Shite in Miniature II

[sierraman]

Not normally into Hot Wheels but I picked the 1980’s shape Skyline the other week. 

[Bren]

My brother had the ferry - I had the commando one. Prices are eye watering.

[bunglebus]

  On 12/11/2019 at 19:01, Split_Pin said:

The 944 is better than I had hoped! And I also want a Subaru Impreza now!

To the shops this weekend!

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It's nicely detailed

 

20191112_121558 by RS, on Flickr

20191112_121614 by RS, on Flickr

[sierraman]

  On 12/11/2019 at 19:34, Bren said:

My brother had the ferry - I had the commando one. Prices are eye watering.

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And being plastic they are usually fucked. I’ve a picture in a Matchbox book of a used car lot dating from around the mid to late 70’s. Practically unobtainable now. 

[Lord Sterling]

  On 11/11/2019 at 17:09, bunglebus said:

Nicely done MK1 Golf - why did Majorette and Matchbox both chose the 5-door?

Onto Matchbox/Lesney, Merc Scaffold Truck;

Renault 11 - assumed it was a taxi, anyone care to guess what the sign is about?

20191111_150559 by RS, on Flickr

20191111_150614 by RS, on Flickr

Lastly this Siku Jaaag S type, up for grabs if anyone wants it - about half way between 1:64 and King Size scale

20191111_151000 by RS, on Flickr

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Golf - Got on one if these in Black. Took it apart and the wheels out of the suspension securing and 'lowered' it. Looks good.

Merc truck is the same as Fatha_Sterling's old Merc single-car transporter so I reckon I need to find myself one of these.

Renault Taxi has the sign "TAXI PARISIENNE" which basically means "Paris Taxi" and from the James Bond Film - A View to Kill.

Jag  - Got this. Tried to find a Black one to make a replica of the 'Y? JAT' Black Jaguar S-Type I used to admire on the way to college years back.

[155V6]

  On 12/11/2019 at 19:59, sierraman said:

And being plastic they are usually fucked. I’ve a picture in a Matchbox book of a used car lot dating from around the mid to late 70’s. Practically unobtainable now. 

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I was going to post about the same thing.I'm old enough to have seen the car lot when it was new,& I don't remember seeing one then,so maybe they weren't that common?

[Bren]

  On 12/11/2019 at 19:59, sierraman said:

And being plastic they are usually fucked. I’ve a picture in a Matchbox book of a used car lot dating from around the mid to late 70’s. Practically unobtainable now. 

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Oh and by the way loaded with cars they don't float.

[sierraman]

I think I’d have gone temporarily blind with excitement at having this as a kid.

[sierraman]

[sierraman]

The sight that would have made most of incontinent with excitement. 

[vulgalour]

Work has been progressing slowly on the Morris Oxford-ing of the Morestone Austin Cambridge.  I've got as much of the body filling done as I think I can now, so I've moved on to constructing the new grille from beading wire, and the bumper ends from Milliput.  When all this has dried and cured I can file it down to the proper shapes and throw some primer on to see what I've got.  There will no doubt be even more filing and sanding to do.

The main differences between Oxford and Cambridge is the shape of the rear wings, the side moulding on the front door and front wing, and the front grille.  For the side trim, I'm going to have to hand paint it because I've not found a way of attaching very fine wire or thread that doesn't leave me with  very visible glue where I don't want it.  The new grille I've made will be trimmed down on the lower edge, and filed, to tidy that up.  The bumper ends are massively oversized right now and will more closely resemble the rear bumper when I've done.  This has been much more challenging than I'd anticipated.

[bunglebus]

  On 12/11/2019 at 20:57, sierraman said:

 

 

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I had the convoy truck stop, loved it! Wish my mum had kept stuff like that but it probably went to a jumble sale

[sierraman]

In a life parallel to yours it seems I had the truck stop and it also ended up binned. 

[Split_Pin]

Seems they recycled the Truckstop et al many times over up until the 1990s as the Electronic Service Centre as they all look very similar.

My favourite toy car related accessory was the Corgi Juniors 4-in-a-row garage because they looked just like council lockups everywhere.

[eddyramrod]

  On 13/11/2019 at 08:31, Split_Pin said:

the Corgi Juniors 4-in-a-row garage because they looked just like council lockups everywhere.

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I had at least one set of those garages when they were branded Husky.  In fact I think I still have one block, though it may have suffered some damage.  Just like the real thing then!

 

 

ETA: I suppose now I have to find and photograph it for you pervs!

[Tenmil Socket]

  On 12/11/2019 at 20:59, sierraman said:

The sight that would have made most of incontinent with excitement. 

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I remember a similar display for Majorette's in the plastic cartons in the early eighties...

[Tenmil Socket]

That object on the parcel shelf reminds me of the type of graffiti you'd find on toilet walls ?

[Tenmil Socket]

It would be great if Matchbox brought out a modern 'Superkings' range...

[Split_Pin]

  On 13/11/2019 at 09:12, Tenmil Socket said:

It would be great if Matchbox brought out a modern 'Superkings' range...

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As a 10 year old in 1989, I always wished they would bring out a white Metro 'Surf' special edition and fitted with the same wheels that adorned the white Sierra Cosworth which was released that year.

[sierraman]

  On 13/11/2019 at 08:31, Split_Pin said:

Seems they recycled the Truckstop et al many times over up until the 1990s as the Electronic Service Centre as they all look very similar.

My favourite toy car related accessory was the Corgi Juniors 4-in-a-row garage because they looked just like council lockups everywhere.

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Yeah, I still have the rather unlikely sounding Emergency Centre that’s based on the Truck stop. I used to like the car wash they did. Actually worked, in fact mine still does, the kids like playing with it. 

Had the lock up as well, sadly not got it anymore. Might have to make one from MDF...

[Datsuncog]

  On 11/11/2019 at 17:09, bunglebus said:

Bought a bunch of Yat Mings, mostly they're Christmas cracker quality stuff but there are some nice ones that made it worth it;

This was the one I really wanted - looks to me like a copy of the Matchbox Mach I Mustang? It has a loose rivet at the front but I can fix that

20191111_145424 by RS, on Flickr

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That does look suspiciously like the Matchbox casting, right down to the bonnet having a rectangular section where the Lesney original had a cut-out... hmmm.

I hadn't actually realised until you were putting together the Vantastic/Piston Popper just how different the Matchbox Mustang castings were right across the board; I'd assumed they were all broadly the same casting with some tweaks.

I mean, I'd always thought the Piston Popper was just a Rolamaticisation of the original Boss Mustang, but the front ends are totally different:

The Piston Popper has much larger headlights, a better-defined grille and a completely different bonnet and wing profile from the earlier Boss Mustang.

And, as you noticed during your build, the Vantastic is very very similar to the Piston Popper - but quite not the same either, with the base casting being a smidge wider on the Rolamatics version. Never would have guessed it either.

The widebody IMSA Mustang, meanwhile, seems to have taken the bonnet casting from the Boss Mustang but has a slightly different light/grille treatment yet again.

One of the things I enjoy most about this thread is that it's got me looking at my familiar old toys again, but I'm seeing them now in a whole new way.

 

  Quote

Camper van …

20191111_145803 by RS, on Flickr

20191111_145820 by RS, on Flickr

20191111_145834 by RS, on Flickr

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That's really nice - and weirdly, as someone who spent an awful lot of time browsing the Majorette spinner racks in pharmacies and newsagents, I don't ever recall seeing this casting. Nicely bought!

Opening rear door is a nice touch; though the luckless fly may argue otherwise...

 

  On 11/11/2019 at 22:58, flat4alfa said:

arghhhh

Ran low on money last month, took the 5-pack back, amongst other things

Having pangs of regret!

I mean, just look at it

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Mmm, I am very partial to the Chevy Van in all its forms... watch this space!

 

  On 12/11/2019 at 18:01, egg said:

Let's have some close ups on the newly arrived Mercedes 300SE. 

This version may have originally been part of the ferry set, has anyone got one of those by the way?

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I've always wanted one of those, but they do seem to be a clean fortune.

Appears there's three main variants: 

I think the blue and white version in your pic is the early type, then the all-grey 'Commando' version which came with some army vehicles. The red  and white version seems to be the later 1970s type.

The selection of vehicles included seems to have been a bit arbitrary, although the motorboat and trailer seems to have appeared in most sets.

Although the box illustration maybe looks more impressive than the actual ferry, I'd like to see one properly detailed...

 

  On 12/11/2019 at 20:41, Bren said:

Oh and by the way loaded with cars they don't float.

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Matchbox Ferry Disaster Playset? Hmmm... controversial.

That said, I did own a cheapo plastic moulded rear-loading car ferry (by Honeywell?) which I used to 'anchor' (string/big stone) in shallow water at the seaside, and then bombard from a distance with compressed balls of sand, to see how long it would take before it sank or capsized...

I'm sure I lost more than one or two of my Matchbox cars that way (the boat could carry about 9, if memory serves). War is hell, kids.

Dunno where it went - by the end I'd painted it up with rust streaks and glued on various bits of broken plastic kits, to make it look intentionally horrible like some sort of abandoned ship. So possibly it was quietly binned while my back was turned.

 

I also had a Bruder ro-ro ferry which I sold on last year, but it was only good for HO scale cars (and it was very toy-like).

[Datsuncog]

Talking about playsets, the only one I had from new was the Motor City 500 set:

It was an impressive bit of kit, and I liked the way it could be reconfigured into different sorts of buildings, a bit like Lego.

I also coveted the truck stop and service centre, but never had 'em.

I did have the Hot Wheels Construction Site (portable carry case thing) mentioned a few pages back, so I wasn't doing too badly, mind.

The 500 set was no doubt flogged for a pittance (still in its box!) at a car boot sale sometime in the mid-90s. Ah now...

 

Does anyone remember Corgi's ill-fated efforts to muscle in on this multi-level playset market in the late 1980s?

I have a 1988 trade catalogue giving this whole spiel about fantastic opportunities and brilliant mark-up, followed by pages and pages of... really weird, really grey, really bland plastic sets that don't make any sense, and which I couldn't imagine any child wanting to own.

In fact, they look more like the dashboard out of a base Metro than a child's toy. Really odd.

I know Corgi did an Eddie Stobart depot set in the 1990s which was similar to the Matchbox Convoy truck stop, but these pre-date all of that.

Must scan some pics of that catalogue later on, as I can find nothing online about them.

[sierraman]

Yeah Corgi did the Autocity Range, the road with the bridge was good, still have that, the multi storey car park was less convincing however. 

I’ve got a shit load of off cuts knocking about, I often think it would be great to knock up a showroom or something. Or a dodgy used car lot. 

[flat4alfa]

  On 13/11/2019 at 12:57, Datsuncog said:

I know Corgi did an Eddie Stobart depot set in the 1990s which was similar to the Matchbox Convoy truck stop, but these pre-date all of that.

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I was too old by then for this.  Discovered cars and girls, you see.

[flat4alfa]

  On 13/11/2019 at 12:57, Datsuncog said:

In fact, they look more like the dashboard out of a base Metro

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Talking of dashboards, you've just reminded me of this

Don't think I ever saw one outside of the catalogues....

[flat4alfa]

I had this playset as a young child.  I wish I'd looked after it.  Still have the figures and some of the vehicles, but everything else gone

[bramz7]

I had some BP branded multi story when I was 5 or so, it used to collapse with alarming regularity. My brother had a better one, think it was a Matchbox thing circa 1997....which I very nearly broke and had a meltdown over on the day he got it all those years ago. Funny how the utter terror I felt then is still burned into my head. 

[sierraman]

Anyone remember those cheap multi storey car parks you got at Woolworths, it had a sort of central lift and parking slots either side?

[flat4alfa]

[junkyarddog]

I picked up a few sets of these knocked off Matchbox roadways,during the summer at a car boot.

Note all the matchbox cars on the box.

The delights contained within.