Shite in Miniature II

[155V6]

15 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

 

Yup, I do indeed - a coupla other Corgis are still here for you. Will pop that in with the others, no worries!

 

Thanks,but didn't Flat4alfa have 1st dibs on the spare Porsche?

[Amishtat]

2 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Worlds's gone mad, etc

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Airfix-1-32-Scale-Vauxhall-Victor-2000-Estate-Model-constructed/153992948367

102 quid.. Yes I did consider bidding.. 

[eddyramrod]

Bloody hell!  I followed the links and found an unmade, boxed example too.... for HFM????  250 notes, that's how HFM.  World, mad, etc, totally.  I wish I'd had the foresight (and the cash) to buy more than the one I had long ago.

[Datsuncog]

Wet Friday is wet again, unsurprisingly... and some minor machinations were required to enable a flying visit to St G's this morning.

In its new format, the market doesn't open until 10am - which is damned inconvenient as it used to be open from 6.30, and I tended to drop in around 8 or so on my way from the station. Meanwhile, my WFH "core working hours" start at 10am...

So, under the guise of 'charging the battery in the Yaris', and keeping a weather eye on work emails via the BlackBerry, I hastily piled up to Belfast to see what was to be seen...

Well, kinda the same stuff as last week, it turned out.

Still some Corgi Classics commercials available for a tenner; nice, but the '50s stuff doesn't do it for me. Ergomatic brewery dray box still contains the incorrect earlier Foden...

Older Thorneycroft and Renault trucks not really my bag, but that Jag XK120 still tugged at me a little...

Corgi FX4 cab is more like the one I bought for my little brother all those years ago, but I think his had 'radio cab' stickers, not 'computer cab'.

I thought his had a black interior, but on seeing this I believe it was actually red like this one.

Sliding partition glazing is indeed deleted on these newer models.

Bbuago Citroen Traction was quite nice though; Matchbox Superkings Massey Ferguson may be of interest to some of the tractor guys here?

And there was, as promised, a tat box... sort of. These have all definitely appeared on previous weeks, earlier in the year.

Mostly bigger stuff, and mostly around a fiver a throw...

Dinky Land Rover fire tender and AEC were quite decent.

Huskys also quite nice - smaller Jag MkX missing a bumper corner; Guy Tanker missing the rear tank moulding.

There was also a Ford Pickup missing the camper body, found later.

Stingray  and Porsche Carrera possible rolling restos; plastic motorised bus had no maker's marks.

Majorette Dodge with freaky paintwork was in good fettle and seemingly complete; Adams Probe slightly more worse for wear.

More farm fun, for someone - no name International, and no name (but possibly Dinky?) Massey Ferguson.

Jaguar XJ12 peelermobile by Matchbox Superkings was ok; Corgi Turbos Opel Manta suffering roof damage.

Due to time pressures, I didn't have the luxury of going away, posting up the pics and then coming back - and with the market shutting again at 2, it kinda limits my ability to procure stuff to order. But! If there's anything you see that you like, I can make enquiries next week, all being well...

And no, I didn't leave empty-handed...

[Datsuncog]

25 minutes ago, 155V6 said:

Thanks,but didn't Flat4alfa have 1st dibs on the spare Porsche?

Ooh, had missed that... but fear not, there's enough Polo Porsches for everyone!

[flat4alfa]

I think the ‘Adams Probe’ is the Chevrolet Astro 1.  I’d like a nice one if those, one day

The Polo Porsche might as well park in the 155V6 tat box for now as there was a mention of Dinky parts surfacing soon

@Datsuncog @155V6

[bunglebus]

27 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

 I can make enquiries next week, all being well...

If that orange Corgi Mini Bus has undamaged glass and isn't too much money I'd be interested - only need the glazing

Oh and what's the red one with blue glass - Porsche 917?

[155V6]

I wouldn't mind the Majorette Dodge if it's not more than a couple of quid.

[Tenmil Socket]

26 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Ooh, had missed that... but fear not, there's enough Polo Porsches for everyone!

I have a Polo Porsche if anyone wants one?

[flat4alfa]

Just got back from Hitchin Market

Got these two Dinkys for a tenner a piece.  More than I am usually prepared to spend and I didn’t really need them, but the Airfix Victor auction messed my head up.

[Split_Pin]

Ooft that's lovely a Victor FC 101, never seen one of those in the metal. Lovely indeed! I have the earlier Dinky estate car in FB guise.

[flat4alfa]

21 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Ooft that's lovely a Victor FC 101, never seen one of those in the metal. Lovely indeed! I have the earlier Dinky estate car in FB guise.

Yes I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the 101 bid up to stupid levels due to rarity

Please let me know if you are willing to part with the FB estate

[bunglebus]

9 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

I think the ‘Adams Probe’ is the Chevrolet Astro 1.  

I have one -

 

20190911_110332 by RS, on Flickr

 

And the Rockets version is on the workbench now

 

20200710_150749 by RS, on Flickr

 

To go with the Yatming one I did a while back

 

20200325_175431 by RS, on Flickr

 

Had a bit of a win with this Mini Traveller I've had for a while, someone else's home resto, didn't know what make it was

 

20190813_161027 by RS, on Flickr

20200707_093112 by RS, on Flickr

 

Paint stripped off reveals

 

20200710_145940 by RS, on Flickr

 

I'll be needing a replacement glass as it's frosted from the glue used before

 

Bug is also coming along, reshaped the bumper to something a bit more Beetle like

 

20200710_135603 by RS, on Flickr

[Datsuncog]

So I tried not to go utterly daft; while there were quite a few nice models on the stall, I tried to restrain myself. Tried.

The Matchbox Dinky Austin A40 van isn't quite the top of my must-have list, but despite a tatty and yellowed box it's in decent enough shape and, frankly, I don't love it enough to have paid much more than a fiver for it anyway. But I'd like to pull in a few more from this range, for a while anyway - so it's staying for now. The colour is great, even if the front number plate is a bit oversized.

The Vanguards range is something of a favourite of mine, and although I somehow wound up with two iterations of the big Wolseley Landcrab, I didn't have one of the cooking variants. So this Morris 1800 MkIII is just dandy.

Something of a step too far for Issigonis' much-lauded vision, the Landcrab range ended up pushing the minimalist Mini concept to the extreme - resulting in a car with a pointless excess of interior space, and an extremely spartan layout. A bit like sitting on an orange box in an empty living room.

It was designed to supersede the finned Farinas,  but proved too large and expensive to directly replace them in the range - so BMC found themselves obliged to keep selling their old '50s designs alongside... and with the car never meeting its sales targets, a management decision was reached to use surplus stocks of 1800/2200 doors for both the smaller Maxi project, and the prestige 3 Litre. Could the seeds of BL's 1970s woes have been sown with this car? Some believe so...

Despite missing its outer box, I'm very pleased with this one. It'll also be staying, until I can find one in a better colour anyway...

And lastly, this - not from the market stall, but a rash eBay purchase from last week, which happened to be on the step when I came back.

One of these has been on my search list for years now; they never seem to dip much below £20 unless damaged in some way, and lo and behold, £20 secured this one. Cashing in some Nectar points knocked a few quid off it, too.

It's a really nice model of a very odd car, and certainly an unusual choice to build to scale - in both 1/36 and Juniors, too.

By the mid-1970s the majority of Corgi's output was for export, so it's maybe understandable that they chose to produce some models that would appeal to the North American market better than Citroen Dyanes and VW Polos.

Of course, the AMC Pacer was indeed available in the UK, as shown by the photo on the back of the box.

AMCs were briefly marketed in the mid-70s under the Rambler badge, with mild success for the Jeep range but a deafening silence for the rest. Seems the UK somehow failed to comprehend how a 4.2 straight-six (or indeed a 5-litre V8) dropped into a bodyshell bigger than a Mk2 Granada could be marketed as 'compact' and 'economical'...

KMW222P, where are you now?

Oh. Bean tins for many a long year, t'would appear.

Still, dig that opening boot:

Pity they didn't make the differently-sized doors open too, since that was one of the Pacer's only genuinely innovative aspects. That, and looking like a demented fishbowl.

Still, it's in excellent nick, with only one slightly askew sticker and a peculiar chunk of rear glazing missing, both of which seem to be factory flaws. Could do with a bit of a clean, mind.

Only on sale in this plain metallic red for the 1977 catalogue year, these aren't particularly hard to find on internet auction sites - but seemingly remain less common than the white, orange and black Rescue version that ran from 1978-80 (C484)

A nice addition to the groaning 1/36 shelf, any road...

So there we go, another week in diecast - just have to take each tat day as it comes, hey?

Til next week!

[Amishtat]

53 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Just got back from Hitchin Market

Got these two Dinkys for a tenner a piece.  More than I am usually prepared to spend and I didn’t really need them, but the Airfix Victor auction messed my head up.

I am openly jealous. I've never come across a 101 for anything like my budget. Well done! 

[Remspoor]

On 7/9/2020 at 2:41 PM, artdjones said:

Just got given this.It's way too charming to restore.

Oh I still have mine from many years ago. The detail of the pump at the rear is "cute".

[flat4alfa]

On 6/17/2020 at 6:41 PM, Amishtat said:

Fiver for the Impala? It's not that bad under a shaving brush repaint

I spotted one of those while out in the tat shops and suddenly remembered your one put aside for me weeks ago.  Do you still have it?

[bunglebus]

23 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Seemingly remain less common than the white, orange and black Rescue version that ran from 1978-80 (C484)

Typically, the orange and white one is the one I haven't tracked down yet!

[Amishtat]

21 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

I spotted one of those while out in the tat shops and suddenly remembered your one put aside for me weeks ago.  Do you still have it?

Of course. 

[flat4alfa]

19 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Typically, the orange and white one is the one I haven't tracked down yet!

?

I have one of those

MAY SWAP FOR AIRFIX VICTORS 

[flat4alfa]

2 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Oh and what's the red one with blue glass - Porsche 917?

Yes it is too, the Corgi one.

I went off to look for mine, but no, got mixed up.  It is the Alfa Tipo 33 from Dinky I was thinking of.  Going around the twist with all the miniatures now, don't know what I have and what I haven't anymore ?

Anyhow, while it was in the hand it got snapped with a @Jon-style background too

Snaffled from a charity shop tat bin last year.

[Amishtat]

Said Impala. Yes, the Volvo needs a wash. 

[flat4alfa]

On 7/9/2020 at 3:20 PM, bunglebus said:

DeTomasa Mangusta. I spotted this Dinky one;

It came with another, earlier one which has much nicer wheels, so I may make a hybrid if I can find tyres

It looks like they have a habit of loosing their trunk lids...   I wonder if we could take a mould of your intact one, that is if you are stripping it back to repaint?  There are none available, so might be worth knocking a few clones out - I need to paint one up as the car in THAT Kylie video.  Until I do - I won't be able to get it outta my head, it's more than I dare to think about, la la la, la la la-la-la....

This one was sat on a shelf next to the Alfa 33 Tipo.   I got it from @Datsuncog a while back, described by himself as a 'Thompson Mongoose', which to be fair does have a certain ring to it ?Maybe 'Thompson Mongoose' as a name change, should stay.

[flat4alfa]

19 hours ago, Amishtat said:

I am openly jealous. I've never come across a 101 for anything like my budget. Well done! 

I'm glad I got it now, it was the last note left in my wallet....  won't tell the wife that though.

I've wanted a model 101 for a while, hoping to do an estate modification to one.  The idea being to model on my 101 Estate from a few years back, which still lives locally:

But like the real size car, too rare and valuable to mess about with after all !

[bunglebus]

25 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

It looks like they have a habit of loosing their trunk lids...   I wonder if we could take a mould of your intact one, that is if you are stripping it back to repaint?  There are none available, so might be worth knocking a few clones out - I need to paint one up as the car in THAT Kylie video.  Until I do. I won't be able to get it out of my head.

This one was sat on a shelf next to the Alfa 33 Tipo.   I got it from @Datsuncog a while back, described by himself as a 'Thompson Mongoose', which to be fair does have a certain ring to it ?Maybe 'Thompson Mongoose' as a name change, should stay.

At least you can tell me the correct tyres to order. Never taken a mould or cast a part, I'd probably make a right bodge of it.

[artdjones]

1 hour ago, Remspoor said:

Oh I still have mine from many years ago. The detail of the pump at the rear is "cute".

Yes,the only possible improvement would have been headlamps.

[flat4alfa]

19 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Something of a step too far for Issigonis' much-lauded vision, the Landcrab range ended up pushing the minimalist Mini concept to the extreme - resulting in a car with a pointless excess of interior space, and an extremely spartan layout. A bit like sitting on an orange box in an empty living room.

It was designed to supersede the finned Farinas,  but proved too large and expensive to directly replace them in the range - so BMC found themselves obliged to keep selling their old '50s designs alongside... and with the car never meeting its sales targets, a management decision was reached to use surplus stocks of 1800/2200 doors for both the smaller Maxi project, and the prestige 3 Litre. Could the seeds of BL's 1970s woes have been sown with this car? Some believe so...

Oooohhhhh well I don't know about that, they are well-regarded in some circles.  I had this a few years back and do want to have another one day - I don't say that about many cars!

The interior space is superb and shames many a modern car.  And the Wolseley interior I wouldn't call spartan, what with the leather seats and that big slice of veneered tree for a dashboard.  Besides, a Landcrab will run rings around a A60, as they have barely any body roll and the over-engineered weight of them means the ride doesn't hop about like an ADO16.  I would like one of the very few left Morris 2200.  If I still lived in Australia I'd probably be keeping a Kimberley instead of that Leyland Princess currently in the garage

When we went to pick up our first big Plasma TV (over ten years ago), as we pulled up to the collection point, the shop worker looked at me like we were having a laugh.  Then I just opened the rear door (they open out near 90 degrees) and we slid the big box in, behind the front seats.  WIDTH WAYS.  Flat floor, you see.  

This is the Vanguards Wolseley Six from up on a shelf.  Had it a while so needed to dust this one down!  Being in a 'similar' blue with the blue seats, I keep it to remind me of my good old reliable Landcrab:

[bunglebus]

As usual, it's hard to capture this colour flip stuff in a picture - it's much livelier than it looks

 

DSC_0027 by RS, on Flickr

DSC_0019 by RS, on Flickr

DSC_0004 by RS, on Flickr

DSC_0029 by RS, on Flickr

DSC_0030 by RS, on Flickr

[Amishtat]

I bet that really sparkles when (if) the sun hits it

[Amishtat]

29 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Oooohhhhh well I don't know about that, they are well-regarded in some circles.  I had this a few years back and do want to have another one day - I don't say that about many cars!

The interior space is superb and shames many a modern car.  And the Wolseley interior I wouldn't call spartan, what with the leather seats and that big slice of veneered tree for a dashboard.  Besides, a Landcrab will run rings around a A60, as they have barely any body roll and the over-engineered weight of them means the ride doesn't hop about like an ADO16.  I would like one of the very few left Morris 2200.  If I still lived in Australia I'd probably be keeping a Kimberley instead of that Leyland Princess currently in the garage

When we went to pick up our first big Plasma TV (over ten years ago), as we pulled up to the collection point, the shop worker looked at me like we were having a laugh.  Then I just opened the rear door (they open out near 90 degrees) and we slid it in behind the front seats.  WIDTH WAYS.  Flat floor, you see.  

This is the Vanguards Wolseley Six from up on a shelf.  Had it a while so needed to dust this one down!  Being in a 'similar' blue with the blue seats, I keep it to remind me of my good old reliable Landcrab:

Nice crab! When I was eighteen someone in my village was selling a lovely Morris 1800S in maroon, OCF474G. I couldn't afford it at £1995 (in 1998) but he insisted upon us going for a test drive. It was beautiful, plenty of poke and cornered like nothing of its vintage I'd encountered. Its next owner parked it on grass for a decade and I last saw it in our local banger racers' yard about 2010,completely ruined. Anyway, back to toy cars..