Shite in Miniature II

[Datsuncog]

and are the 2 superkings xj6/12's any good

The blue civvie one's not bad, few play marks but largely intact. The police version is missing its lights and siren and is a bit more tatty... I'll enquire about prices...

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

 

 

This thing got repainted. I had to paint the interior because so much of the interior is visible through the massive glazed area. 

 

The Vita-Min has also been repainted, I didn't try to match the original colour, but it had to stay purple! 

 

 

[Datsuncog]

On 3/22/2019 at 11:54 AM, Datsuncog said:

That there is a Matchbox Superkings Mercury Commuter race support car... it should be kind of a lime green, but has been heavily 'weathered' (brown Humbrol...) - if you fancy having a bash at saving it, I'm sure it'll strip back to bare metal ok?

Right then...

I took a proper look at the Mercury station wagon, and it's not very pretty:

Busted a-posts (both sides), broken front screen and very worn wheels made this one a bit borderline, in my view, even if the mess of enamel paint can be scraped off.

I asked how much, wondering if he'd do it for 50p, say, but no - £4 was the price on it!

Four pounds!

Yeesh.

I think not. I'm afraid I put it back. I'm sure you can find a better one for much less. I sold a decent one on here last year for a pound or two.

Guess this is the problem with stalls like this - pricing can be somewhat variable, depending on the whims and caprices of the stakeholder. He wasn't very chatty this morning.

Also at £4, were each of the Superkings Jags.

While the blue one was conceivably worth it, the police one was missing its assorted bells and whistles and certainly wasn't. I took the blue one.

Also picked up the acid green Citroen SM, for the same money. Not in bad nick overall, though the rear glazing seems to have gone walkabout.

Overall verdict: stay away when stallholder grumpy.

[egg]

Right decision! Thanks for looking!

 

though....does make me think the stall holder should be friendlier to one of their best customers!

[egg]

Ah, so here is the Phantom suspension piece, it is different to the later Lesney ones. It is a bit bent, so following Marty from down under under, I will be applying hot water to see if I can straighten it.

 

[Tenmil Socket]

Ah, so here is the Phantom suspension piece, it is different to the later Lesney ones. It is a bit bent, so following Marty from down under under, I will be applying hot water to see if I can straighten it.

 

IMG_20190322_151718~2.jpg

IMG_20190322_151747~2.jpg

 

Could you leave it on a radiator or use a hair dryer perhaps?

[egg]

yup, other techniques worth considering thanks.

[mercrocker]

Matchbox Commuter - B.jpg

 

Matchbox Commuter - A.jpg

 

This thing got repainted. I had to paint the interior because so much of the interior is visible through the massive glazed area. 

 

The Vita-Min has also been repainted, I didn't try to match the original colour, but it had to stay purple! 

 

Corgi vitamin - B01.jpg

 

Corgi vitamin - A01.jpg

 

Nice work on the Freeman Commuta, it looks much more like the "real" one did when I saw it as a kid in the Telegraph magazine.

[vulgalour]

 

 

I found what the kit was originally, had a clue on the chassis inside the car where it's got Revell copyright 196-something cast in.  It's a very old kit that's been re-released a few times and the version I got must have been the Monogram one because I do remember it having this box art.

 

 

That would also explain why the whole thing is painted purple underneath the other repaints.  I've no idea what happened to the bubble canopy (that I don't actually like) or any number of the other smaller details I would have liked to still have, like the mirrors and the rear seat cover.  Ah well.  The original plastic is actually cleaning up quite well, even though it's thoroughly stained with whatever paint I used.  There's some areas I had been really heavy with a coarse file and it looks like a lot of it was built with superglue which in a funny sort of way is a saving grace since the purple meths does a great job of turning that brittle and lifting it off the plastic base without damage.

 

The other neat thing is that I did such a bad job of sticking the bonnet down the purple meths broke the glue down and now the panel opens and is undamaged.  It's also clear it got the scoop extension, which I'll retain once I've tidied it up a bit better.

 

I shan't be glueing the roof on, I'll leave it loose.  This means I can display it with or without and means I can do a really nice job on the interior.  About the only interior bit missing is the instrument binnacle, it's the same shape as the glovebox/blank I still have for the other side so I should be able to build something that at least looks the part and fits using stuff from the bits box.

 

[egg]

Now with suspension and stupid foto filter, I'm just about happy subject to gluing the base on and tidying up a few paint 'errors' on the sills.

 

 

B4 and after.

 

[Amishtat]

Figured I might as well make a start on this today. One advantage of its previous restoration being that it came apart with a flat bladed screwdriver.

 

Either Norn Iron's sunnier than I've been given to understand or this was overly close to some powerful shit. I'd like to think the former.

Paint was tenacious in a few places, unsurprisingly since this is evidently no stranger to Humbrol. So far as I can make out it was either dark green or pale blue to begin with although it's also been grey and a truly violent pink at some stage.

Hopefully primer and maybe even paint tomorrow. After replacing the rear screen pillar obvs.

[sierraman]

How will you repair screen pillar? I’ve a similar repair to tackle?

[Amishtat]

I'm not absolutely sure yet, it'll most likely be whatever I can find that looks right.

[vulgalour]

Hoping for a violent pink repaint.

[Amishtat]

Ah.. You may be disappointed.. What colour will the Thunderbird be, still purple?

[vulgalour]

Not sure, possibly white and copper.  I'm feeling the 60s custom vibe a lot more for it than the Cuban taxi.

[Amishtat]

Liking the sound of that.. with a chrome tube grille perhaps

[155V6]

I haven't found much recently,but got this today .It's a Ford van by Polfi,& I think it's the only Greek diecast I've got   .It's a copy of the Majorette version,but it's a bit bigger.

 

 

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

This very nice Ertl Pontiac Bonneville had an appointment with the airbrush today. 

 

 

 

Few more challenges in this one - there was a massive hole in the roof to fill (ex police?), followed by a world of painful masking for the roof then even more masking to paint that bright strip. 

[eddyramrod]

Indeed it was a police car.  If it was white underneath it was a Dukes of Hazzard edition; if gold, then Smokey And The Bandit.  Nice job!

[Noel Tidybeard]

thank you kindly mr cogs

[Burnside]

That looks fantastic. The colour combination really suits it.

[vulgalour]

Made my first attempt at dents.

 

First job is to smooth a piece of kitchen foil over the panel you want to dent.  This is quite a satisfying thing to do, like unwrapping sweet wrappers to smooth them out.  Maybe that's just me.  With the foil blank set aside you then drill a stonking great hole on the bodyshell where you want the dent and hope that you know what you're doing.  After that, sharp clippers to turn the round hole into a more dent shaped hole and after that hand file and rotary tool to thin out the material so it's not such a hard step between the body and the hole.

 

Then, carefully offer up the foil blank and superglue it to the edge of the hole before figuring out just how much pressure to use, and where, to create the dent.  For a first shot, I'm okay with this, with experience I think I can do better, especially for the transition between bodywork and hole which is a little sharp in places.  On one side I added a couple of score lines to represent the car getting scraped along something.  It was tricky to make it look as I wanted to on the doors.  For the rear wing on the other side it was much easier and I think that one will need less work.

 

 

 

 

After getting the foil as I wanted it I then filled the back with epoxy, carefully, and left it to set.  When the epoxy has fully hardened I'll take a file and sandpaper and probably a bit of filler to the outside of the panel to see how good the dent looks without all the excess foil.  I rarely work with epoxy and foil so I'm well out of my comfort zone.  I also made a start on the interior, which will be green cloth and vinyl with a faded carpet.  I'm considering putting some cracks in the dashboard top since the interior presently looks far too nice for the state of the rest of the car.  I'm not going to put a crack in the windscreen, I need more practice at that before I risk it.

[Amishtat]

This will be interesting! It can't possibly be worse than my youthful efforts which involved a soldering iron and sandpaper

[vulgalour]

Got a bit further on this tonight.  After trimming back the foil I applied a thin skim of filler to blend out the edges, some rough sanding, and then a light primer to see what I'm working with.

 

 

 

The rear wing dent is more convincing than the doors, though it needs much more sanding which probably means the doors mostly need more filler work to deform the edges of the dent slightly better.  For a first attempt I'm not unhappy with this, it shows promise.

 

 

[Spottedlaurel]

Once you apply your weathering skills I'm sure they'll look very convincing.

 

I have a few kits in my stash that would be much more interesting/effective built that way, but I've never had the courage to do it.

[paulplom]

Tynemouth market this morning

 

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[Amishtat]

Quick de-Humbrol job on the Corniche.

Not going to try touching in the chips, I'd never get the paint match right.

[egg]

Been a while since a new Norev, a decent 403 after a clean.

 

[junkyarddog]

Here is a little oddity I found today.

 

 

Looks like a Matchbox Mercedes,yes?

 

 

Except it's not.

It's a Dinky!

Made in Bulgaria.

 

 

Alongside an original Matchbox version of the casting.

 

I've heard of Bulgarian made die cast cars,but have never owned one until now.

Another addition to the collection.