Shite in Miniature II

[sierraman]

Ebay has become a waste of time for Matchbox recently, not so much the postage but people paying absolute crazy prices for old crap. I sold 20 Matchbox a while back, all either battered to fuck or just ridiculously common stuff, nothing even remotely interesting and it went for £22 plus postage. There was about a fivers worth tops.

[Datsuncog]

So... did I resist?

 

Of course not.

I parted with three £1 coins to become the next owner of this:

It's from Mettoy's final fling, the Corgitronics range - the cash-strapped company's attempt to woo back the 80s kids who'd had their heads turned away from 'traditional' toys by the shift in the trade towards Atari and Star Wars. It was hoped that a range of cars that beeped, blooped and made drilling noises would add extra play value.

Trying desperately to keep costs down, Corgitronics mostly reused existing castings to wrap a 9v battery and some wiring - and thus the Starsky and Hutch Ford Torino was reborn in black and gold as a 'Road Hog' complete with revving noises; the Land Rover 109 Wagon reappeared in both Police livery and also as a Road Maintenance crew bus towing a 'drilling' mobile compressor; the venerable Routemaster bus gained a 'beep beep' horn; and a smaller-scale Leyland Roadtrain truck came with a motor in the trailer that powered it forward and back, while making reversing signal noises. The long-running Chevrolet van gained a small radio receiver and Radio Luxembourg decals, which was pretty cool. The range's sole brand-new casting, the MG Maestro (launched in tandem with the real car, as Corgi often did in the 1950s and 60s) came with working head and tail lights, in a nod to their 1960s heyday.

But it arrived a bit too late to make a significant difference. Mettoy called in the receivers in October 1983, having outlived Dinky by four years and Lesney by a year.

I previously had a mint-boxed example of this casting in stock car livery, bought as NOS from a local toyshop along with a few others when they found some old stock hanging around a storeroom. At the time I thought they were super-old, but looking back they could only have been about ten years old at the time (if memory serves, I got them in 1992). Mine looked like this, though as I recall mine had rather incongruous (and out of scale) whitewall tyres that made it look more like a clown car than a racer, so I sold it on. For about £2.

Corgi also made these in plain sedan flavour (green for 1980, gold for 1981) and in taxi and police liveries. And then they produced this wailing, flashing variant as a Corgitronics model, with opaque plastic windows and a plastic base - and not even a name on it. Just 'Corgitronics' and 'Made in Gt. Britain'.

It really does feel cheap and very light - the sheer weight of many late-Mettoy Corgis is, I've realised, a significant part of their appeal to me. There's a serious heft to the Matra Rancho and Peugeot 505 picked up the other week. But, doubtless, the amount of sheer metal in these toys is what probably hastened their manufacturer's decline. With this, the cost-cutting is evident to the point that there's not even an on/off switch for the electronics, as fitted to the HCB Angus Firestreak - I think you just press on the back wheels to activate the light 'n' sound.

But this one is complete bar the light fitting, and seems to have very little playwear - the (too wide-set) wheels are like new, there's no scoring on the (far too low) base, with its undamaged battery cover. So yeah, I'll take it for now. But I'd rather have a plain-wrapper one, all the same.

Of course, I'll be trying it with a battery when I get home...

[Datsuncog]

Oh yes, and I bought this too. For a fiver.

I'm not sure entirely why, other than I have hanging in the living room an amusing print by Robert Seymour (?) extolling the wonders of steam-powered travel sure to come, entitled 'Locomotion 2 - a few small inconveniences - there's nothing perfect'

The sight of a steam coach, prominently marked 'Safety Coach - Warranted not to explode', um, exploding, tickles that part of me that never really progressed beyond The Beano.

So yes. A Brumm 'diecast' model of the 1829 Gurney Steam Coach, which was capable of running from London to Bath (and other areas too) at an average speed of 14mph, including stops for water and coal. Despite a high degree of public opposition to the technology, causing rioting and injury to the operators, the technology did appear to work - but was quickly nipped in the bud by a suspicious Parliament and local gentry, who effectively taxed steam coaches out of the market by levying a £2 charge for using each stage of the toll road system. Gurney went bankrupt in 1831, having never made back the money he'd invested while the case for applying relief to his invention ping-ponged between the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

It's an interesting little memento of what was advanced tech for its time, and also a reminder that an antagonistic relationship between politics and mechanical transport is now nearly 200 years old.

I say 'diecast' because, other than the black metal chassis, the entire model is made of plastic.

Hey ho.

ROLLIN COAL YO

Nothing new under the sun.

[Felly Magic]

Oooh that Dinky Ford D series tipper on that table of toss there DC

[eddyramrod]

Thanks Felly, I spotted that too but was trying very hard to ignore it!

[Felly Magic]

I want to get one of those as cheap as possible to repaint royal blue ish, as when I was a nipper, our coal man Eric Carter had one like that

[eddyramrod]

I think the tipper variety was offered as one of the Dinky Kit series.  Never had one though.

[Felly Magic]

Yeah the Dinky kits series did have the D800 tipper, I also as a nipper had the facelift D series Johnson sweeper in lime green, that version didn't have the opening doors. Looking at it, I wonder what scale it is, must be close to 1/43, anybody know?

[mercrocker]

Thanks Datsuncog for the proxy shopping.....Very pleased with that little plane.  My Aunts worked for BOAC from its formation so I have a kind of attraction to stuff with the speed bird on it.    I did wonder if that was a Corgi Roller after I posted a want for it.   Quite happy with the little aeroplane although the Renault would have been nice but I already have the Primrose one to be getting on with.   Everybody's happy!

[DoctorRetro]

Found a bumper for the Lada and fixed the suspension.

 

We also started a project that was Dominic's idea, to make a W115 Mercedes into a pickup. 

 

Hasn't turned out too bad so far, but a few cars died to make this Frankenstein's monster... 

 

 

[mercrocker]

You could always make something worse from the left overs......Fair play to the lad, though, for the pickup idea!

[155V6]

So... did I resist?

 

 

 

Of course not.

 

I parted with three £1 coins to become the next owner of this:

 

20190301_133715.jpg

 

20190301_133727.jpg

 

20190301_133738.jpg

 

20190301_133756.jpg

 

It's from Mettoy's final fling, the Corgitronics range - the cash-strapped company's attempt to woo back the 80s kids who'd had their heads turned away from 'traditional' toys by the shift in the trade towards Atari and Star Wars. It was hoped that a range of cars that beeped, blooped and made drilling noises would add extra play value.

 

Trying desperately to keep costs down, Corgitronics mostly reused existing castings to wrap a 9v battery and some wiring - and thus the Starsky and Hutch Ford Torino was reborn in black and gold as a 'Road Hog' complete with revving noises; the Land Rover 109 Wagon reappeared in both Police livery and also as a Road Maintenance crew bus towing a 'drilling' mobile compressor; the venerable Routemaster bus gained a 'beep beep' horn; and a smaller-scale Leyland Roadtrain truck came with a motor in the trailer that powered it forward and back, while making reversing signal noises. The long-running Chevrolet van gained a small radio receiver and Radio Luxembourg decals, which was pretty cool. The range's sole brand-new casting, the MG Maestro (launched in tandem with the real car, as Corgi often did in the 1950s and 60s) came with working head and tail lights, in a nod to their 1960s heyday.

 

But it arrived a bit too late to make a significant difference. Mettoy called in the receivers in October 1983, having outlived Dinky by four years and Lesney by a year.

 

I previously had a mint-boxed example of this casting in stock car livery, bought as NOS from a local toyshop along with a few others when they found some old stock hanging around a storeroom. At the time I thought they were super-old, but looking back they could only have been about ten years old at the time (if memory serves, I got them in 1992). Mine looked like this, though as I recall mine had rather incongruous (and out of scale) whitewall tyres that made it look more like a clown car than a racer, so I sold it on. For about £2.

 

Corgi Chevrolet Caprice Classic Stock Car.jpg

 

Corgi also made these in plain sedan flavour (green for 1980, gold for 1981) and in taxi and police liveries. And then they produced this wailing, flashing variant as a Corgitronics model, with opaque plastic windows and a plastic base - and not even a name on it. Just 'Corgitronics' and 'Made in Gt. Britain'.

 

It really does feel cheap and very light - the sheer weight of many late-Mettoy Corgis is, I've realised, a significant part of their appeal to me. There's a serious heft to the Matra Rancho and Peugeot 505 picked up the other week. But, doubtless, the amount of sheer metal in these toys is what probably hastened their manufacturer's decline. With this, the cost-cutting is evident to the point that there's not even an on/off switch for the electronics, as fitted to the HCB Angus Firestreak - I think you just press on the back wheels to activate the light 'n' sound.

 

But this one is complete bar the light fitting, and seems to have very little playwear - the (too wide-set) wheels are like new, there's no scoring on the (far too low) base, with its undamaged battery cover. So yeah, I'll take it for now. But I'd rather have a plain-wrapper one, all the same.

 

Corgi 325 Chevrolet Caprice Classic - green.jpg

 

Of course, I'll be trying it with a battery when I get home...

I've got the Radio Luxembourg van,never tried the radio though 

 

[vulgalour]

I want to get one of those as cheap as possible to repaint royal blue ish, as when I was a nipper, our coal man Eric Carter had one like that

Our local coal man had a Bedford TK.  I know this because it nearly ran me over one day when he hopped onto the pavement to avoid the stationary traffic he presumably hadn't seen and stood no chance of stopping for in time.  Remember quite clearly the Coalite brickettes with the twin grooves on them bouncing all over the pavement when one of the sacks on the bed of the truck fell over before he rejoined the road and hurried* off.  Not thought about that incident for years.

[Felly Magic]

I remember having to help put the coal in the binker as a kid, back then we got a ton every 4 weeks that was just tipped at the end of the drive, and we had to load the wheel barrow up, dad got the coal free as part of his job working 'down't t';t pit, he still gets it as part of his pension, 10 tonnes a year! It was hillarious when they stopped it a couple of years back for just over a year, then after legal wrangling it was re-instated and back dated, he had 11 tonnes of coal delivered in 4 weeks! the shed, bunker, garden and my brother's garage were p-iled high with the stuff, he still hasn't gone through it all. Their living room is like a blast furnace in winter. Shorts and T shirts required LOL, it still is the Carter family delivering the coal as well, now it's all bagged

[vulgalour]

Time for Torino.

 

The exhausts are very fiddly and springy.  Easy to fit, difficult to paint.  I found it easier to get two coats of silver on after the black undercoat and then glue them in place before another two coats on the visible bits.  I'm using acrylic paints for all the work on this model, and a mix of aerosol and brush.

 

Engine detailing has begun.  I'm using the instructions to inform me what bits are and the internet to find examples of engine bays.  Mostly, it seems the ancillaries are mainly black and silver, while the main chunk of the engine is blue.  The details are larger than I'm used to, so it's not that bad going.

 

Next up, I started on the interior.  2 coats of relevant browns so far.  I got lucky when I found I had a carpet and a vinyl colour that's really closely matched to photographs I found of this interior in real life, so I didn't have to buy anything special.  I'll be using some very thin washes to highlight the finer details and give it a little extra realism inside.  Likewise the engine will get some light weathering, just to bring it down from being a bright kit look.

 

 

 

I'm taking my time.  It says it takes 5 hours roughly to complete this kit and I can believe that if you just base painted it all and stuck it together.  I want to just make it a little nicer, a little more realistic if I can.  Came close to finding a yellow I liked today, unfortunately the two I narrowed it down to where either side of where I'd want to be.  I'll go to Halfords and check their range out, they probably have something more in line with what I have in mind.  The interior I'm very happy with, it's exactly the colour I wanted.

[Amishtat]

That's going to look superb when you've finished, I can't wait to see it.

[DoctorRetro]

I'm debating whether to try to repaint this Peugeot 305.

Matchbox Superkings.. 

 

 

[Spottedlaurel]

Time for Torino............

 

Great to see a kit being built, looks like it's going well. I really should make time for some of mine.

[DoctorRetro]

Put a coat of paint on the Mercedes pickup. 

Just need to add some details, lights, grille etc.

 

[Datsuncog]

That Merc pickup looks well... what was the rear bed taken from, out of interest? I'm thinking some sort of 1990s Matchbox, but can't quite place it.

The Superkings Pug 305 might indeed benefit from a bit of a refresh, I'd say...

[mercrocker]

That W114 pickup looks like something Tata might have made in the 1980s.   That is in no way a criticism by the way!  

 

In other Merc-flavoured S.I.M news these have landed today from Emporium Eduardo La Ramrodder - 

 

 

 

The wee Ferrari is something I saw in Ed's pictures and immediately remembered a huge scrap I got into with my kid sister because she had been to Woolworth and bought a Husky THAT I DIDN'T HAVE.   I even think it remained such an issue that she actually took it to Canada when she emigrated!   Fond memories.... 

 

The rubber stuff (fetish cars) came originally from Stavanger in Norway, made by Tomte Lardal and from Galanite in Sweden ( the beige-pink and green Mercs)  and I always associate these with seaside holidays as you could take them on the beach and not bugger them up like I did a Spot-On Sunbeam Alpine.    

 

I think a bath in brake fluid might sort these out but I am very tempted to leave the Wolwo as it is - such a cracking period shade....

 

I only have these left from my childhood days...

 

 

 

I also remember having a Mini, Police Beetle, Renault Floride and probably some others I have forgotten.   They seemed to mirror contemporary Corgi models quite closely (or MB Kingsize in the case of the Ergomatic tipper).   Bit of fun, anyway.

[DoctorRetro]

That Merc pickup looks well... what was the rear bed taken from, out of interest? I'm thinking some sort of 1990s Matchbox, but can't quite place it.

 

The Superkings Pug 305 might indeed benefit from a bit of a refresh, I'd say...

Rear bed is from some sort of Chinese pound shop 'fire rescue' pickup which had crappy wheels. So no great loss. Wheels are from a green matchbox recovery truck that I hated. (Superfast No. 74 if anyone cares)

[vulgalour]

Ah, a Toe Joe.  I've got one, the arms are broken.  I had a conversion idea for it but I need another one to do it, I don't need the wheels or the arms, but I do need the body, interior, glass and possibly the back half of the chassis.

[DoctorRetro]

Ah, a Toe Joe.  I've got one, the arms are broken.  I had a conversion idea for it but I need another one to do it, I don't need the wheels or the arms, but I do need the body, interior, glass and possibly the back half of the chassis.

 

I'll send you the leftover parts when I get chance. Don't think I have the glass though. 

[vulgalour]

I'd be happy to rehome the leftovers.  I might have another idea that doesn't need the glass, I'll only know if I have the two bodyshells together for that.

[Amishtat]

A rummage in the back of the garage just turned this up, built about twenty years ago. Very dusty and the rear bumper has become detached but it hasn't held up too badly.

[eddyramrod]

That's really nice!  I luuuuuuuuuuuuurve me a Challenger, I does.

[junkyarddog]

Another Corgi Transit camper tidy up.

 

 

Someone had made up a new rear door on this one,but painted it badly.

 

 

 

 

"Wotcha reckon Eddy?"

 

"It ain't a CF m8"

 

[Split_Pin]

I dug this Fujimi 1/24 Audi 90 from deep in the loft.

 

I built this in the early 1990s and the paint job is horrendous. Mothballed for nearly 30 years on account of the fact that it was given to me as a birthday present by a former friend who turned out to be a massive bully. All water under the bridge now though and somehow this remained in my collection.

 

I was going to restore it but I thought that doing so would erase it's history. As such I just tidied up the lights and black trim.

 

Likely ugly to the perfectionists but I love slightly scruffy and patinated models, way more interesting imo.

[155V6]

That W114 pickup looks like something Tata might have made in the 1980s.   That is in no way a criticism by the way!  

 

In other Merc-flavoured S.I.M news these have landed today from Emporium Eduardo La Ramrodder - 

 

PIC_0011.JPG 

 

The wee Ferrari is something I saw in Ed's pictures and immediately remembered a huge scrap I got into with my kid sister because she had been to Woolworth and bought a Husky THAT I DIDN'T HAVE.   I even think it remained such an issue that she actually took it to Canada when she emigrated!   Fond memories.... 

 

The rubber stuff (fetish cars) came originally from Stavanger in Norway, made by Tomte Lardal and from Galanite in Sweden ( the beige-pink and green Mercs)  and I always associate these with seaside holidays as you could take them on the beach and not bugger them up like I did a Spot-On Sunbeam Alpine.    

 

I think a bath in brake fluid might sort these out but I am very tempted to leave the Wolwo as it is - such a cracking period shade....

 

I only have these left from my childhood days...

 

PIC_0001.JPG 

 

I also remember having a Mini, Police Beetle, Renault Floride and probably some others I have forgotten.   They seemed to mirror contemporary Corgi models quite closely (or MB Kingsize in the case of the Ergomatic tipper).   Bit of fun, anyway.

We had loads of those as kids,I liked the fact that the convertibles had people in them.I think I've still got a yellow Willys Jeep,plus a later Beetle.If you ever see a green Forward Control Jeep tow truck,snap it up.They go for around £90 on eBay.