Shite in Miniature II

[andrew e]

A few of last week’s toyfair finds after their spa session. If was a dealer I’d rustle up a bowl of warm soapy water, scrub the giffer fluf and filth from them then hit up the Autoglm. Then I would price them at shiny £5 not a grubby £1! Still suits me 😁

Partwork BMW 3 series is really good model, very accurate and detailed, except (because partwork) the roof bar is wonky! The Vitesse Espace is a good model, especially the acurate alloys, bar the lack of tailgate glazing. Both 1/43.

The mystery Shogun is a cracker too with no less than 4 tampo print seatbelt harnesses! Great chassis details underneath. Again 1/43.

Now digging deeper into my pockets for the £2 coins are these three 1/64 race cars. 

Tomica Le Mans Charge Mazda 787 was a pleasing find at a bargain price! The lack of headlamp print is a bit disappointing.

Johnny Lightning Dodge Viper SRT has great tampo printing, and really has some heft to it, it weighs a ton.

Racing Champions Ford Taurus Nascar is a little blinder, even for those that don't care for Nascar.

Lastly I parted with a crisp tenner for these two (of course grubby… ) Corgi’s and didn't they come up well! The T-bird is a really pleasing colour combination (metallic sable?) and the Rover P6 is a cracker too. 

The map? Its a 60’s BP pterol map of Austria 😉

[cms206]

2 hours ago, andrew e said:

Expand on that ringer @cms206 I'm intrigued!

We bought three Olympians for schools, with the plan to break one for spares. We ended up with what had been Kowloon Motor Bus's 3BL59, 3BL152 and 3BL159.

3BL59 (chassis ON1495)- or MIL 5574 as it had become was one I was very keen to get my hands on as it was still Gardner powered. The Jolly Green Giants landing caused a bit of a stir in enthusiast circles as MASS were extraordinarily hostile to enthusiasts. The trio also caused me a few operational nightmares (my own doing admittedly!).

Within a few weeks of them going on the road I came in off a school to find a wee Chinese couple who very excitedly flagged me down as I drove up the lane into the garage, asking where MIL 5574 in particular was.

They were amiable enough despite the language barrier but kept asking to measure the bus. I humoured them and told them to crack on.

They did. And found it was 22cm longer than 3BL59 should have been... meaning what I actually had - despite the chassis, body and even engine number matching the Hong Kong equivalent of the V5 - was 3BL146, chassis ON2250.

Not many of the dozens of deckers that MASS operated found other homes so I thought we were in the clear.

But the one that carried the chassis plate of ON2250/3BL146 - registered TIL 6573 - also escaped MASS. ans showed up at Walters Coaches... I'm not sure if they ever actually found out that theirs was a ringer as well though! They appeared to have been the only pair which switched IDs and it looks like they did it before coming to the UK so not MASS's fault by any means.

MIL 5574 I believe still exists, though where I don't know.

[garycox]

12 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I finally got a Majorette British Bus. 

@Split_Pin I have a several (4, I think) of these in this livery (mint on a slightly tatty card) if you’d like one for the price of p&p (£4?) - PM if so. As I have a few I can afford to donate one. 

 

That one I currently have listed on eBay at a slightly optimistic £15 start but there are no others of that version for sale to compare it to; when it doesn’t sell I’ll keep reducing it until it finds its value. The other couple I have are on better cards I think. 

While we’re on Majorettes, the values of the 3000-Series trucks seem to have gone a bit mental recently; I’ve sold a Saviem/Renault car transporter in pretty poor condition from my childhood collection for about £30, and this last week

Wish I had more of those… 

[Lord Sterling]

Couple of additions:

Mustard mitt, this lot did set me back more than I expected. When I was buying them, I spotted this:

I liked the Capri but didn't want to buy the whole pack for it.

Also, this arrived today:

Nice BMW 7er.  Will go nice with other Matchbox BMW models I've got.

I also managed to find this plastic stand in one of the Hotwheels assorted boxes out on display, seems someone had ripped open a Hotwheels box and robbed a vehicle. 

[Snake Charmer]

5 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

l liked the Capri but didn't want to buy the whole pack for it.

Set in a correct diorama, the other EMT vehicles could be rescuing that Capri from a hedge and ditch it went backwards through and into whilst on a shout. 🙂

[Spottedlaurel]

8 hours ago, garycox said:

While we’re on Majorettes, the values of the 3000-Series trucks seem to have gone a bit mental recently; I’ve sold a Saviem/Renault car transporter in pretty poor condition from my childhood collection for about £30, and this last week

Wish I had more of those… 

Ooh, maybe I need to rethink about the  still boxed (albeit with a little damage) example of that Saviem I saw for £50 last weekend....

[quicksilver]

11 hours ago, cms206 said:

We bought three Olympians for schools, with the plan to break one for spares. We ended up with what had been Kowloon Motor Bus's 3BL59, 3BL152 and 3BL159.

3BL59 (chassis ON1495)- or MIL 5574 as it had become was one I was very keen to get my hands on as it was still Gardner powered. The Jolly Green Giants landing caused a bit of a stir in enthusiast circles as MASS were extraordinarily hostile to enthusiasts. The trio also caused me a few operational nightmares (my own doing admittedly!).

Within a few weeks of them going on the road I came in off a school to find a wee Chinese couple who very excitedly flagged me down as I drove up the lane into the garage, asking where MIL 5574 in particular was.

They were amiable enough despite the language barrier but kept asking to measure the bus. I humoured them and told them to crack on.

They did. And found it was 22cm longer than 3BL59 should have been... meaning what I actually had - despite the chassis, body and even engine number matching the Hong Kong equivalent of the V5 - was 3BL146, chassis ON2250.

Not many of the dozens of deckers that MASS operated found other homes so I thought we were in the clear.

But the one that carried the chassis plate of ON2250/3BL146 - registered TIL 6573 - also escaped MASS. ans showed up at Walters Coaches... I'm not sure if they ever actually found out that theirs was a ringer as well though! They appeared to have been the only pair which switched IDs and it looks like they did it before coming to the UK so not MASS's fault by any means.

MIL 5574 I believe still exists, though where I don't know.

I was going to mention Walters as one of the few other operators to have ex MASS Olympians. I've actually travelled on TIL 6573 and the other two they had (and must be one of the few adults ever to have done so) on an enthusiasts' trip in 2018. I'm not sure how many students New College Doncaster recruited from that ad on a bus running around Oxfordshire.

Sorry, this is starting to turn into another bus shite thread. Bringing it back to miniature shite, I'm sure at least one of the myriad model bus companies in Hong Kong has modelled this type.

[Split_Pin]

Many as it happens:

https://www.orientalmodelbuses.co.uk/Leyland/Olympian/index.htm

[andrew e]

From a 1981 newspaper 🇬🇧 !

[Tenmil Socket]

1 hour ago, andrew e said:

From a 1981 newspaper 🇬🇧 !

Year I was born.

[Split_Pin]

London Bus was actually based on the first batch of Daimler DMs EGP-J which by 1981 were 11 years old and well and truly out of favour with the Capital. At least it was based on a true London Bus this time though 😅

[bunglebus]

Today's crap packaging

And the result

I'll look at this properly tomorrow, quite disheartening that it wasn't in a box

[danthecapriman]

Just now, bunglebus said:

Today's crap packaging

And the result

I'll look at this properly tomorrow, quite disheartening that it wasn't in a box

It’s staggering really some people’s brain works in a way that would think that pile of crap packaging is good enough for something like a fragile model in a fragile case. Why wouldn’t you just put it in a cardboard box with some bubble wrap or polystyrene or even screwed up paper!? Muppets.

I had one the other day that was in those plastic cases and just wrapped in a plastic bag. Somehow it survived Evri with only one crack.

[sheffcortinacentre]

In breeding.

[Tenmil Socket]

11 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

It’s staggering really some people’s brain works in a way that would think that pile of crap packaging is good enough for something like a fragile model in a fragile case. Why wouldn’t you just put it in a cardboard box with some bubble wrap or polystyrene or even screwed up paper!? Muppets.

I had one the other day that was in those plastic cases and just wrapped in a plastic bag. Somehow it survived Evri with only one crack.

Some people are simply stupid. I will have probably mentioned this before but years ago I received 2 glass Escort MK4 headlights in a box with absolutely no protective packaging. I could hear the smashed glass as the Post Room attendant at work was approaching me.

[danthecapriman]

19 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Some people are simply stupid. I will have probably mentioned this before but years ago I received 2 glass Escort MK4 headlights in a box with absolutely no protective packaging. I could hear the smashed glass as the Post Room attendant at work was approaching me.

I had exactly that too. Ordered a new old stock headlight for my Capri which had been put in a parcel with a few other things, but for reasons known only to them, they packed the headlight with the glass front facing out and with no additional wrapping over it. So naturally the first impact smashed the glass. 
Pissed me off, as that headlight had survived unused for 50 odd years and got destroyed by careless packing.

[junkyarddog]

Two more recent finds. 

Corgi Ford Thunderbird in nice original condition. 

Corgi MGC in nice(ish) shape.

Nice model that I don't think I'vefound before. 

 

[Split_Pin]

I have that in yellow with the earlier wire wheels. The one I bought was at a swapmeet and it was the first one I'd seen. Nice unusual variant of the MG, dont think Ive ever seen a real one.

[bunglebus]

F case located in town today, but previously rifled through. Still some goodies within

Why do I feel the need to chop this in half and attach the front to something a little more period?

Vairstrike is a new casting, definitely ripe for a bit of custom work

[bunglebus]

I've been away for a few days and had a few* parcels to collect on my return. Getting the broken case dragster out of the way first, I've been eyeing this up on Vinted for a little while, I wasn't aware before that Corgi dragged this one out of retirement for a new life in China

Here it is with grandad

[bunglebus]

This was quite a bargain, and unusual too I think. Minic Motorway Rolls, with a spare chassis

Another boxed oddity, it's been a while since I've found one of the Midnight range of rebranded Hong Kong tat

Anyone recognise the symbol? It appears on lots of stuff from this era

More boxed goodness with this Whizzwheels buggy

I blame @Spottedlaurel for this one, I thought I was done buying B1600s until he pointed out that some have the silver all the way down to the bottom, and some have blue sills. Definitely the last one now...

The other one:

 

[bunglebus]

Sans box buys include this bizarre Buddy L

Absolutely no idea what this is (well I know what it's supposed to be, just not who made it)

Looks a lot like the  Rainbow Toys MK3 Escort though?

Wandering around the charity shops in Shirley netted me not a lot, so perhaps desperation lead me to buy these Flexi Toy VWs

Taking of VWs, I managed to snap this up right under the nose of several serial air cooled collectors on a Facebook auction 

Staying with the 'dubs and Facebook, posting the Lego ones I found on a group saw someone offer me this Karmann Ghia. Did I ever mention I gave my first born the middle name Karmann after these?

Not quite sure what the link is between Maisto and Tonka, but this is the second I've found bearing both names

Buggies now, found a Darda

A Dinky complete with the hard to find roof

And this Majorette with unusual wheels

Which leads me nicely onto this

Which comes with a trailer

Bought from eBay, but as it turns out from @Tenmil Socket was this oddly proportioned Darda BMW

He also sent me this frankly terrible Sze Toys van in the definitely legit "Ace Team" livery 

Feel the quality 

One very strange quirk is the wheels definitely being offset to the right. Hard to photograph but quite obvious in person 

The last of the oddballs are this Matchbox knockoff from the charity shop

Plus a Guiloy Fiesta

[bunglebus]

More conventional items now, starting with Corgi. Most of these were more FB auction wins

Tidy Volvo

Very pink Manta

Not as bright as this though, orange Ferrari almost hurts to look at 

Sticking with orange, Regal variant #284

And an Ant. Definitely one for the revamp pile

Cougar only let down by a split in the spoiler

Close relation Husky now, and finally a Studebaker with the cameraman intact

This is really good though, best condition Batmobile I've ever found, complete with both Bat Geezers™, tow hook and the oscillating flame

[bunglebus]

A tip-off from @matt79 lead me to this Matchbox Road Blasters T.R.A.P.P.E.R, it's had a hard time fighting intergalactic battles from a muddy field by the look of it

Another uncommon Matchbox is this Mega Blaster using the Mazda RX-7 casting 

I always grab Superfast Mustangs when I get the opportunity, orange this time

GT40...

...with primrose base

Superfast Roller...

...and the original, of which I now have a handful all acquired so I can pinch the windscreen for my custom Corniche - but I can't bring myself to take them apart! I need one that's absolutely hanging with no boot lid so I don't feel guilty

Last one - Hot Wheels Scorcher won on FB too

[RoadworkUK]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Absolutely no idea what this is (well I know what it's supposed to be, just not who made it)

 

That belonged to the Knight 2000 Super Stunt Set by Knickerbocker Toys of the USA

Here's me, having just unwrapped it, Christmas 1986, I think.

Note matching Knight Rider jumper. Always was a stylish kid.

[Tenmil Socket]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Sans box buys include this bizarre Buddy L

Absolutely no idea what this is (well I know what it's supposed to be, just not who made it)

Looks a lot like the  Rainbow Toys MK3 Escort though?

Wandering around the charity shops in Shirley netted me not a lot, so perhaps desperation lead me to buy these Flexi Toy VWs

Taking of VWs, I managed to snap this up right under the nose of several serial air cooled collectors on a Facebook auction 

Staying with the 'dubs and Facebook, posting the Lego ones I found on a group saw someone offer me this Karmann Ghia. Did I even mention I gave my first born the middle name Karmann after these?

Not quite sure what the link is between Maisto and Tonka, but this is the second I've found bearing both names

Buggies now, found a Darda

A Dinky complete with the hard to find roof

And this Majorette with unusual wheels

Which leads me nicely onto this

Which comes with a trailer

Bought from eBay, but as it turns out from @Tenmil Socket was this oddly proportioned Darda BMW

He also sent me this frankly terrible Sze Toys van in the definitely legit "Ace Team" livery 

Feel the quality 

One very strange quirk is the wheels definitely being offset to the right. Hard to photograph but quite obvious in person 

The last of the oddballs are this Matchbox knockoff from the charity shop

Plus a Guiloy Fiesta

Fiesta please 

[Split_Pin]

I had that Knight Rider set, Christmas 1984.  The car was supposed to travel up tracks inside the shed and burst through the doors. It was really, really shit 😂

[RoadworkUK]

2 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I had that Knight Rider set, Christmas 1984.  The car was supposed to travel up tracks inside the shed and burst through the doors. It was really, really shit 😂

Yeah..... it was, and I think I've been repressing that fact for 40 years

[Split_Pin]

I still find bits of it in boxes my mums cupboards 😂

[cms206]

Asda, yesterday; £6.47.

 

I can honestly say I wasn't impressed enough to buy it (or any of the others in stock) but it's a nice idea. I think.