Shite in Miniature II

[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!

[bunglebus]

9 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

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

Never had it harm plastic, I use it to get paint off plastic parts although it's slow - I have found some where the paint has reacted with the plastic though, in which case I use 1500 wet and dry with soap and water, then either polish or a dip in self shining wooden floor polish

This one being case in point

20190919_103916 by RS, on Flickr

20191017_121127 by RS, on Flickr

4 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Tat Fri is upon us

Whoop whoop!

[Tenmil Socket]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Never had it harm plastic, I use it to get paint off plastic parts although it's slow - I have found some where the paint has reacted with the plastic though, in which case I use 1500 wet and dry with soap and water, then either polish or a dip in self shining wooden floor polish

This one being case in point

20190919_103916 by RS, on Flickr

20191017_121127 by RS, on Flickr

Whoop whoop!

That's a lovely transformation @bunglebus... those wheels really finish it off nicely!

[bunglebus]

Cheers - Real Riders are lovely but often I can't justify buying a nice car just to rob the wheels. A lot of my wheel swaps are from off brand stuff, some of the cheap chinese cars have decent looking wheels on them, especially if they're supposed to be an F1 car or something. You can buy aftermarket wheels but still £4+ a set, I rummage in the charity shops looking for potential donors. Maisto is a good bet

Matchbox wheels;

VW 006_zpstawyvwye by RS, on Flickr

P4210003_zpszxcpedmu by RS, on Flickr

071_zpsk8c436af by RS, on Flickr

20190303_232242 by RS, on Flickr

 

These were off some Chinese racing car

 

20190610_130941 by RS, on Flickr

 

Hot Wheels do some decent Steelies

 

20190511_140137 by RS, on Flickr

 

These are off those Disney CARS vehicles

 

20190612_165321 by RS, on Flickr

20190702_154132 by RS, on Flickr

 

Even put HW blackwalls on a Chinese knockoff to make a Jackups replica

 

20190705_142112 by RS, on Flickr

 

Proper rubber tyres on these, no idea what I robbed them off of but it was probably some generic stock car racer 

 

IMG_20190720_183027_443 by RS, on Flickr

 

Scale is way off here but these were off a Lotus 7, actually quite a nice model but had a few bits missing. I have a plan to put these on a different, slightly larger scale MK and this one will gain Minilites

 

20190807_114519 by RS, on Flickr

 

You can even make deep dish wheels with a bit of effort

 

20190425_181659 by RS, on Flickr

 

Must have customised this when I was about 13, wheels are JPS Lotus!

 

More 017_zpsasqxmj9v by RS, on Flickr

 

Another one with Cheapie Chinese wheels

 

20191001_110604 by RS, on Flickr

 

Real Riders - off a really nice casting with godawful Pepe Le Pew paint, didn't feel too bad about that one!

 

20191117_142236 by RS, on Flickr

 

I did once splash out on a set of Greenlight wheels from Modelmatic, £6+post for four sets of wheels with rubber tyres and axles isn't bad

 

20190321_115329 by RS, on Flickr

20190310_164038 by RS, on Flickr

20190611_103939 by RS, on Flickr

20190610_133132 by RS, on Flickr

 

[Datsuncog]

It's on.

 

[Datsuncog]

Well, after a forced sabbatical last week, I had my fingers and toes crossed for a bumper haul of wondrous new tat on the stall (while trying to tamp down the horrid feeling that maybe last week the table had been laden with mint 'n' boxed Spot-On for a quid a throw).

As ever, the truth was somewhere in between.

Zing!

First up, the Scalextric Austin-Healey grabbed my attention, unsurprisingly.

In attic-fresh condition, this was complete bar the back bumper though looked in need of some light recommissioning.

A rather hefty £20 asked on this; apparently there had been three others 'just sold', and this was the last one.

There's undoubtable collector's appeal here - while it's also likely to be snapped up quick-smart, happy to return and see, should anyone need this in their lives.

More old slot-car tat was also in evidence.

Now, the next thing to arrest my attention was, of course, the Impy Flyer Zodiac estate and Corgi Rockets Stock Car.

These set my alarm bells a-tingling though - crispy fresh box but quite a lot of chips on the diecast themselves... yup, we're into The Repro Box Zone.

I really do like this casting, but with quite a lot of badly touched-up paint damage, I couldn't quite see a tenner's worth here.

Rockets Stock Car was the same, though I think the body had been repainted silver as all the stickers were missing. The yellow base was still pretty chipped-looking.

This was then set down on the stall as I was snapping pics/slavering:

This Dinky Beetle is all-original in its box, and in genuinely good nick.

It probably is worth the £30 asking price all day long.

Unfortunately, I didn't have £30 in my pocket and the ATM outside was bust, so I didn't.

Graaaah.

The Dinky Supertoys Leyland Octopus tanker seemed to be missing its glazing and had been at least partly repainted. £10 on this one, same as the older tanker beside it.

Lots of Bburago and New Ray 1/43 stuff today, you'll note.

Oh, and buses plus other 00 gauge stuff too at £5.

Tat box was present and correct, though I couldn't detect much new stock in there today:

Dinky aircraft looked interesting and not bad value at 50p, despite their battered status. 

Though as I was wandering past shortly after, I saw a dad with two kids leaving the stall each holding one, so looks like they're going back to being toys again...

Those looking big engines for custom projects: it this truck wreck any use?

There was a Red Rider lurking in there too, but missing its powerplant sadly.

 

Cheapo rubbishy £2 table was... reliably cheap and rubbish.

So I poked a little more, decided there wasn't anything quite worth me getting in a tizz about this week, and wandered off to see what else there was on the other stalls...

[more to follow!]

[cms206]

@Split_Pin That Beaver is a Merc rather than the S56; EFE did dozens of Mercedes Beaver variants in high and low 'box flavour, but only two S56s - Barton and Nottingham, both from the same batch of buses. The Beaver is a really nice casting, pity they never did an Iveco variant.

I've got three S56 kits I need to build upstairs. One day...

[quicksilver]

10 minutes ago, cms206 said:

@Split_Pin That Beaver is a Merc rather than the S56; EFE did dozens of Mercedes Beaver variants in high and low 'box flavour, but only two S56s - Barton and Nottingham, both from the same batch of buses. The Beaver is a really nice casting, pity they never did an Iveco variant.

I've got three S56 kits I need to build upstairs. One day...

That Beaver is very odd. It's clearly derived from the EFE somewhere along the line but with an awful lot of changes, not least the fact it's quite a bit shorter. I made my own Iveco Beaver by grafting the bonnet of a Siku camper to a Lancer kit (resin being much easier to chop than diecast).

Iveco Beaver by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

[Tadhg Tiogar]

20 minutes ago, cms206 said:

....I've got three S56 kits I need to build upstairs. One day...

Ha.....I have a motorised Celica Supra kit that I started in the late 1980s and still haven't got around to finishing.

To say nothing of the kits for the Subaru XT, BMW M635CSi and Z8, which are still in their boxes.....

[Datsuncog]

I dandered amidst the seasonal tat; the pyrographic artists; the fella who'll do you a full Ulster Fry in a Belfast Bap (don't attempt that one if you're wearing a white shirt, is my advice) to see whether anything else tat-worthy could be found.

Alan's Emporium had nothing of significance with wheels, though one of the stalls on Giffer Alley did have a handful of broken Dinky and Lesney in among the Days Gone and militaria, including a semi-wheelless Dinky Range Rover in bronze.

The Giffer Brigade were all out in force, and I couldn't be arsed with the customary Greek Chorus of "Them's Dinkys, them's rare, so they are..." if I made to pick one up...

...so I just hurried on past.

The Charity Stall (which may or may not actually be for charity - I now think on it, it appears that the fella has two stalls side by side, one for some church fund and one for his own collectables) did pull out a surprise:

Some Brumm pre-war racers (Benz Blitzen and Alfa Romeo 2300?) were there for a tenner each - complete with warning sticker about how they were 'Collectors' models, not for children under 14' (which used to nark me something shocking when I was 11 or 12). Also, quite a nice Corgi Mercedes 300SC in maroon - unfortunately marred by a dirty great scrape down one door, otherwise, I would have had it for a fiver.

The Lone Star fantasy tipper truck looked in very good nick (there were actually two the same) but it didn't really grab me.

Further back, another set of high-end old-timers - Solido Age d'Or models of a Hispano-Suiza and Dodge Phaeton. Nice enough in their own way, but again not my bag, baby.

There don't seem to be any smol diecast going on the stall these days, but I do live in perpetual hope.

That Matchbox Zodiac Mk4 was tasty enough to bring me back here again and again every week forever, like a tat-snaffling version of Greyfriars Bobby.

 

So I looped back round to Ground Zero, Market Blokey's turf, in case anything else of note had appeared in the interim (at which point the kids carrying the 50p Dinky Jaguar and Hawker Siddley aircraft walked past me), and noticed that there was another box or two behind the stall...

Aha, now we're talking.

This Matchbox K-53 Hot Rod Fire Engine was missing its ladder, but still had the driver and other items present. Bit of scuff to the plated parts, but otherwise a presentable enough wee thing.

The all-white R5 Turbo interested me at first, til I twigged that it was a poorly-done repaint held together with superglue and with the axles collapsed. The interior had also been painted white.

Big Dinky Mercedes 600 Pullman was missing its bootlid and a headlight lens, but otherwise looked restorable enough with no glazing cracks.

I'm mildly concerned about these Corgis, the Chevrolet Astro and Toyota 2000GT drop-top, which are in reasonable shape but certainly won't be if Corgi Cameos and Days Gone keep getting dropped on them.

Maisto oddities: a Renaultsport Clio II and a dusty Fiat Marea.

I

Loads of New Ray convertible models in here, mostly far from mint; as mentioned in previous weeks, still occupying an uncomfortable collectible no-man's-land.

The rest was mostly modern rubbish, plus some incomplete older trailers - the cheapo promotional buses plus sun-faded cereal box freebies smacked of somebody's overflowing sideboard being cleared.

I'm not all that drawn to Super GTs, but this still-sealed triple pack looked pretty reasonable - even though the blacked-out glazing in the Fire Chief's car had fallen in. Gold car at the bottom is the Monteverdi Hai casting.

And there was yet another box, which seemed to be the £2 table overflow stock...

...and it was from this box that I finally was urged to put my hand in my pocket (you can probably guess, can't you?)

[Datsuncog]

Yup, I'm a sucker for Matchbox these days.

The box has well and truly been opened here, which at least avoids any difficult moral dilemmas.

Nice model, this - Matchbox did a decent job with this one.

Seems to be an early promotional version, designed to tie-in with the Ford launch.

I only had one in Xpress Parcels livery, received as part of a gift set, which got quite bashed up in the toy bucket. It's nice to have a minty version, in a box.

Quite pleased with that.

 

And another from the £2 box, maybe a little less expectedly:

Yup, it's an Oxford Diecast 1/43 of an Austin 7.

While models of  pre-1960 cars don't really grab me in general, I'll make an exception for this one. The Baby Austin was such an impressively basic package, and so improbably small, that I do have a soft spot for it.

Oxford's crack at the wire wheels (using clear plastic hubs with 'spokes' applied) might not be overly convincing, but for the price I really can't complain.

Plastic case is complete and uncracked too.

 

So! Mebbe not a week to go down in the annals of diecast-collecting lore, but some nice things kicking about all the same.

Let me know if a lunchtime trip back is in order, kids...

[Tenmil Socket]

Nice Transit...

[flat4alfa]

I want the Scalextric Healey but too dear

will have the big engined wrecker and engineless big banger red rider

also what price on the Denver fantasy fire dept?

[Rover414]

If the EFE RMA is a fiver and is still there I'd take that.

[bunglebus]

The white buggy type affair in the 1st picture + the red Corgi buggy - any idea on prices? If they're a couple of quid I'm in!

[sierraman]

There can’t be a lot of money in buying and selling models these days. Once you’ve took off the couple of quid for the table, your fuel etc there can’t be a lot left. 

I love those at car boot sales etc flogging what could be politely described as rubbish and wanting the fucking earth and a spleen for some trod on 1970’s superfasts. 

[flat4alfa]

Is the dirty great scrape on the Merc cabrio door polishable out ?

[flat4alfa]

I like the Hot Rod fire engine but how much 

[RoadworkUK]

I've got that Transit somewhere, in played-with but far from shabby condition. 'Twas one of my favourites to cruise around the living room; it somehow seemed incredibly sporty. Love the headlights, too.

[Datsuncog]

Incoming...

 

Hopefully some folk will be pleased, based on the above wantlists!

[flat4alfa]

40 minutes ago, sierraman said:

 trod on 1970’s superfasts. 

GIB !

[barrett]

This arrived today. Not sure why I thought whitemetal was lightweight like resin, but it weighs a flippin' ton! Lovely detailed and accurate casting, too, but I still cant fathom somebody paying £100+ for something like this

[flat4alfa]

Would £15 buy the Scalex Healey?

[Datsuncog]

2 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

I want the Scalextric Healey but too dear

I thought you might - and I also felt that it was.

At a tenner, I would have grabbed it then and there.

However, it was goneski by the time I puttered back over, so... that. as they say, appears to be that.

Quote

will have the big engined wrecker and engineless big banger red rider

Procured, and ready to be added to your box!

Truck thing is stamped 'Ideal Toy Corporation 1982 - Made in Macau', if that means anything to anyone? That might be some sort of launcher thing at the back, perhaps.

Quote

also what price on the Denver fantasy fire dept?

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

I like the Hot Rod fire engine but how much 

As it turned out - £3 each.

Not bad condition overall, bar the fire engine's ladder looking a little bit bent.

If you're not fussed on them at the price, I'll offer them out generally!

 

2 hours ago, Rover414 said:

If the EFE RMA is a fiver and is still there I'd take that.

It was, and it's yours!

 

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

The white buggy type affair in the 1st picture + the red Corgi buggy - any idea on prices? If they're a couple of quid I'm in!

As per the above, £3 each.

Happy enough with the pair of them?

 

There were actually a few different Corgi GP Beach Buggies in the box, though this was the only one with a hood.

 

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

Is the dirty great scrape on the Merc cabrio door polishable out ?

Sadly not - it was right through to the metal. One side still looked okay, though.

The stall had already packed up by the time I made it over, and since the model shop in Smithfield still has mint/boxed versions of the 300SC for £10, I reckon it might represent better value for money...