Shite in Miniature II

[junkyarddog]

I'm still pondering.

How much is the postage do you think please DC?

Do you ever see the Matchbox Wild Cat Mustang dragster casting in the Tat box,

or indeed the Mercury Cougar dragster too,Also a gruesome twosome with the engines intact?

Keep an eye out please.

[flat4alfa]

As I suspected...  a rob dog shop

Anyhow...

The Maxi Taxi Fiver Special over here pretty please - I can offer £7.50 on that to start the bidding war ?  because I spotted it there first, etc ?

[flat4alfa]

On 2/7/2020 at 5:26 PM, Datsuncog said:

Heh, I found out about the existence of the Lone Star Firenzas a number of years ago, after seeing them in a Vauxhall Motorist article at the launch of the Firenza to show the full range of colours. Never ever seen one in the metal, though.

Ok, I have a treat in store for you both, and probably others too!

THE THURSDAY DIECAST TAT AUTOPSY #1

I thought you'd like a disassembly of a mate's Lone Star Flyer Vauxhall Firenza

[Datsuncog]

9 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

How much is the postage do you think please DC?

Royal Mail reckons £4.80 to post the Capri over the border, which is a bit of a piss-take given the size of it... but maybe still not bad at the price? Can't find many for sale to compare!

9 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

Do you ever see the Matchbox Wild Cat Mustang dragster casting in the Tat box,

or indeed the Mercury Cougar dragster too,Also a gruesome twosome with the engines intact?

Yup, there's a few of each which have cropped up from time to time, in varying states - will keep an eye out for you!

Annoyingly, there's quite a reasonable Wild Cat in one of the sealed bags in the Robdog Shop, but I dunno if the others are much cop...

There's two green Mercury Commuters and two regular wheels Routemasters in there, plus a Superfast Setra Coach along with a Lotus Europa, but the tractor, horse box and 90s VW T3 ambulance aren't really worth the candle - nor the couple of generics thrown in as a makeweight... fifteen quid? Naaah.

[junkyarddog]

The wildcat mustang dragster doesn't need to be mint.

Just so long as it's reasonably complete.

I spotted this one online,apparently it's a colour trail,I fancied trying to replicate it. 

 

 

[bunglebus]

Nice score on the Maxi Taxi - it's on my want list.

Had a few of those Wildcats but I don't think I have a spare.

If anyone sees one of these

 

 

Please grab it. Another childhood one that's surprisingly hard to track down at a price I'm willing to pay. Lots of colours to chose from but mine was this slime green.

[Datsuncog]

Okay, so the Maxi Taxi deal concluded earlier by PM  - just sorry that the shops's bizarre pricing structure means I can't realistically secure an example for everyone who wants one! Still, will add them to the search lists for several members here!

A quick online nosey indicates those repro boxes cost over eight quid each, delivered, which seems like an awful lot for not much cop.

The shop also seems to do a line in 1-75 range boxes for later models that were never even supplied in them - behold these slightly peculiar artists impressions:

I mean, what?

Most peculiar.

Just to finish off my snaps from today, here's the best of the rest (kinda):

Another (un)lucky bag - possibly the Yank ambulance, Thames camper, ERF bin lorry and Chipperfields Scammell are worth a tenner each, but still seems a bit salty to me. Banging against each other in a dump bin doesn't strike me as a terribly good way to store them either,

Some older Universal era Matchbox, and some more recent stuff from the Tyco years. Anything between £5-£15 asked on these. The beige Paris-Dakar Range Rover is one of those that's clearly been played with, yet is mysteriously sealed into its box. Hmm.

US blister packs, also between £8 and £15 a pop. Quite a few there, though mostly trains and military models.

Convoys, plus a Greenlight set. There's a lot of these TV-related Greenlight cars, all around £8 for a single model, £20-odd for sets.

All sorts of odds and sods. Hot Wheels race transporters are very tempting, but also a whopping £28 each.

A triple pack of Action Lock-Ups for a tenner isn't all that bad, though.

Not sure if these swop-top oddities are quite as appealing, also at a tenner each.

It's a big shop, with a lot of interesting stock crammed in everywhere. Yet the older diecasts seldom seem to shift.

Most strange.

[sierraman]

I’m surprised he actually sells anything at those prices. 

[bunglebus]

Yeah when you can buy the same posted for less, it seems an odd business model. Never seen the swap tops before though

[Datsuncog]

Yeah, I 'd be interested to know what his business model is... possibly he likes diecast personally, but doesn't really want to sell them - just hoard them.

Since The Model Shop moved out of the city centre to Boucher Retail Park, and Modeller's Nook closed, it's the only place in central Belfast selling anything like this. Whenever I'm in there, other customers seem to invariably be buying plastic model kits (there's a huge stock of them on the upper floor) or railway stuff. Maybe sales of Humbrol paint and trackside scenics keep the place ticking over.

The shop's been there for over ten years, gradually expanding into bigger and bigger units, so clearly they're managing ok... but diecast turnover is minimal. The shelves are ever-more crammed with stuff coming in, but rarely going out.

My biggest gripe is his habit of writing the prices directly onto the packaging with a permanent marker; seems a really weird thing to do when you're selling collectibles.

I did spy a box of early 60s Matchbox sitting down behind the counter yesterday; would be interested to have a look in there...

[Datsuncog]

9 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

THE THURSDAY DIECAST TAT AUTOPSY #1

I thought you'd like a disassembly of a mate's Lone Star Flyer Vauxhall Firenza

 

Crikey, that Firenza is fantastic... funny to think what might have been possible if only Lone Star had managed to find more stockists for their models.

Cheers for that!

[junkyarddog]

The swop tops are quite rare.

I'm not interested in them, but they aren't a common model at all.

[DoctorRetro]

Picked up one of these at Asda last night - seems to be a sought after one judging by ebay prices?

 

EDIT - Seems it's the card that makes it sought after - pretty sure mine doesn't have the signature etc on it.

[junkyarddog]

A recent find is this tatty Mercury Cougar rat rod dragster. 

Gave it a makeover, with darker green paint,new decals then a few coats of clear lacquer, some slot mags from a Hot wheels, complete with green line sidewalls.

Spare engines are hard to find, this one was taken from a gruesome twosome.

Quite pleased with the result. 

 

 

[DoctorRetro]

@junkyarddog

Brilliant! Makes my pitiful efforts seem, well, pitiful... ?

[junkyarddog]

33 minutes ago, TheDoctor said:

 

Makes my pitiful efforts seem, well, pitiful... ?

Not at all,so long as you enjoy your efforts there is nothing pitiful about it.

It's a fun cheap hobby.

 

[sierraman]

3 hours ago, junkyarddog said:

The swop tops are quite rare.

I'm not interested in them, but they aren't a common model at all.

I had the full set, but went through a phase when I was about 19-20 of getting rid of them which was a mistake. Even back then I got quite a bit for them, they came with a hologram card so you could mirror between hood up/hood down. 

The guy with the model shop is having a laugh, the Maxi Taxi is cheap at a fiver but the other stuff is way way overpriced. I think it’s one of those situations where people get on a bit of a bandwagon, unless they are rare not many Superfasts are worth more than about £2 out of the box. If they’re knocked about a bit maybe 50p. Obviously the boxed ones are worth commensurately more but wheres the fun in that I guess!

[barrett]

I was reading about Dennis Adams today (after wondering 'whatever happened to Dennis Adams?, as one does) and I learned something quite interesting. Apparently, Adams was 'on a retainer' with Corgi during the 1970s. He designed several toys for them and even managed to get a few of his own car designs into miniature. This explains why Corgi produced models of the Marcos 1800, Mantis and XP, and the Adams Probe 15 (in whizzwheels and juniors versions). I'd always been a bit confused as to why diecast makers made certain choices of cars to produce, especially when the real thing doesn't even make it to triple figures. I wonder what other Corgi miniatures were built at the behest of Adams?

After all that I quite fancy a set of Adams cars (plus the Mini Marcos, which is such a nice toy and a great subject) so if anyone sees nice examples going for buttons (and I mean buttons) please let me know!

 

Edit: just wondering which other 'full size' car designers also designed toy cars? Tom Karen at Ogle designed a whgole range of futristic, unbranded commercial vehicles but I can't remember who for. Was it Corgi, too? I wonder if he had a similar arrangement as Adams, hence why three Tom Karen designs - none of which were exactly popular subjects - made it into diecast form in the early '70s? Anyone else we know of?

[Datsuncog]

On 3/13/2020 at 1:59 PM, barrett said:

Tom Karen at Ogle designed a whgole range of futristic, unbranded commercial vehicles but I can't remember who for. Was it Corgi, too?

I think that was those Corgi Turbine Truck things, if I remember rightly, sold under the Qualitoys brand name.

The Ogle version of the Reliant Scimitar makes a lot more sense after hearing that nugget, thanks!

There was a Mantis in the £2 tat box at the market, paint bad but otherwise complete - will keep an eye out for you in case it resurfaces!

[egg]

18 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

I should point out that the shop-lady, who has worked there for at least ten years across three different units in Smithfield, appears to have absolutely zero interest in toys in general and cars in particular, and seems to exist in a permanent state of barely-suppressed baffled rage at being left in charge of a shop full of annoyingly tiny rubbish which attracts an endless stream of annoyingly fussy men who ask awkward questions, such as the authenticity of boxes.

I enjoyed this para enough to quote it. Superb stuff. 

[DoctorRetro]

Here's my Kuda. 

Dominic arrived from his mum's with goodies as per usual... 

TVR

Shelby

Camaro

Vega. My favourite 

[bunglebus]

New postage arrivals. I had the Shift Kicker but it got left behind when I had to exit stage left in a hurry when I split up with my ex wife.

Sikus both have a missing door but are strangely tidy otherwise. Hopefully spares  cars will appear one Tat Friday

 

[flat4alfa]

Before I waste my time, have these been scanned in?

[flat4alfa]

Before I throw this back on the Bay of e

Any interest?

It cost a fiver

[flat4alfa]

Corgi Juniors Jaguar XJ-S 1982 Motor Show edition.  Is this scarce?

[flat4alfa]

TATURDAY CONUNDRUM

'Who Did It Worse?'

1970 Chevrolet

In the left corner: Hot Wheels.  In the right: Matchbox

[bunglebus]

6 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Before I throw this back on the Bay of e

Any interest?

It cost a fiver

Yes please!

I've got the 87 Matchbox and 79 Corgi catalogues, not the Dinky one. Not scanned them yet, got 84, 87 and 88 Matchbox and 77-80 Corgi still to do

[sierraman]

7 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Corgi Juniors Jaguar XJ-S 1982 Motor Show edition.  Is this scarce?

No I’ve about 3 of them. I don’t know if they were issued at the motor show, you’d assume so. 

[RoadworkUK]

Found myself trudging through Warwick in drizzle yesterday, where I was suddenly arrested by a window full of Daleks. And tat.

Metropolis Vintage Toys is crammed full of desirable curios, but, as ever, my eye is drawn closer to the rammle end of the market.

No live pics, because "odd behaviour", but there are a pair of semi-concealed £1 each trays, from which I liberated this Tyco era (I assume) W140 600SEL, which seems mint. Albeit boxless. But a quid.

[flat4alfa]

3 hours ago, bunglebus said:

I've got the 87 Matchbox and 79 Corgi catalogues, not the Dinky one

I paid a tenner for the Dinky at an antiques event....   no I don't know why either

Will pull the staples and get it scanned sometime