Shite in Miniature II

[Bren]

We have set of roadways - an ebay purchase for my eldest son many moons ago. We dare'nt let Charlie bear near it - it would be in shreds. Maybe when he's older.

[Burnside]

I had the dempsey and makepeace Escort as a kid, the pullback motor didn't last too long though! I still have it's partial remains somewhere, which is just the shell. Hopefully one day I'll fix it, by fitting a MC Toy etc chassis instead.   

Me and my Brother also shared the Roadways set too, the base of the box doubled up as a car park. It kept us happy for many a hour / years. Sadly my Mum or Grandad threw it away, along with a box of are old corgi/ matchbox cars after a house move back in 2000.😢

 

[bunglebus]

My god I remember that box! The roads are thin shiny card and slot together, I had hours of fun with my Matchbox on those

[bunglebus]

Random post on Facebook has taught me something - Matchbox got rid of the Speed Kings name in 1978, so some castings got re-branded. Obvious when you look at the base, but never noticed before

 

[flat4alfa]

I also had Roadmaker

The set in the black, rather than the grey road

Only gave it away in recent years as it turn up during house move

[Richard_FM]

My brother had a Roadmaker set, at least until one day in the summer when he made a layout on our patio, forgot about it when the weather turned to rain and by the time he realised most of it had gone all warped and soggy so it had to be all binned!

I had 3 Majokits, an Esso filling station, a customs post and a  crossroads with traffic lights.

[Datsuncog]

I had a '70s Roadmaker set with the Superfast and Dinky on the box that I think had belonged to an older cousin; either way, there were only about five pieces of road in the box so it wasn't really much use...

I then managed to get hold of a new Roadways set in the early 1990s, which I seem to recall came from somewhere weird like one of those 'Book People' catalogues or something - and was a pretty good toy even though I was a bit old for it... Many years in the attic weren't overly kind to the box, but it's now been rehomed on here, and I think it was virtually complete with the signs and whatnot.

I also had a Matchbox Motorcity set and some bits of multicoloured Play Track, but they lacked the realism I craved at that age!

The Majorette sets are new to me.

[Datsuncog]

8 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

2 parcels came today too!

Hopefully one of them had a Belfast postmark!

[bunglebus]

Took a chance on a £2.50 set of Wilko marker pens, and it's not too bad. Looks more like wood than the brown paint Dinky applied anyway, and about a thousand times better than the black mess I started with. I even put brown on the filler cap like original, and didn't paint the door handles for the same reason

[andrew e]

23 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Just 2mm dome heads off ebay, about 3mm thread length.

Actually I now tend to use countersink ones that look less like rivets but have a bigger head so don't pull through the base - Corvette has this type

You do have to take care to drill straight and not snap the bit or burst the post. Found a few that are just too thin to risk, or so short that you'd end up going right out the other side of the body. In that case the superglue comes out.

 

So @bunglebus M3 = 2mm right? I also read somewhere about slipping a nut over the post whilst drilling to stop posts splitting.

[bunglebus]

M2 = 2mm thread diameter, I usually go for about 3mm thread length, got some 2mm ones for really short posts too. Never seems to be much info about the diameter of the bolt head although sometimes there's a diagram. Good tip on preventing the post splitting, normally you can see if there's not enough material to risk drilling. 

[junkyarddog]

€ 0,20 20%OFF | 5-50pcs ISO7380 M2 M2.5 M3 M4 M5 M6 M8 304 A2 Round Stainless Steel or Black 10.9 grade Hex Socket Button Head Allen Bolt Screw

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mOZJyyt

I bought some from here,they are decent,I paid 22c for 50 m2 stainless screws delivered!!

If you are happy to wait as they take a while to arrive, but as value for money they can't be beaten.

 

[Datsuncog]

On 11/16/2020 at 3:58 PM, SmokinWaffle said:

Looking for a cheap toy Transit van if anyone here happens to have one!

 

Meant to reply to this sooner, dude - unfortunately I've divested myself of nearly all my mini-Transits, but if you're looking a red minibus similar to your own heroic project, your closest match may be a Majorette Mk3...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Majorette-Ford-Transit-City-Bus-/174538777338?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

Matchbox do a 'smiley' panel van as shown above (sold mine a while back, sorry!), but if this Mk3 Transit Tug concept van is any use to you, I'll be happy to pop it in the post to you!

[Split_Pin]

22 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Hopefully one of them had a Belfast postmark!

Yes it did cheers! I'm particularly delighted with the bus.

[Datsuncog]

50 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Yes it did cheers! I'm particularly delighted with the bus.

Excellent!

The wee Foden cement mixer is just lovely... I'd never realised just what a nice casting it is.

At some point, I'm going to have to hold on to a Ford D-Series too, as I just keep selling them on every time!

Enjoy!

[Split_Pin]

Yes the trucks are in great condition. The Foden appears to have a gear at the larger end of the cement cylinder but I can't work out how that connects to the wheels.

I also used to have a fair number of D Series but all bar one were sold so it's nice to have a good one back. It also has a good representation of a Shelvoke and Drewry Pakamatic refuse body. There is a dairy in Polmont which is the next town to where I grew up in Linlithgow who had a T reg D series in service right to until about 2000.

[sierraman]

Didn’t Corgi it Lledo do a Mk4 Transit? I know Britains definitely did. 

[flat4alfa]

Buy them all up quick as there is a value jump on the horizon

[flat4alfa]

[flat4alfa]

On 9/30/2020 at 10:33 AM, flat4alfa said:

Dinky 'Emergency!' Paramedic truck.  I knew nothing of the TV series or the  1972 Dodge D-300 model

 

The release grille is quite different and nearer the 1979/1980  Dodge D-series

Remember the Dinky 'Emergency!' TV-series tie-up Dodge 'Squad 51' that just had 'Paramedic' on the base plate?  I thought it was a rare model a few weeks ago, but for some reason the market now seems swamped.  Funny how you don't notice things until.... etc.

Well, now seen a code-3 quarter-arsed effort - as a 'Chemical Unit'.

Ideas are now spinning into doing something like this 1974 International 200 Airport Fire Truck :

Because I just don't have enough bile yellow/green models in the collection.  Apologies for wasting your time.

[eddyramrod]

Just thought you might like to see these...

Pontiac GTO?  Certainly sir, which year would you like?  Now that I have three in 1/18 scale, I've decided to keep the 65 (for now) to show how the 66 evolved from it.  The yellow one is a 69, from the movie Two Lane Blacktop, as driven throughout by Warren Oates.

In other news, someone in a FB models-cars group I frequent recently offered at no charge a model he had built of the frontage of Sun Hill police station, from The Bill of course.  It appears to be compatible with 1/43 scale cars so I put my name on it.  It's in Southampton!  No problem though, I'm still in touch with our old friend Mercrocker, who has kindly agreed to pick it up and keep it until we're allowed to travel again.  I have a weekend booked in that area next May.

[bunglebus]

Package from a far away land has arrived courtesy of Datsuncog 

Main item of interest is the slightly broken early Dinky MK1 Transit 

Which meant digging out the much worse door donor I'd acquired 

Some differences noted

Then after a bit of muttered cursing (why are this era Dinky so hard to put together correctly?) I have a complete one with ill fitting doors, earlier spun wheels and interior with driver. Some tweaking may occur later if I feel brave

I can only apologise to @Datsuncog for getting him to take his apart, the later tailgate type are a damn sight easier!

Other item of interest is this Corgi Mercedes C111, I know I have a Matchbox Speed Kings version but I'll have to check if I have a Superfast one

*edit* here we go

 

[RayMK]

11 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

Just thought you might like to see these...

 

Pontiac GTO?  Certainly sir, which year would you like?  Now that I have three in 1/18 scale, I've decided to keep the 65 (for now) to show how the 66 evolved from it.  The yellow one is a 69, from the movie Two Lane Blacktop, as driven throughout by Warren Oates.

In other news, someone in a FB models-cars group I frequent recently offered at no charge a model he had built of the frontage of Sun Hill police station, from The Bill of course.  It appears to be compatible with 1/43 scale cars so I put my name on it.  It's in Southampton!  No problem though, I'm still in touch with our old friend Mercrocker, who has kindly agreed to pick it up and keep it until we're allowed to travel again.  I have a weekend booked in that area next May.

Very nice. I wish I had suitable space to display larger scale models and toys.  Also great to hear of Mercrocker. I've never met him but always enjoyed his unique and knowledgeable take on Autoshite subject matter.

[eddyramrod]

Marital disharmony reigns again in the Ramrod household.  A lovely little parcel has just arrived from Sir Datsun of Cog, partly in exchange for one I've sent him, so now if all I get from MrsR for the rest of the day is Cold Shoulder I will have to consider myself getting off lightly.  She is convinced that her children (who live 400 miles away in different directions) are going to have a nightmare sweeping my entire collection into a skip after we're dead.  We're only 61 and 65!  She seems convinced we're both going to peg out tonight, ffs.  She's been telling me for most of our married life that she "isn't going to live long."  Well we've been married almost 24 years, and 9 years ago in Cyprus I really thought she was correct.  I didn't like that thought.

As an aside, the day I took her to Paphos Hospital as an emergency: you should have seen my blue Granada sweeping through the town like an audition for The Sweeney!

 

TL;DR: thank you kindly, Datsuncog, they all arrived safely.

[Datsuncog]

4 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

The Foden appears to have a gear at the larger end of the cement cylinder but I can't work out how that connects to the wheels.

I'm not sure about that either, though I spent quite a while trying to figure it out - I can see there's a tiny plastic nub at the upper end of the mixer cylinder that's broken off, so it doesn't spin smoothly (but could possibly be fixed with a tiny self-tapper inserted through the diecast support).

I'd quite like to take a look at an earlier Regular Wheels version, as I've a sneaking suspicion that any mechanism to make the cylinder revolve may well have been removed for the short-lived Superfast version...

4 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

There is a dairy in Polmont which is the next town to where I grew up in Linlithgow who had a T reg D series in service right to until about 2000.

That's brilliant - round here, Maine Soft Drinks maintained a fleet of 1980s D-Series as lemonade delivery vans right up until the early 2000s as well, before replacing them with Mitsubishi Fusos.

Whenever I'm driving behind one, I still get a brief flash of hope that it's a D-Series, as the livery and lettering are just the same.

[Split_Pin]

I was thinking the same, that the mechanism was removed when the Superfast installation took place. The font on the base is reminiscent of mid to late 1970s Superfast which looks nicely odd. I'm off to look for pictures of earlier versions now!

[bunglebus]

[Split_Pin]

There you go! All the axles are covered up by a green plastic base on mine.

[bunglebus]

This is my one

Thought I had something useful in the spares box, but no

[flat4alfa]

58 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

Now that's a 'Rolamatic' I didn't know existed.