Shite in Miniature II

[Lord Sterling]

10 minutes ago, Amishtat said:

I'm here for about another hour, I'll swing back by if you'll go a tenner on it? 

Yeah, thats cool. Even on eBay they'll be about that price anyway.

[AndyW201]

50 minutes ago, Amishtat said:

I'm here for about another hour, I'll swing back by if you'll go a tenner on it? 

If youre still there and can grab the Sierra for a tenner, I'll have that please.

[Amishtat]

FORTY YEAR OLD MAN LOSES HIS SHIT OVER TOY CARS SHOCKER!!!

Well that was achingly predictable.. Full reveal later, time for work now. I've missed doing this on a sunny morning. 

[Richard_FM]

I used to have one of Renault 5 Turbos, which might be up in my parents attic.

[flat4alfa]

37 minutes ago, Amishtat said:

FORTY YEAR OLD MAN LOSES HIS SHIT OVER TOY CARS SHOCKER!!!

Well that was achingly predictable.. Full reveal later, time for work now. I've missed doing this on a sunny morning. 

Corgi SD1 wanting to break free

Is that a Polistil XJ on the arm rest?

[Lord Sterling]

On 6/6/2020 at 6:30 PM, TheDoctor said:

And a special treat.. 

More info please! I want one.

[DoctorRetro]

1 minute ago, Lord Sterling said:

More info please! I want one.

Solido, 1:43. Readily available on eBay, as far as I know. 

Came with the 'A Century of Cars' magazine 

 

[Lord Sterling]

On 6/16/2019 at 4:12 PM, flat4alfa said:

Super Sunday Dissection Section

Corgi Maestro entrails. 

 Despite fresh bulbs and cleaning of contacts, couldn't get it to work. So took it to bits to see why  

Same here. Just took out my Meastro, cleaned contacts, new batteries and bulbs are clean an in tact but no play ?

[flat4alfa]

There's nothing to the circuit really, can you the test the continuity? 

[eddyramrod]

1 hour ago, TheDoctor said:

Solido, 1:43. Readily available on eBay, as far as I know. 

Came with the 'A Century of Cars' magazine 

 

It certainly did, I've just turned round in my chair to look at mine, still in its bubble, in the cabinet behind me.  Shouldn't be too hard to find on the bay.

[RoadworkUK]

I am sooooo glad there are no decent car boot sales anywhere near me because my mortgage payments would be placed in immediate peril.

[Amishtat]

This is only on the outskirts of Colchester so maybe not that far from you? 

[Amishtat]

So, the second update this week from my work car park (sadly no dancing Doctor this time though) 

A Fiat for Lord S 

[bunglebus]

Yatming Beetle looks very similar to the Corgi from the same era

[Amishtat]

5 hours ago, AndyW201 said:

If youre still there and can grab the Sierra for a tenner, I'll have that please.

As luck would have it.. The box is coming apart a bit at the seams but it's all there.

[Amishtat]

4 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Corgi SD1 wanting to break free

Is that a Polistil XJ on the arm rest?

Correct twice! I probably overpaid on the XJ given the rear bumper is missing but it's a nice enough thing. I gave a tenner so if anybody fancies it just say.. Same goes for the three Corgis, fiver each if there's any interest. 

[Amishtat]

Some Husky delights.. 

[Tenmil Socket]

2 minutes ago, Amishtat said:

Correct twice! I probably overpaid on the XJ given the rear bumper is missing but it's a nice enough thing. I gave a tenner so if anybody fancies it just say.. Same goes for the three Corgis, fiver each if there's any interest. 

Whats the rest of the Maestro like please?

[Amishtat]

And of course some projects.. Corgi Thunderbird with a hilariously poor repaint, you can just pick flakes of it off. Dinky Impala is marginally worse, but I could see it looking good in a nice gold or something. As for the DAF transporter, it was 20p and looks fairly easy to repair. (Incidentally I know it's no substitute for DC's Tat Friday but we've got to make the best of it.) 

[Tenmil Socket]

That transporter was a bargain!

[Amishtat]

3 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Whats the rest of the Maestro like please?

I'll photograph it better a little later on. A good clean wouldn't harm it but the battery compartment is clean as a whistle so it might work. (No guarantee offered or implied). 

[Tenmil Socket]

Just now, Amishtat said:

I'll photograph it better a little later on. A good clean wouldn't harm it but the battery compartment is clean as a whistle so it might work. (No guarantee offered or implied). 

I'm interested.

[Amishtat]

1 minute ago, Tenmil Socket said:

That transporter was a bargain!

My thought process exactly! 

[RoadworkUK]

1 hour ago, Amishtat said:

This is only on the outskirts of Colchester so maybe not that far from you? 

Shhhhhhhh. I NEED this house.

Also, that Transporter is a cracker.

[flat4alfa]

50 minutes ago, Amishtat said:

 Dinky Impala is marginally worse, but I could see it looking good in a nice gold or something. 

How much did you give for that and would it become available?

[DoctorRetro]

@Amishtat, Dominic would live that Sd1 if available? 

[Lord Sterling]

Interested also in the Jag @Amishtat please.

[flat4alfa]

1 hour ago, Amishtat said:

I probably overpaid on the XJ given the rear bumper is missing but it's a nice enough thing. I gave a tenner so if anybody fancies it just say..

ahhh...  oh.  a tenner you say?   I still have a spare Lucky Toys 1:24 rear bumper that could* be asked to pop round for a trial-fit

[RoadworkUK]

Couple of months ago, before illness and misery swept the nation, I went to Ironbridge. The visiting of a tat shop and the expenditure of £4 saw this happen.

The vendor actually had two available; this one in its rather generic make-believe livery, and an SAS (the airline, not the elite military force) liveried one. I probably should have bought the latter but for the fact that its rear lights weren't so distinctive as they are here.

It's an interestingly singular model for an '80s Corgi, this. The way it's put together, with its flat metal chassis, and axles that hang beneath, recalls practice from decades before. I reckon that makes it kind of charming. 

Of course, being quite definitely A Toy means opening features. The door works on a plug hinge, and the luggage doors on both sides open just like the real thing (TM).

This one is presented in the typical late '80s packaging that we all know and love, its target market clearly being the sticky-fingered child with magpie "want it" mentality and pocket money to spare. It's interesting, then (to me, anyway) to see how this casting came to be whored out in pursuit of a more discerning audience in later years.

Same casting, with opening features, but significantly gussied-up livery.. It says much for the fundamental rightness of the underlying model that a splash of well-applied paint should make such a difference. Various genuine local liveries were offered, often on a limited-edition basis. Soon enough, its "definitely a toy" origins would be left farther behind when the window box was abandoned for something of a more adult-oriented nature:

Dunno what the the process was that determined whether your bus company would get to be represented in 1:68ish scale by the Corgi "maximum product life out of minimum possible investment" concern, but the same casting was dressed up in all manner of liveries, marketed on a limited edition basis, much in the same way as would become the case with Corgi's contemporary Original Omnibus Company series.

In fact, truly, this humble Paramount casting would be the one product that truly bridged the two eras, as the below amply demonstrates.

Same casting again, same "definitely not 1:76" scale (in fact, taking the Paramount to be an 11m type, as the short first bay after the "feature" window suggests, the model's 17.5cm length suggests a scale of 1:62.8), and same slightly clunky plastichrome moulding for the headlights and grille.

Check those wheels out, though! In what was presumably a final outing for this casting before the OOC era got properly into its stride, the good Corgi mandarins had rewarded its humble Paramount with a set of properly modelled wheels, rather than the generic items that had kept it rolling across living room carpets for so many years. 

A last-ditch decision before this Blackpool gift set went to market? Presumably so, based on the box art, which shows the Seagull liveried Paramount wearing the very same wheels as my £4 Ironbridge purchase.

[Amishtat]

58 minutes ago, TheDoctor said:

@Amishtat, Dominic would live that Sd1 if available? 

Yours for a fiver! (You even know where to come and get it)