Shite in Miniature II

[sheffcortinacentre]

No that's this year it was launched in 79, 2020 sees the 50th anniversary of the MK3 Cortina/ TC1 Faunus.

[Tenmil Socket]

Rescued this from the local tip on Saturday. I'm going to try and get it running...

 

 

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

It's repaint time! 

 

 

 

The Galaxie isn't finished yet, I need to order it some new glass. Studebaker came out lovely though. 

[Felly Magic]

Fresh arrivals chez Felly. Bulgarian copy Gama Astra from evilbay, and Vauxhall Calibra from D Spares of this very parish. GR12 CELLAR.

 

 

[Felly Magic]

Boot now sits properly on the Calibra after a tweak of the parcel shelf, and only just spotted it says Calibra on the boot lip. Asta has colour coded bumpers unlike the German made Vauxhall versions. it is in Adam Opel packaging too,

 

[3VOM]

It's repaint time! 

 

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usa-after.jpg

 

The Galaxie isn't finished yet, I need to order it some new glass. Studebaker came out lovely though. 

Remember me finding a figure and bringing it to a Northern Powerhouse meeting? That's the car it goes with.

[AndyW201]

With the Vauxhall dealer model love-in going on in here lately, I remembered I had this in the loft...

 

 

A bit different to the ones on here previously. It's in a UK dealer box and as can be seen, it's a later V-grille mode with updated wheels (a bit like Omega MV6 items). This one is made by Schuco, but must be based on the old Gama casting as it seems to have the same Calibra script cast on the opening tailgate. It's a nice model, it may have to find a place in the 'orl Voxhalls ar shit m8' section of the 'favourites' cabinet.

[Junkman]

Remember me finding a figure and bringing it to a Northern Powerhouse meeting? That's the car it goes with.

 

 

True! It came with a hunter and a dog, right?

[vulgalour]

90% there with the roof, to egg standards anyway, milliput to fill the roof holes?

Milliput is fine if you knead it thoroughly enough. You may have better luck with Humbrol Model Filler, available pretty much everywhere. If you put a bit of clingfilm on the glass and then insert it into the roof, you can fill the holes in a way that won't mess anything up. Also, when you fill the holes, don't be tempted to sand right down until the edges of the diecast show, leave it just a little proud and it should feather out nicely and be an invisible fill once painted.

[MarvinsMom]

further adventures in diecast.........

 

we went to the mini show at the weekend, and after looking at all the ace (real) mini's on show and been round the autojumble i got myself these vintage mini's,

 

the red one is a Dinky Morris mini automatic, complete with factory missmatched paint on the passenger door, its a civilian version of the white mini cooper police car. i've got one of those too. 

 

and also this, Corgi called it a Mini Cooper Delux with wickerwork sides, it really a pretty good model of Peter Sellers Mini Cooper that Harold Radford built for him.

the car, and the man himself

 

the model

 

and william towns minissima concept, again the real thing-

 

and the corgi model

 

and then the DAF City Car, again here is the real thing, in the DAF museum

 

and the Corgi model, i love the amount of opening things this car has

 

and then as a final offering, i present the next painting project, its the Corgi model of the short lived Triumph Herald coupe, this is horrid in many ways, but unusually it has both of the front bumper corners which oftern get broken and lost. i'm undecided as to what colour to paint this, whether to repeat the original white over blue or use another colour scheme.

[mercrocker]

Some of my favourite Corgi and Dinky models, there.....Originally, that Herald was supposed to have an "automatic" bonnet release function - something Triumph never managed! - the front suspension pushed a plastic rod up through the air filter to pop it open.   Two-toning that is going to be a bugger - how about Primrose?

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I painted one of those Herald coupes. It was a nightmare of masking, but you can't leave them one colour. 

 

 

 

The best Herald two tone is Cactus and Conifer. 

[MarvinsMom]

the issue with doing the Herald in a primrose would be finding a suitable tin of paint,

 

there isn't really anything remotely close to that in the Humbrol colour chart!

[Lord Sterling]

With the Vauxhall dealer model love-in going on in here lately, I remembered I had this in the loft...

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A bit different to the ones on here previously. It's in a UK dealer box and as can be seen, it's a later V-grille mode with updated wheels (a bit like Omega MV6 items). This one is made by Schuco, but must be based on the old Gama casting as it seems to have the same Calibra script cast on the opening tailgate. It's a nice model, it may have to find a place in the 'orl Voxhalls ar shit m8' section of the 'favourites' cabinet.

Wow. It that 1:43 scale or bigger? I've got a Calibra now. Just need to photo it for here.

[Felly Magic]

Corgi knocked the ball out of the park with that DAF, and now lok at them.... Heads up who remembers a load of cheapo Corgis from the late 1970s and early 80s that were a generic van and pickup, no windows, crude metal top half with plastic lower half. As a kid I had a yellow and red van and blue and red pickup

[Datsuncog]

^^ Oh aye, Corgi Cubs, I think they were called?

 

I had a police car one of them, and also some sort of fire chief estate car that looked a tiny smidge like a Viva HC estate, if you squinted really hard at it...

[RayMK]

Corgi knocked the ball out of the park with that DAF, and now lok at them.... Heads up who remembers a load of cheapo Corgis from the late 1970s and early 80s that were a generic van and pickup, no windows, crude metal top half with plastic lower half. As a kid I had a yellow and red van and blue and red pickup

 

I only vaguely remember those but my kids did not get in to die cast age until about 1985 onwards so I had few excuses to browse in toy shops until Micromachines and Transformers hit the shelves.  My own recollection of Corgis is limited to the friction powered saloons which were not very durable, then the later rock hard suspension models.  My younger brother bought the Bentley which had suspension and realistic steering - that impressed me. Dinkys with steering were crude by comparison but at least their suspension was a bit softer.  Most of my childhood experience pre-dates the suspension era.  We were lucky if toys had seats or windows - these were only represented in open topped sports cars.

[Junkman]

You must be very old.

[RayMK]

You must be very old.

 

   Mental age of about 40, next birthday 70, look like at least 85 if I try to walk.

[mercrocker]

Aye, you do sadly appear to have missed the Golden (Jack) Age of Corgi which smiled so sweetly on the youth of us of merely 60 summers! 

 

That DAF City-Car is indeed a brilliant example but sadly it's introduction was delayed and it had to appear with those ghastly low-friction Rossies......

[AndyW201]

Wow. It that 1:43 scale or bigger? I've got a Calibra now. Just need to photo it for here.

Hey LS, it's a 1/43 mate. If only it had proper trim on the inside of the doors and rear panels, it'd compare nicely to many diecasts made today IMO.

[Felly Magic]

I aren't old, but bloody feel it. Corgi Cubs are the name of those generic vans etc. Weaspons grade toy shite?

 

[Felly Magic]

Hey LS, it's a 1/43 mate. If only it had proper trim on the inside of the doors and rear panels, it'd compare nicely to many diecasts made today IMO.

 

 

Black marker soon sorts that And an easy job as they are nicely screwed together

[Junkman]

Those Corgi Cubs are dire indeed.

Off to eBay...

[Felly Magic]

Oh shit what have I done? Sorry Junkman

[Jon]

YO! Conelrad.

 

 

This.....

 

 

.....is eerily close to the outcome of this....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3pYwSAjO7I

 

Great minds think alike!

[Jon]

  Most of my childhood experience pre-dates the suspension era.  We were lucky if toys had seats or windows - these were only represented in open topped sports cars.

 

Hey Ray, I've recently picked up something that should be right up your childhood alley, so to speak.

 

 

 

Saw this on Trademe and it attracted no other bids, so I got it to add another country to the variety of my 1/43s. It's a Danish made Dodge ambulance by Vilmer, who'd I'd previously not heard of. The spare wheel on the roof is a cunningly disguised steering wheel for the very rudimentary steering, an idea later adopted by Corgi for the Austin A60 learner car, and much later the Corgi Triumph Acclaim motor school car - but that wasn't quite so subtle.

 

 

 

The load area is removable, presumably so you could buy separate ones to swap over? A bit like Corgi did with some of their Commer 3/4 tonne models. The canvas load cover is still just attached to the frame and I like its patination. Look at the stitching detail, too!

 

 

 

 

Here's the steering mechanism, which is very hit and miss in its workings, no doubt not helped by the chassis, which has been bent. What is nice though is that none of the tyres are perished, which is a bonus.

 

 

What's also a bonus of sorts is that there's some form of back story in this, as the guy selling it was the brother of the owner (since passed away), who'd owned it since new and had bought it in the Netherlands in the early 60's. So, an effective single owner before me, which makes no difference at all really but it is nice to have an idea behind its origins. It's obviously in a very play worn condition and that's exactly how it'll stay in my tenure.

[mercrocker]

That is wonderful, Jon.....everything a vintage toy should be and should have!   Vilmer operated alongside Tekno but weren't connected - they seem to have petered out in the early 1960s but did some quite Dinky-esque castings as well.     

 

Lovely thing.

[mercrocker]

YO! Conelrad.

 

 

This.....

 

 

.....is eerily close to the outcome of this....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3pYwSAjO7I

 

Great minds think alike!

 

 

Don't know if these are factory colours but there is this as well.....

 

[Jon]

A package also arrived last week courtesy of one of my favoured Trademe sellers, who had dropped prices on various 1/43 listings that weren't selling, so I nabbed 6 of them. What's also great about the seller is that he only charges postage for a single item, no matter how many you buy, so total postage came to less than £2.50 and the average price I paid for each item was a smidge over £6, delivered. Here's what I got:

 

 

 

First up, a Norev Jet Car 504. I'll admit that although it's OK, someone had nabbed the metallic green one I'd truly wanted. That said, the box is psychedelically 70's and in good nick, even though the detailing of the actual car leaves a lot to be desired. That's perhaps part of the pleasure though and it'll have to do, with such a deficit of plastic Norevs in NZ.

 

 

Speaking of low quality Norev Peugeots, here's another one, which came in an equally low-rent box, so presumably made in the early 80's. It's a 305 by the way, in case anyone's unsure.

 

 

 

At least it has separate headlights, I suppose. And comedy giant 305 bonnet scripture.

 

 

 

With my foray away from my usual fare with the Vilmer Dodge, I went to the other extreme and picked up this Vitesse Cinq, which came in one of those square boxes with a small mirror in the corner, to show off the other side of the model, when it's sat on a shelf. To me, this sparked memories of the stuff that my favourite model shop sold back in the 90's, when I was busy hoovering up all their outdated 80's stuff that I'd find in various nooks and crannies of their overstocked shop.

 

 

 

After the extreme low quality of the above Peugeots, this is a revelation! Look at all the natty detailing, including the seat covers!

 

 

 

The lines of the heated window are more 1:1 than 1:43, so it's nice to have an endearing fault. Much as I can appreciate this little model, I don't think I'll be going down the Vitesse collecting route in the future but this one can stay.

 

 

 

Ignore the Calibra, as this wasn't included from this parcel, though I did pick it up last weekend, so I can now be a member of the Shite in Miniature Gama Calibra owners club. Note comedy angle of opening tailgate.

 

Anyway, the E36 coupe was selected purely because it was described as being purple and did seem to be so on the listing, though it's quite subdued in actual fact. I like the individual wheel styling of various models that Gama got in to during this period, though I do prefer earlier castings, which are more finely detailed in some areas and endearingly cumbersome in others.

 

 

 

With that in mind, here's the last one I got, again boxed like all the others. A Gama Mercedes C111, which had been on sale since I'd bought my Gama VW 411 off the same seller a few months back, so presumably these were both in someone's former collection. This is my pick of this selection and surprisingly, the Cinquecento is a close second.

 

Those of a mathematical bent may have calculated that I'm one car down, which is correct, as I forgot to take snap of it. It's a Solido Peugeot 104, which has plastic wheels that have bubbled up and have the appearance and texture of chewed gum, though I'm hopeful I can fix them up a bit.