Shite in Miniature II

[MarvinsMom]

6 minutes ago, 155V6 said:

@MarvinsMom The front & rear screens are both damaged,& there's a bit of paint on the side.Let me know if you still want it.

in that case, i'll pass on the 1800, what are the other two like?

thanks.

[155V6]

3 minutes ago, MarvinsMom said:

in that case, i'll pass on the 1800, what are the other two like?

thanks.

[MarvinsMom]

19 minutes ago, 155V6 said:

those are triffic, yes please!

[155V6]

My small wants list

Corgi Juniors Volvo Estates

Cararama 1/72 Ford Puma

Cararama 1/43 Ford Puma(but not silver)

Minichamps Ford Puma 

Corgi Rockets

Siku cars,vans,& some trucks 

Car transporters

 

Let me know if you've got anything on the list.   Thanks.

[BigMac]

6 hours ago, 155V6 said:

Pink & yellow buggy has the engine missing & a loose rear axle,let me know if you still want it.

Suits me fine. Thanks 

[RoadworkUK]

Thought I'd do a bit of an audit of what's in the big plastic tub of history that lurks in my attic.

Lid off, my nostrils immediately flared with the acid aroma of gently decomposing zinc alloy. I was amazed, though, to see that I'd generally looked after my toys relatively well, yet distraught to find that a fair few have succumbed to age and frailty of their own behest.

I thought I might share a solid handful of those that brought particular joy when I was in my Corgi 'n Matchbox collecting prime – roughly between 1983 and 1993 or from age 2 to age 12.

I'll start with the 1:64(ish)s.

Mountain Man and Big Chief, a Matchbox Ford Courier and Majorette Jeep Wagoneer respectively, were among my very favourites for school lunchtime fun. I may have mentioned it earlier, but our playing field had a topographical feature called "The Mound": a grassy flat-topped trapezoidal prism of earth that was presumably left there when the playground was built, due to that being cheaper than carting it away. Some of The Mound's dirt can still be seen in the grille and tyre treads of Mountain Man.

When I returned to The Mound as an adult, I was amazed to find that it actually isn't quite as tall as I am, even though it soared over me like Everest, and conquering it was quite the feat of endurance for a member of Mrs Handscombe's Class 2. I did, though, find that many of its wind-carved valleys, channels and crevices survive. It's not a stretch to see why, to scale, these features reminded me of the narrow, hilly roads of Cornwall, and this Honda Accord used to be, slightly inexplicably, my favourite car with which to navigate them. It originally had a colour co-ordinated sailing boat on a trailer, but that went AWOL years ago.

 

Judging by condition, this one rarely made it out of the house. I absobloodylutely loved this thing,  When playing 'cars' with mates, it would frequently be my conveyance of choice, even when the others were rocking legitimate sports cars. Hey, this said "Motorsport" on it, and had really cool wheels. The yellow stickers were my own addition, and I thought it made it even sportier.

We're into the Laser Wheels era now, and this was one of my favourites because it had a freaking sunroof. How cool! Annoyingly, I know that this was my pride and joy at one point, and have no idea how it now comes to have a broken side window. I'm actually a bit cross as I type this.

This Majorette Toyota LiteAce was a relatively late acquisition; by the turn of the '90s I'd been introduced to 1:18 scale Bburagos, and actually playing with cars came second to simply gawping at them. I think this one appealed mainly because I had little else quite like it in my collection. I'm still not entirely certain what the graphic down the side represents, although it kind of looks like a surrealistic Viper's head, the way some of the tampo has worn off.

What I could do with 1:64 stuff, though, which was cheap and in plentiful supply, was smash 'em up. Around age 11 or so, I went through a particularly harrowing period of destructivity, in which many a diecast met an untimely demise – a great many of which I regret to this day. I felt somehow justified in smashing them up if I had a direct replacement, though, so the acquisition of a new FX4 led to the summary execution of the old one, which thus retained play value in a 'before and after' capacity.

Moving onto Matchbox Superkings stuff, and this Peterbilt dump truck was a model that I always treated with respect and played with only gently. It was a birthday or Christmas present from Nan and Poppa, the latter of whom retired as an accountant for Taylor Woodrow in the early 80s. So I always felt that this magnificent model was intrinsically linked with him, and that he'd be sad if it got damaged. It's suffered a bit of chrome loss over the years but is otherwise in very good nick.

This Majorette Toyota Landcruiser / horse trailer and nag combo is miraculously complete, even if the individual components are showing their age. The Landcruiser has shed its window frames, part of its bull bar and its plastic roof is cracked, and the horsebox top lacks a back door and no longer secures to the box itself.  

Notably, this was one of two 4x4 and horsebox combos I got at approximately the same time, the other was a Buddy L Ford Bronco and 'box, in a fetching metallic bronze and in a larger, roughly 1:28 scale. Tragically, I have absolutely no idea where that ended up.

Slightly inexplicable how this has survived in quite the condition it is. Although the wheels are all clogged up with plasticine (I had an odd fascination with doing that – the Landcruiser set above suffered the same abuse), the papery stickers remain in place and there's barely any chipping to either it or its cargo.

Speaking of which, that Mustang has always intrigued me, for the fact that it has the proportions that a Mustang needed but never actually had. It was this model's fault that, until a late single-figure age, I suffered the misapprehension that the Mustang was a bone-fide sporty car. They were some kind of mystical Ford-badged Ferrari equivalent, and went through a long spell of being my favourite car in the world. Actually stumbling upon a Mustang II Ghia notchback at an air display at a USAF base rather wounded my regard for it;

At some point, I acquired the plane transporter, sans plane, and would quite like to get my hands on the latter one day, for completeness. I was always intrigued by how the headlight mouldings resembled two-stud Lego bricks.

I consider myself extremely privileged to have owned the three truck-trailer playsets with the clever working steering. The Ferrari race set sat on my bedroom window sill for years, and regrettably UV hasn't been kind to it. The stickers to the other side of the trailer have been bleached white, and the wheels have gone all nicotine yellow. Also, the glazed panels in the roof have cracked, as has the windscreen. Bloody bloody bloody bloody bloody bloody bloody.

The Leyland Roadrunner set was the first of these I got. The trailer for it is around somewhere. I doubt I'll ever find the Coastguard vessel from the Boat Transporter set, though – I took to playing with that in the bath, where I enjoyed its impeccably modelled deep-vee hull form, which planed beautifully on a sea of Matey bubblebath white horses and sponge icebergs.

Somewhere I have the Police version of the Corgi SD1, which I actually prefer due to its having actual orange front indicators. I maintain that this was one of Corgi's best, with all those opening features. I might look around to find a boxed example to go with my boxed Sterling.

This is another fabulous casting, again with all the opening features and tilting seatbacks. I know why this one is in such good condition, though – it arrived on the scene too late for me to really be interested in it, and that makes be a bit sad just thinking about it.

This was a gift from Dora, our lovely next-door neighbour, now long since passed, when I was 12 or so, and by then well into 1:18 collecting. Compared to the Bburagos I was beginning to amass at the time, this poor old thing didn't stand a chance when it came to keeping me entertained. What's more, I'm pretty sure that they were priced within an order of magnitude of Bburago's early 1:18 releases, too.

I think that'll do for now. Cheers if you made it to the end. 

 

 

[Bren]

Matchbox lasers. The summer of 1987.

[Split_Pin]

Great write up RWUK, personal accounts and memories of diecast are my favourite thing on this thread, even more (but only just!) than Tat Fridays!

Please keep them coming! 

[egg]

Spotted this on ebay small ads in Germany - only €3 - but seller wouldn't ship overseas. Shame! This had been discussed on the thread a while back...

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/spielzeugauto-tomica-no-14-toyota/1313470504-23-16839

[bunglebus]

16 hours ago, RoadworkUK said:

 

Moving onto Matchbox Superkings stuff, and this Peterbilt dump truck was a model that I always treated with respect and played with only gently. It was a birthday or Christmas present from Nan and Poppa, the latter of whom retired as an accountant for Taylor Woodrow in the early 80s. So I always felt that this magnificent model was intrinsically linked with him, and that he'd be sad if it got damaged. It's suffered a bit of chrome loss over the years but is otherwise in very good nick.

 

Slightly inexplicable how this has survived in quite the condition it is. Although the wheels are all clogged up with plasticine (I had an odd fascination with doing that – the Landcruiser set above suffered the same abuse), the papery stickers remain in place and there's barely any chipping to either it or its cargo.

 

I consider myself extremely privileged to have owned the three truck-trailer playsets with the clever working steering. The Ferrari race set sat on my bedroom window sill for years, and regrettably UV hasn't been kind to it. The stickers to the other side of the trailer have been bleached white, and the wheels have gone all nicotine yellow. Also, the glazed panels in the roof have cracked, as has the windscreen. Bloody bloody bloody bloody bloody bloody bloody.

 

 

All very lovely - missing/UV damaged chrome can be fixed with a Molotow chrome pen (they're really good) - and if you ever consider selling the transporter, with or without Mustang...

[flat4alfa]

15 hours ago, RoadworkUK said:

Does Wagoneer have the doggie in the back?

Could I buy Dora’s Corniche?

[RoadworkUK]

Continuing from yesterday, here's a bit of a novelty.

Got this at Christmas '93, and I didn't really know quite what to make of it. 

 

 

When this was still dressed in wrapping paper, I had absolutely no clue what it was. I'd learnt to recognise the shape and feel of model car packaging by then – Bburago boxes were very obvious in their proportions, and their flimsy acetate windows would distort to the touch. Maisto boxes were wider and narrower, while Revell boxes had a peculiar angle sliced out of the top. Lifting this from the floor, my expectations were modest. I thought, nay, feared, that I was about to unwrap a box of smellies or something equally dull.

But no! At age 12, and by now quite feverishly into 1:18s, the Matchbox name had slipped from my conscience, but here it was again, emblazoned upon a box that bore an image of The Diablo – the new hotness on every pre-teen boy's bedroom wall. Alas, "Scale 1:24" was a bit of a drag... I'd never been very keen on this size; Bburago's 1:24s seemed rather crude compared to their 1:18s (and '93 was into Viper / EB110 territory, raising the game when it came to detail).

"So, what, exactly, made this a Masterclass?" I wondered.

I'd never before owned a model car packaged like this; protected beneath a tissue veil. "This must be a model for grown-ups", I imagined.

Nevertheless, the wraps were gingerly released, and a foray to the garage for a screwdriver had the Diablo in my palm.

I was immediately impressed by what I saw. On a school trip to St Omer I had come home with a Maisto 1:18 Diablo, and there were certain details that disappointed me even as a 12 year-old. The side intakes, for instance, were body coloured rather than black, as were the window frames. Frankly, compared to the brand's XJ220 (which I had brought home from holiday in Florida and absolutely paid through the nose for), the Diablo seemed a very half-hearted model.

]

Matchbox seemed to get things bob-on, though. The proportions seemed great back then and, without a photo of the original to compare it to (I kind of deliberately don't want to even check, lest it ruins the conceit) it looks to me like a Diablo should look.

Same story at the back, too, with its upswept exhausts, modelled rear lights (including number plate illumination, but, oddly, no number plates), and purposeful-looking ventilation grilles.

Underbonnet detail was decent – if not hugely more impressive than the 1:18 Maisto, but it was the inside that really had me impressed.

This was the first model car I ever owned that had interior carpeting. This represented a quantum leap in coolness to me. I'd never even considered that model cars might have carpets in them – a whole new dimension of realism was announcing itself before my very eyes. The rest of the interior was a degree more impressive than Maisto's effort, too, with natty red highlights to the seats and to the join between upper and lower dash.

I was pretty impressed by the chassis detail, too. I wasn't entirely sure why it was gold coloured,  but I really liked how the rear suspension components were picked out, along with the gearbox and engine to give a real sense of the Diablo actually being a fearsome, violent mechanical package wrapped up in as much car as was needed to get it down the road.

And that's the Matchbox Masterclass.

As far as I know, there was a grand total of three of them in total: this, a Porsche 911 (which I've seen and am not especially impressed with, to be honest), and an XJ220 that looks half decent, with far better proportions than Maisto's effort. I don't think the Masterclass series were a massive success, though. I don't recall seeing them in the shops anywhere vaguely local to me, and 1:24 seems to be a bit of a forgotten scale, really – tonnes of it about in the '80s, and in the world of self-assembly model kits. In fact, only now that 1:24 partworks are becoming a thing in Europe does it seem that they're making any kind of comeback.

I guess, though, that Matchbox was better off abandoning efforts in the larger-scale arena and concentrating on what it knows.

[RoadworkUK]

1 hour ago, flat4alfa said:

Does Wagoneer have the doggie in the back?

Could I buy Dora’s Corniche?

Ha, no doggie (nor tailgate, as it happens), and I'm afraid these are all keepers. But cheers!

[hennabm]

Gents

 

No sure if this is the right thread but here goes.

I don't suppose any of you have or can obtain for me a Husky model of the Ford Transit caravanette. IIRC all the Husky ones came in red. The later whizzwheels versions came in blue.

I'm looking for a red version as I used to have one and sold it regrettably. Back in 1969 as a family we toured the UK in one and therefore it holds memories for me. I have a Corgi Thames caravanette that I still treasure from our 1967 tour of Scotland.

Any help much appreciated. 

[egg]

@RoadworkUK - I'd never heard of those Matchbox masterclass, wonder why they stopped at 3? Did all three emerge at the same time I wonder? Thanks for sharing.

I also went on a school day trip to St Omer (in about 1988-9 I think). Sadly I did not bring back any minishite!

[bunglebus]

4 hours ago, hennabm said:

Gents

 

No sure if this is the right thread but here goes.

I don't suppose any of you have or can obtain for me a Husky model of the Ford Transit caravanette. IIRC all the Husky ones came in red. The later whizzwheels versions came in blue.

I'm looking for a red version as I used to have one and sold it regrettably. Back in 1969 as a family we toured the UK in one and therefore it holds memories for me. I have a Corgi Thames caravanette that I still treasure from our 1967 tour of Scotland.

Any help much appreciated. 

I just missed out on one on eBay

[egg]

Matchbox Civic MK1 coming this year?

https://lamleygroup.com/2020/01/29/there-cannot-be-too-many-honda-civics-in-1-64-hot-wheels-matchbox-just-dropped-two-more/

[flat4alfa]

5 hours ago, hennabm said:

I don't suppose any of you have or can obtain for me a Husky model of the Ford Transit caravanette. IIRC all the Husky ones came in red. The later whizzwheels versions came in blue.

I'm looking for a red version as I used to have one and sold it regrettably. Back in 1969 as a family we toured the UK in one and therefore it holds memories for me.

Like this?

I haven’t paid for it yet so are you in a rush for one or could it be something for six months time when I do a clear out of diecasts?

[eddyramrod]

@hennabm Does it need to be Husky or will a no-name knockoff do?  I went back to the market yesterday to make some pickups and he showed me this, for which I paid £2.

I picked it up just on general principle, thinking someone here would love to have it.  I do have a sub-collection of fire vehicles but there's no real need for this to join it.

 

@flat4alfa Your Merc ambulance has joined your box, which now runs to three vehicles.  I'm happy to hang onto them and see what else shows up, or if you want them now we can make arrangements.

[bunglebus]

2 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

@hennabm Does it need to be Husky or will a no-name knockoff do?  I went back to the market yesterday to make some pickups and he showed me this, for which I paid £2.

 

It's got a name - Zylmex

20191223_204437 by RS, on Flickr

20191223_204530 by RS, on Flickr

Although I lost out on the red version of the Husky, I did win a green one. Pics when it arrives

[eddyramrod]

Zylmex, of course!  I haven't looked underneath with my glasses on, sorry.

[junkyarddog]

"WTF is that M8?"

It's a Lone star Volkswagen ambulance smoll Eddy, still has all it's doors intact,so I decided it was a good purchase. 

"You don't half bring home some shit M8!"

[junkyarddog]

I also picked this curiosity up.

It's an SD1,by an unknown to me manufacturer.

If anyone would like it as a trade for a tatty majorette or matchbox super fast?as it's not really my bag.

"Looks better than the matchbox one M8 "

 

[bunglebus]

24 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

"WTF is that M8?"

It's a Lone star Volkswagen ambulance smoll Eddy, still has all it's doors intact,so I decided it was a good purchase.

Is it the version where the hatch and engine cover open? How's the glass?

[eddyramrod]

Smoll Eddy looks like he's been attacked!  That's rather a lot of blood on his head, is he ok?

[junkyarddog]

14 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Smoll Eddy looks like he's been attacked!  That's rather a lot of blood on his head, is he ok?

He's fine,I think too much 4 star fumes caused him to stumble and he twatted himself with the pump nozzle

Actually he's been like that since he arrived.

[junkyarddog]

18 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Is it the version where the hatch and engine cover open? How's the glass?

Yes,the two panels on the back open up.

Glass has a crack in the top,but it's not too bad.Worst part is where the beacon was on the roof has punched through the glazing unit.

I have another one in poor shape,that is missing the two side doors,so I'm hoping to make one good example out of them.

Will post up the results sometime in the future. 

[bunglebus]

I have both versions, but the later police one has broken glass in the sunroof area

[junkyarddog]

Does the  Flyers version have the opening rear tailgate and engine cover?

[bunglebus]

I have no idea. My police one has the engine cover but non-opening tailgate I think. 

What's the flyers version?