Shite in Miniature II

[sheffcortinacentre]

6 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Who Scott?  I've never watched Rebus, although I am aware John Hannah played him.  I guess the part was recast at some point?  And I didn't know he had a signature car either.  I'm only dimly aware of Luther having a Volvo because it's been mentioned here!

Modern detectives are not for me, mostly.  They tend to whisper, grunt or shout, all with under- and over-tones of rage.  Also, they take two to six hours of mooning about in pitch darkness to decide who dunnit.  Where's the style?  Where's the humour?  Where's the daylight?  Where's the action?  Where's the car chase?  What happened to a one-hour standalone story?  

Yeah exactly, these things don't exist any more.  I'm thankful I grew up in a golden age: Man In A Suitcase, Batman, Starsky And Hutch, CHiPs and so on and so on.

 

As for The Bill, yeah I've got the stripe wrong for that van.  Maybe I should have looked it up.  Maybe I'll redo it (the day after King Kia resigns).

Bloody spell check it should've said stott , I never watched but two actors played the character during the run.

Didn't Henry crabbe have a Saab in pie in the sky?

[sheffcortinacentre]

7 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Sergeant June Ackland has this plate for you to make it more* authentic 

No details probably fake, it's been mentioned before one of the Sierra's still exists & I believe was a gen ex police car.

[sheffcortinacentre]

7 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

 

Leyland DAF 200 in The Bill, TV Series

Ep. 14.27

Registration H852HNK

Lasted til sept 01

[sheffcortinacentre]

5 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

I'm currently watching the Department S reruns on Rewind TV, Freeview channel 92.

Jason King has  metallic red James Young Bentley.

The girl in it has a red Lotus Elan +2

And they also use a white FD Victor. Both this and one with a one digit lower reg were used in Randell and Hopkirk Deceased.

Also this Fulvia has appeared in a few episodes.

 Lots of other chod appear throughout the program.

IMCDb.org: "Department S, 1969-1970": cars, bikes, trucks and other vehicles

Lancia made it to Jan 79 amazingly!

[sheffcortinacentre]

41 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

2nd out of the box, Dinky Minis

All nice wrapped up

I've brought from, and had postal deliveries from many auction house, but these guys realy do take car when packing fragile stuff.

Each pieces was wrapped in a bubble bag and also wrapped in paper.

All unpacked. these Dinky bubble boxes are easily cracked and creased if care is not taken.

First in 178 Clubman. Note bubble has the model number embossed into it.

The bubble has slightly yellowed. This happens when they are left in bright sunlight.

Free from the box. This is a later version with the cast headlamps. As this was in a bubble I thought it would be a jewelled lam version. Also no number plates.

There are a couple of blemishes and very small paint chips on it.

Clubman has Clubman style two clock dash and black steering wheel.

Plating on base is very bright.

Next is 183 Mini Minor Automatic.

The bubble on this is like new.

Nice shiney metallic red paint with textured black roof.

Again it is not quite mint as there are a couple of small chips in the paint.

Minor has opening bonnet.

Black steering wheel.

Factory Error. Austin Cooper S script on boot lid.

Very slight surface corrosion of base.

Finally when have 250 Mini Cooper S Police. Again bubble is slightly yellow.

The bubble was tapped to the box base, but a quick snip snip soon sorted that. 

Again a couple of small chip on the non-aerial version.

Also both doors are not a good fit.

There's some very thin paint on the right front wing.

Red interior with black wheel.

Another factory error, Automatic Mini Minor script on rear.

Base is bright and shiney.

All three boxes had Copyright 1974 Meccano on them.

Authentic mini build quality too wow you don't get that nowadays on models.

[MiniMinorMk3]

2 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Yes, joy turned to sadness as I realised they wanted anything between £5 and £19 each for these '80s Matchboxes in Cash Converters - with most up near the top end.

 

In the auction I was bidding on a Saturday they had a couple of large lots of that era of Matchbox.

85 in the first lot. With commission the buyer would have paid about £460, so about £5.50 each.

Second lot had 102 in it. with commission the buyer would have paid almost £800, almost £8 each. The Macau issues are starting to gain in collectability.

 

[sierraman]

8 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

In the auction I was bidding on a Saturday they had a couple of large lots of that era of Matchbox.

85 in the first lot. With commission the buyer would have paid about £460, so about £5.50 each.

Second lot had 102 in it. with commission the buyer would have paid almost £900, almost £9 each. The Macau issues are starting to gain in collectability.

 

£9 a model and a lot of them aren’t especially desirable either! Doubt that will be the road to riches for someone! 

[danthecapriman]

9 minutes ago, sierraman said:

£9 a model and a lot of them aren’t especially desirable either! Doubt that will be the road to riches for someone! 

Its probably a collector buying them for their hobby. As you say, there can’t be much if any profit to be had on those, it must be the top end of their values. 

[sierraman]

Some seem to go for semi decent money like the Skoda and the Cavalier, but 90% of them even in mint condition would probably struggle more than a quid if not boxed. 

[Tenmil Socket]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

Ooh.

Aah.

Oosh.

Urgh.

Yes, joy turned to sadness as I realised they wanted anything between £5 and £19 each for these '80s Matchboxes in Cash Converters - with most up near the top end.

£5 a pop for the white BMW E30 cabrio and red Mk3 Transit not too bad; the same for the white and the blue versions of the RS200 seemed semi-reasonable, though the boxes were visibly torn/ taped on most of these.

£10 for the later 90s Escort Cosworth with union jack decor.

£15 for the white Mk2 Golf with Quantum rally decals and the Peugeot 205 Turbo 2 rally (both also with torn boxes).

£19 each for the Transit Supervans, the white XR3 Cabriolet, and each of the red Mk2 Golfs - the boxes all looked a bit better on these, but still appeared to have been opened.

Good luck getting those dratted price stickers off without causing further damage to the boxes, too.

I didn't buy any!

I like the Golf!

[andrew e]

An ebay arrival and some model railway show bargains! The Sierra Taxi even came with the plastic to pop the boot open, I think its the first LHD one I’ve got too, which is why its in the german taxi beige I guess?

These two were an impromptu surprise buy whilst I was dodging the soap dogers at a very local model railway show. £12 the pair and I whipped the cash out! I’m not normally a Dinky buyer, but this Herald just looked right to me 👍

Lastly I’ve had a battered one of these before (I think @bunglebus had it for the engines) but it was part of the deal with the Herald - which in itself was a bizarre dutch auction with the elderly vendor - is the Adams bros dragster. Obviously had been cared for over the last 50 years.

[FakeConcern]

On 27/05/2025 at 13:00, danthecapriman said:

I think those ones you had actually pre-date that diecast Jumbo truck I’ve got. The Jumbo diecast ones came mid/late 60’s I think. There doesn’t seem to be a very big range of them either. It’s a few different designs available in a few colours but that’s it.  
Interesting about your grandfather’s shop too. Have you looked at the address on street view? 

So you just wanted to point out how old I am then?

I did read the link you put up and new these are much newer than mine, but it just made me think of them as they're a similar thing.

I did look at Street View, but no 5 is a huge 1930s building and I'm sure years ago I saw a photo and the shop looked Victorian, I'll have to ask my mum if she remembers.

On 27/05/2025 at 18:11, danthecapriman said:

New for 1974… the Capri mk2!!

Available as a 1:43 by Minichamps (red one at the back)

Vanguard’s also in 1:43.

Or for something bigger, Otto in 1:18.

So I posted my Luso Mk2 a page early then...

21 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Finished up some more today...

The green Jag was an Inspector Morse edition; I quite like these for the steel wheels.  The other two are the Atlas Editions police Jag, which is a lovely model for the prices I can buy them at.  You might recognise the red one as George Sewell's car in Get Carter.  Before it loses a door, obviously!  And here they are with their sisters...

Six Atlas, three Morse!  While we're with Jaguar...

Hmm, who had a yellow XJS on screen?  Believe it or not, John Steed, in the Canadian episodes of The New Avengers.  I probably should have converted it to LHD.  So, while we're in the Screen section...

Partwok Lada is now the one from Wanted; Angelina Jolie steals it to chase after a train.  Bburago Saab might be a bit tougher, as it hasn't actually appeared on screen but in print.  It's a Bond car, from the early 80s reboot books by John Gardner.  The car has a name, The Silver Beast, and some special Q Branch details, none of which I've incorporated into the model.  And speaking of Bond...

...The famous Sherpa torn apart by Jaws.  As you can see, I've stripped a couple of these now; you probably saw the generic-green one a while back.  Now we have a police van too, loosely based on one that appeared in The Bill.  Too loosely for my Screen cabinet though; I've put it in the police cabinet instead.  My filler work on the driver's door could have been better, but hey, it's a working police vehicle, a bit of scuffing is to be expected.  It's still better than the cast-in dent!

I'm trying to clear my bench a bit because it was getting congested.  There will be more to come.

Some great work there as always Eddy!

I thought the silver SAAB was Tony Clark's car from Between The Lines

[danthecapriman]

44 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

So you just wanted to point out how old I am then?

😆 well, I, errr. 
Nope. No way I can make this better!

Im actually surprised there aren’t more of those big Triang’s around. They seem to be the sort of toy that most kids would really want. 
I don’t know if they were popular or not??

[andy18s]

5 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Ooh.

Aah.

Oosh.

Urgh.

Yes, joy turned to sadness as I realised they wanted anything between £5 and £19 each for these '80s Matchboxes in Cash Converters - with most up near the top end.

£5 a pop for the white BMW E30 cabrio and red Mk3 Transit not too bad; the same for the white and the blue versions of the RS200 seemed semi-reasonable, though the boxes were visibly torn/ taped on most of these.

£10 for the later 90s Escort Cosworth with union jack decor.

£15 for the white Mk2 Golf with Quantum rally decals and the Peugeot 205 Turbo 2 rally (both also with torn boxes).

£19 each for the Transit Supervans, the white XR3 Cabriolet, and each of the red Mk2 Golfs - the boxes all looked a bit better on these, but still appeared to have been opened.

Good luck getting those dratted price stickers off without causing further damage to the boxes, too.

I didn't buy any!

Liking the Escort tbh ...

[FakeConcern]

Went a boot fair on Monday, not much to interest me, I saw a few Corgi Land Rovers and any other die cast was Matchbox or Hot Wheels.

Mrs Concern saw a rather nice made in China ice cream van and a Matchbox Beach Buggy for £1 and the seller gave me the Rs2000 as part of the deal if anyone want's it for 33p!

Today we were going to Ebo, but the traffic was backed up in that direction so we went to Hastings instead which proved to be a good decision.

I picked up these Dinkys for £8 in a junk shop

I have a nice Holden from Dan, but I've been wanting a Fury for a while

Another junk shop and two more Dinkys for £5

A bit further on and another junk shop where Mrs Concern spotted this display case for £10

Not decided whether to hang it on the wall or place on a sideboard, either way it currently has a load of Spot On toys installed

I decided to give the Holden and Plymouth a bath and amazed at how ell they came up

I need to try and make or buy a screen for the Fury as it's really nice

[bunglebus]

2 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

made in China ice cream van

Realtoy, copy of the Hot Wheels Good Humor (sic) truck

 

[FakeConcern]

Just now, bunglebus said:

Realtoy, copy of the Hot Wheels Good Humor (sic) truck

 

Interesting, it's actually really nice and very heavy!

[bunglebus]

Spotted a job lot on eBay that piqued my interest. Some bits are very normal, like a Corgi Mercedes 

The totally-not-a-Matchbox Majorette Ford Model A

Some is just Chinese no name stuff, some of which was so terrible I couldn't be bothered to photograph, as well as things like this Chevy Nomad

Maserati Bora which isn't too bad

Fox Mustang

Slightly confused Mazda that thinks it's a Toyota

And this utter heap of a Saab 9000, it has opening doors whose fit is best described as approximate, and is so brittle I think it would fall apart if I gave it a stern look

This one's pretty good though, going by the registration I'm guessing it's a CF

A weird plastic Porsche with friction drive

And a plastic Ferrari 

However, what I was interested to have a closer look at was this pair, presumably partwork models? Яussian certainly 

[FakeConcern]

10 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Spotted a job lot on eBay that piqued my interest. Some bits are very normal, like a Corgi Mercedes 

The totally-not-a-Matchbox Majorette Ford Model A

Some is just Chinese no name stuff, some of which was so terrible I couldn't be bothered to photograph, as well as things like this Chevy Nomad

Maserati Bora which isn't too bad

Fox Mustang

Slightly confused Mazda that thinks it's a Toyota

And this utter heap of a Saab 9000, it has opening doors whose fit is best described as approximate, and is so brittle I think it would fall apart if I gave it a stern look

This one's pretty good though, going by the registration I'm guessing it's a CF

A weird plastic Porsche with friction drive

And a plastic Ferrari 

However, what I was interested to have a closer look at was this pair, presumably partwork models? Яussian certainly 

Those Russian things are absolutely lovely! Never seen anything like them and would love to...

[AndyW201]

For page 1975, launched in 1975 -  Escort Mk2,

[Split_Pin]

Those are both NovoExport Russian Models. I have the Volga with a later front but it's the same model, albeit with some detail parts (deliberately) not included. In the 80s, a pal of mine got a couple from a model shop in Edinburgh. They are absolutely smashing models with stonking detail and opening bits.

Someone posted up how that all came about a few weeks ago, I think it was @MiniMinorMk3 

Also, you probably know Rich that the Blue Bluebird looks like a Tomica copy (I'm sure you will have one of those!)

[bunglebus]

The only Tomica Bluebird I've got is this delightfully tatty estate

 

[bunglebus]

I love a MK2 Escort, it's an Essex thing 

Hopefully the RS1800 will become a mainline

In the meantime we have the RS2000 to play with

Not forgetting this one

I prefer a flat front though (on MK2  Escorts anyway)

Dainty little Oxford

Dodgy looking Solido 1100 rally car

Rather meatier Bburago

Shame these ones are so rare (and that I've slipped into page 1976, ah well)

 

[bunglebus]

1976 saw the launch of a significant hatchback

 

[Datsuncog]

2 hours ago, bunglebus said:

However, what I was interested to have a closer look at was this pair, presumably partwork models? Яussian certainly 

Oh wow - I don't think those are Chinese-made modern magazine partworks, I reckon those are proper 1980s USSR models.

I had a similar GAZ Volga and RAF 2203 minibus that I picked up around 1993 or so, whenever Soviet-era diecast was becoming more widely available.

Good finds!

EDIT - daah, this has already been said! Must read to the end of the thread before I start replying...

[bunglebus]

1976 saw the launch of a significant hatchback

(the first two are different BTW)

[AndyW201]

A round-up of recent purchases,

Firstly, a delivery from that Facebook HW site, even though it's mostly Matchbox...

Not found this one anywhere yet, in fact, not seen any of that case anywhere round here.

The blue Matchbox 450 SEL was one of my most played-with Matchbox cars when I was a kid. I wasnt sure at first whether this was that old casting with a new plastic base, grille & bumper unit, but I think it's a nostalgic remake.

Nice brightwork detail sets this new version apart, and it's nice how they've colour coded the hubcap style wheels to resemble the metal wheel trims on the real cars.

I've never been mad keen on these Ultra Hots. but I think the Datsun 510 looks well as one.

This is the first 510 sedan I've managed to actually own. 

This is my favourite one out of this delivery. I completely missed out on the white one, but I think this dark blue version looks nicer. Being one of those deviants, I usually like my Hot Wheels and Matchbox purchases to stay in their packaging, (apart from duplicates) but I can never resist getting the Moving Parts ones out for a bit of a play.

A lovely little casting, this one.

Super tampo printed badging,

And after a bit of a fight with the lid, there we are. These later generation Moving Parts really moved the game on with the painted underbonnet detail.

While shopping, had a quick nip into Home Bargains. After a bit of a slump of late with Hot Wheels, they have had a bit of a restock of fairly new case stuff.

The slightly mad RX-7 drift car. Weird that they currently do two castings of the FD RX-7  (or three if you count 24/Seven which is obviously heavily based on it)

I've already got the purple leccy Cupra Leon racer, but I think it looks so much better in grey. (Those flipping horrible Trap 5 wheels again though...)

And I couldn't believe I found this in there,

Been searching for this 5 pack for ages! Mainly for the Cosworth, but I like most of the castings in it as well, so could justify the expense of buying the pack. (Though at £7.50, it's the cheapest I've seen it)

Love the Cosseh!

My favourite version of the Maxima wagon so far,

Not got any of these modern Supras yet, The colour of this one is lovely.

Not had one of these yet either, mainly because I have a real downer towards unlicenced castings, I prefer 'real' subjects. Even as a kid, I could be found getting much more excited about a Matchbox Mk4 Cortina or Renault 17 than a Sooper Coopa or Woosh N Push. Yeah, I was a strange kid, not much has changed since I suppose...

The Dimachinni Velocé, though, is a very attractive thing, like a '70's Italian Greatest Hits. Reminds me of something that Alessandro De Tomaso or Peter Monteverdi might have cobbled up.

Local Morrison's have just got this Boulevard series in, whether it sells better than it has in Asda remains to be seen. 

One of the best castings of recent times, I like the Alfa themed race livery.

[Split_Pin]

That wee Porsche is great!

I had that Merc as a kid too, a Polizei one, got it in a swap with a pal. It was always one I gravitated towards.  Pity they fitted a generic US plate rather than keep the original KAB 14T (completely ridiculous on a German police car but I didn't care 😂)

[MiniMinorMk3]

Just going back to the old television cars thing, whilst watching an episode of Deparment S this Mini turned up on screen.

Whilst watching I thought I recognise the number plate from somewhere. It was not until we had the discussion the other day about cars used in certain programmes that the penny dropped. It was used quite a lot in Randell and Hopkirk, so I guess that's why it only appeared in Deparment S on one occassion.

[Tenmil Socket]

15 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Realtoy, copy of the Hot Wheels Good Humor (sic) truck

 

Didn't I post a pic of one done as a Fire Engine a few pages back?