Shite in Miniature II

[sheffcortinacentre]

Had the 77 catalogue from new remember my mate getting the mini camping set new.

I converted one of those MK3 jam sandwiches in to my mates tawny brown MK3 GT complete with those five slots a couple of Christmas back will get a pic of him.

[155V6]

I found this Dinky kit today while I was looking for something else,I thought it was long gone.

I remember buying this somewhere around 1980,so it must have been old stock by then.I'm going to give it a good clean,& find it a place in the cabinet.

[bunglebus]

Awesome. I need to re-paint mine and try to make the roll bar that was the other option to the soft top

[155V6]

2 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Awesome. I need to re-paint mine and try to make the roll bar that was the other option to the soft top

Any way you could copy the roll bar from mine?

[bunglebus]

I'm just going to try and make a hoop out of styrene, I wish I had the skills to make a mould etc but I don't.

Hoping I can find a similar screen as as donor

 

 

[bunglebus]

Having spend weeks tracking down what I thought was the right colour for the wing on the Flying Beetle, it's not quite a match.

If it "bugs" me enough I'll paint it and order a decal, but they're only available in the US, so expensive 

 

[MarvinsMom]

wrt to the beach buggy above, couldn't a roll cage be fashioned out of some old sprues from a model kit, cut to length and warmed slowly over a fag lighter flame to make the bends needed?

just a thought.....

 

[sierraman]

Can’t seem to find out if the US releases were ever actually released in the U.K.? I’ve a midnight magic and a viper van both US only releases, wonder how they got here? 

[MarvinsMom]

on to some new arrivals in my collection.

we had toyed with the idea of going to the classic cars at Castle Howard yesterday ,Sunday.

but after several days constant rain, and the presence of the chinese disease, and them wanting £13 a head to hang out in a muddy field, we went into Whitby instead.

well, after much looking, thinking, looking again and eventually deciding, i got these 2 gems, really i was thinking for the diecast collection, but also for the monster train set that i will build, one day. one  day....

first off i spotted this matchbox mark 3 zephyr, this has some suspension fitted, the first time i have seen that on a matchbox car, having seen it before on Huskys/Corgi juniors with their plastic inserts, this seems to be frankly a cleverer system within the car itself, and prototypically this is "tired" on the back of the car. i saw it and it spoke to me.....

as did this Scammell Scarab mechanical horse.  the paint scheme is i think very close to that used by British Railways who had an enormous fleet of these. no surprise given the size of the network at that time (the late 1950-early 60s) and that BR were still a common carrier, and before Dr Beaching was brought in to try and stop, or at least stem some of the money that BR was loosing. 

these early matchbox cars, if they aren't scaled out to 1/76 scale to match 00 trains, then they must be very, very close to that,  as can be seen with this Triang  "0-6-0 Diesel Electric Shunter" which was made at around the same time as the matchbox toys were.

[bunglebus]

44 minutes ago, MarvinsMom said:

wrt to the beach buggy above, couldn't a roll cage be fashioned out of some old sprues from a model kit, cut to length and warmed slowly over a fag lighter flame to make the bends needed?

just a thought.....

 

I could do but I'd like to replicate the "flat" type fitted originally. 

It's not going to plan today, put a 2nd coat of paint on the Matchbox 2002 and got a loads of bits come out of the nozzle so it looks crap.

Then the speed control on my Dremel decided to fail so it's full speed or nothing, or changing speed randomly. Grr.

[bunglebus]

26 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Can’t seem to find out if the US releases were ever actually released in the U.K.? I’ve a midnight magic and a viper van both US only releases, wonder how they got here? 

I don't know. That Flying Beetle is US only but various American releases do show up in the UK. Maybe just presents brought back from holiday, who knows? 

[junkyarddog]

I picked up these two Majorette castings a week or so ago at a car boot.

Quite a few miles between Norfolk and the southwest region of Ireland!

[bunglebus]

1:24 Bburago Porsche sick squid, Buddy L transporter with cars £8.

Be quick cos I'm there now!

[flat4alfa]

On 10/4/2020 at 12:12 PM, bunglebus said:

Even as a child I thought the Corgi was stunted.  That comparison confirms!

[flat4alfa]

33 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Buddy L transporter with cars £8.

Sonic Hauler?  Sonic?   As in R/C like the Corgitronics artic?

[bunglebus]

12 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Sonic Hauler?  Sonic?   As in R/C like the Corgitronics artic?

No idea. I'll be back there Weds if you want me to investigate/grab it.

Looks like it just makes sounds

[Datsuncog]

Mail call this afternoon... well, kinda.

What happened was, while on a conference call at the dining room table, my phone dinged repeatedly to tell me that "your parcel has been delivered", via several different platforms... and when I'd hung up my headset and ventured to stick my head out the front door, there was indeed a slightly damp cardboard box stuffed down behind the potted salvia on the doorstep. I s'pose that's what a mail call looks like these days, but still - better than having to trek down to the sorting office in two days just cos I couldn't get to the door in time...

So what's inside?

Can you guess?

Actually, it's not that difficult...

Yup, just over two years after I sold my Corgi Mazda B1600, here I am buying another one.

The box is faintly raggedy, and a little bit bowed here and there, but not too bad overall.

Hey, it's 46 years old, give or take.

Overall condition is pretty much as described in the original listing, "good with wear".

It's actually a hard thing to capture accurately on camera - but there are quite a few marks and chips to the edges that don't really show up on a screen, but do kinda draw the eye in real life. When I compared the seller's own pics to his description, I thought he was undergrading it rather. But he was actually about right.

The seller was also quite open in advising that the model was quite dusty and needed cleaning; something else that doesn't come out so well in the pics either. But it's pretty grimy.

The underside and wheels show quite a lot of wear and ingrained mud, so this has plainly clocked up some outside miles over the years. No carpet queen, this one.

So yeah - I'm pleased to add this to the collection, of course, but I still feel kinda flat somehow.

Maybe it's because there was a fairly low initial starting price, and after a couple of desultory lowball bids against me it had been sitting at a very agreeable £3 all week - until someone crashed in a flurry of bids in the auction's dying seconds, pushing it right up to my max bid of £12.50, plus a postage charge that may* include seller's fees... Now that happened again in another auction last night, so maybe it's the sinking feeling that I've splurged the guts of £50 on two boxed 70s Corgis in quick succession that's gnawing at me... ah now! Buyer's remorse...

But no, if I'd seen this on the tat stall for a tenner I absolutely would have taken a punt, even with the box wear and chipping, so I'm not sure why I'm so cranky... but maybe I'd convinced myself that it was pristine, as a mental defence against the last minute price hike. The seller had plenty of good pics and a very honest description of the condition, so there's no possible complaints there...

Maybe I'll give it a bit of a scrub and see how I feel!

Pity there's no press photo of a Mazda on the back, but this tractor and trailer, with curiously interchangeable loads, looks kinda fun.

[bunglebus]

Still, I did take away this very clean, but strangely grille-less Bora

 

 

Can't complain for fifty new pence

[Datsuncog]

15 minutes ago, flat4alfa said:

Sonic Hauler?  Sonic?   As in R/C like the Corgitronics artic?

 

4 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

No idea. I'll be back there Weds if you want me to investigate/grab it.

Looks like it just makes sounds

That's weirdly familiar... yes, I think it just makes sounds. There's a knob on the side of the sleeper cab that you turn to make sounds of the truck starting, idling, and a horn - though I don't know how I know that.

Looks deffo worth £8, though, especially with the cars still on the back.

[bunglebus]

Pulled another one out of the display cabinet so I could get a pic of the grille I need. By odd coincidence the other one is silver with a red base

[bunglebus]

19 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

there are quite a few marks and chips to the edges that don't really show up on the screen but do draw the eye. When I compared the seller's pics to his description, I thought he was undergrading it rather. But he was actually about right.

It's better than mine!

 

 

[flat4alfa]

Yes for £8 please

 

[flat4alfa]

On 3/17/2020 at 9:39 PM, flat4alfa said:

I have the cars already.    Yellow one has lost a bit of front bodywork

1982-83 Olds Cutlass Calais had the egg-box grille, one year only

[egg]

For anyone who still wants one - the Matchbox Subaru SVX is available for £3.78 posted from aliexpress at the mo.

Cheaper than the ones on eBay.

[bunglebus]

2 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Even as a child I thought the Corgi was stunted.  That comparison confirms!

I thought the scales might differ but both 1:43 apparently 

I make them 135mm and 129mm. There's not actually much in it once you put the bumpers on the corgi, and without a base I don't have a rear bumper for the dinky (I think the spoiler sticks out beyond it anyway). 

Official length for an XJC is 4959mm, so the Dinky comes out at 1:36.733 scale and the Corgi 1:38.4419

[andy18s]

1 hour ago, egg said:

For anyone who still wants one - the Matchbox Subaru SVX is available for £3.78 posted from aliexpress at the mo.

Cheaper than the ones on eBay.

Thanks for that

With the various coupons they throw at you I've got 1 on it's way for £1.48 delivered 

[andrew e]

4 hours ago, flat4alfa said:

Sonic Hauler?  Sonic?   As in R/C like the Corgitronics artic?

It’s great that Buddy L - and the 2 Oldsmobile nascars are the cherry on top! I have no need for it, you did well not to buckle!

[bunglebus]

Bloody hell, it's a Buddy L!

Transporter is in great condition, stickers on the red car aren't great but the yellow one has survived well. A rummage in the kitchen drawer revealed a single AA battery so testing will have to wait

Had a look for the missing grille off my Bora but it was long gone. Did get two Hot Wheels project cars though

[Datsuncog]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Bloody hell, it's a Buddy L!

A great lost marketing slogan, that...

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Had a look for the missing grille off my Bora but it was long gone.

Will keep an eye out in case a squashed example with a reasonable grille turns up!

[DoctorRetro]

Started on the Shitroen pickup... 

Yep, it's probably getting those wheels...