Shite in Miniature II

[ambassador84]

8 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I had that yellow R5 with a bunch of Polistil copies so I presume it's got the same provenance* I dint know what happened to it as I still have all the others.

I think I've posted up my boxed set of 'Golden Wheel' cars, some of which are 1970s Superfast rip offs.

My granny used to bring me them, I always quite liked the identifiable ones.

The jury is still out whether these Kees castings were Polistil copies or whether Kees made them on behalf of Polistil as a sub contractor. When the contract ended they were free to sell them as they wished? I don't possess any original Polistil RN castings to compare to Kees to get a definitive answer. Anyone on here have both?

[Split_Pin]

Just now, ambassador84 said:

Anyone on here have both

@bunglebus almost certainly will!

[bunglebus]

10 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Interesting. A 512 Boxer is one I don’t have.  What scale is that? Does it have any marking underneath 

Fairly big, 1:28. In the force hail pile anyway 

[bunglebus]

2 hours ago, ambassador84 said:

The jury is still out whether these Kees castings were Polistil copies or whether Kees made them on behalf of Polistil as a sub contractor. When the contract ended they were free to sell them as they wished? I don't possess any original Polistil RN castings to compare to Kees to get a definitive answer. Anyone on here have both?

Sort of. I have some with the name removed from the base, those seem better quality than the latest arrivals

[danthecapriman]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

Morrisons used to sell them I’m sure. 

Back in the day* we didn’t have Morrisons stores down south. They were a northern thing. 
We had Safeway instead which were eventually bought out by Morrisons which then gave the south parts of the country the Morrisons brand. 
I don’t remember going in Safeway stores much, despite one being local to my old house, so no idea what diecast etc they stocked? Morrisons were one I did go to when visiting family in Yorkshire though.

[ambassador84]

35 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Sort of. I have some with the name removed from the base, those seem better quality than the latest arrivals

Have you got any Polistil branded examples to compare? To confuse matters I know a company called Timmy Toys made some cheapened copies afterwards but your set I'd wager was made by Kees.

[bunglebus]

I have a Kees branded Countach 

This is probably a copy with black windows etc

This Escort clearly has the Kees name obliterated 

Copy

Polistil Celica

BMW M1

So I don't have three of one casting, but you can see what's going on. No idea if Kees or Polistil had the casting first though. It does look like Polistil has been stamped over the Kees logo to me 

[Datsuncog]

20 hours ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

More exciting toys for you to collect. £1.49 price in feint pencil in left hand bottom corner.

A bit pricey the Rover at £1.85.

Going by the Bank of England's Inflation Calculator...

• The Volvo 265 at £1.49 in 1976 = £10.00 exactly in April 2025
• The Princess at £1.49 in 1977 = £8.73 in April 2025
• The Rover 3500 at £1.85 in 1978 = £10.07 in April 2025

Seems that the price rise for the Rover was Dinky trying to stay ahead of inflation!

Some great finds there, something quite special about a toy that's in as-new condition - and possibly you're the first person to ever open the box.

[cms206]

Lucky find in a charity shop I rarely frequent this morning, not too bad for 50p a pop.

[MiniMinorMk3]

Page 1977

[bunglebus]

35 minutes ago, cms206 said:

Lucky find in a charity shop I rarely frequent this morning, not too bad for 50p a pop.

 

[bunglebus]

1977 was the greatest year of all time. This was launched

Elvis died and Star Wars came out - and I was born.

I was lucky enough to take a ride in a 262 in the 90s during my work experience 

[MiniMinorMk3]

Last lot from my auction delivery was the lot of 27 Norev blister packs. 

Here's the first batch of nine.

All the cards are the same, with the same bar code and...

the same reference number.

Some have Centre Leclerc price labels. I think the exchange was around 10-11 French Francs to the Pound, so these cost around £1.

Although not printed on the card, these are Norev Jet Car models in 1/43rd scale.

Paris Fire Brigade Renault 4 Fourgone which looks overloaded...

has a Saône-et-Loire number plate.

Haribo R4 Van

Polizei Golf Mk1.

Rhône number plate.

Talbot Horizon.

Talbot in Tic-Tac livery. I've not had a box of Tic-Tacs in years. I liked the orange ones.

305 Police car.

From the Rhône Departement

Porsche 924.

Mk3 Escort.

Has overiders front...

and back with XR3 style rear spoiler.

Another on in green...

that has suffered some box rub to the roof.

There's that spoiler again.

 

I made an attempt to get one of these out of its bubble. I tried lighter fluid and enamel thinners but the bubble would not lift without lifting the printed surface off the card. So they will remain trapped for now.

I'll post up the rest of these Norevs later.

[Lord Sterling]

4 minutes ago, MiniMinorMk3 said:

Mk3 Escort.

Has overiders front...

and back with XR3 style rear spoiler.

Another on in green...

that has suffered some box rub to the roof.

There's that spoiler again.

Those Ford Escorts actually looks pretty good. They certainly seem well-proportioned compared to others.

[bunglebus]

I've got several of those Golfs

Metal base one is nicest 

 

[Split_Pin]

Those Norevs are brilliant.

The MK3 Escort looks very similar to the Solido one, both are crisply rendered in my opinion. It's also interesting to see the Horizon, again quite similar to the Solido.

I have a 305, came from NZ via @Jon and is Made In Portugal. The only other 1/43 Norevs I have are a childhood R25, 2 R18s, 2 Citroen Visas, Citroen CX and an Alfa 6. Great wee things. I also have a couple of plastic ones, an R6 and R12, with an Ami, R5, Peugeot 204 and Fiat 1100 passing through.

[MiniMinorMk3]

40 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I've got several of those Golfs

 

I've had a few before.

These ones were made by Minibri in Portugal.

Sticker on base.

 

[junkyarddog]

Oh,Hello.....You look different?

Chase car😁

[MiniMinorMk3]

Last of the Norevs as promised.

These have a different bar code...

and different ref. number.

Also slightly pricier.

First we have a pair of Ligier JS2, one green...

one silver.

The two Fox Mustangs, one white...

one yellow.

Mercedes R107 SL

Orangina CX

Garde Forestier (Park Ranger) Volvo 264. This livery can be found on estate versions to.

Not a French Plate.

Mercedes W126 S-Class in Chips Vico livery. Why, who knows.

Peugeot 505 in Grande Mere Coffee livery.

Two Renault 18 Estates, one Turbo Police.

The other looks like a banana

Two Fuegos. One in a very close shade to the blue used by Renault.

The other is a race car

This was an actual race car driven by Pierre de Thoisy in the 1981 Championnat de France de Supertourisme. It was also modelled by Bburago in 1/24th scale.

Dino 246 GTS

Last we had a quartet of BMW 6-Series. One green.

A Motul in white.

A Motul in pale green.

Last a blue with Norev stickers.

 

[bunglebus]

What's going on here, a Roadblaster by a different name?

[FakeConcern]

5 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I was lucky enough to take a ride in a 262 in the 90s during my work experience 

Wow, you lucky bastard I'd love a go in a 262

 

[flat4alfa]

9 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Fairly big, 1:28. In the force hail pile anyway 

Sold

[AndyW201]

Yes, 1977 was a good one, Mrs_W201 was 'launched' in that year!

We also got the Chrysler Sunbeam,

[flat4alfa]

Nice Hillman Avenger Hatchback they were

Back when they were young(ish) one fella nearby had two on the drive - Lotus-engined ones, that is. The two-tone blue one made some impression on me as a younger lad.

[AndyW201]

Had to nip quickly into Lidl today. Spotted the very last two F&F Hot Wheels. Looks like the scalpers have been busy grabbing the gaudily decorated ones, but I prefer these two anyway.

They must be getting a bit desperate as there are two of these Supras in this collection. I prefer this plain white one as it's at least fairly subtle,

Or as subtle as an A80 Supra with big bodykit and rear wing can get...

I can never resist a Mk1. It was when this casting  first dropped, in white with blue stripes, that set me off again big time on hunting Hot Wheels and other stuff of this scale. Cheers Mattel!

Even though this is barely any different to the previous silver series F&F Escort, other than the wheels, and this one, curiously, not having the Escort script on the boot.

[AndyW201]

18 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Nice Hillman Avenger Hatchback they were

Back when they were young(ish) one fella nearby had two on the drive - Lotus-engined ones, that is. The two-tone blue one made some impression on me as a younger lad.

While all of the likely lads were skidding around our area in Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts circa 1991/92, there was one guy on our estate with a Sunbeam done in the same white/wide blue stripe as the works rally car, as below. With a 1600 Ti motor (twin 40s as standard), it was more than a match for the Escorts.

[155V6]

27 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Nice Hillman Avenger Hatchback they were

Back when they were young(ish) one fella nearby had two on the drive - Lotus-engined ones, that is. The two-tone blue one made some impression on me as a younger lad.

My Dad had a Ti in the early nineties,I borrowed it for a few weeks when my Granada Coupe was off the road.Didn't want to give it back ☹

[FakeConcern]

In January I posted some pics of a project I'd been working on for a while

 

I have been slowly working on the Charger, but getting the surface properly smooth was becoming a chore so I tried filler primer which was pretty good

Followed by white primer and then the colour coat

One of the biggest hold ups was the exhausts as I wanted them to look like the small Matchbox 4into2 on each side rather than the open pipes of the original King Size. I strted trying to fashion some from bits of wire, but gave up, then after fiddling about with Corgi Lazy Bones exhausts and some from a Corgi 1/36 F1 Lotus, I started again with wire for the fanimold and that insulation you use on the earth wire to sockets for the large pipes.

A bit wobbly, but eventually smoothed them out with some heat

Anyway I eventually got them to look acceptable and decided they'd have to do as I was getting fed up with it by this stage.

And this is a much as I'm going to do to it now and consider it finished

Decals were found on the internet then resized for the bigger car, printed and covered with Sellotape

It would have been easier and probably better if I'd started with a non dragster car, but hey...

I forgot to say, I had cut the rear bumper off of the original chassis to use on this, but at some point I had a clear out and when I started work on it again I couldn't find it so made a new aluminium one. Light weight FTW!

The toy I used had the windscreen missing so I found a smashed Dinky Gran Fury so broken even Eddy didn't want it and made a screen from that

The body doesn't always fall back onto the grill properly every time, but it does work

Here it is open

With a friend

I used the roll cage pivoted around to hold the body up a bit like the small original

Shame I don't have one of the small originals to display it with

 

 

[Split_Pin]

Fabulous job!

[bunglebus]

That is flippin' awesome! I've shrunk Speed Kings but never made an oversized Superfast. 

Love it