Shite in Miniature II

[Felly Magic]

I collect 1/43 only, otherwise I may have been tempted, got 3 Abrex Skuds in my collection

[RedSparrow]

They had ONE 1.43 Octavia but the box look pretty battered and there was no indication of price. It's the sort of shop where the staff get really irritated if you ask them questions, so I left it!

[Felly Magic]

Tarted up the Mondeo, just noticed the baseplate is moulded to show it as a 4x4!!!!

[Ghosty]

That Maisto Trabi also comes in lime green - used to have one. IIRC the paint was matte.

[Vantman]

More interesting finds today--

 

Chrysler Windsor,Citroen Traction Avant and Mercedes 220SE. All Solido.

 

Solido Fiat 2300S,Tekno Mercedes with lady driver,Corgi Corvette Sting Ray.

 

 

[DVee8]

It has took a while but here it is my 1980 Big Trak

 

 

 

 

 

[Fat_Pirate]

I used to collect 1:43 models about 20 years ago, until I bought a real life X1/9 and suddenly all my cash was going on clutch master cylinders and water pumps, etc.  Then my son was born so I put them in the loft for 'safety', and there they've stayed.  He's 12 now, has absolutely zero interest in cars (his sole hobbies are Xbox and looking at naked ladies), so I think it's safe to bring them out again.  Check out these highlights:

 

Couple of Soviets, Niva is very nice with working steering, detailed live rear axle, etc

World's favourite airline?

Yeah, I like these, sorry

I like these too

Yum!

Who doesn't like Leyland Nationals?  People who are WRONG, that's who.

 

[Felly Magic]

Early releases of the EFE National as well. Loving the Commie stuff btw

[Jon]

Took Mrs_Jon's Clio up to Auckland yesterday for a cambelt and water pump change, so naturally dropped it off at a Citroen garage, albeit one with a very good rep that's been in business since 1927. Someone involved has started a collection of models to look at in the reception and two of the most impressive are these colossal 1/12th scale Citroen AX and BX plastic models:

 

 

Here's an idea of how massive they are:

 

 

Google tells me they're made by a company called Vullierme, which seemed to knock out some other good subjects, such as various Citorens (Even a C35), a Rancho and a Land Rover SIII.

[Split_Pin]

That BX is ACE! I love stuff like that. I've got a Guisval one made in Spain in an odd scale, looks to be 1/36.

 

I'm excited today as I've found out that Atlas Editions have released a Dinky Renault 12. I've ALWAYS wanted this one but alas, at 40 notes its a bit dear for a 43rd.

[eddyramrod]

at 40 notes its a bit dear for a 43rd.

:shock: :shock: :shock:

I won't even pay that for 1/18!  WTF is up with pricing these days?

[Ghosty]

I've come back to my parents' for Christmas, and I found a tiny Hongwell Rav4, sadly with a light missing.

I also used to have a Hongwell E36 Touring, V70 and Saab 9-5 too - those three came as a set.

[junkyarddog]

Some recent small shite

 

London gift set.

 

French Dinky Simca truck,

thinking of making a beavertail recovery out of it.

 

Corgi landrover,

 

Battered Bently

[dugong]

:shock: :shock: :shock:

I won't even pay that for 1/18!  WTF is up with pricing these days?

 

Resin 1:43s of less popular cars have been at this level for ages, Eddy. Not that I approve.....

[Split_Pin]

Last night I found some old printouts from eBay for model car purchases. 40 quid for a 1/18 Kyosho model in 2006 seems an impossibly distant memory now.

[Mr Lobster]

£40 for a 1:43 is normal now. Some of the new TSM, Kyosho and similar new releases are pushing the £100 mark. Plenty of the resin stuff is £60+ already.

 

Sadly this doesn't translate into extra profit for retailers though. Minichamps trade price has pretty much trebled in the last eight years whilst quality has declined and the model range has stagnated somewhat.

[Split_Pin]

A ton for a model car is dead money to me I'm afraid. I'm getting my Corgi and Dinky collection, mainly boxed, down from the loft in the New Year and adding to that. Back to basics.

[RoadworkUK]

I don't understand model car collecting.

 

I know why I do it. I appreciate beautifully detailed miniaturised versions of real world stuff, this is why I enjoy visiting a good model railway layout (shhh... don't tell anybody). Also, I have a fundamental, almost grotesque fascination with design; I enjoy picking up an accurate replica of a car I have always loved, holding it up and looking at it from every angle; along the flanks, through the windscreen from the driver's perspective.... I know I'm extremely unlikely to ever own an M635CSi, but thanks to AutoArt I can imagine that I do.

 

I assume this latter point is shared with other folk, but spending time on the Diecast forums seems to reveal nothing much more than people trotting out lists of how much money they've just spent out on ever more impressive things. EXOTO and CMC 1:18 stuff at £300 a pop, really lovely and all that but I can't really get excited by dozens of people saying "look what I've bought from a shop this week".

 

They don't even seem to exhibit any particular taste in cars. You'll have a guy who shows us the ltest model Ferrari he's bought, and then you'll find that he's also got not only all the Ferraris, but all the Lamborghini's, all the Porsches, basically all the cars. I don't see this as collecting. I see it as buying.

 

I will, occasionally, buy a new model if It's of a car I've always loved and there's never been a model of it I've liked before. It will then become a part of my collection.

 

Recently I've been buying second hand stuff off eBay; I bought a Maisto Morgan Aero8 (one of Maisto's best ever models IMO) for £7, too cheap not to buy. So I collected it. But there's no way I could ever entertain buying a new Kyosho release if ever there was one. That said, If somebody was to suddenly bring out a 1:18 Rover 827 Vitesse I'd have hundreds of quid set aside for it.

 

Everything that has been posted on this thread thus far, I would say, has been collected. Bargains which have been found in charity shops, gifts and long-forgotten attic heirlooms, or alway-fancied-one eBay impulse purchases. And for new models, Mr Lobster, you are instrumental in assisting those of us with a hitherto unmet desire for a specific car, to add it to our collection, and it's appreciated.

 

But if I start placing monthly orders with you, or other retailers of medium-high end Diecast Delights, I'll no longer be collecting. I'll be online shopping.

[Mr Lobster]

I don't really understand it either. Well, I do in that I know what will be popular to our customers and what will sell but people have alsorts of different reasons for buying what they buy.

 

From our regular customers, we have those who collect from a certain era - they buy standard road cars from say the 1980s, those who collect rally or F1 cars, those who collect certain marques, those who collect the ones they have owned in 1/1 scale and those who just buy whatever they like and takes their fancy. Fortunately, lots of people buy lots of different things.

[Split_Pin]

Roadwork UK, you have absolutely nailed it just there. I love anything in miniature, but it just so happens that I love cars and an excellently proportioned scale model of one gives me great pleasure.

 

The other day I was admiring my SunStar 1:18 Escort Mk3 gl. They've got the detail spot on with it and I always loved to spot the real thing in the 90s.

[mercrocker]

A friend of mine has a massive 1/18 collection and they are displayed in glass cases all round his lounge (yes, he is married....).  He has some fantastic stuff, loads of models of cars I really would love to own, lottery permitting... However, its all a bit soul-less.   I keep nagging him to build a shed, shelve it completely out at neck level and just put them out there - bumper to bumper - and let them gather dust.  It would look fantastic in ten years time.   But that's me, I'm weird, apparently.   Certainly I get far more pleasure out of collecting slightly chipped Dinky, Corgi and Spot-On models.  I have replaced most of the ones I had as a kid but ruined, now I am turning towards stuff I lusted after but never got.   They aren't cheap, obvs. but I don't buy them boxed (so many repro ones) and just less than mint is fine for me.   I tried to augment the "collection" with the likes of Vanguards, etc but they didn't do anything for me so I just stick to the vintage stuff again now.

[Junkman]

For me, it must be plastic, it must be in bits, and it must be in a colourful box.

I don't really care what it is, as long as it meets above criteria and isn't anything from some stupid war.

Bonus points if it is a finned yank.

 

No idea how those ca. 150 1/18 diecasts managed to sneak in, honestly.

[junkyarddog]

I just love toy cars,

always have,always will.

 

Superfast Matchbox from the '70's are my favourites,

Dinkys a close second,doesn't matter to the overall condition,

so long as they are restorable and cheap

[quicksilver]

There's so many aspects to model collecting and I must admit I don't understand the likes of those who show off by buying readily available new stuff every month - it is just shopping and not really collecting and anyone with money can do that, but each to his own. The fun for me lies in two things, either discovering something obscure I'd never heard of before or looking at a ready-made model and deciding what else I could turn it into. A lot of the stuff I buy gets chopped and repainted and some may say that is sacrilege but the way I look at it is that I am taking something mass-produced and turning it into a one-off that has used my own skills and enthusiasm to create, and that is something money can't buy.

[Felly Magic]

I spent 10 years selling diecasts, and to some people it was like a drug, they had to get their weekly 'hit', and having a shop, well it was like a man creche, the kettle was always on, and there was always banter. Regular punters got to know each other, and some of them even became drinking buddies as well. I do miss that part of it, but it's a cut throat business. You have to go pretty far to find diecast shops around here now, nearest one is 30 miles away for me now, we have a tiny model railway shop on the outskirts, and that's it.

 

I collect 1/43 scale cars now, I used to collect model buses, and had several hundred, but got rid when I moved. The 'fleet' changes regularly, and its a hobby that funds its self mostly now. New release stuff I normally get from Mr Lobster of this parish, older stuff its ebay & facebook groups. I've started to 'tinker' with a few models these days, and am currently on the hunt for a Vanguards Mk3 Cortina in Hampshire Police livery, which I intend to 'giffer up'.

[Mr Lobster]

I don't collect many myself  although I do have a few 1:18s and a few 1:43s  - I suppose I look at it all too much as profit and stock rather and ultimately if I started keeping much then I'd end up skint pretty quick.  We get a lot of stuff that I'd really like but if I started having a few for myself I'd end up never making any money.

 

Those which I do keep tend to be French and I do like a nice diorama. Quick piccy of my 'garage' below - R5 was a Solido rally car which arrived damaged and lift is a Truescale Snap On item which was also slightly damaged and an easy repair.  I need to find something to make some nice walls and tidy it up a bit. I've got a Sunoco oil pack that was returned with damaged packaging thats going in here at some point. If I had time / space I'd like a full 1:18 garage diorama but that might have to wait till I retire in 30 years...

 

I might take a few pics of a few others later if I get chance.

 

[RoadworkUK]

That's brill. I'd like to do a diorama of Kwik-Fit, complete with piles of no-brand tyres and fitters with tattooed necks and authentic criminal records, and a 1:18 decayed Aiwa mini-system not-quite-tuned to Heart FM.

[Junkman]

Did someone say diorama?

 

Well, I'm not so much into dolls houses myself, but a friend of mine is.

I built many of the car models for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Junkman]

Then he made this 1960 Mopar new car display:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Junkman]

Yet another friend - I only seem to know normal people - made this to display his collection of

Renwal 1966 Exner Neo-Classics at a model show: