Shite in Miniature II

[barrett]

It's been a while since I've bought anything car-shaped but I couldn't resist this, which came up on ebay recently for a not-unreasonable (but still expensive) sum

Pilen number 513, Peugeot 504, is one of the more difficult Pilens to find and usually goes for lots and lots of money. Of course this is another one influenced by 'that page' in 'that book'

I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is one of only two or three Spanish Dinkys which had their roots in French Dinkys – this is a modified version of the French Dinky 504 which had four(!) opening doors, and the DS dates back to the early 60s, I think, with the old-style single-headlamp nose.

Anyway, this is a brilliant little thing. Such a crisp and accurate casting and a lovely appropriate colour, too

Nice use of the real Peugeot logos on the base along with a fair bit of mechanical detail

The doors are perma-shut of course, but the bonnet and boot still open. I do like an opening boot on a toy car for some reason.

Overall, naturally it isn't quite the incredibly high standard of the Pilen-designed models and the paint isn't quite as nice as later castings either, but this is something I've wanted for a very long time and I'm thrilled to bits with it.

[quicksilver]

On 04/02/2026 at 18:57, bunglebus said:

A couple of Smyths finds, the pickup is a good casting, slightly spoilt by the towing arm being cast into the bed. I don't think much will fit on the back larger than one of the tiny Hondas either

CRX is rather tasty

This was an Amazon purchase I really hope works as intended - a tiny reciprocating sander, which I think will be ideal for getting rid of those infuriating casting lines, my mini sanding discs are great but sometimes you need to get into a corner etc that they can't touch. 

Has multiple different heads and self adhesive sandpaper cut to size in various grades. 

Just need a victim to try it on now

I have one of those. It's useful but pointlessly gimmicky as those programmable multi-colour LEDs serve no purpose whatsoever and you can't even see them while you're using it. I'd have preferred it if they were omitted and separate power and speed control switches fitted instead.

There's a BL/MG Rover theme to my latest small batch of finished 3D prints.

The Plahcrab proved not to be such a mystery. What a peculiar but wonderful thing to make a model of.

I'm sure we're all familiar with the tale of A500 KWK.

I didn't have any yellow spray so I bought an Auto Extreme can that turned out to be extremely bright like MGR Trophy Yellow.

And thanks to a recommendation by @bunglebus I had a look at Auto Extreme's colour shift paints and found this purpleen that looks a lot like MGR Monogram Shot Silk. I think this is my favourite of the colour shifts I've tried, brighter and glossier than Tamiya, finer flakes than Rustoleum and a very obvious colour change effect.

[Tenmil Socket]

I will be beginning to thin down my collection soon and the first thing to hand this morning was this Corgitronics Land Rover. I’ve realised I’ll never get round to doing it. I was hoping to fit a bulb and find a beacon after a respray to see how it turned out. Anyone want to take it on FOC?

I was thinking first dibs to @eddyramrod

 

[eddyramrod]

Yes please!  Very kind, thank you.  If you're "thinning out" it might be worth starting a box for me...

[Split_Pin]

Good find on the Pilen Peugeot. The French one is on another page but the upper door frames are clear plastic rather than metal. It reminded me more of a Norev. I think the Spanish Dinky/Pilen is nicer. The only crossover Pilen I have is the Renault 14 but that's firmly a Spanish era model and not old enough to have been made in the French factory.

[FakeConcern]

33 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

@bramz7 Good find on the Pilen Peugeot. The French one is on another page but the upper door frames are clear plastic rather than metal. It reminded me more of a Norev. I think the Spanish Dinky/Pilen is nicer. The only crossover Pilen I have is the Renault 14 but that's firmly a Spanish era model and not old enough to have been made in the French factory.

@barrett?

I have some French Dinky and some Pilens, but not sure which use the same casting and I keep meaning to do some research.

[Split_Pin]

23 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

@barrett?

 

Yes my bad, I've had a day.

[danthecapriman]

This took a marathon sandathon over the last few days!

Id been thinking of ways to do the roof on the Transit parcel van, but someone on another forum suggested layering plastic card to build up the height the sanding to shape, so I decided to do that. 
Basically it’s a 3 layer sandwich of the thickest plastic card sheet I’ve got all bonded together with poly cement then left to harden. Then it’s cut and filed to the basic shape then sanded down to the final shape. A skim of filler helps hide the joins and gaps then more sanding.

I think it’s just about there but I might do a bit more around the front of the roof to try and improve the shape a bit. 
Rear doors need a bit more work too as I broke them while sanding the roof. 
It’s had a quick bath and drying now as it was absolutely covered in plastic and filler dust!

[FakeConcern]

52 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

This took a marathon sandathon over the last few days!

Id been thinking of ways to do the roof on the Transit parcel van, but someone on another forum suggested layering plastic card to build up the height the sanding to shape, so I decided to do that. 
Basically it’s a 3 layer sandwich of the thickest plastic card sheet I’ve got all bonded together with poly cement then left to harden. Then it’s cut and filed to the basic shape then sanded down to the final shape. A skim of filler helps hide the joins and gaps then more sanding.

I think it’s just about there but I might do a bit more around the front of the roof to try and improve the shape a bit. 
Rear doors need a bit more work too as I broke them while sanding the roof. 
It’s had a quick bath and drying now as it was absolutely covered in plastic and filler dust!

That's looking great Dan!

When I turned a Corgi 2CV into a van I did the opposite and used very thin plasticard and bent it over a bulkhead, but I do remember considering your method too

I was going to post a pic, but for some reason it's showing as a black rectangle!

 

 

[bunglebus]

I was nosing about on eBay the other night, seeing if there might be a very cheap parts donor for my unloved ambulance project (bumper is broken), but instead I happened upon this one

You will note it has the exciting* addition of blue, rather than clear glazing, and a Superkings rather than Speed Kings base. I can hardly contain myself 

Only other arrival is the victim of someone who doesn't care about original packaging, clearly

Still, a set of Chad Valley VWs aren't in the same league as original Redlines. I just thought it would be nice to have a mint Baja and "Champer"

[danthecapriman]

51 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

That's looking great Dan!

When I turned a Corgi 2CV into a van I did the opposite and used very thin plasticard and bent it over a bulkhead, but I do remember considering your method too

I was going to post a pic, but for some reason it's showing as a black rectangle!

 

 

I did try that! Made a couple of formers then tried thin plastic card curved over and glued down. I did it on my BT Bedford TK I did ages back and it worked, but on the Transit the plastic kept trying to crease on the sharp shoulder of the roof. It possibly needed more formers. 
I tried thin aluminium sheet too but that just wouldn’t bend and fit properly. The cab windscreen surround panel is all aluminium though so it worked for that.

[FakeConcern]

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

I did try that! Made a couple of formers then tried thin plastic card curved over and glued down. I did it on my BT Bedford TK I did ages back and it worked, but on the Transit the plastic kept trying to crease on the sharp shoulder of the roof. It possibly needed more formers. 
I tried thin aluminium sheet too but that just wouldn’t bend and fit properly. The cab windscreen surround panel is all aluminium though so it worked for that.

I can understand that, looking at your Transit again the radius is much tighter.

Anyway I have found the pictures from when I posted them before on this thread so I can bore you with them again!

Edit: I've just noticed that as this was 40 or so years ago and pre computer, the number plates have been painted on by me with a brush. I wish my hand was as steady and eyes as good now!

 

[danthecapriman]

3 minutes ago, FakeConcern said:

I can understand that, looking at your Transit again the radius is much tighter.

Anyway I have found the pictures from when I posted them before on this thread so I can bore you with them again!

 

I don’t think I’ve seen that one! 
Looks a cracking job👍

Seeing it though has reminded me of one thing… soon I’m going to have to make glazing for the Transit!😬  

Could have been worse I suppose, I could have made it into a bus version.

[bunglebus]

Graffic Traffic Corvette has gone from this...

...to this

I'm not 100% happy with the paint but it probably wasn't great when it was brand new either, the Chinese ones never are. Still got lots more waiting their turm

 

[danthecapriman]

5 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Graffic Traffic Corvette has gone from this...

...to this

I'm not 100% happy with the paint but it probably wasn't great when it was brand new either, the Chinese ones never are. Still got lots more waiting their turm

 

Some of those Graffic Traffic pen paint jobs are really something aren’t they!😄

[bunglebus]

I've had this sitting on my workbench for ages with its parts donor. Colour trial/pre-pro Marauder, lots of differences to the production version so I had to chop the driver's bum off to get him in, cut down the donor spoiler and attached it to the stub of the original, and cut the roll bar out of the pink version to replace the one broken off this example. 

Hard to know what's best with a rarity like this but I haven't drilled etc, just tried to sympathetically improve it

Before:

One I found a pic of, probably from Vectis

 

[lesapandre]

Portobello Road find today. AEC Regal  - Corgi Chinese made. I think it's a Windover body? Actually quite nice and chunky if a bit grubby atm- on first glance I thought it much earlier.

[matt79]

@bunglebus are you still wanting a MB Kenworth donor? I have this one which is complete with the grille, exhaust stacks (tips are a little bent) and towing arms in good condition, yours for the cost of posting if you want...

[bunglebus]

Sudden Stop was the last of the Hot Wheels crushed cars that I hadn't finished customising, I started it ages ago then lost interest, probably because it's a more modern car so there's less detail to...detail.

Still, it looks fairly authentic now with some gen-u-ine rust applied after sanding back the original paint to reveal the high spots, cutting the windows open, mismatched tatty wheels etc

 

With the others

[bunglebus]

Laser Wheels E30 tidied up as promised 

 

[bunglebus]

Today's naked beauty is the Majorette K70

Primed, and I thought I'd found a colour similar to the original 

But it was much too dark

Luckily one of the cans I bought at the boot sale was close enough 

I think these must be quite old cans, fitted with the small nozzles. I couldn't find any alternatives to stop the paint coming out like a fire hose but I've got away with it I think

 

[Nibbler]

Some interesting stuff I’ve bought the last few weeks. 

This LT 35 in 1:35 scale from Gama is bloody fantastic. You need one in your life! 

Iveco Daily in 1:43 from Italian Old cars. 
Schabak 1:35.

[bunglebus]

3 hours ago, Nibbler said:

This LT 35 in 1:35 scale from Gama is bloody fantastic. You need one in your life

Very nice. I was given this Premium Clasixxs one a few years ago

Got the Gama as an ambulance 

 

[eddyramrod]

That Daily is fantastic!

[bunglebus]

There I was the other day, idly nosing about on that internet when I spotted something Matchbox and unusual in a job lot. It wasn't the crispy Glo Racer 

It can still glo tho

Wasn't the Super GT Fandango, although it does confirm that they made some of the same design in China (as here) and England 

Wasn't even the Road Blasters Corvette

It was this Lufthansa 928

That's a fun one, some came with different wheels going by Google images but I don't know much more than that yet.

Another seller had some temptingly tidy Matchbox for sale, so an offer was fired at them and accepted. The first two are quite modern but seldom seen, 1971 Chevelle floppy top...

...and Lincoln Premiere

Back in time a bit more for the others 

[bunglebus]

Another box was more of a mixed bag, if you see what I mean. Hot Wheels 959 is a real oddity that I'm about to research 

It came with a newer version too

Plus the usual P-911 color changer 

Alongside some Inside Storys

Maisto Lowrider

The slightly ill-proportioned Majorette 57 Chevy

With an ERTL Speed Strips Ferrari bringing up the rear

It dawned on me that all the images are back to front, presumably the viewer that came with it features a mirror that corrects this

[Split_Pin]

Anyone got any advice here?

That, in the Posties's grasp is a Corgi Chevrolet Caprice taxi, one I was quite excited to win. I was in the shower so I couldn't answer the door. 

He wasn't our usual Postie but called twice, once with my Range Rover radio and another with this one. He didn't leave a card, didn’t leave it in our usual safe space and has fucked off into the ether, never to be seen again.

Our usual Postie eventually delivered my radio but the Caprice has seemingly disappeared. I'm pretty annoyed the other Postie didn't follow what I would have thought was proper procedure.

It was delivered untracked and the ebay seller doesn't want to know and says they are out the country so basically shut me down.

I am planning to visit the local sorting office to see if they can find it but I suspect it will be like a needle in a haystack and they won't want to know either. 

Has anyone else experienced this with parcels, if so what did you do?

[danthecapriman]

10 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

That Daily is fantastic!

There was a damaged one on eBay not long back. Don’t think it sold though.

[danthecapriman]

34 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Anyone got any advice here?

That, in the Posties's grasp is a Corgi Chevrolet Caprice taxi, one I was quite excited to win. I was in the shower so I couldn't answer the door. 

He wasn't our usual Postie but called twice, once with my Range Rover radio and another with this one. He didn't leave a card, didn’t leave it in our usual safe space and has fucked off into the ether, never to be seen again.

Our usual Postie eventually delivered my radio but the Caprice has seemingly disappeared. I'm pretty annoyed the other Postie didn't follow what I would have thought was proper procedure.

It was delivered untracked and the ebay seller doesn't want to know and says they are out the country so basically shut me down.

I am planning to visit the local sorting office to see if they can find it but I suspect it will be like a needle in a haystack and they won't want to know either. 

Has anyone else experienced this with parcels, if so what did you do?

That’s piss poor!

Ive had it a few times. Fortunately nothing of real value. 
Definitely go to the sorting office and push them there. They should be able to at the very least find out who the postie was that day and  see what they did with it. 
Make sure you keep that photo too. If nothing comes up then try submitting a lost item claim. Don’t hold your breath though as I’ve still got two outstanding claims from early last year…. They don’t seem to give a shit.

You could go back to eBay and report it as not delivered, but that is very hit or miss as to who they side with. If the seller doesn’t care either and isn’t helping then that’s negative feedback as far as I’m concerned. 
I’m surprised it’s come non tracked tbh, I thought all eBay postage labels were tracked now to avoid all this missing item stuff.

 

[Split_Pin]

I have another picture with his face showing but didn't want to show it here. 

So I'll try the sorting office tomorrow and then ebay non returned item!