Shite in Miniature II

[Jon]

Well, if you need some more picking up, I'd be happy to pay a visit to the store again. I'd never been before but it's a great little place, which deals mostly in second hand die cast stuff, from what I saw. Here's some photos from the visit:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, not die-casts but I took these photos in case there was anything of interest to JM.

 

 

 

Trifecta of plastic Norevs, with the Peugeot van apparently quite rare. The guy running the shop was happy to do a deal, especially when buying multiple items, which I thought quite fair. The boxed Matchboxes for instance are priced at around a fiver, which I think is very good for a shop that's based in Auckland. 

 

 

To mark the event, I picked up a mint (but slightly tatty box) Solido Renault 18 for a fiver (well, $10, so near enough)

 

 

(stock photo but it's the same, except mine is in better nick!)

[Junkman]

I'm having a fucking heart attack!

[Junkman]

Now that you mention it JM, I recall you posting that up a while ago. I love obscurities like this!

 

So do I. But you will have to agree that the Austrian Wild currently tops them all.

It'll be a while until this is topped.

[Felly Magic]

DROOL, JM has fainted. How's this for grimness?

 

 

 

[Junkman]

There is still a lot of old Corgis and Dinkys up for grabs at the Junktowers.

None of them are mint, much to the contrary. But they all are bona fide restoration bases, otherwise a lazy bum like me wouldn't have kept them.

They are available for local pickup, because I simply can't be arsed to pack and post them.

And yes, they are free. They cost nothing. Rien. Nada. Zilch. Nix. Fuck all.

 

Any interest?

 

Form an orderly queue.

[rainagain]

I've given my old Matchbox, etc die casts to my son to play with, one thing I've noticed was a lot of the cars I had in the 80's were the sort of stuff you could see on the the road and were RHD, all the new ones he's bought from tescos, toy shops, etc are LHD. I've not really seen Corgi for sale anymore, and ignoring collectors models does anyone still make Matchbox type cars in RHD? 

[junkyarddog]

Some recent finds.

 

Corgi Ford truck.

Missing it's container.

Michelin branded it think.

 

 

Matchbox Porsche 911.

Bit playworn but not too bad.

The doors have latches on them.

Cool feature.

 

 

Large scale majorette Toyota landcruiser.

Playworn,never seen one in this scale before.

 

 

Matchbox Dodge Monaco police car.

 

 

Majorette Mercedes 300te.

 

 

Matchbox k6 motorcycle transporter.

Tatty box but the model is good.

 

 

 

 

 

[Split_Pin]

I think that is the first issue of the 911. I have the second, in apple green which also has the door latches. Subseuqent releases, such as the more common black examples, had this feature deleted.

[Junkman]

Found some stuff of much Britishness when last rummaging in the dungeon.

 

I love those utterly complex toys from Dinky's Golden Era.

It's no wonder they went bust.

 

 

 

There are two Phantoms:

 

 

 

Conrad did a parts count because he has no life and each of them consists of a whopping 36 pieces excluding the ones you can't see without disassembling them.

Some of them are chrome plated, the figures are hand painted and there are elaborate stickers for the instrument panel and numberplates.

Yet they chucked those out for twelve Quid adjusted for inflation. Even the Chinese couldn't do it for this kind of money.

 

 

A Silver Cloud Continental:

 

 

 

Merely the bootlid isn't opening, but it has plastic door cards.

 

 

Everything opens on this Silver Shadow, it has door cards, had also door windows, which are missing and a lined boot.

 

 

 

 

The DB6 has the same spec:

 

 

 

 

Same goes for the E-Type:

 

 

 

 

 

Only the tailgate opens on the Caddy body snatcher, but it has a complex mechanism that makes the beacon flash.

It also comes with a two part stretcher with a hand painted patient.

 

 

 

 

Police transit has opening doors left right and centre, an extendable camera and was loaded with traffic cones and temporary road signs.

The driver is hand painted.

 

 

 

 

 

This is sheer madness.

 

 

 

 

It does really sweep:

 

 

 

 

It weighs almost 13 ounces:

 

[sierraman]

The tripe they turned out at the end was fairly dire though. Remember those generic lorries they did?

[Split_Pin]

I love that Shadow, a new one on me. That era of Dinky is sublime. Can you imagine how cool it would have been if they had extended this era to their Leyland Princess model instead of what it eventually was?

 

Corgi were not too dissimilar if a little less OTT, I have a Mini Marcos in which everything opens, plated parts and Golden Jack wheels.

[artdjones]

^Tis true,but if they had cost any more no-one whose father had a normal job could afford them.When I was six the maximum price my parents would pay was around 6/6.

The Phantom was around 14 shillings in 1965.My friend had one,also the Mercedes 600,but his dad owned a couple of optician's shops.I remember I wanted a Corgi Chrysler Ghia Coupe which had opening everything but 8/6 was more than Dad was prepared to go.I had to settle for the Commer mobile snack bar at 6/3.

[Junkman]

14 1965 Shillings translate to £13.50 today. A bargain.

8/6 would be £8.20 and 6/3 £6.03. You can't get proper 1/43 scale models for those prices today.

 

My price list is from 1968, so adjusted for inflation the models actually got slightly cheaper towards the end of the decade.

Again, no wonder they were on the rocks.

 

The price for the Phantom in 1969 Austria translates to 29 of today's Euros,

so now you know why I had my parents buy me my Dinkys while holidaying in England.

[Vantman]

That's not 'oddly loaded',that's how we loaded them when I worked for Corona a long long time ago when they used Bedford KMs.

 

[artdjones]

Mid sixties on were the best time for Dinky.They had got rid of the narrow tracked look.But their production runs were very big so the development costs were not so big when spread out over a long time.

[Split_Pin]

One question. Why did French and Spanish Dinkys continue well into the mid 1970s with fairly detailed 1/43 models albeit with plastic bases? Or were they not really Dinkys at all but Pilens or something?

[mercrocker]

That's not 'oddly loaded',that's how we loaded them when I worked for Corona a long long time ago when they used Bedford KMs.

 

41520476134_e86eb34ff0_b.jpg

  

It's a variation.....This is an early version with open base and uneven stacks...Later ones were "evenly loaded"  

 

[Bren]

A dinky eagle transporter / freighter from Space 1999 cost around £3.99 in the 70's - it was a lot of toy for the money.

 

They must have been losing money hand over fist - not helped by the surge of electronic toys and Star Wars.

[Junkman]

That's exactly what I'm trying to convey. If you look at the toys and consider what they sold them for, they were simply digging their own grave.

But as a result we have all this wonderful stuff to restore now.

 

 

One question. Why did French and Spanish Dinkys continue well into the mid 1970s with fairly detailed 1/43 models albeit with plastic bases? Or were they not really Dinkys at all but Pilens or something?

 

It continued in France until they stood up for higher wages in the Seventies.

Spain was a cheap labour country until democracy returned during the Eighties.

[plasticvandan]

been after one of those transits for ages,just love the chunkiness of it!

[Felly Magic]

I had the later Dinky sweeper with sealed doors and facelift cab with the square headlights, it was all one colour too, a horrible light green

[Felly Magic]

I used to have one of those police Transits, was so weighty, the rear suspension had collapsed, which I think was common on them, mich nicer looking than the later larger scale Transit vans I think, and that Dinky Shad, that's very nice. When you think about stuff like the mk1 Escort Dinky did at the time, opening bonnet, doors and boot, Corgi, you were lucky to have 1 opening feature. I aggree about late Dinkys, especially the SD1, that was dreadful

[Junkman]

Those Dinkys are hefty enough that you can defend yourself in the pub with them. To put this into perspective, contemporary Norevs would hardly be considered a threat.

Dinky created a situation for themselves, that even simplifying (the fancy word for half arsing) things to the degree they did in the late Seventies didn't help them out of the hole

they had dug for themselves. But their problem isn't mine. My problem is I can't get enough of their daft antics.

 

Oddly the toys from this fantastic phase of gay abandon don't register that high on the radars of the mainstream collectors.

Condition for condition, they don't command the money necessary to acquire Dinky's 'classic' stuff, but bear in mind that restoring them is complex and yes, expensive.

Even postage costs more, now that I think of it.

[Felly Magic]

I payed bugger all years back for a sealed Dinky 'Atlantean' kit, it's a Fleetline, but that is by the by, painted it up in a fictional deregulation liveru, and put wheels on from an EFE that were far better than the shite 'whizzwheel' type they came with. Wish I'd room for one of those D series tippers, I'd paint it mid blue to look like the old lorry that delivered our coal when I was a nipper, and yes my parents and my brother both have open coal fires, and feck me, do they belt out some serious heat

[Junkman]

and yes my parents and my brother both have open coal fires, and feck me, do they belt out some serious pollution

 

EFA

[sierraman]

The Rover SD1 and the TR7 they did were pretty foul compared to the offerings by Corgi at the time.

[Split_Pin]

And those Dinky branded Solidos. Awful.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

 

This isn't from childhood, but I don't remember buying it. One of the earlier versions of these Corgi 1/36 Minis. I like the later ones with lovely little Minilites, separate grilles and lovely jewel headlights. Although this one has the BL wing badge cast into it, which is nice. 

 

Less chat, more spray. I painted it white, then red, then dusted orange over the front, then covered the whole thing with that transparent yellow paint I'm always complaining about. Then a thick coat of lacquer. I'm amazed it's still recognisable. 

 

Really like how it came out though. 

 

[Felly Magic]

On the subject of diecasts for weapons, I don't think you can beat that Corgi airport fire tender that squirts water, that is one hell of a diecast to twat someone with, I used mine when my older brother used to bully me, if he saw me with it, he would stay well away, as grazed shins were a guarantee

[Split_Pin]

Awesome job on the Mini, original colour too. I only recall these early omes in orange, black and a silver racing scheme.