Shite in Miniature II

[eddyramrod]

I definitely never saw that Moskvitch!  I would certainly have picked up a couple.  Darn, never mind eh?

[Tenmil Socket]

54 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Rattle cans can give good results, must set up my airbrush though

 

20190310_090330 by RS, on Flickr

Do you use primer?

[egg]

1 hour ago, junkyarddog said:

Find the caustic soda too harsh,I've experienced paint reaction problems from it too,despite scrubbing the model thoroughly with clean water and washing up liquid after the caustic solution. 

I rub down with fine wire wool, then polish with autosol, and then pre-paint prep with rubbing alcohol, and it's been mostly ok for me.

Following advice on here I always etch prime, sometimes then 'normal' prime before top coats (sometimes clear lacquer on top if it's a matt finish)

[Datsuncog]

Just to follow on from the discussion on resurrected agricultural vehicles by Matchbox from earlier in the week, I forgot to mention the MB40 Bedford TM Horse Box of 1978 which, like the Dodge Cattle Truck, was kind of a mash-up of two separate, older toys...

The back end on the Bedford Horse Box is a straight lift from the MB17 AEC Ergomatic Horse Box, which first appeared in 1969 and was deleted mid-way through 1972.

Now, I'd always thought that the Bedford Horse Box was a development of the MB11 Bedford Car Transporter first seen the previous year, but only when I pulled the above pair from my toybox and looked at them side-by-side did I realise that they're actually two quite different castings.

Granted, these two aren't in the best of health but close examination shows that the Horse Box cab is both taller, wider and squarer at the corners than the Transporter.

The number plates are also different, with Lesney casting the then-current plate suffix into each at the point of tooling - AJW 53R on the 1977 release Transporter, and RSK 76S on the 1978 Horse Box.

 

Side-on, you'll note that the doorhandles are recessed on the Horse Box, while sticky-out on the Transporter; and the step below the door is also a shade wider on the Horse Box.

 

Further construction differences are more readily apparent on the underside: 

The Transporter has a 'strip' baseplate with two rivets, while the Horse Box imitates the earlier AEC with a single rivet fastening at the front and tongue and slot at the back of the plastic body.

Other than the wheels, there is no commonality between these two at all!

 

I've owned this pair for as long as I can remember, and they've both clearly seen some hard use even though I don't remember playing with them all that much - the size discrepancy meant they looked weird alongside my other cars.

I could never quite decide if I liked or loathed the stylised little plastic Princesses in primary colours loaded onto the Transporter either, and now one of mine seems to have gone walkies - but in retrospect it was an innovative model in the 1-75 range, and I'm not aware of any other manufacturers trying to model a car transporter complete with shrunken-down load.

The Car Transporter lasted in the range until 1983, at which point it was deleted and has yet to reappear in any form.

I believe a slightly crude pirate version of this toy also exists, though - possibly all-plastic, but definitely drawing heavily on the Matchbox original.

There are a few of them over in the model shop in Smithfield; I've never looked that closely at them but I probably should, as I can't seem to turn up any pics online...

 

The Bedford version of the Horse Box lasted a fair bit longer than the original  AEC, clocking up seven years before being discontinued as a mainline model in 1985, although, like the Cattle Truck, it continued to appear in gift sets throughout the 80s and 90s such as the aforementioned Farm Set and also the 'Circus Circus' Set (another retirement home for cast-off Lesney-era castings).

It was also brightly reworked as part of the 'My First Matchbox' range of 1992 - which has been touched on previously on this thread, but I don't think it's been explored in depth yet.

Then, surprisingly, the casting put in a final turn-of-the-millennium performance alongside the resurrected Cattle Truck as part of the 'Farming' subset of the main 1999/2000 range.

 

My own Horse Box is also a bit of an oddity, as firstly it's made in Macau - placing it as a post-1983 version - but also has an orange cab, brown body and white door ramp which doesn't seem to be a listed variant in the Charlie Mack book (though I should check that again, in case I missed it).

And finally, while the two supplied horses are long-missing from mine - assuming I even owned it new in the first place, which is doubtful - look at the size of the buggers!

I don't know what they feed them on in Matchboxland, but I wouldn't like to be mucking out the box afterwards...

[Split_Pin]

Very interesting,  I have 2 colours of the transporter and the Horse Box with a green cab and apart from the numberplates I thought the castings were derived from one another. I've had them for nearly 40 years and have never spotted this. I played with them both quite a bit but thwy have survived well although the Princesses were prized off by my mum on the older of the 2 transporters, at the request of a 3 year old me. They still turn up from time to time around the house.

Strange that they didnt just adapt one cab casting for the other.

[Datsuncog]

16 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Strange that they didnt just adapt one cab casting for the other.

It really is strange... I'm wondering if it was really no easier to adapt an existing casting than it was to make a new tooling from scratch; this is where I really need to learn more about the modelmaking process.

 

Incidentally, I hadn't realised just how much variation there was in the Ergomatic cabs - I'd thought that the earlier Regular Wheels version of the Horse Box was a Leyland, just like the Tanker, the Pipe Truck and the Site Hut Truck.

But while shuffling photos here, I realised that it was in fact an AEC... though it's not apparently the same AEC front end casting Lesney used on the Merryweather Fire Engine (it's a bit smaller).

Bizarre.

I probably need to gather all of the above together and have another photo-session...

[Datsuncog]

I picked up quite a few Matchbox in 2008, partly because they seemed to be going through a really good patch (with realistic models of new releases like the Volvo C30 and Honda Civic, and Heritage Classics like the Citroen DS and '69 Cadillac) and partly because I was newly single and found myself at a loose end rather a lot.

My ex did not really understand my passion for smol cars (and said as much), so I might have gone a bit loopy.

So one last comparison set for today...

My original MB68 Chevy Van, versus the 2008 release MB40 Chevy van.

At first, I thought that the orange van was the same casting as my original, just now with a plastic base and newer-style wheels, but broadly the same van.

Wrong.

While very similar, it's a brand-new casting.

Thicker window posts and more bulbous wheelarch flares first aroused my suspicions.

The roof ridges are much more clearly defined on the Lesney, and the skylights more finely outlined.

The rear is completely different; although the rear tab and slot fastening is the same, it's far more prominent on the new version  and the door and rear light treatment are not the same at all.

The licence plate has also been changed slightly to make the dimensions seem more realistic for a US vehicle; and I'm heartened to see that the TC 4728 number was re-used, however.

I felt a smidge cheated at first when I realised it was a new casting altogether, but in fairness the original tooling was never meant to last as long as it did (until 1997!) and no doubt Mattel felt a need to start again with brand new tooling which was still very much in the spirit of the original, yet capable of meeting current toy safety regulations.

Plus, there's now an interior - which there wasn't before.

 

I'm not 100% sure where my green Chevy Van came from; it may have been bought new for me - it's a 1981 colourway so seems a bit early, but then stock rotation in small shops often wasn't great - or it may have come secondhand in a bundle of toys from some friend of my mum's.

But I've had it for as long as I can remember, and the paint has stood up to some serious abuse over the years - although the wheels and axles have clearly suffered.

Somehow I managed to get a split in one of the front wheels, which meant it wouldn't spin freely anymore - I remember I ended up chewing the barbed bit off just so it would roll again.

This was one of the cars I used to bring into school, and zoom up and down the concrete incline near the boilerhouse - sometimes sending it flying down the steps, in imitation of whatever I might have seen on The A-Team, Knight Rider or Dukes of Hazzard that week...

A paint-pen refresh in the early 1990s didn't exactly help its appearance all that much, but I'm still very fond of this one.

Like the Cortina and Thunderbird, I intend to find a good boxed example one day...

[155V6]

Re: the Bedford car transporter,Majorette made a similar scale articulated transporter with a removable plastic Porsche 924 & Renault Alpine 310,& I'm sure I've seen a Tomica transporter with a similar thing.There is a plastic copy of the Matchbox Bedford that came with Playmobil toys.

[Tenmil Socket]

@Datsuncog RE: The car transporter. I used to always try and pull the cars off when I was a nipper. They do have a Princess look about them...

[bunglebus]

4 hours ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Do you use primer?

Yes, usually white. I should also add it's far better to do several light coats of colour then a slightly heavier one so it glosses up nicely. Heavy coats not only tend to sag, I find it creeps away from shut lines etc and shows the primer underneath. Primer colour has an affect on the final colour to an extent too, this one is actually dayglo orange but over grey primer. Ended up quite a pleasing period looking terracotta shade

 

20190816_175131 by RS, on Flickr

[bunglebus]

5 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Gosh, I never saw a Lada in green either (though I have a yellow plod version) - but I seem to recall a few folks on here managed to bag the green Moskvitch 2140, as below:

 

Got this out of Poundland years ago, they used to do the really small Cararama(?) stuff too

 

DSC_0026_zpsd97ecea9 by RS, on Flickr

[flat4alfa]

4 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

paint stripper. 

Which one do you find is the best?

[junkyarddog]

50 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Which one do you find is the best?

Not sure really,just tend to use what I find in the shop.

I did find a nearly full tin of Nitromors at the recycling center a while ago,and that was good.

I'm using this stuff at the moment.Wide lid means I just drop the castings in and leave them there for a day or so,works reasonably well. 

I fish out the casting with a pliers,then scrape off the excess stripper back into the pot,then wash the casting with water and an old toothbrush.

It generally leaves them spotless.

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, 155V6 said:

Re: the Bedford car transporter,Majorette made a similar scale articulated transporter with a removable plastic Porsche 924 & Renault Alpine 310

Crikey, you're right.

Nice replicas of the Porsche and Renault, too. Just a bit smaller than the standard Majorette scale.

 

Quote

I'm sure I've seen a Tomica transporter with a similar thing.

Apparently so!

The 'load cars' are much more like the Matchbox version in terms of simplicity, though apparently this model came a year after the Matchbox version?

 

Quote

There is a plastic copy of the Matchbox Bedford that came with Playmobil toys.

Ah, now this is where things get interesting.

I somehow had it in my head that the Bedford Transporter copies were by Playmobil, but internet searches didn't seem to bring anything relevant up.

It also seemed kinda odd because the ones in the model shop case seemed pretty poor in terms of quality - and Playmobil toys always looked pretty good.

But then some dreadful thumbnail sized images showed up...

And a spot of digging reveals... 

…that apparently in the early 1980s a Hungarian toy outfit called Schenk made rough copies of the Matchbox models, and then sold them under the Playmobil name stolen from its rightful German owner, Brandstatter - their copyright-baiting antics protected from behind the Iron Curtain.

And it wasn't just the Bedford - Schenk ripped off a whole range of Matchbox models, a job lot of which went through Vectis Auction in 2015:

As well as the loose Bedfords in there, I can see Planet Scouts, Fire Chiefs, De Tomaso Panteras, Caravans and even what might be a Datsun 126X.

And then, in the boxed Lots, there were not only more Bedfords (in deeply unconvincing Playmobil branded boxes) but also...

...these blister-packed Leyland articulated trucks and the 1970s Freeway Gas Tanker - which seem to be branded as 'Hobby Cars' and, just to put the tin hat on this IP-breaching haul, feature what looks awfully like a pirate version of the Siku 'chequered flag' mascot!

Wow.

It seems that as well as cars, Schenk also made pirate copies of Playmobil figures and playsets too, and found themselves in considerable legal hot water when they continued to sell the toys after the fall of Communism in the 1990s.

So - not really made by Playmobil after all, but kinda fascinating nonetheless.

Well, fascinating for me, anyway...

Also - can you see that someone's taken it upon themselves to apply Citroen badges to the bonnets of the load cars?

 

Guess they didn't have all that many BL dealers in Bucharest...

Cheers for the steer, folks - always a joy to find new tat info!!

[155V6]

Fascinating as always DC.I've never actually seen one of those Bedford copies,just read about them on forums.Great to find out the story behind them ?

[Tenmil Socket]

I want one of each now...

[egg]

24 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

I want one of each now...

yup, if you pay too much attention to this thread it can bankrupt you. Fascinating stuff.

[flat4alfa]

I’m still waiting for the pre-order on the ‘Datsun Cog Diecast Reference Manual’ book

Looked on Amazon, but still can’t find it listed

Will it be as hard to find as ‘Fly Fishing’ by J R Hartley? I hope not

[egg]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tomica-No-14-Toyota-Car-Transporter-Orange-3-Red-Cars-Very-Near-Mint-Unboxed/274111664385?hash=item3fd2541101%3Ag%3AaqEAAOSw9zxd2kIv&LH_ItemCondition=4

£40!

[flat4alfa]

That makes it only £10 per vehicle though. Bargain

[flat4alfa]

Hey this is the one you want

Tomica’s Isuzu .....with an Isuzu 117 Coupe on the back!

Available now for under a tenner

[egg]

oh yes, angle seems a little steep though!

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, egg said:

£40!

I’ve found two on German eBay for under a fiver

[bunglebus]

Did I show you guys this? Guy had a load of them as bankrupt stock or similar

 

Hot Wheels 001_zpszy3ceg3r by RS, on Flickr

 

 

[Spottedlaurel]

For stripping paint off 1:24/25 plastic kits I've used a bath of brake fluid.

Excellent info about the Bedfords, I only recently picked up a modern version of the horsebox and would never have known about the differences.

I did recognise the body, as I have the older AEC Superfast amongst my collection of MIB Ergomatics:

Still missing the Pipe Truck, doubtless that'll cost me a fair bit when I find one at a toy fair (not going to start buying them on eBay, it'd be far too easy to spend a lot of money that way).

I've had a Regular Wheels version of it since I was young, which differed from the later Superfast in having cast-in stakes on the side of the bed. The plastic moulding on the later one could be removed, giving a perfect size for carrying the containers that came along in the late '70s.

[Split_Pin]

Postman has been.

I was pretty stressed from work today so it has taken me until now to bring myself to open it, normally I'm right on it.

Anyway, Norev 'Renault Toys' Megane II

Realtoy. I thought this was an R56, alas no its yet another R50.

Fuck knows

At least this is really nice, Superfast XM

Renault S56 from a shitty Smyths Multipack. However worth having IMO as models of this are hard to find. EFE only had about 3 releases of their Reeve Burgess Beaver bus, Nottingham, Barton and something else. I have the Barton one (which was a former Nottingham bus anyway) so this will go right beside it.

 

This is mint, think I have a spare trailer that would fit it although its the earlier small-type Convoy trailer. Pleased with this one too.

 

 

[flat4alfa]

34 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Fuck knows

Oh it’s not one of them, it’s one of these

https://hotwheels.fandom.com/wiki/Ambulance_(1989)

https://maisto.fandom.com/wiki/Ambulance

[flat4alfa]

2 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

For stripping paint off 1:24/25 plastic kits I've used a bath of brake fluid.

Does it hurt the clear?

[Spottedlaurel]

Just now, flat4alfa said:

Does it hurt the clear?

Never had cause to try it on clear parts, the kits I used it on were unfinished or disassembled to their component pieces.

Could be worth a try though, I don't recall it marking the plastic much/at all. Find a scrap piece with some overpaint and give it a go?

[flat4alfa]

13 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

I felt a smidge cheated at first when I realised it was a new casting altogether

(ahem.....) There are three standard castings for the Chevrolet van. I mean, not including the wrecker, obvs

Will explain later

I only posted this because 1) it might make the OCD kick in, 2) Tat Fri is upon us, 3) You started all this!