Shite in Miniature II

[stuboy]

Charity shop 50p

 

Had one as a child..

[vulgalour]

Unfortunately the camera and/or card that goes into has died so I can't show you what arrived in the post recently.  I can't remember who it was that sent it, but I've got a red Charger with a silly engine, and a weird orange (but seems to have once been flourescent pink) Lamborghini Marzal that are nice additions to the collection.  Thank you also for the copy of Practical Motorist that features a Princess on the front cover and a test drive inside, that was a happy surprise!

[Spottedlaurel]

1 hour ago, vulgalour said:

Unfortunately the camera and/or card that goes into has died so I can't show you what arrived in the post recently.  I can't remember who it was that sent it, but I've got a red Charger with a silly engine, and a weird orange (but seems to have once been flourescent pink) Lamborghini Marzal that are nice additions to the collection.  Thank you also for the copy of Practical Motorist that features a Princess on the front cover and a test drive inside, that was a happy surprise!

That was me, glad they reached you OK.

[sierraman]

17 hours ago, stuboy said:

Charity shop 50p

 

Had one as a child..

I have that one, on the look out for the BMW to complete the set. 

 

Does anyone remember Connectibles? You still see these at Car Boots from time to time, my eldest likes them, sadly I sold the ones I had as a kid. 

[Split_Pin]

I have the Porsche 928 Glo-racer with its pod intact too.

My younger brother had Connectibles, I think they are still at my parents.

[Frogchod]

Some new additions to my reverse rake rear window collection have arrived.

First up is a Toyota Will VI

Next is a Mazda Carol.

Lastly a Reliant Regal. I'd really like a proper model of one of these. Apparently there was a transkit for the Lledo Supervan made by Bijou

But I've not been able to find one. I might get a cheap Trotter van and one of my spare Amis and attack them with a hacksaw.

All together showing their arses off:

Still on the lookout for sensibly priced Lincolns.

[Amishtat]

Surely someone's done a model of a 1964 Mercury? 

[Frogchod]

55 minutes ago, Amishtat said:

Surely someone's done a model of a 1964 Mercury? 

You'd think so, all I've found hasn't been any of the breezeway design. Plenty of normal Mercurys.

Plenty of Lincolns too, but not in my price range  

[pilninggas]

How awful: https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/19/years-work-destroyed-vandals-smash-model-railway-show-9600866/

Makes my piss boil.

there is a just giving page which is over £24k already! https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/market-deeping-mrc

 

 

[morrisoxide]

On 5/17/2019 at 3:37 PM, Tenmil Socket said:

 

I've just discovered Majorette did a Transit mini-bus with a sliding door...

Here's mine it was a hand me down from my cousin, he hammered it and so did I with my miniature scrap yard in the sand pit.  I'm not sure why I still own it?  Probably because it looks like the normal progression of a real Transit.

I'm sure I still have the interior somewhere. I wonder if I should restore it, would it be possible?

[Tenmil Socket]

I'd bridge it...

[Datsuncog]

On ‎5‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 10:02 PM, Jon said:

And here it is:

Which is usually clad with this!

 Only a flipping original issue Tamiya Bruiser!!!!

Bloody hell, that's fantastic... exclamation marks fully justified!

The Bruiser was my dream RC truck, and I spent many an hour drooling over it in the (then-current) Tamiya catalogue...

I liked it best over all the others, as it seemed the most realistic of all the 1/10 monster trucks in the line-up - the most like an actual road vehicle.

I also really fancied a Toyota Celica...

Just look how flippin' awesome they look!

Ultimately, I never had any of them - too pricey and I was far too young to be building things like that successfully. I did receive a ready-to-run Taiyo Jet Fighter one Christmas, but I could never get so enthusiastic about buggy-type RCs and I didn't use it all that much (a tiny garden and a proclivity to eat AA batteries by the dozen also restricted play somewhat).

I did, however, purchase a battery-powered Midnight Pumpkin Jr (approx. 1/43 scale) at Beaulieu in 1992, which kind of scratched that itch. My brother bought the Wild Willy Jr at the same time, and they were good fun climbing over rocks and things.

Look forward to hearing more about the Bruiser rehabilitation, that's just mega.

[Datsuncog]

On ‎5‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 3:37 PM, Tenmil Socket said:

 

I've just discovered Majorette did a Transit mini-bus with a sliding door...

I really liked the slidey-door on this one; nice action, even if a little crude to look at.

I used to have this one in the later school bus livery!

Reckon Morrisoxide's scrapper version looks pretty good just the way it is; reminds me of the kind of thing you'd see blocking a hole in a hedge somewhere out in the wilds of Co. Tyrone...

If I still had a toy scrapyard, that would've be right at the front, beside the caravan 'site office'.

[Split_Pin]

Here is mine.

Fantastic little representation of the Transit.

<Alec Guiness> While not as accurate a casting as the Corgi version nor as robust as the Matchbox, the Majorette is the example of choice. </Alec Guiness>

[rml2345]

I had two of those Transit minibuses back on the day and it's likely both still exist somewhere. To young me the Majorette Transit was the one to have because it had a sliding door and very bouncy suspension. Accuracy is overrated anyway...

[sierraman]

I’ve got one that says ‘Wookie Hole’ on the side. Only discovered what this was when I was in the M5 last year. It’s a theme park. 

[sierraman]

Got this lot today 30p each. Particularly like the Buick Century Police Car. 

 

Ive actually e-mailed Mattel to see what’s happening with retailing Matchbox in the UK as apart from a small batch in one of those fly-by-night Poundland type stores that have dried up, you can’t seem to buy them anywhere in the UK. All I got back was a load of bullshit about how they had not arranged an actual retailer in the U.K. Halfway through the year and they’ve no means of actual selling their products. Reading between the lines they are winding the brand up, certainly in the U.K. which is a shame. A good product in the hands of idiots...

 

Apart from the shouty American stuff from Hot Wheels there’s not a lot to choose from. Don’t even get me started on those ‘Roadster’ things in Poundland. Every time I see them I’ve a burning desire to stamp on the entire stock. 

[morrisoxide]

Edit: that's a shame about Matchbox 

On the subject of Transits here's one I made earlier. 

. 

It had lost it's tailgate so I drew one out in CAD and plotted it out at work on some scrap polycarb.

I really like the casting on this, loads of detail. It also has a cooker and sink detailing inside.

 

 

[Split_Pin]

Tremendous work!

[64A60]

Impulse bought this Dinky (Meccano not Atlas) Oxford off ebay this afternoon which has been "detailed" by a previous owner. NXR 290 was a 1953 London issue plate so I reckon it 's a replica of a real MO... 

[Amishtat]

I used to do that too, one or two of my Corgis still have sticky-paper numberplates. Since I was that sort of child B37XEV very probably was a Mk. 3 Scrote

[Datsuncog]

5 hours ago, sierraman said:

Ive actually e-mailed Mattel to see what’s happening with retailing Matchbox in the UK as apart from a small batch in one of those fly-by-night Poundland type stores that have dried up, you can’t seem to buy them anywhere in the UK. All I got back was a load of bullshit about how they had not arranged an actual retailer in the U.K. Halfway through the year and they’ve no means of actual selling their products. Reading between the lines they are winding the brand up, certainly in the U.K. which is a shame. A good product in the hands of idiots...

They have previous form for this sort of shit, mind: back in my model shop days, our Matchbox rep went AWOL for basically all of 1997, leaving us with no means of ordering stock. UK Head Office didn't give a toss beyond mild disinterest.

Mind you, we ended up buying a shitload of Tomica and Siku instead to keep some pocket money stock on the spinners, so it worked out ok in the end.

But yeah... never fails to amaze me just how clueless some companies can be. You'd almost think they wanted to go bust.

[Datsuncog]

11 hours ago, Amishtat said:

I used to do that too, one or two of my Corgis still have sticky-paper numberplates. Since I was that sort of child B37XEV very probably was a Mk. 3 Scrote

I feel you... I think some of the Corgis you had from me might still have Scalextric waterslide numberplates attached, since they were close enough in size... but it bugged me knowing that most of them were incorrect in terms of the registration suffix vs. the age of the car...

[sierraman]

That’s rung a bell with me, I have the Scalextric Metros both on V plates. The spares I had I put on my buses. As a kid though I was fascinated with Q plates, so if I made a plate it would probably be that. 

[Datsuncog]

Ah... eBay fun.

So this arrived yesterday.

Erm… a plastic bag, wrapped in tape. Which had been forced through the letterbox by Postman Plod. Let's look inside.

No other packing inside beyond a single layer of bubblewrap...

So have the contents survived the journey intact...?

*

*

*

*

*

*

Erm...

FFS.

This thing had survived reasonably well for 41 years, and now the box is bashed to buggery and back.

Also, I'm not sure I would describe this as an 'immaculate condition' model, as the vendor did. It's far from dreadful, but the pics on his original listing were angled and lit in such as way as to do an excellent job of concealing the quite obvious chipping to the arches, A-posts and side vents.

 

Ah, so what to do... I feel the packaging was wholly inadequate given the old and rather fragile nature of the contents. The model is not really as good as described in the listing.

BUT it was also a cheap auction win, at the same sort of price most vendors are offering out unboxed and battered 'restoration project' X1/9s.

I feel that I can't in good conscience leave positive feedback, as other buyers will rely on that and likely be disappointed too, if this is how blokey habitually angles his camera and packs his items. But is leaving negative feedback a dick move here? Should I contact him?

It's not that I want to send it back for a refund, nor do I expect a partial refund. If I'd encountered this model on the market stall, and been able to inspect it and note all the damage, then on balance I probably still would have taken a punt on it for the same money (full disclosure: it was about £8, posted). And I do particularly like the green version of these (a 1978 colour, I think). And it will still display ok with the others, pretty much.

I've been repeating the above line to myself all morning but I still feel a shade annoyed. It's just... not as good as I'd hoped, based on the pics and description. The Renault 11 and Opel Senator, also eBay purchases, were unboxed but a similar price - neither are unblemished but the vendors were upfront about that, and in fact both of them were better than I'd expected.

Am I whining about nothing here? Caveat emptor, and all that?

I probably just need to suck it up, buttercup, and try to enjoy my little car.

It is very green, after all.

[Tenmil Socket]

I'd be gutted. That's terrible packaging!

 

[Amishtat]

I agree, and that's speaking as a man in that line of work. Completely inadequate 

[Datsuncog]

Aye, it's more about managing expectations... if the car and box had arrived in exactly the same condition but carefully packed in a proper mailing box, then I think I would have accepted that maybe he'd just been a bit artful with the lighting. It's certainly not trashed, but it is lightly chipped. 

I knew the box wasn't pristine from the listing pic, though it does at least look vaguely rectangular - but it ain't now, and that was avoidable.

I sorta feel I've no right to be annoyed given how little (comparatively) I paid, but I'm still peeved.

Still, swings and roundabouts. The gold Senator is a belter.

[Tenmil Socket]

Quick tip that's worked for me...

Carefully separate the glued parts with a sharp blade. Then iron flat on a low heat with a towel over the cardboard. Re-shape and glue back together.

[Tenmil Socket]

Just found a MK3 5dr Escort on Google...