Shite in Miniature II

[155V6]

This morning's finds,always good to find Red lines for 50p ?.The Alpine came from Morrisons.

 

 

[Split_Pin]

I drove down Grahams Road in Falkirk a few weeks ago and noticed that McLaren Models, what would have been the last Model Shop in the town has now closed. It was a famiky run business and must have been there for nearly 50 years. They moved to a bigger premises across the road from their original shop in around 2000. 

I started going in the late 1980s as they sold proper models and my first from there was a blue GAMA Audi 80 B3.

I used to earn £15 per Saturday in Mclaren Transport HGV workshop and I went straight to the model shop in the afternoon. £9.99 for an EFE bus and £5 in the tank of Mum's Fiesta for Saturday night

Latterly though the shop only stocked expensive models and I hadn't been in years.

Still sad though.

[junkyarddog]

I hope to find one of those Alpines, they look great.

[flat4alfa]

Currently wandering about a large town in the south-east today

...went into big shopping mall

...it’s two weeks to Christmas

The Entertainer was SHUT !!

I don’t understand marketeers.

[Split_Pin]

Always shuts on a Sunday.

[flat4alfa]

Did they not learn from ToysRus ?

[sierraman]

2 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Always shuts on a Sunday.

Yeah I noticed that on the one in town local to us. 

[MarvinsMom]

the entertainer is family owned and the guy who runs it has a strong christian thing going on, so no trading on a Sunday. 

[flat4alfa]

Ah good for them then. Taken back.

I’m surprised he’s not been ousted though... For not pandering to other religions who want to shop, that is ?

[flat4alfa]

On 12/13/2019 at 8:42 PM, bunglebus said:

Yes just sussed it out thanks! Thought at first it was a pull-back as I could feel something going on with the rear wheels.

Matchbox Super Kings Bedford CF does the same action

[sierraman]

10 hours ago, MarvinsMom said:

the entertainer is family owned and the guy who runs it has a strong christian thing going on, so no trading on a Sunday. 

More companies should take a leaf from their book. 

[egg]

On 11/17/2019 at 2:01 PM, rainagain said:

£7.87 shipped on AliExpress if that helps. 

Thanks! Actually found one for £3.52 delivered from China on AliExpress. Arrived today, in time for Xmas...

[sierraman]

Bought this from a charity shop today. £3 boxed and like new. I’ve probably paid way way in excess it’s market value but I like this one. Incidentally there were shit loads of old Models of Yesteryears so if that’s your thing then go to Ashby de la Zouch. There’s fucking hundreds of them, I can only assume some old miner spent his pension investing in them, then died off, the family shipped them all off down to the heart foundation!

[bunglebus]

I just can't get excited about them, I guess I could make a nice hot rod out of that woodie but most leave me cold, nicely made as they are

[junkyarddog]

Got this Dodge dragster from C1am.

A yellow base car,but it was overpainted blue.

"Looks fucked m8"

Shush,smoll Eddie!

A coat of paint,some new wheels and a few other bits n pieces later we have this.

"Needs new stickers M8"

I've some on order smoll Eddy. 

Even though I managed to get the paint from the old ones that were on there,they were just too battered to use.

"Take it away,the paint is hurting my eyes M8"

 

[bunglebus]

Oh yes, I like that - seen a green base but never a yellow

[bunglebus]

Right, after much faffing, I have scanned the 1978 Guisval postage stamp catalogue

 

Guisval 1978 01 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 02 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 03 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 04 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 05 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 06 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 07 (2) by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 08 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 09 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 10 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 11 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 12 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 13 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 14 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 15 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 16 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 17 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 18 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 19 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 20 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 21 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 22 by RS, on Flickr

Guisval 1978 23 by RS, on Flickr

 

Needless to say there are loads here I'd love to get my mitts on, any ex-pat shiters that can nose around the flea markets or import eBay buys without extortionate postage fees?

[egg]

I think looking for bargains on todocoleccion and using Google translate might be best for Guisval.

https://en.todocoleccion.net/

[junkyarddog]

21 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Oh yes, I like that - seen a green base but never a yellow

I've never seen a green base one!

One thing that puzzled me slightly about this casting is the fact they never made the road going version in this scale.

The mustang and cougar were available as normal then dragster style,but never the charger.

[bunglebus]

No that's true. Standard and hot rodded Superkings but only the funny car in 1:64. Mind you they didn't do a road going Dragon Wheels either

 

I've been nosing on Spanish eBay for Guisval, problem will be shipping and my complete lack of Spanish

[Datsuncog]

On ‎12‎/‎13‎/‎2019 at 1:32 PM, Datsuncog said:

Well, I ambled back over to the market in a caffeinated stupor to find an alarming dearth of miniature public service vehicles...

Apparently someone arrived just after me and scooped the whole lot.

Banjax.

 

Okay then, as promised - the follow-up to Friday's Tat Jamboree Part II, delayed by dint of me enjoying* the experience of eating semi-raw sprouts washed down by thin lager amid a cacophony of raucous colleagues and Slade's well-known seasonal hit at ear-bleeding levels...

As previously mentioned, the stall had experienced a BUS WIPEOUT in the intervening few hours...

Some Formula 1 cars and the Brumm Fiat 'Campari' van remained at the £3 price point, but that was that.

Various Maisto and Bburago 1/43 probably fit nicely into the shite category now - Golf Mk IV, Punto 2 and Fiat Marea, some of which were in an under-stall box the previous week.

Looks like the larger 80s Corgis behind proved a bit salty at a tenner each, with no takers this week.

I confirmed with Market Blokey that the buses were indeed all gone, and not just that I was suffering from a severe blind spot. Nope. Scooped up as a job lot soon after I had departed; curses.

But, there had been some new arrivals in the interim... and I was invited behind the stall for a private viewing.

Well - Corgi, Dinky and Lesney. And some other odds and ends.

Two Corgi 'The Saint' XJSs in pretty decent nick, an XJ12C in Coastguard livery (very fresh looking), a yellow Matra Rancho (part of a gift set, good nick but no better than my own), and a somewhat interestingly customised Mini made up the bigger 1/36 stuff - while smaller scales were evidenced by a scruffy but complete Dinky Range Rover, a well-chipped Corgi Whizzwheels Ford Capri, a Hongwell Cararama Porsche 356 and a Lledo Vanguards Thames 307E van which had also suffered from an enthusiastic yet utterly abysmal Code 3 effort...

There was also a Dinky Mini Police Van, with no tyres but did have its fragile rear doors still in place.

Some less than happy Lesney had arrived, with a metal-wheeled Commer Milk float being the best of the bunch, and descending through a tyreless Ford GT40 and F1 car, an Alvis Stalwart repaint, a trackless GMC half-track and a bulldozer, trailer and motorbike/sidecar combo. BP and Esso petrol pumps were metal and quite heavy; not sure of the maker though.

I have no idea what that green thing at the back is - looks like the spawn of an unwise cross-breeding project involving a Ferrari Testarossa and Porsche 930S Slantnose… some sort of Kremer Racing special?

 

Here's a close-up of the Mini, complete with various bits of costume jewellery attached to it with lashings and lashings of UHU glue - plus very tiny passengers.

It's hard to see from this angle, but the passenger seat appeared to be occupied by Ron Weasley. And isn't that a sticker from a pair of reading glasses on the bootlid?

 

The Thames van wasn't much better...

This had been absolutely drowned in glue, and clearly offended my phone so much that it refused to focus on it.

SUPERDETAILING YO

 

And then there were also these:

Another Corgi Rancho in good nick, and two Corgi Classics MG TFs - with hood up or hood down.

Plus a 1/43 Mustang from one of those Bond film partworks.

And finally...

A rather impressive Corgi Major set, with most of the Bloodhound missile still in place (possibly the rubberised tip has disintegrated, going by the mess below?)

Seems that Oxford diecast currently make a 1/76 version of this same set.

https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/collections/christmas-gifts/products/land-rover-bloodhound-missile-set-76set65

 

So, I was indeed interested... quite a few which I had my own beady eye on, and also some which I was fairly sure would find ready buyers among the tat gatherers on this 'ere thread...

I hoisted aloft the XJ12C and enquired on a price...

£10 each. Ulp.

Oh, but only £5 for the Lesneys. Right.

I didn't even enquire about the RAF Land Rover and missile set.

Clearly, the old adage of "if you have to ask, you can't afford" applies here...

 

Now, possibly there was some arm-chancing going on; possibly he hadn't had the chance to look at them properly. But either way it was a no from me.

But that's not to say that there won't be some more realistic prices happening next week, so... stay tuned!

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, Datsuncog said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christ they make my efforts look professional!

[Datsuncog]

And, as also alluded to on Friday - I'd managed to get my mitts on some stuff in the morning too, but didn't get any pics and had to leave them under my desk to avoid being that guy with a carrier bag of diecast at the work do...

First off:

Yup, the Eastern Scottish Y-Type, which I speculatively picked up since it looked nice (I'm a sucker for Alexander-bodied single deckers, as this is vaguely reminiscent of most of the Ulsterbus fleet when I was growing up).

Nice detailing on this one: I owned a few EFE buses and coaches dating from the mid-90s, and the plasticky look of the wheels kinda put me off. Not this one though, it's ace.

I'd have been happy enough to retain this one as it's such a nice wee thing - but it's now off on a journey to @cms206, so effectively a homecoming of sorts.

 

Then there was this:

Corgi's rival brand to EFE, the Original Omnibus Co, produced this rather nice Plaxton Panorama I on an AEC Reliance chassis.

Detailing is pretty good; annoying that I couldn't secure the Panorama Elite on the Bedford VAL chassis to enable a comparison shootout for @RoadworkUK. However - you've first dibs on this one, if you still fancy it.

 

Then it gets a bit strange.

It's not really a secret that I have a weird craving for a Bedford RLHZ, the mobile pump better known as the Green Goddess - a Cold War civil defence vehicle which was kept on front-line readiness until the early 2000s.

I have a Northern Ireland version of an RLHZ also made by Oxford, so this is a rendering of the most common 1960s AFS version.

While not really a fire engine - it's a mobile pump designed to form a part of a chain to relay water to a nuclear-devastated city - nor a military vehicle, the use of the Green Goddesses by army personnel during the firefighters' strikes of the 1970s made them appear to be both things in the public consciousness.

AWD and with a straight-8 Bedford engine, these are hardly economical on fuel, nor are they particularly sturdy since they were largely built using plywood and felt... yet I still kinda want one, for unknown reasons.

This'll do me for now, though.

 

While looking at the Bedford though, I also saw this...

An AEC Mercury turntable ladder in London Fire Brigade trim, albeit with the front of the cab not properly secured and moving up and down. I'll have to have a look at that.

To be honest, fire engines (and commercials in general) aren't really my bag - while I've a passing interest, they're not something I'd go out of my way to collect.

But that extendable ladder is pretty impressive. 100 scale feet.

This is still a current model in the Oxford Diecasts range - for £20 more than I paid for it...

 

And lastly:

This horror.

The weird powdery bloom on the packaging and on the model itself gave me a clue that superglue had been used in lavish quantities here, and there were clearly components missing (like wingmirrors and one of the blue roof mounted lights - but as a limited edition of 3,000, surely for £3 this would be worth a punt?

Hmmm.

The turntable was indeed completely disconnected. I found a drift pin in the box along with sundry other busted parts, and also the teeny-tiny red end cap. I then promptly dropped the teeny-tiny end cap, losing it forever.

I genuinely don't know what the fuck has befallen this truck, other than a very cack-handed previous owner.

First, look at the ladder mount:

Yep, the red mount has been superglued on to the silver ladders at an angle of about 10 degrees squint. Why?

And it gets stranger. Ignore the single bleary headlight, and just look at the stance:

Erm…

Okay, so it appears that at some point the entire front axle and steering components, plus most of the leaf-spring suspension, has been broken off. 

But it's then been glued back on the wrong way round, and at another jaunty little angle. So the axle is running off, while it also sits much higher on one side - as one suspension mount has been bonded on top of another.

Huh. Right.

There's also a huge blob of glue down at the end of the ladders, for no good reason.

It's a real pity, as this really is a fantastically detailed model with many working parts, and I daresay it wasn't cheap when new.

I refitted the broken ladder mount back on the turntable...

And reinstalled the ladder as best I could, then shoved all the broken-off bits into a hunk of Blu-Tac to stop them going walkies again.

This little gluebomb might give someone hours of pleasure in the restoration, but as the song has it…

So! That's about it for the belated tat round-up; if anyone wants the Opel Blitz or AEC Mercury turntable ladders, do sing up and I'll pop them aside for you.

Oh, and I found this in Home Bargains on Saturday:

Not bad for £1.49.

Going to try the thinners trick on this one to see if I can get the blister off without tearing the card (it's already creased, so I'm not bothered if I make a muck of it).

So there we go.

Til next week, tat fans!

[bunglebus]

Wilko thinner - small bottle but seems to work better than the 1L tins I bought from Lidl

[Datsuncog]

No Wilko branches in NI, annoyingly!

I have some Revell thinners still in with my old modelling stuff, so I'll give that a try first...

[bunglebus]

Apparently acetone AKA nail polish remover works too

[sierraman]

Moar Matchbox madness in ‘One Below’ shop.

[Split_Pin]

That Guisval leaflet, good grief! So much want!

Good spot on the Scottish Bus Group era Y type. There were 6 in the 1978-on livery, this one, Northern, Fife, Western, Eastern, Midland, and Central. The latter 4 were in the latest short window casting and are almost unobtainable and furthermore go for SILLY money. I have the Midland one, thankfully bought for me by my wife years ago at retail price. Very very good find Tim!

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

Moar Matchbox madness in ‘One Below’ shop.

The CA body looks to be plastic 

I’m sure the previous release wasn’t?

[sierraman]

The previous was plastic as well, different base this time though, full base as the previous had a sort of backbone chassis.