Shite in Miniature II

[bunglebus]

The three Amigos 

 

[Split_Pin]

Looks like I have accidentally oversprayed on the inside of a window (didn't mask up the sunroof aperture).

Am I screwed or is there anything I can do do get it off? 

It's a model kit I am, or was 'restoring' and I couldnt detach the glass without damaging the bodyshell.

 

[junkyarddog]

Picked up this Matchbox Daf car transporter today,

Slightly unusual,in the fact that the base of the tractor unit is unpainted. 

Any I've seen previously have been painted red,a quick Google suggests that this is a 1970 version,after they went to the superfast wheels.

After 1971 until it's demise in 1975 the were painted red.

You learn something new every day. 

[Amishtat]

1 hour ago, junkyarddog said:

Picked up this Matchbox Daf car transporter today,

Slightly unusual,in the fact that the base of the tractor unit is unpainted. 

Any I've seen previously have been painted red,a quick Google suggests that this is a 1970 version,after they went to the superfast wheels.

After 1971 until it's demise in 1975 the were painted red.

You learn something new every day. 

Cheers, you've made me look at the base of mine now! I never knew any of that. 

 

[Amishtat]

Rummaging through some of life's general detritus earlier in search of some paintbrushes, I came across this. Another one of those toys I can't remember not having but one I'd completely forgotten about until DC expressed an interest in one on Wednesday. Even then I didn't expect to come across it but here we are. Doesn't look like I played with it much (ungrateful little fucker) but it has reminded me I had a roadsweeper of some sort too. 

 

[eddyramrod]

38 years ago I was a binman, and these were the standard wagon.  Naturally I have one I painted to match those I rode in...  I also have the Dinky sweeper on the Ford D chassis, in fact two; I may yet repaint the scruffier one.  Council fleet, anyone?  Damn, that means I'm going to need another Oxford HA....

[RoadworkUK]

I, too have been rummaging through life's detritus, and found this.

Picked it up in a supermarket of some kind, somewhere in Germany during the Great European Road Trip we made in my wife's 306 back in 2009. By remarkable coincidence, we ate a truckload of Bahlsen biscuits on that trip.

It's still sealed in its blister pack, and close inspection reveals remarkable fidelity with the Merc Actros original; certainly for something I bought for the equivalent of 25p.

[Spottedlaurel]

55 minutes ago, Amishtat said:

Cheers, you've made me look at the base of mine now! I never knew any of that.

Ditto. Mine is the later one with red base to the tractor unit, more of a metallic maroon than straight red.

[junkyarddog]

58 minutes ago, Amishtat said:

Cheers, you've made me look at the base of mine now! I never knew any of that. 

 

That's the regular wheels version, one year only too,1969,then they went to the superfast wheels. 

[Spottedlaurel]

Good progress made today on the Chevelle:

1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Should finish it tonight.

1:25 Revell 1966 Chevelle Wagon + Wolf F1 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

While I was out there today I 'restored' this Tamiya 1:20 Wolf F1 kit, first built back in about 1985/86. When I say restored, more of an exercise in hastily glueing together the various constituent parts Master SL found when rummaging through my various parts boxes.

1:24 Tamiya Nissan 350Z Track kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I painted this for him today, he can finish it off now. He made a good attempt on a fiddly Fujimi Ferrari (!) recently, so this one should end up quite decent.

[bunglebus]

3 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Looks like I have accidentally oversprayed on the inside of a window (didn't mask up the sunroof aperture).

Am I screwed or is there anything I can do do get it off? 

It's a model kit I am, or was 'restoring' and I couldn't detach the glass without damaging the bodyshell.

 

I would use something like T-cut, especially the less abrasive metallic sort. I've stopped using chemicals to get paint off of window units now after two brake fluid/caustic soda disasters, I just sand and polish now.

[Split_Pin]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

I would use something like T-cut, especially the less abrasive metallic sort. I've stopped using chemicals to get paint off of window units now after two brake fluid/caustic soda disasters, I just sand and polish now.

Thanks. Managed to save the front and rear screens together with the 3rd side windows with T cut and glass polish but had to cut out and discard the others. 

The paint went on all shit too but managed to polish it up. It's a ten footer without your glasses on.

Less than happy.

[bunglebus]

Clear plastic from some packaging could be used to make replacements? 

[eddyramrod]

Yes it certainly could, I do it often.

[BL Bloke]

Another visit to the model shop and another 80's Japanese coupe.

DSCF1476 by timothy jones, on Flickr

[junkyarddog]

I love Honda Preludes!

 

 

[Spottedlaurel]

2 hours ago, BL Bloke said:

Another visit to the model shop and another 80's Japanese coupe.

You're lucky to have a shop around that stocks that kind of stuff. That Prelude is a great-looking kit - it's one of the few I'd build completely standard.

[eddyramrod]

On 6/27/2020 at 3:39 PM, bunglebus said:

The three Amigos 

 

I have a little fleet of Transit Accident Units now, none of them with a rear tailgate, none of them a mk2.

In other news... I thought a shot of my entire Austin Healey fleet might be in order.

L-R: Corgi 100/6; Spot-On 3000; Corgi Classics 3000 with hardtop; Century Of Cars (Corgi) 3000 without.

Sunbeam-Talbot Alpine, at long last; it's one of the first I opened up for restoration but inexplicably seems to have taken forever to finish.  And Corgi Golden Jacks Mini-Marcos, one of the more recent projects.

Oh and a little RNLI grouping: Vanguards A35 van; Landy and boat from a kind soul here; Bedford CA.  All original factory liveries.  And on the shelf below, a couple of cute little Fiat vans.  I'm sure I have at least one more somewhere.  Think they might be Solido.

[xkjagnz]

Got these years ago in a Shell promotion probably about 1995, the 8 are from one set, the other one was a random given because I had all the others. Never been unboxed but have travelled halfway across the world

[bunglebus]

8 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

I have a little fleet of Transit Accident Units now, none of them with a rear tailgate, none of them a mk2.

I remember having the red fire service one as a kid, one of the toys that vanished inexplicably and is still sorely missed.

I don't like the sliding door versions with the twin rear doors, both the model and the real thing. Spoils the nice shape of the MK1 especially 

[Split_Pin]

I finished rebuilding the Tamiya Audi 90. I got this in about 1991 when I was 12 and as it wasn't the best job to start with, making it better was a challenge. It had been brush painted and then touched in over the years with a black Sharpie.

After I got this one I became a lot better at model making as a teenager however quite recently I seemed to have lost my steady hand that I used to have, perhaps I'm getting older.

Anyway, Rover Wedgewood blue again as I have a lot of that left over.

Before:

After:

I arsed up the windows by forgetting to mask off the sunroof aperture however the interior looks ok so having these removed lets you see it a bit better.

Looks ok on the shelf, I'm happy enough with it.

[Spottedlaurel]

Good to see it resurrected. Colour reminds me of one they offered.

Looking at the shaky hand thing my dad suffers with I fear I will go the same way, that's partly why I'm trying to get as many done now as I can. Some new spec's would help too, but lockdown meant we had to cancel an eyesight test.

By coincidence, yesterday I was contemplating similar work on some of my older kits:

1:24 Monogram 1937 Ford kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Paintwork fine on this one, just the odd missing component (and wheels which are now on the Chevelle).

1:24 Italieri Porsche 944 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I built this one for my stepdad as a sort-of reminder of his old 924. It got knocked off the shelf one day and has been back with me ever since.

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

First built over 35 years ago, unpainted apart from a bit of practice at some point. Painted bright orange and with smoked/black windows it'd still look good as a display piece.

Kit Scrapyard by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

By the time my son and I had assembled all the missing parts to go with each kit there wasn't much left in the parts box (although there is still a little cabinet filled with bits and bobs).

Cadillac Hearse and '55 Chevy WIP kits by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

It was also good to be reminded of what I need to do on these to finish them off. Got to look at making a new front screen for the Cadillac, might try the method of gently heating a bit of clear sheet then letting it cool on the cracked original as a template. Nothing to lose, it could still end up as a banger if that doesn't work out.

[sierraman]

Went to car boot this morning, a load of crap. Not a single diecast. Epic fail. I’ll attack (not literally...) Tesco tomorrow. 

[Split_Pin]

45 minutes ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Good to see it resurrected. Colour reminds me of one they offered.

Looking at the shaky hand thing my dad suffers with I fear I will go the same way, that's partly why I'm trying to get as many done now as I can. Some new spec's would help too, but lockdown meant we had to cancel an eyesight test.

By coincidence, yesterday I was contemplating similar work on some of my older kits:

1:24 Monogram 1937 Ford kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Paintwork fine on this one, just the odd missing component (and wheels which are now on the Chevelle).

1:24 Italieri Porsche 944 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I built this one for my stepdad as a sort-of reminder of his old 924. It got knocked off the shelf one day and has been back with me ever since.

1:24 Humbrol Fiat 131 kit by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

First built over 35 years ago, unpainted apart from a bit of practice at some point. Painted bright orange and with smoked/black windows it'd still look good as a display piece.

Kit Scrapyard by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

By the time my son and I had assembled all the missing parts to go with each kit there wasn't much left in the parts box (although there is still a little cabinet filled with bits and bobs).

Cadillac Hearse and '55 Chevy WIP kits by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

It was also good to be reminded of what I need to do on these to finish them off. Got to look at making a new front screen for the Cadillac, might try the method of gently heating a bit of clear sheet then letting it cool on the cracked original as a template. Nothing to lose, it could still end up as a banger if that doesn't work out.

The 944 looks like it would be ace to rebuild. 

Someone on Facebook reminded me that you can get straight lines with masking tape and a craft knife and now that I think about it that's what I used to do. My craft knife is still at my parent's but it's so old now you probably can't get blades for it.

I was flicking through the 1991 Tamiya catalogue just there and I think I'll invest in a new craft knife and get myself a retro Japanese car kit of some sort and have another go. I used to be OK at model building so I'd like to build one or two more before I become unable to do so.

[Lord Sterling]

On 5/7/2020 at 4:22 PM, Lord Sterling said:

MODEL MANZ

Need some help:

I've got a 1.43 corgi Jaguar that needs 2 x tyres. Can anyone help?

You may remember this 1960s 1.43 Corgi Jaguar e-type which I acquired but only had 2 tyres. Well, I bought some tyres which turned out to be the wrong size; too large at 16mm. So I recently acquired some smaller 15mm ones after getting some advice and they fitted! 

I'm pretty happy with them. They fit nicely and are original (or proper repro) Corgi items with the 'CORGI TOYS' stamps on the side. Its almost on par with returning OE items to the Zafira.

Now I'm looking for a wheel and axle set for 1.43 Vauxhall Vectra B touring car model that I have that has no wheels on it now.

[Datsuncog]

More fun pics for y'all; the blue Superfast MG 1100 was picked up from the car boot sale at Brighton railway station eighteen years ago today (the last Sunday in June, just a few days before I left for Australia), while the green one was picked up at the St George's Market tat stall in March and is currently being held for @TheDoctor

 

The MG 1100 first appeared in the 1966 Matchbox catalogue as No.64 in the range, some four years after the real car's launch.

 

It was based on the second iteration of Alec Issigonis' smartly styled and innovative ADO16 model, which built on the concepts he'd introduced with the Mini in 1959. The MG appeared in September 1962, a month after the Morris 1100 made the model's debut, and nearly a year before the Austin version arrived.

 

With a grille similar to that of the bigger Farina-based Magnette, behind the octagonal badge lurked a twin carburettor version of the 1.1 litre A-series engine.

 

Although the ADO16 was designed as both a four-door and a two-door saloon - plus a three-door estate - the two-door variant was initially built for export markets only. For the UK, this sporty MG was chiefly marketed as a family saloon with a little more 'go', whereas in the US the 2-dr was portrayed as a more practical alternative to MG's roadsters.

 

The MG 1100 became the MG 1300 in 1967, when the mildly restyled Mk2 ADO16 received a twin-carb 1275cc A-series engine, along with a two-door option. But following the merger of BMC with the Leyland Group, a surfeit of small saloons within the new BLMC organisation (such as the Triumph 1300) meant the MG version was finally canned in 1971 - although remained available to export markets.

 

The same twin carb engine was also fitted in the Austin & Morris 1300 GT from 1969, and remained in production in Austin format through to 1974. Over two million were built in all forms - Austin, Morris, Riley, Wolseley, MG and Vanden Plas - plus many local variants around the world, such as the hatchback Austin Nomad in Australia. Fun fact: in Denmark, the 1100/1300 was badged as the Morris Marina from 1962 on.

 

However, a well-reported tendency to rust killed many of them off... with even survivors still requiring a fair bit of regular tickling with the sparkly stick, as various forum regulars will attest... Word has it that Issigonis may well have been a talented and visionary designer, but as an engineer he wasn't quite up to snuff - inadvertently including a number of serious rust traps into the bodyshell that, despite protests from Fisher, BMC's bodyshell builders, designed-in terminal rot as a standard feature. As a result, many ADO16s had shorter lives than they otherwise might.

 

Matchbox clearly found their little model a strong seller, as it remained unchanged in the lineup for four years along with its driver and canine passenger.

 

For 1970, the smol 1100 was re-engineered to accept new Superfast wheels - along with a rather alarmingly high ride height - and rather splendid iridescent blue paintwork. But it was short-lived, and by 1971, both the real-life car and its miniature counterpart had been discontinued.

 

Matchbox were hurrying into the Superfast era with all manner of wild and wacky custom cars - and faithful renderings of Auntie June's little car just weren't going to cut it... even if it did have Colin the dachshund peeking out from the back seat.

[DoctorRetro]

@Datsuncog I'd forgotten about that. Do I have anything else on hold? 

[Spottedlaurel]

The close-up pic's don't do the Superfast 1100 any favours, but in reality it's a lovely thing - I recall one as a child and I'm happy to have a very good unboxed one now.

They may not be to everyone's taste, but I really like the early Superfast models that started life with regular wheels.

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, TheDoctor said:

I'd forgotten about that. Do I have anything else on hold? 

Only a couple - a Matchbox Lincoln Continental, Dinky Mercedes and Corgi R16.

There's no rush on them, so happy to punt them on whenever works for you!

[Split_Pin]

I had one of those 1100s, I can't remember what colour it was now though but it is a lovely little model. Colin the daschund is great!