Shite in Miniature II

[quicksilver]

23 hours ago, Amishtat said:

Off topic I suppose but my mate used to own PVW620R and I drove it myself many times. 2200 manual, it went like fuck and would cruise at 75-80 even without a fifth gear. Anyway, as you were.. 

One of the things I like about Oxford is that they give their models identities of real cars (unlike Dinky with their INJ plates) and that often leads to comments like this from people who knew the real thing. Good to hear PVW620R drives as well as it looks, and I'm happy to report it's still alive and well according to DVLA records. I must have mentioned somewhere in this thread that Oxford's beige Fiesta (BLC660S) is modelled on my actual car that I passed my test in.

[eddyramrod]

I was in Tesco the other day and suffered* a failure of willpower...

Sadly no w123 estate, nor the HW Volvo.

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, quicksilver said:

I had a Commer and a Heinkel exactly like those. They now live with Mr and Mrs Six-cylinder and I was playing with them when I went to visit last week

 

Mine aren't quite so nice!

20190425_144403 by RS, on Flickr

20191128_151506 by RS, on Flickr

[bunglebus]

3 hours ago, Sudsprint said:

Picked this little beauty in a swap for some LLedos from an antiques bloke who I get the odd car from.

Just shows how much better in estate form that Zephyr is.

 

 

Again, mine have had a hard life

 

20191119_195355 by RS, on Flickr

20190923_101218 by RS, on Flickr

[Amishtat]

3 hours ago, Sudsprint said:

Back in the '60s mine came in a gift set with a Gold Chinese Eye RR, a pale blue Austin 1800, and a Gold/White Mk 1 Cortina. 

Thanks for clearing that up for me, I showed this to my Dad earlier in the year when I bought it and he recalled it being part of a set but not what with. 

[bunglebus]

Good luck if you're going to the tat market today Mr DC, if the weather's anything like it is here ?

[sierraman]

Oh yeah it’s Diecast Tat Friday! 

[Datsuncog]

So here it is, kids - Merry Tatmas.

Actually not a bad day in Belfast.

And look, you can see the market from here.

There it is:

Everybody wave!

Well folks, the last tat market of the year...

Hang on...

That's not the kind of tat we're here for.

 

THIS is what we're here for.

Quite a collection of very dusty, slightly tatty Bburago 1/24.

These did set my heart a-flutter, somewhat - the Lancia and Peugeot 205 especially, though the BMW M1 was also quite nice.

While not really my bag these days, I felt sure that they would have some takers on these pages, and I was twitching slightly at my wallet...

Oh... right.

£10 each.

Hmmm.

Any takers at £10? They're missing things like windscreen wipers and mirrors, with a few chips here and there.

At £3, absolutely. At even a fiver, well maybe.

But I think £10 is a touch steep here.

But if you think otherwise, happy to return!

 

Lots of militaria stuff too, though again it's not something I'm all that keen on.

Corgi Jags are certainly nice, but still a tenner too.

 

Smaller tat, then?

(Am I the only freak who tidies up stalls before taking a picture?)

I thought I was onto a Lesney winning streak here with a Mini Ha Ha for @flat4alfa, and possibly a Commer milk float for @egg...

But £5 each?

HFM??

Dude, you've had too much mulled wine. Seriously.

Especially since that blue and yellow Corgi bin lorry has been kicking round the 50p tat box since February.

The Mini has, of course, bent axles.

The Blaze Buster was pretty much mint, but I kinda hate them on principle.

Harrumph. Not really feeling the Christmas spirit here, to be honest.

 

What else?

New Ray? Meh. Sorry, but meh.

 

It was up to the tat box to turn things around...

Hmmm...

Can't get all that excited about the Majorette yanks, or the 911.

Super GTs were also in evidence - Alfa Carabo and Hairy Hustler in a previous life.

I've been looking for a Merryweather AEC fire engine since I started nosing around the Ergomatic variations a few weeks ago, but this one looks like it's had a bad time of it.

Like the aforementioned Blaze Buster, the Fire Chief Car was another of those fantasy vehicles that made me irrationally furious as a child.

I just couldn't work out what it was meant to be. The ventilation louvres in the bonnet and in the boot were maddening. Front engine? Rear engine? Both? Neither??

What are you trying to do to me, Matchbox?

My rage ought to have cooled by now - but apparently not.

Majorette Range Rover fire tender wasn't in bad nick overall.

I didn't even notice the Corgi Citroen Dyane underneath until I was reviewing the pics. Well, duh.

 

So, for the first time in a while, I sloped off disconsolately without a wheeled item or ten in my pocket.

Tat Santa had not delivered.

I must have been a bad boy.

Could the other tat stalls make up for it?

This rather nice Lesney Major Scammell rig was on one of the many militaria stalls, but there was no-one around so I couldn't get a price.

That's The Giffer in the background, by the way.

I happened to get talking to him about some 2000AD comics he had on his stall, and he's actually quite nice.

One of the other Kollectablez stalls had these - thought at first they were MoY special editions, but there's no maker's name on them. Pewter, possibly? They were pretty heavy.

Alan's Emporium had only a modern Poundland-grade five-pack of assorted vehicles to interest me, none of which were identifiable - and so lost my interest rather quickly.

 

I trundled round to the Charity Stall...

Not the very best assortment, then.

 

Hold on - STOP THE FUCKING BUS.

Quite literally.

Well well well, I think we just solved the mystery of who bought the job lot of buses off Market Blokey last week.

It's the chappie who runs the Charity Stall, plus his own collectables stall alongside.

Oho. Just what @cms206 was looking for.

And the Greater Glasgow livery seems to be factory, not a Code 3 - the box sticker claims it is a GG Atlantean. You can see the milky window problem too.

But on enquiring....

Yeah, it's a tenner too.

I bit my lip to refrain from blurting out "they're the ones you bought off Miller for £3 last week, am I right?"

Maybe he's been googling them for values; maybe not. That's capitalism, kids.

If anyone wants any of these - at ten of your Great British Pounds - then I will certainly return and make enquiries, but I reckon he's asking a bit much.

Knowing that he's trying for a 200%+ markup is slightly galling - but then I did get all those Lesneys off him for cheap the other month.

 

Golly gosh. 

So where was all this seasonal price-gouging leaving my festive spirit?

"Turn the heating off at the orphanage, Cratchit - if the brats want to stay warm, they'll just have to unpick oakum faster."

 

So I went and bought myself a box of donuts instead.

Ho ho ho, indeed.

Sorry I couldn't manage a more uplifting finale to a year of market tat - but I'll maybe try for a retrospective next week?

Because, rather incredibly, there's now been 38 weeks of this utter nonsense!

Hopefully, New Year = New Tat.

Merry Tatmas to all... and to all some good tat!

[Split_Pin]

Merry Tatmas to you too Tim, thanks for making our Friday mornings great again!

[egg]

+1.  And for the brilliant write-ups too. If I get a spare day at home over the winter, I'll hobble down to a local tat shop to see if I can do a one-off 'special' tat day.

[Datsuncog]

16 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

[Dodge Dragsters]

Ever see any in the tat box MrCog?

Yep - I bagged mine back in February, for the princely sum of 50p.

Repainted base and missing stickers, but otherwise complete and very nice.

Looking back at these pics, I can't help but feel that the quality of the 50p box has gone downhill a little of late...

[flat4alfa]

Oh well

 End of an era 

[bunglebus]

I'll have the Majorettes if you can, especially the nine-one-one!

 

Also - what is that?

[Datsuncog]

2 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

I'll have the Majorettes if you can, especially the nine-one-one!

Ooh, let's see what I can recall:

- Corvette x2 (black, different decals)

- Pontiac Firebird

- Mustang SVO (missing bootlid)

- Porsche 911

- Jeep Wagoneer

- Range Rover Fire Tender

Any/all of these??

[Datsuncog]

13 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Also - what is that?

Nothing too exciting, I'm afraid - it's a Corgi Juniors Aston Martin DB6!

[Datsuncog]

8 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Oh well

 End of an era 

Nah, just the end of the year.

Come January and February, with the house groaning under a load of plastic tat amassed over Christmas, many people will frantically clear out their attics, garages and sheds, happy to get a coupla pennies for 'all those silly old toys you'll never look at again'.

And lo! The Circle of Tat is unbroken.

[bunglebus]

21 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Ooh, let's see what I can recall:

- Corvette x2 (black, different decals)

- Pontiac Firebird

- Mustang SVO (missing bootlid)

- Porsche 911

- Jeep Wagoneer

- Range Rover Fire Tender

Any/all of these??

All except the broken one and the Rangie please - I have that one

[sierraman]

Does he actually ever sell anything the diecast tat man? 

[flat4alfa]

Does Waggoner have the doggie in the window?

[flat4alfa]

*Wagoneer I meant

Waggoner was a country singer I think

[Datsuncog]

****AAAARGH CHRISTMAS MIRACLE AAAARGH***

More to come!!!

[MarvinsMom]

2 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

 

 

This rather nice Lesney Major Scammell rig was on one of the many militaria stalls, but there was no-one around so I couldn't get a price.

 

 

oh now THAT is one Lesney i'd give my spleen to have in the collection......

 

[big_al_granvia]

bollocks to that, would have pitched him at a fiver a piece for the efe buses ans said i knew he only paid 3 quid a bus from diecast dude, a tenner is taking the piss, possibly give 7 quid tops if it was 1 i wanted.... i have got to the stage now i pay only what i want to pay.... tbh i really need to have a clearout myself on the railway side of things

[MarvinsMom]

toy trains.... toy cars...... bits of REAL cars.....

i've got too "much" tat in this house too!

but i don't think will be getting cleared out any time soon

 

[sierraman]

37 minutes ago, big_al_granvia said:

bollocks to that, would have pitched him at a fiver a piece for the efe buses ans said i knew he only paid 3 quid a bus from diecast dude, a tenner is taking the piss, possibly give 7 quid tops if it was 1 i wanted.... i have got to the stage now i pay only what i want to pay.... tbh i really need to have a clearout myself on the railway side of things

A few years ago I sold off most of the 1/24 and 1/18 scale cars I had, you see some crazy eBay prices but I had real difficulty in selling a lot of it. By the time I’d messed about I would sooner of passed them on to someone who would enjoy them which is what I did with the 1/24 Bburago I passed to Split Pin. 

Again I had loads of EFE, a few that were local sold easily but rest were a pain to shift even for a couple of quid each. 

[RoadworkUK]

55 minutes ago, sierraman said:

A few years ago I sold off most of the 1/24 and 1/18 scale cars I had, you see some crazy eBay prices but I had real difficulty in selling a lot of it.

I find postage the real swine. Even 2nd class, it's rare for a 1/18 to be less than £6 to post,  and a lot of bidders seem to be put off by anything that doesn't say "free postage". I ended up with duplicate Burago Vipers at one point, and being that eBay is saturated with the things, flogging them ended up being virtually pointless.

[Datsuncog]

So then... I went back over to the market at lunchtime, to see if I could pick up some of the Majorettes from Bunglebus' want list...

And, goodness me, if there hadn't been a heavy fall of tat in the interim.

A very  heavy fall.

A whole heap of very decent 70s/80s Matchbox, plus an array of early 80s Hot Wheels trucks, had appeared in the 50p box.

They weren't there before.

So I began to claw through the box with frantic abandon, scooping the finds into my hat as I did so; this is why you should always wear a hat, kids.

BUT

It seems that my eagerness had not gone unnoticed.

Within a matter of seconds, two other lads had muscled in either side of me and were also removing diecast as I rummaged through them, in clear breach of Tat Box Etiquette (per Debrett's - "one must always wait for a gentleman to finish his perusal of a tat box, and then moving away by a minimum of half a yard, before subsuming his place. Reaching into a tat box which is already under perusal is considered the height of coarseness").

I tried to prevent myself from squawking, or slapping their paws away, but instead shovelled faster into the hat like some sort of demented Generation Game-esque task - while at the same time idly wondering how my life had come to this.

HOWEVER I did manage to grab a fair amount - though, after bagging and paying, it seems I didn't quite get all I'd hoped.

So there's the Majorettes @bunglebus wanted, plus several he didn't, and then some more Majorette I hadn't clocked the first time around, plus some Lesney era and Universal era Matchbox - and some intriguing early 80s Hot Wheels blackwall articulated trucks.

I haven't yet photographed them all individually.

But then there was also this additional tat panorama:

Right, golly gosh.

All the trucks - mostly Corgi  - were priced at £20 each.

Buses, construction vehicles, Batmobile and Karrier Mobile Canteen were out at £10 each.

The other cars were £5 a pop, which seems a little optimistic again, considering the overall two-and-eight of some of them.

The Spot-Ons - upon which mine eyes had alighted before all else - were £15 each.

I really liked the Minor, but someone else had plainly got to it first - the repaint was an odd satin effect, while the base had clearly been drilled already.

With broken bumpers and lights, these were firmly in the restoration category - but I was tempted, indeed.

Interesting that the Fiat's baseplate says 'Tri-ang Models by Spot-On' while the Minor says 'Spot-On Models by Tri-ang'.

Also, the Minor is stamped 'Made in Northern Ireland', which I find kinda nice.

If they'd been un-messed with, then maybe - but as it was, I left them.

Yup, regretting it already - but I guess you can't buy 'em all.

 

There was also a Matchbox Superkings Rolamatic-effect hovercraft, which was dusty but appeared to be complete and working.

And oh look - it's that Polistil VW Beetle that I didn't  buy in 1987, as recently mentioned - though a bit knackered-looking also, with missing bumpers.

I think the prices are a bit optimistic, but here's the thing - they do seem to sell.

Some stuff comes back week after week, but not much.

And, as I know too well, oftentimes I head back over three hours later on a tat-hunt, only to find the objects are all gone.

It's frustrating - but then maybe if he were cheaper, it'd' all be gone by 8am and I wouldn't get a look in.

So there we have it - a bit of a bonus, and some decent things in the blue bag.

Full writeup to follow on those - but probably be Monday before I do!

[Datsuncog]

2 hours ago, MarvinsMom said:

oh now THAT is one Lesney i'd give my spleen to have in the collection...…

Given the prices of his other stuff, I think he'd be looking a spleen, a kidney and at least three fingers...

[bunglebus]

Dunno if you grabbed the Matchbox Convoy stuff but it sells well. Anything Blackwall arouses my trousers interest

[egg]

Amazing stuff, how come he gets stuff during the day! I totally agree about tat etiquette

I would certainly have the spot-on 500 at £15. Parts available from model supplies...