Shite in Miniature II

[FakeConcern]

My Norev 17 is blue, but the 15 is orange...

I also have a few Renner 12s and really like them so if there are any bits from your scrap one you don't want @danthecapriman save them for me please!

[danthecapriman]

6 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

My Norev 17 is blue, but the 15 is orange...

I also have a few Renner 12s and really like them so if there are any bits from your scrap one you don't want @danthecapriman save them for me please!

Will do.

The one I robbed the wheels from is an estate which I’ll be fitting some different wheels onto, which will be coming off a saloon donor car! I’ll see what’s left and let you know.

The Mercedes truck cab is available too if you fancy it? I know you were doing a cab swap for a French/euro truck. Being a Mercedes LP it’s exactly the sort of bigger truck that’d be an artic.

Its this style cab.

 

[FakeConcern]

Thanks for the offer on the truck, but I most likely would never get around to using that. Yes please to any R12 bits though!

[danthecapriman]

I meant to ask earlier, does anyone know why the vents in the rear pillars of the Renault 17 seem different colours? 
They all seem either white or black but I can’t see any rhyme or reason why some cars have one and an identical car has the other.

[RoadworkUK]

Spent a week in Glastonbury to celebrate my 10th anniversary, and almost managed to come home without any diecast.

And when we stopped in Cheddar and I found a 50p rummage tub in Prickles Hedgehog Rescue, I showed phenomenal self-restraint by only coming away with a single item.

I chose this:

AEC (Ergomatic cab) eight-wheel tipper, by Lesney of England. Number 51, with Superfast wheels which I believe date it to 1971.

Yeah, it's not in terrific nick; there's plenty of paint loss and a stress crack in the jauntily tinted glazing. And, inevitably, the paper stickers have lost much of their meaning over the past 55-odd years. However, the axles are all straight. 

And:

The tipper mechanism is  A1. It feels genuinely lovely in use, with the tailgate flopping around with virtually no mechanical resistance, as if precision-made.

And, you know, condition be damned. I'm pleased to be its new long-term custodian. Opening a new chapter in its lengthy existence. Who wants a 2025 Hot Wheels anyway?

[bunglebus]

I've got a not too terrible one of those

Most have had a hard life transporting dirt around the garden, or possibly doing duty at a paint factory, looking at this one

 

[Split_Pin]

4 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Here’s a real AEC Mustang.

 

That belongs to my pal's dad although that's not Alec at the wheel. He has a big collection of trucks, all restored to better than new condition,  but I didn't know he had that one! Nice work on it Dan.

[danthecapriman]

44 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

That belongs to my pal's dad although that's not Alec at the wheel. He has a big collection of trucks, all restored to better than new condition,  but I didn't know he had that one! Nice work on it Dan.

Small world!

When you next see him, demand to see the Mustang! He actually sounds like he should be on here.

[flat4alfa]

Take a look at my Polfi
She's the only one I got

Not much of a Polfi
I never seem to get a lot

[bunglebus]

Ooh, a yellow one!

 

[flat4alfa]

Take a look at this Guisval
It's been around a banger track

Not much of a Guisval
It's condition is pretty cack

It took a boat ride
Across the water

Ending in a boot sale

[ETCHY]

9 hours ago, RoadworkUK said:

Spent a week in Glastonbury to celebrate my 10th anniversary, and almost managed to come home without any diecast.

And when we stopped in Cheddar and I found a 50p rummage tub in Prickles Hedgehog Rescue, I showed phenomenal self-restraint by only coming away with a single item.

I chose this:

AEC (Ergomatic cab) eight-wheel tipper, by Lesney of England. Number 51, with Superfast wheels which I believe date it to 1971.

Yeah, it's not in terrific nick; there's plenty of paint loss and a stress crack in the jauntily tinted glazing. And, inevitably, the paper stickers have lost much of their meaning over the past 55-odd years. However, the axles are all straight. 

And:

The tipper mechanism is  A1. It feels genuinely lovely in use, with the tailgate flopping around with virtually no mechanical resistance, as if precision-made.

And, you know, condition be damned. I'm pleased to be its new long-term custodian. Opening a new chapter in its lengthy existence. Who wants a 2025 Hot Wheels anyway?

I think the Ergomatic cab is probably my favourite Lesney / Matchbox casting. It's just a lovely thing & really captures the look of the real thing. For a kids toy it's brilliant.

[bunglebus]

 

[bunglebus]

Blue seems to be popular 

 

[sierraman]

17 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I think those retro ones are a new casting, apparently in the humid climate of Malaysia etc the moulds degrade over time ( I'm sure they could be stored better but hey).

Wonder what happened to all the old ones like an MB56 Cortina etc? I know it went to China, probably used then dumped. 

[bunglebus]

Bulgaria and Hungary, they made a bazillion different colours

Various old moulds went there and were used for years

[sierraman]

Probably under a tarpaulin in Bulgaria the mould sits! 

[danthecapriman]

They do wear out eventually. You can usually see on long lived castings where early ones have good details and a nice crisp shape, but the later ones start to lose that. Rounded corners and shallow detail etc. 

When I worked at SSE I had a job at a place that made tooling and moulds for various other companies and got chatting to one of the guys there helping us. He said a lot of their tooling was for car makers for all sorts of stuff like door handles, mirrors etc etc. it goes to the oem manufacturer then once the car it’s for changes or goes out of production they sell the tooling to aftermarket manufacturers or just scrap it. Obviously once it gets so worn the quality isn’t good enough so it can’t be used. 
Im sure there are old moulds & tools for diecast cars piled up somewhere but the chances are the value in scrap metal outweighs the floor space they take up.

[bunglebus]

Yeah I've seen very worn out examples of the Porsche 911 and Model A

 

[Split_Pin]

54 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

They do wear out eventually. You can usually see on long lived castings where early ones have good details and a nice crisp shape, but the later ones start to lose that. Rounded corners and shallow detail etc. 

When I worked at SSE I had a job at a place that made tooling and moulds for various other companies and got chatting to one of the guys there helping us. He said a lot of their tooling was for car makers for all sorts of stuff like door handles, mirrors etc etc. it goes to the oem manufacturer then once the car it’s for changes or goes out of production they sell the tooling to aftermarket manufacturers or just scrap it. Obviously once it gets so worn the quality isn’t good enough so it can’t be used. 
Im sure there are old moulds & tools for diecast cars piled up somewhere but the chances are the value in scrap metal outweighs the floor space they take up.

Won't the moulds be rubber? My mums pal used to make diecast warships for a board game he invented and all the moulds were rubber discs in 2 parts. The molten metal was poured in, 2 discs joined and secured and then inserted into this huge machine where it was spun around (probably other stuff happened as part of that process but I don't remember). Really interesting!

[RoadworkUK]

5 hours ago, ETCHY said:

I think the Ergomatic cab is probably my favourite Lesney / Matchbox casting. It's just a lovely thing & really captures the look of the real thing. For a kids toy it's brilliant.

I've got the horsebox variant knocking around somewhere. It'll be nice to have them side by side as if in some kind of AEC "look how diverse our products are" brochure.

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

Won't the moulds be rubber? My mums pal used to make diecast warships for a board game he invented and all the moulds were rubber discs in 2 parts. The molten metal was poured in, 2 discs joined and secured and then inserted into this huge machine where it was spun around (probably other stuff happened as part of that process but I don't remember). Really interesting!

Possible, although for mass production I’d imagine rubber would just degrade and distort very quick if you were punching out hundreds or even thousands of identical castings year on year. Most of them are metal, aluminium or steel. 
The ones that company I mentioned had were steel. They were two part moulds that were much bigger than the part that was cast inside them, they were tightened together insanely tight then the molten metal forced in. Once it was solid the two halves were undone and the part pulled out. Any defects like air bubbles etc and they went straight into the recycling rejects bin. Or if your Matchbox, just paint it anyway and put it in a box to sell!😆