Shite in Miniature II

[Burnside]

13 hours ago, FakeConcern said:

Love those, they look just the right amount of shonky, it's so easy to over do it! That ramp is great too, I usually have an Inter Cars Saab displayed on a ramp, but not a sophisticated one like yours, just an old Crescent one I picked up at a toy fair.

Thanks for your PM @Burnside, I have now replied.

 

Those Saab 99's look fantastic @FakeConcern Always had a soft spot for a Saab, as my Great Grandfather had a 96. Which I still have a vague memory of.

Thanks, the ramp is a Greenlight from memory, paid about £30. Apart from the screws, that fix the base onto the ramp being a pita. I've been happy with it. You can adjust the height and extend the supports slightly. Not as well made as your Crescent one though, so I don't fiddle with it too much! 

Likewise on the PM too, have replied. 🙂

13 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Love those! Great job on the Sierra too, fortunate you found the spare door.

I fixed up this Schabak Orion last year. 
Found in a job lot of other junkers with various scratches and the windscreen missing. Fully repainted to look like my old 1.4GLX with a windscreen made out of the curved neck of an old soap bottle! 
Just needs a tail light now but I’ll probably have to make it as I’m having no luck finding a replacement.

@danthecapriman nice job on the Onion!!

Funnily enough, I nearly brought a similar Orion GLX back in about 04. It had the RS rear spoiler on it, which I thought looked pretty swish.

Unfortunately I quickly worked out, it was using more oil than it did petrol. So had to pass on it. I'd learnt that from my previous Escort MK5 1.4 LX, paid a £170 from a local scrap yard with 6 mths MOT. Soon found out why it had ended up there. Sold it on shortly afterwards for a loss, as didn't need a 3rd broken car at the time. Ended up owning a H reg MK4 though later on.

You've done a great job on the windscreen. I'll keep a eye out over the spring / summer for any potential light donors. Wouldn't mind another Schabak Orion or Escort myself to repaint. 

I also have some Gama Cavalier spares, a few Schuco Corsa B & Omega. Just in case anybody missing anything. 

[bunglebus]

The diecast overlords messing with my head again - clear or opaque tail lights on the SuperKings Golf. Towbar is really subtle on these, almost unnoticeable 

[sheffcortinacentre]

Towbar?????

[danthecapriman]

11 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

That Modena Green Cortina looks lust like the "before" pic of mine from 1991!

It’s Meadow Green. Doesn’t seem a colour they used for long around 1980ish. I quite like it!

Still haven’t found any Peppermint green paint anywhere. You can definitely get it in big 400ml cans but how much do you really need!?

[eddyramrod]

400 would be fine if I was reasonably sure of getting the right colour!  I'll soon find other stuff to use it on; a mk1 Fiesta would be ideal (low spec).

My Cortina was registered in April 1981 so yeah, it probably was Meadow Green.  There's probably very little between the two shades anyway!  Of course then I had it painted Peppermint which was never offered on the mk5.

[danthecapriman]

16 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

400 would be fine if I was reasonably sure of getting the right colour!  I'll soon find other stuff to use it on; a mk1 Fiesta would be ideal (low spec).

My Cortina was registered in April 1981 so yeah, it probably was Meadow Green.  There's probably very little between the two shades anyway!  Of course then I had it painted Peppermint which was never offered on the mk5.

I think Meadow green is a bit duller, but that might just be how it looks in photos and on dirty faded cars? I know they offered Meadow green on the early Cortina mk5’s and definitely mk1 Fiesta’s but it doesn’t seem a very common colour. Maybe it wasn’t very popular so they changed it for something else not long after?

[Tenmil Socket]

On 25/01/2026 at 01:18, Burnside said:

After mentioning about a Schabak Sierra, via the Miniature Ebay tat thread.

It reminded me about this previous purchase, which I'd shown ages ago.

At the time I replaced the missing light and broken door, with spares I had. 

Since then I've done a few odds and ends. Decided as it's already a little play worn, to keep with that theme.

The O/S rear arch had a dent in the casting. So I've deliberately added the brighter red and some rust. Front door has now been replaced with a previously hand painted one. Which I luckily had, from another broken Schabak Sierra! 

The wheels were a bit wonky, so for now I've added these from a Solido Citroen ZX. Thought it would give the look of some universal wheel trims.

Interior been painted grey and I've detailed the engine bay. Then added some modern French plates I had.

Not great, but then it wasn't meant to be.

Also I have this tatty Gama Cavalier. Which I'm thinking of trying to have ago at weathering, or maybe just give it a repaint and make it nice.

 

Tremendous 👍🏻

[Tenmil Socket]

12 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

A couple off the work bench today.

International Loadstar bus. 
It’s had a few coats of different weathering shades and some panel line shade then all the lights touched in with Tamiya clear orange/red as appropriate. 
Considering the cluster fu*k that happened to this model, I’m actually pretty happy with how it’s come out.

 
My old Fester is done too, apart from the number plates.  
Good to have a model of my old Ghia - gone but not forgotten! 
I can’t find any wheels so it’ll have to stay on these for now at least. 

 
Onwards now… dunno what to but I’ll find something!

That street scene looks brilliant! 

[Datsuncog]

5 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

I think Meadow green is a bit duller, but that might just be how it looks in photos and on dirty faded cars? I know they offered Meadow green on the early Cortina mk5’s and definitely mk1 Fiesta’s but it doesn’t seem a very common colour. Maybe it wasn’t very popular so they changed it for something else not long after?

My first Cortina was Meadow Green - it was a 1980 car.

It was indeed a slightly odd colour, and very hard to match - though the previous owner had a good try, with multiple not-quite-right patches of green paint all over it trying to hide the rust.

The unfaded paint in the spare wheel well here shows it about as good as it ever got.

I still had a little Holts touch-up stick in Meadow Green lying around one of my tool boxes until quite recently; sadly it had all gummed up after nearly thirty years and got chucked.

Only ever saw one other Ford painted in this shade (another Mk5 Cortina saloon), so I'd agree it was not a popular colour.

[danthecapriman]

7 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

My first Cortina was Meadow Green - it was a 1980 car.

It was indeed a slightly odd colour, and very hard to match - though the previous owner had a good try, with multiple not-quite-right patches of green paint all over it trying to hide the rust.

The unfaded paint in the spare wheel well here shows it about as good as it ever got.

I still had a little Holts touch-up stick in Meadow Green lying around one of my tool boxes until quite recently; sadly it had all gummed up after nearly thirty years and got chucked.

Only ever saw one other Ford painted in this shade (another Mk5 Cortina saloon), so I'd agree it was not a popular colour.

My memory of it was as one of those paints that had a bad habit of oxidising and fading quite badly. Whenever I saw it, it always looked dull and ‘rough’. Maybe why it wasn’t popular. 
Id imagine if it was around 80/81 then you could have it on the Escort mk3 too but I can’t honestly ever remember it on one?

[bunglebus]

I bought a huge job lot, as the seller wouldn't sell me individual cars. It was really only one that caught my eye, but there are a few unusual ones here - what do you see?

[danthecapriman]

16 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I bought a huge job lot, as the seller wouldn't sell me individual cars. It was really only one that caught my eye, but there are a few unusual ones here - what do you see?

I reckon the dragster top right was your main want?

Two different shades of yellow on the Corgi Buick. Two different colour glazing on the Matchbox Transit drop side too.

[quicksilver]

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

It’s Meadow Green. Doesn’t seem a colour they used for long around 1980ish. I quite like it!

Still haven’t found any Peppermint green paint anywhere. You can definitely get it in big 400ml cans but how much do you really need!?

This is Modena Green (well that's what it says on the can I painted it with anyway). Looks quite a bit brighter than Meadow Green and appears to be an older colour used on Mk3 Cortinas, Mk2 Capris and Mk1 and 2 Escorts.

[danthecapriman]

1 minute ago, quicksilver said:

This is Modena Green (well that's what it says on the can I painted it with anyway). Looks quite a bit brighter than Meadow Green and appears to be an older colour used on Mk3 Cortinas, Mk2 Capris and Mk1 and 2 Escorts.

Definitely is brighter than Meadow Green. Meadow looks quite a bit duller after seeing your pic. 
Theres Laurel Green too, but I can’t think how that one compares.

Modena green was used on mk1 Granada’s too. I’ve definitely seen them in it before.

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

I bought a huge job lot, as the seller wouldn't sell me individual cars. It was really only one that caught my eye, but there are a few unusual ones here - what do you see?

Red Matchbox VW Golf is a less common version, I think - and is that the silver Corgi Juniors Chevrolet 'US Van' with Jaws decals standing in for a Leyland Sherpa, and only ever available in a James Bond gift set?

Boxed Tomica Ferrari has to be an unusual one too.

[bunglebus]

Well it was none of those, although the Tomica is certainly unusual

It was mainly this though

Ever seen a Transit with orange windows?

I'll keep a few of the others too, such as  a Corgi Binz in yet another variation 

Taxi driver appears to have been given some free samples by the advertiser, going by the state of it

Aurora Cigar Box Riveria isn't an everyday find either

[bunglebus]

In a separate delivery arrived a boxed K-37 Sand Cat, with air cooled flat-four engine and high lift exhaust!

Never did like the cat's head, red version is better I think

[Tenmil Socket]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I bought a huge job lot, as the seller wouldn't sell me individual cars. It was really only one that caught my eye, but there are a few unusual ones here - what do you see?

Golf please 😆

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Golf please 😆

No worries, it's not too bad that one

[junkyarddog]

Nice period advertising for Corgi juniors. 

[bunglebus]

Cougar is the pick of the bunch there ^

[155V6]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Cougar is the pick of the bunch there ^

I think that would be the only one there with a metal base?,although I have got one Fiat X1/9 with one.Volvo 245 is the 1st release in that colour & one of the nicest.

[bunglebus]

I think the black single seater and possibly the Carrera would be metal too

[Zelandeth]

Just spent far too long trying to find this thread as I remembered something I'd been meaning to pick your collective brains about for a while now.

Back when I was a youngish kid, one of the presents which appeared one Christmas as a largish (somewhere between 1:24 and 1:18 I'd say) scale Porsche 959.  I'm guessing this was around 1990, though could easily be +/- a couple of years.  Was a plastic model and looked fairly ordinary.  Tidily made but not exceptional detail or anything, though it did have clear head and tail lights rather than just decals, and was pretty accurate from what I remember.  It was a push and go model.

What set it apart from any I've seen before or since though was the propulsion.  It wasn't just one of those simply geared flywheel jobs which helps things go a little further.

When you pushed this it made a noise like an inertia starter spooling up, and as soon as you let go (or stopped accelerating more than the tiniest bit it essentially "clutch dumped" and took off at a right old rate, with more than enough force to break traction despite rubber tyres and the thing having a decent weight to it.

If you don't know the noise I'm talking about, see the video above.

I've never come across a mechanism like this in a toy since - I'm assuming it must be essentially a small inertia motor and centrifugal clutch or similar.

Unfortunately unbeknownst to me it got binned during a clear out at my folks place back around 2010 when my father managed to precisely fail to follow my instructions and threw out everything I told him to keep and kept everything I told him to bin...and he wondered why I didn't want help.

I'd like to try to find one again at some point, but haven't the foggiest idea even where to start looking as I've no idea of brand names or anything (I was like 5 at the time!).  

Anyone got any insights into who likely made it or anything?

Edited yesterday at 10:35 by Zelandeth
Typo corrected

[bunglebus]

No idea on the Porsche (959?) but the motor sounds like the one I well remember from my Fisher-Price dragster, you pushed it to spool up a motor inside then hit the button on top and it popped a wheelie before disappearing down the hallway like a scalded cat, only stopping when the front door interrupted its progress 

[Zelandeth]

2 hours ago, bunglebus said:

No idea on the Porsche (959?) but the motor sounds like the one I well remember from my Fisher-Price dragster, you pushed it to spool up a motor inside then hit the button on top and it popped a wheelie before disappearing down the hallway like a scalded cat, only stopping when the front door interrupted its progress 

Typo corrected.  That's that I get when typing things at that time of the morning.

Sounds a similar setup, though this one just took off automatically as soon as you let go.  Very similar sounding behaviour though.  The cat in our case soon learned to stay well out of the way when this thing was out!

[bunglebus]

On 20/01/2026 at 20:33, barrett said:

I'm looking at a few of these job lots currently on ebay with a single seller, all similarly non-specific listings with fairly vague photos. This one probably looks like the most 'interesting' (although others have more valuable stuff hidden in there). Just wondering if these sorts of cars would be of interest if offered up here? I qyite fancy buying a 'mystery box' like this but don't really have any long-term desire to keep this stuff. I know, I sound mental. Just looking at the condition of what you can see and a lot of these look stone mint – and the Sikus, Majorettes and Norev Minijets etc must be of interest to somebody, no?

 

On 21/01/2026 at 07:59, bunglebus said:

Those job lots seem to go for a surprising amount of money whenever I watch them.

I'd bet they go for £50+ 

£109 in the end

[danthecapriman]

8 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

 

£109 in the end

Someone saw something they really really wanted! That’s quite a price.

[bunglebus]

They always seem to go for surprising amounts, might start piling mine in a box when I do listings, rather than displaying them in neat rows

[danthecapriman]

30 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

They always seem to go for surprising amounts, might start piling mine in a box when I do listings, rather than displaying them in neat rows

The ones in piles always come across as a bit of a ‘mystery box’ kind of appeal to them. Almost like a bit of a gamble. Maybe that’s part of the attraction!?  
Sometimes I think they strategically position a few ticket items they know have a bit of value just visible enough to tempt people in.
I’ve used that seller before so they don’t always go that high. Although a few I’ve watched do get the bidding frenzy at the end.