 I owned, identical to this one.

F260 FHH replaced a 1.1 X-flow Mk3 Escort, naturally the difference in performance was like night and day. I did want an XR2 but being the early '90s, £1200 to insure an XR2 versus £380 for the S was a clincher. Sadly they are almost unheard of now, they were quite rare back in 1993 when I had mine, I think everyone just went for a Nova SR instead.

The S was a bit of a weird one, spec wise. It had a nippy engine with 5 speed box, a few XR spec bits underneath like uprated springs & shocks and uprated anti roll bars, and XR2 spec dash & steering wheel but the seats were the low spec ones from the Popular plus with the cheap plastic see through head restraints. My sister had an E reg 1.1 Festival and that had better seats.

The Corgi prototypes show a van option in the tooling as well, 

Which, in that colour is almost a dead ringer for B500 LPY, a sunburst red 1.1 Popular van that my brother flew around in as an apprentice maintenance man for a local property company. That van must have been on or over its weight limit all the time, but still went like stink. Would be nice to see that modelled too.

There was a 1.4S mk2 sat on a driveway not far from my old house. It was in that pale yellow colour. It’d not moved for years and was covered in a pretty thick layer of algae when I last saw it. Always wondered what the score was with it but you never saw anyone at the house.

A friend had a Fiesta Festival (F reg I think) in bright red as his first car. It looked in fantastic condition apart from a weird dent on the corner of the pillar. It drove really badly though and crabbed. When we looked under it it’d been hit hard at some point in the past which had bent the chassis and rear axle mounts, hence the crabbing! They’d fixed all the bodywork but not straightened the chassis back properly. 
He sold it cheap then a few months later we went to our local banger track who were doing a micro bangers meeting.

Sure enough his old Festival was out on the track!

[Spottedlaurel]

Today's autojumble purchases (and one from Smyths):

Do already have the bottom two Cararama Toyota/Lexus, but at £2 each I couldn't resist.

Celica seemed to come from a partwork series with a 240Z and a number of Italian cars going by what he had on the stall.

Jaguar was a little bit of an indulgence, but it's very tidy and the same colour as the one I had when I was 6-7, but which sadly hasn't survived. Spindrift Ferrari was new to me, seems to be part of a Marks & Spencer set: https://bid.candtauctions.co.uk/lot-details/index/catalog/168/lot/55525/Scarce-Corgi-Spindrift-Power-Boat-Team-Gift-Set-made-for-Marks-Spencer No Corgi name on the base.

Loose cheapies, just 50p each (less in reality as I got them with a few HWs and he did a deal).

Ford truck is tidy and the Stretcha Fetcha remarkably good for something rattling around loose in a 50p tat box.

Subaru from Smyths, the rest from various sellers at the autojumble. A few ended up being part of a trade I'm doing with the guy for a JDM Nissan Laurel grille that I have.

I much prefer this version of the Nissan Skyline C110 GT-R, the Liberty Walk casting somehow looks too long and skinny.

[FakeConcern]

56 minutes ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Today's autojumble purchases (and one from Smyths):

Do already have the bottom two Cararama Toyota/Lexus, but at £2 each I couldn't resist.

Celica seemed to come from a partwork series with a 240Z and a number of Italian cars going by what he had on the stall.

Jaguar was a little bit of an indulgence, but it's very tidy and the same colour as the one I had when I was 6-7, but which sadly hasn't survived. Spindrift Ferrari was new to me, seems to be part of a Marks & Spencer set: https://bid.candtauctions.co.uk/lot-details/index/catalog/168/lot/55525/Scarce-Corgi-Spindrift-Power-Boat-Team-Gift-Set-made-for-Marks-Spencer No Corgi name on the base.

Loose cheapies, just 50p each (less in reality as I got them with a few HWs and he did a deal).

Ford truck is tidy and the Stretcha Fetcha remarkably good for something rattling around loose in a 50p tat box.

Subaru from Smyths, the rest from various sellers at the autojumble. A few ended up being part of a trade I'm doing with the guy for a JDM Nissan Laurel grille that I have.

I much prefer this version of the Nissan Skyline C110 GT-R, the Liberty Walk casting somehow looks too long and skinny.

I keep seeing the same seller with a Corgi XJC in red like your one and wanting it, but not wanting to pay the price. Yours looks lovely, well done!

[Spottedlaurel]

8 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

I keep seeing the same seller with a Corgi XJC in red like your one and wanting it, but not wanting to pay the price. Yours looks lovely, well done!

I paid £8 for mine. What price nostalgia?......

Putting it into context, that's less than I pay for a new HW Premium and we're talking about something approaching 50 years old. Weighty thing it is too, and I think nicely captures the look of the real thing.

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, Spottedlaurel said:

autojumble

Nice, needs lining up with a Commuter and Villager in appropriate colours

[Spottedlaurel]

30 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Nice, needs lining up with a Commuter and Villager in appropriate colours

I think that will be possible, someday By coincidence in checking my stock it appears I have an unboxed El Camino in green too.

[FakeConcern]

20 hours ago, andrew e said:

You need the Valiant Porsche green shade. Cobalt green 👍

https://www.tamiya.com/english/products/85102/index.html

https://www.tamiya.com/english/products/20071/index.html

 

I've only just seen this post and thank you. I have just bought some Cobalt Green, but in a different range not TS, they only had it in the range did buy so hoping it will be ok,  Unfortunately not had a chance to try it yet, but I will share the result on here when I do.