Shite in Miniature II

[Datsuncog]

2 hours ago, Christine said:

I found 2 Siku vw T4s i bought years ago.. As i picked up the 1st one ,i noticed the paint was all blistered .....it then  all collapsed into a pile of  bittle scrap...

Funny you should say that, I once had a Siku VW Passat B1 estate that crumbled into bits - not something I'd have expected from such a quality manufacturer! Seems there must have been a few bad batches over the years, then...

[bunglebus]

Literally just got outbid on one of those

[morrisoxide]

I went on the hunt for the Broadspeed Jag today with no luck. I settled for a third Mk1 Cortina.

The paint falls off with Asdas own paint stripper in ten minutes. If any one is interested in doing a paint swap.

Enough people have found these for me not to feel guilty about chopping one up.

Boot cut off.

Looks quite good as a Ute.

But a Ute Isn't what I'm after.

I know estate two doors are not factory and ban the bomb rear lights where never fitted to estates.

[flat4alfa]

7 hours ago, bunglebus said:

This one's a mystery, railway accessory I presume but no name on it

 

It’s a Kader, yes in 1:87ish for HO railways. Originally made in France, from a duff copy of this set of Microminiatures by Norev, featuring a Unic Car transporter

Later packaged by Tim Mee, made in Hong Konk

You’ve got to get the Simca Versailles now!

[bunglebus]

17 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Later packaged by Tinmee, made in Hong Konk

Packaging says "Corvair Falcon Rambler Tempest Valiant" but the transporter is full of European cars...

Tim Mee is a new one on mee

[flat4alfa]

39 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Packaging says "Corvair Falcon Rambler Tempest Valiant" but the transporter is full of European cars...

Tim Mee is a new one on mee

Because US market distribution daftness

https://timmeeusa.com/

https://victorybuy.com/collections/tim-mee-toys

[cms206]

20p bucket finds in the charity shop from earlier in the week... HW Toyota sadly splodged in paint.

[ambassador84]

15 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

Found today,some newish Matchbox.

Toyota Supra  

Bmw E36 Compact.

Shelby Cobra. 

Dodge truck.

Lexus LS400.

Ford Bronco.

Wait.....What's this?

Super Chase!!!

First one I've found.

Very lucky! I'm assuming Poundland for this new batch?

[eddyramrod]

1 hour ago, cms206 said:

20p bucket finds in the charity shop from earlier in the week... HW Toyota sadly splodged in paint.

Has the Toyota been chasing James Bond in his department-issued SD1?

[bunglebus]

That Siku Mercedes wrecker looks really good, especially for 20p

[junkyarddog]

2 hours ago, ambassador84 said:

Very lucky! I'm assuming Poundland for this new batch?

Yes,well our version of it.

[bunglebus]

I came home with half a ton of cars this morning, mainly as I bought a whole box off a regular seller instead of picking out lots of individual ones

So many in fact, that I couldn't get them all in one picture 

50p F40 for @Split_Pin who if my memory serves was wanting broken ones for bits

[Split_Pin]

Yes please, thank you Rich!

[AndyW201]

Looks like it's  going to have to be AliExpress for the Hot Wheels Jag. Six places tried yesterday and nothing worth having at all. Tescotainer had refreshed the old case with the Chevelle but I reluctantly put it back as there was nothing else I wanted for the 3 for 2 offer and I didnt want it enough to pay £2.40 for it as a single. Absolute piss take round here...

So this weekend has mainly been making good some recent purchases that were bought on a "spers or reapers" basis.

First off, another '90s hot hatch,

A Universal Hobbies Citroën Saxo VTR. Last year, I finally managed to find a reasonably priced Norev Saxo VTS, in Mauritius blue.

Its a really nice rendition of a hot Saxo , but it's a facelift version, and the Norev version rides a tiny bit high and the wheels, while nicely done, seem slightly too big.

Good  though it is, I've always wanted the Universal hobbles pre facelift VTR. But they're extremely rare and quite expensive when they do come up for sale.

I think the UH version captures it a lot better, stance and wheels wise. Plus it's in Poseidon blue, which round here back in the day, was THE colour for a VTR or VTS. This one was part of a guy's collection that was on ebay, obviously part of a Citroën part-work series that we didnt get over here. I plumped for this, but he had a few other nice Cits from the collection that I was tempted by, particularly the series 1 BX, beige Visa Super E and early pov-spec AX. It was pretty cheap, but came in "used" condition, sadly missing the mirrors, the perspex outer display box and it needed a good clean. The roof aerial was flattened and had a good tidemark of dust under it.

Theres a guy on ebay who does 3D printed mirrors for a couple of quid a pop who I've used before. One of his styles isnt too dissimilar from the Saxo items, although they do look a bit on the big side. But better that than none at all IMO. The aerial was raised to a more factory position and the car and plinth were given a good clean.

I think these were produced a few years ago now, but detailing is good.

Another difference between this and the Norev version is that this has the interior seat fabric replicated.

Not bad detail on the dash either.

[bunglebus]

Lots of cars came back from the boot sale but the majorly were fairly unremarkable Matchbox etc that we've seen dozens of times. There were also some very tidy Zylmex, the late D series ones that again we've seen before.

I did grab a couple of weirdos, these two by Holly that do wheelies

Best find is possibly this Custom Barracuda, however this is after about half an hour was spent trying to remove what appeared to be half a pot of PVA glue from the base and wheels, there's still some on the base, awful stuff to try and get off

These are some quite unusual ones too, as it turns out 3/4 of an 8 pack from 2022 I don't think we saw here

This one's pretty unusual too, California Custom maybe? I need to do some research 

Norev 305 is another uncommon one

Not sure about the origins of this Corgi Mercedes minibus

One of the nicest old Matchbox from the big tub

This one just needs a hook

Jumbo Jet seems to be the least common "Chopper"

Zoomie Baloonie! No body though, wonder if I could adapt something else

A couple of Matchbox Burnin' Key Cars

And a Powertrack minus its spoiler

Majorette buys include this Jeep

And two code two recovery trucks

Big Majorette Range Rover 

Bought a few 50p refugees as donors/resto projects, Cortina...

...and E Type

Early Whizzwheels Mini was also 50p

Had to pay a whole £5 for this Cortina, not my fault they spelled it Taunus

Pre arranged pick ups of this F+F, which is very hard to photograph 

And this Road Trippin'. I remember these being in every Poundland years ago, but I didn't find this one

[155V6]

Having a night away,so went to a car boot that normally brings some good finds.

These are what I got today

Most came from the same big tub & need a good clean,but I only spent about £4.00 so can't complain.I'll probably go back tomorrow & see what else I can find 🤞

 

 

 

[bunglebus]

16 minutes ago, 155V6 said:

 

Colour changer Maisto Granada is a good find

17 minutes ago, 155V6 said:

So is the Majorette camper

18 minutes ago, 155V6 said:

But what's the yellow one - Alme maybe? Think the 6 series is one too

[155V6]

10 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Colour changer Maisto Granada is a good find

So is the Majorette camper

But what's the yellow one - Alme maybe? Think the 6 series is one too

Didn't realise the Granada was a colour changer,I'll have to try it when I get home.

Yellow car is indeed an Alme(Fiat 132),along with the 6 series.The seller had loads of cars for sale,but a lot of the stuff in the 5 for £1 tub was better than the £2-£3 stuff on the table 🤪

[Tenmil Socket]

My sister picked me up a couple of cars from the charity shop.

Two Hot Wheels that aren’t for me if of any interest to anyone?

 

Plus these 2… ‘Alf’ 🤔

 

I think Alf is trying to be Elf.

 

[bunglebus]

11 minutes ago, 155V6 said:

Didn't realise the Granada was a colour changer,I'll have to try it when I get home

It should do this

And it'll be an MC Toys, rather than a Maisto I reckon 

 

[AndyW201]

Next project is a bit of a bigger one. Now and again, some factory reject Vanguards come up for sale cheaply on AliExpress. Usually with marks or defects in the paint, missing wipers or mirrors and on a plinth, but without the perspex box. I've had the brown Escort Mk2 Sport  and the Daytona yellow Mk3 Cortina GXL so far and they've not been too bad, nothing wrong with them that couldnt be easily sorted. 

My latest purchase from there has been the Mk5 Cortina 1.6L in Cardinal red. It's a fairly recent casting so I haven't had many of them. Only the gold 2.0 Ghia S so far, but as that's the all-singing, all-dancing one, the low spec version also appealed. These rejects are sold on a no-return basis and are pretty much pot-luck on what you'll get. With this one, my luck ran out.

The roof and pillars had taken a pretty bad hit on the nearside. Whether it was like this when it left the seller or whether it happened in transit, I dont know. (The box it came in was a bit battered). The expert* technical rendering in green shows the angle the roof was at when I received it. A long bath in a bowl of hot water, then with a cloth on the roof and on the bottom of the shell, some gentle pressure on the offside of the roof with my heavy adjustable spanner got the roof to where it is now in the pic.

And this is the rear. Not 100% perfect, but massively better than it was. I think the paint loss where the pressure was applied draws attention to it a bit.

Yep, this version even has a neat little dealer sticker in the rear window.

And the L spec wheels are fab!

While I've got the car apart, I can examine the innards a bit.

Interesting suspension mechanism on this new casting, compared to the old thin rods on each side.

Interior is pretty well done with two tone doorcards, and dark grey dashboard and carpets.

Cortina aficionados will notice that Corgi made a bit of a cock up with this one. The car is an L spec but has GL style brightwork around the windows and door handles. To my untrained eye,  the side mouldings seem to be like the slim Mk4 GL/Ghia items too. (Luckily remedied on the gold Ghia with the proper Mk5 type). Apparently the model was originally meant to be a GL and the colour cell was sent to the makers, but it was changed to an L at the last minute, obviously nobody thought to tell the factory about the difference!   

I'm not sure whether the B pillars need some work as they seem a bit too curved to me. Then again, the A and C pillars seem to have a bit of curve to them, and looking at the Ghia in the cabinet and at a pic of the real thing,

Maybe I can get away with them as they are.

The windscreen has dropped because the glazing units have cracked where they are riveted to the roof, due to the damage but tucks up into place with the baseplate and interior unit in place. The n/s side glass is present, just needs gluing back in. Then just some touching up needed where the 'adjustments' have been made.

Not great, but the wife's at work this weekend and we've now got our hands full with a 3 month old American Bulldog rescue dog, so I'm having to do stuff when I can grab an odd 10 minutes or so...

A quick splodge on the drivers side too, I have filled in the black on the top of the door frames since this was taken. There's not much I can do with the top right corner of the rear window,

And the paint's ruined on the roof anyway so for now, I'm going to tosh it. 

I've got this bit of self adhesive vinyl that was left over when we repaired 201_jnr's old gaming chair. It's nicely textured, and so far I've used it to create a Webasto roof on an ex-police Marina (to hide the holes where the roof box used to be)

And repaired an utterly ruined roof on a Dolomite Sprint which nearly ended up in the bin,

So for now,  this is going to be the repair route for the Cortina's roof. The car came with one mirror missing and the drivers one squashed against the pillar, which snapped off as soon as I tried to straighten it. I've got a spare pair of Vanguards Mk3  XR3i mirrors in black which I might try to adapt (read: bodge on) as I dont think they look too far removed from the Cortina ones.

Dog permitting, more soon.

(Probably tomorrow, she's being a nightmare...)

[eddyramrod]

7 minutes ago, AndyW201 said:

Dolomite Sprint which nearly ended up in the bin,

WHAT!!!!!!!  You can say that here?  Nothing ends up in the bin!  If you do feel you have to throw something away, throw it my way, or at @danthecapriman or @FakeConcern!  Between us we can make something out of nearly anything!  It may take time, and it may not resemble anything Corgi intended (or any other manufacturer) but we can fix stuff.  Don't throw anything in the bin - please!

[flat4alfa]

YEAH

Even if the roof was caved in, it would the perfect candidate for that Dolomite Cabriolet I’ve never wanted to make 

[FakeConcern]

Boot Fair at Icklesham this morning, first time we've been this year.

Picked up these slot cars for @bunglebus

I had the Lotus before only in white

In pretty good order

Also picked up two Corgi 1/36 which I don't collect. The seller hummed and harred over the price before asking £1 for them both!

He had a couple of others as well which I refused and am kicking myself about now and I blame Eddy for my mistake! He had a Corgi 1/36 Escort van which I usually pick up for Eddy, but I know Eddy has a surplus of these now and he even refused the last one I got so I passed. Now I have twigged that it was the AA van that goes with the Caravan! (Don't worry Eddy, I don't really blame you, just my own stupidity!)

[flat4alfa]

[sheffcortinacentre]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Lots of cars came back from the boot sale but the majorly were fairly unremarkable Matchbox etc that we've seen dozens of times. There were also some very tidy Zylmex, the late D series ones that again we've seen before.

I did grab a couple of weirdos, these two by Holly that do wheelies

Best find is possibly this Custom Barracuda, however this is after about half an hour was spent trying to remove what appeared to be half a pot of PVA glue from the base and wheels, there's still some on the base, awful stuff to try and get off

These are some quite unusual ones too, as it turns out 3/4 of an 8 pack from 2022 I don't think we saw here

This one's pretty unusual too, California Custom maybe? I need to do some research 

Norev 305 is another uncommon one

Not sure about the origins of this Corgi Mercedes minibus

One of the nicest old Matchbox from the big tub

This one just needs a hook

Jumbo Jet seems to be the least common "Chopper"

Zoomie Baloonie! No body though, wonder if I could adapt something else

A couple of Matchbox Burnin' Key Cars

And a Powertrack minus its spoiler

Majorette buys include this Jeep

And two code two recovery trucks

Big Majorette Range Rover 

Bought a few 50p refugees as donors/resto projects, Cortina...

...and E Type

Early Whizzwheels Mini was also 50p

Had to pay a whole £5 for this Cortina, not my fault they spelled it Taunus

Pre arranged pick ups of this F+F, which is very hard to photograph 

And this Road Trippin'. I remember these being in every Poundland years ago, but I didn't find this one

Only seen the part works Taunus in white , or blue/white police ( Turkish I think). Interested if for sale.

[sheffcortinacentre]

1 hour ago, AndyW201 said:

Next project is a bit of a bigger one. Now and again, some factory reject Vanguards come up for sale cheaply on AliExpress. Usually with marks or defects in the paint, missing wipers or mirrors and on a plinth, but without the perspex box. I've had the brown Escort Mk2 Sport  and the Daytona yellow Mk3 Cortina GXL so far and they've not been too bad, nothing wrong with them that couldnt be easily sorted. 

My latest purchase from there has been the Mk5 Cortina 1.6L in Cardinal red. It's a fairly recent casting so I haven't had many of them. Only the 2.0 Ghia S so far, but as that's the all-singing, all-dancing one, the low spec version also appealed. These rejects are sold on a no-return basis and are pretty much pot-luck on what you'll get. With this one, my luck ran out.

The roof and pillars had taken a pretty bad hit on the nearside. Whether it was like this when it left the seller or whether it happened in transit, I dont know. (The box it came in was a bit battered). The expert* technical rendering in green shows the angle the roof was at when I received it. A long bath in a bowl of hot water, then with a cloth on the roof and on the bottom of the shell, some gentle pressure on the offside of the roof with my heavy adjustable spanner, got the roof to where it is now in the pic.

And this is the rear. Not 100% perfect, but massively better than it was. I think the paint loss where the pressure was applied draws attention to it a bit.

Yep, this version even has a neat little dealer sticker in the rear window.

And the L spec wheels are fab!

While I've got the car apart, I can examine the innards a bit.

Interesting suspension mechanism on this new casting, compared to the old thin rods on each side.

Interior is pretty well done with two tone doorcards, and dark grey dashboard and carpets.

Cortina aficionados will notice that Corgi made a bit of a cock up with this one. The car is an L spec but has GL style brightwork around the windows and door handles. Apparently the model was originally meant to be a GL and the colour cell was sent to the makers, but it was changed to an L at the last minute, obviously nobody thought to tell the factory about the difference!   

I'm not sure whether the B pillars need some work as they seem a bit too curved to me. Then again, the A and C pillars seem to have a bit of curve to them, and looking at the Ghia in the cabinet and at a pic of the real thing,

Maybe I can get away with them as they are.

The windscreen has dropped because the glazing units have cracked where they are riveted to the roof, due to the damage but tucks up into place with the baseplate and interior unit in place. The n/s side glass is present, just needs gluing back in. Then just some touching up needed where the 'adjustments' have been made.

Not great, but the wife's at work this weekend and we've now got our hands full with a 3 month old American Bulldog rescue dog, so I'm having to do stuff when I can grab an odd 10 minutes or so...

A quick splodge on the drivers side too, I have filled in the black on the top of the door frames since this was taken. There's not much I can do with the top right corner of the rear window,

And the paint's ruined on the roof anyway so for now, I'm going to tosh it. 

I've got this bit of self adhesive vinyl that was left over when we repaired 201_jnr's old gaming chair. It's nicely textured, and so far I've used it to create a Webasto roof on an ex-police Marina (to hide the holes where the roof box used to be)

And repaired an utterly ruined roof on a Dolomite Sprint which nearly ended up in the bin,

So for now,  this is going to be the repair route for the Cortina's roof. The car came with one mirror missing and the drivers one squashed against the pillar, which snapped off as soon as I tried to straighten it. I've got a spare pair of Vanguards Mk3  XR3i mirrors in black which I might try to adapt (read: bodge on) as I dont think they look too far removed from the Cortina ones.

Dog permitting, updates soon.

(Probably tomorrow, she's being a nightmare...)

Could do with a couple of those mk5's for 2dr conversions, if you get any for disposal ,one will become my crayford so roof damage not a problem.

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, FakeConcern said:

Picked up these slot cars for @bunglebus

I had the Lotus before only in white

Happy for @flat4alfa to have 1st refusal on those as I don't think he's in the WhatsApp group. They'll be welcomed here if not though

[AndyW201]

2 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

WHAT!!!!!!!  You can say that here?  Nothing ends up in the bin!  If you do feel you have to throw something away, throw it my way, or at @danthecapriman or @FakeConcern!  Between us we can make something out of nearly anything!  It may take time, and it may not resemble anything Corgi intended (or any other manufacturer) but we can fix stuff.  Don't throw anything in the bin - please!

Sorry for the upset Eddy, especially on a Sunday! Not my intention, believe me!

Be assured, the want to chuck something in the bin when stuff goes wrong soon passes and usually the particular vehicle goes up into the loft for a while to think about what it's done, and comes back out later and sorted. The fact that the Dolly is a Magenta one and finding one of those now for reasonable £ is now impossible, saved it.

I know that if I do need rid of anything I've got sick of, I need look no further than here. You and Dan have both helped me out on that score before 😄

[AndyW201]

2 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Could do with a couple of those mk5's for 2dr conversions, if you get any for disposal ,one will become my crayford so roof damage not a problem.

Currently on AliExpress for £14 posted, by far the cheapest way to get hold of a new Vanguards Mk5, especially if you dont want to feel bad about chopping up a mint and boxed one.